ToM filament problem

During GPN11 I had problems after switching to a new roll of ABS.
The answers in the Makerbot-Operators Google-Group said that the PTFE-tube may have been to small for the thicker ABS I tried to use.

So now I detached the MK6 stepper-motors and then the hot-end and checked.
My filament was stuck fast inside the PTFE and would only come out after 220°C and lots of force was applied.
The PTFE-tube of the Thing-o-Matic is (now) 3.2mm on the upper side but only 2.99mm on the tapered business-side while my new filament is 3.06mm.

I drilled my PTFE to 3.2mm (3.0 and 3.2 are standard drill sizes while I could not find 3.1mm).
In a first 30second test it seems to extrude fine.
The filament-thickness into thick air is 0.60-0.63mm .
Time for a test-print....

On the plus side, I did manage to solve the 129°C temperature-reading issue with the Automated Build Platform.
The connector was plugged into the only socket that would accept it all the tine.
It's left 3 pin-holes should have been connected to 3 free-standing pins in the middle if the board instead.

update:
My plunger was too tight, the drive-pulley was no longer centered because the cork-spacer between extruder and stepper was getting squashed over the first few month of operation and thus the stepper-shaft deeper in the extruder then when I mounted it the first time.
There are still issues but I can work on finding a reliable set of parameters and then calibrating skeinforge for the filament-sizes and hole-diameters resulting from these parameters.

• GPN11 blog entry
• video of the extruder problema
• Makerbot operators

DIY shift lens

I just ordered myself a Canon-FD to Micro 4/3 adapter from HongKong for my second camera.
...and another one to destroy it, add some 3d printed parts and hopefully make it into a universal Shift-lens adapter that turns all Canon FD -glass into manual Micro 4/3 shift lenses.

It will probably fail terribly at stage 1 "destroying the adapter" but it just meight work out...

Arcol hot-ends

I just found out that Arcol.hu makes some great hot-ends with 0.35mm nozzles that work for RepMan, Thing-o-Matic and Mendel. This review calls it an "overengeneered thing of beauty" and from the photos that looks just about right :).
I'm tempted to get one of their's for my dual-head upgrade to the RepMan.
They also have a universam mount for the Thing-o-Matic that looks much more sturdy then the acrylics that Makerbot provides.

• hot ends
• alternative source
• universal mount

ToM back in business

"My printer is over the ocean, my printer is over the sea, my printer is over the ocean, oh bring back my printer to me..."

The 2 PCBs of my Thing-o-Matic that I sent in for RMA returned.
Makerbot could not reproduce the issue and a new cable didn't help a bit.
The temperature-sensor of my Automated Build Platform (the belt) still shows 129°C at ayny temperature.
This means that an automated build never detects that it has cooled down and ejects the part to start printing the next one.

I reassembled everything very, very late at night, packed the mobile TOM v2 again and am taking it with me for the week.
As I found on GPN 11 the PTFE-tube to be too thin for my next batch of filament, I checked that.
The filament is 3.04-3.06mm perfectly round (not oval).
I could not find any 3.1mm drill, so I took 3.0 and 3.2mm with me to make that tube wider.
I guess I should create a collection of such tubes in 2.8-3.2mm and label them.
Every roll of filament will have a slightly different diameter after all.

The filament I ordered in China is delayed (what a surprise).
They told my that their extrusion-machine has broken down and needs repairs.
So I'm stuck with that expensive roll of black BitsFromBytes filament and some left over white filament from that 2x10Kg rolls I got back in the first days.

PS:
I do have a raw version of the first half of the GPN -video.
(first half has me talking about what GPN is and what to expect there.
Second half is just collected footage and music.)
Still need to select some Creative Commons music for the second half apply all the little details I learned to make it perfect.
(Not like that "mobile TOM v1"-video.)

