Robot genealogy.

Using my Prusa i3 variant to print parts for a custom i3 design.  This is for a workshop/residency I'll be doing at a school in Iowa in January.

This printer will be the official grandson of the Mendel Max I built 2 years ago.

Poor man's lathe.

For a new experimental 3d printer project I've been casually working on, I needed some pulleys for belt idlers.  I decided to try to turn my own from 608 bearings.  Since I don't yet own a lathe, I came up with the following method using a rotary tool and drill press...

Required hardware: 5/16th rod + 2 nuts, two washers that cover the entire face of the bearing (this will hold the bearing in the drill press) and a thick abrasive disc for shaping the bearing.

Bearing held in drill press.

Beginning to shape the bearing as it spins on the press...

The result:  a (rough) pulley bearing!

Photoshop madlibs

After familiarizing my 2D digital design students with selection tools and layer management in photoshop, we began my favorite exercise: photoshop madlibs.

Each student picks words from bins I set up, and will create a premise for a scene.

The next step is composing a scene in photoshop based on that premise.  Can't wait to see what they come up with!

Quick and dirty CPU case

For the past few months, the computer I use for my rapid prototyping station has looked like this.  No tower, just a motherboard, power supply and hard drive in a pile.  I finally got around to creating a slightly less precarious setup.

I grabbed a sheet of cast acrylic for about 10 bucks from Home Depot.

I cut it into squares, and drilled holes to accommodate four foot-long 5/16" threaded rods (about $2 a pop from Local hardware store).

Using zip ties and 6-32 bolts (these are compatible with most CPU tower components) I secured each item to its own "shelf" and bolted said shelves together with the threaded rod.

Not the most novel solution, but it'll do just fine for now.  Also made for a good excuse to update my blog, as I've had little time to work on anything else this week.

Upgrade to rapid prototyping station complete.