Every time my trident has an issue I curse the box turtle and assume it’s the failure.

It’s nearly always something else.

This time I got a tiny piece of filament stuck in the toolhead extruder gears in an invisible spot.

…But I definitely spent a day blaming the box turtle for failing to load filament.

#3DPrinting #BoxTurtle #voron

Turtle Spotlight: the Three-Toed Box Turtle!
Considered by most to be a fully separate species, Terrapene triunguis, from the Eastern, Florida, and Mexican box turtles (phylogenetics suggest it is not a subspecies of the eastern), this central US species ranges from roughly the Mississippi River Valley and Panhandle gulf coast of Florida westward into the eastern ranges of Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas. It is a moderately sized terrestrial animal, averaging between 4-6 but occasionally reaching 8 inches in shell length, and as name suggests sports only 3 toes on its back feet (a distinguishing trait). Their shell is usually far less patterned than oft sympatric ornate or eastern box turtles, ranging from mildly mottled or gradient shaded to one uniform flat color, yellow to deep olive (though some can also sport strong patterning, often with faded scute edges). This contrasts with the forelimbs and face which in females is often mottled in white or cream, and males can sport brilliantly fiery red and orange markings. Denizens of moist forests, meadows, and swamp edges, they are similarly also diverse in diet with everything from leafy greens to invertebrates and roadkill on the menu.
Like most turtles, the three-toed is a long-lived creature that can likely exceed 80 years in the wild, but threatened massively by habitat destruction, invasive predators, and road mortality both accidental and all too often purposeful. Their long lives mean populations are slow to rebound too, as they don’t mature for several years and everything eats the babies, so even one moderately busy road through otherwise pristine habitat can decimate their numbers. Drive with care, for these as well as all other wildlife crossing the streets (and roast everyone who targets them intentionally, they deserve no peace).
#terrapene #terrapenetriunguis #boxturtle #turtle #educational #animals #wildlife #nature #reptiles #herpetology #herping #protectwildlife #biology #carltoncarnivores

Well the #BoxTurtle is working, but I’m not out of the woods yet.

After calibration I got through 7 layers of this 12 layer print and 20+ automated filament swaps before getting a clog somewhere in the toolhead during a filament swap that I wasn’t able to easily clear.

The BT macros detected it and paused the print to give me a shot at recovery but it wasn’t possible without tearing down the toolhead.

(It’s just as slow and wasteful as I expected it to be)

#3DPrinting #Voron

My #BoxTurtle filament changer is fully built and flashed and has passed all the basic functionality checks.

Tuning all the parameters for loading and unloading filament is up next. We’ll see how fiddly that is.

#3DPrinting #Voron

Well. Somehow the filament sensor I installed on my Xol-metrix has worn out before I even configured it. The ball no longer triggers for some reason.

I had gone in to set it up so I can get moving again on the box turtle but I guess I’m going to try ramming with the buffer instead.

I don’t like how fiddly Xol-metrix is to assemble and would probably print up an anthead or a4t before reprinting it.

#3DPrinting #BoxTurtle #Voron

Little buddy passing through our yard this morning. #turtle #turtles #boxturtle

Nothing like trying to print clear filament to prove that your nozzle isn’t really purged…

I can’t even recall printing blue or teal filament on this machine and I would certainly prefer that my #BoxTurtle status LEDs were shining through a neutral colored diffuser.

#3DPrinting

Sold my Bambu P1S, down to my Vorons now.

Much better this way. I didn’t like Bambu the company much even before buying the printer and never liked the printer much once I had it.

Time to get back to building my #BoxTurtle for the trident and figuring out how to delete the Bambu network plugin out of my OrcaSlicer config.

#3DPrinting

Startled my reptilian neighbor.
#BoxTurtle