New location!

Avid readers, alas, we have reached a turning point. I have a new location for my blog and from now on I will be posting there. Please keep reading, and commenting! Here is the address:

www.makeandplay.de

I look forward to your continued interest!

Steve

Whatever have you been doing?

Filament all over the house, when will there be a standardized storage solution?

Storage solution. Just some shelves I put up with a friend.

The Berlin i3, still going strong! Look what we've made:

Baby nut and screw.

Horse in two halves, a little warp on the flat surfaces made glueing imperfect, the tail is imperfect like a real Horse's tail, and one leg broke off just to perfect the circle of imperfection.

Two cars, one all in one print (right)...

The other with black Flex TPC tyres. Vrooom!

Black feather earrings by Vivenda, also in black Flex TPC

Here they are again in Taulmann T-Glase orion blue :D

Stocking up

So there are still plenty of steps to go before I become the veritable 3D printing master, the Reprapper par excellence. But bit by bit I can see myself getting there.

I achieve balance through daily bed levelling.

I achieve inner warmth by tweaking the temperature settings depending on which kind of PLA I use.

I achieve inner calm through active cooling.

I'm not yet so advanced that I can look at an object and know exactly how I'd splice the G-code.

And I cannot script a beautiful vase whose surface maps my favourite equation.

These things will hopefully come in time however. Perhaps around the same time I figure out how to recharge my camera so I can show you what I've been making. For now you'll just have to make do with my monologues.

Fare well dear reader, until next time.

Tomorrow morning

Making a 3D printer as you can imagine consists of a lot of screwing and glueing, a lot of joking and jiggery pokery, and general fun learning as a group. The day was about exchange, collaboration, and learning as much as you can about innovation. 'Glorified Lego' is one way to describe the build process itself, and yes following lots of instructions, slotting a smooth rod in here, plugging these cables there - especially when all the soldering has already been done for you. (Thanks Bram)

There I am with the power supply unit, screwing flange nuts onto threaded rods, and enjoying it a lot by the looks of things!

I suppose you get the idea.

As much fun as it was for me being surrounded by Tork screws though,

I can't imagine anyone really wanting me to describe each and every step of the way - 

and besides, Morris already has: https://github.com/open3dengineering/i3_Berlin/wiki

Double E3D extruders for printing in two materials :D

Our workspace for the weekend

Just some old antiques lying around :D

Puttting the finishing touches to the frame.

The end. I stare solemnly into the soul of my new companion.

 Now is the best part, now I get to take this baby home and print to my heart's content. I am going to be very busy in the coming weeks! All my dreams have pretty much come true - all I wanted to do in the first place was build a 3D printer that worked really well. I have come a long way.

I now have two functioning printers at home, both of which I can use to improve the other - or repair the other, providing they don't break down at the same time. Thats why I need a third printer. The old Huxley will come back to life. I have a modular extruder from Germanreprap GmbH to put on it and wild ideas to customize the printed parts just so that they look special, but still function well.

She still needs a board of course after I burnt out the last Melzi, so I shall have to get another. Ramps is the most widely used for single extruder printers - Bishop (the i3 Berlin) has a RUMBA, especially developed for multiple extruders. The Foldarap will have to be fitted with an add-on board before I can use a second extruder. That should be nice and easy...

Time is of the essence though dear readers, and there are only a limited number of hours in the day to print. I will update you with pictures of all the christmas presents I print for my family as and when they are realized. Keep printing!

The best 3D printer I ever built

Hey everyone! I've been a bit busy lately so I haven't posted in a while, but that's a good thing, it means I have something to show you. Lots of photos!

And not just any old photos! I was lucky enough to be a part of a workshop this weekend where I built a Berlin i3, an exceptionally robust and versatile printer, like all those well honed products you see in advertising, but not too good to be true.

