Tuesday, March 9, 2021

Got a new 3d printer

So I have a Monoprice Maker Select 3D Printer , which is a clone or re-market of a WanHao Duplicator i3 and have had a generally poor experience with it.  It's 75% on me, to be clear.  I knew it required tinkering and tweaking when I bought it.  I thought I was up to the task, but it turns out I'm not. Mostly due to the time commitment required up front.  That's where I came up short.  I have difficulty putting together the extended blocks of time I would need to make this very capable printer do what I'm looking for. 

prusa box

So I went out and bought myself a Prusa Mini+ (and a spool of  Prusament PLA Prusa Galaxy Black).  I wanted a printer that had a great reputation for easy to use and a large community.  I also wanted something relatively small footprint wise.  Lastly I was factoring price in the overall equation.  

The experience so far has been remarkable.  I had to order it 6 weeks in advance, the demand is so high that you can't really get it immediately.  The shipping from Prague, Czech Republic was amazing.  I received a tracking number Wednesday afternoon (after close local time) and had my printer Friday afternoon.  That includes clearing customs.  Amazing. 

configuration


It was pretty easy to set up and get working. The calibration and configuration is very easy and simple to follow.   I was up in printing in under 2 hours.  Could have been faster had I bothered to read the instructions before I started. The way they handle setting the z-height is amazing.  the auto-bed leveling is also automatic, which is my biggest issue with my old printer.



I printed a new set of knobs for my toaster from thingverse which worked out pretty good so far.




I also printed a support for my Dremel 4000 which is going to come very handy for polishing future prints.

Han Solo blaster receiver



Now I'm starting to print out the parts for a Han Solo blaster for a future costume I intend to build.  I didn't do a good job researching this. I've found alternate and perhaps better builds but this one is what I started with and I'm kind of committed to this.

Monday, March 1, 2021

The foggy future of 2.4Ghz Wifi

 Saw this packaging at Costco the other day:



The thing that caught my eye:




With the WIFI 5 standard being the 802.11ac spec, that's only 5Ghz and necessitates manufacturers include the wifi disclaimer on their packaging now.   Although the WIFI6 includes 2.4Ghz I'm not certain it will cover these older 802.11g spec devices.  It could be a confusing future for people and wifi.  I can foresee people getting their spiffy WIFI6 / 802.11ax networks online and getting blazing speeds to there phones, tablets and laptops only to find that their 10-year old doorbells, thermostats and smart fridge's can't connect.