Sunday, January 23, 2022

From Scratch

I've been building a printer.  Well, I've been building two printers, but one I've been working on for a good while now after putting the first, larger printer to the side for a bit before the holidays.   This little printer is indeed little,  It's what you might call tiny but mighty.  

It's the fastest, most powerful printer I now own and I build it completely from scratch.  Every bolt and wire all the parts, there was soldering, there was electrical work to be done.  Parts had to be printed that were parts of the printer (because 3D printers these days are made, in part, with parts printed from other 3D printers.   It's called Rep Rap which in short means replication rapidly.  Printers building printers. 

Not all the parts are printed, not even the majority of the printer is 3D printed parts, but there are well over a hundred individual parts that were designed specifically to shape and form this printer.  Some of the parts didn't work due to various reasons, but that's okay because I could make the changes necessary and print a new version of the parts.

This printer, while quite hard to build for many reasons, was also detailed out completely by a group who got together to design what they thought the best 3D printer could be.  There are a number of sizes and functions to fit various needs with this being the very smallest but certainly not a diminutive printer from a capability standpoint. 

I got it running two days ago but there were issues.  The build has been a series of successes followed by setbacks.   For weeks now.  But tonight it's not only built and printing, it's enclosed so it can print higher temperature filament.  

In addition to the hardware, I had to install and configure all the software and this printer used something I had zero experience with.  I had a lot of concerns I wouldn't be able to get it running, but I did and now it all makes a lot more sense. 

The other printer is more than half-way complete so I'm picking up there next week and seeing if I can finish up that printer too.   

The little printer is called a Voron and the model is the 0.1.    Next, I'm off to work on the Voron 2.4.   I'll be glad when I get them both working.  I've had printer parts all over the place for months. Currently the 2.4 is in our laundry room, waiting for space to be available on the workbench, which is now cleaned off and ready for it. 

The Big Boy Tiny Girl Fighting Again:  My daughter annoys my son.  My son is mean to her verbally.   She today lost it, snapped, and tried to grab his arm and not let go.  So he punched her in the throat.  I had a talk with them both.  I really, really, really, really want COVID-19 to be over and the children back in school.  My daughter has been out of school for five weeks now and she is on the edge of everything.  She needs to be with friends.  

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