3D Printing

3D printing is one of those things where you have to expect to dink around with the printer. Not just when you're setting it up or changing something. But when it wants attention. Because they're picky little jerks.

I have 2 Original Prusa Mk2.5 (upgrades from the Mk2S) and they're lovely beasts. I built my first one from the kit and learned a lot. I rescued my second one from an abusive print farm and spent about 2 hours with it on the bench to get it back in perfect working order.

I don't really name my printers. I have The 3D Printer and The Other 3D Printer. It's so original, I know. But it works for me.

To help monitor and control the printers each one has a Raspberry Pi print server running OctoPrint. A Raspberry Pi is a very powerful little computer that fits in the palm of your hand. With 4 USB ports, wi-fi, HDMI, Bluetooth, etc. so it's not a puny thing. It's quite powerful. Each printer has its own even though technically I could run both off the same one. They're cheap enough that it was safer to run individual ones. They're mounted right onto the frames of the printers and it's a tidy setup.

Another advantage to using OctoPrint is that I can control it through the Telegram application. Even better is I can add people to my printers so they can see things print. They can't do anything but get a snapshot but it's still kind of neat.

3D printing has more or less replaced my Hirst Arts work. It's lighter and it's a 'set and forget' thing due to how long printing takes. I use mostly Fat Dragon Games files that I bought so there isn't the flexibility of HA but there's also the finished piece that comes off the print bed. The much lighter printed piece.

The plastic I use is very environmentally friendly in that it's based on cornstarch. There's a risk since even sitting in a hot car can warp the pieces so I need to be aware of where I leave them. This is the most inexpensive plastic and has a huge variety of colors and finishes. For those who want to know it's PLA (polylactic acid) and can be mixed with this to make glow-in-the-dark and other fun effects.

I'll try not to get too far into the weeds in the 3D printing posts. I might and if so I'll try to put explanations but I can't promise anything.