bbum

I wrote up a series of notes on various stuff I've done to tune my Ultimaker. Corrections, additional tips, refinements, etc... are all quite welcome, of course! http://www.friday.com/bbum/2012/03/25/3 ... -shall-do/

I've been using ViaCAD on the Mac ($99 in the Mac App Store), but there is a version for Windows, too. Works well enough and seems definitely focused more on the modeling part than on photorealistic rendering (which is a waste for 3D printing). Between that, SketchUp and OpenSCAD, I can create simple stuff easily enough and feel I'm limited very much by my skills.

When I received my Ultimaker, the one bad part in the entire kit was the extruder fan; it shattered when I tried attaching it to the device (bad plastic). I had a 40mm fan available and liked the ducted designs found on Thingiverse, but none of them were quite what I needed. So I rolled my own: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:16530 It is designed to be easily printed without a fan (i.e dead simple). Works well enough.

Brilliant. Now... - Add a bit of motion detection software. - Add algorithm that knows approximately where extruder is/isn't in frame (alternatively, key it off the color of the consumable). - Automatically stop print if the big blobby thing at the bottom of the frame moves suddenly (i.e. basic motion detection on partial frame). Result? Automatically pause/stop printing if the print head (or your cat) knocks the piece out of place during the print, saving both consumables, potential damage, and lessening a mess to cleanup later. BTW: D-Link's DCS-930L is available for $70 from Amazon. Supports 802.11*, hardwired ethernet, and is fully Mac / PC / Linux(pretty sure) compatible. b.bum (Who is patiently waiting for his Ultimaker and... oops, couldn't resist... printrbot in the new year.)