As I said on G+ where I saw this, there is literally no way I can give Makerbot the benefit of the doubt on this one. Makerbot’s patent lawyers have issued a patent application for: A bearing that provides contact force to engage a filament with a drive gear has a movable axis that can be controllably moved toward and …
And then there were two… almost
I’ve been printing with only one extruder for a while now, since the right thermocouple went out while I was fixing the left extruder. I got the replacement thermocouple a while ago but I’ve been putting off fixing it while I finished other projects. That was until the ceramic tape on the left extruder started going out. Welp, no putting it …
Splitting the die
Got a fun job on MakeXYZ for a family d10, a 10 sided dice with the names of the members of this family on each side. They wanted it in blue, I offered to make it in glow-in-the-dark blue I got from Craig at Addicore, because glow-in-the-dark is at least 20% cooler. The initial print did not go well. The …
3D Printing TIP: Designing with supports in mind and the YHT rule
If you want to learn more about designing for home 3D printers, my book, 3D Printing Blueprints, contains everything a beginner needs to know, and more than enough to teach a more experienced 3D designer as well. This post is just a little slice of that knowledge, but if you want more, I encourage you to get the book. There are …
You may now call me “Master”
I promise, this is a one time thing. The only time I will post anything on this blog not directly related to making or 3D printing. But I’m bursting with pride here and have to tell everyone. As of today I have been awarded the degree of “Master of Computer Science” from the Utah State University. This has been a …
Sometimes you just gotta focus
I’m in the middle of a couple of things, waiting until their done before I report on them here. The right extruder is still out of commission, the replacement heater block I got doesn’t fit the heater element (and Makerbot doesn’t sell official heater blocks any more so I’ll probably have to drill it out), I’m building a new enclosure, …
Pirate3D has launched their Thingiverse competitor
EDIT: My upload just got rejected. Apparently on top of a known printable object with pictures of it printed they wanted 3D renders of the objects. Funny, thingiverse has created their own 3D renders from day one. And there was nothing about this when I was uploading it the first time. Treasure Island needs content. If they’re going to make it …
Tip: Precise Pausing at Z-Layers
My most recent projects have involved pausing my print at a specific Z-height and changing filament. It’s a feature of the Sailfish firmware that I really enjoy. However, as I just learned, if you want to be precise on which layer actually prints before changing filament you need to be a little clever about the use of the tool. The …
Coin Age 3D
Adam P. McIver’s Coin Age is a really cool minimalist strategy game and a very successful recent kickstarter. All you need to play is a credit card sized board and $1.56 in pocket change. However if you don’t want to make sure you’re keeping enough unspendable change around all the time you can always make some 3D printed coins I designed …
Tip: Using a sacrificial tower to save a print
In my previous blog I wrote about a technique for improving prints called making a sacrificial tower that will improve the overall quality of your prints. Okay, really bad image quality. Let me describe it to you. The print on the left suffers from multiple holes in the top because it was such a small part. The hot end remained …