March 2015 – Lancaster Makerspace

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The Space in Lancaster has acquired a second 3D printer that can be used by Members who have completed the 3D Printing training. This machine is the property of Mark Keating who is allowing use of the machine by members as long as they pay for the costs of the material that is extruded.

The printer is a model of the Replicator 2 and has twin nozzles. This means that it can be used to print with two different maetrials at the same time and can utilise a variety of printing techniques. It should be possible to combine elements such as hard filament and ninja flex to print wheels with tires in situ on a single run.

The printer will take PLA and ABS and is being tested with other materials. It can also handle support material allowing for more complex prints to be achieved.

At this time Mark and Tom are calibrating and testing the printer, they will soon add a part cooling mdification which will further enhance the machine and will be looking to add a glass bed.

So this weekend on Saturday 7th and Sunday 8th of March we had our first major hack the space day, and much was achieved!

Workshop area now has a chip board flooring to prevent us causing damage to the laminate flooring in Unit 5
Kitchen worktops are cut to length and fixed to the units
Big shelving units are screwed to the walls
Donated equipment and parts were moved from the Shadowcat offices to the space
Laser was moved location along with the PC (including some comedy moments of Bob discovering how thin the metal was and bending it)
Laser modified to replace the USB cabling so the software licence dongle lives inside connected to a USB hub all nice and neat
Laser usage counter box purchased and wired up at one end. We worked out where to connect it in the cutter but didn’t quite get to connecting it due to lack of ferrels
Tested issue with datum button for Just Add Sharks – don’t press the datum button in Z mode with the honeycomb and slotted beds in as it will crash the head. The limit switch now needs moving
TV donated by Graham as spares or repair was mounted on the wall and the first signs of issue started to show with it. Percussive maintenance fixed this so there’s probably a dry or loose joint that we need to find
Blew up the new board for the 3d printer that Bob brought with him (whoops – looks like the power connector was soldered to the board the wrong way around)
Got the chip from the new board to work on the old Gen7 3d printer board gaining a working board out of two not working boards
PAT tested the pillar drill, which passed!
PAT tested a PSU from Ian’s house, which failed and went back home with him in disgrace
Realised that we can’t run the extractor past 21:00 in the evening as it’s too noisy for the surrounding houses – sorry to the people who rang up to point this out. Noted and we will stop at 21:00 in future.

So all in all a very productive couple of days! Massive thanks to Bob Clough from Hackspace Manchester (Hackman) who came up to see us to use the laser cutter and and help out. The A-Maze-Balls project is looking very exciting in the flesh (that’s what Bob was cutting out).

Come and see for yourself at our open evening this and every Wednesday from 18:00 onwards!

A-Maze-Balls box being cut:

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