I’ve exhausted my cookie cutter ideas for the moment.
With 10cm x 10cm square being about the proper size for a cookie,I would point out that cookie cutters are a really fantastic implementation of a MakerBot print. So much so that I looked into purchasing “CustomCookieCutters.com.” Don’t bother – it’s taken. However, it certainly seems like a viable niche business.
The last week has been a fruitful one for me, at least as far as printing things on my MakerBot is concerned. I’ve designed, created derivatives, printed upgrades, updated the firmware, installed the latest (super sweet!) RepG, and even performed some maintenance.
One amusing and useful experiment was the serial production of the Z Axis Wobble Reducers by MakiYoshida. Using my current settings I printed one. Then I installed it and printed a second. The second was a visibly better product. I installed the second and printed a third. The third was no better than the second. I installed the third and printed a fourth. I then installed the fourth… and didn’t bother to print with it.
Right now I have two of these wobble reducers installed on the front right and back left Z axes. Installing one on the most warped rod (front right, for those of you playing at home) helped significantly. Installing the second on the back left helped a little more. Installing the third on the back right didn’t seem to make much of a difference, and may have been worse than the second print. I didn’t realize why until I tried to install the fourth Z axis wobble reducer.
Once all of the wobble reducers were in place I found that the entire Z stage was too mobile – and would easily shift from left to right and back and forth. When you have no wobble reducers one or more warped Z axis rods will force the entire stage out of whack. When you have four wobble reducers, there is nothing keeping the Z stage steady. Thus, the optimum number is between one and three. However, I noticed that having two diagonally across from one another gave me enough wobble reduction to improve the print, but not so much flexibility that it could get pushed around in the middle of a print.
Part of the problem is that this particular wobble reducer will allow nearly unimpeded side-to-side motion. However, these wobble reducers are also fantastic at compensating for a badly warped rod. I suspect that mixing different kinds of wobble reducers might be my best bet. I’m not really that interested in installing one of versions that requires precision rods, since it’s just one more thing I have to source for my MakerBot. Ideally I can mix and match these two types of wobble reducers to improve the overall print. The Z-axis floating arrester appears to keep the captive nut more … captive than the Z axis wobble reducers I have installed. This may provide the exact combination of rigidity and flexibility I need to optimize my print quality and minimize layer shift as I print.
The upshot of all of this, and the reason for the post title, is that I now have two Z Axis Wobble Reducers by MakiYoshida that I’m not using. Do you need one or two of these and feel like saving yourself the print time? If so, drop me a line.
Adam, if you read this – the latest RepG is AMAZING. Getting to preview an STL, convert to GCode, and then to an S3G file all from the comfort of the friendly RepG UI is fantastic!
It’s not that I’m scared of the Skeinforge UI or anything.
It’s just that it stalks me while I sleep, steals my happy innocent dreams, and replaces them with a theater of shadow puppet parade of horrors.
Glow in the dark plastic.
Don’t get me wrong, I like the idea of fluorescing red ABS.1 But, how sweet would glow in the dark plastic be?
It’s like making all of your printed plastic objects twice as useful, since they can be seen at night as well as day.
With great power comes great responsibility
The guys at i.materialize turned down a request to print what appeared to be an ATM skimming device cover plate. 1 Like the power of a high quality full color photocopier and a stack of twenties, owning a MakerBot is a serious responsibility.
As MakerBots and RepRaps proliferate, so do the websites and content concerning them. Gian Pablo Villamil had a really great post about his adventures with Skeinforge. As with BotHacker’s excellent post about the Skeinforge Cool setting and analysis about the benefits of cooling fans, Gian’s post takes us through each of his Skeinforge changes as well as documenting it’s effect on the print quality.
I wish I had more patience for that. I tried for a while documenting each change… but quickly became enamored with the idea of spinning dials and flipping switches in Skeinforge in the (sadly badly) mistaken belief I could make it better.
Okay, I’m liking the MakerBot and it’s RepRap child. But, check out that work area!
(I have the same 3-in-1 oil for my MakerBot. :) )
BotHacker recently documented his adventures in cooling fans and Skeinforge options – to amazing effect. 1 You should read the entire post, because there’s a lot of good info in there. However, to summarize:
BotHacker’s post is what Skeinforge documentation should look like.
Update: Per BotHacker’s comment below, “Skeinforge must be told to ‘Slow Down’ for this to work. The other option is ‘Orbit’, and may lead to poorer results.”
I just noticed that two parts I designed (an X-axis tensioner and Y-axis tensioner) are suggested prints on the MakerBot wiki. (Yes, I know it’s an open wiki – but I swear I didn’t add these things myself). It’s pretty cool that generations of MakerBots may be using upgrades I designed.
Internet fame and fortune are mine!
Thingiverse user Webca has uploaded a printable MakerBot.
Back in February I thought it was audacious to hope someone would design a printable Y stage. Later that day I realized that if you had a MakerBot Cupcake Deluxe kit, you’d have all the tools plus much of the materials to build another MakerBot – suggesting the second MakerBot would only be about $500.00 or so of extra components. More the fool was I when I thought I had published a comprehensive list of the MakerBot printable components of a MakerBot.
Webca clearly dreams (and designs) so so so much bigger than I. I am in awe of the awesomeness of that MakerBot made MakerBot.
150 plus printed parts, a month of solid printing, and more than 5 pounds of plastic. So, what’s the final cost of a second MakerBot made MakerBot? Setting aside issues of shipping and tax, it sounds like it would be about $50.00 worth of plastic plus all the bits from the $575.00 laserless MakerBot kit, plus some cables, cords, and power supply.
It’s a testament to MakerBot’s rock bottom pricing that a mostly-printed $625.00 MakerBot is not a tremendous discount off the $750.00 basic MakerBot Cupcake kit. But, cost-savings is almost certainly not why he designed and printed this. A month of printing and $50.00 of plastic is far more than it should take to print all the parts for a Mendel.
Yes, an unbelieveable amount of work, but now I want a PLA MakerBot…
