This weekend turned out to be all about 3D printing. Along the way I've learned a few things which is always good.
The first thing I learned was to disregard the Lulzbot instructions on how to level the print bed. They instruct you to use a sheet of paper folded in half (two sheet thicknesses) to set the print head which gets close but paper is compliant so its not very consistent. I decided to ditch the paper and got my feeler gauges out. The paper measured out at .007" in thickness so that's the gauge I used. Worked brilliantly!
The second thing I learned was to just ditch the 1.75mm filament and go for 3mm. I have a large stock of 1.75 from my Printrbot and it can work in the Lulzbot but it seems to jam easily since its not constrained very well in the extruder. I may be able to run one print just fine only to have the extruder jam shortly after starting the next print. I also have reluctantly decided that my old reliable Printrbot might be best sold to make way for the new filament standard and higher print quality of the Lulzbot. As much as I would like to keep it for doing print jobs simultaneously I honestly just prefer the Lulzbot. There's no worrying about if a print will fit, no painters tape to lay down or peel off once a print is done. In fact with the Lulzbot I have to make sure to print in different parts of the bed so the special coating wears evenly (or so they suggest).
Most of this weekend was spent working on printing key chains for Palatov. They were impressed with the quality of the Corsa Research & Development key chains I printed and helped to revise the key chain design to make it more practical. They also expressed interest in a new shift knob that was plastic and larger so it didn't conduct as much heat into the drivers hand and wanted to see about doing custom printed key lanyards (the plastic part of the key). I'm pleased to say I've been able to work some magic and come up with some nice examples to show off on Monday. I also had a bit of fun printing a new custom badge for my Lulzbot, it looks much better with the Corsa Research and Development logo but I think the file could use a bit of tweaking so the letters print out clearer. A project for the future I think.
