Month: May 2019

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Bayonet Adapters

I am in the process of locating parts for building thermocouple (TC) probes.  The probes we used are held tight against the part with a spring loaded bayonet fitting. The fitting is comprised of two parts: the adapter and the cap.

The adapters are available at Amazon ($9.13), McMaster ($2.98) and AutomationDirect.com ($1.50).

A 2D Autocad drawing is available for download at AutomationDirect. I imported this drawing into SolidWorks 2017 and made a 3D model out of it. I also made different configuration to cover all the lengths that are available for purchase at AutomationDirect. Continue reading “Bayonet Adapters”

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Taming Blender 2.79 Units for 3D Printing

Here are my go to settings for Blender when I am modelling for a 3D Print

Imperial Settings

To design in inches and export an STL file at the proper scale:

  • In the Properties Panel, go to the Scene Tab.
  • In the Units section, Change the Units to “inches”, the length to “imperial” and the Unit Scale to 0.0254.
  • When you export your model as an STL file, set the scale to 25.4.

Continue reading “Taming Blender 2.79 Units for 3D Printing”

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Photo Reconstruction without Photogrammetry

Photogrammetry is a cool technology, but it’s difficult to get a usable model. Most of the models I make have large holes or areas where the mesh is way off. Where the model is not way off…there is usually a tight mesh that isn’t required. Next…there are the shadows. Photogrammetry adds the lighting from your photo shoot to the model and this isn’t desirable (unless you are duplicating the lighting…which basically never happens). Continue reading “Photo Reconstruction without Photogrammetry”

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3D Printer Time Lapse Video

3dprint animated.gif

(animated gif source: https://www.reddit.com/r/mechanical_gifs/comments/87imzw/1st_print_on_prusa_i3_mk3/)

The PrusaPrinter Forum has a post on creating a time lapse video of your 3D print. It utilizes an Adafruit Feather board (32u4 Bluefruit LE). The board emulates a Bluetooth keyboard and works like a selfie-stick. That’s what the article says. The only thing I would use a selfie stick for is to whack people who take selfies.

So this project is a combination of electronics, 3D printing and photography. It uses products from Adafruit and Prusa3D. I have had good experiences with both of these companies.

Continue reading “3D Printer Time Lapse Video”