This is a tool made to transfer and backup photos from a professional camera while in-the-field. Built with a Raspberry Pi 4 (other Pis will work too, it’s all just Python code), using Wi-Fi for file transfers and USB disks for file storage, powered by batteries.
I’ve had some fun with photogrammetry recently and wanted to try out other techniques for 3D scanning. I’ve actually sort of accomplished S.L.A.M. during a hackathon using the PlayStation 4 camera and the Xbox One Kinect already, but I wanted something portable! With the new Raspberry Pi 4 debuting this year, I can finally accomplish this… sort of…
I finally did it, I designed and built my own 3D printer. This is in no way “the best 3D printer”. Instead, this was an epic and nightmare project that exercised my ability to engineer and build my own CNC machine. Along the way, I figured out what I did well and what I did badly, mistakes were made and sometimes fixed, even ignored.
This 3D printer is named Haphaestus. This wasn’t some kit that I purchased and put together, this wasn’t some tutorial I downloaded and followed. I designed almost everything about this printer and built it with tools I own and a waterjet cutting service. The only application specific parts I didn’t design are the Duet controller circuit and the E3D Titan parts.
NOTE: This is not an open source project where I will let you download a few files so you can build one yourself, trust me… you don’t want to. It’ll be a logistical nightmare to just organize the files and BOM to the point where it is useful to anybody else.
This page will be dedicated to recording my experiences and analysis of the first 3D printer I have ever designed and built all by myself.
A few weeks ago, the library consulted me about teaching programming to kids. The Grand Avenue library is already using the CS First With Google and the West Orange library wants to start something similar and asked because of the previous robotics classes I’ve taught for them. While they could also try Google’s CS First, why not experiment with something else? Something a bit more hands on!
The library have always said they wanted to loan out Arduinos but it just can’t happen because of how much other stuff you must include with it before it becomes useful. It is impractical to expect the librarians to count wires and LEDs when an Arduino is loaned out.
So my targets were: low part count, easy to loan and return, full curriculum written.
I spend my Saturdays volunteering at a public library makerspace, the South San Francisco Public Library. I help people operate a few 3D printers, a CNC mill, vinyl cutter, etc. While preparing for my annual RoboGames entry, I thought it’d be cool to teach the library’s patrons about robotics.
I designed a robot kit, partly 3D printed, with electronics that has to be soldered, and running with an Arduino Nano. The three classes are for 3D CAD modelling, soldering, and programming.
The robots are designed to be cheap enough for the library to actually give away. All of my courseware is open source, hosted on GitHub. A lot of the tools and parts were donated by people I know in my professional circles.
Here’s a link to the class content: click here
This blog post is about what I observed, what I did right, what I did wrong.
Ha, that title makes me sound so evil.
See… this library actually leaves their 3D printers unsupervised, and the patrons use them how they please. I love it, getting people exposed to the latest tech is our goal. But this means that people do not realize how to properly remove filament from the printers, leading to tangles and knots in the filament spools. A single mistake could essentially render a $20 spool useless, it becomes a time bomb for printer jams, making people unhappy.
No amount of posters or instructions booklets could embed the same kind of discipline that a 3D printer owner has regarding filament treatment. Just a simple mistake of letting the filament go could cause a knot in the spool.
My solution… make them use cartridges that make it hard to make mistakes. These cartridges must be cheap, fast to make, easy to understand, reusable, and do not require modifying the printer to use. Don’t worry, there’s no DRM bull**** and they are adjustable to fit any standard spools. If my idea causes more problems than it solves, simply clip all the zip ties and go back to status-quo.
For my antweight combat robot DetCord, I wanted a wheel that could improve upon the Banebots wheels that I used before. I wanted something shock absorbing, which would extend the life of my gearboxes. The tires need to be soft and have high traction. The wheel does not have to be very strong because the robot has thick armour to protect the wheels.
I ended up with a cool way to make a wheel that’s cleaner than the more popular methods I see on the internet! Continue reading
It’s that time of year when we think about gift giving. I decided to design a dome shaped box that opened with moving curved doors.
(dear iPhone users, sorry if the videos don’t work for you, please consider upgrading)
Keep reading for more pictures and a full tutorial teaching you how to create this in CAD.
I did a solo roadtrip from San Francisco to Portland so I can view the 2017 total solar eclipse with my friends in Salem!
Of course, I had to nerd it up a notch
If you owned any good laptops, you might have a charger that had a curved shape, and/or a strap to help you wrap the cord. Well… The Microsoft Surface Pro 4 is an amazing computer but it’s charger doesn’t even have a strap. So I’ve decided to solve this problem with 3D printing.
