Been toying with the idea of adding a resin printer to my arsenal. I don't know why, since I've only really been interested in practical prints with my FDM printer. The one time I tried printing the Liru figure I found on Thingiverse, the results were disappointing.
A brief search last night turned up an article about the 11 best low cost resin printers. And nearest the cheap end were two I was slightly familiar with, the ELEGOO Mars, and Creality LD-002H. At the time the list was made, the Mars was slightly cheaper, and on Amazon it was $239 with a $35 coupon. But then I went to Creality, and the LD-002H was on sale for $189. Moving it up on the list, but then I checked the ELEGOO site, and my choice was made, because the base Mars model was on sale for $149.99! Also, although most of it was sold out, the Resin was cheaper there than on Amazon as well, ($19.99 for 500 g vs $21.99) (They don't include a sample with the machine). So the total was $169.98 for the printer and resin, and the shipping was free (they also didn't charge me tax, which Creality did on my Ender 3. Very naughty. :-)
Getting back to Thingiverse, I put up my first thing back on Monday. However, for some reason, even though I did hit Publish, it is not showing up in my profile. I was able to add it to one of my collections. And my Analytics shows that scrapers, I assume, immediately downloaded it 464 times in the first hour, and nothing since. I'd heard the site is kinda broken and running on autopilot, but I had no idea it was that bad. Support has been unresponsive.
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I had a similar experience with my first upload. It looks like there's a human review step before it gets indexed, which probably stops a lot of random porn, scam, and malware uploads. My subsequent uploads have been indexed faster.
-j
Posted by: J Greely at June 05, 2021 08:21 PM (ZlYZd)
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I added a like to it, in case it helps kick the automation.
-j
Posted by: J Greely at June 05, 2021 08:50 PM (ZlYZd)
Analytics says 4 more downloads today. (And now up to two likes.).
I wonder, if I add a second thing that might so up, some kind of counting from 0 error they have....
Posted by: Mauser at June 05, 2021 11:04 PM (Ix1l6)
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I see you have a similar problem. It says 4 designs, but only shows me 2.
Posted by: Mauser at June 05, 2021 11:06 PM (Ix1l6)
Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at June 09, 2021 03:37 PM (LZ7Bg)
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I tried adding a second thing, a lid for the tool tray - first thing I ever designed to print, which showed up as the first. (Designs: 2, displayed: 1).
So I just uploaded the first thing, the notepad sleeve, again. (Designs: 3, Displayed: 2).
Haven't decided yet if I'm going to delete the first and see if the lid disappears, or if it's only your first upload that never shows up. Since after all, it's the invisible one that I've posted as a link all over.
Posted by: Mauser at June 11, 2021 07:03 PM (Ix1l6)
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Deleting the first item seems to have fixed my designs count. Sorry to anyone who collected it.
I printed Liru on the Mars, and while the detail and smoothness is fantastic, the supports really mess her up. Cutting them off either leaves a blob or a divot. And I broke three pieces of her boot fringe.
Posted by: Mauser at June 13, 2021 08:55 PM (Ix1l6)
Super Cub
So I've just started watching this, and I have to say, it's really beautifully animated. Especially the subtle shifts of the color when she first gets on the bike.
I was left with two questions: What happened to her bicycle? And did she remember to turn the fuel petcock back to ON when the filled the tank? If she didn't, she's going to be in for a worse surprise.
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Oh there's going to be a lot more of the same questions, such as where did the used oil go from that plastic bag.
Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at May 19, 2021 11:23 AM (LZ7Bg)
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The thing I'm wondering about is just how many high schoolers are living alone in apartments (or cool log cabins) without parents. Not only the two in this series, but I've noticed a number of them in other series. Apparently she has a "Scholarship", which is the first I've heard of any arrangement like that.
Also, as I've been saying on Twitter, it would be a MUCH different series if it were a Piper instead of a Honda.
Posted by: Mauser at May 22, 2021 07:59 AM (Ix1l6)
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It's interesting noticing some of the subtle changes. In episode 7 (Still watching it ATM) she now pulls directly into the bike shelter at school instead of stopping outside it and walking it in to park.
Posted by: Mauser at May 22, 2021 08:32 AM (Ix1l6)
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News: "Kadokawa Comments on Illegal Motorcycle Riding Depiction in Super Cub Anime"
Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at May 29, 2021 07:29 PM (LZ7Bg)
Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at June 04, 2021 12:47 PM (LZ7Bg)
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They're growing up into bad-ass biker babes.
Guess that's what happens when they grow up without parental supervision. Amazing number of kids living alone in Anime.
Posted by: Mauser at June 05, 2021 04:28 PM (Ix1l6)
Spring SeasonSentouin, Hakenshimasu! is funny, two episodes in.
How Not to Summon a Demon Lord is back for another season. Need to check that out.
Odd Taxi Is definitely Odd. Aside from the strange background style, and the childish anthro characters, there seems to be a serious mystery about a missing girl going on.
Not really sure about anything else. I'm open to suggestions.
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I thought Saintess thing was pretty good. I did not read the LN, but I follow the manga. Not sure where it's going, unfortunately. Could be open-ended like many LN-based series. But I liked how Sei was realized in the anime.
Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at April 20, 2021 09:53 AM (LZ7Bg)
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One problem I'm having with a lot of anime, but particularly Demon Lord is that when they're throwing spells around, the whole screen gets a lot darker. I'm at a loss as to what's causing it.
Posted by: Mauser at April 25, 2021 02:58 PM (Ix1l6)
...when they're throwing spells around, the whole screen gets a lot darker. I'm at a loss as to what's causing it.
Magic probably.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at April 29, 2021 01:48 AM (5iiQK)
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I saw a phenomena at Crunchy where faces turn green over time. Yes that description is accurate. However, if I pause the video to capture that effect, it clears. I tried to capture it with digital camera, and got middling success. If I pirate the same video and watch it with VLC, there's no greening. It was a thing for as long as three years, and looks like it went away after an app update just in 2021.
Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at April 29, 2021 11:04 AM (LZ7Bg)
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Maybe it's just something with MPC-HC and the CCCP codec pack. Actually, no it happens watching MHA on CR. And I am able to successfully screencap it.
I've been calling it a "Gamma Crash" because it does look like the gamma on the video has been turned way down. What's particularly odd is it doesn't necessarily affect say, white subtitle text.
I'll do a post to include pictures.
Posted by: Mauser at April 29, 2021 09:10 PM (Ix1l6)
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I saw an episode of Super Cub and I liked what I saw. The direction is outstanding, Fujii beats Shinkai and Shinbo like kids. And he came out of nowhere, like Izubuchi, who directed RahXephon on an inebriated bet -- he wanted to be its character designer, but things happened.
Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at May 11, 2021 09:35 PM (LZ7Bg)
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I'd actually been considering it after Peter Payne (J-List) recommended it. Haven't started downloading it yet.
Posted by: Mauser at May 14, 2021 09:58 PM (Ix1l6)
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)
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