The Fab Lab has been here for a while and it is where you go if you want to use machines like laser cutters and CNC machines. The makers here know what they're doing and I was very excited to check the place out and see what happens behind their brick walls.

Yep this was pretty much a religious experience for me. If there's anywhere you want to go to be astounded by what can be made by people and not corporations in this day and age, its a Fab Lab. There were some really nice prints there, as you can see, and this is just a small selection from their collection.

Building the machine was quite an odyssey and for that reason I think I'll stretch it out to two posts, one now and one tomorrow morning. Here's a couple more photos to get you a taste for the workshop, the venue and the excitement that I felt the entire time.

The lowdown

The toolkit

The warning

The End.
Stop.

Real Portability

 Hopefully this is small enough to be used for hand luggage, its certainly cool enough looking to be seen carrying. Polypropylene copolymer you know, with an automatic pressure release valve - it should certainly handle traveling the world.

And the Foldarap fits nice and snug inside with enough room for the padding in between. I'm looking forward to the first on-site print I get to do. If anyone needs anything, let me know!

My 3D hub will be operational soon, so you'll be hearing about it. It will only be operational for a short while though because with me flying off to Vietnam and all, I won't be able to be there to do the prints. I might be able to work something out though so we will have to wait and see.

As for right now, I think I'm going to take the 3d printer for a walk - even if just onto the balcony - see you upon my return! 

Phoneholder i2

Yo peeps!

 Here is the phone holder I printed out and spoke of, complete with the most stylish phone on the market, the Samsung GT-E2121B:

I need to do a second iteration, some people have started buying the latest phone, something about a fruit - Apple is it - maybe its like a raspberry pi? Anyway I'll print it today, currently it looks like this:

Its a little bit slicker, a little bit more stylish and a little more functional too, I'll take it along to football tomorrow and see if I can rock anyone's world

A moment of drama captured for eternity. Why are all the outfield players so far away you ask? Only the keeper was not taken by surprise, I only took the photo by accident - quite the save it was though. Thanks for reading! Come back and see i2 tomorrow.

Here are some parts. One is for the Foldarap, the duct in the middle, this will help make part cooling more viable and should allow printing of finer details - like the (up to now, squidgy) loop on Marvin's head - and the other two are for the Huxley rebuild that I haven't properly begun to undertake just yet.

I am having fun printing things that's all! I can pretty much turn the lights off and go and watch a film or change a nappy and know that the print will continue while I'm not there. Late last night, I printed a phone holder for the cage where I play football, first iteration, don't know if its a little small for an i-phone, or if the fence will be accommodating. Looking forward to testing it out, provisionally this afternoon, and for real on Tuesday - maybe iteration 2 will be ready by then even!

Here it is hanging on my door with my phone in it, it will probably need some tweaking to get more universal but that is the beauty of home manufacturing, I can just keep the R+D going on a day to day basis. I think this design is too straight up and down, leaning back will keep the phones more secure and less liable to being knocked out of the holder by fence vibrations caused by wayward shots.

On the Agenda this morning was the missing Dishwasher wheel, after quite a lot of filing (quickly becoming my favourite tool) it slotted in just nicely and it does the job. It also looks a tad more arresting than a standard grey one from Siemens. I will be happier using my Dishwasher in the future knowing that I put something in to make it work at optimal performance levels.

"The Ikea effect" as its known: if you put something together yourself, you are far more likely to cherish it and feel it closer to your heart. Oh to know the kick of printing with the rebuilt Huxley when it gets going - even now to know I'm printing with a Foldarap that I put together. Knowing that I am manufacturing products in my own house. Design in the morning, produce in the afternoon, used by the evening. The one day factory. One day we'll all have one.

Confession: I booked a course to build a Berlin i3 with two extruders and a bigger build area and an lcd screen, a chance for Gareth to get building with me, the wife says we should be aiming to sell one machine a day and that means putting one together every day. Its not too bad a target, making them I mean, sales targets are not something I'm entertaining thoughts of just yet. Question though - how much electricity does a 3D printer use?

