Category: Random Nonsense

Sometimes I just feel compelled to share nonsense, random thoughts, and sometimes just stuff I want to save

Ultimachine PLA review [12/15/2010]

[Just an unpublished review for Ultimachine PLA purchased 16 years ago.  I don’t think any review I might have written back then would be fair today, not least of which because I simply didn’t have a good handle on printing with PLA very well back then.]

My Ulimachine PLA arrived while I was at Botacon.  I had ordered black PLA and silver PLA.  The black was a shiny black plastic and the silver was a dark gun-metal color – about the same shininess and darkness as a piece of duct tape.  Admittedly, I was expecting a lighter, shinier, plastic – more like a true polished silver, rather than a metallic color.  Mind, I’m not at all disappointed.  I’m very much looking forward to using it.

Tonight (well, technically last night as it is now very early morning) I tried printing with some Ultimachine black PLA.  I tried out my stock MakerBot settings.  My settings are only those that come with ReplicatorG, except that I extrude PLA at 200C and ABS at 230.  I keep each in its own profile and have edited the “start.txt” files so that they are at the proper temperature.

In any case, I tried printing out with the black PLA at using the exact settings I’ve been printing using to print clear MakerBot PLA.  The parts came out beautifully with no warp and I noticed very little oozing.  When my clear PLA is heated up to 200C or so, it can tend to ooze right out of the extruder.  Perhaps its the formula of PLA or the pigments, but the blank PLA didn’t seem to do that nearly as much.

For the first few objected printed from the black Ultimachine PLA, I would call it a success.  I would also note that they included some green and white plastic as well.  I suspect they’re both PLA, but I don’t know for sure as they’re not labeled and there’s no accompanying note.  I would have to actually try them out in the extruder and see how they behave when melted before I would venture a guess as to which plastic they are with any degree of confidence.

Drafts Zero - The Lost Blog Posts
  1. Misnamer [11/28/2010]
  2. The Lost Blog Posts
  3. Plastruder! [Draft 12/25/2009]
  4. UNTITLED [Draft 12/25/2009]
  5. Preparing to print [Draft 12/27/2009]
  6. More prints [Draft 01/04/2010]
  7. Prototype Pricing [Draft 01/19/2010]
  8. MakerBot tuning [Draft 01/20/2010]
  9. Plastic Screw Anchor [Draft 02/02/2010]
  10. Magic [Draft 02/03/2010]
  11. How are you printing with PLA? [Draft 02/16/2010]
  12. Rebuilding my extruder [Draft 02/16/2010]
  13. MY robot [Draft 02/18/2010]
  14. more things i learned [Draft 02/20/2010]
  15. First commissioned piece! [Draft 02/22/2010]
  16. MakerBot: Toy or Tool? [02/25/2010]
  17. Idea for Skeinforge settings… [Draft 03/27/2010]
  18. RepRap and MakerBot alternatives [Draft 04/05/2010]
  19. RepRap Parts for Sale [Draft 04/07/2010]
  20. Where is the Othercutter? [Draft 06/08/2015]
  21. Mendel Parts – Printed, Cast, CNC’d, Lasercut or Injection Molded? [Draft 04/12/2010]
  22. MakerBot Operator’s Manual [06/04/20210]
  23. MakerBot on CBS! [07/07/2010]
  24. New Print: Soft-Pawed Albino Stoat of South Wales Cookie Cutter [07/07/2010]
  25. House calls [07/11/2010]
  26. Digital assistant? [08/05/2010]
  27. MakerBot + Junk = Stuff! [08/06/2010]
  28. Design choices in RepRap, Goals of RepRap [08/14/2010]
  29. Upgrades and obsolescence [08/25/2010]
  30. Dear Anonymous [08/25/2010]
  31. The ultimate in customer service [08/26/2010]
  32. Open Source Makes You Smarter [08/27/2010]
  33. Getting my Plastruder MK5 running [09/06/2010]
  34. Weird new kind of spam [09/19/2010]
  35. An open letter to Ms. Word [10/18/2010]
  36. Printing with PLA again! [10/18/2010]
  37. Halloween costume too [10/27/2010]
  38. Dream jobs [10/29/2010]
  39. The nuances of time travel [10/31/2010]
  40. Printed Pink Panther Person [11/22/2010]
  41. Skein them all and let ‘Bot sort them all out [11/24/2010]
  42. The Patents for disc shooters [12/10/2010]
  43. Princess Bride with Lightsabers [12/13/2010]
  44. Dilbert comic [12/13/2010]
  45. Ultimachine PLA review [12/15/2010]
  46. Mendel to the power of 101 [12/21/2010]
  47. Potential improvements for Leonardo Voltron [12/27/20210]
  48. You can keep your filthy money [12/28/2010]
  49. I watched Primer the other night [12/30/2010]
  50. 10 Printing Predictions for 2011 [01/03/2011]
  51. I’d rather be making [01/04/2011]
  52. Best use for the MakerBot Unicorn? [01/04/2011]
  53. There’s just something profoundly meta and wrong with this. [01/05/2011]
  54. MK4 plastruder parts for sale [01/10/2011]
  55. Phone conferences… [01/10/2011]

