2014 June 11 Wednesday

Presented 3D printing progress, challenges, learnings, including examination of 1st attempt at printing clampshell
Researched converting STEP files to SKP, and added to STEP to Sketchup wiki page
Pulled clampshell file from CEB .SKP file, scaled to 1/4 size and exported to STL. Converted to .gcode using Slic3r at 0.75 infill. Print started OK, but about 20% of the way through, it was thrown off of the Y-axis by about 0.5" (20% of the 2.5" length). My working hypothesis is that working in other programs on my computer during the printing caused a serial error. To remedy this (and sleep/screensaver interruptions) I'm going to look into printing from Micro SD Card.
Very good Micro SD Card printing instructions here: [[1]]. Successfully test printed bed level check from Micro SD Card.
Also troubleshot blobby / pad printing on initial error. It was due to too much pressure between printhead and bed - see pictures below. I fixed it by raising the Z-endstop limit screw (see picture) and re-leveling print bed.
Experimented with layer depth & infill. Found that 0.35 mm layer depth (equal to the nozzle size) works much better than the previous setting (which was 0.2 mm). Also honeycomb infill with a density of 0.3 works quite well for sturdy, relatively quick prints
Began overnight print of full-size Female Clampshell with 0.3 density honeycomb infill. Fingers crossed!

2014 June 10 Tuesday

First day of work. Attended orientation, began worklog, hit the ground running.
Worked on CEB Press Drawer Module documentation
Oriented self to basic CEB Press operation, brick compression process
Swarmed on getting 3D printers up and running - worked on HYDRA Lulzbot. Got it connected to computer, leveled printbed pretty well. Ran into troubles with .gcode files - printer randomly stops prematurely, causing print to fail. Looks like Colten had similar troubles: Colten Jackson Log
Successfully printed an Octopus on the TAZ out of pink PLA plastic:

Arrived at Factor-e Farm. Got settled in, setup living situation, met team.