linus6948

There are a lot of colors available as well as different plastics. All I have used is ABS plastic filaments,there is also PLA plastic available and some others. I haven`t seen a transparent filament yet but it might be out there. Haven`t tried any polishing, I believe acetone is used sometimes as it readily dissolves ABS plastic, I haven`t seen any flame polishing yet.

It can be from minutes to hours depending on the size, quantity and the quality of resolution that you choose. I made the Wife four Bud-Vases and that took a little over four hours,

This is the vase I first made only this time in red, my Wife loves the damn things and has me cranking them out. Later today I will be getting a roll of black filament and I`m going to make a 12inch Maltese Falcon Statue like from the Bogart movie.

I would guess this type of printer could duplicate just about anything. Now being design or 3d cad savvy at all I rely on thing-universe for the free downloads available there. http://www.thingiverse.com/search?q=knobs&sa= http://www.thingiverse.com/search/page:1?q=elf&sa=

As a Child who grew up watching "Lost in Space" I have always been fascinated by a machine that could make it`s own replacement parts and thousands of other things. I picked up an XYZ Davinci Printer for $349 on sale from Newegg, I have to say this technology is amazing. Wisely the first thing I made was a little Bud-Vase for the Bride and she was sold on it 'hook line and sinker".

First tests of autonomous flight

Did some electrical work in a trap house at my gun club and took a few quad flights after I was finished and then it started to rain and I had to quit.

Don this was cobbled together as cheaply as I possibly could do it. Copter $257 2 axis gimbal $65 SJ4000 camera(GoPro Clone)$73 Nexus 7 tablet $65 Telemetry Parts $22 7in LCD monitor $21 FPV gear $41 Lipo batteries $80 Phantom props 2 pairs $7 and a lot of time spent finding out how to do the mods, here is what I did to get the telemetry to function http://diydrones.com/forum/topics/quanum-nova-new-release-flight-processor

Well I have outfitted that chinese quad into a pretty decent camera platform and I equipped it with live video and GPS telemetry to an android tablet One of the first videos taken during a test of the quads return to launch point feature, where it fly`s itself home on auto-pilot.

The Nephew came for an overnight stay to go skiing and brought his Phantom 2 so I took some pics of it next to the one I`ve been flying. Now I decided to move up from the toy class and sent for one of these. It is a knockoff clone of the Phantom and there are a lot of mods people have come up with for them. Poor Mans GPS Drone, it is already on sale and with 6% off coupon 15BGSF which is good to Feb 21 it comes to $257 delivered, http://www.banggood.com/Cheerson-CX20-Opensource-Version-Au… http://diydrones.com/profiles/blogs/successful-test-of-the-cheerson-cx-20-apm-arducoper-firmware?id=705844%3ABlogPost%3A1673948&page=2

Here I get a little carried away and fly the quad too far from the transmitter and it gets out of range so I have no control over it and lose the quad to the high wind, it flys off the lake and over the treetops on the far side of the lake and into the snow blanketed forest. I was less than happy and I immediately struck out in the direction I had my last visual on it before it flew out of sight. The search was a miserable one as I was breaking thru foot high crusty snow with every step, very slow going, I thought about going to borrow some snow-shoes from a neighbor but the batteries in these quads don`t last long and I was counting on that battery to find the quad. When I got where I thought I was close I rebound the transmitter to the copter and briefly goosed the throttle and I heard a faint motor noise in the distance. I repeated the process as I hiked towards the noise and eventually spotted the quads running lights.Miraculously it had made it`s way thru the large treetops it had dropped down into and was laying on the snow, Bale out of the video at 1.40 minutes as there is nothing to see after that but snow in front of the camera.

Took it out on the frozen lake but the ever present Winter winds keep me busy.

Here is the micro drone with the 808 keychain HD "spy-camera" attached, looks just like a car fob and records audio and video. The larger is a JJRC H8C that came equipped with it`s own camera.

The larger quad that took the still photos is a $50 model with a 2 megapixel camera which can take a still picture with a button push on the transmitter,also you can start and stop video. Unfortunately there is no zoom feature available at this price point but I would not be surprised if it becomes available in the near future. The lake I live on is not owned by any one person it is "community-property" and any home owner in my development can use it. My collage grad nephew got a Phantom 2 with a GoPro Hero4 camera as a graduation present and brought it here last month and took some aerial video and I was hooked. I started dusting off some of my RC planes and single rotor copters and then got the 1st of two micro quads and then the larger one. These are basically "toy" quads but adults seem to be buying them. They are still working out the FAA regulations surrounding their usage, but I think they are here to stay and it will be interesting to see how it pans out. There is a slight buying mania starting to brew the more that they talk about regulating them. I too want to get a "real" one before they become too regulated. The one I am waiting for is the Hubsan X4 H109S that comes out in late March. But I will spend a lot more time honing my flying skills on "toy" quads before I take the plunge into the big leagues. This quad has already been monopolized by Hobbico in the US and they have more than doubled the price that one can purchase it for by buying from china directly as I have been with the toy quads. The potential for good these things have is huge, bridge,smoke-stack and structure inspections, fire and rescue uses and agriculture just to name a few. They are popular for filming outdoor weddings and other outdoor venues. The problem is when idiots get them and do countless stupid things with them. Like the drunk guy that crashed his on the White House lawn, much more of that and these will get regulated to death.

The wind died down a little at dusk so I finally got the larger quad up a ways. it was still windy once it got high up.

Bigger Quad flying today in some single digit windy conditions

Took some aerial shots during today`s wind driven snowfall

Yes the ability to take decent aerial footage was what gave me the RC flying bug again. I just got another larger quad equipped with a 2 mega pixel camera that I am "breaking-in" but the weather here has not been conducive to flying these things lately. I tried a little flying this afternoon but the gusting wind was too much and I quit while I was ahead.

In an effort to keep my sanity during these frozen months I`ve started playing with some aerial photography using a micro quadcopter and an 808 keychain camera. This was one of the first not so perfect flights over "Ice Station Zebra", I can see why some contractors are using these for roof and chimney inspections.

The usual crowd arriving at dusk for dinner.

It can be amazing how much crud can accumulate in a carb.

Personally I`m a big fan of this stuff, I have been using it for years. http://www.fluid-film.com/

I would give it a try, I`ve had luck with Bar`s in the past. http://barsproducts.com/support/chemical-additive-myths

I finally got the time to research the press I got from the 80 year old gentleman for $75 who could not remember much about it except that he paid a lot of money for it many years ago and he said it was a much better quality one in it`s day. Well apparently he was telling me the gospel truth because these are still being sold as refurbs and their original price tag was very high. It has been kept outside for years with the exception of the bottle jack which was always kept indoors. I asked him again about that blacksmiths leg/post vice he has and was told he turned down a $200 offer on it already, I`m gonna take a pass on that. http://www.phjjacks.com/merchant/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=PHJ&Product_Code=93618+-+Recon&Category_Code=

Yes well put, it did take a little of the sting out of Winter and make it seem a little shorter. Certainly better than last year when it was like "Ice Station Zebra" around here for months. Feel better and take care of that ankle, a little liniment around 100proof taken orally usually helps.