@nprofile1q... maybe because in English, justice is directed (justice for whom?) whereas fairness seems more of a global property (is this fair?).

@nprofile1q... I've been meaning to write up a threat model for a while now. Never done it before. This will be a big help. Thanks!

@nprofile1q... Those supports look wild! I don't use supports often, but I've never seen them snake around geometry like that.

@nprofile1q... New York City?? Yeah, I remember that one. Couldn't tell you the name of the salsa though, nor have I ever once bought it. "Take that, capitalism", I said, still reeling from my psychic damage.

@nprofile1q... Ok, I finally got around to doing that live heat test I've been putting off.

Event at a full mash temp of 173 F (which is quite a bit hotter than you'd want even for mashout), the top of the heater only hits 108 F. It's warm to the touch, but still easily handleable with bare hands. Which matches my memory from past brews.

And well within the limits of PLA. Now I don't have to worry about it anymore. =)

@nprofile1q... Oooh, wait. Glass transition temp for PLA is 140 F. I might be in trouble, haha. 😅 We'll just have to see what happens.

@nprofile1q... Yeah, I definitely would not want to use 3D printed parts for actual food/liquid contact applications. Too hard to clean. Too many crevices for bugs to hide. 3D printing is not a good choice in general if you have strong opinions about surface finish.

For my application, thermals are a bit of a worry. Wort in a mash can get up to 170 F on the high end. PLA melts around 280 F ish? It might sag a bit at lower temps than that, but I think there's enough of a spread there that I should be ok? We'll have to see if I need to switch to a different polymer after some live heat tests. =)

@nprofile1q... FreeCAD definitely has a learning curve. If you ever give it another shot, what helped me the most (after much trial and error) is: stick to the "Part Designer" for everything. Then do as much of your actual design work as possible in 2D "sketches". The sketch constraint system there is wonderful! It's like drafting. Then lift those 2D sketches into 3D using extrusions, cuts, etc.

Essentially, build your parts by picking a projection, constraining things in that 2D projection, then lift into 3D. Repeat as often as necessary for each part. Switch between additive changes, subtractive changes, etc.

@nprofile1q... PLA is generally food safe (as far as I know?), unless the mfr used bad additives. Those little "biodegradable" disposable forks and such you see at restaurants sometimes? They're often PLA. Plus, the wort would never come into contact with the plastic in this application anyway, so it's not much of a concern.

@nprofile1q... I usually prefer FreeCAD these days, but mostly because that's what I learned on and I'm used to it now. It's very old and has a loooot of historical baggage, but I like that one for CAD work.

I've also heard OpenSCAD is great too, especially if you want a more code-writing UX for design.

@nprofile1q... Thanks! I wasn't sure if the brake mechanism would work (if the PLA would transmit enough pressure to the poles in that shape without snapping), but it worked perfectly on the first try!

It's all totally custom. I used FreeCAD for the design. Has something like 10 different parts. One of my more complicated designs lately.

The stupid heating element is like .... a couple cm too wide to fit in the cooler, so I have to mount it at a weird angle to get it to fit. And it has have freedom to move a bit to keep from burning the mash, so the weird-ass angled mount also allows a rocking motion. Had to print NPTS-compatible pipe threads to attach to the heater correctly. The list goes on ... This project had a lot of annoying constraints, but I'm pretty happy with the result so far. =)

@nprofile1q... recent project: mount system for a Totally Safe heat stick for homebrewing.