Always tooting for th'antihero @Momentrabbit@awoo.space

The music of the spheres. Well, the music of circles being slowly traced by a pair of stepper motors. Close enough, to my ear. ( https://awoo.space/media/6keqhY3Me-NubL3TljQ

I always get a giggle out of seeing authorfriends 'Playing Scrivener' on Discord. The multi-author online chat must be a thing. "500 word bonus!" "Spy sapping my novella!" "Dammit, c'mon, move the manuscript!" "MORE ELLIPSES! MORE ELLIPSES!"

http://geargenerator.com/

Oooooh. Minor cognitohazards for the cog-n-gear crowd.

According to the printer, I've extruded about 913m of filament since I started exploring this tech in December. I'm simultaneously surprised it's so short, and yet... a *kilometer* of plastic output. Wow. o.O

The brace itself is from Thingiverse, credit for design goes to Leo Nutz - https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1852358

Here's the brace installed, viewed from above. It's screwed into the threaded rods that form the base of the printer, braces the Y-axis stepper against the middle strut. https://awoo.space/media/4S9yj9pV2SHi7nhrkAA

Next step: print the more-complicated _front_ brace. Perhaps tomorrow. n.n

Here's a closeup of the part that fared worst on last-night's print: as you can see, the texture's glossier and the structure itself has bulged out and sagged a bit. That's thermal load at work: small parts tend to need slower printing or active cooling, allowing heat to dissipate adequately before the next layer goes down, or they stay too soft and warp.

Fortunately, there's a setting to compensate for that in my slicer.

https://awoo.space/media/H9NpBAYWN5e9DQELcl0

Print done, hours ago: left it to finish at 88% and got some sleep. Truthfully, there's not much you can do to save a print going wrong - just abort, reslice, and restart.
I'll take some closeups of the areas that didn't print well tonight: they all have a common element that I can compensate for on the next print. Fortunately, they're mostly cosmetic: I can use the print as it is. https://awoo.space/media/QlqUZbHulJwnVa2wz0k

Overhangs and undercuts are the bane of casting and 3D prints alike: you can't print on a surface that isn't there. There are tricks, however. Bridges can span short distances. You can model or autogenerate supports that break away when your print is done. Or, if you choose the angles and slopes of your curves really well, and get the temperature just right, sometimes you get lucky.
72% done, 18mm down on the bed.
https://awoo.space/media/MhyM3a7R6vgvlRwQ5Oo

Top skin is on 90% of the print: now the support flange is going in, atop the T-shaped gap where the infill is still visible. 8.8mm down: should speed up as it finishes off the thinner remaining structures. (Hence the previous "50% done. Ish." comment. Time estimates on prints is an arcane art...) https://awoo.space/media/fY8o3CElJX12viiv9tI

Top layers going down - first few are scribbled across the cubes of the infill, then longer strands are supported atop those. The last, topmost layer should be smooth and flat. (Fingers crossed...)

7.5mm down, print is just over half done. Ish. https://awoo.space/media/ngv0ugTVXsIoxMHaGaA

When you set up your 'slicer' - the software that turns a model into a set of printer instructions - you can specify the rate of travel for the extruder at various tasks. For perimeters - the 'sides' of a print - you usually want to print the outermost wall slower than the inner walls, which gives it a smoother texture.

Apparently, though, you *can* get that backwards and it'll still work for big enough pieces. >.<

InfilI happens once the bottom layer is down, between the inner and outer perimeters that make up the outer skin of the print. You can have any degree of fill from 0% hollow to 100% solid: 15-20% is usually enough to support a structure without much weight - or cost. Filament is cheap, but solid structures suck it up *fast*.

This is a standard rectilinear fill. I'm also quite partial to hexagons. n.n

2.5mm down on the bed now.

https://awoo.space/media/D5L6mA-VveJ68sK5tTA

Yes, I appear to be live-awooing a 3D print. *head in paws* I don't even, and haven't not in quite some time.

Keeping the plastic adhering to the bed and itself is a balancing act. I favour PETG filament: recyclable, no fumes. This particular batch enters 'glass' phase around 230-240C, so I print at 235 and start the bed at 70, dropping to 50 once a few layers are down - I want to keep the print cooling evenly, not melt it into a blobby mess.

About the first mm of plastic is down here on a piece that takes up most of my bed's footprint.

https://awoo.space/media/76t7POGr-6fHvBuhdzU

For a fused filament 3D printer, plastic needs to stay where you deposit it. Working with layers that are 0.08-0.24mm thick, the adhesion of the first layer to the bed is essential. My print bed is leveled at the corners: a microswitch tells the printer where Z=0 is, then I adjust all four mounting screws until the entire bed is in the same X-Y plane as the extruder travels, and is about a sheet of paper's thickness away from it. https://awoo.space/media/hr0OR4VcUZVt5_7Eyu8

Huh. Was locked out for a while, seem to be back. Neat.

Still making things into other things. https://awoo.space/media/rBsy1Mp6SiF4xh_dmA8