3d printed Battery grip prototype

I'm currently designing a 3d printed battery grip for the Panasonic GH-1.
Due to the complexity of the model,
I'm currently starting out with a highly simplified design.
This prototype only contains 2 batteries, no button, no electronics, no display, no connectors.
Not even routes for the cable. Just holes to mount tiny, 1mm thick copper plates for the battery contacts.
It is opened and closed with 3 M5 sinkhole bolts.
I want to get this prototype right before refining it into a "proper" battery grip.

• Design files on Thingiverse

favicon

trying to upload a favicon here....

Panasonic GH2 hacked

Cool!
I waited for ages for the GH2 to get hacked.
Staying with my GH1 until that happened.
Now it is! :)
Vitaly had to wait to get a firmware. Since no firmware-update for the GH2 was released yet, that was a problem.
It seems that the V1.0E -firmware for the GH2 was leaked now!

• homepage
• ptool 3.60d

Me on Google Plus

BTW, you can find me on Google+ since last weekend.
(I'm pretty much replacing Google Buzz with Google Plus.)

• my profile

extruder design

Being unsatisfied with the filament drive of the Thing-o-Matic
(way too little pulling force),
I'm in the early stages of designing my own extruder.
Design-intent:

• geared down stepper motor
• spring-loaded lever to adjust the pressure
• mount for a rotary-encoder that meassures the filament being actually pulled in
• integrated compartment for a sponge to clean the filament
• use herringbone-gears
• mounting holes for a fan for the stepper motor
• low center of gravity (reduced stress in transport and backlash)
• allow ToM and RepMan hot-ende and allow both extruder mounts (I want to design this only once for both my printers)
• 3 point mouting (use 3 contact points to mount the extruder to a Thing-O-Matic z-stage as opposed to the flawed arc-like 2-point design of the default MK6-steptruder. Doesn't matter on a Repman.)

Originally I wanted to use 2 drive-grears to grip and pull the filament from both sides instead of clamping it between a drive-gear and a 608-bearing but I found that this would require a more complicated gear because the only stationary point on the lever is it's axis and that is not the axis of the intended second drive gear.
So that would require 2 more gears in a very small space.

Don't hold your breath. This will take me a while to get right but I'm working on it.

• post in BfB forum
• post in Makerbot group
• post in RepRap forum
• Design files on Thingiverse (coming soon)
• Photos (coming soon)
• Video (coming soon)
• All Videos (please subscribe)

Belt clip for Zoom H4n field recorder

Not having a hand to hold the Zoom H4n but having a working design of a spider-mount for it,
I just modified that design to make a nice belt-clip.
Thus I hope that on CCCamp I'll be able to have the Zoom H4n on my belt,
phantom-powering the headset microphone and have both hands free to do some interviewing.
(I plan to interview some people to showcase their projects.)

• Design files on Thingiverse
• All Videos (please subscribe)

packing light

I'm traveling a lot.
...but I don't like to carry much weight.
...and there's never enough power sockets around. Especially in trains.
so...

pocket-oscilloscope

You know how it is with me and tools...can't hold myself back. ;)

So I got myself a new pocket-oscilloscope for 40eur from China.
Sadly I clicked the wrong link and got mine without a probe. Thus I attached 2 cables with plugs for standard multimeter-probes to it.
Works very fine for small audio tasks.
And frankly... that's all I need it for.
Just to look at some signal or some low frequency noise.
So it has it's place just like 5eur pocket-multimeters have their place.

What I found interesting on the weg was:
an article about attaching other probes (especially X10 ones) to it.

C't even has an article about the next generation of this one in the edition that arrived today.
A small, cheap and simple tool.

