Finally
So... I finally got an almost perfect slash decent enough print to proceed with my teaching experiment. As it turns out, printing my flat object sideways/vertical was the way to go. Unfortunately, one of the arms didn’t quite hold up... Ceire is trying to fix it for me with her 3D pen. I created and practiced my questions with Zareen... she seemed impressed and was very encouraging. Unfortunately I was so angry and frustrated prior that I really was not able to relax and change my mood despite her kind words. I still won’t get to conduct my experiment as originally intended, as a series of experiments with increasingly complex iterations of my coordinate slider... but I guess you have to save something for the dissertation... once you’re more familiar with and practiced in the teaching experiment methodology (you being me, of course).
What else? I do have to experiment with my design and see if I can improve the flimsiness of the product (the arms move around a bit too much) and improve the smoothness of the moving arms (they get stuck and you have to use two hands where I was hoping for more fluid motion). I think I also have to stick rubber feet on the bottom to create more friction between the base and the surface it’s placed on. Given the effort it takes to move the pieces, the base was sliding on the table. I could always hold it while the participant in my teaching experiment moves the arms... but that would be weird.