3D Printing Tidbit – Unloading stuck filament

Sometimes when unloading filament when the plunger starts backing the filament out I’ve seen something happens and the filament does not move. When this happens switch to load mode and push the filament in a bit and then switch back to unload. more often than not the hot filament will actually pop out before the plunger starts moving. I should mention that …

Replicator Tidbit – Filament feed tubes

See those tubes where the filament goes in? Used to be I had them way lower because when I was mounting  the filament rolls on the back on my replicator I wanted to be able to use the tube guide to bring them closer to where the filament was coming out. However, mounting these tubes lower creates a pull on the print head which …

TARDIS Ring featured

Before I had a 3D printer I tried my hand at selling a TARDIS ring through Shapeways. It’s still there, but I can offer a better price self-producing them. However, a month ago Shapeways featured my ring on their blog. I was unaware. Then cheezeburger.com features the same and sure enough I hear about that before it’s off the “Must Have …

Meet me at MakeSLC this Wednesday

I have no idea why you would want to, but if you would like to meet face-to-face the guy who is writing every post on this blog including this one you can this Wedensday the 17th at MakeSLC (650 S. State Street, Salt Lake City). I’ll be bringing the Replicator and talking about how owning one has changed my life. For …

Will 3D printing replace traditional manufacture?

It seems to be a topic on many people’s minds today. Here’s some reading material to get you started: Will 3D printing make global supply chains unnecessary?EU Looking to 3D Printing to Help Revive Manufacturing.What’s the Dreamweaver of 3D Design? That last one kind of made my point for me. Of the multifacted discussion of the disruptive effect of 3D …

Well, yes I would download a car, thank you

The headline reads “3D Printer DRM Patent To Stop People Downloading a Car” and every reaction I’ve seen has been doom and gloom. But either I’m not reading this article right or everyone else isn’t because when I read the article here’s what I took away. It is a patent troll who’s putting his finger on the patent before anyone …

What lies behind

Behind the Z-Axis platform there is this gap. This gap does not go through. It is basically a very thin, very inaccessible storage for lost stuff. And the thing is occasionally when using my 5-in-1 tool to pry up a part, particularly prints that are only a few layers thick like stopped failures, they pop up, flip back, and disappears. I hadn’t figured …

I think I’m good for pendants for a while.

You know, it doesn’t take as long to print 50 TARDIS pendants as I would have thought. No reason I printed 50 of them. I just used multiply to print 25 and my wife did it twice. Awesome.

3D Printing Tip – Painting your prints

So before I could buy a rainbow of filament I was experimenting with tinting the natural filament with less than impressive results. Using acrylic paints and a sealant yields acceptable results, but I think I’ve found something better. Nail polish. I had my wife pick up some cheap (and ugly) nail polish so I could empty them out and use the bottle for ABS …