Sleep debt has
been a problem. Usually I can hold out
until the weekend but when I systematically lose three hours of sleep per night
that debt adds up too fast. I know some people
get by on much less but my performance suffers when I’m tired.
Long story
short, falling asleep at work is embarrassing so I decided to go to bed early
and only do a minimum amount of project work.
The result was that while I was laying in bed my brain kept feeding me
ideas for the project so I wrote them down and probably saved myself a couple
days in the long run.
Someday I’ll
describe my bed/soft-workstation.
Enough
background
----------
Some parts were
purchased from a thrift store. The most
significant purchase being an aquarium since many size and shape factors of the
printer will be based on the aquarium.
The aquarium is roughly triangular.
In the original concept the aquarium was rectangular but the three
corners fits with the minimalist approach of this project.
Thrift store goodies
A jelly roll
pan was purchased to be used as the metal platen. A show pan was purchased to be used as the
surface the blue nozzle will come through.
It is coasted with a non-stick layer.
More thought
was given to the method of lowering the platform and immersion in water. Stainless steel bolts will be used which are
available at hardware stores. Bearings
will be simple skate bearings. They can
be held in place with an aluminum structure.
A sensor to
detect the presence of material will be added.
This will be a simple switch with a roller mounted opposite the material
feeder servo. Another switch will sense
when the platen has reached the bottom of the travel. This switch will be mounted above the water
level.
The size and
shape of the tank prompted a change in the shape of the container for trapping
and releasing air. The original idea of
using a cap has been replaced with the idea of using a sealed tube with holes
underneath. The holes underneath will catch air from the base and release it
away from the printing area even though the tube may span the length of the
tank. The idea came from looking at the
tube which came with the under-gravel tank filter. The tube will likely be a capped length of
PVC.
To do:
- Collect and buy stuff
- Write pseudo code
- Design circuit with connectors
- Design schematics
- Draft schematics
- Revise document
- Build stuff
- Code
- Test and debug
Journal page 1
Journal page 2
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