It's Moving!!!!

Oh happy, happy me!!!

Time lapsing...

Last week I've been a little busy, soldering two sanguinololus kits, and here it is, one gorgeous time lapse movie, filmed by my friend Pedro Moura Pinheiro

I've done it!

I've finally done it! These are the first 3 pieces for the Prusa Air. Last saturday I went to AltLab to print them, but as usual, Violeta (the resident cupcake... the 3D printer) said - "No you don't!", and after a couple of hours discussing with her, I went home :p

Mental note: If you need give a name to a machine, skip the chapter "Women", for some kind of strange reason, the machine catch their... let's call it "moods".

So, after licking my bruises, I've stumbled on Celso Martinho time lapse documenting his Ultimaker build, and after that he tweeted about some extruder problems, very similar Violeta. We've exchanged some tweets about 3D printing and he has found a post in the Ultimaker forum, suggesting to turn off the Temperature setting in Skeinforge.

This tuesday I went back to Violeta and tried to talk to "her" without mentioning "temperature", and it worked! I was able to print the support for the Y-axis motor and two clamps... and then it was getting late and I had another lady to go to ;)

One after another

Yep, one cube... err... not really a cube, after another. Trial and error it's a scientific approach, but AltLab cupcake can get on your nerves.

First of all, Violeta it's a kind of cupcake prototype with many and many hours of printing, so she can be a kind of moody and the standard setups on ReplicatorG doesn't apply to her, wich it's a kind of a bummer :p

Second, João Neves, Basílio and me, well... how should I put this, we are rookies on 3D printing matters, but very eager to take the bull by his horns :D

Now, yesterday at AltLab, we've started with a new ABS spool, a spool with some bad reviews from AltLab experts, they never got an usable print from it, so,with our natural stupidity we've engaged in empirical effort to calibrate the damn thing.

As you can see, after 4 hours of trials and errors we've give up and wen home... with a promise, let's investigate what is the correct way to calibrate it :)

Just imagine....

Someone close to you needs an organ transplant and a compatible donor it's getting hard to find. Unfortunaly this is a very recurrent picture, but science it's getting there! There's a San Diego company, Organovo, is using 3D printing technology to print human skeletal muscle, and use it as graft.

Can you imagine printing a whole organ?

(via 3D Printing is the Future)

So full of win!

So it was, yesterday AltLab meetup was full of win.
It started with someone showing off his project, Laser Tag... no, no laserish paintballish kind of laser tag, it was more grafitti tagging, but using a laser pointer, a video projector, a camera and a kind off nifty software :)
Everyone played with it, and headed back inside, it was a kind of chilly in the back alley.

Next, João Neves and me went on a date with Violeta... It was a kind of threesome, but Violeta is AltLab Cupcake 3D printer!

I tried printing a part from a Wallace, bat as usual, Violeta didn't finished the print, and I was using my computer, so the plot thickens! :(

The problem is in the printer, now we're certain of this! We scavanged AltLab junk... err... the nice and very organized wharehouse for ATX PSU, and tried a few, but that didn't, so we plugged the original one back, and it worked! Violeta is printing again, at least two parts for Franky (a mini-mendel) withou a hitch, the future will tell us.

And the pièce de résistance was the first test of a stereolithography printer... "waht?!!?" it's a 3D printer using photo sensible resin as a medium, very impressive piece of technology.

 They made some exposure tests to understand how long they need to expose the resin for a perfect cure, it's around 15 seconds and they-re ready for the next layer :)

A full of win day!

Slice it and Dice it... Part 2!

Not everyone has a 200mm plate to print parts, not even me.... hell, I haven't got a printer... yet, but that's another story.
Someone asked for 100mm batches on my RepRap Wallace (Nema 17 and M8 rods edition), so I've fired up Blender and tried to make the best out of it.

Faster than a speeding bullit!