• attaching other probes
• Photos

• Design files on Thingiverse (comming soon)
• Photos (comming soon)
• Video (comming soon)
• All Videos (please subscribe)

Thing-o-Matic upgrade

I just ordered the parts to

• get an Interface Board to test my firmware-addition for it
• add additional end-stops to increase reliability and error-detection
• add a Magnetic Rotary Encoder to my MK6 steptruder to detect that filament is actually being pulled in (more reliability due to fault detection)
• play with the Frostruder and different materials
• play with the unicorn pen-plotter (yes, I coult print one but I'm ordering anyway)

I hope to get these shipped with my repaired/replaced boards and start experimenting in a few weeks.
(With all these tool-heads I'll at least design some way to switch toolheads quickly including the electrical connections. Maybe even use these TOM-toolheads on the larger RepMan too.)

update: 2011-07-13 tracking says they jsut cleared customs and are here next weekend. :) I'm also preparing some upgrades to my RepMan printer.

GPN is over

4 days of GPN 11 are over.
I did not get to test out my theory for an automatic tool-changer for my milling toolheads for RepMan and Thing-o-Matic.
However I did manage to assemble an old robot-arm that was collecting dust in the basement for quite some time now, learned a great deal of things, talked with lots of interesting people and got to print my improved RepMan to ToM toolhead-adapter and my geared follow focus.
I may do a video about GPN like I did about EasterHegg but that will take...a while.
...oh and I did manage to get a remote controlled wifi IP-camera working.
I planned to use it to remotely observe the printer and hit the emergency-off remotely if needed. However even with the latest firmware update I could not trigger the alarm-relay on the camera remotely. It only triggers via movement-detection. :(
So I'll have to resort to some hack with tilting the camera fully down to hit a micro-switch and kill power or something.

• very, very short news-video about GPN. (my table with the mobile Thing-O-Matic case at 00:16-00:17)
• Design files on Thingiverse (Toolhead adapter)
• Design files on Thingiverse (follow focus)
• Design files on Thingiverse (Milling toolhead)
• Photos of GPN11 (comming soon)
• Video of GPN11
• All Videos (please subscribe)

Forrest Higgs: Flex cable carrier

Looks like Forrest designed a much better flex cable carrier:
Diary of a Technocratic Anarchist: Flex cable carrier
Check it out!

Thing-O-Matic: glue coming apart

I did already rant about the toolhead-mount on the Thing-o-Matic.
As predicted the 2 glued connections on the right and left side did come apart after a bit of traveling, shaking, heating up and cooling down.
Luckily in the google group Aaron pointed out that someone has already designed a replacement that eliminated this issue.
So I just retrofitted my TOM here "in the field" at Gullasch Programmier Nacht.
This thing is more then just a tight fit.
It's too tight and not tappered. So I had to use the battery operated Dremel Stylus on it quite a bit to make it "just" a snug fit.

• Design files on Thingiverse
• webcam of the retrofitted TOM in action while at GPN

mobile Thing-o-Matic version 2

To get my Thing-o-Matic to the Gullasch Programmier Nacht (a Chaos Computer Club event in Karlsruhe)
and take it along on all my traveling...
I redesigned my mobile workbench to be:

• much more leightweight,
• use 4 weels instead of 2, so I carry even less of the weight
• be slim enough to not only fit through a train but also fit through a train with other people blocking the gangway
• and... improved compartments for small tools and parta

I have a raw version of a HOWTO -video of the first one I build and hope to finish that one of these days.
I don't know if I'll make a video about the second yet.

• Photos
• All Videos (please subscribe)

Aus 2011-06-23_mobile_TOM_version_2

Aus 2011-06-23_mobile_TOM_version_2

Aus 2011-06-23_mobile_TOM_version_2

Me live on Freibyte

Remember a while ago when I recorded a show for Freibyte (a local radio show of the Chaos Computer Club Freiburg distributed by Radio Dreyecksland across 3 countries)?
My show has just been aired recently! :)

• Freibyte

Video: [HOWTO] Illuminate your Thing-o-Matic

I just published another video.
This time it's a howto about a rather trivial modification for a Thing-o-Matic.
How to add an LED-strip, so you can see the build-surface properly (it's in the shadow of the Z-stage and un-illuminated).

I managed to get the Zoom H4n set up to directly record the voice-overs into my video cutting program.
This really simplifies the process of making such a video.
I only made 16:9 photos (no videos) while doing but that's good enough to describe this simple process.

