as we delve into new capabilities at #NEHI we end up with some cool, weird equipment we (ab)use to our purposes that I really wish were more inspectable.

let me at the gcode console for the fiber laser. let me at the firmware. get your “make it easy to do these crafty things” software out of my way and let me run the machine. the extra layer on top for the folk who want or need that is great, and I commend you for releasing and maintaining it, but let me under the covers. I’ll sign a waiver. I am a known warranty voider and you sold me the things anyway. let’s just get this over with.

after swinging through #NEHI for a quick brush of the aluminum dust from the parts being lased, I decided the calibration effort on laser #2 wasn’t going to do the thing we want it to do, so I terminated the job and will do further troubleshooting this coming week.

in the meantime, laser #1 is still blasting away at the back half of the mold until tomorrow morning and streaming here: https://communitymedia.video/w/eLZ9aajWYauRVxGfjRxPJ4

once it’s done and I clean the machine, I’ll get it started doing the mold front while I try and fix laser #2.

lasers!

We’ve got the four-color FDM printer offline for maintenance (it’s failed to complete its last four prints, mostly due to filament jams during filament changes and losing z-axis accuracy in the process of resuming the print) but we’re printing another huge Keshi Filibus on the OrangeStorm Giga over here: https://communitymedia.video/w/aNHhQV2ThVFMC4ehpbiXuR

and my diagnostic stream for the lasers I tried to get focused this morning is here: https://communitymedia.video/w/aNHhQV2ThVFMC4ehpbiXuR

(for the record, the laser in the upper left appears to be well focused and is ablating the aluminum in ways I’d expect for a successful run; the laser in the lower right appears to need another round of calibration, but imma let it run in case I’m wrong and being overly judgemental)

#NEHI #3DPrinting #LaserEtching #Makerspace

The printers, they run again!

https://communitymedia.video/w/aNHhQV2ThVFMC4ehpbiXuR is printing another big Filibus, this time in gray PLA. ETA: two days

https://communitymedia.video/w/3CyKR5ZXDsjx8a7EheSoFp is printing another four-color Filibus, in hopes that the purge tower doesn’t get knocked off the bed this time and we get a successful completion. ETA: 28 hours

#3dPrinting #makerspace #NEHI #mountainTownToys

Y'all if things keep progressign the way they are currently progressing at #NEHI then next year is going to be So Busy.

We have so many *new* and *high quality* toys in the works, from some incredibly talented sculptors, we've solved a bunch of really tricky problems (and we have plenty more to solve, don't get me wrong, but we've solved a bunch already) and if we can just get over the next couple of hurdles...

If we can get over the last few hurdles, then by the middle of next year we should be producing dozens of original action figures, made from environmentally sustainable plastics, produced entirely in the southeastern US by people who are being paid a reasonable wage.

We should have secured at least a couple of independent media licensing deals, in addition to our existing original content and Public Domain work.