I can't help but feeling very envious (in a nice way) of your situation with coworkers. It seems like when you had an issue, you had someone 10 steps ahead of you willing to help out, give advice, lend a part etc.

This project seemed to go as well as my side projects, but when I run into a hiccup, I wait a month for a part on AliExpress, or wander around at Home Depot looking for something that I don't know what it is yet.

Kudos to you for surrounding yourself with great people. Thanks for the write up.