Month: October 2016

Raspberry pi semi-portable (but probably not totally) project.

At the risk of seeming like I’m double dipping I feel I should disclose that yes I posted a somewhat incomplete set of images over at /r/functionalprint the other day however I’ve seen a few more “what do you use your printer for” threads over here lately while over there it’s more like “hey, here’s a door knob I made” and tonight I more or less finished putting the rest of it together so have a few more images in the album (though it’s still the same album).So without any further I give you: http://ift.tt/2eAKQ0w The somewhat portable but probably not really worthy of being called portable raspberry pi station thingamajig 5000.It has a buck regulator to turn 12v input (currently in the form of an old repurposed rechargable Li-Ion drill battery) down to 5v, a small 3W amplifier, speakers I salvaged out of an old Asus monitor and currently has Raspbian, OpenELEC and RetroPie installed using BerryBoot. It also has Ubuntu Mate and Octoprint on it but those remain largely unused and are there “because I could”.The little button on the green bracket tells it to capture and save an image from the raspberry pi noir camera that’s mounted up there behind the blue square thing, the images get saved into a folder that can be later retrieved via a SAMBA share.I’ve been looking into also allowing my phone to connect via bluetooth and use the pi as a bluetooth speaker but haven’t got that to work yet.All parts are printed out of ABS (apart from the green bracket which was PETG) and acetone welded together or screwed on in the case of the legs. All designed in either Fusion360 or OpenSCAD and printed on my trusty Mendel90.So, what do I use my printer for? This. This is what I use my printer for. For eeeeeviiiil. Also don’t ask me how long the battery lasts, the answer is “more than an hour, less than a day” as I haven’t done any extensive testing. http://ift.tt/2eWSC4t

Is the Maker Select Mini a good printer for a cheap, and very basic printer?

I’m interested in 3D modeling (Been using Fusion 360 for almost a year and Autodesk Inventor for two) and I’d like to finally invest in a 3D printer to prototype and bring some smaller creations to life.I’d like to keep my budget low, sub 350 USD including 1-2 rolls of Filament, sharpies (I’d like to color white PLA with markings and alignment and stuff, or just color it in), and I figure I can achieve that with the Select Mini for $270.Is it a good printer? I’m no stranger to tweaking things, all I’d want is a decent build size and counting on it not failing often. Is this the right way to go?Thanks for any and all feedback, and I’m new to 3D printing so any and all tips are greatly appreciated! http://ift.tt/2fcqWxh

Some incredibly disruptive 3d scanning is a few years away, if it doesn’t get locked up in military contracts.

It’s incredibly frustrating as someone who knows how to find disruptive research to find incredible techniques like this and realize they’re basically locked up in military use right now.I present two things that will blow your mind, if you understand the terms used.1) http://ift.tt/2fbe8Yc beyond 100 picosecond phase shifted instantly calibrated depth mapping. (this one was partially funded by sony)2) Way cooler: Spatial Phase Imaging. Unfortunately the technique they use, is of course, patented. It’s so accurate, nasa is using it to watch the growth of CRYSTALS in realtime. http://ift.tt/2eUBVaO This is captured at 20hz, on a single lens. It’s so unfair.I want it 🙁 There’s so many techniques it’s overwhelming but the absolute best tech is all locked up in military applications. !@$5!$!@ http://ift.tt/2eLxL7J

DIY single nozzle multi material?

So Prusa and Prometheus currently have similar systems in the pipelines:http://ift.tt/2eQPIjh anyone unaware, they basically retract the filament completely out of the hotend and have a Y split/merge in bowden tubes to let another filament unretract all the way into the hot zone.I don’t want to preorder and wait or pay ~$300 when really all I need is that Y junction. Anyone DIY it yet?The Prometheus has a special (black) ‘bowden’ tube that helps prevent filament from jamming in PTFE tubing (from being a little thicker where it melted). Where can I get something like this? Anyone know what Prusa’s system uses?I’m currently using RAMPS with Marlin, running in EEB with an E3D Chimera. How do I get both tools to use the same hot end heater/thermistor? http://ift.tt/2dQpL0x