Swamp Castle

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Bracket fit

Here's my fit-check, before painting the bracket.

After the various headaches I ran into using Sketchup to make models, I decided to get Alibre. I had heard it was similar to ProE Wildfire, which I use at work. It is similar, but still fairly different. I decided to make the biggest thing that my Up! could print. It is a 5" cube. I fancied I had made it with a minimal amount of material. Now I know that I can actually print a 45° undercut without support material, so I could have put a bunch of holes through it. Oh well. Live and learn.

Bracket done

Here is the finished pair of brackets, with the hardware I needed it to bolt on to. Gold paint was the closest match to the real brass hardware. One day I will actually install it and post a picture.

Bracket print

Here is the final bracket, being printed.

Bracket test

For my next amazing feat, I decided to make a bracket that I have needed for years. It's for a drafting table my dad made for me when I was a kid. I wanted to make it look nice, and got a bit carried away. I used Google Sketchup. These are some early test prints of partial brackets, as I started seeing what the Up! could really do. The one on the left is painted.

Doughnut cutter

I don't know whether my favorite geeky foody, Alton Brown, would love this for the precision and simplicity, or dismiss it as a unitasker, but I like it. :) His doughnut recipe called for a specific size for both inner and outer cutter rings, and states that it is important. On that Saturday morning, I did not have one. So, for one of my first prints ever, I made this doughnut cutter per Alton's specifications.

Up! table tiedown

After several disastrous print jobs where the part slid off the table and/or warp badly, we found the fix. We trimmed a piece of circuit board from Radio Shack, and I twist-tied it in place. I had to trim the paper close to the wire to get it to fit through the holes. Now, it prints beautifully every time. The bottom of the support material always has little bumps from the holes.