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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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3d printing / cnc / diy / electronics / projects / RC — No Comments
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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3d printing / diy / electronics / projects — No Comments
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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3d printing / diy / projects — No Comments
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 →

3d printing / diy / projects — No Comments
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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