Baby Steps into 3D printing

So with the printer ready to go, I start with baby steps into 3D printing. Well actually I started with cubes, and I’ve started to amassed a collection..

Started with off-the-shelf models from Thingiverse, and the first I tried was a Halo-style sniper rifle. Aside from getting surprised at how small my print was — wrong setting — it also confirmed my suspicion that the models on Thingiverse are not always meant to be printed out right — you need to do some tinkering in some places.

Moved on to a second model, one of a Space Marine Dreadnought backpack. This is the result:

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Doesn’t look too bad.. at first, but closer inspection showed terrible flaws in the cable and stacks. The basic model just doesn’t have the supports necessary for a good print, and things just float in the air and crumble away. No surprise really, just means you have to build your own library.
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Upgrading in Progress…

So, last few weeks had been spent doing upgrading to various things. Some still in progress…

  • Upgraded my Raspberry Pi collection with a Pi Model B+, plus various casing, camera, WiFi dongle.. The B+ is earmarked to become a development platform to tinker with my Spark Core and Arduino stuff if I ever get around to them. But yeah, essentially is I have more capability now. Still looking to update the B+ with another camera plus a NOIR set, just to experiment, but that’s not an urgent use case. Now that the initial test is done, I’ll probably shuffle this to the back burner again.
  • My old Raspberry Pi Model B has undergone a OS re-image and is now re-tasked for a very, very specific project. A second round of upgrading gave it a VESA mount to go behind the monitor it’s now attached to, plus a 24″ ribbon cable for the camera to replace the default 8″ ribbon.. very happy to have over-bought the ribbon, because 24″ isn’t a lot once you have to route it. It’s now humming along happily.
  • The very very specific project suffered a setback when I accidentally broke a sensor cable that rendered it quite useless. After a bit of email back and forth, the supplier was happy to send me a replacement part. Once that’s in, I’d be able to get that back on track, and it’d definitely feature here. It’s a huge jump in my capabilities, just hope to get good use out of it.
  • A second component — Part II if you will — of this project has reach fruition and a hardware/ capability upgrade should be on its way. But to be honest I’d probably be too busy with Part I  to make immediate use of this.
  • On the modeling front,  another particular project has finally got to the point where it can begin final build/ assembly. Hopefully I can spend a bit more time at it and get it finalized. It’s a long build, but quite worthwhile in the learning process.

Overall, it’s been hectic and confusing, but capability increases are upcoming. Feel good about it. 😉

Relic Knights Black Diamond Starter

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Just a quick update. Just put together the Relic Knights Black Diamond starter I got from retail, plus Sophia Drake. Modded Sophia a bit.

Didn’t like the “plastic” these came in.

Work was crazy last few months and I was working on another project. Need to find time to blog more.