Be a part of a hacker/builder community where ideas are shared, innovation is fostered and the maker experience is hands-on.
Join us Tour the SpaceA bunch of members & friends of the Milwaukee Makerspace recently gathered to try our hand at something that does not mix well with all the heavy machinery at the shop: alcoholic beverages! We attended a consumer cocktail academy hosted by Hendricks Gin at the Iron Horse Hotel, and we had a blast!
Check out our pictures:
Cheers!
As previously promised, MegaMax’s Y-axis has been converted to screw drive along with the addition of a larger motor, DSP based driver, and 32V power supply. The SmoothieBoard arrived and was quickly swapped in to replace the ATMega2560/RAMPS combo. After studying and configuring the Smoothieboard I attempted a few test prints. That’s when the problems started.
32V Power supply for Y axis motor. No regulation necessary!
Smoothieboard is supposed to read the config.txt file from its uSD card (conveniently accessible via USB) every time it boots. That makes changing configuration very easy and fast – all you do is edit the config.txt file, save it , and reboot the board. Firmware is updated the same way. With the ATMega2560 you have to find the configuration variables by searching through multiple configuration files, make the necessary changes, recompile the firmware, then flash the controller. I said the SmoothieBoard is supposed to read the file every time it boots, but it wasn’t doing it. I’d make changes and they would not appear in the behavior of the printer. Hmmmm.
Layers kept shifting in the X-axis- I expected Y-axis problems, but not X!
I attempted some prints and managed to get two decent ones in about a week of screwing around with it. I tried dozens of combinations of speed, acceleration, junction deviation (smoothie-speak for jerk) and even tried different slicers. The machine went completely nuts on two occasions and ignored the Z-axis limit switch and slammed the extruder into the print bed, gouging through the Kapton tape and into the aluminum! I decided I needed some professional help so I got on the #smoothieware IRC channel and discovered that the developers of the board/firmware hang out there quite a lot. After a lot of back and forth Q and A and testing someone suggested it might be the uSD card causing the problem. I picked up a new card at Walmart, put the firmware and config files on it , booted the machine, and attempted a print. PERFECT!
The new uSD card worked! The small round post is 4mm diameter.
I have made several prints since last night and they have all come out fine. I still have a little tweaking to do and to test the limits of the machine’s performance, but I think the problems are behind me.
Next up: X-axis redesign/build. I’m replacing the two guide rails with a single linear guide. I have also ordered and received a BullDog XL extruder to replace the hacked up QUBD unit I’ve been using. I’ll be adding a DSP driver and 32V power supply for the X-axis motor, too.
After that, I have some ideas for a filament respooling machine and ways to fix the retraction problem in the SnakeBite extruder.
It never ends!
My recent acquisition of a Meade ETX-90 telescope with computer go-to system for locating objects in the sky got me thinking that it would be nice to have a system to locate objects in the sky when you’re looking through binoculars or a telescope that doesn’t have a computer and motors to drive it. To that end I came up with the idea of mounting a green laser pointer, commonly used by astronomy nutz to point out objects in the sky to noobs, on a cell phone or tablet running a program such as Google SkyMap or Skeye.
CAD rendering of the parts
After much thought and a few prototypes I came up with a system that allows a laser to mount on a phone and that assembly to mount on a tripod, a handle, or a telescope. The tube that holds the laser has adjustment screws to allow the laser to be aligned with the SkyMap on the phone. It also has to slots that fit over standard gun sight rails. On one side I have a phone/tablet bracket that has a gunsight rail and slides into the laser tube, and the other side can be used for a rail that mounts on a tripod or a handle. Extra rails can be mounted on telescope tubes. I haven’t yet designed a binocular mount, but will soon.
Parts printing on MegaMax
I printed the parts on MegaMax with Octave fluorescent red filament (that’s why the colors vary in the photos- the flash apparently excites the fluorescence in the picture with the handle). All the parts fit VERY tightly together but I included screw holes for extra security. The phone/tablet mounts on the bracket using velcro tape. I think it may be better to print or buy a cheap case to fit the phone than screw it to the phone/tablet bracket. I’ll be posting the design files to Thingiverse shortly.
Phone and laser mounted on handle
Phone and laser on a tripod
Around 25 members have hopped in the new Milwaukee Makerspace Theater after the last two Tuesday meetings. Its up and running in a “no hearing protection required” way! The bass still goes way down to subsonic tones, but its being powered by a small & sensible surround sound amp. Its a very immersive audio experience, and likely sounds much better than any 5.1 system you’ve heard because there’s only one seat! The sound has been optimized for the single theater-goer: You! The theater is hooked up to a DVD player, and is available 24/7 for any member to watch a movie in: no check-out required. Note that any video source you have can be hooked up via the HDMI cable. Alternately, you can follow the lead of JasonH, who used the theater with a portable audio player to rock out while he worked on his own project near by. See the photos below for the simple instructions on how you can start up the theater, and feel free to take a break from making by using the theater!
The idea was simple: make something to help keep track of our supplies so we know when we’re running low on the essentials. After weeks of kicking the idea around and various rough doodles, this project finally took shape. Two days after the first cut on the laser cutter, it was complete.
Made from multiple layers of acrylic, cardboard, and wood, the “Milwaukee Makerspace Consumables Super Analog Status Board” is a clipboard-sized device with nine sliders installed in enclosed slots. Sliding the tabs right displays more green to indicate “full” or “lots” and sliding left reveals the red acrylic below to indicate “empty” or “low.” The user can carry the board around the Space with them as they check on supplies and when done, a large hole centered at the top allows the board to be hung up and displayed on a wall.
The hardware holding the whole thing together can be loosened and the layers disassembled. The cardboard insert that the text resides on can be swapped out should we decide to change the list of items we want to keep tabs on. The supplies being tracked currently include:
A digital version may or may not be planned for future release.