Happy Halloween

Here's the printing of a green Skull for halloween! Muhahhahauhaahahhahaaa!

But as it is a festival, and not one of evil, I gave it to my friend Gareth, here he is enjoying it!

The print quality has been improving :D

Hey readers. Here's my latest replace and repair project, not printed it out yet but it should be what the dishwasher needs when it is. 

This week I was at the Berlin relaunch of 3D Hubs at Hub: Raum in beautiful Schöneberg. The best bibimbap in Berlin just happens to be right around there too so the evening began especially well, my family and I haven't been there for bibimbap for a year and we really missed it. 

Hub: Raum is a co-working space in the Telekom building and I'd never been there before. Deutsche Telekom basically snares young innovative startup types with investment and accelerates the innovation out of them. Yes I'm being overly cynical, I just don't trust VCs. I believe probably most wrong in the world has been achieved by going down blind alleys with the promise of pots and pots of gold - I think reprap is about a different future.

The 3D Hubs relaunch event was cool though, Norma from Dimension Alley was there with her new Robox and Bram was there too showing off the latest and greatest Berlin i3. It was an evening of talks basically dedicated to bigging up 3d printing in our city, for some reason the Germans are a little slower on the uptake than elsewhere - NY, London and Amsterdam have way more hubs than we do. Its time I opened one myself - but compare these two:

Two perfectly formed makerbot Marvins

One slightly less perfectly formed Marvin from Foldarap #221

At the moment this level of quality is great for functional parts like the spares for the foldarap itself and the spares for the Huxley rebuild but its not quite at the level required for jewellery - unless like me you happen to love a piece with imperfections all the more!

Tasteful showering

Yes before you ask I did go proudly out and about yesterday wearing this. The print quality could be better but he kinda looks mean with his one eyebrow and stuff. I think its to do with the cooling fan anyway and all I need to print is a duct that directs the air more precisely like this one below by Cyrrus on Thingiverse (still a work in progress.) There are a number of different designs there, I don't think any that would fit my machine perfectly so I'll probably have to design one myself or remix someone else's.

Cool air at the moment of extrusion helps to solidify the plastic in the desired shape

Other than that I've been desperately printing hooks for the shower curtain and I finally got one to come out like I wanted it to. Lots of adhesion problems. I used Pritt Stick and sugar water and after hiking the temperature up to over 200° it finally stuck.

I must try hairspray, perhaps that would work better, a lot of reprappers swear by it. Unfortunately the wife doesn't have any cheap hairspray but so-called hairspray mousse. From what I've heard generic sticky chemicals in a can do the best job, no point smearing Wella mousse on my heatbed.

Much better than the little metal hooks on the left no?

And here's a close up of the finished article, still not without imperfections, but nobody is. Well once I get the fan duct made and blowing I assume all my 3D prints will be completely free of the signs of manufacture, then it will be a case of optimising for speed of print.

At the moment I am happy slowing it down to make it right, like with a lot of things in life, patience is a key element to successful 3D printing. Taking that element of it away would make me appreciate the end results less. Yes the younger generation, I know.

For the kids that I want to teach how to 3D print, the quicker the process is, the more likely they are to remain interested. Is that really what you want though, every kid of every character being interested? Aren't the kids whose attention span barely exceeds that of a chipmunk going to lose interest shortly after they gain it, or feign it?

Harsh on some kids I know. But 3D printing is not for everybody, certainly not yet. Most people don't even have a use for it. In most households a 3D printer would sit around unused for most of the time. Even in the future it will still just be the family member(s) with the most design gumption and imagination that want to play around with it.

Thats the way I envision my shop anyway in case any of you were wondering. Not just a one stop shop for reprappers to come and get their spares, or the latest upgrades, but a free arena for children (of all ages) to come and make customised toys according to their directly imagined vision.