Colten Jackson Log

March 11

Morning Design

• Soil Pulverizer design team was struggling with importing the file created in OpenSCAD. The STL file contained only a couple of rectangles, didn't include the grid-beams that were rendered within OpenSCAD.
• Researched import/export options to use files from OpenSCAD, found that the program is too "fastidious" with STLs, it only exports solid objects. If for any reason OpenSCAD doesn't consider a volume to be solid, it won't export those shapes.
• Eric made slight changes to the OpenSCAD file to ensure it was a solid shape, was then able to export as STL

HabLab & Mircohouse

• Went outside to help prepare the south side of the HabLab for trimming the windows. Knocked off plaster so trim would sit flush. Sanded window frames.
• Assisted Wes in bringing the steel window-replacement down to the ground.
• Checked in on the Microhouse, took a couple of panoramas.

3D Printer refab

• Opened the Ultimaker Mechanical Guide to learn how the extrusion head goes together. When I arrived at HabLab the extrusion head was disassembled, all the screws taken out, but all the parts were laying right below it so it looked like it would be easy enough to put it back together.
• Discovered that the filament in the 'feeding tube' was completely clogged - not the extrusion head - the 3D printer filament was stuck inside the feeding tube - I couldn't get it to budge. I don't understand how this could have happened.
• Also discovered that the Ultimaker is a pain in the neck to unclog: you have to completely disassemble the extrusion head and the extrusion motor mount (on the back of the machine) to remove the feeder tube. I did so. Wes was able to grab the bit of plastic from the end of the tube and pull, but it took some muscle. Epic work!-MJ
• With the plastic out of the way, I followed Ultimaker's documentation to reassemble everything.
• Used the onboard controller to test that the motors work. X Y and Z. Couldn't find a way to test the extrusion motor.
• Hooked the machine up via USB to my laptop, set up Cura, Ultimaker's slicer and printer controller and walked through its initialization. Set up using defaults for "Original Ultimaker" - it recommended upgrading to the Marlin firmware, and I did. Supposedly, it improves prints through 'looking ahead' in the gcode and controlling acceleration.
• Checked all 6 endstops to progress through Cura's setup process. It then recommended going through the bed leveling process with a test print, just a simple square around the perimeter of the print bed. I clicked 'Go' and the printer started making stuttering and binding sounds out of the stepper motor, so I cut the power.
• I was perturbed and confused by the binding sound - I'd only heard it before when accidentally telling the motors to drive into a wall. (Binding as it tries to push against a wall). When I tested the x, y, and z motion, there wasn't this kind of sound.
• Ultimaker can print files off its SD card. There were some files on here so I decided to try printing one of those, thinking the printer knows itself better than Cura.

Ultimaker

• The print went smoothly, none of the stuttering I'm-Destroying-Myself sounds.
• Will have to tinker more with controlling this with a PC.