3D Prints & Hobbies

A blog to the projects I do and 3D printing.

[3dprintshobbies]

So while I have not posted much on this blog and school this semester keeping me way to busy to do other things. I got these a few days ago.

These are the GeckoTek Build plates I ordered through Kickstarter over a year ago. I got one for my prusa i2 and a 12 inch by 12 inch plate for a future printer build with a larger volume. It uses magnetic stainless steel so bye bye holding clips and hello magnetic base. 

Current versions as of today are a low temperature plate for PLA filament. A high temperature plate for ABS and PLA filament. A plate for printing with nylon. Surface coating I chosen is the high temperature version to print with ABS filament, but I also knew I could print with PLA filament on these.

Surface Coating looks okay, but I think it can better applied to make it immaculate. Despite it looking very uneven, I do believe this will not detract from the performance of the plate. 

[3dprintshobbies]

This past weekend I have decided to solder up a controller for my electric skateboard and it came out okay with the methods taken. 

To anyone interested, the project is completely open source thanks to Benjamin Vedder, the creator of this awesome motor controller. 

Link to his site for more information on the controller. 

[3dprintshobbies]

Its been awhile from the last post, but now that Im done with school here’s a preview of things to come for this summer’s project.

[3dprintshobbies]

Got some PCBs made from Hackvana this week. Turn around time is 3 weeks from the day the order is paid for till it got to my house in the US, Quality is not bad though this is the first time ordering from this fab house. Totally a major upgrade planned for my electric skateboard. 

[3dprintshobbies]

People of tumblr, I need help. Im building a toaster reflow oven, but I got no idea how to wire the heating elements. I will be using a solid state relay and the rocketscream aduino shield for control. Its a Black & Decker Toaster with infrared lamps.

[3dprintshobbies]

I present to thee, a turntable amplifier. About a week or two ago, I bought the Boozhound labs JFET/Phono amplifier after spending much time on a forum for building vacuum tube amplifiers and reading the reviews. Today, I finished it and put it in a battery charger my dad didn't need amymore. It sounds very clear given the use of two JFETs per channel and a buch of capacitors and resistors. Power usage is said to be very low due to its passive design. I took this route to get closer to the purity of the original signal from sound without the use of integrated controllers (ICs) changing the orginal signal too much.

[3dprintshobbies]

What is shaken peeps. Long time since I lasted posted, but only because school takes priority over hobbies. Since I am on winter break, I got time. I present to you a homemade extruder to be used on my prusa i2. I try to used as much of the existing parts from the extruder to build this new one. I used aluminum for the cooling portion with a PTFE liner pushed in about 0.5 inches from the top. Sadly I cannot do much right now because the wires to the thermistor and heater cartridge broke off...

[ybmatt]

[3dprintshobbies]

Last week, my extruder jammed. Then the ceramic to the resistance broke while I tried putting everything back. Now i upgrad to a cartidge heater with a custom heat block to use the existing parts to my extruder.

[3dprintshobbies]

Pulled apart the mold today. Slight fixing up to do since some areas didnt come out looking good.

[3dprintshobbies]

I finish making the mold today. I will give it till tomorrow for the epoxy to cure before pulling it to see how it comes out.

[3dprintshobbies]

Got my fiberglass all chopped and ready to start. My past experience working with fiberglass is not so great

[3dprintshobbies]

Im making a boat. Its actually a case for my electric skateboard to contain the batteries and speed controller. It is not as flat as I wanted because 6S1P lipo battery are a brick. The plan is to make a fiberglass mold. I had foam blocks sitting around since my brother didn't use it. The design was to be as aerodynamically as possible with inspiration from automotive design for the use of side vents and a rear diffuser. The purpose of the side vents is to provide cooling for the speed controller. Now to figure out how to put a easy-to-open door in the case.

[3dprintshobbies]

Many weeks ago, a new company by the name of GeckoTek came out with a new build surface engineered for 3D printing. No longer do you have to use blue painter's tape and glue or ABS juice to keep your prints down. The advantages is build plate can be held with magnets and is bendable makes for easy removal of printed parts. As of 7/4/2014, there are 16 days on their Kickstarter for those who have not heard yet.

Build plate with magnetic base.

Link to Kickstarter

Pictures taken from their Kickstarter page.

[3dprintshobbies]

So yesterday, I printed an ABS brick with the dimensions of a compact 6S1P lipo battery to serve as a model for my electric longboard. The end result is a cracked pane. I used tacky glue to keep my prints down since ABS plastic warps. The advantages is also its disadvantage. The glue works too well and removing the printed parts sounds like glass is breaking. Now I’m off to get a metal sheet in the mean time.

[3dprintshobbies]

So around last week, i made this ukulele. A total of 12 parts printed joined with CA glue. Printed using black ABS plastic. The exterior on mine may look like crap, but Im fine with it and yes, it is a playable instrument. 

source

[3dprintshobbies]

Over the past few days, I’ve made this enclosure for a new 12V power supply dishing out 30 amps for my 3D printer. My previous one was 12V, 17amps, which will work, but the heat bed temperature was not reaching the correct temperature and always seemed stop 100 degrees celsius even though I set it for 110 degrees celsius. As I write this, I'm testing how fast it will heat up. The fan on this power supply is loud as a gaming pcs' fans running full tilt. 

As for the cover on this power supply, while the original design to ensure wires used in this build would fit compactly in the case. I opted for going with the fattest wire I could use to get all that lovely current with little resistance. Using 10 gauge wire here and 12 gauge wires for the switch, which would explain the three extension pieces  

Source for power supply cover.

[3dprintshobbies]

So I got a BeagleBone Black to take my 3D printer standalone.