I'm still not satisfied with the audio levels.
Recording with higher gain also increases the (low level) noise.
Using audacity's compressor too. Compensating using the noise-canceling only removes the noise in the silent parts. It is still clearly there in the voice. :/

I'm also thinking about adding a sound-effect to the HOWTO-intro animation but haven't sound anything that goes with the images yet.

• Photos
• Video
• All Videos (please subscribe)

idea for an automated tool changer

I have 2 excellent ideas for an automated tool changer for my PCB milling platform in combination with a Dremel flex-shaft in my adapted milling toolhead
and for a complete toolhead-changer (e.g. 3d printing to milling to plotting) for the RepMan that may or may not be adaptable to the much tighter Thing-o-Matic.


I plan to check out these ideas on GulaschProgrammierNacht this long weekend.
So stay tuned...

improved RepMan to TOM toolhead adapter

I hope to test this design on Gulasch Programmier Nacht next weekend.
It should be more stable against backlash and thus allow faster milling.

• Design files on Thingiverse
• All Videos (please subscribe)

Video: [HOWTO] PCB milling on Thing-o-Matic video uploaded

It is done....
these YouTube-uploads take forever. ;)

On a side note: I did the voice-overs while driving in a high speed train.
I really like that microphone. :) You hear nothing of all the rumbling and hissing all around me.

• Design files on Thingiverse
• Video
• All Videos (please subscribe)

PCB milling on Thing-o-Matic video finished

I just finished the Thing-o-Matic PCB -milling video.
I'll upload it when my train arrives and publish it together with the design files this night or tomorrow.

That new headset microphone it incredible.
To be perfect it just needs to be invisible. ;)
I recorded all the voice overs on a moving train with all kinds of rumbling and hissing around me.
Nothing of that is in the recording!

• Design files on Thingiverse
• Photos
• Video
• All Videos (please subscribe)

As I wrote earlier,
here is my video of the rewiring of that cheap, chinese microphone.

I changed:
* thicker cables
* better solder joints
* symmetric cabling
* grounded case

• Video
• All Videos (please subscribe)

Video "autro"

Having good intros to HOWTO and REPORT -videos,
last night I recorded a standardized ending.
Just the usual stuff with "please subscribe" and a QR-code to the blog.
Sadly YouTube lets you only link to YouTube -content in videos.
Not to just any kind of URL.
(Maybe a cross-site-scripting issue.)

I also changed my blog-template to have "subscribe" in "please subscribe" be a link now.
Everyone does this and for good reason.
You need subscribers to have any chance of becoming an YouTube partner at some point and thus
a) loosing the 15 minute limitation and
b) choosing your own preview-image for the videos.


This made me re-upload at least the recent HOWTO -video showing my Thing-o-Matic quickchange -upgrade for the Automated Build Platform.
Mainly because I'm linking to that video from the upcoming and now nearly finished PCB-milling video.

• All Videos (please subscribe)

still sound issues and upcoming video

After the bad echo in the EasterHegg Video I'm currently testing a new, good microphone and playing around with some cheaper ones to learn more about sound.
At first I wanted to go with a lavalier but everyone told me to get a headset instead. After thinking about it for a long time, I did indeed settle on a headset because I can freely move around without the microphone ever moving relative to my mouth.
The new mic is a Countryman Isomax H, a hypercardoid headseat.
In the video shots it is more visible then I hoped it would be but I guess that's still okay.
However it is absolutely great for not picking up any sound that is anything else but my voice.
I made a short recording in a small hotel room with lots of echo and heavy contruction work going on next door. (Use the left-right balance to switch between the Zoom H4n microphones and the Countryman. You probably have to use a good headphone.)


