Well, the composite causes of the earlier layer shifting failures have been fixed - tension is correct and voltages are where they should be, and the walls are smooth.
Of course, the bed caught on something while moving forward, so it still failed, so looking at the wire routing for tonight.
OK, so with the Ender 3 reassembled, apparently *part* of the layer shifts were caused by the hot end carriage being out of adjustment, but this didn't entirely fix it. I'd also found the voltage from the power supply was under spec, that's now been adjusted and I'm running another print now.
OK, the mechanics are back together... tomorrow I put the electronics back in, and see if the layer shift may have actually been caused by a misadjusted carriage tension.
So a minor budget setback means I get to put the Ender 3 back together, order a main board, and consider the replacement of the machine at a later date. Thankfully I haven't thrown anything out yet.
I think the biggest damage to the art community was the obsolescence of gallery sites (y!, deviantart, etc) and the rise of scroll-by social media, like twitter and even tumblr. Art is not ''content'', you shouldnt need to post art every day (or every month!) to be relevant. This mindset sucks.
Right now, basically a pinball flavored Power Ranger/Super Sentai style theme.
I will be assessing the harness I pulled off this weekend, and likely snipping off all the sockets and separating it to use (eventually) on the homebrew.
So I will make notes:
Pinball people should never solder braid wire to staples under a playfield. The same with soldering onto screws in light socket tabs.
Having stripped that playfield, I don't really want to even contemplate RESTORING a pinball machine.
A mostly unpopulated playfield for Bally's Harlem Globetrotters on Tour.
Wow that was an effort to strip everything off. I'll clean it later, then attach hardware to hang it up.
New art came in, got sent off to be framed, and returned today. #michaelwhelan #dragonriderofpern
So I bought a mostly populated Harlem Globetrotters playfield today, with the idea of harvesting the mechs off of it to use on my homebrew pinball. The emptied playfield I'll clean up and hang up somewhere in the arcade.
So my wife: "Weren't you looking at a Prusa at one point? You still can."
Damnit all, she's right. It's just a matter of money.
Apparently welovecolors is using AI now.... Highly disappointed, especially as they market to cosplayers.
Granted, the body sock I bought from them recently will be the last thing I think I ever get from them. The quality was terrible, and it snagged worse than pantyhose.
But AI is a last straw.
For context, repair (main board) and upgrade (extruder) would cost $150, a baseline "same as before" at MicroCenter with the intended upgrade is $200, a better machine is a little over $300.
We have the luxury since we still have a working 3D printer. We're not even losing capability, just capacity.
So after dinner, I broke down the Ender 3 into components to store as spare parts for other printers. It's sad, but it's not really economically justifiable for me to replace the main board given the cost of the upgrade I was going to do. We'll be buying another printer in the next few months.
OH MY GOD THAT'S LIKE FIVE TIMES AS BAD.
I'm gonna go simmer, and pull the Diamondback nozzle later today in prep to break the printer down.
One more thing I can try... first party firmware. I'd installed a third party one a couple of years ago.
The printer is five years old, but I also haven't been abusing it. Which makes it kinda sad that I'm in this consideration pattern.
Anything else is "drop the speed down" and "replace the main board", and if it's the latter, given that I want to go direct drive and eliminate the bowden extruder, we'd be an additional $150 that could go into a new printer that's already direct drive out of the box.
New stepper motor, new belts, we're on to adjusted voltage references and replacing carriage bearings, in an effort to get the Ender 3 to stop layer shifting on the x-axis. I'm not sure it's worth putting more effort and money into it if this doesn't work.
A Smiley Bolt Action foam dart blaster, done up in red and yellow with orange internals.
OK, finally, my third foam dart blaster is finished, Mighty Shrub's Smiley Bolt Action. This one showed up the lack of maintenance on my printers, and got me to get them dialed in appropriately. Why yes, I went LOUD on this one.
So I spent a couple of hours tuning 1 printer that was having Z-Axis issues earlier (had to tighten a lead screw nut to the frame), and replacing the X-Axis stepper on the other (layer shifting in that axis), so I can get back to printing stuff. I have a dart blaster I want to get finished.
Oh, hey, got one printer fixed and just need to dial in the initial distance again from nozzle to bed.
I'll tackle fixing the other one Saturday.
And another example that I never have to go looking for information that an actor is a bad person, it just happens to find me.
Jettison this fucker into the sun if this is true*...
But, also: "Glover allegedly 'showed off several items of Nazi memorabilia from his collection.'"
Several. Items. Of. Nazi. Memorabilia. From. His. Collection.
Yikes.
Hey, that's my building facade mod!
As a Maker who shares her files, there's something truly special about seeing what people do with it to make it their own.
"How much cheaper can we make them before people stop buying them?"
HOW TO FIND NAZIS: 1) POST "FUCK NAZIS" 2) WATCH FOR THE "DON'T CALL PEOPLE YOU DISAGREE WITH NAZIS!" COMMENTS 3) YOU FOUND THE NAZIS.
fuck nazis
So both 3D printers are having issues right now. I had to set aside the latest 3D printed blaster project because it needs the printers on point, and I won't have some parts to attempt a fix until Friday.
