Author: Maker Block

How are you printing with PLA? [Draft 02/16/2010]

[There were two drafts with this title, one empty, and one with the single sentence below unfinished.  Up until about January of 2010 I was printing in ABS which smelled bad and warped like crazy.  But, it did print.  When I started printing with PLA I found it difficult to work with, temperamental, wouldn’t melt or it would and then clog the extruder.  I think at some point I suggested that PLA was only suitable for printing tears.  Obviously, printers, PLA, and my maturity have come a long way since.]

I’d like to know, I really would.

Drafts Zero - The Lost Blog Posts
  1. The Lost Blog Posts
  2. Plastruder! [Draft 12/25/2009]
  3. UNTITLED [Draft 12/25/2009]
  4. Preparing to print [Draft 12/27/2009]
  5. More prints [Draft 01/04/2010]
  6. Prototype Pricing [Draft 01/19/2010]
  7. MakerBot tuning [Draft 01/20/2010]
  8. Plastic Screw Anchor [Draft 02/02/2010]
  9. Magic [Draft 02/03/2010]
  10. How are you printing with PLA? [Draft 02/16/2010]
  11. Rebuilding my extruder [Draft 02/16/2010]
  12. MY robot [Draft 02/18/2010]
  13. more things i learned [Draft 02/20/2010]
  14. First commissioned piece! [Draft 02/22/2010]
  15. MakerBot: Toy or Tool? [02/25/2010]
  16. Idea for Skeinforge settings… [Draft 03/27/2010]
  17. RepRap and MakerBot alternatives [Draft 04/05/2010]
  18. RepRap Parts for Sale [Draft 04/07/2010]
  19. Where is the Othercutter? [Draft 06/08/2015]

Magic [Draft 02/03/2010]

[Reflecting back on this post is a little bittersweet.  2010 was an incredible time to be someone with a 3D printer at home.  I remember Forrest Higgs’ detailed website about how he built his mostly wooden 3D printer.  By my recollection, it was slow but accurate enough to make useable parts.  Back then it was possible to read literally every single word published on the topic of 3D printers in about 30 minutes once a week – and I did.  I read, and re-read, so many of Forrest’s posts leading up to and well after the purchase of my Cupcake.  While Forrest’s site is no more, it lives on at Archive.org.]

Since I know basically nothing about how the actual electrical components of my MakerBot work, the entire thing is essentially magic to me.  (OOooooh!  Shiny lights!)

One of the things that kept me from buying a MakerBot in the beginning was the thought of trying to solder surface mount components.  Admittedly, I wasn’t exactly a pro at soldering through hole components either, but the idea of soldering super tiny parts using a hot plate was certainly off-putting.  I know the MakerBot guys said it is pretty easy, but I certainly had my doubts.

One of my favorite projects to monitor is Forrest Higgs progress on his Tommelise.  His goal, as I understand from his blog, is to design/build a machine that could be built cheaply by a reasonably clever and motivated 12 year old.  While the suggested cost of building a RepRap Darwin/Mendel is somewhere in the $500-$750 range, Forrest suggests a Tommelise could be built for as little as $150.

The trade off is that the Tommelise uses a lot of wood in its construction (cheap, but not RepRappable “vitamin” part), uses linear stepper motors, uses through-hole components so it doesn’t benefit from the nifty wizbang bits you can get in surface mount components,  and prints slower than a RepRap.  But, I keep thinking back to the breadboard prototypes Forrest puts up on site.

Drafts Zero - The Lost Blog Posts
  1. The Lost Blog Posts
  2. Plastruder! [Draft 12/25/2009]
  3. UNTITLED [Draft 12/25/2009]
  4. Preparing to print [Draft 12/27/2009]
  5. More prints [Draft 01/04/2010]
  6. Prototype Pricing [Draft 01/19/2010]
  7. MakerBot tuning [Draft 01/20/2010]
  8. Plastic Screw Anchor [Draft 02/02/2010]
  9. Magic [Draft 02/03/2010]
  10. How are you printing with PLA? [Draft 02/16/2010]
  11. Rebuilding my extruder [Draft 02/16/2010]
  12. MY robot [Draft 02/18/2010]
  13. more things i learned [Draft 02/20/2010]
  14. First commissioned piece! [Draft 02/22/2010]
  15. MakerBot: Toy or Tool? [02/25/2010]
  16. Idea for Skeinforge settings… [Draft 03/27/2010]
  17. RepRap and MakerBot alternatives [Draft 04/05/2010]
  18. RepRap Parts for Sale [Draft 04/07/2010]
  19. Where is the Othercutter? [Draft 06/08/2015]

Plastic Screw Anchor [Draft 02/02/2010]