Dilbert comic [12/13/2010]

[Full disclosure:  I’ve come to deeply dislike Scott Adams for his political views in the years since this comic strip.  What’s particularly strange about this comic strip is that while I must have found something about it interesting at the time … now it doesn’t speak to me at all.  Maybe it’s that there doesn’t actually appear to be an joke in this comic at all?  Maybe it’s the awkward Dilbert approaching a coworker, at work, to ask her out in a strange way.  Anyway, in keeping with the spirit of this series, here’s the post.]

Dilbert circa 12/10/2010
Drafts Zero - The Lost Blog Posts
  1. Misnamer [11/28/2010]
  2. The Lost Blog Posts
  3. Plastruder! [Draft 12/25/2009]
  4. UNTITLED [Draft 12/25/2009]
  5. Preparing to print [Draft 12/27/2009]
  6. More prints [Draft 01/04/2010]
  7. Prototype Pricing [Draft 01/19/2010]
  8. MakerBot tuning [Draft 01/20/2010]
  9. Plastic Screw Anchor [Draft 02/02/2010]
  10. Magic [Draft 02/03/2010]
  11. How are you printing with PLA? [Draft 02/16/2010]
  12. Rebuilding my extruder [Draft 02/16/2010]
  13. MY robot [Draft 02/18/2010]
  14. more things i learned [Draft 02/20/2010]
  15. First commissioned piece! [Draft 02/22/2010]
  16. MakerBot: Toy or Tool? [02/25/2010]
  17. Idea for Skeinforge settings… [Draft 03/27/2010]
  18. RepRap and MakerBot alternatives [Draft 04/05/2010]
  19. RepRap Parts for Sale [Draft 04/07/2010]
  20. Where is the Othercutter? [Draft 06/08/2015]
  21. Mendel Parts – Printed, Cast, CNC’d, Lasercut or Injection Molded? [Draft 04/12/2010]
  22. MakerBot Operator’s Manual [06/04/20210]
  23. MakerBot on CBS! [07/07/2010]
  24. New Print: Soft-Pawed Albino Stoat of South Wales Cookie Cutter [07/07/2010]
  25. House calls [07/11/2010]
  26. Digital assistant? [08/05/2010]
  27. MakerBot + Junk = Stuff! [08/06/2010]
  28. Design choices in RepRap, Goals of RepRap [08/14/2010]
  29. Upgrades and obsolescence [08/25/2010]
  30. Dear Anonymous [08/25/2010]
  31. The ultimate in customer service [08/26/2010]
  32. Open Source Makes You Smarter [08/27/2010]
  33. Getting my Plastruder MK5 running [09/06/2010]
  34. Weird new kind of spam [09/19/2010]
  35. An open letter to Ms. Word [10/18/2010]
  36. Printing with PLA again! [10/18/2010]
  37. Halloween costume too [10/27/2010]
  38. Dream jobs [10/29/2010]
  39. The nuances of time travel [10/31/2010]
  40. Printed Pink Panther Person [11/22/2010]
  41. Skein them all and let ‘Bot sort them all out [11/24/2010]
  42. The Patents for disc shooters [12/10/2010]
  43. Princess Bride with Lightsabers [12/13/2010]
  44. Dilbert comic [12/13/2010]
  45. Ultimachine PLA review [12/15/2010]
  46. Mendel to the power of 101 [12/21/2010]
  47. Potential improvements for Leonardo Voltron [12/27/20210]
  48. You can keep your filthy money [12/28/2010]
  49. I watched Primer the other night [12/30/2010]
  50. 10 Printing Predictions for 2011 [01/03/2011]
  51. I’d rather be making [01/04/2011]
  52. Best use for the MakerBot Unicorn? [01/04/2011]
  53. There’s just something profoundly meta and wrong with this. [01/05/2011]
  54. MK4 plastruder parts for sale [01/10/2011]
  55. Phone conferences… [01/10/2011]

Princess Bride with Lightsabers [12/13/2010]

[The entire draft was nothing more than this link to a “Star Wars meets The Princess Bride – The Chatty Duelists video” by VFXFreak.  This was nearly 16 years ago, long before AI slop videos, which means someone spent their own time and effort to create this.]

