We’re quickly approaching the two week mark in the seven week RET program. Over the past few weeks Alexa Kutch and I have been assembling a 3d delta-style printer made by the local SeeMeCNC.com crew in Goshen, Indiana.
Assembly has encompassed the first week of our activities, and now we are currently working on one of the more aggrevating components: calibration. Each of the three axis of movement must be calibrated, and in addition we must ensure that the center of the print plate is perceived as level by the print extruder. This entails determining if the print surface is concave/convex, and modifying the repetier firmware to account for misalignments. So far, we’ve racked up around 10 hours in the calibration process. Each time that a concave/convex issue is identified, it requires a complete firmware manipulation and reflashing.
Thankfully though, we are now at a “good enough” point in the calibration to begin printing. Our first print is a standard calibration cube, which looks like a hollow cube.
I can’t wait to print out something more…so while we wait for the print to finish, we visit http://thingiverse.com and search for neat little objects to queue up.
Stay tuned, I’ll be updating with more info as the summer progresses.
A Digital Life 