One of the cheap microphones I'm playing around with is a chinese copy of a Shure Beta series handheld supercardoid.
it is with this one that I noticed another issue with my Zoom H4n field recorder:
it does have a 50Hz humming whenever I touch the metal microphone or even just the
unconnected XLR plug.
I found a way to rewire that cheap microphone and a solution to this humming.
That is why I'll be releasing another short HOWTO video about this modification first,
before giving the the (already prepared) PCB-milling with a Thing-o-Matic video.

Next in line are a multi-part video (stupid Youtube 15 minutes length limit) detailing step by step the assembly of a Thing-o-Matic
and I'm preparing to upgrade my RepMan to a dual-head system and will of cause document that in detail too.

• Video
• All Videos (please subscribe)

(Use the left-right balance to switch between the Zoom H4n microphones and the Countryman. You probably have to use a good headphone.)

3d printed geared follow-focus

I wanted to wait until I have part II of my 3d printed shoulder rig video ready but a lot of other videos are piling up alreeady,
so I published my geared follow focus today.
The advantage to the gearless one is that not pressure on the lens is required to create friction.
Thus the lens is not pushed off center and the part can not break if you over-tighten the adjustment- slider.

• Design files on Thingiverse
• Photos
• Video (comming soon)
• All Videos (please subscribe)

(90° gears not shown because I only have them as STL and not in the volumetric CAD assembly.)

Achievement unlocked: PCB milling

After I already gave a preview of the milling platform,
I was not able to do the first actual tests.
...it works.
I was able to mill the top side of a Makerbot Endstop v1.2 nearly instantly.
I used my Repman milling toolhead, the Repman to T-o-M toolhead adapter, the new PCB-holder platform and the quickchange-modiciation to remove the automated build platform.

A video with all the details is comming soon.
(I already made the footage but need to organize it, make voiceovers,...)

• Photos
• Design files
• All my designs
• Video
• My Channel (please subscribe)

Illuminating the Thing-O-Matic

Another thing I finally did:
Add LED lights to the Thing-o-Matic.
One of the design flaws of that device is, that everything happens in the shadow of the large Z-stage.
This when printing in black ABS, you can't see what is happening.
With the preparations for PCB milling that was even more unacceptable.

So I got myself some self gluing, cuttable LED strips that operate on 12V and started soldering...

• Photos
• Video
• All Videos (please subscribe)

rewiring cheap microphone-copy

I found some extremely cheap but decent remakes of the Shure Beta 58A microphone in china sold no-name as "Vocal Dynamic Microphone with Leather Carrying Pouch".
Sound quality is quite decent considering the price but the internal cabling was a mess.
So...I took that thing apart, replaced the bad solder joints, way too thin cables and the missing 3rd cable and rewired that damn thing.
Took me like 5 minutes and 25 USD + customs to get a quite decent supercardoid vocal microphone.

• Video
• All Videos (please subscribe)

New tool: Ersa gas powered soldering iron

I said it before and I'll say it again:
I just can't walk past some good tools.

This time I got myself a good gas powered soldering iron to be used while traveling.
A pretty cool one at that. Lots of tips, heat-shrinking, burner for light welding, lots of power.

• photos

building a mobile workbench - Version II

See ACTUAL VERSION II here.


After a first version done in wood and by modifying an existing bag,
I'm currently contemplating building an improved version of my mobile workbench.
This time using aluminum profiles.
It could include a foldable work-table, a drawer for the small tools, lockable doors,...

Still undecided if I actually want to build it.

• version I

PCB Milling Platform for Thing-O-Matic (PREVIEW)

Just some photos of an early prototype..... :)
PCB-milling on the Thing-O-Matic using a dremel-flex-shaft toolhead and a special PCB-holder platform interchangable with the automated build platform using a simple quick release modification.

• Photos


• Keith Neufeld seems to be working on the same thing


• PCB milling tutorial (Hack a Day)


• Opti - PCB-Gcode Optimizer (sounds interesting.)

