The Grind
Still Kickin, Still Turnin
If you’ve been wondering if I fell off the map—nope, I’m still right here, buried under a pile of parts and caffeine.
Lately, I've been hammering away at a few things: finishing up the Novel Carry Delta Tiles, knocking out regular orders, and keeping the lathe humming like a well-caffeinated banshee. It’s business as usual… and by usual, I mean slightly chaotic but productive.
Some Big News:
I’m now officially a Xometry Manufacturing Partner. If you’re not familiar, Xometry is a pretty massive player in the world of CNC machining, 3D printing, aerospace parts, automotive components—you name it. They send the files, I make the parts, and the chips start flying.
What’s cool is they throw all sorts of work your way. I’ve been leaning into the smaller, tight-tolerance parts (because that’s my jam). It keeps the spindle hot and my brain from turning into shop sludge. Most of it’s NDA-covered, so I can’t post pics of the finished parts—but I’ll try to sneak in some process shots so you can see the machine in action.
In the Shop:
V2 and V3 Ultem are back in stock for anyone who’s been waiting. Grab 'em while they’re still warm.
That’s it for now—I’m gonna get back to makin’ chips and trying to remember what day it is.
I didn't quiet realize how fast I went through the last batch of them. I'm hoping these will last a few months.
Since the weather is warming I'm also having to get some of the chores around the house and outside the shop started. Fixing the chicken coop, tree trimming, knock the dirt off the lawn mower, locate fire ant mounds(and destroy), get ready to plant some food, you know, just the basics.
3D Printing Perfectionist
It's a struggle for me sometimes to get those butter smooth bottoms and tops, not forgetting to add supports and remembering to pre dry the filament. My biggest bottle neck has been old machines. You see, I've been setting my expectations for these old printers as if they were new and packing the latest tech. No more! The new printer is on the way an the old ones sold on facebook market place in about an hour. The beauty of small market selling and super low pricing...
I went with the Qidi Plus 4. Yes another Qidi. Why? Well let's get into it on an up coming youtube video. Mostly because the machines I've gotten from them have been mostly great. The support is quick and very helpful, parts are cheap and always available(because they all break), and because of Orca Slicer. I've been building out filament profiles, and having fun doing it, and it's the same software the others are copying. It's a fully loaded suit of tools and works great with Klipper. If I was to implement Obico in my Docker on the little server I can have a fully local hosted box of tools for Ai managment like print fail detection. Out of the box Orca connects to the printer via the assigned ip address and so long as I'm on the same network I can view the camera, reprint a file and stop a print and even adjust the heat, speeds and feeds. A lot of companies are running Klipper now but the Qidi Plus 4 has the built in functions I'm needing for future upgrades. It's pretty much ready to have a multi filament box added on. Qidi has the Qidi Box that was delayed in releasing but I'm looking at the Enraged rabbit carrot feeder(ERCF). It's open source, tested, and fits my "Cheap" criteria.
Stay sharp,
—The One-Man Band Behind the Machines