Ender 3 v2 Cura Slicer Fine Tuning

I am trying to print a star tracker for a friend, but the accuracy of parts coming off the bed can’t be trusted. In addition, I’m switching filament from PLA+ to ABS or PETG, so I wanted to get as accurate as possible with a forgiving filament before I attempt that. I have been enjoying the Ender 3 since adding the CR Touch as detailed in the previous post. Leveling is a breeze, and I don’t have any more head crashes.But this last hurdle for print quality was really bugging me.

After troubleshooting for years to get level, I went back down the rabbit holes of forums and walkthroughs and YouTube videos. I emerged with novel Cura (5.12) settings that made my prints sharper, corners tighter, and top/bottom squish without crazy failures of tolerance. I changed one setting at a time, for the most part, and printed a new cube or partial cube, depending on what problem I was solving.

As you can see on the calibration cubes picture, there is still a little elephants foot left on the bottom, but I’m much closer to where I need to be, dimensionally, and closer to mechanical precision needed for future projects. This should give me the solid base I need for ABS as well.

Layer Dimensions & Elephant's Foot Fixes

• Initial Layer Horizontal Expansion: -0.2mm (and tested to -0.3 mm) to shrink the footprint of the first layer.
• Initial Layer Line Width: 95% / 90% to push less plastic into the base layer; more room for the squish, but can screw with adhesion.
• Top/Bottom Flow: 95% to reduce over-extrusion on the solid floor/roof layers without touching the rest of the model. Tried down to 80 which did not improve things and lead to spaghetti.

Corner Bulging & Pressure Relief

• Outer Wall Speed: Lowered to 25 to 30 mm/s to keep nozzle pressure steady as the printer slows down for turns.
• Enable Jerk Control: Checked. Also set Outer Wall Jerk set to 10mm/s; maintain clean momentum through 90-degree corners and prevent jitter and blobs

Seam Hiding & Blob Prevention

• Enable Coasting: Checked (using default values) to stop pushing filament right before a line ends, using up leftover nozzle pressure naturally instead of leaving a blob. Dramatically reduced visibility of seams.
• Outer Wall Wipe Distance: 0.3 mm to wipe the nozzle over the starting line and smooth out any seam bump.
• Retraction Speed / Prime Speed: Retraction Speed set to 45mm/s and Retraction Prime Speed lowered to 25mm/s; prevents filament from slamming back into the nozzle.
• Z Seam Alignment: Sharpest Corner and Corner Preference: Hide Seam; physically tucks the seam out of sight.

Temperature & Cooling

• Printing Temperature: Dropped down to 220°C (from 235°C) to male the PLA+ less fluid and reduce oozing pressure. This took care of almost all my blobbing.
• Build Plate Temperature: Dropped to 55°C (from 60°C) to hopefully reduce slouching.
• Regular Fan Speed at Layer: Set to Layer 2 to ensure cooling kicks on immediately after the base layer to freeze the plastic into shape.

 References:

• Prusa Elephant Foot Guide
• Reddit thread on Cura settings
• Initial Layer Extrusion
• Ender 3 Community page on bed temp 

Ford Maverick 2026 Upgrades

It’s white. It’s got steel rims. It looks like a utility locator company truck. And I love it. Here’s a running list of upgrades I’ve added or rejected from my base model Ford Maverick XL Hybrid:

• Mabett Bed Storage Cubbies. The biggest upgrade was filling the spots in the bed with these two plastic cubbies. They fit just enough bungee and tie downs to do “truck stuff”. They come with 4 screws each, so be sure to get some M6 screws to fill all the holes.
• Jump Starter. Hasn’t arrived yet, but the USB-C plug I installed kept draining the battery to nothing. Had to jump it. Humiliating. Get one of these instead.
• Mabett cup holders and trash can. Tiny but mighty, this center console fills the gap below the charger block. The can stays centered in the Flexbed bracket, and I have an extra spot for empties on a road trip.
• Mabett Mud Flaps. I had zero road grime after a trip to Seattle and back in the rain. Couldn’t have a better endorsement. Install by removing and replacing the stock clips.
• Mabett Under Front Seat Storage. Just a bit of extra room for a first aid kit and other stuff I want but won’t need all the time. Keeps me from having to fill up the backseat storage so much.
• 12V bed plug; particularly useful for running pumps for the stand up paddle boards. Just pop off the electrical cover and connect it up. You will need the key on to run the hybrid motor, most likely.
• Mobile antenna for my Baofeng. Helped me get mobile and use my Ham license.
• Tailgate Molding Rivets, Plastic. The ones on the tailgate keep breaking. I keep the pack in the truck. These are much sturdier.
• Tailgate hole cover; mostly for paranoia factor of getting sand or rocks stuck inside the tailgate.
• Hitch Hole Cover. Just plain vanity. The tail end looks chopped up without it.
• Adeptus Mechanicus sticker. Heralding its arrival as a hybrid being, my steel steed gets an emblem of the machine god. Some day, when my flesh disgusts me enough (or my knees give out), I will join her in communion with the Omnissiah.
• Snarky Plate Surround — BOUGHT A TRUCK — FOR THE GAS MILEAGE. My family is going to disown me when they see it, but I bet I’ll get fist bumps in the Fred Meyer parking lot.