[This draft consisted of nothing more than these two links to plastic drywall anchors.  Enjoy!]

http://images.google.com/images?q=plastic%20drywall%20anchor&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wi

http://www.plastic-anchors.com/plastic_screw_anchor.htm

Drafts Zero - The Lost Blog Posts
  1. The Lost Blog Posts
  2. Plastruder! [Draft 12/25/2009]
  3. UNTITLED [Draft 12/25/2009]
  4. Preparing to print [Draft 12/27/2009]
  5. More prints [Draft 01/04/2010]
  6. Prototype Pricing [Draft 01/19/2010]
  7. MakerBot tuning [Draft 01/20/2010]
  8. Plastic Screw Anchor [Draft 02/02/2010]
  9. Magic [Draft 02/03/2010]
  10. How are you printing with PLA? [Draft 02/16/2010]
  11. Rebuilding my extruder [Draft 02/16/2010]
  12. MY robot [Draft 02/18/2010]
  13. more things i learned [Draft 02/20/2010]
  14. First commissioned piece! [Draft 02/22/2010]
  15. MakerBot: Toy or Tool? [02/25/2010]
  16. Idea for Skeinforge settings… [Draft 03/27/2010]
  17. RepRap and MakerBot alternatives [Draft 04/05/2010]
  18. RepRap Parts for Sale [Draft 04/07/2010]
  19. Where is the Othercutter? [Draft 06/08/2015]

MakerBot tuning [Draft 01/20/2010]

There’s a fair amount of tuning involved in getting a MakerBot running.  Once assembled there may be some plastruder, Skeinforge, replicatorG troubleshooting before you get your first print.  Once that’s done you’ll want to print up some upgrades and replacement parts, experimenting along the way.  I figure there’s two parallel tracks to tuning a MakerBot – the hardware and the software.

Hardware tuning

  • Leveling the print platform
  • Adjusting belt tension
  • Adjusting plastruder idler wheel tension
  • Adjusting the stepper motor potentiometers

Software tuning

  • Skeinforge settings
  • ReplicatorG settings
Drafts Zero - The Lost Blog Posts
  1. The Lost Blog Posts
  2. Plastruder! [Draft 12/25/2009]
  3. UNTITLED [Draft 12/25/2009]
  4. Preparing to print [Draft 12/27/2009]
  5. More prints [Draft 01/04/2010]
  6. Prototype Pricing [Draft 01/19/2010]
  7. MakerBot tuning [Draft 01/20/2010]
  8. Plastic Screw Anchor [Draft 02/02/2010]
  9. Magic [Draft 02/03/2010]
  10. How are you printing with PLA? [Draft 02/16/2010]
  11. Rebuilding my extruder [Draft 02/16/2010]
  12. MY robot [Draft 02/18/2010]
  13. more things i learned [Draft 02/20/2010]
  14. First commissioned piece! [Draft 02/22/2010]
  15. MakerBot: Toy or Tool? [02/25/2010]
  16. Idea for Skeinforge settings… [Draft 03/27/2010]
  17. RepRap and MakerBot alternatives [Draft 04/05/2010]
  18. RepRap Parts for Sale [Draft 04/07/2010]
  19. Where is the Othercutter? [Draft 06/08/2015]

Prototype Pricing [Draft 01/19/2010]

This is something I’ve thought about as well – what’s a fair way of pricing printed objects? I figure the potential costs associated with a build can be split into those build dependent costs and those costs which are uniform to every build.

Build dependent costs: (1) plastic (2) electricity (3) waste
Uniform costs: (1) set-up time (2) operator time

I’m not sure how to take into account the cost of the machine.  You could incorporate it by including a cost for “machine time.”  Then again, you could just tack on a set pro-rated cost of the machine to each build.  Obviously, there’s a small amount of set-up – converting to gcode, then to the s3g code, moving the stages into position.

Drafts Zero - The Lost Blog Posts
  1. The Lost Blog Posts
  2. Plastruder! [Draft 12/25/2009]
  3. UNTITLED [Draft 12/25/2009]
  4. Preparing to print [Draft 12/27/2009]
  5. More prints [Draft 01/04/2010]
  6. Prototype Pricing [Draft 01/19/2010]
  7. MakerBot tuning [Draft 01/20/2010]
  8. Plastic Screw Anchor [Draft 02/02/2010]
  9. Magic [Draft 02/03/2010]
  10. How are you printing with PLA? [Draft 02/16/2010]
  11. Rebuilding my extruder [Draft 02/16/2010]
  12. MY robot [Draft 02/18/2010]
  13. more things i learned [Draft 02/20/2010]
  14. First commissioned piece! [Draft 02/22/2010]
  15. MakerBot: Toy or Tool? [02/25/2010]
  16. Idea for Skeinforge settings… [Draft 03/27/2010]
  17. RepRap and MakerBot alternatives [Draft 04/05/2010]
  18. RepRap Parts for Sale [Draft 04/07/2010]
  19. Where is the Othercutter? [Draft 06/08/2015]

More prints [Draft 01/04/2010]

Over the last two days I’ve printed a MakerBot coin, two chess pieces (both knights), two replacement Scrabble pieces (one printed vertically, one printed horizontally), two different tries at printing a dummy SD card, and a very loud whistle.

