Video - 3D Printing In Glass Is Now A Reality!!!

The possibility of printing in glass is now a reality, mesmerizing, and beautiful.  This very much reminds me of using the E3D's hot end, the Volcano creating large structure layers which adds to the aesthetics of the item as well as the overall structure.  

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Hot Glue Can Save Your Failing Print, Maybe...

Over at Make Andrew Terranova shows how using a little hot glue on a failing print might be all you need to save it!  

Essentially the print was skipping a few layers so he added some hot glue and the print was saved.  Head over to make and read his article  about how he came up with the process and how he uses it to save some of this failing prints on his 3d printer.

I like the idea and for one I plan on using the technique myself if my print starts to fail... great work!


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3D Printing : The NINTASTIC - A Fantastic Case For Your Raspberry Pi!

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This was a commissioned piece from a friend/coworker for his roommate's birthday present. They're using their Raspberry Pi as a nintendo NES emulator, so naturally the Nintastic was required as a case for the Pi.

I used the "longer model" than the "original model" since it was mentioned that if a sd card was installed into the pi the door wouldn't close on the original.

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I decided to print these out at 100microns (which looking back should have gone with 200µm, maybe even 300µm to cut the time down, as the bottom took about 15 hrs, and the top took around 9 hrs, at 30mm extruder head speeds. 

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I again used 3d2print "Grey" Filament for all the pieces involved.  Now you might ask wait a second I see a few different colors on that finished model.  Well, the black portions are model paint, as well as the red in the lettering and button highlights.   The bottom, however was entirely colored using four basic black sharpies and a 3d printed addon here to hold four of the sharpies. The over all process is explained more in detail here.  Essentially I "tinted" the filament before it went into the hot end and the outcome was a considerably darker color of grey.  It certainly very interesting to see how much of a color shift you can get. 

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3D Printing : Drying Filament For $15!

So recently I've been printing with some ABS that I had sitting around out in the open.  I was getting very small "bubbles" or pock marks in the sides of walls and other flat surfaces.  These inconsistencies I chalked up to being that the filament had absorbed moisture as the rains recently likely to have contributed to this effect.  I hadn't realized that like PLA, ABS is also prone to moisture absorption too!  So I decided to do something about it. I had seen this project on thingiverse:

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:35710

*disclaimer: I'm not responsible for your screw ups, and if you burn your house down, damage your or others property, or hurt yourself in anyway, the fault is upon you.*

So to make this "device", its pretty inexpensive, and I was game to try drying out the filament so I can get it back to printing smooth as silk again.

While I mentioned that I had found the project on thingiverse, I just gave a cursory look to the instructions and plans, after all what more is there than a lightbulb, 5 gal bucket, desiccant, and some hydro saturated filament?! You might want to follow the instructions a bit more to the letter or at least learn from my mistake.  

So what I did was hit up my big box home improvement store, grabbed a 5 gal bucket, a clamp light with a small reflector, some 4pk DampRid refills,  and a two pk 100w light bulb.  Total cost around $15!

First I cut a quick hole into the top of the lid of the 5 gal bucket, just large enough to fit the light fixture through, and then screwed back on the aluminum reflector, its a snug enough fit that I didn't need to glue or ad any other items to it.  Next I placed in the bottom the DampRid, two packets and on top of those I placed two spools of filament.  ONLY DO 1 SPOOL AT A TIME!  

As you can see the second spool was too close to the bulb that it actually melted the spool itself and some of the filament! Don't worry i should be able to save the spool and just cut out the fused bit. Instead of using a100w bulb, which the clamp light is rated for only 75w anyways, whoops!, I'd swap out the 100w and use a 25w or 35w bulb. 

I only operated the device while I was awake and and checking on it on a regular basis when I was using the 100w bulb.  

I would assume with a 25w bulb you could leave it on for extended periods without issue.   

I'm going to swap out the light bulb for a lower power one, but still will only do one spool at a time, then keep those newly "dried" spools in zip locks with more DampRid/Desiccant so I don't have to go through this procedure again hopefully. 

The pics looks wildly different because I increased the bracketing on my cell phone camera, so don't worry the 2nd pic isn't glowing WHITE HOT!

