I have never had much success with analogue electronics. This weekend I wasted 6+ hrs trying to get a pretty simple circuit to work. Then I fried the parts so I can’t work with them any more, this at least is a blessing as it can no longer suck up time and generate additional frustration. […]
In my last post on stealth printing I described how I set up pronterface and VNC on a Raspberry Pi to control Squirty from an iPad. This lets me have the printer set up anywhere in the house rather than having it at my desk in the bedroom. Having it in the living room makes […]
In my last post I wrote about the problems I experienced trying to print the dial gauge holder. The belt kept slipping out of the x-carriage causing the print to fail. Each time it failed I dutifully took the carriage apart and put the belt back. I even put some tape on the bottom side […]
Many 3D printing forums and blogs lecture on the quintessential importance of a perfectly level print bed. Achieving this state of printing nirvana is however a tedious and difficult task. Checking the height of the bed at various points requires you to move the print head to that position and then carefully lower it until […]
3D printers make a lot of noise. The noise can have an almost musical character, especially when it is printing circular objects, however its musicality tends to wear off if you are be exposed to for long periods. Unfortunately 3D printers are also very slow. A big print can easily take 12 or even 24 hours. […]
Hairspray is so effective at sticking items to the printbed that sometimes it gets very difficult to pull them off once the print is done. If the shape is tall and gives you a bit of leverage then it’s usually easy enough to snap off, but if it is quite short and has a lot […]
In this post I’ll describe how to make a handy multi purpose printing accessory with some cheap Ikea furniture and a large wooden spoon.
Every beloved gadget must have a name. I’ve experimented with a few different alternatives but the one that has stuck was suggested by a friend. He had recently attended a conference where an eminent professor had described 3D printers as “glorified icing bags” and therefore though Squirty would be an apt moniker. I think it […]
I received my Reprap Huxley kit in December last year. After many weekends of construction, tinkering and blank eyed despair it is finally in a state that could be described as “working order”. This blog will occasionally document my projects with the Reprap and try to explain some of the many things that go wrong […]