I’ve had difficulty re-printing the whistle once I changed some of my Skeinforge settings.  (Dang.)  I’ve also ended up with a plank of plastic instead of a Darth Vader head.  It was being printed out with these really wild spikey bit sticking straight out of the head – several centimeters beyond where the raft ended.  Non-optimal.

Drafts Zero - The Lost Blog Posts
  1. The Lost Blog Posts
  2. Plastruder! [Draft 12/25/2009]
  3. UNTITLED [Draft 12/25/2009]
  4. Preparing to print [Draft 12/27/2009]
  5. More prints [Draft 01/04/2010]
  6. Prototype Pricing [Draft 01/19/2010]
  7. MakerBot tuning [Draft 01/20/2010]
  8. Plastic Screw Anchor [Draft 02/02/2010]
  9. Magic [Draft 02/03/2010]
  10. How are you printing with PLA? [Draft 02/16/2010]
  11. Rebuilding my extruder [Draft 02/16/2010]
  12. MY robot [Draft 02/18/2010]
  13. more things i learned [Draft 02/20/2010]
  14. First commissioned piece! [Draft 02/22/2010]
  15. MakerBot: Toy or Tool? [02/25/2010]
  16. Idea for Skeinforge settings… [Draft 03/27/2010]
  17. RepRap and MakerBot alternatives [Draft 04/05/2010]
  18. RepRap Parts for Sale [Draft 04/07/2010]
  19. Where is the Othercutter? [Draft 06/08/2015]

Preparing to print [Draft 12/27/2009]

Unfortunately my MakerBot did not come with a print button.  I’m (slowly) going through the MakerBot tutorial on how to print. For those of you with a Windows box, the first time process should be as follows:

Well, I’m still getting the hang of this…  I’ve frisbee’d two mini-mugs so far.  :)

Drafts Zero - The Lost Blog Posts
  1. The Lost Blog Posts
  2. Plastruder! [Draft 12/25/2009]
  3. UNTITLED [Draft 12/25/2009]
  4. Preparing to print [Draft 12/27/2009]
  5. More prints [Draft 01/04/2010]
  6. Prototype Pricing [Draft 01/19/2010]
  7. MakerBot tuning [Draft 01/20/2010]
  8. Plastic Screw Anchor [Draft 02/02/2010]
  9. Magic [Draft 02/03/2010]
  10. How are you printing with PLA? [Draft 02/16/2010]
  11. Rebuilding my extruder [Draft 02/16/2010]
  12. MY robot [Draft 02/18/2010]
  13. more things i learned [Draft 02/20/2010]
  14. First commissioned piece! [Draft 02/22/2010]
  15. MakerBot: Toy or Tool? [02/25/2010]
  16. Idea for Skeinforge settings… [Draft 03/27/2010]
  17. RepRap and MakerBot alternatives [Draft 04/05/2010]
  18. RepRap Parts for Sale [Draft 04/07/2010]
  19. Where is the Othercutter? [Draft 06/08/2015]

UNTITLED [Draft 12/25/2009]

[I have no idea why I jotted down the below.  At the time these pages were all easily accessible from the MakerBot website and wiki.  These days, you need Archive.org to see what these items are.  I think this is a snapshot of what I was doing on Christmas Day 2009?]

  • http://sanguino.cc/softwareforwindows
  • http://wiki.makerbot.com/plastruder-mk4
  • http://wiki.makerbot.com/plastruder-mk4-assembly#toc75
  • http://wiki.makerbot.com/cupcake-motherboard-firmware-update
  • http://wiki.makerbot.com/cupcake-calibration
Drafts Zero - The Lost Blog Posts
  1. The Lost Blog Posts
  2. Plastruder! [Draft 12/25/2009]
  3. UNTITLED [Draft 12/25/2009]
  4. Preparing to print [Draft 12/27/2009]
  5. More prints [Draft 01/04/2010]
  6. Prototype Pricing [Draft 01/19/2010]
  7. MakerBot tuning [Draft 01/20/2010]
  8. Plastic Screw Anchor [Draft 02/02/2010]
  9. Magic [Draft 02/03/2010]
  10. How are you printing with PLA? [Draft 02/16/2010]
  11. Rebuilding my extruder [Draft 02/16/2010]
  12. MY robot [Draft 02/18/2010]
  13. more things i learned [Draft 02/20/2010]
  14. First commissioned piece! [Draft 02/22/2010]
  15. MakerBot: Toy or Tool? [02/25/2010]
  16. Idea for Skeinforge settings… [Draft 03/27/2010]
  17. RepRap and MakerBot alternatives [Draft 04/05/2010]
  18. RepRap Parts for Sale [Draft 04/07/2010]
  19. Where is the Othercutter? [Draft 06/08/2015]

