Mendelmax 2.0, latest project and more review!

So here's the project I've been toying with for the last week or so. Been experimenting with Sketchup and all of the cool plugins- taught myself how to skin shapes, joint push/pull, and a few other tricks I scrounged up to make this work.  If you use Sketchup, be sure to stop in at http://sketchucation.com/ and set up an account so you can download all of the free plugins! 

Also have become a lot more proficient at understanding the Netfabb software and repairing exports .stl's. Getting the printer set up and running now has become a breeze, although I am still playing with Slic3r settings trying to get things more better-er.

Helicopter time. There was honestly no real thought put into this effort, and it shows a bit but I think it turned out nice. Started with a blade, printed it, made the next part, printed it, saw how it fit, made changes if necessary, and here's the final product.

Sketchup files:







Printed parts. I made a different tail than the one pictured here...



Get a tube of crazy glue and start assembling.  The shell did require some triming to get to fit right- mainly due to warping.  Getting better at controlling that.

















Plan on printing something to replace the screw, but for now...





Again, I've got a different tail now.





And fully assembled with the old tail.




"Finished", for now...





I want to add some turbojet exhaust pipes out the back here some day...







I think the print quality is great!



Learning all sorts of things. Need to keep the bed temps up higher to prevent warping- very noticeable on the body halves. Tolerances aren't quite what I'd like- sometimes printing a 2mm hole the hole turns out more like .5mm if the z-axis isn't set just right for the first layer. More my problem, probably should set up some endstops.

All in all, I'm still very impressed with the capabilities of the Mendelmax 2.0. The quality I think is great, but I don't have any other prints from other printers to compare it to. Speed is very adequate, reliability for me so far has been a non-issue. I have had a few bugs to sort out, but they have all been solely electronics related. The worst problem I've encountered so far with the hardware end of the printer is the belts- the printed tensioner on the y axis tends to twist a bit and the belt started to rub on the side of the frame. Adjusted it once and it's been fine ever since. Still need to install my updated z-axis parts too.


The electronics end of these things seems to be a never ending excersize in tinkering.  I'm forever altering Slic3r settings or trying different configurations with the control board or firmware.  Good think I like tinkering!

My students are working on their Sketchup projects right now, so I'm hoping to start running their prints by this time next week!

Sticky Stuff

Thought I'd share this neat trick I learned to make prints stick to the table better.  I've been experimenting with ABS in my Mendelmax 2.0, for no other reason than that's what I ordered... I'm getting better results with less warpage the more practice I get, but this little trick has been by far the most useful thing for successful prints.

First you need to make up some of this splooge.  Its nasty smelling but cheap and effective.  Find a container and fill it about half full with Acetone.  Gather up a bunch of your ABS scraps and dump them in there, put the lid on, and shake it up.  After a while you are left with a slurry like this:










Once you have the slurry, use a cotton ball and spread it around the glass. Do a few even coats, crossing directions. Seems to work a lot better if the bed is SORTA warm- maybe 40-50 degrees.

Bed before prep:





Bed during and after:








Run a print, then watch as we peel it off.  It can be really hard to get off while the bed is still hot, plus I've noticed that parts seem to warp more if I pull them off before they have had a chance to cool.
 












Print removed:





Take a razor blade and clean the skin stuff off. Kind of a pain in the butt because it static-sticks to EVERYTHING.

Cleaned up print!





Great use for old scraps. The stuff stinks to high heaven but has been pretty effective. Next best thing I've found to prevent warpage with ABS is cranking the bed temp WAY up- I start my prints at 90 degrees Celsius so I don't have to wait for hours for it to heat up and start the print. Once the print has started I crank it up to 100, although it really struggles to get that hot. Still get some warpage that way, but hey, I'm impatient.

3D Print Practicing / Testing: Model Helicopter.

New project to, uh, keep me out of trouble? Yeah, like I don't have enough projects going already... Had this idea kickin around, and have been wanting to test some capabilities. Seems like this is a good way to do it.

Been learning a TON about Sketchup through this process too- For the most part I've only been using the base free version of it with no special add-ons. Downloaded and installed several plugins and am blown away with the capabilities of this free program. Lofts, skins, fredoscale, all sorts of ruby's that can do cool stuff. Here's what I've got done so far.



Blades and tail fins were made by using a loft tool and "skinning" a wireframe shape. Super easy.





The shell was a little harder. Made it again with a wireframe, then skinned it. The hard part was getting a thickness to the shell- used the freescale tool to push/pull it out to 1mm thick, but I had to do a lot of cleanup to the lower edge to get it to sit "flat" on the printer plate.



