Author: Maker Block

Cross-Platform Profileinator Web App

Some of this write up is over at Thingiverse and some of it is at the end of the ProfileMaker page.

Dave Durant’s program for solving for flowrate is really incredibly helpful.  It is truly a shame that it isn’t more widely used.  I think part of the problem might have been people were intimidated by all the buttons and part of the problem was that it was a Windows only application.  There has since been a port to Java, but that’s not as convenient as a truly web based version.

I’ve hard coded the most common options, but fully intend to bring them back later as advanced options.  For now I just wanted to whip something together to help people out and show them just how easy calibration can really be.  Give it a shot.  If you haven’t printed at 0.2mm layers before, give it a whirl!

I’m really really looking forward to being able to enter values into Skeinforge from my cell phone.

Your suggestions, comments, questions, criticism, e-mails, etc are all welcome and invited.

 

Creating an Online Profileinator

I’m always juggling multiple projects – that seems to be the mark of a Maker and/or a Maker with ADD. 1  I’m looking to tinker with a clockwork spider, an open source disc shooter, possibly an open source shooter compatible with Nerf darts, and now…  I’d like to create a web app that aids in the calculation of good profile settings.

I’ve downloaded a bunch of different Thing-O-Matic, Cupcake, PWM and RMP calculators off of Thingiverse and am tinkering with them to get a better understanding of how they run these calculations. 2  Once I understand these, I’d like to make a very simple front end for these calculations.

If you have a good idea of how these things work, please leave a comment or shoot me an e-mail through the contact form.  Thanks!

  1. Which, in my experience, might just be a redundant statement [↩]
  2. I’ve put out the call to Dave Durant to help me get a better grasp on these calculations… [↩]

Can we make a printed Nerf dart shooter?

I’m curious.

I figure a typical Nerf dart shooter works as so:

  1. A dart with a plastic cap and a hollow center
  2. Putting the dart in a thin cylinder, with the cap facing out
  3. Pulling back a larger cylinder that fits around the thin cylinder, where the larger cylinder is capped at one end
  4. Suddenly releasing the larger cylinder, so that it will be propelled forward
  5. The air between the two cylinders is compressed, and forced into the cavity inside the dart
  6. The compressed air forces the dart out of the thin cylinder

I think this is doable with 3D printed parts and a rubber band.

Google, what the hell?!

Apparently I can’t access Google Groups.  Which sucks.  I have several different Gmail accounts and I can’t use any of them with Google Groups.  As a result, I can only read what’s going on in the Google Groups on my RSS feed – and not respond to anything.

Google, this may not be evil…  But it is just plain mean.  Cut this out, please, and restore access to Google Groups to Gmail users.

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A friend of mine was talking about homeopathy…

… the other day and how he liked natural solutions and remedies.  I asked him if he knew what homeopathy is.  He thought about it and said, “You know, natural stuff.”  I told him that homeopathy is the belief that exposing yourself to very small doses, parts per million, of a harmful or toxic substance will in some way provide you with a resistance against such compounds.

Astonishingly to me, this did not appear to phase him at all.

I just don’t get it.  How in the world is a small shark bite supposed to protect you from a big shark bite?

@giseburt, if you hated the circus…

…then don’t go to Disney On Ice.

It’s hard to say which would be worse.  I’m not sure if I hate clowns because I fear them so, or because I fear them because of my deep and abiding hatred for them. 1  On the other hand, Disney On Ice is miserable, miserable, miserable.

  1. That said, I like balloon animals.  And red noses.  Face paint?  Not so much. [↩]