It’s not all Xibit-style customization up in here. The Flexbed stuff is nice, but it needs to go further. The attachment bracket used for the trash can was supposed to be a Ford thing used across their line. Not sure it took off. I want it on the dash for a phone holder. I want it on the bumper for tailgating, add more cup holders or something. Make it sturdier. Make it universal.

Rejected Upgrades — these ones failed due to practicality, functionality, or budget reality:

• Rough Country Tonneau Cover. As a former Ranger owner that had a fiberglass flat top installed, I love the idea of the latest covers, but I don’t find myself using the bed for anything but hauling right now. Since the bed is so small, removing it every time to store it in the garage seems like a pain. Check Reddit for the best recommendations. People really like the 3-piece ones. Hard Cover is better if you get snow.
• USB-C in the bed. I couldn’t find one that didn’t stay active all the time and drain my battery. When I left town, I had to jump it when I got back. Since I uninstalled it, no issues.
• Inverter in the bed. A 12v inverter is going to last longer inside the truck than wired into an open bed. Just plug it in when you need it into the 12v outlet. Get one near the tailgate with the 12V connectors..
• Wired motion detecting lights. Just get a few magnetized LED handhelds from Harbor Freight and attach them in the cubbies. Mischief managed.
• Under seat storage dividers. I’ve got the hybrid, so space is at a premium here. Just put a blanket under there to stop your secret stash from rolling around.
• Rain guards for the window. Almost pulled the trigger on these after one too many drips in the drive thru. The in-channel ones were recommended. Instead, I keep a cloth in the door now. Helps wipe the dust from the Fischer Price interior too, lol.

Wyse 3040 Thin Client as a CUPS Print Server

 I bought a HP LaserJet Pro M405dn via surplus from a previous company, and it has become the most reliable printer I've ever owned. It’s compact, quiet, and the refills are cheap to this day. The only problem was it didn’t come with a wireless card.

When we had a reclaimed desktop as a Plex server, I plugged it in there on USB and shared it on the network. Windows 10 made that doable, but not easy. WSD issues, permissions for Work and surplused laptops running business versions of Windows. The problems piled up, and I got fed up. I went searching for a print server.

If this were 2010, I’d buy a raspberry pi and be done. But the tariffs and RAM crisis have made even the stock models as rare, and I was fed up. Enter the Wyse 3040, a refurbished line of thin clients from Dell. Small but mighty, this thin client was an Intel Atom SBC with soldered ram coming in at 2GB and 8GB storage.

For an OS, I tried a few distros, including the Dell  but could never get them to be compact enough. Debian 13 was my savior. A headless, compact build out of the box took up less than 4GB on install, and the installer boot disk came with non-free drivers that saved the day:

1. Plug in a mouse and keyboard and DisplayPort monitor.
2. Unlock UEFI
3. Unlock the BIOS with the default password, Fireport,  if needed (mine came unlocked from the reseller linked above)
4. Plug in your boot disk to USB. There’s a USB 3.0 blue port on the front which felt faster on the third install. Grumble grumble…
5. You want the advanced install options so you can survival select a pared down set of options and install the non-free drivers.
6. During install, be sure to select xfce for your GUI instead of the heavier Gnome ones. You can even go headless, but I did not.
7. You will need to enable some kernel modules to see the eMMC after launch  the installer can see your storage just fine, but the OS can’t boot without them. This thread on Reddit was awesome. After install, enable the modules as the OP says, but then make them load every boot by following this comment. The UEFI trick is also necessary.
8. You might need to do similar kernel module shenanigans for your WiFi card. I did not, as you will see later.

