a new 3D printer

On the right, my current UP! Plus, on the left, my New UP! Mini

Hello accidental clickers of the blog button.

3D printer

The title says it, hello, new 3D printer. I for some dark and mysterious reason won a 3D printer. with what, you might ask? with this: http://www.instructables.com/id/Hand-in-hand-clock/. Technically it won in 3 contests, but 2 of those were just runner ups. When I saw I was in the finals, I was thrilled and expected another Instructables shirt, but somehow I won a 3D printer. The printer in question, an UP! mini. A slightly smaller version of the UP! Plus. A welcome addition, because I often have massive under capacity. A lot of 3D printed projects will now print twice as fast. The only issue I have with the new printer is this. It is called the UP! mini, and yet it is larger in size than the UP! plus.

Hydroponics

I have been working on a few versions of a hydroponics controller for quite a while now. I did not have real hands on experience with hydroponics, but I reckoned that that would grow with the development of the controller. My hydroponics setup was built and started working, but all work on the hydroponics controller stalled for various reasons. And then I discovered something. You see, my current hydroponics setup is running on just 2 simple timeclocks. Nothing more. No sophisticated sensors, no environmental control. Just… 2… timeclocks.

I am basically banging rocks together here, and somehow, my balcony is now on par with some rain-forests. I will admit, for some time, the system ran like garbage, but once I got decent nutrients, the thing just exploded. Plants everywhere. This leaves me thinking, with diminishing return and everything, just how much more can I get from a controller. Can’t be that much. Maybe I am overthinking this all. I am going to experiment with ordinary hydroponics for a few seasons before I am going to rethink a controller. I need to learn a lot more before I can come up with something relevant. From what I have learned so far, 90% of what you get comes from the nutrient.

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Props

In the category things I am more experienced with. Props. The Pip-Boy Mark IV has hit the internet, and boy has it hit. This website was on the point of crashing multiple times, but it never actually did. Yay me. The Fallout 3 Laser rifle is also done, so to all the people that wanted a Laser Rifle, here you go. In light of Fallout 4 it may seem a bit redundant, but I started it way before the Fallout 4 announcements, and I was not throwing it away just because there was going to be a new one.

Now at this point I have no more props on the official Prop list. I am open to suggestions. Always wanted a cosplay prop 3D printable but it is not available. Throw it at me, maybe it will stick. Anything is allowed as a suggestion, books, graphic novels, series, movies, games. Smaller is better because it is easier, but that shouldn’t stop anyone. I heard the Fallout 4 Laser pistol come along, and considering it’ s similarity to the laser rifle from fallout 3, it is worth a thought, but it is a big one, so I also like other ideas. Go to the new forum (see below) and leave a suggestion.

Hand in hand clock

The Hand in hand clock has thus far been the most worthwhile project I’ve had. Not because it did that extremely well by itself, but because it took only 6 days to make. It has won me a bunch of small prizes, and a complete 3D printer. I do have a confession to make about it though. It has been hanging on my wall, but it hasn’t been running in months. I found it too noisy, and with all other projects, I simply did not have the time to make it quieter. I want to do this by adding a DC motor with encoder. These motors have smoother power, and should be orders of magnitude quieter.

I also had people suggest making a skeleton clock version of the Hand in Hand clock, and I really think that would be awesome. I am an engineer. I don’t want minimalist clocks, I want to see gears. I have made a design of it and it and I think it came out really well. I spent a bit more time designing it, so hopefully this version will be a bit easier to assemble. I don’t know when I will actually make it, but I will definitely make this skeleton version.

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Plan B

Plan B is now completely done. No more updates will happen (other than one tiny software update that does not want to work) to anything Plan B related. Plan B has given me invaluable knowledge on 3DP printing, but I can not learn any more from Plan B. It is built as a prototype printer, a platform to perform basic tests on. It has fulfilled it’s purpose, now it can rest. The original Plan B I have is also completely tired. It had numerous upgrades, and has run for more hours than expected. It needs a complete overhaul and with the amount of work that is, that is not going to happen.

While the lessons I learned from Plan B can not be told in just one Blog entry, I have done some major Upgrades in the Year I used it:

• 3 different controllers, A Megatronics V2, V3 and a homebrew DUE controller. The V2 was replaced by the V3 because some I/O’s burned out. The DUE controller was to give Plan B more speed, which it did quite well.
• Full firmware streamline to go along with the DUE controller, fully utilizing the additional speed and RAM memory. This made Plan B basically 4x as fast.
• A spreader upgrade. The original Plan B had a static tube for a spreader. I later replaced it with a rolling spreader, and any next printer will be built with a rolling spreader. It just leaves a better and denser layer. Period.
• A spotlight. It may not seem like much, but I had Makerfaires to attend to. Light is good. Also, the bed heater broke down, so the halogen spot did some heating.

