Category Archives: 3d printing

PrusaControl: The Beginner’s Slicer

Posted on June 12, 2017 by Fernando Gomes

There are two main applications for managing 3D prints and G-Code generation. Cura is a fantastic application that is seeing a lot of development from the heavy hitters in the industry. Initially developed by Ultimaker,  Lulzbot has their own edition of Cura, It’s the default software packaged with thousands of different printers. Slic3r, as well, has seen a lot of development over the years and some interesting hacks. Do you want to print non-planar surfaces? Slic3r can do that. Slic3r and Cura are two sides of the CAM part of the 3D printing coin, although Cura is decidedly the prettier …read more

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Posted in 3d Printer hacks, 3d printing, cura, Hackaday Columns, PrusaControl, slic3r, slicer, software | Leave a comment

TORLO is a Beautiful 3D Printed Clock

Posted on June 8, 2017 by Fernando Gomes

What if you could build a clock that displays time in the usual analog format, but with the hands moving around the outside of the dial instead of rotating from a central point? This is the idea behind TORLO, a beautiful clock built from 3D printed parts.

The clock is the work of [ekaggrat singh kalsi], who wanted to build a clock using a self-oscillating motor. Initial experiments had some success, however [ekaggrat] encountered problems with the motors holding consistent time, and contacts wearing out. This is common in many electromechanical systems — mechanics who had to work with points …read more

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Posted in 3d print, 3d printed, 3d printer, 3d Printer hacks, 3d printing, attiny, clock, clock hacks | Leave a comment

Improving Mister Screamer; an 80 Decibel Filament Alarm

Posted on June 7, 2017 by Fernando Gomes

I created a prototype 3D printer filament alarm that worked, but the process also brought some new problems and issues to the surface that I hadn’t foreseen when I first started. Today I’m going to dive further into the prototyping process to gain some insight on designing for a well-specified problem. What I came up with is an easy to build pendant that passively hangs from the filament and alerts you if anything about that changes.

I began with a need to know when my 3D printer was out of filament, so that I could drop whatever I was doing …read more

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Posted in 3d printed, 3d Printer hacks, 3d printing, filament, filament alarm, filament monitor, iterative design, let's prototype, PLA, prototyping, Skills, slider | Leave a comment

Metal 3D Printing: Insta-Layers

Posted on May 29, 2017 by Fernando Gomes

Selective Metal Sintering is cool but slow. Fear not, a technology that was initially developed to smooth and pattern laser beams is here to save the day, according to a new paper by Lawrence Livermore researchers.

In a paper titled “Diode-based additive manufacturing of metals using an optically-addressable light valve,” the researchers lay out a procedure for using an array of high-powered laser diodes among other things to print a whole layer of metal from powdered metal at one time. No more forward and backward, left and right. Just one bright flash and you’re done. Naturally, the technology is still …read more

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Posted in 3d Printer hacks, 3d printing, laser, laser array, laser diode | Leave a comment

Digital Clock Goes with the Grain

Posted on May 29, 2017 by Fernando Gomes

This good-looking clock appears to be made out of a block of wood with LED digits floating underneath. In reality, it is a block of PLA plastic covered with wood veneer (well, [androkavo] calls it veneer, but we think it might just be a contact paper or vinyl with a wood pattern). It makes for a striking effect, and we can think of other projects that might make use of the technique, especially since the wood surface looks much more finished than the usual 3D-printed part.

You can see a video of the clock in operation below. The clock circuit …read more

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Posted in 3d Printer hacks, 3d printing, ARM, clock, clock hacks, dht22, ESP8266, PLA, stm32, veneer, vinyl, wood | Leave a comment

Transparent 3D Printing?

Posted on May 13, 2017 by Fernando Gomes

Transparent plastic is nothing new. However, 3D prints are usually opaque or–at best–translucent. [Thomas Sanladerer] wanted to print something really transparent. He noticed that Colorfabb had an article about printing transparent pieces with their HT filament. [Thomas] wanted to try doing the same thing with standard (and cheaper) PETG, which is chemically similar to the HT. Did he succeed? Watch the video below and find out.

You can get lots of clear plastic filament, but the process of printing layers makes the transparency turn cloudy, apparently mostly due to the small gaps between the layers. The idea with the HT …read more

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Posted in 3d Printer hacks, 3d printing, colorfabb ht, diffuser, optically clear, PETG, transparent | Leave a comment

Stop Printing Air with a Filament Sensor

Posted on March 4, 2017 by Fernando Gomes

If you have had a 3D printer for awhile, you know the heartbreak of coming in to check on an 8-hour print only to find that in hour 7 you ran out of filament (or the filament broke) and your printer has been dutifully moving around for no reason. [Chuck Hellebuyck] knows and he decided to make a filament sensor he found on Thingiverse.

Finding a part on Thingiverse and printing it probably doesn’t warrant much attention. But if you watch the video, below, it is a good example of how things from Thingiverse don’t always meet your needs. The …read more

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Posted in 3d Printer hacks, 3d printing, filament alarm, filament sensor, thingiverse | Leave a comment

Making Laser Cutter Designs Work in a 3D Printer

Posted on March 3, 2017 by Fernando Gomes

The main mechanical tools in a hacker’s shop used to be a drill press and a lathe. Maybe a CNC mill, if you were lucky. Laser cutters are still a rare tool to find in a personal shop, but today’s hackers increasingly have access to 3D printers. What happens when you have a design for a laser cutter (2D parts) but only have access to a 3D printer? You punt.

[DIY3DTECH] has a two-part video on taking a 2D design (in an SVG file) and bringing it into TinkerCad. At that point, he assembles the part in software and creates …read more

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Posted in 2d, 3d, 3d Printer hacks, 3d printing, laser cutter, tinkercad | Leave a comment

Speech to Sign Language

Posted on March 3, 2017 by Fernando Gomes

According to the World Federation of the Deaf, there are around 70 million people worldwide whose first language is some kind of sign language. In the US, ASL (American Sign Language) speakers number from five hundred thousand to two million. If you go to Google translate, though, there’s no option for sign language.

[Alex Foley] and friends decided to do something about that. They were attending McHack (a hackathon at McGill University) and decided to convert speech into sign language. They thought they were prepared, but it turns out they had to work a few things out on the fly. …read more

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Posted in 3d Printer hacks, 3d printing, american sign language, Arduino Hacks, ASL, hands, mcgill, sign language | Leave a comment

Ask Hackaday: Is Owning A 3D Printer Worth It?

Posted on February 21, 2017 by Fernando Gomes

3D printers are the single best example of what Open Hardware can be. They’re useful for prototyping, building jigs for other tools, and Lulzbot has proven desktop 3D printers can be used in industrial production. We endorse 3D printing as a viable tool as a matter of course around here, but that doesn’t mean we think every house should have a 3D printer.

Back when Bre was on Colbert and manufacturing was the next thing to be ‘disrupted’, the value proposition of 3D printing was this: everyone would want a 3D printer at home because you could print plastic trinkets. …read more

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Posted in 3d Printer hacks, 3d printing, Ask Hackaday, Interest, lifehacks, lulzbot, lulzbot mini, [Joshua Pearce] | Leave a comment