MSRaynsford

With the current rules regarding social distancing, physical contact is obviously being kept to a minimum and these 'pocket hugs' are becoming increasingly popular. I was asked to make some personalised hugs for a friend. These are made from spruce which has a nice visible grain, the engraving and lettering could have been a little darker and I probably should have masked the reverse to avoid reflections but for a quick job it's acceptable (svg here)

The last in the egg series that I'm going to be printing, the time lapse process is working well so it's time to move onto bigger and better ideas. This print produced quite a few little loops while jumping between the separate wavy parts so I definitely need to take a look at retraction and a few of the other printer settings. I also need to look at my starting code too so I can get a better first layer, there's a dribble of filament before it starts putting down a layer which can get in the way and Octoprint is still complaining about the lack of G90 instruction to indicate the start of printing (even though it definitely exists). Lots of fun to be had there (stl here)

Another one of the fancy egg range, I'm not entirely sure what makes this 'complex' because it's simply a mirror of the previous egg shape merged with itself but it still makes a fancy pattern and a neat timelapse anyway so it's all good from my point of view (stl here)

Ape Index wanted some more quick and easy stencils which I'm happy to do, especially if the material is cheap. As these are only going to be used two or three times it doesn't make sense to do them in mylar so I recycled some of the cardboard boxes that my Kitronik orders came in to flat sheets perfect for this use. Free is a perfect price for a job like this, my only trouble will now be carrying large flat sheets into town as part of my daily exercise :)

I went back the the Egg shapes I started printing over Easter. Now I've improved the 3D printer timelapse camera and lighting they make a much nicer video (stl here)

One of the more interesting designs I found while looking at Tensegrity structures was this cube design where the cubes are strong together in such a way that they float over each other at any angle. The two interlocking cubes lend themselves perfectly well to 3D printing and including string holes in all the corners. The design works well but it's a bit tricky to get the strings adjusted to the right lengths, hence the large knots on the corners. (stl here)
There are two version of the design, one with DIY supports and one without, I'm probably not experienced enough to get my slicer to create supports in the way that I wanted it to. It was also a good exercise in OnShape design, particularly trying to get the cube to stand on one end. (OnShape Workspace)

For some home schooling last week Eli, Hazel and I made tensegrity structures, which are all popular online at the moment. All of the string elements in the design are actually under tension which gives them the effect that parts are floating in the air and hanging off each other. I laser cut my design (above) from 1.5mm flexible ply, available from Kitronik, which has the right combination of strength and spring. My version has two strings running from top to bottom which eliminates the twisting, caused by gravity, that you usually see with this design. The nylon cord pinches into notches on the wood so it doesn't even need knots tying in it. (svg here)