Fermenting Solutions 2026.03: Flaky Pi Crust(acean)

Published: Sun, 03/29/26

Updated: Sun, 03/29/26

My filament runout sensor that I discussed last month is up and running! I created several prototypes to test the best mounting options. Initially, I was going to keep the sensor close to the filament origin point but I discovered that this sometimes resulted in false positives with large movements in the X or Y axes. It seems like it performs best (and conserves the most filament) when it's closer to the hot end. Now I just need to design and print the permanent fixture that allows me to mount it on the printer's Y gantry so that it moves along with the print head.

My OpenClaw adventures continue. I've upgraded hardware and wrote an article about setting it up (securely) on a Raspberry Pi 5 using the Venice.AI API. I'm consistently blowing through my daily API credits having it automate my daily mundane tasks. One of the major enhancements that I'm currently working on is to train it to be thrifty about it's credit spend. This involves getting it to identify how to delegate to different LLMs based on the 'difficulty' of the task required. Doing this model routing is fairly easy when using a product like Venice.

image generated by Venice.AI using this email newsletter as a starting point

One of the things that's severely slowed down putting the finishing touches on my filament runout sensor project is the fact that I'm also using this to force me to learn how to use FreeCAD. I've used commercial CAD products exclusively up until this point. I keep getting burned by the licensing restrictions of every one I've used (or some other restrictive feature that they introduce in a new version). I finally decided that I'm switching to an open source product like I've done with so many other pieces of software. It's been painful, but I know it will be all worth it in the end! What are you using for your 3D modeling?

Thoughts On the Microbiome

I've become obsessed with learning about the vagus nerve through my experiments in improving heart rate variability. More and more research is showing how the vagus nerve is influenced by the microbiome, making the gut-brain connection a real thing. If you're interested in how the microbiome impacts mental health, check out:

Microbiome and Mental Health - Transmutable Explorations

Your Microbiome impacts your Mental Health. We describe why this is and ways to Unlock Your Gut-Brain Connection

Examine Study of the Month

I use Examine.com to inform many of the 'health' related experiments that I do. Another visceral fat related study this month. It's about the impact of Oligonol. The study was funded by the manufacturer of Oligonol (so take the results with a grain of salt), but I've been trying to get my hands on a sample to test it out for myself.

Examine the Study

Favorite Relevant Purchase

If there's been one constant over the last few months' topics, it's been that I use Raspberry Pis for everything. Between the Raspberry Pi OpenClaw experiments and building and attaching the filament runout sensor to OctoPrint (also running on an OctoPi) the Pi Cobbler has been indispensible. The Pi Cobbler is a breakout board that allows you to use a ribbon cable to expose the Pi's GPIO pins on a breadboard. It's conveniently labeled with the mapping for each pin which really makes prototyping a breeze!

Favorite Purchase

J checked in on Untappd!

Even March Mildness couldn't unseat the IPAs for this month (if you're going to the finale on April 4th, let me know). To be fair, this is mostly because Untappd has too many 'mild' sub categories and many of the participating breweries made other 'English' styles instead. My favorite real 'mild' this month was Corroborator from Troubles End Brewing. This dark mild is so nuanced. It has many layers of malt complexity which is just crazy for a 3.8% beer! Troubles End has a wide selection of great beers and I always enjoy stopping in there.

Many of the beers I've had over the last month are available via Tavour. You can get $10 off your first order by using my link.

Interested in learning more about the joys of beer? I provide several guided beer tasting experiences.

See Favorite Check-in

Fermented Solutions

I'm currently buried in optimizing things I've built in the past. I've already mentioned the OpenClaw thrifty API spend project. I'm also investigating some new features from Zapier that should allow me to optimize many of the Zaps that I currently rely on. This might not result in a reduction of task usage, but it will definitely consolidate redundant features that currently exist in several Zaps. I'm hoping this reduces the maintenance overhead by allowing me to refactor that stuff out into reusable pieces that I only need to modify in a single place moving forward.

Gardening season is in full swing and I'm taking advantage of every nice day that we have. Brassicas are starting to be moved outside. Tomatoes, Peppers and Eggplant are germinating and moving into the indoor grow space. I'm planning on selling/bartering any extra plants that I produce this year, so if you have any interest in that, let me know!

Finally, I'm currently running the first of many future split tests on my website in an effort to maximize both ad revenue and website usability. This has been made infinitely easier by my deep dive on WordPress theme enhancements from a few months ago. If you see anything that you like (or hate), drop me a line with more info.

Happy Fermenting!

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Telford PA 18969
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