#queadlunn

[ohicosplay]

Queadlunn- I finished a 3d printed prop! Maybe a month and a half ago we found that an artist had released a really well done 3d print version of the Lex Prime from Warframe. I spent about a week printing the parts and used CA glue to seal and smooth out the surface of the parts. Primed and polished, then airbrushed with Tamiya acrylics and a Gaia enamel paint I got in Tokyo a couple years ago, misted on the white parts to give them a color-shift sheen (that’s really hard to show in photos).  The gold parts are painted with Golden’s Iridescent Bronze, an amazing paint that I’ve used on a lot of things in the past ten years. It was then weathered with enamel paints and finally sealed with Future.

It’s not all that comfortable to hold onto but it sure turned out pretty!

All credit to Bart van der Westerlaken (@Shrubsy) and their Lex Prime model! Wonderful work!

[ohicosplay]

Doing a month-build. 3d printed tricorder shell filled with a Feather u32, a couple shift registers and an inexpensive TFT. Still need to make the graphics/labels for it.

I’ll post more once it’s done!

[ohicosplay]

3d Printing Resources

Queadlunn- The two of us at here at OHI got a 3d printer a couple months ago now, a Creality CR-10 (BangGood, Amazon) and it’s been great for us so far! As we’ve been learning about 3d printing in general I’ve been gathering a list of sites and tools that we’ve been using. This isn’t a comprehensive list in any way, just stuff we’ve found so far.

Slicing Programs:

Cura (https://ultimaker.com/en/products/ultimaker-cura-software) - This is the slicing software we currently use. It’s free and has loads of options.

Slic3r (http://slic3r.org/) - Another slicer program, don’t know much about it though.

Simplify3d (https://www.simplify3d.com/) One of the paid programs, very well regarded.

Modeling programs:

Autodesk 123d Design (https://www.amazon.com//dp/B01HE5O9IM/) - No longer offered by Autodesk directly any more. A great model creating and editing tool.

Autodesk 3dStudioMax (https://www.autodesk.com/products/3ds-max/overview) - One of the industry standards for 3d modeling. It’s got a 30-day free trial and 3-year licensing for students.

Autodesk MeshMixer (https://www.meshmixer.com/) - Another Autodesk tool, this one specifically made for working with tri-mesh objects.

Blender (https://www.blender.org/) - Another standard, this time free. Blender seems to mostly be geared to animation and characters.

NifScope (http://niftools.sourceforge.net/wiki/NifSkope) - This is a tool used with Bethesda games, if you want to work with those.

Ninja Ripper (https://gamebanana.com/tools/5638) - This is a DIY tool to extract models from running 3d applications. All of the models it can see in the running application are dumped to a directory. It kinda works but needs a lot of messing with. Also requires 3dSMax to convert the models.

Sculptris (http://pixologic.com/sculptris/) - I haven’t used this one but it seems fairly well regarded.

Model sources:

Thingiverse (https://www.thingiverse.com/) - Free to use, ready to print models

MyMiniFactory (https://www.myminifactory.com/) - Free to use, ready to print models

TinkerCAD (https://www.tinkercad.com/)  - Free to use, ready to print models. Also has a web-based model creator program.

Pinshape (https://pinshape.com/) - Both free and paid models, ready for your printing software.

CGTrader (https://www.cgtrader.com/) - Paid models, ready for your printing software

SketchFab (https://sketchfab.com/) - 3d model portfolio site, some models for download but they need to be converted for use with printing software (I’ve been using 3dSMax).

Shapeways (https://www.shapeways.com/) - Printing service, has their own catalog uploaded by artists. Can't download models. You can upload your own models to them to print but it can be expensive.

Yeggi (http://www.yeggi.com) - A search engine that covers many of the larger 3d model sties. It even covers some game model sites.

Common Troubleshooting Guides:

Simplify3d’s Print Quality Troubleshooting Guide: https://www.simplify3d.com/support/print-quality-troubleshooting/

All3dp - 34 Common 3D Printing Problems: https://all3dp.com/1/common-3d-printing-problems-troubleshooting-3d-printer-issues/

MatterHackers 3D Printer Troubleshooting Guide: https://www.matterhackers.com/articles/3d-printer-troubleshooting-guide

[ohicosplay]

OHI’s Ongoing Tricorder Project

Queadlunn- It’s been quite some time since I posted the Tricorder I’ve been working on for over 2 years now.