Forum

Ytec has a new Forum. You can find it here: http://ytec3d.com/forum/

The forum was replaced because I was fed up with BBPress’ complete lack of any features, and it being incompatible with my theme. Login in was hard to do, and even stopped working from time to time. It had no preview, you couldn’t upload pictures to it and basically nothing was possible other than posting text to it. I now have a shiny new forum running besides WordPress, and even though it is pretty much generic, I like it.

New printer ideas

There are 2 printers I have in the official project planning. One is already in the first stages, one is on the Planning for somewhere early 2016.

The first printer is Tesseract. It is going to be an FDM, but it will be capable of unloading itself due to some stainless steel black magic. Keep an eye on the Forum for more information on that. First experiments will should within a month. After that it should go fast.

The Second printer is Oasis, the next powder printer in the queue. It was originally going to be Iris, but I am saving that one for a printer capable of printing in color. Oasis is going to be cheaper and more versatile in terms of modifiability. I hope that Plan B was the Darwin of the 3DP printers (proof of concept, but not that useful in real life). With that I hope that Oasis will be a Mendel (the basis for all future printers of it’s kind and actually useful by itself). I still need a printhead, and my sights are still on the HP45, so the first thing will be hacking that.

Hello to the roughly 300 people that have clicked this link.

It is now officially 2015, and while still a very tiny amount of people read this blog, I wanted to write something. 2015 has some nice things planned, and I wanted to share these potential projects with anyone who accidentally clicked this link.

3D printers

First of is the next Plan B (project Iris for now). This one has hit a snag. I am forced to wait on people more skilled at software and electronics who are busy with the CN642A or other printheads. A lot of great people have started hacking, and after the first bit of information was shared, I knew one thing. I am going to be useless helping hacking this thing. Communication happens with huge speed and with electronics that are beyond my skill. So for now, I am stuck waiting on progress made by other people before I can start work on project Iris again. When people have successfully hacked the CN642A, I will divert all my available resources back to 3DP printing. Until then I have some other things planned.

One of the two main projects planned is a better form of DLP printing. That is all I can share for now, I will have to play my cards pretty close to my chest for now. There are things I need to figure out before I will share all of it. Rest assured that everything will remain open source, though patents may occur.

Hydroponics

The second big project is Hydroponics. There was already a page on this (though it is terribly outdated) with rough explanations. Short summary, it is growing plants (mostly fruits and vegetables) in a soil-less environment, where the water carries all of the oxygen and nutrients. This technique is a lot more efficient with water and fertilizer than conventional growing. You might not guess it from the other content of the site, but I actually like growing plants. I also like building electronics, and I like efficiency, so this project is perfect for me. Programming is happening as we speak, I will post when interesting things have happened.

Some specs of the controller are:

• Arduino Mega 2560 controller;
• Graphic LCD with rotary encoder switch input;
• RTC built in;
• SD card support for logging and complex settings;
• 12 outputs (4 mosfet outputs @12V, 8 relay outputs on connector);
• 2 bidirectional DC motors (for peristaltic pumps);
• 4 servo motors support;
• I2C support;
• DS1820 support (accurate temperature sensor);
• 10K thermistor support (cheap temperature sensor);
• 3x Analog inputs for PH and EC sensor;
• Additional ports for auxiliary functions (such as fish feeders or weather monitoring);

Props and sideprojects

Without my UP!, I have no real printer to make props. I do have a borderlands prop planned, but that one has no priority right no with no good 3D printer. There are also side projects, such as RC projects, and things I don’t know of right now.

That is roughly what is going to happen this year. I wish everyone on the forum, and everyone in general a happy new year, and until next time.

Up until a week ago, that would have been a no, now it has one. Hello the few but more than 1 people who will read this blog.

Forum

I know of a few people who have started work on a plan B. I have had a few people who have offered to help with both Plan B and future projects. I am really happy with this help and support and hope I can help create something here. To keep the knowledge gathered from this out of my mailbox and get it on the magical place that is the internet, I have opened a forum. I hope I can gather a group of active people who will help me prevent my forum from becoming yet another forum on the internet with an update frequency of only once every 3 months.

The forum exists for a few reasons.

