3d printing

Tinwhistler

Tinwhistler

So...the problem with tea lights and fake candles: they aren't very bright, and it's hard to find them in the right size.
So, I designed and 3d printed my own, and am sticking ultra-bright LEDs in them. (that last pic is with every light in the house turned off)
photo_2025-01-08_23-00-25.jpg
1736398957648.png
1736398980258.png
 
figmentPez

figmentPez

Staff member
Something is going down in the 3D printing scene. The current owners of 3DBenchy are sending out takedown notices to designs based off of the commonly used benchmark boat.
 
Azurephoenix

Azurephoenix

@Frank take this with a grain of salt as it is a sample size of just me. I couldn't detect any increase in VOC's from having the water washable resin sitting in the reservoir in my printing room using my Temptop air quality monitor. It still smells awful and requires venting BUT the whole point of water washable is to not deal with the stuff that is only soluble in alcohol. The regular resin spiked the readings in my air quality monitor almost immediately after opening the bottle.
 
Tinwhistler

Tinwhistler

PatrThom said:
I figured you were, I just didn't know if you'd endure the headache of the other orientations in order to see whether something like "60/45/30deg angle, holes up" made any difference to playability/sound/etc.

--Patrick
Click to expand...
Coming back to this idea. Because I have been printing these whistle bodies straight up and down, they tend to be fragile along the perpendicular. There's not a lot of mass to hold them together, and you can snap them in half with slightly more force than is required to snap a pencil. That's not a *huge* deal, because most musicians are used to taking care with their instruments, and I let people know that they're not as robust as metal whistles when they buy them.

But, I'm working on a "tuff" line. One of the reasons I've been experimenting so much with ABS and ASA is so I can make a whistle that's more temperature and UV resistant and also just structurally tougher. For folks who play outdoors, or want to throw something in a backpack, etc. But those perpendicular layer lines are still a weak point.

I tried printing these things at a 45 degree angle in ABS, and it worked great for toughness. I couldn't snap a whistle body in half with my bare hands with all of my strength. But the fit and finish were abysmal. So, here I am, prototyping whistle after whistle, with slight differences in angle values to see which one gives me the best compromise between looks and strength.

1736492743636.png
1736492506105.png


So far, at this angle,the finish looks great through the webcam. I'll know in about an hour how it actually turns out--and of course, I'll have to test it for strength. Which means seeing how hard it is to break. Which is always heartbreaking to do to a musical instrument when there's nothing actually wrong with the piece.
 
Tinwhistler

Tinwhistler

figmentPez said:
Bamboo labs is blocking their printers from being used until owners update their firmware to enable cloud monitoring.
Click to expand...
This has not been my experience. This guy's mischaracterizing the firmware update.

Lately, on the Home Assistant forum, they've been complaining that BL is updating their firmware to strengthen API calls to control printer functions when using the printers in cloud mode. But lan-only mode and sd-card mode both still work fine. And if you are already using cloud mode (as I do), the firmware change should be relatively transparent. They're switching from a 6 digit fixed numeric string key that allows someone with the (easily hackable) key to access all printer functions and moving to a more robust security model. This is in response to some actual hacking events, and generally, updated security is seen as a good thing.

If they're updating the cloud services, of course you'll need to have the matching firmware with the security updates if you're using those services. If you're not, you won't. The doom and gloom is over-wrought.

The HA folks are annoyed because you'll primarily lose the ability to start pre-heating your printer via HA instead of the Bambu Handy app or Bambu Studio (since changing temperatures is one of the core controls going behind the enhanced security). But monitoring functions (seeing all printer states, etc) will still work fine.

I should know. I set up HA a while back...and it still works like a charm.
1737335011436.png


A less over-wrought description of the changes, which again should be noted only affects those already using the cloud services:
1737335337848.png
 
Last edited:
Tinwhistler

Tinwhistler

biggest dragon to date, at nearly 5 feet long. Was at an event a couple months ago with a competing vendor, and she sold a few at this size, so I figured I should get ready for my next event in case someone with deeper pockets wants a yuuuuuge dragon. Shown next to my popular $10 baby dragon for size comparison
20250119_104621.jpg
20250119_104649.jpg
20250119_104729.jpg
 
Tinwhistler

Tinwhistler

reading the new firmware update more closely, the shitty webcam they provide will be blocked from 3rd party integration. Everything else I use won't be affected.

