Friday, March 07, 2014

A Machine Asking To Be Remade

I've been having a great time teaching students about 3D design and printing, and helping them print things they need. From robot scoops to ears, it's always an exciting surprise to find out when the printer can be a useful tool for learning. One of the more interesting ways it serves as a useful tool is in printing parts for itself. I've found two of these opportunities so far. Early on I could see that the filament tube on the Replicator 2 came out of its clips on the back easily when the extruder had to move towards the back of the build plate. I found a filament tube upgrade on Thingiverse that has worked perfectly.

Then recently a student's dad brought in a few spools of filament to provide more colors for printing. One of the spools has a much smaller hole than the standard Makerbot spools. So I found a spindle, again on Thingiverse, modified it a bit in Tinkercad, and now the spool fits perfectly.

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