The filament I used is actually black 3mm polyurethane filament, which is both strong and flexible. Printed using my Ultimaker2, upgraded with a Flex3Drive, at 250 degrees C, layer height of 0.2mm, and 200% extrusion.
Funny that the strap would’ve been too long to be printed straight, that’s why I made it squiggly.
The model file is shared as a public model on Onshape here. Go ahead and download it, or even copy it to your own account to make modifications.
I got a new Nomad 883 Pro and it generates a lot of dust. This is going to be a big problem as I need to cut material that have hazardous fibers. I decided to make a dust skirt (aka vacuum skirt or vacuum shoe or vacuum head) so that a vacuum can suck up dust as the machine cuts. I 3D printed this thing, which is partly PLA plastic, and the skirt is 3D printed TPU (polyurethane) filament. The skirt is two layered and the cuts are made in a interleaved pattern so there’s a better seal. 3D printing makes this project really easy, just clean up the print, superglue, and tap the hole for the screw. The vacuum hose is 1.25 inch diameter and it just shoves right in with a perfect fit.
The CAD files can be downloaded here
I have a project that involves Micro Match connectors. They are similar to IDC connectors, but with a lower profile and a zig-zag pattern.
![8_way_Micro_match_IDC_male_on_wire_connector_assembly[1]](https://eleccelerator.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/8_way_Micro_match_IDC_male_on_wire_connector_assembly1-300x300.jpg)
I had to crimp one connector onto a ribbon cable, my first attempt using a vice failed miserably, instead of the conductors being forced into the teeth properly, the forces instead crushed the connector. Unlike a IDC connector, which is mostly solid plastic, the Micro Match connectors are pretty hollow, thus weaker.
Continue reading to see how I solved this problem.
I 3D printed a very durable peristaltic pump. It is capable of pumping very thick liquids at as much pressure as the tube can handle. It is durable because it is printed at 100% infill at high thicknesses and uses steel ball bearings. It is capable of such strength because it is using a massive 12V DC brushed motor that has a 150:1 gear ratio metal gear box, which means several kilograms of torque.
For design files and more details, please continue reading.
I got a Parrot Rolling Spider for fun. The batteries are 570mAH and the life is under 10 minutes, plus the reviews often mention that the batteries will lose their capacity quickly. Further research into this problem indicated that charging them slowly will alleviate this problem.
I wanted a few spare batteries and a way to recharge them. I decided to DIY a dock for them. I had a handful of spare parts, such as the MCP73831 and plenty of small perfboards. All I needed to do was 3D print something to hold the batteries in place, and this is what I came up with.
More pictures if you continue reading.
Continue reading
3D printed a mount for my Garmin BC 30 wireless camera to go along with my Garmin NuviCam LMTHD GPS navigator. My car is a 2011 Hyundai Santa Fe.
A brief explanation of why corners of large 100% infill solids lift off the print bed during 3D printing, and my way of solving the problem.
In my quest to have the best Ultimaker 2 possible, I have installed a Flex3Drive kit and Olsson Block kit.
Recently I have been having issues with inter-layer adhesion. I tried a speed test and would consistently fail them, either due to jamming or inter-layer splits… This is a story of how somebody more experienced in electrical and software engineering tackles a thermodynamics problem.
Bonus: this article contains a picture of my extra power 400W supply for the Ultimaker 2
After around 100 hours of printing, the teflon coupler above the nozzle of my Ultimaker2 started to deform under heat, causing friction on the filament. Combined with the relatively weak and not-gear-reduced feeder motor, this resulted in a frustrating amount of underextrusion.
So I decided to buy some replacement parts, and some upgrade parts in the process. Obviously I ordered a replacement teflon coupler. Second, I ordered a Flex3Drive kit. Third, I ordered a Olsson Block. After all of these were installed, I can honestly say my printer is now print-and-forget. In 30 hours and 5 filament swaps, I haven’t had any imperfections at all, and the only failed print was due to bad bed adhesion due to the model curling up. I haven’t had to touch the tuning menu once, and I never had to use my extruder floss. Continue reading to learn more about these upgrades and my experience with them. Continue reading
This project won 2nd place in this Reddit contest about functional 3D printed projects. Thank you very much to ToyBuilder Labs for being the sponsor.
You want files? Click Here. I hosted the files on YouMagine, and I provided the STEP file format, which you should be able to open with most 3D modeling software. So if you want to change the design for 3.5″ drives, or chose another cartridge shape, you can!
NOTE: the dimensions of the fake NES cartridge I used are not the same dimensions as genuine NES cartridges, so genuine cartridges will not fit in this project, and the fake cartridges will not fit inside a genuine NES deck.
I will talk about 3D modelling software that I have tried, and point to this page whenever somebody asks for this info. Comments are extremely welcome.
