Busy hands | Disquiet mind

I picked up some Rainbow silk PLA filament. How could I not? This was my first time printing with silk PLA, and first time using a rainbow filament. To try out the effect I picked some larger pieces to print; headphones stands. Perhaps a bit of a spoiler, but I think the promotional shots are misleading. The colours change very very slowly.

First I grabbed this wavy headphone stand. It prints flat, in two pieces. That wouldn't show off the filament changing colour best, so I rotated the model to print from bottom up. I figured the gentle curves would be okay, but was worried the two overhangs at the top (supporting the headphones band) would fail, so I edited them out with Windows 3D Builder, before importing into my slicer and printing (zero supports).

This is the raw print, with zero tidy-up. The silk really makes every imperfection stand out. The under-side of the arches are a little noodly, but can be cleaned up easily. You can just about make out a colour gradient, rather than colour change, through the height. But it does its headphones job nicely.

( Wavy headphones stand )

Okay, so didn't really manage to get a nice colour change effect there, let's try again, but with a model that uses even more filament! Enter the Stylish headphones stand. No modifications, just printed straight up (zero supports).

Again this is the raw print, with zero tidy-up. The circular/cylindrical stand really shows off the silk PLA to good effect. The underside of the arch is a tiny bit noodly, but again can be cleaned up easily. And finally, just at the very top, we do get to see the filament change colour! That was two headphones stands before we got to the first colour transition. Not the impression given in the promotional pictures. But it does do its headphones job nicely.

( Stylish headphones stand )

Previously on dreamwidth:chebe we played with setting up Android on a RaspberryPi 3. Which led us to ordering a RaspberryPi 4. Well friends, it arrived. I installed the LineageOS Raspberry Pi 4 port by KonstaKANG, and set up a few things, like the Play store. It worked beautifully. We're not talking lightning fast speeds, but. it. works. So now to make it usable.

( The screen and case )

( The stand and arrangement )

My Android control console
Photo by chebe

So picture it. (Or simply remember it.) A pandemic has struck, and lockdown implemented. You are now cut off from all your activities, socialising, friends, as they take place an hour's bus ride (or flight) away. The internet is your only connection. You have a desktop computer, but no webcam. And webcams are sold-out everywhere. What do/did you do?

I was quite lucky, in many ways, but specifically here in that a year before the pandemic I had upgraded to a rather fancy digital micro-four-thirds camera. And it just so happened to be one of the few that the camera manufacturer had enabled with not just HDMI output, but clean HDMI output. They posted an article detailing how to steam video with some Olympus cameras. Following the guide I got a HDMI capture device. (Or rather two; I got on a waiting list for the expensive kind, and ordered a UK£10 version from ebay.) And a HDMI-to-micro-HDMI cable.

And for a few video chats my friends had to look at me in 4K. At least for a couple of hours, until the battery died. See the camera can be charged over USB, but not while actually in use. And the manufacturer does not sell a mains adapter for my model of camera. So I ended up buying the first webcam that came into stock.

Several months go by and I have acquired a 3D printer. I am browsing the internet for things I can do with a 3D printer and I find an article on camera tools which has some cool things, but as I browse the wider 3D printed camera stuff category I come across the concept of printing dummy batteries, to be able to use any size battery with your camera. I even found one for my exact battery, in the Olympus OM-D BLS-50 Dummy Battery. The instructions on assembly are on the original model. But my experience was not as smooth as that.

( Process )

This project has made me see the full potential of 3D printing. We're not just making our own pet projects. We can build things to add functionality that is not available at any price to the things we already own. And propagate it to the entire world. Okay, I get it now.

When I got a 3d printer, that is also a laser cutter, I knew I'd have to sort out a half-way decent ventilation system. So I picked a spot near to an existing vent. I'm not sure how common this situation is, so I best explain it a bit.

This house I'm in is over forty years old, and made of bricks. It was built to be heated by an open-fireplace-powered wet central heating system. As a result every room in the house has an always-open air vent to the outside, ensuring air circulation even when the windows are kept shut. But it is a very basic arrangement, literally utilising a hole in a cavity block brick, with both sides left open on the inside and outside wall surfaces. These holes are then covered with air vent grilles. (These houses did not have insulation, and they definitely didn't have air conditioning. Houses are no longer made this way.)