Drafts Zero - The Lost Blog Posts
  1. Misnamer [11/28/2010]
  2. The Lost Blog Posts
  3. Plastruder! [Draft 12/25/2009]
  4. UNTITLED [Draft 12/25/2009]
  5. Preparing to print [Draft 12/27/2009]
  6. More prints [Draft 01/04/2010]
  7. Prototype Pricing [Draft 01/19/2010]
  8. MakerBot tuning [Draft 01/20/2010]
  9. Plastic Screw Anchor [Draft 02/02/2010]
  10. Magic [Draft 02/03/2010]
  11. How are you printing with PLA? [Draft 02/16/2010]
  12. Rebuilding my extruder [Draft 02/16/2010]
  13. MY robot [Draft 02/18/2010]
  14. more things i learned [Draft 02/20/2010]
  15. First commissioned piece! [Draft 02/22/2010]
  16. MakerBot: Toy or Tool? [02/25/2010]
  17. Idea for Skeinforge settings… [Draft 03/27/2010]
  18. RepRap and MakerBot alternatives [Draft 04/05/2010]
  19. RepRap Parts for Sale [Draft 04/07/2010]
  20. Where is the Othercutter? [Draft 06/08/2015]
  21. Mendel Parts – Printed, Cast, CNC’d, Lasercut or Injection Molded? [Draft 04/12/2010]
  22. MakerBot Operator’s Manual [06/04/20210]
  23. MakerBot on CBS! [07/07/2010]
  24. New Print: Soft-Pawed Albino Stoat of South Wales Cookie Cutter [07/07/2010]
  25. House calls [07/11/2010]
  26. Digital assistant? [08/05/2010]
  27. MakerBot + Junk = Stuff! [08/06/2010]
  28. Design choices in RepRap, Goals of RepRap [08/14/2010]
  29. Upgrades and obsolescence [08/25/2010]
  30. Dear Anonymous [08/25/2010]
  31. The ultimate in customer service [08/26/2010]
  32. Open Source Makes You Smarter [08/27/2010]
  33. Getting my Plastruder MK5 running [09/06/2010]
  34. Weird new kind of spam [09/19/2010]
  35. An open letter to Ms. Word [10/18/2010]
  36. Printing with PLA again! [10/18/2010]
  37. Halloween costume too [10/27/2010]
  38. Dream jobs [10/29/2010]
  39. The nuances of time travel [10/31/2010]
  40. Printed Pink Panther Person [11/22/2010]
  41. Skein them all and let ‘Bot sort them all out [11/24/2010]
  42. The Patents for disc shooters [12/10/2010]
  43. Princess Bride with Lightsabers [12/13/2010]
  44. Dilbert comic [12/13/2010]
  45. Ultimachine PLA review [12/15/2010]
  46. Mendel to the power of 101 [12/21/2010]
  47. Potential improvements for Leonardo Voltron [12/27/20210]
  48. You can keep your filthy money [12/28/2010]
  49. I watched Primer the other night [12/30/2010]
  50. 10 Printing Predictions for 2011 [01/03/2011]
  51. I’d rather be making [01/04/2011]
  52. Best use for the MakerBot Unicorn? [01/04/2011]
  53. There’s just something profoundly meta and wrong with this. [01/05/2011]
  54. MK4 plastruder parts for sale [01/10/2011]
  55. Phone conferences… [01/10/2011]

The Patents for disc shooters [12/10/2010]

[There’s no secret I’ve always loved the old “disc shooters” that could be picked up in a grocery store aisle.  These were called the “Rayline Tracer Gun“, sold from the 1960’s to 1980’s, and then kind of disappeared.  Much more recently, someone started selling replicas on Amazon.  Once I had a 3D printer, this was one of my ideal prints.  It was easy to blow through a pile of the discs and lose them all in an afternoon.  But, the little discs look very printable.

A year after the below post, I’d go on to post about a contest for a design of a disc shooter.  I started building some of the components for the disc shooter and the disc cartridge, but never end up building a reasonably functional shooter.

This is a project I’d still like to come back to and resurrect. 1  I’m confident with enough trial and error, I could design something that would work in a similar fashion.  Anyhow, below are links to the patents for these toys which I’d found as part of my research into building one for myself.]