This is an upgrade to the Ultimaker2 3D printer for people who have spools that do not fit the original spool holder, and spools that are too tight and thus do not feed smoothly, causing under-extrusion.
It is composed of two assemblies: a replacement for the filament guide and a replacement for the spool holder. Both utilizes ordinary skateboard bearings to achieve smooth rotation. The conical shape of the spool holder allows for any sized spool to be used, easily swapped because it uses a wing nut.
Files are available on YouMagine. I want to emphasize that I am sharing the STEP files, not just STL, because STL are harder for people to import and modify than STEP files. SolidWorks files are also provided.
The cross section images shows you how to assemble the upgrade parts. The screw diameters are #6 for the filament guide and 5/16″ for the spool holder. Please figure everything else out from the cross section images.
Most micro (palm sized) quadcopters are RTF and comes with a crappy cheap transmitter, and I really want to use my awesome expensive Taranis. I found out that Q-Bot comes with a tiny transmitter module that I can connect to my Taranis.
I didn’t want some ugly thing dangling off of my Taranis so I decided to 3D print a module that will contain the Q-Bot transmitter circuitry and plug into the Taranis’ module bay, which fits “JR” style transmitter modules.
and here is what it looked like before:
The 3D files (SLDPRT, STEP, STL) Continue reading
3D printed using my Ultimaker2 and many colors of PLA plastic at 100% in-fill. It is my first design, featuring folding arms, tucked away electronics, and anti-vibration mounted flight controller. It is designed to be friendly with FDM 3D printers, employing some special techniques. The frame is extremely strong.
I need more practice. I need to buy a few more propellers and few more batteries as well so I can practice for longer.
Flight controller is a Continue reading
There is a law of the universe which states that if you own a Raspberry Pi and a 3D printer, you must print a case for it.
There are plenty of case designs for the original R-Pi Model B, and some for the R-Pi Model B+, but there are a few minor annoyances I noticed about them. Plus I really like DIY my own designs, so I designed my own case to suit my own needs.
These parts are because I am going to set up a web server for my 3D printer, running OctoPrint and also serving live video through the camera. I also setup a cron job to take a picture periodically and upload it to this server. I can also stream video to my Ustream channel. (neither of these servers are 24/7)
I am sharing all of the source files for the models, not just STL files. It is very annoying when people only share STL files, because STL are not import or editing friendly. With my SLDPRT file, you can change one height dimension inside and it will re-adjust the entire case, maybe if you need more clearance on the bottom for screws.
The Ultimaker2 3D printer has a problematic filament feeder mechanism assembly. When the filament is stuck and the feeder motor turns, it can grind away the filament, causing a gouge in the filament. The gouge makes the problem worse since the tensioner bearing will force the gouge into the feeder’s knurled wheel more, causing even more grinding. This jam happens frequently because sometimes even if the temperature sensor reports that the print head hot end has heated up, the plastic hasn’t melted yet and can’t move yet.
The Ultimaker2’s feeder design is both beautiful and disappointing. It is beautiful in the sense that is is symmetrical and compact. If you had a dual extruder, you can use the same feeder mechanism for both feeders, cutting down on manufacturing costs. But it is impossible to disassemble without removing the stepper motor because the same 4 screws that holds the feeder together also holds the stepper motor in place. If you attempt to open the feeder mechanism to clear a jam, the motor will fall off. The motor is also covered by a metal casing so you need to remove the casing as well. This is very annoying.
There is no other way to move the tensioner bearing because the design is so compact and the spring is tight. There is no other way to remove the feed tube either.
What I needed was a feeder mechanism that can be opened up without removing the stepper motor, and also allow the tensioner bearing to be moved out of the way easily. I came up with the following design:
I have 3D printed many things recently. Here are two items that you will find interesting (they are interesting to me because I am experimenting with certain design techniques). One is a box to hold delicate drill bits. The other is a filament spool holder for my Ultimaker.
Please continue reading.
Continue reading
I purchased the Ultimaker2 recently and I’ve been heavily using it.
Before I begin, here are some of this weekend’s prints:
Now for the review…
Continue reading
I got a new 3D printer, a Ultimaker 2. After testing it out with some small test prints, I printed my first own custom design on this printer. (I’ve only designed for SLT printing previously and not extrusion printing before, this is my first design for extrusion printing).
It’s an adapter that holds my smartphone (Samsung Galaxy Note 3 with a wireless charging S-View flip cover case) and has threads (a 1/4″-20 threaded nut) so it can be mounted to a standard camera tripod. This phone has 4K video recording so why not?
The design is very custom because I need to consider the fact that I have a S-View flip cover case.
http://imgur.com/a/speOj
(I know I could also use threaded metal inserts, but nuts are easier to buy at the local Home Depot)