The Life and Works of Category
Following on from a slight leaking plumbing issue (read: toilet fell through the floor), I had to undertake some DIY. As I had to replace a chunk of the floor anyway, my other half decided it was time to give the room a general little spruce up.
Due to issues with the new shower curtain rail she had bought, I needed a 3D printed fix, and decided to make a video of the process!
I’ve started to design as much 15mm sci-fi scenery/terrain as I can before summer, with the hopes of having a sprawling mess of a gaming table for when I can get a proper group together for a while.
First up was a simple barricade, as pictured above – 4 or 5 of these can really help filter movement on the table! All files available from Thingiverse, as per usual – I’ll update this post if I can get better photos after painting.
Here you will find my latest useful creation, a phone mount for my car. It uses the CD slot for mounting, and from their my phone connects to a bluetooth FM transmitter to allow my music/GPS/phone calls to come in over my car radio.
So whilst browsing Google+ one day (yes, someone still uses G+!), I discovered a wargamer playing with some paper miniatures, printed on their normal printer. Just simple silhouettes of modern soldiers, but effective enough for proxies on the cheap.
So I decided to go one better, and 3D print my own equivalent!
It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything… Since being in the new house, tinkering with my 3D printer has absorbed roughly 75% of my free time. Although I got my printer and kit-form (with oh-so-useful hidden instructions written in Chinese), I was fully expecting some work to be involved. But I wasn’t expecting the learning curve I found! See these failed test prints…
3D printing is a wonderful and interesting new technology, but it is not consumer-ready by any stretch of the imagination. If you decide to invest in a 3D printer, prepare to learn everything about how it works. And if you’re not willing to spend many hours tweaking, learning, and failing repeatedly, I recommend not buying a printer. Just order 3D printed objects from a maker online if you desperately need something.
I faced several issues on my journey to reliable prints (and they could still be improved), but below you’ll find my essential setup tips.
Continue reading “3D Printer Setup – Learn from my mistakes!”
I’m finally somewhat settled in the new house, and have simultaneously had the time, space, and motivation to build my Prusa i3 clone!
This is the built printer, before managing cables (not the zip ties in the corner). The build was slow going, as there was no instruction pamphlet in the box, and being a no-name Shenzhen factory special, I had no model name or site to visit. It is similar to many documented kits, but not identical. As I was winging-it during construction, there were times I had to go backwards and rebuild when I’d missed something…
Recently, I received a 3D printer kit for my birthday from the ever wonderful ladyfriend (unfortunately, I haven’t been able to assemble it due to space/time constraints, but very shortly will be in my new house with enough room to build it). With that in mind, I started playing around learning how to use FreeCAD, to generate lots to print!
The first object worth sharing is the “Lament Configuration”, AKA the box from Hellraiser
The above picture is how it will supposedly turn out. I will, of course, report when I’ve attempted to print it myself. All the files are available over on my Thingiverse, if you fancy printing it for yourself first. Let me know how that goes if you try!