Drafts Zero - The Lost Blog Posts
  1. Misnamer [11/28/2010]
  2. The Lost Blog Posts
  3. Plastruder! [Draft 12/25/2009]
  4. UNTITLED [Draft 12/25/2009]
  5. Preparing to print [Draft 12/27/2009]
  6. More prints [Draft 01/04/2010]
  7. Prototype Pricing [Draft 01/19/2010]
  8. MakerBot tuning [Draft 01/20/2010]
  9. Plastic Screw Anchor [Draft 02/02/2010]
  10. Magic [Draft 02/03/2010]
  11. How are you printing with PLA? [Draft 02/16/2010]
  12. Rebuilding my extruder [Draft 02/16/2010]
  13. MY robot [Draft 02/18/2010]
  14. more things i learned [Draft 02/20/2010]
  15. First commissioned piece! [Draft 02/22/2010]
  16. MakerBot: Toy or Tool? [02/25/2010]
  17. Idea for Skeinforge settings… [Draft 03/27/2010]
  18. RepRap and MakerBot alternatives [Draft 04/05/2010]
  19. RepRap Parts for Sale [Draft 04/07/2010]
  20. Where is the Othercutter? [Draft 06/08/2015]
  21. Mendel Parts – Printed, Cast, CNC’d, Lasercut or Injection Molded? [Draft 04/12/2010]
  22. MakerBot Operator’s Manual [06/04/20210]
  23. MakerBot on CBS! [07/07/2010]
  24. New Print: Soft-Pawed Albino Stoat of South Wales Cookie Cutter [07/07/2010]
  25. House calls [07/11/2010]
  26. Digital assistant? [08/05/2010]
  27. MakerBot + Junk = Stuff! [08/06/2010]
  28. Design choices in RepRap, Goals of RepRap [08/14/2010]
  29. Upgrades and obsolescence [08/25/2010]
  30. Dear Anonymous [08/25/2010]
  31. The ultimate in customer service [08/26/2010]
  32. Open Source Makes You Smarter [08/27/2010]
  33. Getting my Plastruder MK5 running [09/06/2010]
  34. Weird new kind of spam [09/19/2010]
  35. An open letter to Ms. Word [10/18/2010]
  36. Printing with PLA again! [10/18/2010]
  37. Halloween costume too [10/27/2010]
  38. Dream jobs [10/29/2010]
  39. The nuances of time travel [10/31/2010]
  40. Printed Pink Panther Person [11/22/2010]
  41. Skein them all and let ‘Bot sort them all out [11/24/2010]
  42. The Patents for disc shooters [12/10/2010]
  43. Princess Bride with Lightsabers [12/13/2010]
  44. Dilbert comic [12/13/2010]
  45. Ultimachine PLA review [12/15/2010]
  46. Mendel to the power of 101 [12/21/2010]
  47. Potential improvements for Leonardo Voltron [12/27/20210]
  48. You can keep your filthy money [12/28/2010]
  49. I watched Primer the other night [12/30/2010]
  50. 10 Printing Predictions for 2011 [01/03/2011]
  51. I’d rather be making [01/04/2011]
  52. Best use for the MakerBot Unicorn? [01/04/2011]
  53. There’s just something profoundly meta and wrong with this. [01/05/2011]
  54. MK4 plastruder parts for sale [01/10/2011]
  55. Phone conferences… [01/10/2011]
  1. Get in line! [↩]

Skein them all and let ‘Bot sort them all out [11/24/2010]

[Just a bit of silliness that was left at the bottom of my drafts bin :) This was in response to a blog post on Thingiverse asking about user’s printing anxiety.]

I think I’m finding these questions to be funnier than perhaps they were intended to be.

“Broad Flat Bottoms”?  Sign me up!

Drafts Zero - The Lost Blog Posts
  1. Misnamer [11/28/2010]
  2. The Lost Blog Posts
  3. Plastruder! [Draft 12/25/2009]
  4. UNTITLED [Draft 12/25/2009]
  5. Preparing to print [Draft 12/27/2009]
  6. More prints [Draft 01/04/2010]
  7. Prototype Pricing [Draft 01/19/2010]
  8. MakerBot tuning [Draft 01/20/2010]
  9. Plastic Screw Anchor [Draft 02/02/2010]
  10. Magic [Draft 02/03/2010]
  11. How are you printing with PLA? [Draft 02/16/2010]
  12. Rebuilding my extruder [Draft 02/16/2010]
  13. MY robot [Draft 02/18/2010]
  14. more things i learned [Draft 02/20/2010]
  15. First commissioned piece! [Draft 02/22/2010]
  16. MakerBot: Toy or Tool? [02/25/2010]
  17. Idea for Skeinforge settings… [Draft 03/27/2010]
  18. RepRap and MakerBot alternatives [Draft 04/05/2010]
  19. RepRap Parts for Sale [Draft 04/07/2010]
  20. Where is the Othercutter? [Draft 06/08/2015]
  21. Mendel Parts – Printed, Cast, CNC’d, Lasercut or Injection Molded? [Draft 04/12/2010]
  22. MakerBot Operator’s Manual [06/04/20210]
  23. MakerBot on CBS! [07/07/2010]
  24. New Print: Soft-Pawed Albino Stoat of South Wales Cookie Cutter [07/07/2010]
  25. House calls [07/11/2010]
  26. Digital assistant? [08/05/2010]
  27. MakerBot + Junk = Stuff! [08/06/2010]
  28. Design choices in RepRap, Goals of RepRap [08/14/2010]
  29. Upgrades and obsolescence [08/25/2010]
  30. Dear Anonymous [08/25/2010]
  31. The ultimate in customer service [08/26/2010]
  32. Open Source Makes You Smarter [08/27/2010]
  33. Getting my Plastruder MK5 running [09/06/2010]
  34. Weird new kind of spam [09/19/2010]
  35. An open letter to Ms. Word [10/18/2010]
  36. Printing with PLA again! [10/18/2010]
  37. Halloween costume too [10/27/2010]
  38. Dream jobs [10/29/2010]
  39. The nuances of time travel [10/31/2010]
  40. Printed Pink Panther Person [11/22/2010]
  41. Skein them all and let ‘Bot sort them all out [11/24/2010]
  42. The Patents for disc shooters [12/10/2010]
  43. Princess Bride with Lightsabers [12/13/2010]
  44. Dilbert comic [12/13/2010]
  45. Ultimachine PLA review [12/15/2010]
  46. Mendel to the power of 101 [12/21/2010]
  47. Potential improvements for Leonardo Voltron [12/27/20210]
  48. You can keep your filthy money [12/28/2010]
  49. I watched Primer the other night [12/30/2010]
  50. 10 Printing Predictions for 2011 [01/03/2011]
  51. I’d rather be making [01/04/2011]
  52. Best use for the MakerBot Unicorn? [01/04/2011]
  53. There’s just something profoundly meta and wrong with this. [01/05/2011]
  54. MK4 plastruder parts for sale [01/10/2011]
  55. Phone conferences… [01/10/2011]

