As soon as 3D printers came out Mr. G has been wanting one.  Here it is…fresh from the box.  It came with a little yellow octopus that they print with your particular machine before shipping it. And enough filament and the necessary software to print a second slightly varied model.

***FYI–photo heavy post***

I present the finished “roctopus” which it this particular company’s logo/mascot.

It was such a fascinating process to watch.

Next Mr. G moved to the garage and went about printing some calibration units to fine tune the machine…I didn’t document any of that…I got bored. After that process was complete he went about printing a case for the tiny RapsberryPi computer that he has running the machine.

This is the bottom of the case. Amazing isn’t it!!! How a spool of plastic filament can become a 3D object. There is a CAD program involved and a slicing program… I know some of you may be thinking “blah,blah..techie…blah..” but it is a very cool process.

In my next couple posts I’ll be sharing how all this plays into things of an artsy manner as well as super practical things such as….

…gears for the machine itself. All the plastic parts for this 3D printer are…you guessed it….3D printed. WHA?? Super cool. They give the files to create replacement parts with the machine. They recommend that you print certain ones that wear the quickest.

Mr. G also has ideas for household uses…such as the air compressor was in need of a new filter for the air intake…he wanted something more high performance to prolong the life of the compressor itself.  He designed this new fitting in a CAD program then printed it out.

Perfect fit for the filter he prefers.

How cool is that!

Okay…I’m sure you’ve had enough of me bragging about my husband.

I’m working on painting some cool pieces for a couple board games and thinking up fun crafty things as well…more to come…I promise!