Overall the aluminum reflector gets too hot to touch, but the plastic around it and in the bucket remain warm to the touch.  The room I did this in smelled a bit of plastic, so ventilation would be recommended, and as mentioned before I would recommend using a lower wattage bulb and a longer period of time drying one spool at a time.  This should work with both PLA and ABS, thought especially with PLA I would use a lower watt bulb than 100w as you would end up i think melting the PLA into an unusable block of filament.

When I finish drying out a spool with this method I'll attempt a print and attach the results here:

(for future results) 

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3D Printing - The Minions Have Left The Building! (Finished Project)

Hi Everyone! It is my extreme pleasure to show off the finished project of "The Despicable Me Minions!"which started here in this post.  Check out the Pics below!

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Essentially I printed the minions out in the front and back halves using Yellow ABS from 3d2Print, sanded each half down using 220 grit san paper until smooth then use the crazy glue like Acrylic/ABS cement from Tap Plastics.  I then clamped them together until completely welded/bonded together.

For the finishing aspect, I took a product called Plasti-Dip and dipped the minions up to their waist into Blue-Plastidip.  Then I use black Plasti-Dip for their boots, gloves and eye bands.  I then used a tooth pic to make the arm straps.  I then took a hobby knife cut off the Plasti-dip and created straight lines on the straps, as well as the "overall's look".  

I used a white paint on primer for the eye/s, mouth area, followed by black for the mouth interior, aluminum for the goggle/s and white for the teeth.

The final touches were to include hair, which is just waxed black string (so you can kind of style it), which I attached with the same glue as above, after drilling holes to plant the hair into.  I then used a sharpie to add on a couple of "buttons" on the pants and a logo.  The coup de grace was the placement of 12mm (two eyes) goggly-eyes and 15mm colored iris goggly eyes (which are what sells the piece in my opinion!)  

If was a lot of work but great fun!  I've already had a few ideas for improvements/expansions for this project as well as some new idea, possibly including a voice box!  :D

If you have any questions feel free to contact me, and I'll try and provide any guidance, I can, if you decide to create your own set of minions.

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Yoda, A Tie-fighter, And Some Colored T-Glase Filament!

Hey Everyone,

Just wanted to share two of my latest prints.  The first is a yoda head I printed out at 70 microns using 35mm/s print speed extruding 220c, 80c hpb, it turned out really really well.  I printed it using 3d2prints Glow n the Dark Blue abs.  Going to make it a hologram-ish like figuring with a light puck base that has been jazzed up with some star wars'y greebles.  

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The second print is a tie-fighter which i printed out in the 3d2print grey abs, i printed out at 50mm/s 235c 110c hpb.  You might be able to see that either the dirty nozzle (its has a coating of black carbon around (well burnt plastic) ) exterior left a few darker lines or there was some old filament in the nozzle and was extruded on those layers, and appear as dark bands.  This one was a bit "rougher" in quality to which I attribute to the faster speed as well as a bit of agressive sanding on the bottom halves after the fact, but can be corrected upon filling/painting/sanding/finishing, etc., the model and adding a stand.

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The last pic is of the new colored t-glase filaments, Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald.  I really can't wait to try a project out with these!  I might try and use the sapphire to print our the lightpipes I'm going to use with the yoda head.  All in all a good bit of fun was had ;)

Gemolishes!

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3d Printing : Universal Trimmer Line As Filament! (weed wacker line)

"weed wacker line"
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So awhile back I read an article about using trimmer line, or as its commonly knows as "weed wacker line", as filament in a 3d printer.  Some people have suggested that its nylon, but some others say it may contain other things as well and could be of issue when used in 3d printers.  I did a cursory search for the msds but didn't fine anything worth while.  

So, I went to homedepot and picked up a few rolls of various colors and sizes from pretty much the only the one brand they had Rino.  After getting them all home I came to realize that only one of the filament would fit into my 3dprinter that uses 1.75 mm filament which is the "blue" universal trimmer line which is 1.65 mm.  It cost $7.98. There was a green trimmer line that measured 2.0 mm but just wouldn't fit into the printers hot end.  I'm guessing you need filament that is 1.95 mm or smaller for use in the 3d printers that require 1.75 mm.  Back to the store and returned all of the other filament the next day since I hadn't opened the rest of the trimmer line packages. The focus of my tests would be with the blue 1.65 trimmer line.