Printed Pink Panther Person [11/22/2010]

[This is a funny bit of MakerBot / Thingiverse / 3D printing lore.  One of the earliest uploads to Thingiverse, #1216 uploaded on 11/01/2009, was the mysterious “Pink Panther Woman!!!” by “januario.”  Whoever januario was, they uploaded this model, provided zero context, and never, ever came back.  The original model was listed with a “no derivatives” license, but people still created lots of variations.  This was in my PLA printing days and on a MakerBot Cupcake CNC at that, so the print quality is not up to what you’d expect today.  The layer lines were around 0.28 – 0.3mm and the PLA was … a little goopy.  Even so, it was a fantastic looking model.]

"The Pink Panther Lady"
“The Pink Panther Lady”

This print turned out really well.  In preparation I made sure I had enough vertical clearance by raising the Z platform up 11.5cm (100 mm for the print, 15 mm extra for the Z platform raise at the end of the print).  I was a little nervous about the print since I had been having tangles in my filament spindle all day long.  Fortunately, that didn’t prove to be a problem.  I printed in PLA at 200 degrees, 1% plastic infill, with an extra shell all the way around.  Since nearly every cross section was fairly large, printing in PLA went very well.  In any case, I wanted to print this to see if I could.  I can, indeed, print it – and quite well at that.

Drafts Zero - The Lost Blog Posts
  1. Misnamer [11/28/2010]
  2. The Lost Blog Posts
  3. Plastruder! [Draft 12/25/2009]
  4. UNTITLED [Draft 12/25/2009]
  5. Preparing to print [Draft 12/27/2009]
  6. More prints [Draft 01/04/2010]
  7. Prototype Pricing [Draft 01/19/2010]
  8. MakerBot tuning [Draft 01/20/2010]
  9. Plastic Screw Anchor [Draft 02/02/2010]
  10. Magic [Draft 02/03/2010]
  11. How are you printing with PLA? [Draft 02/16/2010]
  12. Rebuilding my extruder [Draft 02/16/2010]
  13. MY robot [Draft 02/18/2010]
  14. more things i learned [Draft 02/20/2010]
  15. First commissioned piece! [Draft 02/22/2010]
  16. MakerBot: Toy or Tool? [02/25/2010]
  17. Idea for Skeinforge settings… [Draft 03/27/2010]
  18. RepRap and MakerBot alternatives [Draft 04/05/2010]
  19. RepRap Parts for Sale [Draft 04/07/2010]
  20. Where is the Othercutter? [Draft 06/08/2015]
  21. Mendel Parts – Printed, Cast, CNC’d, Lasercut or Injection Molded? [Draft 04/12/2010]
  22. MakerBot Operator’s Manual [06/04/20210]
  23. MakerBot on CBS! [07/07/2010]
  24. New Print: Soft-Pawed Albino Stoat of South Wales Cookie Cutter [07/07/2010]
  25. House calls [07/11/2010]
  26. Digital assistant? [08/05/2010]
  27. MakerBot + Junk = Stuff! [08/06/2010]
  28. Design choices in RepRap, Goals of RepRap [08/14/2010]
  29. Upgrades and obsolescence [08/25/2010]
  30. Dear Anonymous [08/25/2010]
  31. The ultimate in customer service [08/26/2010]
  32. Open Source Makes You Smarter [08/27/2010]
  33. Getting my Plastruder MK5 running [09/06/2010]
  34. Weird new kind of spam [09/19/2010]
  35. An open letter to Ms. Word [10/18/2010]
  36. Printing with PLA again! [10/18/2010]
  37. Halloween costume too [10/27/2010]
  38. Dream jobs [10/29/2010]
  39. The nuances of time travel [10/31/2010]
  40. Printed Pink Panther Person [11/22/2010]
  41. Skein them all and let ‘Bot sort them all out [11/24/2010]
  42. The Patents for disc shooters [12/10/2010]
  43. Princess Bride with Lightsabers [12/13/2010]
  44. Dilbert comic [12/13/2010]
  45. Ultimachine PLA review [12/15/2010]
  46. Mendel to the power of 101 [12/21/2010]
  47. Potential improvements for Leonardo Voltron [12/27/20210]
  48. You can keep your filthy money [12/28/2010]
  49. I watched Primer the other night [12/30/2010]
  50. 10 Printing Predictions for 2011 [01/03/2011]
  51. I’d rather be making [01/04/2011]
  52. Best use for the MakerBot Unicorn? [01/04/2011]
  53. There’s just something profoundly meta and wrong with this. [01/05/2011]
  54. MK4 plastruder parts for sale [01/10/2011]
  55. Phone conferences… [01/10/2011]

