3d printing / cnc / computers / electronics / projects — 11 comments
22
Mar 16

Auto level for the Folger 2020 Prusa i3

I follow a number of FB groups and forums about 3D printing in general and the Folger 2020 i3 in particular and questions about auto level keep coming up.  The 2020 i3 doesn’t ship with autolevel, but when I ordered mine I thought auto level sounded like something I’d like and Folger sold an inductive sensor for just under $4 so I tossed one in with my order.

My first inductive autolevel sensor and mount.

My first inductive autolevel sensor and mount.

Little did I know what I was about to get into.  Let’s see if I can make this a little easier for other people than it was for me!  After the break I’ll explain what autolevel is and how it works as well as share my experiences setting it up and using it.

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24
Feb 16

Wait, a new project already?

Yeah, I know.  I haven’t even finished blogging about the build of the 3D printer.  I do want to add more about that, but it’s proving very difficult to do more than 24 hours after I did it.  I may be doing some re-wiring on it to clean things up soon and that will make it easier to remember the gotchas I ran into.  The 3D printer has been working great for me – a few minor issues now and then but is overall really working better than I had expected.  So the past week I’ve had it busy working on parts for my next project.  I estimate I still have around 35 hours of printing (give or take 10 hours) before I can move onto the next stage of this project but here’s the start of my attempt at building a CNC machine.

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11
Jan 16

Folger Tech 2020 Prusa i3 – The Build – Part 1

Ok, this is going to be a bit more text heavy than I had wanted. But once I got going I forgot to stop for photos and I basically had one day that I could dedicate to the project with minimal interruptions so I just dug in and focused on the build instead of trying to really document the build.

Since then I’ve been having so much fun printing things that I haven’t found the time to write up this post.  But I’m wanting to talk about the stuff I’ve been printing and feel like if I do that I’ll never get to this post.  So before I forget all this it’s time to put it down for posterity and to help anyone else who’s building one of these “Kits”.

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04
Jan 16

First 3D part from scratch.

So I’ve been printing with the new Folger Tech 2020 Prusa i3 for about a week now and it’s going great.  But so far I’ve only printed parts off thingiverse or other sources.  Mostly little figurines for my daughter or parts to upgrade the printer.  I’ve learned a LOT and have a number of posts planned about it all.  But I’m jumping this one out of order because I can’t wait to share it.  It’s the first part I designed and printed myself instead of just finding a design someone else already made. Continue reading →

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31
Dec 15

Jason finally gets to try 3D printing.

So I’ve been interested in 3D printing for a long time.  I’ve been seriously considering making a 3D printer for at least 10 years, but haven’t felt the price is worth the quality of prints they can deliver.  I still think the price of commercial 3D printers is ridiculous for the speed/quality they deliver…but kits have reached a point where I think the price is low enough and the quality high enough that I started seriously getting interested.

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3d printing / diy / electronics / multirotor / projects / radio / RC — Leave a comment
26
Dec 15

Is this thing on?

With my youtube channel starting to pickup a bit of a following I’ve been thinking about reviving this blog again.  Not sure if I’ll find time to stick with it or not but figured it was as good an excuse as any to blow out some cobwebs and so some updates.

I’m back to a very simple stripped down theme for the time being, if I do customize things it won’t get much fanicer.  Just perk up some colors and maybe add a header image or something.  I like it clean like this.

Lately I’ve been pretty focused on RC flying, I’ve become a regular poster at the Flite Test forums starting with my first quadcopter build using a homemade MultiWii flight controller.  Since then I’ve dug in and made my own RX’s my own F4 based TauLabs controller and am currently helping test a new fork of Tau Labs called dRonin. I’ve also done quite a bit of fixed wing and FPV flying along with all the electronics and have been having a blast.  Quite a few people have told me I should have a blog to share all my exploits and my answer of “I have one, just haven’t updated it in years” is starting to feel lame.

Today I’m hoping to dig in on a new project.  I’ve been intrigued by 3D printing for years and have wanted to build one for about a decade.  I finally felt kit prices had got low enough and quality high enough that I started saving for one, and with the addition of some holiday funds pulled the trigger on a Folger Tech RepRap 2020 Prusa i3 kit that is scheduled for delivery today.

So seems like a good enough excuse to dust this thing off, see what still works…and maybe start using it again 🙂

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24
Oct 11

Yeah…I know

My blog is jacked up.  The theme I was using stopped working after some updates.  So here’s something minimal for now.

No real updates.  Most things I end up posting on Google Plus or Facebook.  Since my own blog has usually just been a place for longer updates than Facebook can handle I haven’t had much time for updating it since our daughter was born.  And while I feel an increased need to share stories and photos of her with our families and friends but less with the world in general I didn’t want to have to deal with accounts on here to protect private posts.

I’m not getting rid of the blog, but I’m not sure just what I’ll be posting here now I’ve gotten to play with google plus.  When I have projects worth sharing with the world I’ll still post them here, but that still doesn’t mean they’ll be exciting.

And maybe someday I’ll find time to build a theme.  Until then I like this ultra simple theme I had experimented with previously.

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12
Mar 11

One week with the Nook color

So last week I was so excited about getting my nook color I just had to dash off a post about it and the e-ink nook ASAP to get some thoughts out there.  Now I’ve had a week living with this device and am still just as hyped so I thought I’d update some of my thoughts from last week.

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06
Mar 11

Nook musings

So I got Amy an e-Ink Nook Classic for Christmas, it was a refurb special on ebay I found Thanksgiving morning for only $80.  I knew she wanted one, I knew I wanted one, and at that price how could I pass it up.  Read on for the story of how we went from one nook to three and my thoughts on ereaders in general and the nook e-Ink and Color in specific.

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baby / weekend — Leave a comment
01
May 10

More about baby

Today, I woke up at 7:30 on the nose. OK, it was really 7:29, but I was wide awake and the bladder was signalling overtime. It has been tougher to get in and out of bed, with my pelvis and leg being so sore. Well, tougher to move around in general. So, I trudged from the back room to the bath and back and tried to go back to sleep. Not happening. I expected Jason to walk in any moment and say that our friend Mark (who does A/C work) was there or shortly to arrive. And I needed to be out of the room, so he could work back there on extending our A/C unit to that room.

So, up, up and up I got. I showered, got dressed, ate some cantaloupe while checking e-mail and Facebook, read the morning news (at least as much as I could take). I read the morning pregnancy blogs and yelled a lot at the dog (who thinks it is her bounden duty to bark at everything that moves past the house).

The day was paved with good intentions. I planned to (not in any certain order): take a painting into the frame shop; go to the bank; the library; church choir practice; take the hound to the dog park; go grocery shopping; make important phone calls to family members, among others; get the rest of the nursery cleaned out and ready to paint tomorrow; and get all the thank you notes written for various baby showers over the past few weeks. Unfortunately, not a lot of that happened. Continue reading →

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