The enclosure of my printer comes with a fan powered exhaust and accordion exhaust duct. The documentation says the duct diameter is 75mm. The bag the duct comes in says 3.2". We had 4", and 2" pipes, but 3" pipes are incredibly non-standard here. The 4" pipe fits perfectly in the cavity block ... cavity, so all I really needed was an adapter. Again, 3" is not standard, I could not buy a suitable adapter. But I could print one.

I had a look around and found adapters claiming to be what I needed, but after printing them (for 11 hours) discovered that they were the wrong size. Thankfully I could see they had been generated from another project, the Parametric Dust Collector Adapter. I discovered that the Customizer tool existed, and that I could use it to customise the model. At least in theory. (I started off jobs a few weeks back, am still waiting on them to finish.) Instead I found an article on How to run Customizer on your own Computer, which basically boils down to installing OpenSCAD.

I did that, customised the model to fit around the outside diameter of the 4" pipe, and in the inside diameter of the 3.2" exhaust duct. It works! Though it is a bit loose on the 4" side and a bit tight on the 3.2" side. I think I missed the section about changing the shrinkage calculation, because it seems to be set for ABS and I printed in PLA. But it actually worked out well. I'm going to leave the duct always attached to the adapter, and only connect the adapter to the pipe in the vent when I need to use it. When not in use I can remove the adapter and put the vent grille back in place. And just like that, I have a half-way decent ventilation system.

( Parameters and demonstrative photos )

View of the duct from enclosure to vent
Photo by chebe

I tried for a long time to avoid taking this step. But increasingly I kept hitting roadblocks in projects that required 3D printed parts. In the past when this happened I would bug friends who had access to 3D printers. But with the rolling lockdowns the community spaces that contains those printers remain closed, and my access to prints was cut off, with no end date. Reluctantly I started researching.

I came across the Snapmaker 2.0, and it impressed me. Firstly, because it is a second generation product, but they are still supporting the first version. And also because while I felt I needed a 3D printer, I wanted a laser cutter. Although long ago I had to accept that I didn't have the space for a CO2 laser machine, and especially not for its exhaust/filtration system. Here was my chance to have a variety of laser cutting to experiment with, without taking up extra space. But with laser cutting, and CNC routing, I would definitely want the enclosure. Which is not small.

I ran around measuring every shelf I have and realised I still didn't have anywhere to put this machine. Until Ikea begun to offer a Bror shelving unit. The shelf depth is almost exactly the width of the A250 enclosure. The width is a little longer than the depth of the A250 enclosure, but almost exactly the same as the enclosure with the power module behind it. And it's a workshop shelving unit, made to hold up to 130kg (distributed evenly), which is more than enough for the A250. I made some space to fit the unit, next to an air vent, and placed my order for the shelving unit. I was given a delivery date nearly four weeks later.

The Snapmaker website says orders will be shipped two weeks after being placed. So I ordered one two weeks after the Ikea order so I'd have somewhere to put it. Well. It didn't work out that smoothly. My Snapmaker shipped a month after I placed the order, but that was over lunar new year so I wasn't really surprised. However Ikea delayed my delivery by another month, which means the Snapmaker arrived before I had anywhere to put it.

What was I going to do, wait?! Nope. I built the A250 on the dining room table, surrounded by laundry. I followed the instructions straight forwardly, and started making prints for my projects.

My very first 3D print
Photo by chebe

Two weeks later Ikea finally delivered, I assembled the shelving unit, and then set about assembling the enclosure. The catch is that the enclosure (and the A250) are designed to be accessed from the right-hand side. Which for me is a wall. I had to flip everything. I found a reference to someone in the facebook group having done it, but I don't have facebook, so I just gave it my best shot.

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( Flipping the Enclosure )

Enclosure assembled
Photo by chebe

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( Flipping the Controller )

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Conclusion;

There are some little annoyances, like needing to add foam strips to one of the panels of the Front Folding Door, and having to buy the X-Axis Converter and Cable, but the only real downside is not being able to open one of the panels of the Side Folding Door. If Snapmaker make it possible to get an 48CA BEAM A250-2 and 48CA BEAM A250-1 with the slots and magnets swapped it would be just about perfect. Though I would like a different filament holder solution, and I have yet to attach the Exhaust Duct to the air vent in the wall, but otherwise everything is working lovely.

(Also, I have to say, the presentation of everything was impeccable. The boxes (and bags) were neatly arranged and clearly labelled. The manual was very clear. And everything you need (unless you start modifying things) is included. There is a nice reusable toolbox (with additional adjustable inserts), there is a screwdriver with changeable heads. There is a USB drive. Everything was just so smooth, it was a pleasure.)