When I first heard about 3-D printing, one of my first thoughts was that it could be used to make repair parts for any equipment that has small, specialized plastic pieces (usually injection molded) that are difficult to produce, stock, inventory, catalog, and sell. In the glorious future I foresaw, appliances would come with .stl files for all their little proprietary plastic parts. It would enhance repairability while unburdening the supply chain from having to manage all the little pieces that are then saddled with high logistical costs. Continue reading
Category: 3D print (Page 1 of 3)
My favorite way to make coffee is cold brew, but I do enjoy cappuccino. Since moving in with my betrothed, I have grown accustomed to having her DeLonghi Magnifica (ESAM3300) espresso machine at hand. Continue reading
When I moved here a bit over a year ago, the rural mailbox on the curb was a mess. It was a standard metal box on top of a steel pole. At some point, someone had hit the pole and bent it. The box itself was dented, tarnished and had hardware-store stick-on numbers plastered to it. Then, to make matters worse, my future father-in-law backed his truck into the pole, bending it even further. Amazingly, it was still usable but it looked terrible.
My caffeine daily driver is cold-pressed Peet’s Ethiopian Fancy. It takes 10-24 hours to brew. Things have been so crazy busy in my life, though, that I have a problem. Often, in my sleep-deprived haze, I forget when I put up the last pot. Was that this morning? Or yesterday?
I have been so busy with pandemic-related tasks that I barely saw Easter approaching and, when I did, I discovered that getting Easter swag was going to be a challenge.
Now, mind, Matthew and Joshua are teenagers and particularly mature ones at that. They don’t think that a bunny comes around and hides eggs in the yard or poops out little foil-covered confections. As for myself, I’m not a fan of cheap milk chocolate in quantity. If I am going to take on the calorie load of some chocolate, I’ll opt for quality over quantity. So our tradition has become that the children wake up to a tasteful basket, usually from a fabulous local chocolatier, usually with one large chocolate bunny and a small, tasteful assortment of miniature chocolate bunnies and eggs of exquisite quality. Continue reading
While I was searching the net for ways to get testing for my patients with upper respiratory infections who might have COVID-19, I stumbled on a local effort to fill the shameful gap in the availability of personal protective equipment for healthcare workers by getting volunteers to 3-D print face shield parts. I am transitioning my practice to telemedicine, which means I’m home a lot more. I can babysit my 3-D printer while I’m working on the telemedicine gear and helping my home-from-school children with their educational enrichment activities. I’ve fired up the printer and my first mask is printing as I type.
I wired my garage to charge my Tesla (coming soon—solar charging!), but I didn’t like the charger cable dangling on the floor. I installed a tool balancer to manage the cable, and it worked great but puts a bit of strain on the cable by bending it where it leaves the plug. It’s not much, but I worry about damaging the cable over a period of years.
Braces have come to our household, and with them, the need for an electric toothbrush and water flosser. So there’s the Sonicare, three heads, the water flosser with three tips, and a tube of toothpaste. The bathroom counter was getting kind of crowded!
To keep the clutter under control, we printed an organizer on the 3D printer. It’s pretty specific to the Sonicare I and this Zerhunt Cordless Water Flosser, so I won’t put the files on Thingiverse. Just drop me an email if you have a need for the files.