Going for a Record

I’ll go months and not post anything on this blog – and then post a ton as I work through a project or just need to get something off my chest.  There’s usually an uptick around the time Maker Faire applications are opened and most years I have a few dozen posts with the notable exception of 2020.1

Publishing my old blog posts might get me in striking distance of a personal best from February of 2010 of 106 posts. 2  They weren’t all bangers.  Here’s the last one from that month – a haiku:

Clear PLA sits
Mendel languishes alone
Plastruder hates corn

MakerBlock – 02/28/2010

Beating 106 blog posts this month seems entirely possible.  Even if I try to beat my record and fail, I’m already way ahead of my usual blog post count.  MakerFaire is coming up, the kids are out of school, and, as always, I’m working on a bunch of random projects.  Right now I’m at 28 posts for the month of June 2026.  I’ve got 20 more days in the month to go, 293 unpublished draft posts of varying degree and quality, fresh page in my notebook, a strong internet connection, a quarter tank of gas, and a credit card.

Let’s fucking go.

  1. Just the one!  I can’t imagine what was going on in the world back then… [↩]
  2. With so many posts during that month, it’s almost unbelievable that 8 of my unpublished posts were from February 2010! [↩]

The nuances of time travel [10/31/2010]

[Ah, Botacon!  You can watch the introduction from Bre here and catch the listing of the talks here.  Mine wasn’t listed in that post, but the presentation was about being a dad and making stuff for his family, getting kids involved in the process.  There were several blog posts on the MakerBot blog at the time discussing some of these items.  :)  ]

As I plan out my travel to Brooklyn, I have to take into account the impact of traveling through time.  I live on the west coast, so there is a 3 hour “time difference” to be taken into account when traveling to New York.  The plan is to fly out on Thursday, arrive Friday morning, duck the restraining order, hang out at the Botcave for the day, go to Botacon the next day, and fly out on Sunday morning.

Given the

Drafts Zero - The Lost Blog Posts
  1. Misnamer [11/28/2010]
  2. The Lost Blog Posts
  3. Plastruder! [Draft 12/25/2009]
  4. UNTITLED [Draft 12/25/2009]
  5. Preparing to print [Draft 12/27/2009]
  6. More prints [Draft 01/04/2010]
  7. Prototype Pricing [Draft 01/19/2010]
  8. MakerBot tuning [Draft 01/20/2010]
  9. Plastic Screw Anchor [Draft 02/02/2010]
  10. Magic [Draft 02/03/2010]
  11. How are you printing with PLA? [Draft 02/16/2010]
  12. Rebuilding my extruder [Draft 02/16/2010]
  13. MY robot [Draft 02/18/2010]
  14. more things i learned [Draft 02/20/2010]
  15. First commissioned piece! [Draft 02/22/2010]
  16. MakerBot: Toy or Tool? [02/25/2010]
  17. Idea for Skeinforge settings… [Draft 03/27/2010]
  18. RepRap and MakerBot alternatives [Draft 04/05/2010]
  19. RepRap Parts for Sale [Draft 04/07/2010]
  20. Where is the Othercutter? [Draft 06/08/2015]
  21. Mendel Parts – Printed, Cast, CNC’d, Lasercut or Injection Molded? [Draft 04/12/2010]
  22. MakerBot Operator’s Manual [06/04/20210]
  23. MakerBot on CBS! [07/07/2010]
  24. New Print: Soft-Pawed Albino Stoat of South Wales Cookie Cutter [07/07/2010]
  25. House calls [07/11/2010]
  26. Digital assistant? [08/05/2010]
  27. MakerBot + Junk = Stuff! [08/06/2010]
  28. Design choices in RepRap, Goals of RepRap [08/14/2010]
  29. Upgrades and obsolescence [08/25/2010]
  30. Dear Anonymous [08/25/2010]
  31. The ultimate in customer service [08/26/2010]
  32. Open Source Makes You Smarter [08/27/2010]
  33. Getting my Plastruder MK5 running [09/06/2010]
  34. Weird new kind of spam [09/19/2010]
  35. An open letter to Ms. Word [10/18/2010]
  36. Printing with PLA again! [10/18/2010]
  37. Halloween costume too [10/27/2010]
  38. Dream jobs [10/29/2010]
  39. The nuances of time travel [10/31/2010]
  40. Printed Pink Panther Person [11/22/2010]
  41. Skein them all and let ‘Bot sort them all out [11/24/2010]
  42. The Patents for disc shooters [12/10/2010]
  43. Princess Bride with Lightsabers [12/13/2010]
  44. Dilbert comic [12/13/2010]
  45. Ultimachine PLA review [12/15/2010]
  46. Mendel to the power of 101 [12/21/2010]
  47. Potential improvements for Leonardo Voltron [12/27/20210]
  48. You can keep your filthy money [12/28/2010]
  49. I watched Primer the other night [12/30/2010]
  50. 10 Printing Predictions for 2011 [01/03/2011]
  51. I’d rather be making [01/04/2011]
  52. Best use for the MakerBot Unicorn? [01/04/2011]
  53. There’s just something profoundly meta and wrong with this. [01/05/2011]
  54. MK4 plastruder parts for sale [01/10/2011]
  55. Phone conferences… [01/10/2011]