Video: [REPORT] EasterHegg 2011

I finally found the time to finish my EasterHegg video.
it was supposed to become a report with lots of talk and facts about 10 years of easterhegg.
In the end it has just become a general vacation video with impressions from the event.
As my recording of the "10 years of EasterHegg" failed, numerous requests for the slides where unanswered and CCC-Wiki, Wikipedia&co did not provide much info I simply skipped all the talking and inserted CreativeCommons music instead.

• my channel (feel free to subscribe)

copy milling

I'm still working on PCB milling.
I'm thinking about 3D 3-axis CNC milling with Skeinforge.
5 axis CNC milling is out of my leaguge.

However....with such a rig I could do manual 5-axis milling by copying a master that I "simply" 3d printed.
This could be the way for me to design and test complex prototypes in ABS on the 3d-printer and later copy them to metals or wood.

Updates

I am currently finishing the EasterHegg2011 video, writing a few lines for FreiByte, doing the voice over for another HowTo video (mobile 3d printer for traveling)...
Ordered a sensible microphone to finally get rid of echo and unavoidable background noise,
am working on a geared follow focus,
a PCB vice table for the TOM for PCB milling
and preparing to sell some lens gears on ebay.

I hope to get PCB milling working for GPN in Karlsruhe in 3 weeks.

15mm rod system - Spider mount for H4n field recorder

After already creating a special grip for my 3d printed shoulder rig to hold the remove control of the H4n field recorder
it was time to create a proper mounting for the recorder itself.

While using my universal accessory holder of cause works to attach an H4n to a shoulder rig with a common 15mm rod support,
the H4ns internal microphones do pick up vibrations induced by touching things on other parts of the rod system.
The usual way it to mount the microphone in a rubber band spider-mount.
However, even for a very common recorder such as the H4n, no such mount seems to exist for field recorders.
So I designed my own.

• design on thingiverse


• photos


• design of my shoulder rig on thingiverse

Your Thing Has Been Featured

Wow!
Just a few MINUTES after I posted this design it got featured on Thingiverse!
I'd say the mods are kind of biased to their own (Makerbot) products but I guess it's hard for them not to be.


"As a citizen of Thingiverse, you are receiving this email to keep you updated with activity on your things in the Thingiverse. Your Thing-O-Matic: Removable ABP mod thing has caught the eye of a Thingiverse Admin and it is now being featured! Revel in the glory and check out the other featured things on Thingiverse.com/featured."

Thing-O-Matic: Removable ABP mod

To fully use my old milling toolhead with the new adapter in the Thing-O-Matic,
I need an alternative build-platform.
One that can grip a PCB or something else to be milled.
To do that, there is one issue....
The default Automated-Build-Platform cannot be easily removed without
disassembling all of the platform, taking out the belt and re-tension
everything later when assembling it again.
So here I designed a modification for it, so the ABP can be taken out easily.
You just have to remove 4 bolts and it slides right of.

• design on Thingiverse


• instructional video
  

unattended print

Last night I had my first unattended print with the Thing-O-Matic.
It worked out fine. Ejected the part after cooling down, shut itself down afterwards,...
However I'll still add some more modifications to make it more reliable while I'm not around.
Additional end-stops, a rotary encoder on the extruder (on the filament, not the motor-axis), an IP-camera able to shut down the printer, ...

(The printed part was one of 2 sides for my spider mount to the H4n field audio recorder for my camera shoulder rig)

• Photos

Dremel Vice

What is it with me and tools...
I just can't go past some decent tools that may be useful to me without extending my workshop. :(

• photos

Video: [HOWTO] Building a DSLR shoulder rig - Part I (the basic rig)

I finaly got around to finishing the first longer video for my channel.
Some missing shots I had to improvise with photos and CAD-screenshots.
Lessons learned: record more video on later projects to have enough material for such a video.

Your Thing Has Been Featured

Cool!
I just got an email that my lens gear has been featured on Thingiverse!

taking apart a camera remote

...just out if curiosity and to see if I could create a switch for my shoulder rig's handle
I took apart a cheap remote that can switch on/of video recording and force an autofocus on my Panasonic cameras.
I was curious how they managed to get the switch to do different things depending on how deep you push it.
...turns out they didn't even used micro-switches but a very, very cheap solution instead.

