Believe me when I say that hours of trial and error have gone into discovering this trick. Sometimes you get loose filament, filament that is not on a spool. And whether you use an empty spool or print one getting the filament on the spool in always a challenge. The filament either gets twisted and wants to knot up or gets …
3D Printing Tip – ABS plus Tower or Skin = No
So apparently my recent printing problems was no fault of the mk8 upgrade or Sailfish. I was having trouble printing some pocket tactics pieces so I experimented with the tower plug-in before I found out what it did. (Dumb.) What tower does is it stays in the same area doing several layers before dropping down and doing another area. The problem with …
Multiply plus rafts = Okay
I don’t use supports a lot. I really need someone to tell me how to dial it in. The problem is always some stuck permanently to the print that I have to clean off with sand paper and heat. But for this print I decided to see if supports work with multiply. And the result is pretty much as expected. Both prints work …
Upgrading the Mk8 Extruders
I’ve upgraded my Mk8 Extruders and I decided I’d take the time to document the procedure and show everyone how easy it is to do. If you haven’t already I recommend you prepare for the day when this upgrade will become necessary by printing out the printed parts while you still can. Before I begin a special thanks to whosawhatsis who not …
Another repair tutorial
http://zheng3.wordpress.com/2012/11/19/repairing-a-toy-with-3d-printing/ I thought I’d direct your attention to another tutorial on how to design a part for 3D printing to match a real life object. I like the way he, instead of printing the whole part, just made the parts that needed repair. He also uses different tools than I do.
Replicator Tip – Extending the life of your delrin plungers
For the record, a little clear nail polish totally works to extend the life of your delrin plunger for at least a few prints. Long enough to print out the parts for a minimalistic Mk8 upgrade and a few other things to keep yourself from getting bored while you wait for the unprintable parts.
Exploratory Disassembly
I took my replicator’s dual extruders completely apart last night. I couldn’t really get a picture of how deeply disassembled they were because it was just a mess, but my point was getting a look at those potentially troublesome Delrin plungers. And here they are: It’s difficult to see, but what they’ve got I wouldn’t exactly call a “groove”. More like a …
Picture Perfect Modeling Step-By-Step
I’ve come up with a new technique for modeling real life objects in 3D, a refinement of my previous technique. It won’t work for all objects and may not be perfect yet, but I’ve put together an illustrated guide that will help you use this technique in the future. First you need a thing you want to make. In my …
3D printing tip – Picture perfect modeling
So you have a doodad that broke and you want to 3D print a replacement. But how can you be sure that the new part will be a good replacement? Here’s the method I used to make a replacement part for my kid’s drawer that uses only free software and the hardware you probably already have. Put the part on …
3D Printing Tidbit – Filament Diameter Song
I tend to say this alot on the makerbot user’s group, so I decided to make a little ditty: As ABS filament is exposed to moisture in the air it swells causing the filament diameter to change over the life of the spool. The default filament diameter setting in ReplicatorG is fine on average, but for fresh rolls of filament it is …