Dream jobs [10/29/2010]

[Yet another entirely blank blog post.  I just started it and then abandoned it, I guess?  I’m not sure what my dream jobs would have been back then.  Pizza and ice cream taste tester, science communicator / science museum enthusiast, naptime commentator?]

Drafts Zero - The Lost Blog Posts
  1. Misnamer [11/28/2010]
  2. The Lost Blog Posts
  3. Plastruder! [Draft 12/25/2009]
  4. UNTITLED [Draft 12/25/2009]
  5. Preparing to print [Draft 12/27/2009]
  6. More prints [Draft 01/04/2010]
  7. Prototype Pricing [Draft 01/19/2010]
  8. MakerBot tuning [Draft 01/20/2010]
  9. Plastic Screw Anchor [Draft 02/02/2010]
  10. Magic [Draft 02/03/2010]
  11. How are you printing with PLA? [Draft 02/16/2010]
  12. Rebuilding my extruder [Draft 02/16/2010]
  13. MY robot [Draft 02/18/2010]
  14. more things i learned [Draft 02/20/2010]
  15. First commissioned piece! [Draft 02/22/2010]
  16. MakerBot: Toy or Tool? [02/25/2010]
  17. Idea for Skeinforge settings… [Draft 03/27/2010]
  18. RepRap and MakerBot alternatives [Draft 04/05/2010]
  19. RepRap Parts for Sale [Draft 04/07/2010]
  20. Where is the Othercutter? [Draft 06/08/2015]
  21. Mendel Parts – Printed, Cast, CNC’d, Lasercut or Injection Molded? [Draft 04/12/2010]
  22. MakerBot Operator’s Manual [06/04/20210]
  23. MakerBot on CBS! [07/07/2010]
  24. New Print: Soft-Pawed Albino Stoat of South Wales Cookie Cutter [07/07/2010]
  25. House calls [07/11/2010]
  26. Digital assistant? [08/05/2010]
  27. MakerBot + Junk = Stuff! [08/06/2010]
  28. Design choices in RepRap, Goals of RepRap [08/14/2010]
  29. Upgrades and obsolescence [08/25/2010]
  30. Dear Anonymous [08/25/2010]
  31. The ultimate in customer service [08/26/2010]
  32. Open Source Makes You Smarter [08/27/2010]
  33. Getting my Plastruder MK5 running [09/06/2010]
  34. Weird new kind of spam [09/19/2010]
  35. An open letter to Ms. Word [10/18/2010]
  36. Printing with PLA again! [10/18/2010]
  37. Halloween costume too [10/27/2010]
  38. Dream jobs [10/29/2010]
  39. The nuances of time travel [10/31/2010]
  40. Printed Pink Panther Person [11/22/2010]
  41. Skein them all and let ‘Bot sort them all out [11/24/2010]
  42. The Patents for disc shooters [12/10/2010]
  43. Princess Bride with Lightsabers [12/13/2010]
  44. Dilbert comic [12/13/2010]
  45. Ultimachine PLA review [12/15/2010]
  46. Mendel to the power of 101 [12/21/2010]
  47. Potential improvements for Leonardo Voltron [12/27/20210]
  48. You can keep your filthy money [12/28/2010]
  49. I watched Primer the other night [12/30/2010]
  50. 10 Printing Predictions for 2011 [01/03/2011]
  51. I’d rather be making [01/04/2011]
  52. Best use for the MakerBot Unicorn? [01/04/2011]
  53. There’s just something profoundly meta and wrong with this. [01/05/2011]
  54. MK4 plastruder parts for sale [01/10/2011]
  55. Phone conferences… [01/10/2011]

Halloween costume too [10/27/2010]

[Just a bit of Halloween silliness.  In recent years my go-to Halloween costume has been “mad scientist” since I can wear a comfortable white lab coat and LED goggles over my regular clothes.]