In the past year the external appearance of the unit hasn’t changed much, it’s all been internal hardware and code changes. As the photos show, the mainboard is getting to be a rat’s-nest of wiring with all of the changes and adaptation that I’ve done. The code, actually, is a lot cleaner than when I was at the same point last year. It’s able to do a fair bit more but isn’t using much more of the Arduino’s (Adafruit Feather M0 Adalogger) memory (still hovering around 30% at this point).

The sensors in the unit haven’t changed a huge deal, I’ve gotten them to work a bit better though and have even been able to adapt the libraries for the Gas sensor to work with the M0 controller (more brute-force really but it works). The total sensor list is posted below.

At the moment I’ve gotten 2 replacement sensor part. One to replace the Grideye sensor so it’s smaller (I can’t do surface-mount soldering yet) and one to replace both the atmospheric sensor board and the 9-depth-of-field sensor board that captures movement. The second will combine both the ATM and 9-DOF into one very small package, saving on the limited internal space within the Tricorder.

There are a few things I want to add into the unit so far: GPS (for both location data and accurate clock updates), Haptics (feedback from button presses, sensor alarms), and finding a replacement and higher quality display are my biggest. The largest hurtle right now is getting the code solid, using the display to give clear and accurate readouts of the sensor data, and eventually rebuilding the mainboard and chassis. The chassis’ ABS/aluminum/polycarbonate construction is rock-solid (it’s been hanging out in my camera bag for the last year) but I want to clean it up since the off-square lines in the current one bother me a bit.

It’s been a hell of a journey, all started when I saw prop tricorders at Star Trek cons in the mid ‘90s as a little kid. I’d never believe that I’d have one like this if I told past me of it…

I’ll post more as things happen

Current scan data points:

Atmospheric: Ambient temperature (averaged across 3 sensors), relative humidity, barometric pressure, Target Temp, GRIDeye temp (8x8 grid of IR thermal detectors)

Electromagnetic: UV Index, IR intensity, RGB Color, Visible light intensity in Lux, UV intensity

Radiation: Beta and Gamma detection

Gasses: Carbon monoxide, Nitrogen dioxide, Ethanol, Hydrogen, Ammonia, Methane, Propane, Isobutane

Mechanical: 3-axis Accelerometer, 3-axis Digital Gyroscope, 3-axis Hall Effect Magnetometer

Controller:

Adafruit Feather M0 Adalogger (https://www.adafruit.com/product/2796 )

Sensors:

 MPU9250 Add-Ons for Ladybug + BME280 (https://www.tindie.com/products/TleraCorp/mpu9250-add-ons-for-ladybug/ ) - Ambient temperature, relative humidity, barometric pressure, 3-axis Gyro, 3-axis Accelerometer, 3-axis Magnetometer

 Adafruit SI1145 (https://www.adafruit.com/product/1777 ) - UV Index, IR intensity

 Adafruit TCS34725 (https://www.adafruit.com/product/1334 ) - RGB Color sense

 Adafruit TSL2561 (https://www.adafruit.com/product/439 ) - Visible light intensity in Lux

 Adafruit VEML6070 (https://www.adafruit.com/product/2899 ) - UV intensity

 Generic MLX90614 (https://www.adafruit.com/product/1747 ) - Target Temp

 Panasonic GridEye (https://www.tindie.com/products/onehorse/grid-eye-8-x-8-ir-array/ ) - ATM: GridEye

 RadiationWatch Pocket Geiger (http://www.radiation-watch.org/p/english.html ) - Radiation

 Xadow Multichannel Gas Sensor (http://wiki.seeed.cc/Xadow_Multichannel_Gas_Sensor/ ) - GAS

Hardware:

 Adafruit CAP1188 (https://www.adafruit.com/product/1602) - Capacitive touch

 Adafruit 2.4" TFT LCD  (https://www.adafruit.com/product/2478) - LCD

 Adafruit DS3231 (https://www.adafruit.com/product/3013) - Real time clock

 Adafruit TCA9548A (https://www.adafruit.com/product/2717) - i2C multiplexer

 Adafruit Neopixel (https://www.adafruit.com/product/1558) - Cool lights

Parts to integrate:

Ublox GPS Compatible NEO-6M [clone] (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B075DD5746) - If I can figure out space for the board and the antenna this could be good to have, both for the location data and for the clock

Here’s a link to my (barely working [poorly formatted {inefficient}]) code.

