Design, Build, Fly

Late July came, and with it, a 3D printer...some assembly required. In this blog (there's a lot to cover) I'll touch upon the following topics. Building the Pursa i3 Mk2 kit, key points Calibration, calibration and more calibration First prints and expectations vs. reality What next As I write, I've had two weeks of hands-on printing and lots of beginner anecdotes to share, but first; is it everything I hoped it would be? Yes, and more. It's almost become an obsession, and it lives in a two foot square corner of the kitchen. The term 3D printer doesn't do it justice, it's essentially a fabrication robot. A needy one at that. It's also noisy. This was a big problem because I have a family, and some of them need to do things like sleep. When complex prints can take over a day and you only have a 12 hours print window it limits what you can do. While some 3D printers are said to be really quiet, this one is louder than an XBOX 360 attached to the ...

Many years ago I bought a Go Flight Radio Panel with the intention of adding more but it never got much use as it didn't have any handy mount or stand, just a PCB sticking out the back. The shipping costs and added import duty for the official mounting boxes meant it wasn't likely to get used. And sure enough it has just collected dust. it might be nice to mount it alongside some of my existing Saitek Pro Flight Panels. This dusty GoFlight Radio Panel needs a place to live Saitek Pro Flight Panels - a unified mounting arrangement using M4 thumbscrews Project description Build a mounting frame for the radio panel that is compatible with Saitek Pro Flight mounting system. It should match the styling of existing panels. Let's get started, dimensions We need some measurements. If we are lucky, a manufacturer may have a drill template for mounting their hardware. Going to the product page at GoFlight we get some basic specificatio...

You know what they say about Linux? It's only free if your time is worth nothing. I like to make stuff so I consider learning new skills a fair trade off. 3D printing opens up a new way of prototyping and making stuff without needing a lot of space or dealing with wood-chips, perfect for apartments or tiny houses you have to rent and no longer have the space for a full workshop. There are different methods of 3D printing, when people talk about it they typically mean the low-end domestic type of 3D printers that perform what is called FDM, Fused Deposition Modelling (depositing a partially melted plastic filament). This blog is about my journey into FDM. Noob Like most gaming geeks I have a desk cluttered with working and slightly broken peripherals (TrackIR clips, camera mounts, Saitek throttles, Comms panels without cases.) What if I could fabricate replacement parts, of improved components? But there's a problem, I'm a total noob...