One of the things Makers are known for is not just building new stuff, but for getting a lot of use out of old stuff. Repairing, reuse, repurpose is as much part of maker culture as the creativity and engineering aspects. With that in mind, when my old MacBook Pro started showing signs of age, I knew what I had to do!
How to Make a DIY “Internet of Things” Thermometer with ESP8266/Arduino
Thermometers are useful things in general, but especially when printing ABS in an enclosure. Part of the point of an enclosure is temperature control, right?
When I built my IKEA enclosure I knew I was going to need a temperature monitor, but an off the shelf thermometer wasn’t going to be enough. I needed it to work over the internet!
Want to see exactly how I did it? Read on! [Read more…]
Warp-free ABS printing on the Wanhao Di3
ABS is a wonderful plastic. It’s tough. It’s paintable. You can sand it, smooth it, and you can glue it together with “solvent welding”. But the ABS fumes are horrible, and that is without adding solvent vapour on top.
Today I printed an ABS warping torture test at beautiful quality at 60mm/sec, and it came out flawless and fume-free, stuck with only glue stick and a heated bed. 2-3 years ago I would have been laughed at if I said I was going to try that on a <$500 printer, but here we are.
Check out the timelapse: [Read more…]
IKEA 3D Printer Enclosure Hack for Wanhao Di3
If you are 3d printing with ABS you can find it warps, cracks, and basically misbehaves unless you can contain draughts and can maintain constant temperatures. Do you need to spend a fortune on a fancy enclosure? Well, turns out, no, you don’t! In fact, you can get everything you need at IKEA for around $60USD or so. [Read more…]
How to Play Better Arduino Sound Effects with the BY8301-16P MP3 Module
In the previous 3D Printed Doctor Who Tardis make I complained that the sound was poor quality and low volume. This was a natural outcome of pushing the little AVR ATMega128 to the limit. Really if you want to play MP3 audio then you need MP3 hardware. I tried an Adafruit module. It was great, but expensive. We don’t really want to have an SD card in there either because they are prone to knocks and corruption. What we want is a solid state MP3 player, without breaking the bank. Does such a unicorn exist? You bet!
3D Printed Kryptonite with Arduino Random RGB Glow
My daughter’s favourite TV show right now is Supergirl. She was feeling a bit grumpy so we joked that she had been exposed to Red Kryptonite. This inspired me to make her some, with a twist!
3D Printing Quiz
Are you a 3D printing smartypants? How much do you really know? Take this quick and fun 3D printing quiz to compare your knowledge against your friends …. [Read more…]
The Best 3D Printers – Which 3D Printer Should You Buy?
In this final part of the series, we now need to answer the question many people ask when choosing a 3D printer; which 3D printer is best? I will share the best 3d printers for buying on a budget, the best 3d printer for beginners/class room use, and the best large format/prosumer 3d printers, to help you decide which 3d printer to buy for your particular situation. [Read more…]
3D Printed Tardis with Arduino Lights and Sounds
In this Make we 3D print a Doctor Who Tardis (using Printrbot Simple Metal, and Cube3), then add Arduino electronics so we can play the Doctor Who theme (and random sound samples), and flash the light in that famous Tardis way we know and love.
Sound like fun? Let’s do it!
36 of the Best 3D Printing Facebook Groups
Facebook has quickly become THE place to discuss 3D printing. I have to say I probably spend more coffee break time geeking out about 3D printing on Facebook than anything else, which explains why people keep saying they are bumping into me more and more online.
Here is my list of the best places to go in Facebook for quality 3D printing discussion, getting help with your 3D printer problems, and making new friends:
[Read more…]