3rd Mendel Set for Sale & More About Moustaches

Willow has recently completed it's third complete set of Mendel parts! This set was printed using mostly Blue Translucent, UV Happy, UltiMachine PLA.  I did run out of that PLA before finishing the extruder and a few of the y bar clamps, so the those are printed in the Natural PLA.

 

They are on eBay currently and close on Nov 18, 2010 at 5:56:54 PST.  I have cleaned them up some but have not reamed the holes.  They come with a certificate of lineage (for anyone tracking that) suitable for framing.  Check out the eBay listing for more information.

I also have a collection of items on etsy that I am selling to help support Movember.  During the month of November I am donating 100% of the sale price of all of these items to the Movember Foundation.  Some of these items were 3D printed on Willow.  If you want to see my slow growing moustache updates or donate money directly to Movember you should visit my MoSpace Page.

Movember Moustaches

I took a small detour from Mendel reproduction to explore printing Moustaches (I am participating in Movember).  I first made a design that works very well for a larger Moustache but started to behave strangely in RepSnapper as I scaled it down.  The slices would start getting too small and the part would have huge steps.

So I tweaked my design and made a second version that worked a little better (more rounded points and slightly better geometry).  RepSnapper still had problems with strange layers with this version.

I ultimately made a third version with simpler geometry.  This version worked very well for small Mo's (2nd-3rd image below) but RepSnapper did something even stranger on the versions with holes for a necklace cord or key chain (top two).

The geometry is just chopped at the hole.

I took the STLs into MeshLab and did some smoothing and face re-simplification and was able to get something that did not have sharp corners and prints well in RepSnapper (even with the holes - see bottom two images above).  It is probably time to start learning how to use something more robust than RepSnapper (like Skienforge...)

Second Set of Mendel Parts on eBay

Willow has recently completed it's second complete set of Mendel parts! This set was printed using Blue Translucent, UV Happy, UltiMachine PLA.

They are on eBay currently at a $76.00 bid and close on Nov 01, 2010 at 08:06:10 PDT.  I have cleaned them up some but have not reamed the holes.  They come with a certificate of lineage (for anyone tracking that) suitable for framing.  Check out the eBay listing for more information.

Makerbot Halloween Contest Winning Entry!

Just a quick shout out to my co-winner in the Makerbot Halloween contest PaSuTX with the very cool Bat Mobile.  My winning entry was my parametric spider web design.

I look forward to getting my glow-in-the-dark ABS and want to thank all the fine folks at Makerbot for the cool contest.

Leaking Heaters...

My current heater was working very well extruding PLA at 230C, which seems a little high but the parts are coming out nicely.  It had started leaking like many of the others I have seen with PTFE insulators.

Then it finally plugged up...  I tried cleaning it out without disassembling it, but this did not work.
I then disassembled the hotend to find the plug and remove it.  During this I discovered that the wood retainer I had been using was starting to char away.

So I began work on a new design that I had been thinking about for a while.  This is based on the BfB hotend that many people like but can be built with only a drill press, hacksaw, rotary tool (Dremel), and belt sander (I plan to post directions soon).

I also found an excellent source for bootlace ferrules.

You can buy these at craft stores in the jewelery section.  They are designed for crimping necklace cords and this bag cost $2.99.

So far I have done hand push tests and can easily push filament at 165°C.

Now I have to change out my x carriage for  larger one (http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3594, which I already printed before my failure).

Black Light PLA - Call-out for Pictures

I have been playing with UltiMachine's UV glowing PLA for a while now and have made a variety of things.  Here are some pictures:

 

and the picture that was such a hit back in June:

Now that I have completed my first Mendel set, I think that next set I print and sell will be made from this PLA (A UV Glowing Mendel will be very cool...)

I even have a Moai necklace made with it for sale on etsy.

,

Are other people printing with this PLA?

Are there pictures?

Please leave comments with links

Willow's First Complete Mendel Offspring!

Willow has recently completed it's first complete set of Mendel parts!  It looks to have taken about 30 hrs to print (plus my load/unload time) and consumed just under 2 lb of UltiMachine Natural PLA.

They are on eBay starting with a $49.99 opening bid.  I have cleaned them up some but have not reamed the holes.  They come with a certificate of lineage (for anyone tracking that) suitable for framing.  Check out the eBay listing for more information.