This is a simple tip. I hadn't used a MakerBot heated build platform with the wiper until recently when I got a Thing-O-Matic and I was annoyed at how the pre-wipe commands sometimes don't actually wipe off the extrusion. This is because the path depends on where the object starts. So like most people it seems, I turned the wiper so that it was diagonal to increase the chance that the tip moves across the wiper. A better solution is to mount the wiper horizontally and add this gcode command to the end of your start.gcode so that it always moves slowly across the wiper blade:
G1 X52 Y-37.0 Z10 F300.0 (move across wiper)
The down side is that my ToM now seems determined to violate the first law of robotics by flinging the plastic noodle into my eye as I lean down and stare into it!
Hey, hey, hey! It's been too long since I've blogged about some of the stuff I've been doing lately. Here's a quick rundown.
First there is Thingiview.js. This is a javascript 3D model viewer I wrote that parses STL and OBJ files and then uses Three.js to render them using either canvas or WebGL. This grew out of the work I've done on CloudSCAD when I realized that there were really no good ways to view 3D models in a browser. The only things that were available were either buggy, slow, or cost a lot of money, so I wrote my own. Then MakerBot asked me to opensource it and help them integrate it into Thingiverse! Now that Thingiview is pretty stable, hopefully I'll find some time to work on CloudSCAD again...
Another cool thing is that I got a job as a tech editor for a book about 3D printing called Printing in Plastic: Build Your Own 3D Printer. It includes instructions on how to build a cool little RepStrap/mini CNC machine out of plywood called the whiteAnt. The designs will be licensed under Creative Commons so I've also been publishing what I can on the RepRap wiki. It's been a lot of fun since I've never done any woodworking before and I've been using a lot of tools I've never used before like table saws and band saws. I also ended up finally acquiring an (ancient) drill press!
Since I had some success with 3D scanning at Berks CoLab using the MakerScanner, but was frustrated with the lack of support for OS X (not just MakerScanner, but almost all 3D scanning software like Grape3D I've tried has had problems on my MacBookPro), and splinescan is dead, I decided to start writing my own. I call it Spinscan. My goal is to be cross platform using Processing communicating with an Arduino that controls a turntable (3D printed) so I can do 360 degree scans. I have most of the hardware done, but the software isn't done and so far I've only figured out how to track the laser line in a video. I'd really like it to be sort of an open source version of the NextEngine scanner.
I'm also now the proud owner of Thing-o-Matic MakerBot #3745 (Tea Two) who has taken his place next to MakerBot #481 (Tea). That means along with my RepRap Mendel (Earl) and the soon to be whiteAnt (Still unnamed, it's not really an evolutionary step up so I wouldn't call him Grey) I will soon have 4 personal fabricators in my basement!
I'm really happy with the Thing-O-Matic. Particularly the new Stepstruder. I've been familiar with the power of stepper driven extrusion for a while since I've been working on RepRaps, so it wasn't really a surprise that it was a major improvement over the old DC motors. What was surprising to me was how well it worked almost immediately. It took weeks or months of tinkering, butchered hobbed bolts, crooked gears, hacked together electronics, and skeinforge tweaking, for me to get my RepRap to print as well as the Thing-O-Matic printed immediately after I assembled it. (which was a lot easier than even the Cupcake assembly)
The stepstruder, along with the mechanical end stops, improved Z axis, and quieter operation really solves most of the things I felt that the MakerBot lacked compared to the RepRap. I always told people that if you wanted the best quality prints to get a RepRap, but it takes a whole lot of work and to get a MakerBot if you want to get up and running easily. Well now I can safely say with a Thing-O-Matic, you can have the best of both worlds. The only thing the Thing-O-Matic needs now is to improve the automated build platform. I've been having a number of problems getting large prints to work right, but it has been awesome to be able to spit out tons of small parts like the 30 pieces needed for this stick puzzle!
Although I don't post to this blog as often as I should, I do obsessively document a ton of stuff on my Flickr stream and on Twitter @tbuser all the time, so if you're interested be sure to subscribe to me there too!
