I woke up to find my latest 3D print, completed, sat on the build plate.
I spotted the files for this a couple of days back and as my youngest daughter is a bit of a Python fan (no, she’s not a coder) though that she might appreciate this come Christmas.
The basic model wasn’t coloured but I spend best part of an hour colouring this in using the splicing software.
Satisfied with the results of my painting, I sent the file off to the printer. The slicer estimated that the printing should take … twenty three HOURS.
I was in no hurry so I left it to it.
Unfortunately, a few hours into the print, I realised that I would probably run out of red filament so hastily ordered another roll of the following day.
I did run out but, luckily, the printer just sat there waiting to be fed more filament.
Amazon delivered the goods late afternoon the following day and the red was quickly loaded; the printing resumed.
I went to bed with the printer still churning away.
As I said earlier, the next morning all was complete.
WHAT IS A SPLICER ?
To convert a 3D model into something that the 3D printer can produce, the model is sliced into loads of thin (around 0.2mm) slices. The slicer software then creates a path for the print head to follow to build up the model, slice by slice.
Sorting
From looking at some of the 3D models that I have produced, it would be a safe bet to assume that I had a few rolls of filaments in different colours and materials. To store them all, I have been using cheap four litre cereal boxes.
Some 3D printing filaments absorb water (some more than others) which can lead to errors when printing so I include some silica gel packets in each box.
To try and make some order, I decided to arrange my collection of boxes. To make it easier to find a particular filament, I designed and printed some labels that hang under the clips of the cereal boxes.
The labels hold a paper slip detailing what the box contains.
To get all the boxes stored, I had to remodel my shelving system but I have now managed to get most of my rolls in easy reach.
Quizzing
After a summer hiatus (mainly due to staffing) the monthly pub quiz at The Griffin has returned.
Not all of our usual team were available but we managed to press gang a daughter and other half to stand in. In fact, Martin, didn’t take too much cajoling as he’s been yearning to get on the team for ages.
Sue and I arrived a little before seven and managed to bagsy a table large enough for the six of us.
Liz and Martin were next to arrived shortly followed by Linda and Pete.
The format is roughly the same as always but to try and stop the phone cheats, basket were provided into which all phones were to be placed for the duration. Cassie, our excellent quiz-master had also splashed out on a proper amplifier and microphone.
Being nearly Halloween, the quiz had a distinctly spooky theme.
Round one was Spooky General Knowledge. There was a little debate over one of the answers to which Martin stated that if he was wrong, he’d to the housework for a week. It’s seems that Liz is having a quiet week !
Round two was about animals associated with Halloween. I correctly guessed that vampire bats come from South America.
Round three was Spooky TV followed by a film round.
Round five was a bit of an odd ball. Cassie read out a list of names and we had to decide / guess whether it was a pumpkin of a bat – WHAT ?
The final round, as usual, was the music round where we had to identify the song, the artist and which halloween film it appeared in. I thing that we scored about 18/30.
Running alongside the main quiz was a picture ’round’ showing individual letters from chocolate bars. There was no ‘Z’ so twenty five to solve.
We rattled through most of these, some taking a little longer.
After less than half an hour we had all but ‘J’. At the end of the quiz, when we had to hand in our picture we still hadn’t worked out the final letter.
With all sheets handed in, we were free to access our phones and the first thing we did was search for ‘chocolate bars containing the letter J‘.
Apparently, it’s an American thing made by Hershey. I’ve ordered a couple purely for research.
Discussing the picture round, post quiz, with Cassie she owned up saying that she needed something for ‘J’. I suggested that she should have ditched ‘J’ and added ‘Z; for which we could have had Aztec. Never mind, I don’t think that anyone else got it.
A little while later, with eh scores checked we learnt that we had come fourth out of seven (half way) with only a few points in it. We were happy with that although I think that Martin was a little disappointed that we didn’t win.
We’ve been doing the quiz for a couple of years now and have learnt not to get our hopes up. It’s only a bit of fun.
