Fresh hacks every day
[Chris] has been having some real problems getting PLA to stick to the build platform of his Printrbot. This is of course not limited to this brand of printers, and affects all extruder-based hardware using the PLA as a source material. He came up with a couple of ways to fix the problem. The first is something we're quite familiar with. The image above shows [Chris] applying a thin layer of … [Read more...]
If you've ever used an extruding 3D printer, you know that the resulting prints aren't exactly smooth. At the Southackton hackerspace [James] and [Bracken] worked out a method of smoothing the parts out using vapor. The method involves heating acetone until it forms a vapor, then exposing ABS parts to the vapor. The method only works with ABS, but creates some good looking results. Acetone is … [Read more...]
If you're thinking of trying the acetone-vapor polishing process to smooth your 3D printed objects you simply must check out [Christopher's] experiments with the process. He found out about the process from our feature a few days ago and decided to perform a series of experiments on different printed models. The results were mixed. He performed the process in much the same way as the original … [Read more...]
When you want to print a 3D object you run into problems if there is a part that has nothing below it. The hot, soft filament coming out of the extruder will droop with gravity if not given something to rest on while it hardens. The solution is to use a second material as a support. But then you've got to find a way to remove the support structure when the printing is done. That's where this … [Read more...]
When you're building one of the best homebrew computers ever created, you'll also want a great case for it. This was [Simon]'s task when he went about building an enclosure for his Kiwi microcomputer. We were introduced to the Kiwi last year as the end result of [Simon] designing the ultimate computer from the early to mid-1980s. Inside is a 68008 CPU, similar to the processor found in early … [Read more...]
No matter how good a 3D printer gets, you're always going to have visible print layers. Even with very high-quality prints with sub-0.1mm layer height, getting a shiny and smooth finish of injection molded plastic is nearly impossible. That is, of course, until you do some post-print finishing. [Neil Underwood] and [Austin Wilson] figured out a really easy way to smooth out even the jankiest … [Read more...]
Aside from wanting to play around with nitric acid, [Ben] really didn't have a reason to decap a few 74xx and 4000-series logic chips. Not that we mind, as he provides a great tutorial at looking at a bare IC that isn't covered in epoxy and resin. Most ICs are encased in a hard epoxy shell making it very difficult to look at the circuits within. [Ben] tried to grind this epoxy off with a Dremel … [Read more...]
Subscribe for weekly videos
Recent comments