Day: February 12, 2010

Printed Dinos!

Don’t get me wrong – I like the acrylic dinos I have.  But what if you want to replace yours with a printed set?  Or what if you want to print up a full extruder kit for a friend?  Well, now you can!  I just uploaded some designs for a printed set of dinos.  Depending upon your batch you may have Big/Little dinos or Weird/Big dinos.  These should work in place of either, assuming that the placement of the bolt holes in the Z stage haven’t changed. 1

I’ve uploaded the sketchup files to make it easy to play with the designs.  As I was mocking these up I was tempted to turn them into bunnies instead of dinos.  Or to give the dinos some more features.  Since I was so torn about which route to take I decided to upload the bland models and let others embellish if they want.

So, print up printstruder and a few dinos for an authentic fully printed printruder.

Update:  Try out Zaggo’s printed dinos instead.  His is a much cleaner more elegant design.

  1. Doubtful [↩]

Burn with me

Doctor Who - "42"
Doctor Who - "42"

I’m really looking forward to my blow torch/clogged extruder barrel adventures.  Obviously, it will take place (1) outside (2) on a wide patch of cement (the non-flamable variety) (3) with a friend, hose, and fire extinguisher handy. 1  Since I haven’t had any time to do unclog it this week, I’ve been thinking about it all week.  And every time I do I remember this episode of Doctor Who and the phrase, “burn with me.”

A MakerBot, a blow torch, Doctor Who, and Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.  Pinch me!

  1. Photo courtesy of BBC. [↩]

Vouyerism

One of the interesting things about following along on other people’s MakerBot/RepRap/RepStrap blogs is seeing their workshop/work areas.  Some people have super organized, labeled boxes, and a clean clear uncluttered work space.  Others… are more like me.

  • Photos: I take photos of parts sitting on a sheet of white A4 paper that is being propped up against something.  With a light source it makes for a very clean photo.
  • Working on small parts: I have a long shallow wooden box – about 4′ x 8″ x 2″.  It’s small enough I can put it on nearly any surface, or even the floor.  It’s long enough to give me plenty of work space.  It’s shallow enough that it’s as easy as working on a regular surface – but has the short walls that prevent small pieces from rolling or falling away.
  • Working on large parts/Storage: I own a VERY large library card catalog (it’s a long story).  It’s about 6′ long, with 60 drawers on the front and another 60 on the back.  It stands about 4.5 feet tall and is about 3.5 feet deep.  It’s basically perfect for storing an enormous amount of small parts of … whatever.  I’m only using about three of the drawers so far for MakerBot parts.  It also serves as my large work surface.

Cracking a tough nut

Dave M. posted his process for removing a threaded barrel from his PTFE insulator, and it’s brilliant.  I was wondering how to do this since I may want to get my heater barrel out of the nozzle.  But, how to do it without having to some plyers, vice, or some other crushing instrument on the threads?!

  • Screw on one nut, a washer, and another nut.
  • Put the PTFE in a vice
  • Put a wrench on the nut below the washer
  • Muscles!

Z axis wobble from bearings?

I’ve seen it suggested on the MakerBot Operator’s group (I forget who…) that Z axis rod wobble can be introduced where the bearings fit on the Z axis rods.  This is an interesting possible source of error… and a solution!

It would seem that if the placement of the bearing on the rod can introduce warp, it might be able to slightly counteract warp as well.  I’ve gotten my Z axis wobble mostly under control.

Test