Still having issues with the makerbot after dismantling and reassembling the extruder I did get some decent results out of it but after I left it and came back the thing jammed up again. I suspect the hot end is to blame perhaps the ptfe thermal barrier has a gap or maybe has swelled while heated and the melted plastic is jamming once it all cools down.
Not sure I can get much more out of the current parts i don’t think I can make the join between threaded brass heater barrel and ptfe any better. Got some spares coming and also have been looking at alternate extruder designs. The bits from bytes design is pretty good using PEEK instead of PTFE which is more dimensionally stable at heat. There are also various designs for doing it without plastic or using a thermally resistant cork. Most need access to a lathe (which thanks to techshop I could get my hands on I’d just need to do the safety course on how to operate it) but it might be worth have a go because being able to make your own heater barrels out of brass bolts is a lot cheaper than buying the parts premade or even in kit form.
Been looking at making some of my own furniture but most of the plans I’ve found are ridiculously complicated and call for all sorts of specialised tools that even techshop doesn’t have. Might have a look at finding a hand tools woodwork book and use that since most of the powertools like the chop saw or stop saw band saw or scroll saw are just powered versions of hand tools and Techshop has the full range of those.
Got told I should get a big car by someone at the office as “only big cars handle well in the rain”. I have a golf which isn’t really that little it was also the biggest car I could get given my lack of credit history it’s also European the product of good sturdy german engineering so designed to handle the odd rain cloud. They have strange ideas about weather here I’ve been here some two months now and I don’t think it’s rained once where I am. Almost every day has been wonderfully sunny and warm (at least to my mind) with only the occasional overcast day (and even then it usually sunny by mid morning even if it starts off grey) however this morning they were complaining on the radio about how cold it was which just seems crazy to me.
I’m sure the weather will get worse as the year progresses and I’ve certainly been out here when it’s been raining and raining pretty hard but those days are a lot less frequent than they are back home. I mean most cars out here don’t have rear windscreen wipers (mine of course does) because it just doesn’t rain enough to make them worth while.
No word from the coppers about my missing bike I suspect it’s gone for good and am starting to think about a replacement starting with looking for the most secure lock I can find and one with anti theft insurance. Probably won’t be purchasing a bike this month as what with this unexpected trip to Oregon I doubt I’ll have the spare cash.
