My first (plastic) "Thing"!

As I mentioned previously, I've been working with a PhD friend on a 3d project for his lab. I've also been working on a couple of ideas of my own. One that I just completed is the kind of thing that a personal 3D printer seems perfect for - one off fabrication of parts that are otherwise almost impossible to get.

We have a really nice courtyard, courtesy of my wife. In the courtyard we have some low voltage accent lighting. Many of these are set at the base of our willow trees to light them up at night. Unfortunately the stakes that these lights come with are pretty chintzy. Made of soft plastic with poor tolerances. At least that's the excuse I made when I broke one...

So, Colossus to the rescue! After making some careful measurements, i ginned up what I think is a much improved version. Made of PLA, it's tougher than the standard stake. To be sure, I thickened the ribs. To make sure it stays in the ground, but not under the surface, I widened the collar at the light base. Voila!

The 3D rendering

The actual item, with light base in place

 

If you're interested, I've posted it to Thingiverse, and you can get a copy of the .STL file and print your own if you like.

This is the voice of Colossus!

All hail the voice of world control! Well, 3D printing at the Fab Shop at any rate.

My new Makergear M2, Colossus

After a quick unpack, and a scavenge through a snowstorm of packing peanuts, he's up and running. Kudos to the folks at MakerGear, this bad boy is solid as a rock, and required only a very slight tweak of the bed to level it out. 60 minutes after the box was open, I had my first test print:

Glider test print, printed from the included SD card

My only complaint about the M2 is the lack of a power switch. The unit is powered by two separate supplies, one for the board and the other for the steppers. I understand that this complicates creation of a single switch, but the lack of one is a bit unpolished. A power strip substitutes nicely, if it is a bit bulky.

I'm keeping track of what I'm doing for the purpose of creating a startup guide for those new to 3D printing as I am. Already there are a dozen tips I've had to learn the hard way, and a coherent guide to getting started right is sorely needed. The information is out there, but it's scattered and somewhat obtuse. Check back often, as I'll be posting the guide here. I'll also be covering the projects in the works that utilize Colossus.

I haven't abandoned the pep helmet project, and as the weather warms I'll be working on that too. Colossus will come in handy to print some of the geegaws that the helmets will need.

3D a GoGo!

After more than two months, I finally got notice this week that my MakerGear M2 has shipped, yippee!

The MakerGear M2

When it arrives, I plan on documenting the unpacking and setup here. While there's a certain amount of information out there on the M2, I haven't found a coherent setup and tutorial guide, so I'm going to try and create one.

I and a couple of friends have already created test projects that we'll be printing once the M2 is dialed in. I'll include those too.

Musical Metal!

Most folks who know me know my metal work. I purchased a CNC plasma cutter a couple of years back, and have been designing metal art and furniture since. Here are a couple of projects I've completed.

Our Ranch Logo

H-D Ranch Logo - My wife was born and raised in a small town in northern Utah, near Bear Lake. My family spent many summers there during my childhood. One summer, my fanily moved into town because my father was helping to manage a resort on the lake, and we met and fell in love. 34 years later, we've inherited a bit of land and my wife's childhood home. We spend the summers there, and my shop is located there as well. Her maiden name is Hodges, my last name is Davis, and our first names both begin with J. We both love to ride motorcycles. Shes plays guitar, I work metal, and we love each other to death. So, the logo seemed pretty self evident. This one hangs on the front of the main garage/shop.

 

Musical Guitar Hangers

Guitar Hangers - My wife has quite the collection of guitars (almost as many guitars as I have computers!). When she was looking for a way to store and display them, this idea popped into my head. These are hand cut 1/8" sheet metal backed with 1/4" round metal rod, and covered with a liquid silicone dip. One of these days I'll get around to putting these on Etsy, but if you're interested in something along these lines, you can drop me a line and let me know what design you'd like. I can make pretty much anything you can imagine for any instrument or item that you'd want to display on a wall.

I'll be posting more completed projects soon, including a ski chair, and some additional 2D and 3D metal art pieces.

Three's a charm (or not)...

I finished the Mk VII, and I'm very happy with it. I think I've finally got the hang of this pep thing.

The new Mark VII

Unfortunately I am now so irritated by the flaws in the first two that I'm going to re-do them. But hey, it's only paper - and time - and skin... And it'll keep me busy until the new 3d printer shows up.

And then there were two...

I finally got the terminator helmet done. Well, as done as I want it to be in Pep. I'll be creating custom vents for the helmet in something a bit stronger than card stock.

The terminator next to the Mk III

This was my second attempt at pep modeling, and I'm not sure I could have chosen a harder model to tackle. The termie helmet is really complex, and very asymmetrical (although I don't know why, these things should be able to be made as mirror halves).

 A bit rough, but usable (and I'm learning!)

Since the temperatures are still below freezing here in Zion, I won't be hardening these for a while. This will give me time to complete the other helmet peps I have lined up, as well as an idea for a totally original Chaplain's helmet... So stay tuned, there's more to come.

OK, perhaps I have a few too many interests...

My lovely bride and I also keep bees.

We started about 4 years ago. We took a beekeeping class through the local university, and away we went. We now have 3 hives. This has resulted in a surfeit of delicious honey. We've considered selling it, but so far we haven't gotten around to it. This means that we have a lot of honey sitting around.

She Who Must Be Obeyed, 

harvesting honey on the sun porch

I have a couple of friends who brew their own beer. I've been curious about the process, but I don't like beer enough to spend the time brewing my own, when I can run to the store and buy a case of Corona (or one of our wonderful local brews). Then I remembered that mead is the granddaddy of brews. Mead is simple, honey, water, yeast. I have honey. I have water. I can get yeast. Bingo!

I just finished bottling my 4th batch of mead. So far, I've brewed 2 sweet meads and 2 dry meads.

My latest mead creations

Mead is wonderful, but you can't (well, you can, but you shouldn't) drink a lot of it. Mine tends to bottle up at about 15-16% alcohol. A little goes a long way. It's a hell of a nice way to pass an afternoon, however.

If you're interested in brewing you own mead, there are a lot of great resources. I particularly like Storm the Castle.