Print monitor

 

I came across a YouTube article a while ago to set up a print monitor via octoprint, so you can see what time you have left and the basics of what's going on with your print

Once set up it works over Wi-Fi and I think is a helpful little item rather than running back and forth to check on it or have your computer monitor running all the time. 

You will need to print the case and be able to solder the four wires, you can use the screws or just use a small amount of hot glue to hold the board and Oled screen in place, you will need the Arduino ide to program it.

The instructable can be found here

The Arduino software can be found here

I think the tutorials are self-explanatory and quite easy to understand, and getting to the finish line 

Updating Octoprint Failed

 

It's been a wihile.

Hi all 

Sorry things got a little busy lately with having to go back to work from my period of furlough and family illness and passing away I haven't had a lot of time to keep up on my blog.

I have decided I need to get my full licence this year, so things may be a little slow on here for a while, but please bear with me, I will try to do my best as I go.

Ubitx mic

Well the cable arrived, and I fitted it at long last it looks a dream 

soldering the wires was fun as they are tiny enamelled strands of wire but I got there in the end 

New Toy arrived

OK I have been thinking that I need to invest in a small CNC machine to build prototype circuit boards to for my hobby.

So a few months back I was looking to pay about £100 -£150 at most for a machine to learn with, so I started to research in what they call hobby CNC machines and there are many types of them out there to choose now days !

Things I had to take into consideration with the machine

• value for money
• space to fit it 
• can it be upgraded
• limitations 

After a few weeks of looking into CNC machines I found there are a lot of hobby machines that I liked but at the moment I only have a 500x500 space to use at this time, so I started to look into the group of CNC machines that are mainly made in China the machine models are called  1610,2418, 3018, 3020, 3040, 6040. 

The model numbers are actually the bed size for example 1610 is a 16x10cm bed size and so on. some of these machines are in my price range and look to be able to upgrade and 3d print parts to assist with making stuff.

After a bit more research I chose to go with the 3018 as it was just in my price range again there was a few to choose from there is a 3018, 3018 pro and a 3018 pro max, 

• The standard has 20x20 aluminium sections for the main frame and some braces to help hold the frame work and 
• The pro has 20x40 side sections and thick plastic uprights and front sections and is apparently more rugged 
• The pro max has the side screens to help limit the mess and protect more from a bit braking in use

I ended up paying £160 pro version at the time from Amazon as I thought it looked nicer and its more rugged it arrived in less than a week.

When you open the box it's all in pieces to assemble with the help of the instruction manual, looking at the manual it's a bit basic on the building instructions of the kit, so I would recommend using YouTube to guide you if you have never done anything like this before.

This  is a helpful 

Take your time getting it right especially the screws for the x and y-axis movement to the motors, if its slightly off it will cause problems with its operation when in use.

Taking the mic

Happy that the printer seems to be working OK, I decided to clear out some part spools I have sat around and taking up space, I decided to print some radio parts for my radio projects.

I had a look through thingiverse and found some bits to print for my ubitx v4 radio I'm slowly starting to make into a portable radio, for going mobile with it.

All his info for the build is here

 

I came across a mic that makes use of the original parts in the kit, I downloaded the files and found the ppt button to need a lot of support whatever way you try to print it, so I set up a few ways to try to print it, in the end the best print I got was with it on the side.

I think it worked quite well, what do you think?

This is my video of my case

A cable has been ordered for the finish of the build 

Bye bye BLTouch

I have had probe on my printer for years now and never had an issue, last year I built an enclosure out of lack tables and I found things with the original sensor going strange. I had to keep adjusting the offsets to the bed I was damaging nozzles and digging into the bed.

My suspicion was at the time the cheap 3D touch was worn out or the hats was affecting it, when I had some money I purchased an original antclabs bltouch v3 sensor 

It arrived in January and once the time arose the new sensor got fitted, and tested and for some reason it still didn't work as well as it could have so it was time to start looking at the code.

I downloaded marlin 2.0.5.3 and went through a lot of YouTube videos and wrote down notes on how to use the new marlin and in fact the vs code that I haven't used before

it was then I got into adjusting the code to work the to work for my ender3, I did struggle at points as things  have moved around in the files, it took many attempts to get the code to work and I still could not get it to work correctly.

At 9pm last night I decided for now to go back to a standard z stop switch and change the firmware to suit