Day 849

Day 849...

Our Saturday started with a walk over the fields of 2.4 miles in 47 minutes; it started off refreshingly cool but by time we arrived home the temperature had already warmed up significantly.

Before it got too warm we headed down to Lidl to buy some salad and bits that we'd run out of. And once back home we were home for the rest of the day.

And the main focus of our day was building and setting up Simon's new 3D printer. We started with a big brown box and an empty space where the old printer had lived...

The printer was beautifully packaged and came in essentially three main parts and a set of tools for assembly...

It was then time to get out the instructions and get assembling.

The printer bed

Printer head and support beams in place

Glass print plate in place, along with touch pad controls

Next we took a break for lunch, we needed refuelling as the next job was getting all the wiring connected and threaded in the right places.

With everything connected we then had to ensure that the filament extruded correctly and that the bed was level...it was then time to do a test print.

Start of the print

In progress...can you tell what it is yet?

And then we have the finished result...

The printer is much quieter than Simon's previous printer and a darn sight quicker. And as I type Simon has just started a print of a small addition for his R2D2!

And while the new printer was busy printing Simon was dismantling the old one and scavenging it for spare parts, useful nuts and bolts and probably some greeblies along the way (the odds and sods that get added to Star Wars props...if you know, you know!).

By the end of the evening the printer was working hard at its second R2D2 part and was performing pretty good. The old printer, being a basic early entry into the world of 3D printing, had worked well for us but had not always been the most reliable being prone to various issues so hopefully this model will prove to be a tad more reliable.

And with that I will see you all tomorrow.
xx