Digging
So I went into one of the lesser-accessed labels in my archives, "Batch" and grabbed Yozakura Quartet. Apparently it came out in 2014, and I got the batch in 2018, and I can't seem to recall why. Someone suggested it? So far it's just okay, but at least it doesn't take place in a high school.
(I don't go through the batches as much because it's harder to keep my place within them. As opposed to changing the label on each episode to "Watched".)
Free fun fuse
So my first spool (or is it reel, or roll?) of black SunLu PLA came with a coupon that said join the FB group, and get a $5/20% off coupon for Amazon. So what the heck, I did. Of course, the coupon code is actually a pretty narrow offer, and as a result it knocked about $8.40 off the cost of a spindle (or is it spool, or reel?) of their other brand, JAYO's Black PLA, which suits me fine. Amazon seems to have adjusted the price in the interim, so it's hard to say. It was supposed to get me down to $13, but it was more like $15. Of course, to get free Amazon shipping, I had to buy something else, so I got some Red PLA.
But when I joined the FB group, I also discovered there was a giveaway going on, and I got on the tail end of it. So while I was chatting with the SunLu/JAYO rep, I got in on the deal for a couple free reels (or is it roll, or spindle?) of black ABS, which should be a challenge to print, from what I've heard.
All ten rolls of it! Holy Crow!
(Or is that spool, or reel?)
Yeah, it was a multicolor ten pack they sent me. This has tripled my inventory of filament. And vastly expanded the palette, which I never really depended on.
Posted by: Mauser at March 11, 2021 06:45 PM (Ix1l6)
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Really, you bought 10 kg at a go? That is enough to make 20 Plastikov receivers :-)
Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at April 02, 2021 11:52 AM (LZ7Bg)
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No, I didn't buy it, I got it for Free! It was a give-away on their FB group!
Posted by: Mauser at April 02, 2021 02:26 PM (Ix1l6)
Feh
Printing that Liru model was pretty disappointing. She's definitely meant for Resin. Tree supports ended up more like Kudzu. Only her ears were sticking out just about. And even with all that support, she had a lot of drooped fibers. Getting her out of it all was a PITA, and well, it just didn't look very good. Maybe with a really small nozzle and tight printing or Something. It was an 8-hour print at standard settings.
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Sadly, after slicing her a few different ways, I kind of expected that result. I think you could get decent results if you were able to cleanly dismember her and add alignment pins for re-assembly, but I haven't found a good tool for making bounded cuts (although this one implements an algorithm that tries to auto-partition models).
-j
Posted by: J Greely at February 16, 2021 07:34 PM (ZlYZd)
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There was one layer in her left arm that didn't bond, so I had to glue that. But the fine detail of her boot fringes was the worst. Aside from her chin and inside her mouth. It's one of my worst prints that didn't fail (and I really haven't had a lot of failures, The test dog ran out of filament, and two calibration cubes broke free.)
Posted by: Mauser at February 16, 2021 09:48 PM (Ix1l6)
Winter 2021 season
There's still a lot I haven't finished watching from last season, although I did watch all of Maho no Tabitabi, which should count as an endorsement. I've fallen behind on Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? especially after I learned there was a side series to watch.
There is a new season of Beastars, so that's definitely on the list.
And there's more Re:Zero, another series I've fallen behind on.
For total cheese, Hidden Dungeon. I expect I'll drop it.
I went on a NASA site and found some interesting .stl files. I'm currently printing out a Saturn V model. They thoughtfully broke up the First Stage into two parts, but the second stage I will have to break up and join myself, as it's too big for the Ender 3. Something is a bit off about the models, aside from Cura complaining they aren't Manifold. It's also hard to turn them on axis and actually have them perpendicular to the build plate. This cut second stage is going to be a challenge to put back together.
Of interest are the STL files for the lunar landscape of each mission's landing areas.
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I found a comment that the original version of the second stage was busted, and they released an update.
I've run into a lot of non-manifold models. Some of them auto-repair easily enough, some remain unprintable even after running them through meshmixer or meshlab. Others seem to be orientation-dependent, and tinkering with the rotation will let the auto-repair work.
-j
Posted by: J Greely at January 18, 2021 08:51 PM (ZlYZd)
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Just for fun, I downloaded the updated stage 2 model, rotated the pieces upright, and sliced it with 5% adaptive cubic infill. It predicts a print time of just under 24 hours with 333 grams of filament.
-j
Posted by: J Greely at January 18, 2021 09:03 PM (ZlYZd)
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My prints came out okay, but I wasn't able to split them exactly on the seam I wanted to. It's hard to get a good look at the interface between the model and the build plate. And the rotation in 1 degree increments failed to land it perfectly flat. (Align face to build plane also failed.) But I have a benchtop Belt Sander, so I can make those problems go away.
