Progress looks great!

Definitely sounds like this project will take a back seat for a while. Moving will eat you up for a while but I'm confident you'll get settled again.

In preparation for our move I'm getting the house as organized for the new owners as possible (whomever they end up being).

Using the 3d printer to print up tags for all the pipes, wires etc. I just zip tie them on. In some cases double sided tape to the wall.

Yes I love this 3d printing thing, feeds my OCD perfectly :)
Red for electric, Yellow for gas, Silver and black for water etc. I'll be including the internet cable, antenna cable to the attic, network cables too.

https://forums.maxperformanceinc.com...8&d=1710938650

You're out of control with this stuff! LOL

Shame you're retired and weren't younger and still in the work force and inclined to consider relocating to the NH seacoast.

I've been interviewing candidates for a career in Mechanical Design/3D Printing since January. Fantastic opportunity for someone who wanted to learn and be on the most forward cutting edge of the evolving technology.

Finally found & made the right person an offer last week- so the job posting is now closed- but I think you would have been a great fit and enjoyed the role immensely.

-Bill

There are certainly a lot of young guns out there that love this stuff. Right now there seems to be somewhat of a division in the field .. there are people with great skills in 3D design on the graphics side but not much natural aptitude on the engineering side, and then Engineers without much natural aptitude on the creative side.

The Gaming industry sucks up a lot of the talent as most games these days are functionally just complex physics simulations with words and art added. The artistic guys end up having to develop a feel for the physics and realism so they can design game elements that work like real life.

Most everything starts with the 3D model ... then you make it "do stuff" :)

Yes sir I would have loved it. I was a "Nuke" in the Navy where I got my background in engineering, physics, chemistry, metallurgy and from moment one wanted to design my own devices and systems. But .. Que, sera, sera ... no looking back now :)

Still Nerd enough to appreciate the vote of confidence.

I still do side work ... at present I'm working on a 3d model and texture material for some special effects in a short sci-fi film. Here is a render of the model superimposed on a still frame from the film ... it will all be blended together by the film editor at some point. These days video editors can render 3d models/materials directly into a video and manipulate them, light them etc. All I do is create the model, the exterior texture/material and send it to the editor who then does all the fancy stuff making it fit seamlessly into the video.

My advice to anyone 50 years old right now ... learn the new technology, whether it's the latest computer OS, smart device, phone, navigation aid, machine shop app, or CAD ... stay reasonably current with the technology. I hate to see people end up like my parents in their 80's with no clue about how to function in a modern world ... you have to stay current, you have no idea what technology that today seems irrelevant that tomorrow will run half the world.

https://i.imgur.com/H70vFvh.jpg

This explains everything. Only an alien could do what you do...

I just finished a couple "senior classes" about current issues in technology and AI. Technology change used to be fast... now it's accelerating at a staggering rate. Materials science, bio-tech, manufacturing, software, agriculture, energy, you name it, there's a revolution in progress.

https://forums.maxperformanceinc.com...1&d=1711032245

Excellent, had no idea there was such a thing as classes to familiarize age enhanced individuals with new technologies.

Sometimes the great wisdom and experience we obtain kind of crowds out the trivial knowledge :)

And yes I just coined the term "Age Enhanced Person".

Had a few minutes of spare time to fill ...

Had to happen eventually ... GTO Key Fob, about 6" long.

https://forums.maxperformanceinc.com...1&d=1711518786

My first attempt at a Rally II wheel, a little tweaking and I think it will turn out nice.

https://forums.maxperformanceinc.com...6&d=1712294353

The wheel looks outstanding. Were you able to make "one" spoke, then replicate "radially". Very nice!

This is so important. I grew up with computers being an everyday reality, but even so, I struggle to keep up with all of the new tech. It moves really quickly.

Shiny .. yes, I did a sketch for one spoke and then a circular pattern of five, then I connected the five spokes in the sketch to achieve the results I wanted.

The spokes are actually created by cutting out the space between them from a large shallow cone, which leaves the shape of the spokes.

I'm still undecided if the method I used to create this wheel was the best choice, lot of ways to skin this cat.

New improved version on the left, previous version on the right. I keep forgetting to "cartoon'ize" the measurements. Plastic being much weaker than steel you can't just scale down parts that include thin section metal. I basically made all the cross-section measurements thicker on the new one, and changed some settings on the printer.

Now I have to try to find a cross section view of a G70-14 bias ply tire :)

https://forums.maxperformanceinc.com...0&d=1712386390

That is getting so good we can start arguing over the codes and color of the center cap!

Are you printing these with a "silver" material?

What did you do to change the texture on the spokes? Is that a "resolution" setting (ie prototype vs final) or do you force something in the build path/"layup" (sorry I don't know the terminology)?

Mike

It's supposed to be silver .. far more a slightly shiny gray. Most of these filaments are made to look good from the vertical side, not the top surface so not very shiny. I have filament that is supposed to be shinier .. but it can be kind of finicky so that will wait till the actual design is finalized.

The result on the left was was done with a 0.4mm nozzle, the prototype was done with a 0.2 nozzle ... so the one on the left SHOULD have been a lower resolution, but it appears that reduction in resolution was more than offset by printer settings for the 0.4mm nozzle being set up better.

The company that makes the printer has recognized that their printing profile for 0.2mm nozzles has some issues and they are working on a fix. The 0.2mm nozzle is so freaking small that it can be a challenge to get it right, but when it is it looks great. I changed filament brands to something that was supposed to be better ... but doesn't appear to be.

So that's a good catch, results were kind of opposite of what I expected. The upside is that the 0.4mm nozzle will print the wheel about 3 times faster.

Below is the wheel/tire combo, based on the dimensions of a G70-14. Still some work to do there, need to find a soft filament that doesn't print so shiny. Pops on to the wheel very nicely with a little effort. As you can see the complete model will be pretty large.

https://forums.maxperformanceinc.com...6&d=1712471353

Wow, that is so cool you can replace tires!

Nice job on the tire design. Looks great.

Thanks for explaining the nozzle size anomaly. Makes sense the finish could be strongly influenced by how the deposit blends with adjacent material, not just the nozzle (resolution) size. Sounds complicated and the printer companies probably invest a lot of effort in "tuning" for specific filaments.