A while ago I tried and failed to come up with an easy way to get text into OpenSCAD. The difficulty lies in the fact that OpenSCAD doesn't have complete support for all DXF entities that most tools like autotrace and Inkscape output. This past weekend I wanted to create a simple business card-like object for our hackerspace at Berks CoLab that I could print out and give to people. At first, I was just going to re-design the logo in something else like Sketchup, when I stumbled on this page about other 2D formats in the OpenSCAD manual which suggests using Inkscape to first convert SVG files into EPS files and then using pstoedit to convert the EPS into a DXF that OpenSCAD can read. (woah alphabet soup overload)
Since I had already created the logo using Inkscape, the first thing I wanted to do was to separate out each part of the logo into individual files so that I could extrude the text and shapes in different ways. The first thing you'll want to do is give each object in inkscape a recognizable name by right clicking on it and going to object properties like this:
You'll also want to remove any effects like stroke outlines. I found this ended up causing the final dxf file to cause import problems in OpenSCAD. Next, you'll want to do a File -> Save As and chose EPS, not DXF since Inkscape outputs DXF that OpenSCAD can't process. When you save the EPS a window will come up that lets you limit export to the object with ID that you set in the last step. You'll also want to make sure convert texts to paths and rasterize filter effects is checked on this screen:
Now you'll need pstoedit. I'm on a mac and I use Mac Ports so all I had to do to install it is "sudo port install pstoedit" on the terminal. Using pstoedit you can convert the EPS file into an OpenSCAD compatible DXF file using this command "pstoedit -dt -f dxf:-polyaslines in.eps out.dxf". Here's the result, I use eDrawings to view DXF files on OSX:
Now you should be able to extrude the DXF in OpenSCAD. One of the interesting things about cutting up a logo piece by piece like this is that the resulting DXF files import into OpenSCAD exactly where they should go. In other words I exported the circle, the gear, and the words Berks and CoLab as separate objects and when I imported them into OpenSCAD - they all lined up exactly as they were laid out in the original SVG file.
Here's the code I used to extrude just the gear:
color([100/255, 190/255, 50/255]) {
linear_extrude(
file="gear.dxf",
layer="0",
height=5,
scale=20,
origin=[5.85,4.15]
);
}
You'll have to play around with the scale and the origin to get it to be roughly the right size and centered correctly.
I posted all the files used to create the Berks CoLab name tag to thing:5517 or on github. The next thing I'd like to do is make a name tag using green, white, and black plastic as a multipart thing that snaps together like wulfdesign's thing. It should also be possible to write an Inkscape extension that shells out to pstoedit to let you save OpenSCAD compatible DXF files directly from Inkscape - better yet, someone else could do it, plz k thnx!
Just as I was writing this post, I realized my original attempt could now be accomplished with an extra step to create arbitrary text into a 3D printable STL from the command line like so:
convert -size 400x400 -background transparent -fill black -stroke black -gravity center -kerning -30 -font Helvetica-Bold caption:"Tony Buser" tmp.png
autotrace --output-file=tmp.eps tmp.png
pstoedit -dt -f dxf:-polyaslines tmp.eps tmp.dxf
/Applications/OpenSCAD.app/Contents/MacOS/OpenSCAD -m make -s tmp.stl tmp.scad
I turned it into a simple shell script you can find the code at thing:5518 or better yet on github.
Poor Earl is getting stressed out. Ever since the abuse he suffered at Maker Faire NY, he just hasn't been the same. He's also endured several trips to be put on display at different places like Berks CoLab. He started making strange sounds when he moved his axes (he doesn't chop wood, apparently that's the plural of axis). The sound was the belt rubbing against plastic parts as things started to get out of alignment. That's when I noticed things were starting to crack.
That is a crack on part of the X axis that holds the bars. It was getting slightly skewed causing the belt to ride up the bearings and rub underneath. Once I took it off I found that crack and shortly after taking this picture it fell appart.
There's also some hairline fractures forming here at the top. It's hard to take a picture of this clear PLA. The cracks are forming INSIDE the parts, which I guess is a benefit to using clear PLA because otherwise I'd never know it was happening until it really cracked.
Here's a picture of some bubble-like cracking inside the frame vertexes. These kinds of stress fractures seem to be on all the vertexes, however it's much worse on the bottom vertexes and not so much on the top two.
I'm not sure if these are common problem areas or if I've tightened things too much or used too sparse of an infill. Either way, since I live in THE FUTURE and own multiple 3D printers, I'm able to easily print replacement parts using my MakerBot!
Reading (it's pronounced Redding, btw) in lovely Berks County Pennsylvania. A place perhaps most famous for having a Railroad on the Monopoly board game, The Shopping Outlet Capital of the World, or the fact that a giant glowing red Japanese Pagoda has inexplicably been sitting on a nearby hill for the past 100 years overlooking a mostly German and Pennsylvania Dutch countryside. Oh yeah, I think it was also recently rated in the top 25 most dangerous cities in the US. Hopefully one day it will be known for having an awesome hackerspace, which is what I've been putting a lot of energy into lately. What's a hackerspace? This is one of my favorite videos that describes it pretty well.
It's been something that I've been thinking about for a while, but I never seemed to have the time. Plus, Berks County isn't exactly the most progressive areas and I thought the odds of forming one around here was pretty unlikely. The nearest hackerspace is over an hour away in Philadelphia which means although I might visit, it's too far to go to very often. Then one night I was browsing the hackerspaces wiki map and noticed another marker in Reading - someone else (who turned out to be the little brother of friend of mine I went to highschool with) was trying to start a hackerspace in Reading too - inconceivable!
