Shop Notes: 2023-01-19 - Dragon Quest Printing Proceeding

Progress is being made on printing out all the parts for the giant dragon model I am currently working on 3D printing.    Right now the last piece of the wings is printing.  After that I have one body piece to re-print (it was printed on the old janky printer and has a big hole in the side), and one part of the base to print. 

Each of the remaining parts takes 10+ hours to print, but I can now see the end of the print phase of this project.

As an aside, I posted a video of a handy trick I had for making 3D printing easier.  That video can be found on my YouTube channel here:
https://youtube.com/shorts/gkEBlUhpRcA?feature=share

Shop Notes: 2023-01-17 - 4K vs 8K

 I was curious to see what, if any, the upgrade to an 8K 3D printer would bring. Given the build plate is almost the same size between the two printers (the 8K being less than an inch wider than the old 4K version), the 8K should  result in more detail in the printed model, at least in theory,  In practice whether more details reveal themselves in the print depend on whether the details exist in the 3D model, and whether the cured resin allows for more refined details.  The real world is fuzzy, so more pixels in the digital space does not necessarily translate to more details in meatspace.

Since I had the dragon head already printed in 4K, I printed off the same head in 8K, just to compare apples to apples.   This image is the result, with the 8K on the left (foreground), 4K on the right (background).

It is not quite as easy to see in the photo, but in real life the details on the 8K version are indeed more defined. There is a marked increase in definition on the skin texture, especially around the eyes and the snout.

So the 8K definitely provides me with more details in the final print.  This should translate into more details in the painted model, and in the final image made with this model.   Exciting!

I think the decision to spend the extra money to upgrade to the 8K printer was the right decision.

Shop Notes: 2023-01-16 - 3D Printing Back In Full Effect!

 Good news! My new 3D printer, the Elegoo Saturn 8K, has arrived.  I spent the afternoon setting it up and running it through a successful test print.

Everything looks good, so I have restarted the laborious process of printing all of the dragon bits. I am going to start by printing off the remaining parts, then going back and reprinting the parts that did not complete properly with the old broken printer.  Some of those old parts are fixable with putty or other means, so I may just fix them instead.  Leaving them to last gives me some time to mull it over.

I still have a week of prints left to do... better get at it!

Shop Notes: 2023-01-15 - 3D Cabinet lights

My current project involves 3D printing, which broke my printer. As a result, I am in a waiting mode while I wait for the 3D printer to arrive, which should be tomorrow. 

So I spent the weekend relaxing, and napping on couches (creativity requires energy so this weekends project is to store up some energy - a clever way to justify lots of naps, eh?).

I did do a little bit of shop improvements tho.  When I build the cabinet my 3D resin printer resides in I installed a couple small battery powered lights.  They provided a fair amount of light,  but the batteries lasted no where near as long as I expected.  As a result its been dark for a couple months, and I've been depending on the ambient light in the room to see what I'm doing.

I decided to change that by installing a Crafstman workbench light.  It is basically a strip light, but in includes a couple USB ports, which will be handy when I need to record prints for my YouTube channel. I mounted then to the roof of the cabinet.

The lights do make a massive difference, as you can see from this before and after photo:

Shop Notes: 2023-01-13 - Friday The 13th strikes my 3D Printer

 So it turns out that my resin 3D printer has developed a problem.  Part of the UV screen has stopped working, making the right 40% of the build plate unusable.

This is problematic in general, but specifically it will make finishing the dragon print, which has many large parts that barely fit onto the entire build plate, impossible until its fixed..

I can replace the screen, tho it isn't exactly cheap. It also looks like a very fiddly process, and I'm not in the mood.  So I am debating taking the opportunity to spend a bit more money and upgrading my resin printer from a 4K to an 8K model.

In the mean time I have decided to press my filament 3D printer into service.  The dragon model has 4 parts that make up a base.  The filament printer has a lower resolution (0.07mm instead of 0.05mm), which is problematic for the dragon itself, but is not such a big deal for terrain. Truth be told I am thinking about the idea of making my own terrain for a larger base, and skipping the supplied one.  I am waiting to see what it looks like printed first before I decide.  

The filament printer is a lot slower (2.5 days to print a part instead of 12 hours), but I have time, so it's not likely to slow me down much.

The 8K printer arrives on Monday.

Shop Notes: 2023-01-12 - Dragon Quest

 Trying a new thing, keeping some shop notes to document the creative process.  Day 1.  Let's see how it goes.

I have been 3D printing a large dragon model for the past week or so, and I am only half done.  It is, by far, the most complex thing I have ever tried printing.    I am not actually sure of the dimensions of the final model, but its... sizeable.

The model comes pre-split into multiple pieces pre-sized for medium sized printers.  Well over 30 parts, tho some are duplicated - 2 types of heads, and option for open or closed wings.  Each piece takes 8-14 hours to print, and the vast majority only fit one at a time on my printers build plate.

It is going to take a while.

Over the past 3 days I printed off the 6 pieces of the open left wing: 

Those pieces still need to be cleaned up and UV cured, but it gives a sense of scale.  A rough fit indicates the single wing is over 12" long.  This means the completed dragon may be more than 30" wide (two wings + the body in the middle).

This is going to be a massive project to complete.   What the hell have I gotten myself into?

Good by 2021

This is the last few hours of 2021.  I can't say it's been the worst year of my life, but it certainly hasn't been an awesome one.

I managed to leave it financially sound due to a day job that allows working from home.  My family is healthy, and aside from a brief stint with my daughter getting a mild COVID case, I can say we're officially doing OK. OK is pretty damn good during the middle of a pandemic thats killed millions.

I'll take it.

However, I'm still going to toss up a middle finger to the year that was. Here's to you 2021!