Random updates
Just a few random updates about the stuff going on right now.
What time is it? Unstructured rambling time!
Just the current haps, yo.
House updates and other miscellani
My new roof is finally getting installed. It sure is loud and poundy. Supposedly this is a two-day project so theoretically they are around halfway done. Unlike most home renovation stuff I can’t easily take photos showing the progress. Oh well.
Also after trying to work on some music in my newly-rearranged basement I was finding that having the computer desk in the center of the back “wall” with keyboard way off to the left looked cool but it made actually working on music a major drag, since I couldn’t just turn and start recording, I’d have to get up and take a few steps over, and that made my workflow really frustrating. So since I couldn’t work on music today anyway (because noise) I reoriented stuff to be a bit more like how it used to be, with the desk on the left and the keyboard to the right of it, and now it’s way more comfortable to work on things.
Find me on Printables
I used to use Makerbot’s Thingiverse as my 3D printing sharing platform of choice, but it’s gone way downhill over the last few years. However, Printables, run by Prusa (makers of a very popular 3D printer), is quite nice, and provides way more functionality and way less jank. I’ve been using it as my primary source of STL files for quite some time now, and I’ve stopped bothering with uploading to Thingiverse entirely at this point.
I’d love to see more people move over there. It’s a much nicer community with better sharing, remixing, and commentary, and it’s also way faster and more reliable than Thingiverse. What’s also really nice is if you already have a Thingiverse profile, they will automatically import all your stuff over, too!
Anyway, check out my profile there.
Studio reorg, day 1
The air was clear enough™ today (AQI in the upper 80s, which is still no fun for me to be outside but that’s good enough for being in the basement) and I got goaded along by some folks on the Song Fight! discord to “just do it,” so I decided to start the process of reorganizing stuff.
Current goings-on
I haven’t posted any bloggy things in a while, and I know folks start to worry if I haven’t posted in a while. So,
Resin printer updates
I’ve finally gotten a handle on my resin printer and have gotten some successful prints! Here’s some of what I did to get it to a good state:
- Replaced the stock FEP sheet with an nFEP sheet (although that’s mostly because the stock one was leaking a little)
- Added some PTFE lubricant to the LCD screen (to aid with cleanup in particular)
- Increased the exposure times; first layers went from 30s to 45, and subsequent layers went from 2.5s to 4
- Started using Chitubox on Linux because it performs way better than the Mac version (not really anything to do with the printer itself, but, y'know)
- Ground down the build plate some more
- Figured out a better way of angling prints
Resin printing adventure
So far I haven’t gotten a fully-successful resin print, but I’m inching closer and closer.
The current issue I keep running into is that it’s very difficult to separate a print from the bed, and I think I need to give up on having a good clean bed-adhered surface. It’s better to give all prints lift and support, probably, even if that means having more tiny surface defects on the side facing the build plate (which is better than having an entire shattered print when I inevitably resort to a hammer to separate it).
I also ran into a problem where somehow a bit of resin got underneath my FEP film (hopefully due to my own carelessness and not due to a leak I haven’t found on my vat!) and some resin got caked to the LCD. Fortunately, Phrozen’s suggestion of soaking it in 91% IPA and then using the plastic scraper to get it off worked just fine.
Anyway. For now I’m still stuck trying to sun-cure my prints, but hopefully I can figure out a decent cheap curing station setup. I’m thinking of building a curing box using UV LED strips but it’s so hard to find reliable parts for that sort of thing. I also ordered a cheap curing station off Amazon but I’m not expecting great results from it.
In the meantime, my FDM printer is working again, and now that I have a decent supply of isopropyl alcohol I can actually get prints to stick to the build plate!
I might have a problem
I haven’t even put printer #3 through its paces yet, and I’ve just bought printer #4. Fortunately it’ll be a while before it gets here, and also I’ve been wanting a ceramic printer for even longer than I’ve been wanting a resin printer.
But, jeeze.
Anyway I both bought the printer and an extra bed, and also an extra extruder assembly with the notion of possibly converting a larger-format printer into ceramic printing. Or food printing, which this is apparently usable for too!
More updates!
- My resin printer arrived today. It was a bit obnoxious to get a working print and holy heck it’s a messy process even when it does work, but this’ll be fun to mess with. (Yes, I now have three 3D printers. Only the resin one is actually operable right now, but the Artillery Genius has some repair parts on th eway, at least.)
- I accepted an offer on my condo. It’s a lot less than I was hoping for but it’s still plenty of money. When that sells I can start working on building out the studio, which is the linchpin for getting a bunch of my other house ambitions underway.
- I’m having one heck of a fibro flare and this makes it very hard for me to actually focus on work. But also there’s a stress factor involved. Hopefully that all sorts itself out soon.
- Because of the aforementioned flare I’m also not making much progress on getting my living room or kitchen in any sort of order. But I’m still slowly chipping away at that glacier.
- Cannabis isn’t really helping with the fibro right now, either.