Main reason I wanted to do this was to test the "overhang" capabilities. I'm impressed. The inside isn't all that pretty but overall I think it came out GREAT. Will probably add one crossbar in the center for additional support and to help attach it to the inner frame I still have to make. The center wouldn't have been so melty if I'd been able to move the extruder when the print finished. Need to change that in the gcode so the heat doesn't soften parts if I cant get the part off right away.



I think it's turning out great for just spitting a few things out of Sketchup to practice on. We'll see how the finished product turns out.

On an educational note- my students started working with Sketchup this week.  That means in another week or two, they should be pretty close to having some printable projects, so watch for some 7th grade Hotwheels!

Thoughts on Teachin'.

Kinda hit me over spring break that the end of another year is darn near upon me.  Two more months and schools done- the crazy summer "break" begins.  First week will be spent helping chase 70 some odd 8th graders all over California...  The next week will be spent babysitting a nephew, then two weeks of "vacation", and maybe a week or two of trying to get some projects knocked out in there somewhere, and then a week or two of getting ready to go back to school.

Ug.

Can we cancel summer this year?!  Just kidding!!!

Been thinking a fair bit on changes that are happening or might happen... Will be interesting to see the education scene next year.  Common core is here (at least, until the next lawmaker sees fit to adopt another new program) so there will be all kinds of changes with that.  Funding, of course, is anyones guess.  Will the state decide like so many others that problem solving and higher thinking (read: hands-on problem solving / the classes I teach) are worthless and decide that money is better spent somewhere else?

This is one of my constant fears.  I think I do a pretty good job already of involving aspects of all other subjects in my classes.  Having no real set standards or other teachers to align instruction to, I'm pretty free to pick and choose what I want to teach my students.  My tech classes are centered around the design process and problem solving. I involve a fair bit of writing, research, math, and science with the engineering and technology end of things.  Definitely heavy on the hands-on part.  I'm looking forward to adapting Common Core to my classes, if I can make it through the pages and pages of red tape.  My other classes are more focused on trying to develop some actual hand skills, but we still use a fair bit of math, reading, and writing.

After 3 1/2 years of teaching, I finally feel like I'm finding my groove.  I know what I want to do and have been making steady progress towards those ends- a "new" computer lab in my shop, the 3D printer, updating engines, tools, technology, etc.  The more I feel like I understand the teaching game, the more I feel like I have hoops to jump through that while not necissarily bad, they are detracting from the time I could be spending preparing myself, my lessons, or my students to be more successful.

My question is where do I (we?) go from here?  I know my classes make a difference to my students.  I took classes very similar 20 years ago- and they made a difference to me.  Unfortunately, the classes I took are no longer offered at the school I went to.  The shop is as I understand it pretty much gone.  What happens when all we have left is a classroom, with 35 kids sitting there jacked in to their computer clicking through a presentation?  How does that teach them to generate ideas, work collectively, choose a possible answer, test it out, and evaluate and then present their solution?

Enough rambling.  I have no idea where I'm going with this.  I do feel that students need more oportunities to INVENT something.  Not just follow a set of directions and assemble a gizmo- actually sit down and figure out what needs to be done, how they plan on doing it, and then attempt it.  I say attempt on purpose-  failure can be a good thing.  In the words of Samuel Beckett:

"Ever tried.  Ever failed.  No matter.  Try again.  Fail again.  Fail better."

Learn from our mistakes by MAKING them in the first place.  Gotta start somewhere.  What are you going to have YOUR students invent this week?  Just be sure that you, as the teacher, are there to help pick them up from their "failure", turn it into a learning experience, and point them in the right direction.  Kinda hard for a computer presentation to do that with a student, eh? 

Gettin my redneck on.

Figure 8 racing!  Missed the first couple of heats but the ones we made it to were pretty darn good. 


4 cylinder class last chance heat getting ready to go.





If you look real close, you can see a Fierro there in the front.










From the last race of the day for the grand prize- 9 4 bangers in a row... Some with some obvious issues, or maybe the smoke screen was intentional?  Quick multi shot sequence from the line to the first corner.  Keep your eye on the 'wagon.















As you can tell, it helps if you have an all wheel drive Subaru wagon...   He made it all the way around teh first corner without any problems.  Several of the others didn't... As you can tell by the backwards car there.  The 'Suby did great right up until the last lap- broke a tie rod and lost his steering. 

'Nuther set-  Things that go *boom*.





Tires, apparently, optional.


 
Pretty good races.  No rolled cars but lots of bumpin and exploding radiators and tires.  Lotsa fun, even with the glares from the neighbors every time we got with 3 feet of their muddy truck.  FYI- I'm pretty sure the car seat bouncing around in the bed was harder on your paint job than anyone resting their hand on the bedrail...

Anyone wanna donate a car?  I'd love to do this someday!