When printing, I used both blue tape and cereal box cardboard as a printing surface.  The more celouse the base the better "stick" you'll get but blue painter's tape seems to be the best of both "stick to hold" onto the print bed and the ability to "release" the print afterward.  The cereal box (non shiny side) really held on to the print and even tore away at the cereal box more than anything after printing.  So i'd recommend using blue painters tape for a print bed surface.

So what are my findings? 235c seems to be the best temp for printing this particular brand of line trimmer.  Also having a heated print bed is beneficial, but regardless I was getting a lot of warp in tall prints and ultimately the print head would hit a print and then all hell would break loose and i'd have to cancel the print.
(read more after the jump)

3D Print & Video : Multi Scoops! (5hrs @ 200 microns)

Check the quick video after the jump of the multiple scoops print almost complete.  This was on a Makerbot Replicator2x. The scoops are printed in 3d2Print.net translucent ABS filament, 5hrs print time @ 200 microns, 228c print head 90c heated print bed, 2 shells with 5% infill, other settings are default makerware.

Video : C2000 LaunchPad !

The folks over at TI have a new board out it's the C2000 LaunchPad! Here is some info from the website:

With all the hardware and software needed to start development, users can focus on learning or developing real-time control systems in areas such as digital lighting, motor control, digital power conversion, precision sensing, and much more.

Features

• Pre-programmed C2000 Piccolo F28027 MCU

• Built in isolated XDS100 JTAG Emulator enables real-time in-system programming and debugging via USB

• CPU reset button and programmable push button

• Enables development on any Piccolo F2802x device

• Free unrestricted version of Code Composer Studio integrated development environment (IDE) v5

• Free download of controlSUITE™ software with examples, libraries, application software and more

They created a video to go along with the launch of the board in the "billy mayes" infomercial style. Check it out below:



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Makerbot TV S02E09 - Finishing Techniques

I haven't been following Makerbot Tv this season. I did come across an episode that answers the one question, that every maker of 3d printed objects has asked at some point.  How do I finish the objects that come out of 3d printers.  Here is the Makerbot crew explaining how they finish some of their projects.


I've heard of various other finishing techniques such as solvent dips, and other filler types where you more or less, as shown in the video, fill in the ridges to an even level using various compounds, such as clay, or automotive filler.  Then finished with a gloss protective coating.


Typically once you've created this "master model" a "master mold" is made out of silcone rubber and plaster and then copies are made out of various other materials.


Don't forget to head over to Makerbot.com and subscribe to their youtube channel if you want to follow all of the makerbot exploits.  


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Makerbot TV S02E01 - A History Lesson

Looks like Season 2 of Makerbot TV is up and running.  Bre Pettis gives us a brief history lesson on the history of the how the makerbot came to be, as well as a small insight into the founding of Makerbot Industries.  


Again, i'm not sure if I'm going to follow every episode, but if a video is interesting I'll be sure to post it here.  I've detailed on previous posts, about the series and what I would like to see on Makerbot TV, hint, PROJECTS! PROJECTS! PROJECTS!  Well see if they decide to give us more substance this time around.  

Check out the video below:


  
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Video - Makerbot Replicator On Al Jazeera English!

Over at the Al Jazeera English they have a great 38 min video about the maker and open source movement around the world as well as interviews with both Dale Dougherty founder of Make Magazine and Bre Pettis one of the founders of Makerbot Industries.  


It's a great piece about how others are using the technology of 3D printing, and they even do a in studio print using a Makerbot Replicator!  


Checkout the entire video below.