Plastruder! [Draft 12/25/2009]

Last night I started work on the Plastruder Mark IV.  Superglued the dino-bases, bolted those bits together, sourced some bits of wire from an ethernet cable, soldered together the nichrome wire, soldered together the thermisistor, and bolted the plastruder housing together with the motor.

Apparently there are two varieties of thermisistors – one small and one REALLY small.  I got the REALLY small one.  It was easily the most demanding part.  It’s such a tiny part that I was constantly afraid of snapping, crushing, or losing it.

Drafts Zero - The Lost Blog Posts
  1. The Lost Blog Posts
  2. Plastruder! [Draft 12/25/2009]
  3. UNTITLED [Draft 12/25/2009]
  4. Preparing to print [Draft 12/27/2009]
  5. More prints [Draft 01/04/2010]
  6. Prototype Pricing [Draft 01/19/2010]
  7. MakerBot tuning [Draft 01/20/2010]
  8. Plastic Screw Anchor [Draft 02/02/2010]
  9. Magic [Draft 02/03/2010]
  10. How are you printing with PLA? [Draft 02/16/2010]
  11. Rebuilding my extruder [Draft 02/16/2010]
  12. MY robot [Draft 02/18/2010]
  13. more things i learned [Draft 02/20/2010]
  14. First commissioned piece! [Draft 02/22/2010]
  15. MakerBot: Toy or Tool? [02/25/2010]
  16. Idea for Skeinforge settings… [Draft 03/27/2010]
  17. RepRap and MakerBot alternatives [Draft 04/05/2010]
  18. RepRap Parts for Sale [Draft 04/07/2010]
  19. Where is the Othercutter? [Draft 06/08/2015]

The Lost Blog Posts

A sign in front of a desolate wasteland says "YOU ARE LOST"
But at least you’re here

I’ve got a lot of unpublished draft blog posts here.  Like a lot.  At the time I’m writing this post, I’ve got 1,134 published posts and 329 drafts.  This isn’t versions of drafts.  It’s posts that I’ve started and then didn’t publish for some reason or another.  On probably 300 different topics.  Some are, admittedly, little more than a collection of links and indecipherable shorthand texts from a madman.  However, others are filled with research, links, images, code, and were so close to publishing that I can only imagine that something distracted me before I could… squirrel!

The oldest of these dates back to December 2009 and relates to the cutting edge, new to market, MakerBot Cupcake CNC’s plastic extruder, the “plastruder.”  I don’t know that anyone would be interested in this kind of content any more, but I kinda like the idea of “Drafts Zero” and spending about 5-15 minutes dusting off an old draft and just publishing it.1

Let’s see how this goes.

Update:

  1. In just the first few posts, I discovered that I wanted to add some additional comments.  Look for these at the top, in italics and in brackets to provide context.
Drafts Zero - The Lost Blog Posts
  1. The Lost Blog Posts
  2. Plastruder! [Draft 12/25/2009]
  3. UNTITLED [Draft 12/25/2009]
  4. Preparing to print [Draft 12/27/2009]
  5. More prints [Draft 01/04/2010]
  6. Prototype Pricing [Draft 01/19/2010]
  7. MakerBot tuning [Draft 01/20/2010]
  8. Plastic Screw Anchor [Draft 02/02/2010]
  9. Magic [Draft 02/03/2010]
  10. How are you printing with PLA? [Draft 02/16/2010]
  11. Rebuilding my extruder [Draft 02/16/2010]
  12. MY robot [Draft 02/18/2010]
  13. more things i learned [Draft 02/20/2010]
  14. First commissioned piece! [Draft 02/22/2010]
  15. MakerBot: Toy or Tool? [02/25/2010]
  16. Idea for Skeinforge settings… [Draft 03/27/2010]
  17. RepRap and MakerBot alternatives [Draft 04/05/2010]
  18. RepRap Parts for Sale [Draft 04/07/2010]
  19. Where is the Othercutter? [Draft 06/08/2015]
  1. A take on the “Inbox Zero” productivity / organization strategy [↩]