After that, I was able to boot, enable SSH to get into my print server headless, and the rest could be done remotely. CUPS was the next challenge. My Xfinity (Comcast) router had their crappy hotspot turned on. This blocked devices from finding each other on the network. 24hrs later, it was off and I was running headless. I installed the printer via USB and configured CUPS in a browser. The test page was a sweet victory.

I had a memory of printers with expansion slots for WiFi back in the dark days of the 2000s, so I googled my printer. It turns out the dn in the model number means direct networking. Under a panel, I found an Ethernet port. An office move meant the router was sitting right next to the printer, and I could have just plugged it directly in all along. Oh well. What’s a bit of trouble in GRUB for old times sake?

For reference:

• A good walkthrough, but the info is dated: https://qubitsandbytes.co.uk/install-a-new-os-on-a-dell-wyse-3040/

GettingOut Messaging and Video Visits Refunds

Update: the below did not work, in the end! They wanted the inmate number which I did not have access to anymore. It is not readily available on my account screens either. I took this information and contacted my Attorney General for the state of Washington with the below information. I had a refund through their scam handling department in 10 days. Getting Out still denied all wrongdoing.

Second Update: I have had more than one person reach out about this with a similar experience. Let me know if you have, and if something else worked for you.

Getting Out is a predatory company that handles inmate communications. Their system is designed to take your money, charge bogus fees, and never let you get any stored value back out.

It is next to impossible to find out how to get refunds online, so I’ve documented it here for everyone stuck in this nightmare of having a relative in jail and not being able to get their money back once they’re out.

Call their Customer Service Line https://www.gettingout.com/contact-us/

Press 1 for English or select a different language as necessary.

Listen to a minutes-long disclaimer and give your rights to take your stored value away after 180 days.

Press 1 to accept.

Press 1 to go into the deposits message.

Press 0 to be transferred to a hold queue.

When you ask for a refund, you will be told you need your contact information and the inmate number. That number should be in the app for GettingOut Messaging under your contacts, but it was not for me.

Once they discover this, you will need to send a note to the parent company ViaPath to get a refund.

Send To: customerservice@viapath.com

Phone number of your account

Name on the account

Facility name

Inmate name

PIN (4-8 digits)

This is how refunds are done in 2026. Email. To a third party. I’ll let you know if it actually works. (spoiler: it did not  I contacted the AG)

If you try pressing zero at the big menu before deposits, you will be presented with “That option is disabled” message because they know the easiest way to frustrate people is to remove it and hide it in a sub menu. No matter how deep.

Regardless of what you think about people in jail, the families of these people are being taken advantage of by this company, and they are keeping money they are not entitled to if they built a better system.

The disclaimer ensures ViaPath can keep your money after that time of you can’t get it back within the time frame which is not allowed for other stored value like gift cards.

The queue staff are unhelpful as a rule. You should encourage them to unionize to improve conditions so they will not be yelled at by frustrated families.

Everyone on this line is trained to send your concerns with the system not being operational or easy to their tech support department to be looked at. They know they are hard to contact, so this statement is bullshit.

Everyone is trained to say that your concerns about the usability of the system will be sent to their supervisor. This is bullshit. It is hard on purpose.

Everyone on the line has the same regional accent, so the call center is not in the US. That jurisdiction has laws for consumer protection. If you figure out where, I will work with you to ensure the company pays.

Ender 3 v2 + Cura + Professional Firmware - Setup

For my future reference, here are the things I had to do to get an Ender 3 v2 tuned and ready after an extensive rebuild. Thanks past-me! Future-me appreciates you writing it down somewhere that you’ll be able to find.

After a spate of nozzle replacements and struggling with adhesion, I added a runout sensor, a new hot end, and a CRTouch. This sent me down a rabbit hole of software upgrades, and it is MUCH easier to use as a result.

I installed the Professional Firmware by mriscoc on GitHub. The features he collects are impossible to find in a better package.

I upgraded my screen firmware for which I needed to track down an 8GB SD Card formatted in a specific way. They’re becoming super rare locally, but photo stores should have them if you’re Amazon-averse. The firmware is in the source zip for the mriscoc firmware above for multiple different models. Use the test GCode included in the how-to before you move on. You want to make sure you have it right as the slicer setup is cumbersome.

Follow the recalibration steps to tune the hot end and bed PIDs. Then do the extruder steps calibration and maybe even zsteps. Then set your bed mesh and do Bed Tramming calibrations to get the perfectly level bed. This should resolve most calibration issues with your prints.

Now you're ready to work on your slicer.

The CRTouch requires gcode to be added to the beginning of the printer profile right after G28, auto home. Add “G29 L0 J” to test the bed level just before starting a print.