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MakerBot TV Season1 Episode12 - Season Finale

Well it looks like its the end for Makerbot TV for this season that is.  This "season finale" ends on a whimper and give away a maker bot to someone who made a coffee cup topper with your (or whomever's) lips as the drinking spout! Um, Ew!  Also, Creepy if you ask me,  let alone driking hot coffee with something that may have imperfections and holes, leaks and bacteria just waiting to happen, let alone is is really safe to drink a hot liquid from?  Yeah its the same plastic as legos but I'm pretty sure they don't recommend you make food utencils or dining plates out of the stuff for every day consumption, let alone at high temperatures!  


The rest of the episode is again lack luster and ends with an "awards show" for various creations they've highlighted.  Meh.  Not sure if I'm going to watch for season 2 if this is going to be the format.  


I still think they need to go the "make weekend project" route, with host Kip Kay!,  well I'd rather see Bre take that mantel again.  That is after all what a  lot of people started with, the weekend projects from make magazine, and got them excited to actually go out and make things!  


Except for a few episodes there wasn't a whole lot of "project" material other than "look what we did" or "we're selling this now".  Call me jaded (but don't call me shirley) I just was hoping for more from this series and all I got was some fluff pieces with a few chunks of meat and gristle. Well here is the video in case you're curious:





Here is some bonus video that may help make up for the so so video above:











Now  that's what I'm talking about (sort of), the botmobiles are especially cool!  All these are at Makerbot Projects.


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MakerBot TV Season1 Episode11 - Educational Program

Here is another episode from the weekly video series over at Makerbot Industries. This weeks episode is all about education and specifically the program they've started to get makerbot into schools called Curriculum.  If you'd like to know more check out the video below and then check out the site Educational Curriculum: http://curriculum.makerbot.com/ or you can always Email the MakerBot Education Team: education@makerbot.com.

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MakerBot TV Season1 Episode10 - Lets Talk Plastics!

Another great episode from the weekly video series over at Makerbot Industries.  This weeks episode talks about the three main plastics that can be used in the makerbot ABS(Lego), PLA(corn based bio-degrade), and PVA (water soluble).   There is also some info on the various settings you can start out with for each of the plastics and what you might expect for quality on some of the plastics and how to keep the PLA from wasting away from humidity!  So without further ado here is the video:



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Makerbot TV S01E09 - The Practical Application Episode (Finally!)

Episode 9 of Makerbot TV, from the weekly video series at Makerbot Industries,  is here!  Finally an episode that includes some actual benefits of owning a makerbot and clues you into why you would want one around the house.  


While most of the objects are indeed handy, and there are lots more on thingaverse, I believe its been stated on the forums for makerbot that the plastic, while "non-toxic" in its "cured form", shouldn't remain in contact with food stuff for lengthy times.  Also I'm not sure how safe a spatula would be considering the heat factor and the "remelting of the plastic", unless they're printing it in food safe silicon or some other food safe material of course!  


Regardless this episode illuminates what the future of small printable objects will be and instead of pop'n off down to the local hardware store for the latest "widget" to fix your "thingamabob" you'll just print out the item.  Don't worry about the hardware store they eventually might sell the very plastic spools of filament you'll need to print your objects, and of course other basic fasteners for larger projects!





BONUS! Here is Bre Pettis in a video titled Makerbotting 101.





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Makerbot TV S01E08 - Halloween and Hermit Crab Episode

Essentially this episode is, again, a little "lite" on content, but focuses on what you could make for the upcoming Halloween holiday. If I were a kid and got some piece of "Halloween" plastic ghost or pumpkin instead of candy that house would get egged for sure!  On the flip side,  instead making a spider ring or other accessories for your costume I think is more appropriate and proper use of a makerbot.


The second half of the video details the efforts of a group trying to provide hermit crab shells for hermit crabs.  Apparently there is a shortage of hermit crab shells "In the wild", I'm not sure if they mean pet shops or actually out in nature.  While it might seem noble I'm not sure if putting more plastic into "the wild" is the right approach, not to mention that the hermit crabs will make their homes out of anything that "fits" their current size really.  Also not sure how they came up with the data indicating the shortage.  You can check out more details here about the project.


Update: Apparently they are just protyping the shells in plastic and the final shell material has yet to be determined, and at this time no shells of any kind have been introduced "to the wild".  Again check out the above link if you would like more info on the project.





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