But you know, 3d printer guys are generally techy and can make a webcam mount for the machine and integrate a totally standalone webcam....and one that does far better than 0.5fps at 720p.

Printer #1 is moving as fast as printer #4. It's the camera on #1 that's slow. Now that I have proof of concept that i can get it done, i'm in the process of upgrading the other 3 printers.

new webcam.gif
 
Tinwhistler

Tinwhistler

Tinwhistler said:
But, just to be sure, I've ordered a handful of specialty integrated circuits from AliExpress with sensors to build me a custom VOC and air quality sensor that will transmit information to my comptuer via wifi. These things are like $300 for a good quality one. But if you are comfortable soldering electronics (and I am) you can build one for like $25
Click to expand...
Time to put my money where my mouth is. I got 5 pcb's in my order (because that was the minimum order) and I've spent the last couple weeks brushing back up on my soldering skills one one of them as a throwaway, because boy were they rusty.

But today, after spending most of the evening flashing a new firmware to the arduino-based controller chip for the whole shebang, I decided I had dusted them off enough to quit procrastinating and get started.

20250129_220203.jpg
20250129_220221.jpg

20250129_212337.jpg
20250129_220234.jpg


Not as nice as they might've once been, but seem perfectly serviceable.
 
Tinwhistler

Tinwhistler

Next 3d print project: Solder tip holder. I have more tips than my holder will hold. The top and base will press fit into a 608 ball bearing, so that the base is stationary, but the top spins freely.

I want it to feel nice and solid, so I've designed voids inside so that I can pause the print and fill those voids with weight.

1738362881724.png
1738362939824.png


Test prints are on the machines now
 
Last edited:
PatrThom

PatrThom

If you do this again, and you don't want to reduce the number of holes, you may want to cant the holes outward slightly or stagger them so that the tips on either side of the desired one do not obstruct your fingers quite as much when taking/replacing.

--Patrick
 
Tinwhistler

Tinwhistler

PatrThom said:
If you do this again, and you don't want to reduce the number of holes, you may want to cant the holes outward slightly or stagger them so that the tips on either side of the desired one do not obstruct your fingers quite as much when taking/replacing.

--Patrick
Click to expand...
I based it on an existing holder I have...I don't find picking the bits out too cumbersome ;)
The finished product (would spin better if I didn't buy absolute crap bearings from Amazon):
solder tip holder.gif
 
Tinwhistler

Tinwhistler

I am re-configuring my booth at the local ren-fest. I'm putting in mutli-tier shelving instead of using low, flat tables. But, it means that for the same space, I now have too much shelf space and not enough product. So, I went to bed with that on my mind, and had a dream that seemed like a great solution...

Build a Blade workshop! Pick a blade
20250203_205409.jpg

Pick an enchanted gem
20250203_205403.jpg

do a little 'empowering ritual', and the Master of the Forge makes you a dagger with a certificate outlining the powers.
20250203_210937.jpg


(all the blades are mix-and-match and all fit on the standard dagger hilt I'm making, so basically, I'm just popping them onto some hilts I have under the counter and doing a little theatrics for the kiddos)
 
Tress

Tress

Does anyone know of a trustworthy service that does custom 3d printing for single orders? There's a single item I want to print out, I have a file for the construction, but I do not have access to a 3d printer.
 
Tinwhistler

Tinwhistler

Tress said:
Does anyone know of a trustworthy service that does custom 3d printing for single orders? There's a single item I want to print out, I have a file for the construction, but I do not have access to a 3d printer.
Click to expand...
I do that kind of thing all the time. You could also try Xometry if they're still in the business of consumer printing. I know Shapeways went bye bye
Post automatically merged:

GasBandit said:
... My runic is a bit rusty but.. Gundaural?
Click to expand...
Yeah, I just wanted something cool for the kids to see, so I googled "dwarvish for mystic hammer" and grabbed a couple words that looked good. Then I grabbed the Futhark and Tengwar fonts to stamp onto the hammer.
 
Last edited:
Tinwhistler

Tinwhistler

So, the Build-a-Blade certificates will need to be signed. A dozen quill-style ballpoints are like 15$. But if you get one with a fancy pen holder, it's closer to $20. That just won't do. (designed to let me drop in 22 3/16x1" washers part-way through the print) for added heft/weight). It fits my regular ball-points perfectly, and the quill-style pen is still pretty secure, so i didn't resize the holder when the quills came in--maybe it can find some use on my desk as a pen holder during the off season :)


1739480585428.png

1739480514634.png
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top