Was also able to get thumbnails on the new firmware and screen combo. This takes a script for your slicer to be placed in a specific spot, and your pc must have Python installed (on Windows, in a terminal, type “python3 -v” to see if it is installed; then follow instructions) along with supporting libraries (“pip3 install Pillow” if needed; I think this might only be needed for Prusa Slicer). The final step to view thumbnail jpgs is to change your filament color in Cura! If it is black (like the Pro PLA I was using from 3D Fuel) it will look like it is not rendering anything!

While I still am struggling with elephant foot and getting my calibration cubes to be strictly dimensional, this Professional Firmware got me printing fewer leveling passes with fewer problems overall. I level once a session now instead of after every print. I'll update if I get those last few issues handled. Wish me luck!

SOLIDWORKS PDM Database Server Errors in Event Logs

 Event Viewer is a great source of logs to show that something is wrong with your setup. Here is one esoteric error and how they were resolved:

Credentials are stored in multiple places and multiple tools. If an error appears in the Event Viewer every 10 seconds from SOLIDWORKS PDM Database Server with a message like Connect to server <ServerName>' Failed: (null) Unknown error 0x80040200 (null) or Login failed for user '<username>'. Reason: Could not find a login matching the name provided. [CLIENT: <local machine>], this means that the Database Archive Server connection is using the wrong account or the wrong password.

Launch the "Database Server Configuration" utility from the Start menu and correct the login to your SQL Admin user. The errors should stop.

How I Juice Limes in My Countertop Cast Iron Citrus Juicer

 Got a question on Reddit as to how I juice limes using my generic countertop cast iron juicer. I picked this up from a McMenamins bartender in Kalama, WA. Speeds up the juicing, gets more juice out, and makes it easy to press every last drop out.

First, cut a coin off one end:

Then add a small slice across the line about a quarter of the way into the lime. This opens it up a bit:

Stand your lime up on the juicer plate and crank it:

That’s it! You can also press the lime shell a bit to make sure all the juice gets got. I’ve only ever observed a teaspoon or so left behind, however.

Edit: I tested the above remaining juice on several limes. Between 1/6 and 1/3 oz Lime juice is left behind on thin skinned limes. Thicker varieties leave almost nothing.

Patchwork Board Overlay - Workflow and Testing Ideas

BGG user panicz1982 asked if there was a board frame for Patchwork, and I could not find one. Therefore, I made one. This simple project shows my workflow from 3D printing idea to reality. The key is to test your ideas in reality!

First, I pulled out a ruler and collected the board dimensions:

• Board with 9x9 grid is 191mm
• Play area grid as printed is 181mm
• With a 2mm margin around the entire board, the frame is 195mm
• Board thickness is 2.5mm. Doubled that makes the overlay 5mm thick
  

Tinkercad is my next stop. A few rectangles, some whole, some hole, made the basic shape. It exports directly to an STL as well.

Then I loaded it into Cura. Checked that my printer could handle the large object, and printed a test run. I printed it upside down so the lip was facing upwards. No supports needed. Only 20% infill, and maybe that was too much.

This is where I ran into a problem. The play area required to hold 9x9 is larger than the printed play area grid. How much larger? Well two single-row pieces like the 1x5 are substantially wider than a 2x2 piece like the square. It's even more of a discrepancy over 3, 4 and 5 squares. And since play dictates fit and not the other way around, it wouldn't do to just leave the board with less room while also satisfying the need to keep panicz1982's pieces on the board after a bump or two.

To fix this, I found a measurement that worked for even the most generous arrangements by fitting as many single row pieces and patches together so the bottom faces (sharp corner) of each cardboard piece was aligned across the board. This is a worst case scenario fit. Most players would be fine without the extra room, but the added safety factor would mean any arrangement would work across all 9 columns. Then I measured the overlap and added it to my overlay. Turned into a really tight 2mm margin between board size and playing area. Fortuitously, this matched the 2mm margin for overlay to board.

Missed it by that much

I expanded the play area to fit this new width and printed it again.

 

Bottom row is all singles

 

The new measurements are:

• Board with 9x9 grid is still 191mm
• Play area grid as printed is now 187mm
• Frame is still 195mm
• Overlay thickness is still 5mm thick

Et voila! A simple board game overlay. With a straightforward path to reality, testing helped me fine-tune the initial idea into something that works. And as a bonus, I discovered the overlay also fits in the box fr my printing! Now to see if it actually helps keep pieces in place by playing it a bunch. See you at game night!

BGG User Link dvhill