Then I went to the World Maker Faire and got really excited. While we were there, Amy went to a talk about starting a hackerspace and she got really excited too. So when we got back we started contacting people and getting serious about it. A month later we have 10 people interested and 6 people who have been serious enough to meet every week for the past month, we've decided on a name - Berks CoLab and have started down the road to forming a non-profit.
So, if by some even more amazing odds, you are from the Berks County area and would like to help drag Reading kicking and screaming into The Future - you're welcome to join us at our weekly meetings. (plus: someone usually brings chocolate Mmm) We meet every Tuesday at 6:30pm in downtown Reading. You can get the details here. We're also planning to meet once a month on Saturdays to work on a project. We haven't decided on a project yet, but it will probably involve robots and lasers, RepRaps or MakerBots and a whole lot of awesome!
This past weekend I demonstrated my RepRap Mendel at a table at the 3D Printer Village at the New York World Maker Faire. It was great to be surrounded for the first time with people doing the same things that I've been doing while toiling away in obscurity in my basement for the past year. I was kind of freaked out how many people walked up to me and said "Hey I know you, I read your blog!".
It was also exhausting, particularly the first day. You see, on friday what I expected to be a 2.5 hour drive turned into a 5 hour drive mostly stuck in traffic. Then, woke up saturday at 5am only to find that the shower didn't work right in our hotel room. I proceeded to spend about 12 hours outdoors in about 90 degree weather talking to literally hundreds of people in what seemed like a dirt dust storm. You have to understand, 2 of my least favorite things are hot weather and talking to strangers (or talking at all), so I was totally out of my element and seriously stressed out. I wished I would have had more time to talk with the other 3D printer operators (particularly the guys at MakerBot), however my brain was turning to mush.
But no matter how sweaty, dirty, and tired Amy and I were, another kid (and often adult) would walk up to my table with this kind of wide eyed wonder at my creation as it slowly built up another object. Then I'd realize - here was another person who was staring into the beginnings of a technology that they often had no idea even existed before walking into our tent. Maybe that kid would be inspired like Carl Segan was when he was a child and visited the first World's Faire in 1939 that was also on these same grounds. So I'd explain for the 1000'th time what a MakerBot and a RepRap is, how it works, that ABS is the same plastic as LEGOs, and what are the implications of personal fabrication and machines that can make almost anything including other machines, will have on the future world that they will grow up into.
In the end I had a great time and won a blue ribbon! Now I need to unpack and clean off a few layers of dirt and grime out of my poor little robot so I can get back to helping make the future awesome!
Ever since I got a MakerBot I've wanted to be able to do 3D scanning. The new developments at MakerBot like the MakerScanner and Cyclops are really exciting! The Cyclops seems to be getting a lot of attention since MakerBot has begun selling kits. Although the kit is basically just a lasercut box and isn't really needed, here's the cost breakdown for what you need to do it the way they suggest, lets assume you already have an iPod/iPhone or use some other video source:
$50 MakerBot Cyclops Kit
$130 Pico Projector
$40 Webcam
$20 A/V cable
$240 total
Today, Woot had a pico projector on sale for $99 and I almost broke down and bought it. However, I can't help but think a pico projector is overkill when all we need to do is project some black and white lines on an object...
So what do we need to do structured light 3D scanning? A projector and a camera.
A pico projector is just a light source, an LCD, and a lens, right? Doesn't my iPhone already have everything except the lens? That's when I saw things like theseghetto DIYiPod projectors. So I grabbed my iPad and started doodling. Behold my awesome Penultimate finger drawing skills:
I'm thinking if you already have an iPhone 4, all you need is 2 fresnel lenses, a slide projector lens, maybe a mirror or 2, a cardboard box and some duck tape in a dark room - you could make yourself a 3D scanner for $20. The only missing piece would be a simple iPhone App that can display 3 images and take 3 pictures automatically. That and probably a whole lot of Science that I'm completely missing. I believe you need to offset the camera from the object a certain distance, which might not be possible with just an iPhone. (maybe use some more mirrors?)
Also: Maybe the point clouds could be generated inside that iPhone App? Something to think about...
Hey check it out, Make: blogged about CloudSCAD... and of course they spelled my name wrong. Busier? People mispronounce my name all the time - it's not BUS-er or B-user or Bus-ay, it's actually Boozer believe it or not. (yeah yeah I know) However, this is not the first time it's happened. A couple years ago the name Tony Burser was immortalized in print when MacTech magazine did a story covering ruby-nxt (a ruby gem I wrote for controlling LEGO Mindstorms robots). Come on people, copy-paste! :)
Update: Make fixed my name, thanks! Now I just need to perfect my time machine so I can go back and correct MacTech.
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