3D Printing Wirelessly

Ever since flashing my Davinci 1.0 I have desired to move the printer away from my main computer. The 'music' from the servos was beginning to become annoying. Not only that but I wanted to printer to function on its own, and be accessible via the internet.

Lo and behold others have desired this too, a guy named Guy Sheffer started a project called OctoPi, which allows you to do just about everything using a cheap raspberry Pi. I use the setup in the instructions below for both my Davinci 1.0 and Fabrikator Mini 1.5.

Link:

Tutorial: How To Use Your 3D Printer Wirelessly

Cellular (SMS) Remote Car Stater

How to wirelessly start your car using a text message with Arduino.

I figured out a way to cheaply start my car using a text message. I wanted to be able to do this because my office is quite the distance from where I park, and my current remote starter has a range of only 20 feet or so. Learn how to do this yourself by click the link below or watching my video tutorial.

LINK: Cellular (SMS) Remote Car Stater Tutorial

3D Printer (Part II)

In a previous post I talked about my XYZ Da Vinci 1.0. It's decent hardware, at a decent price. There are some draw backs however:

• The software and firmware is awful.
• The print quality is just okay.
• Proprietary filament. (limited options and 2x the cost)

These problems kept me from using the printer all too often. Amazingly however, all these problems can be solved with software and voiding warranties!

Software / Workflow

I began by flashing the printer to Repetier. Coupled with repetier host on my machine, I was now able to use Slic3r (or any slicing software I wanted) and any settings I wanted. I have complete control over the G-Code. Because the printer is no longer using stock firmware, it doesn't check the cartridges for authenticity- effectively allowing me to use any filament I like (within the extruder's capabilities).

The new software has completely changed my opinion about affordable 3D printing, quality is excellent when compared to more expensive machines like the makerbot, and overall I'm much more happy with the device. Using strangely colored/textured/translucent filaments is exciting as well.

There was still one issue however, and that was my computer had to remain on to slice and send instructions to the printer. With yet another mod, and some additional software I was able to fix this. I purchased a Raspberry Pi (B+) and loaded OctoPrint on it. After some initial configuration I'm now able to load print jobs onto the pi, and let it do all the rest. It even sends live video feedback and status of the printer, via web browser. Adding a WiFi chip to the Raspberry Pi effectively made the printer wireless, so I could remove it from my office (it was sort of loud). I opened this up to the web and now I can access and 3D print from anywhere in the world. Pretty amazing if you ask me.

Bonsai Planter

Mod Hardware / Software

Printer: http://amzn.to/1JH90lh ($500)
Raspberry Pi: http://amzn.to/1Q3Xdia ($30)
Repetier Firmware: http://bit.ly/1HHGonM ($0)
Repetier Host: http://bit.ly/1KXqPJq ($0)
OctoPrint: https://github.com/foosel/OctoPrint ($0)

Useful Instructional Videos:

Repetier Install Guide: http://bit.ly/1PH2R94
Settings to get you started: http://bit.ly/1KXr1Z6
Belt Tensioning: http://bit.ly/1JHamrT
Adjust Print Bed: http://bit.ly/1JsbMqZ
Offset Fix: http://bit.ly/1Ew2U7c

3D Printer

Over the holidays I obtained a XYZ Da Vinci 1.0 3D Printer! I was able to quickly unbox it, plug it in and even print a demo model within minutes, it was surprisingly easy to setup.

I've primarily used the machine to print things I find on http://www.thingiverse.com/, however I have on occasion used it to print replacement parts or prototypes.

Software / Workflow:

Currently my workflow involves creating a 3D model in Sketch-up, exporting the file to a proprietary software (provided by XYZ) for slicing, then sending the print-job (g-code) to the machine. I chose to use sketchup because I'm already familiar with it, however the tool has many limitations. It's often imprecise and can sometimes be very clunky to work with, but in general you can make 3D models very fast with it. The XYZ proprietary software is absolutely awful, which also seems to be the case for the firmware on the printer. This is not a unique opinion, if you search around online you'll find many others complaining as well. There seems to be many different approaches to this, some replacing the firmware on the printers and using different software altogether- something I have not yet had time to research.

Hardware:

Recently my employer had demo'd a Makerbot at our office. I was pleasently surprised to find that my Da Vinci kept up with this machine very well, especially considering the $2500 price difference. The heated bed is a huge plus, as are the walls/door and lights. I really have no complaints about the machine's hardware however I did have to make some initial adjustments to get it to print perfectly every time.

The major issue I had with the machine is pictured above, the prints would occasionally become misaligned during the print job. This was caused by two things:

1. The glass was shifting on the heat bed when pushed with little force. I was able to remedy this by simply shoving some material between the edge of the glass and the frame that was supposed to hold it.
2. The print bed moved in the x/y direction while moving up or down. I noticed that the print bed was somewhat loose with the bearings supporting it from behind, I simply epoxied some material in between the gap and now the print bed moves up and down smoothly and fixed.

Example Prints:

Overall I'm very happy with the machine and am excited to put it to practical use as well as have some fun with it in the near future.

Flappy Doom

While experimenting with the Unity engine I accidentally made the best game in the universe.

Fly through heck. Dodge pillars. Explode a lot.

Play it here! (In web browser). Also available on Google Play HERE.

zNote

Created a note taking tool for assisting with technical support calls. Saves and organizes notes on the fly, while also providing useful information needed on most calls.

To see a live demo, Click Here!

JavaScript Mine Sweeper

Cake Easy Medium Hard Extreme

Project MS (JavaScript)

This is my attempt at re-creating the famous Mine Sweeper game found on most Windows PCs. It is written completely in JavaScript & HTML. My goal was to write a "simple" application in a space I'm familiar with (web space) and port it to a platform I'm not so familiar with- Android. If all goes well, I will soon have my first Android application running on my Nexus 7.

Fun Fact: As an extra challenge I wrote this application entirely in notepad with no debugging tools, and based it off a pseudo code abstract almost to the letter- my professors would be so proud.