Tag Archives: lot

Christmas, Birthday, etc

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It’s not that I’m not materialistic or a complete stoic.  It’s just that my interests are so simple, narrow, and specific there just isn’t a whole lot I require out of life.  But for other happy and fortunate life complications1 I’d live in a studio apartment almost completely devoid of furniture except for a futon, small table, one (perhaps two) and book shelf.  Give me a library card and a laptop and I’ll show you a content man.  For example – one of my hobbies is origami.  Which boils down to basically a lot of paper. 2

While this means I’m easily content, it means those family and friends are frustrated at the thought of having to find me a gift. 3  So, for basically the first time ever I’ve put together a wish list with stuff I would love to get (in rough order):

  1. aka family [↩]
  2. A hobby which, hundreds of years ago could only be practiced by those precious few who had access to a luxury such as paper, can now be practiced by anyone in reach of a paper recycling bin. [↩]
  3. 500 sheets of A4 bright white multipurpose paper???  Score! [↩]
  4. Since I have none of the equipment or skills to perform SMT soldering [↩]
  5. Someone mentioned the modular thermistor set ups don’t detect temperatures properly – about 10 degrees too low?! Update:  Rick of MakerGear clarifies this was the result of a ring terminal mounted thermistor.  His modular thermistor kit pictured at the bottom of the this page shows that this kit allows you to make the entire thermistor attachment far more modular by covering it’s terminals in PTFE sleeves and then adding a connector.  This only makes me want this kit more.  Thanks Rick! [↩]
  6. Preferably one with George Plimpton’s face [↩]
  7. That’s a Simpson’s reference, FYI [↩]

Printing a MakerBot

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I’ve already pontificated on the idea that if you’ve purchased a MakerBot Cupcake CNC Deluxe kit, you basically get a second MakerBot for half off.  (Spoiler: it’s because you can print a ton of the most expensive parts that go into building a new one).  I don’t know why, but the idea of replacing wooden parts on my ‘bot with printed parts just fascinates me. 1

So, let’s have a list of potentially (and actually!) printable parts:

  • Electronics spacers
  • 3 large pulleys, 1 small pulley
  • Y stage, the entire thing, as a single print
  • X stage, in three large prints (there would be no need for the end caps if the three pieces were designed properly)
  • Insulating retainer ring
  • Printruder
  • Dinos
  • X stage end caps
  • Z stage captive nut guides
  • Z axis rod bearing brackets

Having more printed components for the MakerBot would reduce a lot of work in it’s assembly.  There’s a lot of tiny fiddly bits in the X and Y stages that would become obsolete.

Heck, it might even be possible to replace some of the bolts with some kind of printable fastener system.

  1. Cue Johnny Cash singin’ One Piece At A Time [↩]

Things I learned while trying to unclog my extruder barrel

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I learned a lot this morning!  And now you don’t have to learn, as they say, the hard way.

  1. Never ever ever use tiles. I thought I was being very clever with the tile idea.  Apparently leftover kitchen tiles can shatter and fly apart when you heat them.  Who knew?
  2. Instead, use a big piece of metal to hold the barrel. I ended up using a piece of metal I had laying around to hold the extruder barrel and weight it down with a rock.  This worked perfectly.
  3. Don’t tilt your blow torch too much. Probably an elementary thing for most people.  My torch kept going out when I tilted it too far – probably a safety feature.  This meant I had to change the set up so that the barrel was somewhat elevated so I could keep the torch mostly vertical.
  4. Keep a friend handy. This was one of my few ideas/preconceptions that actually worked out.  Thankfully I didn’t need him to use the fire extinguisher or garden hose, but I very well could have.
  5. Don’t leave a nut on the extruder barrel. At the last minute I decided to screw a nut part way on the barrel.  I figured I could prop the extruder barrel up in the washer, heat it, and not discolor the nut or washer.  This didn’t work out because I needed to apply more heat to the barrel to get the clog out.

Preparing to paint

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Here’s what I did to get ready to paint:

  • Gathered a lot of cardboard boxes, opened up and laid flat
  • Taped said cardboard into large overlapped sheets, taped up any holes
  • Bought primer, dark gray
  • Opened the garage for ventilation
  • Changed into clothes I didn’t mind getting dirty
  • Looked carefully at the various diagrams to make sure I’m going to paint certain parts the colors I want