Well, almost! Here's the thing, some guys in the Vienna University of Technology developed one The 3D printer uses a liquid resin, which is hardened at precisely the correct spots by a focused laser beam.

And then you go, "Yeah, big deal!", but be prepared for this, we're talking about nanometer precision, can you imagine what kind of resolution you can achieve?

"But I'll bet it's slow like watching wall moving"... wrong again! They can print 5 meters per second!
You're speechless by now, for sure, but you can watch the video and take a look here.

I've uploaded a "Thing"

That's right, I've posted a "thing" on Thingiverse! But what's thingiverse? Well, thingiverse it's a repository of things you can print, there's no need to know about 3D modelling to own a 3D printer, you can go to thingiverse and download something you need/like and print it.

But what have you uploaded? Well, there's a new "guy" in town, is name is Wallace, after Alfred Russel Wallace, and he is a it, it's a 3D printer. Basically I just followed the instructions in the OpenScad file available in the original post, which was designed with smaller motors in mind, but luckily, the mastermind behind it, coded the file in a way you can change the settings of the motors and rods in a fast and easy way.

So, I've changed the configuration to Nema17 motors and M8 rods (sturdier and bigger printing area), generated new STL files and then I used Blender to produce a 200x200mm plate which allow you to print all the parts at the same time.

If there's a popular demand, I'll try to make a 100x100mm array, for printers with smaller building area.

Take a look here!

Print me some wheels!

It's just amazing what you can accomplish with 3D printing capabilities. Take a look at Vorwaertz and his nifty VRZ 1, I just want one of those!

VRZ 1. is a track bike frame with 3d printed stainless steel lugs glued together with carbon fiber tubes.
this method allows to build custom frames in a short period of time.
you could change the geometry to what ever you like, then the lugs gets generated by a software.
now we just need to print the parts finish them and glue the frame together.
The fork is 480 g and the frame weight is 1100 g (for stainless-Carbon Frame)! if we print the lugs in titanium, it will get even lighter.
The printed lugs could also be used with steel or titan tubes!

After all... Size does matter!

The most common use of a 3D printer is to enhance some tool/object or make a replacement part. In this cases accurate measurements play an important roll on this act of reverse engineering/enhancement, and you'll need a proper tool to do this. The must-have tool is a Vernier Caliper.

With this tool you can take measurements with great accuracy, we're talking about into tenth of a millimetre in the most basic models. This tool is mandatory in any t(h)inkerer tool case! 

Animation of a caliper measurement using a vernier scale.

Slice and dice it!

Before printing your "hot from the oven" 3D model, you'll need to convert it in a language comprehensible to your 3D printer. A 3D printer is a CNC machine with a extruder as printing tool, so the logical step was adopting the same programming language used in the CNC, which is GCode.
Basically it tells to the machine which dots should connect... yes, all machines work like games you have played as a kid :)
Well, after this brief explanation, let's take a look at Slic3r, it's just one of many STL-to-GCode translators developed for 3D printing. At first glance it seams more user friendly than Skeinforge, but lacking some options/features, but I guess the main reason is the development team behind Skeinforge is the same as ReplicatorG, the Makerbot creators!
So, why should I use Slic3r? Well, take a look at RichRap wrote an impressive, let's call an essay, about Slic3r, take a look at it!

Doodling in 3D

Don't worry, he's mostly harmless! Basílio, a goodfella, a Lobster, a good friend and a Google SketchUp ninja!

Well, yesterday was AltLab meetup day, and the plan was: make a 3D model of an X axis carriage for a mini-mendel.

It was a success! After a few hours using Google SketchUp, we've managed to create a darn good looking carriage. The next step will be print it and assemble it.

Mini-Mendel X Axis mini-carriage

I'm not in the mood...