• more photos

Thing-O-Matic: cooling the Z-stepper

On the Thing-O-Matic the z-stepper gets very hot.
As the Z-axis does not use a simple threaded rod,
the stepper needs to be kept powered to hold the Z-stage in place.

A while ago tatsuya designed a simple clip that houses a small 40mm DC fan to cool the z-stepper.

As I am moving my TOM quite often, I feared that such a small fan would break off.
So I took a larger fan.
Mine is 40x50mm and very thick.
So I had to re-design this clip anyway.
While at it, I added a number of improvements.
Such as the clip bending and clamping down on the wood instead of sliding on.
Or the clip arms to be shorter, so as not to interfere with the z endstop.
Or the entry to the clip being tapered by 2mm to make it easy to slide on.
Same for the bolt holes that are tapered by 1mm.
And of cause the fan being held by it's front- and back -side and no longer housed inside the clip.

• original design


• my improved design


• photo album

Toolhead adapter for RepMan tools in Thing-O-Matic

I want to experiment with milling PCBs using the new Thing-O-Matic.
I did this in the past on my RepMan but copper-dust was in danger of entering the open electronics, motors and bearings.
The Thing-O-Matic is much more enclosed and clearly separates electronics and motors from the work-volume.

So I looked for existing toolheads that would serve my needs.
Indeen I found some.
However one required to saw apart the freshly printed ataper and re-attach it using hot glue.
(That "somehow" sounds very, very wrong.)
One simple looked like it did not fit the organic shape of the Dremel.
One uses just one arm to hold the Dremel and is thus prone to vibration and flexing.
Two only hold the Dremel via 4 bolts. Kind of like a Christmas-tree stand.
While one of them even requires the use of Makerbeam.

Not the best of options.

However I still have my Dremel-toolhead for the RepMan around.
So I imported the DXF of the RepMan tool-mount into my CAD program and meassured the bolt size and -diameter of the Thing-O-Matics toolhead-mount and found they could be made compatible.


With this adapter, any RepMan toolhead should fit into the TOM.
The allowed tool-diameter is even larger then on the Repman.
However I find the Z-stage of the TOM to be less stable then the construction used in the RepMan.
The long wooden plate is able to flex and deform my multiple millimeters
while the sled used in the Repman is made out of 3 linear bearings compressed between 2 layers of thick acrylics with dozens of bolts in a small and rigid package.
More capable of widthstanding vibration and forces applied to the toolhead.

• my adapter


• my RepMan milling-head (tried and proven)


• VIsolate (efficient PCB-milling with minimal copper-dust using voronoi-regions)

improving the Thing-O-Matic

Last night I worked myself through the list of Thing-O-Matic improvements.
Some of these changes seem to have already been applied by Makerbot itself.
The first 2 changes I applied myself where

• a support bracket for the Y idler, as that seems to come loose after a while and some


• hole plugs, to not get dirt into the electronics. Especially as I later want to build myself another milling-toolhead like I did for my RepMan

First impression of Autodesk 123D beta

123D
The new child of Autodesk.
The Beta can be downloaded for free.

My first impression:

* terms and conditions exist in 4 dozen languages but German is missing
* program is a Beta
* program only exists in US-english
* all the points in "Learn About 123D" do not work on a 64bit Windows (they try to open an swf as a file and the Adobe web-site says that the flash player 10.x is no available in 64 bit.)
* lines in sketches are hidden in "draw"
* sketches can be on flat surfaces but not on non-flat ones
* If the model is in metric units, you cannot specify inches for features (e.g. a 1/4 hole to attach a camera in a metric part)
* the only constraint I have found is "pin down" = lock feature
* I cannot find the operations I did in the model-hierarchy or any kind of construction-timeline
* I also cannot find a way to temporarily supress and operation, only parts
* I can enter basic formulas but not variable-names

It seems to be some kind of "Sketchup meets ProE".
Give extremely visual oriented people very basic parametric tools without allowing much in terms of later modification of the created object.
Useful for simple modifications to solid models in the usual CAD-formats and simple 1-off parts.
Not so much for complex parts that you test-print and then modify earlier steps in the construction history or change any parameters at all.

