It's been a while since I've posted anything and thought it would be a good idea to share all the things I've been working on lately. This is going to be a long post...
The main project I've been working on lately is this
mostly printable filament spindle. The idea is to bolt it onto the bottom of my RepRap Mendel to form built-in filament management. Right now I'm still testing it with my MakerBot and so far it's worked flawlessly. Although it's built upon the
work of others, I am really proud of it and it's the most intricate thing I've designed. I still need to document the rod lengths and decide on the best way to attach it to a Mendel.
My filament spindle is super easy to use with a fresh spool of plastic. However, I have a load of filament that has devolved into tangled messes like this one. Preventing this kind of disaster is the main reason why I made the filament spindle, but what am I going to do with all my balls of plastic? I've tried several times to untangle things and re-wrap it into a spool again, but it always falls appart.
That's when I came up with an easy process to get it back under control. I had read some people put re-rolled plastic into an oven and the heat re-sets it's shape. I didn't think my wife would appreciate me using the oven like that, so I tired wrapping it as tight as I could and securing it with velcro straps. Then I put it on an electric blanket set to high with a towel on top for over an hour. Then took it off and let it cool for over an hour.
It now stays in a good shape and I was able to load it on my filament spindle. I can't believe I've wrestled with tangled filament for so long when it was that easy to get it under control.
I've also sold 7 Wade Extruder kits in the past 2 weeks! I've also had a few custom print jobs. (mainly other miscellaneous Mendel parts) I'm now selling a kit including everything you need as well as bearings on my
Replimat Etsy store for $41.50 and $29.42 for just the plastic printed parts. I'm not going to be able to quit my day job anytime soon, but it has earned me enough to pay for my work on the Filament Spindle as well as a bunch of electronics toys so I can experiment with Pololu drivers and adding a stepper extruder to my MakerBot.
That brings me to the other
thing I designed. I documented a simple
Pololu Extruder Stripboard. Although there are a lot of people working on some great Pololu based printed circuit boards, this stripboard is a whole lot cheaper and readily available way to interface with the existing MakerBot electronics to have a super smooth and silent stepper powered extruder. I'm using it now with my Mendel and I'm planning on doing the same thing on my MakerBot real soon if I can figure out how to add a few more hours to a day.
Who needs to sleep? I also put in a Sparkfun order for
another idea that I've been thinking about... several people have done some awesome work adding an
LCD and keypad control panel to their MakerBot... however, I was thinking...
By the way, I've also been accepted as a Maker at the
World Maker Faire NY! September 25th and 26th at the HALL OF SCIENCE. I love that name... sounds like where the Super Friends hang out... *
pew pew* Meanwhile, at the HALL OF SCIENCE. I'll be bringing one of my printers, probably my Mendel (if I can get it working reliably) to demonstrate at the
3D Printer Village table. I've never been to a Maker Fair, it should be awesome. Come say Hi!
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