1. I have my prop projects. These are somewhat more popular than my functional projects, and I know of a lot of people making these, or buying them from other people. I LOVE to see what you have made. There will be a topic for each prop, where hopefully you will be so kind to share pictures and tips of the prop you have made. (Also suggestions would be great here)
2. To gather all the information that is acquired on 3DP printing (and perhaps other powder and 3D printing techniques?) in one clear place. All knowledge here will be bundled up into the next generation(s) of open source 3DP printers. Work is already begun on the 3rd generation and technical input would be great here.
3. To ask questions about the site in general, specific content and future additions to the site (like the shop (still in progress)).

Find it here: http://ytec3d.com/forums/

3rd generation 3DP printers

Focus was a prove of concept for powder printing in general. It proved that 3DP printing was a viable technique for hobbyists. Plan B was a prove of concept for 3DP printing, it was built on existing and hacked technology to prove 3DP printing was really capable of producing parts. Now it is time to design something that can actually work for makers and artists. This printer will not be here next week, it will not be here next month, but I hope to have it next year.

I already gave a list of reasons why 3DP printing is still interesting. Full color, no support, reuse powder, varied materials. There is one other reason I forgot to mention. Cheap. 3DP printing powders can be made for as little as €2/kg (gypsum, sugar and maltodextrin). Binder can be made for as little as €5/liter (water and isopropyl). The only expensive part is post processing, but that can also be fairly cheap if you get the CA at the right place.

Some requirements for this new printer:

• Be at most €1500,- for a kit and €2000,- assembled;
• Full color compatible, for 3DP this means 5 colors;
• Be made as much as possible from of off the shelf parts;
• Be as user friendly as possible;
• Faster than Plan B, as fast as FDM printing.

The most important part on this printer will be the printhead. 5 colors with more nozzles, preferably not requiring any modification. There is only one printhead at this point which meets all requirements, the CN642A. This week I got my first printhead for hacking. I will start hacking shortly. The internet will probably know when I have succeeded.

You can find a more frequently and thorough updated progress report at the forum: http://ytec3d.com/forums/topic/step-1-hacking-the-cn642a-inkjet-printhead/

The 3rd generation printhead to be (hopefully)

Licenses

As some people will see now, every project page on the site has a license. At the end of each project there is this:

License

The project described on this page is licensed under the Creative commons - Attribution  - ShareAlike license.

This means that if you want to use any information gathered from Ytec3D, you are completely free to do whatever you want with it. There are however 2 conditions.

1. You will need to provide a link to the information gathered here and state that this is where this information (like files and knowledge) came from here;
2. You need to post whatever you did with this information under the same license.

Do this, and you are completely free to do whatever you like. Sell it, improve it, modify it, (deprove it?). Don’t do this, and depending on what and where it is, it might be taken down. (I did it before, I’d rather not though)

 

What do all of these things have in common you might ask? They are all completely unrelated to Plan B, the supposed main project right now. Another blog post for the few people that actually read this (do people even read this?).

Loot

The turret I made a while ago was entered in the battery powered contest on instructables. After the slight flop of the turret, I did not expect to make any chance anymore, but guess what, I won. Second prize. This was a very pleasant surprise since I no longer expected to have any chance.

Workbench

I spent a good portion of last month making a new workbench for my projects. I had access to some large 1m x 2m desks and made some workbenches out of them. I made a backboard to hold the tools and hold some cabinets. It took over a week just to get all of my stock in the right cabinets. It is now mostly done and I am very happy with it. It was organized for maybe a week, but I never had the illusion of keeping it tidy. (spot the new Plan B (hint, to the right)).

Hydroponics

I have started an experiment with hydroponic vegetables, just because I was curious. Don’t expect too much from it content wise, but I thought I’d share it.

Wordclock

I spent this weekend retrofitting a wordclock I made years ago (It is in Dutch, in case you were wondering). At the time I was not capable of finishing it properly, so I thought I’d give it another go. The old one was made with a PIC16F877A microcontroller and I have since moved on to arduino. This meant that I would need to work around the old microcontroller socket. I made a plug and circuit board to fit the arduino to the clock. This was not a big project, but it was very pleasing to finally finish it properly.

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Plan B

Now time for the Plan B related news. I have had made a new set of metal for Plan B. This way I have: 1. a picture for the shop; 2. maybe an assembly guide on the frame; 3. the ability to test the final design of the frame. I have also made some steps with the software that makes the print files. Without going to technical, the software is now capable of importing and reading the input file and gets everything ready for converting it to Plan B code. I can’t say at this point how long it will still take, but it is moving forward.

I think that is about it for this month, when there is more news, I will share.