Hackjob

Here we go again.

Attempting to win the console war by building a better machine than either Sony or Microsoft.

A little over a year ago I made a post covering my prized vintage MCS 3275 receiver. Like all pieces of unrestored vintage gear it had its fair share of little annoyances, but nothing that seriously impacted my ability to use the thing - until now. Now those annoyances have become persistent problems, so I did what I always do and resolved it in the most headache-inducing way possible.

Well I did say I was going to get another Mac Pro and lo and behold - here it is. I can also say with certainty that a fair number of you reading this are rolling your eyes at the mere sight of this thing. This of course, is the infamous Mac Pro 6,1 - widely regarded as one of the worst redesigns that Apple ever released - and I'm going to tear it apart.

Prior to the last crypto rush screwing up the GPU market for people who actually want to, well... y'know; process graphics instead of participating in energy devouring pyramid schemes, I was spent some time upgrading and flipping old Mac Pro towers. Since used GPU prices had mostly returned to normal, I decided to get back into it, but this time with a few new additions - and a lot more pain.

Following up on my build post , I've now spent some extended time with my Voron 2.4 and have my thoughts on the completed machine. With the assembly process being as much of a chore as everyone said it would be, the end product has to be worth all that effort, right? Let's find out.

Well, I've gone and done it. I can safely say I'm now a full blown 3D printing enthusiast because... I built a Voron. Many turns of an allen key later, I put together what is widely considered the cream of completely open-source, DIY 3D printers: the Voron 2.4. Here's what my build experience was like.

3D printers were a hobby that I always wanted to get into, but could never really think of a good reason why I should own one. I've always had a knack for CAD modeling It wasn't until 2022 where I finally took the plunge with a Creality Ender-3 S1, and it's been a journey that's been equal parts joyous and frustrating.

Speakerlab probably isn't a name that rings any bells for most people outside of the Pacific Northwest, which makes it even more weird that I found a pair of their speakers sitting in a Goodwill in the middle of Texas. Initially not knowing what the hell these things were, the Speakerlab 7s quickly stole my heart, and ruined every other speaker in the house for me. But, being close to fifty years old, they could use a little TLC, and perhaps a few upgrades while we're at it.

Once again, I'm tearing into my old Area 51 R2 to perform yet another round of completely impractical upgrades. This time, it's cramming arguably one of the most insane GPUs to ever grace the market into a tower that now has absolutely zero space for it... at least on the inside. Armed with my 3D printer, my rotary tool, and optimism about as questionable as this entire project, I set off to work.

Back in the early to mid-eighties Technics began revising their core consumer turntable lineup, creating the MK2 series of SL turntables. These were, and often still are, regarded some of the highest quality and most feature rich turntables ever built. While the lineup has largely been overshadowed the monumental success of the MK2 SL-1200, there's one model that's held in nearly as high of regard: the MK2 SL-1600. Here's how I got along with one.

I recently came into the possession of a vintage Pioneer turntable. Specifically the semi-automatic, direct drive PL-518, one of their most venerable turntables of the late 1970s. Despite it's initial, relatively innocent appearance however, this deck was a long way from spinning LPs again thanks to the horrors of unchecked humidity. Unfortunately for me, the rust and rot was just the tip of the iceberg.

  Transparent electronics seem to be all the rage again and having lived through the twilight years of things like candy colored transparent Game Boys and PlayStation 2s, I'm welcoming this revival with open arms. What better way to hop back onto the bandwagon by giving my handheld gaming weapon of choice; the Steam Deck a 90s and early-2000s inspired makeover?

  I don't think I'll be able to outdo this one anytime soon. By complete dumb luck, I stumbled upon a rare and completely bonkers Sharp VZ-3000, just a short jaunt down the interstate from where I lived. Not knowing a single thing about what I was getting myself into, I parted ways with $100 and loaded this monster into my car. What ensued was months of trying not to rip my own hair out in the hopes that I could bring this unique machine back from the dead.

  About two months ago, I scored two direct drive turntables for $60: a Pioneer PL-518 and a Technics SL-1600 MK1. Either one of these decks alone would've been a steal at the price, and a huge upgrade from the old Garrard 770M I was spinning LPs on prior. Unlike the Pioneer (which has been such a nightmare that it deserves it's own post), the Technics managed to survive it's two decades of horrible storage in relatively great shape. It just needed a little love.

  Well I've gone and done it. It hasn't been that long since I finished installing new fans in my Area 51 R2, and while they did resolve the cooling issues I was experiencing prior, it didn't help me reach my goal of a 4.0+ GHz overclock on my i7-5960X: a problem whose fault I've attributed to the factory motherboard. Rather than continue trying and failing to make it work, I decided it was time to get drastic, and completely rebuild the beast from the ground up. Time for a long one.

One of my favorite pastimes is scrounging around on online secondhand marketplaces and thrift stores for interesting gadgets worth bringing back into peak working condition. There's a certain satisfaction about finding some battered old throwaway and turning back the years of neglect to find something genuinely useful, or at least super cool. In some cases, it's a chance to visit a bygone era and bring a piece of it back to life. This Garrard Model 770M turntable was certainly all of the above.

After contemplating the purchase for ages, I decided to pull the trigger on my first 3D printer. It was beginning of a lifetime of enjoyment... or it should've been. Instead of buying a brand-new Ender-3 like everyone else did, I decided to buy my printer used, from eBay. What ended up arriving at my door was nothing short of a complete disaster.

 It's been about five years since I've done any major upgrades to my good ol' Alienware Area 51 R2. Of course, when you're maintaining a PC of this age, the components are inevitably going to start showing it. Recently I noticed my CPU temps were abnormally high, even at idle. Regardless of how hard I ran my fans, they never dropped. I've wanted to deal with this tower's cooling setup for a while now - mostly in relation to replacing the noisy-ass stock fans, but now I no longer had an excuse to keep putting it off.

For the first real post on this blog, I thought it would be fitting to write about something that was killing me not writing about it at the time: building my first guitar. My desire to do this write up was also fueled by an unfortunate event from that year; one of my all-time idols, Eddie Van Halen passed away on October 6th, 2020, just months after I had completed the build in the summer. The guitar in question is a replica of Eddie's famously haphazard Frankenstrat, a guitar that after watching several YouTube videos and learning of the guitar's construction, I figured "Well, I can do that too!". So I did, and this guitar holds a very special place in my heart, not just because I defied my own lack of experience, but because I feel like it's a fitting tribute to one of the greatest guitarists that ever lived.