311mm x 311mm Printer using TOM parts by Scooter

Thingiverse citizen Scooter posted his work-in-progress designs for a printer that could be built out of parts printed on a Thing-O-Matic.  Along with his description he added this a simple request:

I have been working on this design for over a week, but I am having trouble printing the larger parts flat. Some times they are almost flat but not the intire part, they always tend to warp up in the corners and ends. The smaller parts seem to print fine. Each part has a common wall thickness, and actually designed so they could even be injection molded.

Are there any veteran TOM users thay can reply with some help in correcting this warping issue.

At last count, Scooter’s project designs have at least 20 helpful comments with lots of different ways to defeat warping and curling.  These suggestions were so great that I had to go back and update yesterday’s post to add two additional methods.  However, the best part is that a simple request for help can garner so much information.

If you’ve gotten stuck on a project or it has just stalled, why not upload it to Thingiverse?  There’s bound to be someone interested in helping!

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Working Together to Push and Shove

Thingiverse has become a hopping place with mashups, derivatives, and collaborations galore of late. ^1 2  In particular, Pattywac’s recent team design challenge has prompted several groups to work together on some pretty cool projects.

As an online-community Thingiverse is a place for sharing ideas and digital objects.  It has also come to be a place for collaboration.  If you don’t live near a hackerspace or have access to sophisticated tools, you can always ask for help or feedback on Thingiverse.  Even if you don’t have a 3D printer, a lasercutter, or even tools – you can probably still fire up OpenSCAD, start working on a project, and see your imagination realized.

If you’ve got access to a computer and an internet connection there’s no reason to wait.  You can start making things right now with the help of people all around the world.  What are you waiting for?

1. Photo courtesy of Solo [↩]
2. Special thanks to Schmarty for introducing me to the “Terrible Secret of Space” meme. [↩]