At least it's what she said! Violeta... the printer, I mean :)
From the beginning, tuesday it's meeting day at AltLab and I've discussed with Mauricio the possibility of using the Mini-Mendel with an adapter, a Pen Holder to write the pcb's layouts. The X axis carriage from the Mini-Mendel was disassembled and after I've finished assemble it, it looked a little wobbly, and we don't want a wobbly printer!
So, Thingiverse to the rescue, and we found the Mendel Mini-Carriage, and of we go... to the Makerbot!!!
This was my first interaction with a 3d Printer, and everything went well... until... when the print reached about 1cm of height, the extruder decided stop the extrusion... damn!
We started over, but there was a suspicion over the laptop, so we've tried using the SD Card to print... it didn't work! Now the suspect is the version 3 firmware... and the laptop... it's a cabala or lack of luck :p
Did we give up? No, of course not, we've selected a smaller piece of the Mini-Carriage and pressed "BUILD", and all went as expected, the first piece of the Mini-carriage was a success!
Let's try another... and all went well.. until the 1cm of height... the extruder failed again :p
It was getting late, so we've closed the shop for the day... err... night.
But not everything was lost, we've plotted a plan to develop a Gen8 electronics, just wait for it :)

A 3D printer in your pocket!!!

Well, kind of, it depends how deep your pockets are!
This is Tantillus, a portable self replicable mini printer.
Brad (aka Sublime) went on vacations and brought along his Prusa, there's no need to say... it's big, clunky and not so portable.
He decided to create a mini Ultimaker and this is his prototype.
The building area is very similar to the original Makerbot in a quite smaller package (225mm x 225mm x 300mm), simply amazing :)
You can find more detailed pictures here.

A great timelapse!

While investigating about RepRap builds, I came across with this time lapse, take a peek ;)

Complete TimeLapse of the assembly of a 3D Printer.

3D Printer-Manufacturer: http://www.MakerGear.com
Derivation of the RepRap Prusa Mendel: http://www.RepRap.org

Credits:

Builders: Bob Meltzer & Victor van Spaandonk

RepRap Gen7 PCB... check!

Today went back to AltLab for a little learning experience. A great friend of mine, Fernando Afonso, came to Lisbon to the launch of MEO Kanal, a product he helped bringing to life.

Since he was here, he was invited by AltLab to give a small workshop on "PCB Making... The Fernando Afonso way". :)

The method used was Toner Transfer, where you print the circuit layout with a laser printer on cheap magazine paper (the more glossier is better), then, with the toner side over the copper side and woot... the "sandwich" off it go into a slightly modified laminator (around 10 times) and the it's submerged in freezing cold water.

The low quality magazine paper it's easily scrubbed off the pcb and it's ready to the acid bath.
We used Acid Cupric Chloride as etchant, when the pcb is submerged  it turns into a... kryptonite green... spooky I say!

In the end we've got a Generation 7 Electronics pcb for the Prusa Air... next step, buy the components and soldering it :D

3D Printer = JAIL!

At least in one of the short stories written by one of my favorite authors, Cory Doctorow . 

“Printcrime” is a 2006 science fiction short story about man who goes to prison for illegal printing.

Can you imagine that? Well, maybe in a distant future... or not, but I'll bet the same thing happened when Prohibition was instated in the U.S., no one predicted it, for sure!

If you love sci-fi, and especially if the technology described in it is quite tangible or current bleeding edge, you'll find in his books a not so distant future.

One thing you'll be surprised is the possibility of download for free all of his books... you've read it right... F-R-E-E, as in nienti, nada, libre, मुक्त, bure... well, you've got it by now :)

Now, you go read the story and the reason why he wrote it in here, and... you'll read it all the books afterwards. 

Prusa Air... good lookin' hein?

Isn't she pretty? this is a rendering of a Prusa Air, a variation from the Prusa Mendel which it was already a simpler variation of the Mendel.
This is the printer I'll be building this semester, so, now I'm looking thru my social network, ways of cutting the acrylic.
Meanwhile, I may have found even more partners in crime... building wise and as members of AltLab... who knows?