In all likelihood, I’ll probably wear the same costume I’ve worn for the last several years.  It consists of two small horns I sculpted out of modeling clay and painted to look like bone.  I use spirit gum to affix them to my forehead and try to slightly obscure them with my hair.  I then print off a page long contract that starts off at 20pt font and gradually shrinks to 4pt font, entitled, “Contract for the Sale of Intangible Goods.”  The contract has a large blank space in the middle where the person can specify anything they want and a spot at the bottom for them to sign.  I dress in a suit and carry a small black satchel with a red pen1 , a stack of those contracts, some candy, some play money, some stickers and other minor knickknacks.  When someone asks me who I am, I insist that I’m a broker for a party that wishes to remain anonymous but who is nonetheless still interested in purchasing any spare intangible goods they may have.  When they ask about the horns I simply say that they’re a birth defect I’m very self-conscious about and politely change topic.  When they ask about the nature of the intangible goods, I assure them that it’s nothing required for their day-to-day existence and that most people get along quite happily without such baggage.

Drafts Zero - The Lost Blog Posts
  1. Misnamer [11/28/2010]
  2. The Lost Blog Posts
  3. Plastruder! [Draft 12/25/2009]
  4. UNTITLED [Draft 12/25/2009]
  5. Preparing to print [Draft 12/27/2009]
  6. More prints [Draft 01/04/2010]
  7. Prototype Pricing [Draft 01/19/2010]
  8. MakerBot tuning [Draft 01/20/2010]
  9. Plastic Screw Anchor [Draft 02/02/2010]
  10. Magic [Draft 02/03/2010]
  11. How are you printing with PLA? [Draft 02/16/2010]
  12. Rebuilding my extruder [Draft 02/16/2010]
  13. MY robot [Draft 02/18/2010]
  14. more things i learned [Draft 02/20/2010]
  15. First commissioned piece! [Draft 02/22/2010]
  16. MakerBot: Toy or Tool? [02/25/2010]
  17. Idea for Skeinforge settings… [Draft 03/27/2010]
  18. RepRap and MakerBot alternatives [Draft 04/05/2010]
  19. RepRap Parts for Sale [Draft 04/07/2010]
  20. Where is the Othercutter? [Draft 06/08/2015]
  21. Mendel Parts – Printed, Cast, CNC’d, Lasercut or Injection Molded? [Draft 04/12/2010]
  22. MakerBot Operator’s Manual [06/04/20210]
  23. MakerBot on CBS! [07/07/2010]
  24. New Print: Soft-Pawed Albino Stoat of South Wales Cookie Cutter [07/07/2010]
  25. House calls [07/11/2010]
  26. Digital assistant? [08/05/2010]
  27. MakerBot + Junk = Stuff! [08/06/2010]
  28. Design choices in RepRap, Goals of RepRap [08/14/2010]
  29. Upgrades and obsolescence [08/25/2010]
  30. Dear Anonymous [08/25/2010]
  31. The ultimate in customer service [08/26/2010]
  32. Open Source Makes You Smarter [08/27/2010]
  33. Getting my Plastruder MK5 running [09/06/2010]
  34. Weird new kind of spam [09/19/2010]
  35. An open letter to Ms. Word [10/18/2010]
  36. Printing with PLA again! [10/18/2010]
  37. Halloween costume too [10/27/2010]
  38. Dream jobs [10/29/2010]
  39. The nuances of time travel [10/31/2010]
  40. Printed Pink Panther Person [11/22/2010]
  41. Skein them all and let ‘Bot sort them all out [11/24/2010]
  42. The Patents for disc shooters [12/10/2010]
  43. Princess Bride with Lightsabers [12/13/2010]
  44. Dilbert comic [12/13/2010]
  45. Ultimachine PLA review [12/15/2010]
  46. Mendel to the power of 101 [12/21/2010]
  47. Potential improvements for Leonardo Voltron [12/27/20210]
  48. You can keep your filthy money [12/28/2010]
  49. I watched Primer the other night [12/30/2010]
  50. 10 Printing Predictions for 2011 [01/03/2011]
  51. I’d rather be making [01/04/2011]
  52. Best use for the MakerBot Unicorn? [01/04/2011]
  53. There’s just something profoundly meta and wrong with this. [01/05/2011]
  54. MK4 plastruder parts for sale [01/10/2011]
  55. Phone conferences… [01/10/2011]
  1. Blood?  No, of course not.  That’s just silly.  Red just shows up better on my photocopier.  It’s more of a symbolic thing anyhow. [↩]
Test