With @cynd11’s urging and Angus’s fine directions, I did a Maker coin last night. The slogan is a lie now though. I have two tools! Well, three because one tool you absolutely must have for a 3D printer is a handled fine bladed scraper to remove parts. I screwed up my bed a bit trying to pop one off with a knife. Since I got a good sharp scraper, it’s a lot easier, having solved my adhesion problems perhaps a little too well!
The Surface Text feature script works well. And then Angus’s instructions for importing a DFX to overlay also worked well. My initials were created with Inkscape and saved as a DFX to make the punch out. The raised surface lettering is Surface Text.
I had some additional motivation for this coin. I am going to make lots of knobs for various things, including some knobs for the bandsaw for the trunion bolts and the upper blade guide holder. But first a coffee grinder knob. Now I have the basic model I can tweak it for size or purpose. Stay tuned.
Yeah, I know I’m stretching it. I don’t count design tools which the calipers is really for. For me the cool thing is that you press print and when it is done, there is nothing else you need to do. So many of my designs work that way. Even the 3D FDM printer is largely this. I’m printing some baby carriage wheels now. A seven hour print, but the wheel uses the same design principles as the maker coin so this was exactly what I needed. Just a five inch wheel though and it has spokes. Working on understanding support material. Seems to be doing ok an hour into the print.
I do have the Glowforge running too though. It’s a coaster.
One of the justifications for getting a 3D printer was to fix all the little plastic parts that break and then make a perfectly good item useless or difficult to use.
First is a knob for my decaf coffee grinder. I still need to tweak the extruder and the z height. Still a slight squish to the extrude but the parts come out fine even if the layers are a bit pronounced.
I have had to use it by plugging in and unplugging the grinder for about 12 years now. I don’t use it too often, but when I do it was a pain.
So the maker coin and knob is the same shape as a wheel. I had the technique understood for the next project. My youth minister brought in a doll baby carriage and asked if I could make a new wheel for it. The hubs were cracking on the wheels. I was going to do a Glowforge special out of wood, but then got the 3D printer.
First iteration. Learned how to do supports in Slic3r. (just check one box!). I also learned a few things with OnShape. Thanks @henryhbk for being so inspiring with OnShape projects. this would have worked ok, but the spokes just seemed a bit minimalistic. So I made the basic profile sketch for the spokes into an ellipse. I also added a chamfer to the edges of the hub and switched to black PLA.
The only thing I can’t figure out is how to get a filet to work where the spoke joins to the inner hub. It would be good to smooth that transition out and beef it up. But these are a lot stronger than the originals anyway. I’m sure it will work.
Now I just need to print three more wheels to match. at 8 hours per print, it will take a while but it’s well worth it. This baby carriage is about 40 years old and the grandkids were heartbroken when they couldn’t use it any more.
One final word. I know this is a forum on the Glowforge laser and folks may ask what this has to do with that. For me the biggest connection is design and using OnShape. As @henryhbk’s medical projects were inspiring to me about learning a parametric 3D modeling program, so I hope this inspires others to jump into it. I’ve got it down enough that I can make things efficiently. And doing the parametric is so amazing. I had to shorten the hub and tweak the diameter. 2 numbers!
And I’m having issues with MakForge. It isn’t cutting through at its customary settings so I haven’t used it lately. I’m going to have to do a series of tests again and then send in to support. The recent power profile updates perhaps have changed everything. I’ve cleaned all the windows and the lens, so that’s not an issue. Will devote some time to it this evening now that I have the Prusa tied up for a couple days.
I went for the black Kit and the Multi-material head, that one may come later, they didn’t say when those will be shipping.
Thanks for the offer of help, you may come to regret that. Hah
Playing around with the motion capture setup. @karaelena’s demo gifs are very effective and I’ve been wanting to get the workflow understood to get them done locally rather than using an online gif maker. ffmpeg and imagemagick work very well.
Got the Raspberry Pi 3 today and got Octoprint and the raspicam streaming. Pretty nifty to have such a small footprint instead of a big server by the Prusa. I named my printer Squirt. Not very imaginative, but easy to remember.
Now I also have another video feed for Glowforge operations when I finally get around to doing another video. Still haven’t connected the raspi to Squirt yet. Doing the third wheel.
Just saw a small 3D printer on Kickstarter, it looks cool, Obsidian 3D Printer. They have three of them $99, $149 and $279.
Did I ever say I need to stay away from Kickstarter, well I do. I have bought too much stuff on there.
Having supported several cheap 3D printers on KickStarter, I don’t anymore. The cheap ones are cheap for a reason and they don’t take into account the cost of support, they get killed when suppliers won’t fulfill contracts for the quoted prices used to set the KickStarter pricing, and they can’t meet delivery dates. The only one I would support is from a company who has external funding for the development of the printer and already has all the infrastructure required to manufacture and support the printer.
I am with you check them out and then put up the money. They appear to be ligament company, check them out if you want, Us.kodama3d.com. This is just a new offering on Kickstarter. Obsidian.kodama.com
I hear you on the need to stay away from kickstarter.
The Obsidian I think is from the same people as did the Trinus 3d I think a couple of us here on the forum have. It was definitely growing pains. I suspect the Obsidian if they can deliver will be far more polished.
