Sailfish is a firmware upgrade for Replicators and Thing-o-matics by the acceleration wizards Jetty and Dan Newman. And this is another reason why open source is more awesome. It was an adventure that took a few days to sort out entirely. The hardest part of the initial setup instructions was the usual “Press reset a moment before pressing the Update button in RepG” …
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 …
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 …
How to make money with a 3D printer part 1
My last post on this topic was more reflective. This post is going to be more how-to. So you want a 3D printer because they’re cool. But you’ve got to convince someone its a worthwhile thing to spend the money on. So you point to me or Mark Cohen and say “those guys are actually making money with their Makerbots. If they …
Flattening the bottom
Making flat bases or sides is important when 3D printing, but can be tedious at time. If you’re “eye balling” the measurements you may find your eye isn’t as accurate as you would otherwise hope. But there’s a simple way to insure that your side is flat and all points are on the same plate. Step 4 Import your STL model into …
Acceleration and you
The replicator 5.5 firmware included acceleration. I’ve been fiddling around with it, had every sort of problem this could have and consequently learned a lot. First of all, “acceleration” doesn’t just mean “going faster”. It also means “the change in speed over time” and both definitions are true for acceleration in 3D printing. The main feature is that instead of …