Tomorrow I get a "3D Pen" which I hope I can use to cram filament into the seams.
And wow, my print looks a LOT better than the sample pictures! (But the slight angle meant that the nozzles, which I printed facing up, had slightly detached bottoms on two of them.)
Next stage is printing. Then I think all I have left is a connecting ring for Stage 1-2. But there's no LEM.
Posted by: Mauser at January 20, 2021 09:14 PM (Ix1l6)
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Cura has a Snap Rotation checkbox, and also a Lay Flat button that adjusts the current rotation so the nearest flat surface is level with the bed. The one thing to note with that is that it might not drop it to the bed automatically after fixing the orientation.
Which 3D pen did you go with? The Mynt3d Pro has decent reviews and replaceable nozzles, so it's on my list as a "maybe" for connections, repairs, and using up the last few feet of filament from a spool.
-j
Posted by: J Greely at January 21, 2021 11:52 AM (ZlYZd)
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Apparently because of the Not Manifold errors in the stl for the second stage, I couldn't make things align. I got my hands on a copy of MeshMixer from autodesk, but I don't know what I'm doing with it. Although the analyzer showed all kinds of errors because so many of the surface features apparently were never booleaned with the body of the shape, and they have protrusions into the interior of the model.
I got a Scrib3D pen. It worked, after a fashion. Not a problem with the pen, but the gap I was filling was pretty tight, so I ended up with a lot of overflow that needed sanding off. I don't know if I'd ever use it for its INTENDED purpose. The ceramic tip was also hot enough that it did a little work on the print I was fixing itself. It definitely requires practice.
Posted by: Mauser at January 24, 2021 04:16 AM (Ix1l6)
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Meshmixer and Meshlab are both extremely powerful applications with basically impenetrable interfaces. I pretty much Google for what I want to do with them until I find a tutorial. :-)
-j
Posted by: J Greely at January 24, 2021 11:00 AM (ZlYZd)
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I'm going to give the resultant print (over 3' tall!) to Sarah.
Posted by: Mauser at January 30, 2021 03:00 PM (Ix1l6)
I've been curious about 3D printing for a while, but it seemed awfully expensive for printing out various plastic gewgaws of no real utility. That attitude has been adjusted by my dealing the the 3D printing lab across the way at work, where they make handy bits of tooling and protective equipment for fragile parts. And I realized I might have some uses for the stuff as well.
Then last Saturday, a friend mentioned that he had just gotten a Creality Ender 3, and that they were on sale for a mere $160 (although shipping and tax added another 20 bucks or so). So I started looking into it, watching a LOT of YouTube videos, and I was sold. I ordered Sunday, and the kit arrived (checks watch) yesterday at around 5:00. In short order I had it assembled (between some of the videos and my own mechanical aptitude, it was trivial) and not much later I had the small sample of filament loaded up and attempted one of the test files. Right out of the box, with only slight adjustment to level the bed, it printed very well. Alas, the sample of filament wasn't quite enough to finish the sample print, the poor cartoon dog only made it up to his eyebrows. So I hied myself to Amazon and ordered a couple rolls - black and white, and the black had a $4 off coupon! Typically a Kilo of filament runs $20-$25. It won't arrive until Wednesday, alas.
In the meantime, I researched models for upgrades and accessories for the machine, and software for making said models. Alas, the makers of Fusion 360 have decided to end their hobbyist support - one can get a year free, but then you have to pay. But there is a mature, ten year old open source product out there called FreeCAD which can do almost the same thing (and the areas of lack are extremely esoteric). I watched a guy model a turbine blade in both programs [Scratch that, the other program was SolidWorks] and the results were identical, plus the process blew my mind.
There's also a free "Slicer" program that converts the model into G-Code for the printer, called Cura. There's another furnished by Creality, but everyone uses Cura because it's very capable. It lets you step through the print, and adds supports, manages the in-fill, and more tricks than I know what do to with. It's capable of directly driving the printer via USB, but if you have Windows 10, with its uncontrollable updates and reboots, the chance of it ruining a print is high, so you can also save the G-code to a mini-SD card, and have the printer run it from that.
Now I just need to figure out what to do with the inevitable plastic gewgaws....
Posted by: J Greely at December 25, 2020 04:07 PM (ZlYZd)
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I've already gotten a number of models for modifications to the machine, little clips to hold the ribbon cable up, cable chains, alternate spool holders, an enclosure for the back of the display....
Just need that filament....
Posted by: Mauser at December 26, 2020 01:42 AM (Ix1l6)
Which explains why I'm still up at 5 in the morning after messing with the printer all night.
Posted by: Mauser at December 30, 2020 05:08 AM (Ix1l6)
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Been making cable chains to dress up the cables and prevent possible hangups. One downside, because of the texture of the prints, and a little bit of elephant foot, the links don't slip smoothly unless you sand them and file them and there are a LOT of links.
