¡looɔ ʇᴉ dǝǝʞ oʇ uɐɟ uᴉ ʇlᴉnq ɐ sɐɥ ʇᴉ 'ʇɥƃᴉɹq oS

Little update on the cubes



Then



Now you can guess.

Drowned the already pressure treated wood in Sikegard 5 star.

A few finishing touches, then wife's choice of colour, and the 1st one is ready - have the 8 turned post knobs to do sometime though..

That could do it well if I prop or hang it while I work
If not I have a useful torch

Thanks Alan
Will probably go for the torch Martin mentioned but could end up with one of these too

Already have a fixed light which is fine for most things. Need a bright light for seeing detail, especially at the other end

Int t'loft

No problem Mike.I do not have that issue because there is a lighthouse close by , bit of a bugger that it keeps going off and on

Well, a bit smaller than planters (ca 70 mm tall x 30 mm diameter), this is the first print from the new 3D printer. This is the feed screw for an auto-feeder for an aquarium. We'll be back in the UK for 3 weeks and the standard screw delivers too much on its minimum setting for the shoal of Nannostomas marginatus living in the aquarium (unless some more young appear!).

My original plan was to use this as an excuse to learn to use Blender, but that was probably a bit ambitious in the time I had (although I got close) and so I used Sketchup Pro instead as I am more proficient in that. It is not ideal for 3D printing as it often produces open mesh errors which are nearly impossible to find, but I got it close enough to produce a file that Chitubox Pro opened and fixed and, after adding supports and a profile to match the resin I was using, it produced a nice slicing file. It took about 3.5 hours to print (in the new, Elegoo, water-washable resin) and was pretty good straight from the printer. My plan was the make the core solid, but the slicing software made it hollow, following the Acme thread I had 'embedded' in the model, and that took ages to drain unused resin out of. I removed the model from the supports, which proved very easy, and then washed it further and cured it for about 15 minutes on the vertical faces and about 10 minutes on the base.

I tidied the 'sprue scars' with a fine needle file and then made a fine adjustment to the base diameter on the lathe as I had made that 0.2 mm over-sized deliberately to solve a modelling problem. It fits the feeder perfectly and even works. Mind, the fish will be disappointed as they were looking forward to gorging themselves while we were away!

Straight from the Printer.




Finished Feed Screw.