Marcus

http://www.123dapp.com

building a mobile workbench

I travel a lot
and I don't like it, that I have no access to my most often used tools on the road.
So this weekend I build myself a case that can house my new Thing-O-Matic 3d printer, a box with the Dremel Stylus and other small tools, nuts, bolts and other parts, 6 power sockets (you are always short of them), basic camera- and sound- equipment.
The 3d printer is encased in a fabric lined wooden crate that is both stable enough to survive frequent traveling and just lightweight enough so I survive this too. ;)

Links:

• Blog post about VERSION II of this design


• Photos


• notes

3d printed geared follow-focus

After my gearless follow focus and with another Thingiverse -user rendering some special gears for me,
I constructed my own lens-gears for use with a (yet to be designed) geared follow focus.

With a geared design I can gear down the hand-wheel for better control (not sure if that is a good thing but I'll experiment)
and I no longer need as much pressure between follow focus and lens as with the simple gearless design.

• design on Thingiverse
• photos
• UPDATE

FF Sync mit DolphinHD5-beta1

The Beta1 of DolphinHD 5.0 is now public.
I found a place where they changed something and my plugin crashed as a method being called no longer existed.
A version that catches this error is currently being signed by Dolphin Labs and will be in the market soon.

Good news: DolphinHD 5.0 supports subfolders for bookmarks.
No code-change on my side was required as the API was designed to support this from the very start.
I hope this also solves the old duplicated bookmark -issue. :/

new HDD trouble

I just got 3 new HDDs for my file-server.
I ordered 3 different drives from 2 manufacturers,
so they would not all fail at the same time.
However my Tranquill BBS only detects the WD 3TB drive and doesn't recognize the existence of the 2 Hitachi 3TB drives at all. :/

I hope to not have to send back the Hitachi drives and replace them with WD but to find a way to use them.

Update: For an unknown reason, later both drives where detected. One already had an EFI-partition. I had to delete that one to use pvcreate.

Thing-O-Matic for traveling

One of the main reasons for me to buy a Thing-O-Matic even thou I already have a RepMan capable of printing much larger objects was,
to have a more portable printer that I could take with me.
Now an important test has been mastered.
YES, it does fit into a bag. Easily even.
Using onle 1/3 of the bag I'm thinking of getting a smaller bag
and to then modify it with foam-cutouts for the printer, Dremel stylus, ABS-spool and some minor tools.
Maybe even cutouts for the most essential camera+sound equipment.

* photo album
* Project Page

Thing-O-Matic - mission accomplished

It is done!
My new Thing-O-Matic is happily printing it's first calibration objects.
Right next to my trusty old RepMan.

I left a LOT of comments about missing details, misleading photos, unlabeled parts and other such shortcomming on the talk -pages of the assembly instructions-wiki.
I also recorded every step of the mechanical setup on video. Currently I'm low on disk space but with some new HDDs I should be able to make an assembly-video explaining what the instructions omit.

Assembling a Thing-O-Matic

Finally my new Thing-O-Matic is here.
It will hopefully be a nice addition to my large RepMan.
Assembly has already started.

I found the assembly-instructions from Makerbot to be quite...lacking in details, so I'm recording every step to make a video-howto of the assembly for my YouTube channel.
Of cause I also added all the feedback on what needs to be improved on the talk-pages of the assembly-instruction in the Makerbot wiki.

I also found a few design-flaws with the automated build platform and with the Y-assembly that I want to improve.
(Make the ABP spring-loaded like on the Repman as a safety precaution, allow for a tightening of the belt for easier assembly and countering any wear-out of the belt,...)

Photo-album:

05-2011_Thing-O-Matic