Posted by: Mauser at January 12, 2021 05:17 PM (Ix1l6)
Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at February 14, 2021 07:51 PM (LZ7Bg)
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My latest print was a new badge-holder for my company badge, but I can't take pictures of my badge..., but it's pretty neat.
Right now I'm trying to do a figure of Liru that I recently got linked to on Thingiverse. (So much for avoiding geegaws...). Cura crashed multiple times trying to slice it, so much so that the latest success surprised me. The tree supports though are basically going to enclose the entire figure, and I had some bad experiences with that doing the Saturn V. (Complete shells around round tanks attached to the nozzles.) If it works I'll have some pictures.
Posted by: Mauser at February 15, 2021 09:04 PM (Ix1l6)
Getting a bit of a late start, most shows are already up to 4 episodes out.
First up: Majo no Tabitabi. As a little girl, Elaina read a story book about a witch who traveled the world and had adventures. She was so inspired, she decided to become a witch and do the same, and at 14, had passed the exam to become an apprentice. Yet none of the local witches would take her on. Eventually she found a strange foreign witch in the woods who would, although it was quite discouraging at first. But she passed her apprenticeship after a year, and then began her travels. By the second episode, we join her three years into her journeys. At least in the beginning, they tend to be episodic stories, often with a dark twist. Will a longer plot emerge towards the end? I don't know.
A lot of the ideas may be standard tropes, but they are told very well, and the animation is lush.
Kami-tachi ni Hirowareta Otoko (Gonna take a flyer on this one). Our Hero is Isekai'ed in the most humiliating manner possible. The gods tell him he died sneezing in his sleep, dislodging his pillow, and hitting his head hard enough to cause a brain bleed. But just as well, as he was living alone and working for a hellish black company. But this is a kid show. Like, imagine Pokemon without Team Rocket. There is no identifiable bad guy. Also, the gods transplanted him in easy mode, unlocking all types of magic for him (The only consequence is that if one becomes a jack of all trades, you become a master of none). And he gets a fresh 8 year old body. He lives in the woods for 3 years, developing absolute mastery over slimes (And in fact, evolving 2 new breeds never before seen.). Eventually he runs across some of the Duke's guardsmen in the woods, and one is injured. He saves him with medicinal potions he's been whipping up on the side, and eventually they save him from his hermitage by introducing him to the Duke and his cute daughter. Then he checks in with the adventurer's guild and gets really easy, but high-paying jobs that are perfectly suited for his new slimes. (One eats trash, and the other cleans and sterilizes). Four episodes in and everything is still going his way, and everyone is amazed by him. I only watched it because the OP promised a cat-girl, and there is (And a dog-girl and a tiger-girl) but no, this show is WAY below my age range.
Gebäude Bäude (Last season of Fireball, no episodes out yet, and I dislike the design on the image they have up).
Munou na Nana (Late add) Take My Hero Academia and turn it on its head. Make it Sinister. Kids with superpowers are a danger to the world. Send them off to an island to give them "training" to fight for humanity, and then send some agent with no powers there to pick them off, one by one. But by the third episode, it's clear there is competition....
I'm stunned. I was looking through an old email file, and saw that back in 2009 a friend (perhaps former, he hasn't talked to me in ages) e-mailed me the torrent file for Rideback. On a whim, I double clicked it and uTorrent not only opened it, but damned if it didn't start downloading! And it was done in no time. Back in 2009 I think I was still on dial-up, and it took DAYS to complete the torrent, and the machine I had at the time couldn't really handle even playing 720p. I did burn the series to DVD (As Data, not rendered). And my next machine was able to play it.
How's the series? I need to re-watch it, I guess (add that to my immense To Watch list....) Generally the plot is our Heroine is a ballet dancer with a promising future until she wrecks her ankle in her debut lead performance. And she needs to learn something else in college. At school, she eventually runs across the riding club for these machines called "Ridebacks" which are transforming motorcycles. They go from a two-wheel traditional motorcycle form, to an upright, side-by-side wheel form. Oh, and they have arms. So it looks like the rider is riding piggyback on the machine. Hence the name.
At the same time, some rebel group somehow managed to take over the world, and is being really fash about it. The secret to their success was the use of military grade Ridebacks. So civilian use is eventually targeted for being counterrevolutionary.
Our heroine, because of her highly developed sense of balance, is a natural rider. (So natural that the balancing circuits on the machine are actually a hindrance.) And she manages to get caught up in the counterrevolution. Bad things happen and at one point the den Beste rule is violated. But I forget how it actually ends.
I have a 0 share ratio on this right now... :-( But having actual files is one advantage over my switch to using magnet links. Drop me a line if interested.
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