The last time I changed filament mid-print it was out of necessity, but this week I’ve been doing it for dramatic effect, and to great success. I’ve been accomplishing it due to Sailfish’s excellent “Pause at ZPos” option, and some clever design This was made for a buddy of mine who ran a half marathon. When I asked him how …
Book Update – Name Change and Home Stretch
A couple of things to report about my book. First of all the title has changed. It will now be called 3D Printing Blueprints, a change which I am happy with. Secondly, all content is complete and is being reviewed by the page layout people right now for prep before sending to the publishers. Yes, it is that close to …
Robot Poker in California
Roxy ordered a set of poker playing robots to, get this, actually play poker with. The first set I made to sell on etsy never sold. It just sat on my desk and was eventually scattered by my children so this necessitated a custom print. But it was worth it for this picture alone. Turns out these robots are a …
3D Print ‘n Play
There’s a sort of make-it-yourself movement among board gamers called Print ‘n Play. Basically, instead of getting a box of cards and a board you get a PDF for the board and cards that you print out, cut out, and play yourself. It saves on manufacturing costs so you can get the games cheaper. And of course 3D printing can …
TARDIS Transformer has a Matt Smith head
With the bow tie it was either him or Patrick Troughton. The process of making this head involved getting some reference pictures online, importing them into Blender, doing some rough shaping, and then using Blender’s sculpt tools to finish the job… or so I thought. But the roughs looked enough like Matt Smith to me at least in Blender, that …
The Perils of Detail
My cub scout son suggested before last week’s weekend camping trip that we all get whistles in case of emergencies. a while back i figured out which 3D printed whistle was best so I whipped out the STL and printed a few more copies. A number of things has changed on my side since my last printing, most notable of …
Book Update – 2nd Drafts complete
Update on my book, Packt managed to get reviewers for the last 3 chapters and 2nd draft editing for all 10 chapters are complete. Thank you everyone who contacted me for reviewing help. I’m sorry Packt didn’t end up using you, but I owe you guys. Here’s hoping they can get me the final drafts soon. I’m hoping for a …
I Have a Transforming TARDIS, Your Argument is Invalid
Alright, the design isn’t mine. It was actually created by Ellindsey on Thingiverse so at least 90% of this thing’s coolness need to be attributed back to him. Every joint on this thing is 3D printed. In fact the only non-3D printed parts are the pieces of paper that make the windows look white which are totally optional. But I’ve still …
Stress test? Pshaw
TurnRock’s Super Stress Test is designed to push the limits of what home 3D printing can do… theoretically. In reality this was hardly a test at all for my Makerbot. I know I keep lauding it here, but I am really impress with the small details that MakerWare handles so well. So to really stress the test I reprinted the …
Making a glasses holster for Gabe
My second son, Gabe, recently had to get glasses, just like his Dad. But, like any child, he has a hard time keeping track of them. So I build a case for them that he can keep with him wherever he goes, clipped to his hip. The files can be downloaded on Thingiverse, but if your glasses are a different …