Yammering about 3d printing

I'm not going to pretend to be an artist.  I did get some toys so I can try, but I decided to start off much simpler.  My very first blog post was about building a home made IR blaster that integrates with AWS to make a voice controlled remote.  To completely finish that project, I tried to make a case for the project.  I now have a lovely ingot of PLA.  Not a big problem, it just reinforces that I have to learn more about the 3d design tools available.  Something I have not really had much incentive to do before now.  Which is kind of funny considering how often I seek out the design panels at different conferences.

About a decade ago I went to a conference that had a speaker connect his system to the projector and build out a skull in roughly 30 seconds, then drop it down some stairs by applying gravity to his design.  I think it was around the same time that the open source nerds were all freaking out about the release of Big Buck Bunny, a video made using only open source software.  They kind of missed the mark, making some of the creatures and themes too violent, dark, or deranged for small children.  I'm not trying to be as good as the 30 second skull guy or the Big Buck Bunny crew, but it would be nice if I could figure out the application well enough to make a box with a hole in it.

Adding injury to ignorance, I also tried a fun trick from my 3d printer manufacturer.  Soldering extra long pins to a pi zero w and adding it directly to the controller.  Within about a week I had realized that the system wasn't operating properly anymore.  I took the pi out and went back to a pi 3.  The system then degraded further and further until I found the root cause.  I had tangled a wire that led to the heated bed of the printer.  It caused a temperature failure for about 75% of my prints.  Once I resolved that, I realized that I could put the pi back into the controller box.  But I had a backlog of things I wanted to print, so it has to wait until after I get caught up. 

The most recent Chrome update has resulted in Octoprint being unable to preview the print with the GCode viewer.  I have found that it still works fine with Firefox.  I suspect that there is a memory leak somewhere, since my system will fail to come out of sleep mode when I leave Octoprint up on Firefox.  A minor annoyance since I use Chrome for everything.

I would have to say that my minor gripes are pretty funny.  I have to learn how to use an application that has been around for 2 decades.  I don't have time to upgrade my toy because I'm still playing with it.  I now have an increased workload because I have found more toys to make.  I have to use a different browser sometimes.  Meanwhile, Amazon and Prusa have created inexpensive filament that works well.  There are new attachments to make multi-color prints with dissolving supports.  I can make better toys for less money.  I just need to finish making my Halloween napkin rings so I can get started on Thanksgiving decorations.