Color coordinated spool rollers, new version of the chessbot, decoder ring development, and modeling some robots with interchangeable parts. I spent the weekend printing some rather large projects, but nothing complete yet so nothing interesting enough to post about. I’m also gearing up to make some modifications to my Replicator that need to print a few more parts and work up the courage …
Why not just print your Pinewood Derby
A printed Pinewood Derby car? Yes please. Tho I don’t think that one would run on a standard track. Actually, would anyone believe me if I said I had this idea before? I mean, it’s got to be a common idea. My thought was I wanted to make a small CNC router and have the neighborhood pack use tinkercad to design …
Refreshing my filament
A while black some failed black knight prints prompted me to try refreshing my black filament. Over time plastic absorbs moisture in the air and swells and while I live in the middle of the great American desert we have had some pretty good rains lately. Theoretically the procedure is as follows: Set the oven on it’s lowest setting to …
Measure twice…
Oops. You’d think I would have learned my lesson with the toothpaste squeezers. Don’t trust the designs on thingiverse to be made for your situation. Well I didn’t. I took SidVillas’ Printable Spool Roller and thought that it would work for me without modification. I mean isn’t everyone ordering their filament from Makerbot? Apparently not. Fortunately I now have a computer that doesn’t …
Opponent Prototype successful
A few minor tweaks, and a little bit of cleaning up the geometry before I upload to thingiverse, but for the most part the model made on tinkercad works as-is. And it is awesome. Very chess set-like when disassembled, yet with an ominous feel Assembled. Face detail
Opponent Chess Set Development Day
Held off making more TARDIS rings available to spend the day working on this. First test print was mostly successful. Okay, the face was upside down, some of the joints were a little off, and the knight isn’t stable. But I’m fixing it and there was less a lot less tinkering outside of tinkercad than with the last one to do …
Killing the Blob 3
(Killing the blob part 1 and 2.) Last one, I promise. Last one because this may be the minimum necessary, like the ZigZag solution, but cooler. You know… for kids. It’s supposed to be a 5 pointed star, but if you ever see a 5 pointed star your pump is too primed. It’d be easy enough to fix, tho. Just …
A more elegant ring
On the right is my old standard ring that all my TARDIS rings are now. On the left is a new ring that I’m experimenting with. Lower profile, you could actually put this one in your pocket and thinner. The disadvantage is that it needs to be glued together. Still, this ones a ways off before it’s ready for prime time. Meanwhile, …
Chessbot on Popular Mechanics
A little bit ago I got an e-mail from a writer for Popular Mechanics who wanted to…. Hold on a second. That Popular Mechanics? Yes, that Popular Mechanics. And they want to feature my Chessbot in an article. Oh. Okay. Hold on a second while I breath into this paper bag. The article is online only, and my set is …
I want one… and I don’t know what for.
Must… resist… hitting… buy… http://www.makeymakey.com/ I’ve got to sell some chessbots so I can buy one of these. Don’t even know what for, just… I mean look at that thing! Using bananas for keyboards!