Be aware, if you use the code, double-check the i2C addresses since I’ve changed some stuff around.

My big inspiration for the project has been the Open Source Science Tricorder by Peter Jansen. It’s an incredible project and I have major respect to the creator.

[ohicosplay]

Queadlunn- So, we ended up getting a 3d printer (CR-10, purchased on Amazon with Prime because we have no chill) and for the past few days we’ve been learning a lot!

So, like with any complex tool, this thing has a lot of things to figure out. Later on we’ll be doing a more in-depth writeup of building a prop using the printer, this is us getting used to it, really.

After we ordered the printer I began to look through Thingiverse for something interesting and large to print as our first big job and I wound up finding this sword design that someone had built from Dark Souls III. It had a good mix of large parts and very thin parts and would be a good practice project.

After some 35 hours of printing, a few failed prints and some reworks I’m starting to understand how you need to handle the parts within the slicing software that you process the 3d models with so the printer can understand them (I’ve been using Cura for this):

Infill, shell thickness and print orientation all matter if you need the print to be strong. The first set of blade parts I printed out looked fine but were very fragile. It’s taken me 3 more prints till I’m happy with how they feel.

Print time. This is one of the major drawbacks to 3d printers. To print the large guard part for the sword took about 6 hours on it’s own, and the rest all have taken quite some time too.

Failure. This is also something you have to be prepared for. I had a set of blade parts fail within the last 15% of the print job because the parts became un-stuck from the print bed. Luckily I decided to redesign how I printed them anyway...

Cost. The printer is expensive. Filament isn’t to expensive but failed prints can eat up a lot of material. Electricity costs can also easily become a factor as well.

3d printers are wonderful tools and I’m very happy to now own one but they still take a lot of work to make something that doesn’t look like a 3d printed part; you still need to putty, epoxy, surface, paint and finish and that’s just the default.

Like I said, we’re thinking of doing a more in-depth write-up with a future prop build so I’ll see you all then.

[ohicosplay]

Queadlunn- Got our first big, multi-part 3d print finished! The Irithyll Rapier from the Dark Souls series.

Link to previous post. Here‘s the model I used.

Aside from how fragile the hilt section is (not an issue with the model, it’s how I printed it) this turned out pretty fantastically nice!

All of the parts were epoxied together (or JB-welded in a couple cases) and then I used CA glue to act as a filler and for surfacing. I then used a bit of Bondo on where the blade section blends into the guard. Paint started with Spray-truck bed liner (for a cast-iron look), followed by some hammered bronze spraypaint. Rub-n-Buff was used on the blade edge and on the pommel spike. Aging with dark gray and brown was done and it was all finished off by drybrushing the whole thing with Tamiya titanium silver and finally sealed with a mix of Future and Tamiya Flat Base to cut down the shine.

The blade would up slightly curved due to how I printed it but it’s not too bad. I’m really happy with how this one turned out and having the printer opens up a lot of options for us.

PS- The printer’s heating bed MOSFET died shortly after printing the parts for this. We’ve got it repaired (upgraded the MOSFET too) and it’s working fine again. If your printer starts to generate any odd smells, sounds or if you see anything odd with it KEEP AN EYE ON IT.

[ohicosplay]

Queadlunn- Here’s how far I am with Guy right now. The Con’s about a month away and now there’s just 2 things left. Get the ear waveforms done (electronics are complete for them) and paint it GOLD.

All of the electronics are complete and, save for the battery packs, the whole system fits in the helmet with space for my head! I need to do a full charge/depletion test to see how long it’s going to last (guessing about 40 minutes) but with some 270 LEDs, 2 fans, 4 controller boards and wiring there’s a lot going on.

Contact

[ohicosplay]

Queadlunn- Here’s something I put together today to go with my Tricorder and the Starfleet Engineering kit I keep tinkering with.

This hand scanner is a single-axis magnetometer (Range of -8 to +8 Gauss, using the z-axis from a HMC5883L from Adafruit), the microcontroller changes the color of the scrolling LED Neopixels from teal (positive pull) to red (negative pull). Someday, once I get the packet-radio stuff figured out I’ll remake this to send sensor data to the Tricorder for full display.