Author: Ryan Priore

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The Moat Boat Paddle Battle

Location: HackPGH

With the World Maker Faire nearly upon us in New York, Chris spoke to the group about the Moat Boat Paddle Battle started by HackPGH founder, Matt Stultz. You design and 3D print a boat that can be propelled by a rubber band. Then you race it in the troughs! There is actually a substantial list of rules.

Check out this cool teaser video by Matt Griffin from World Maker Faire 2015:

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3DPPGH Goes to the BoXZY Factory

Location: BoXZY

Happy Birthday to 3DPPGH- we just turned 1! Joel Johnson was too kind and invited us to tour his company’s factory. BoXZY was a successful multi-platform digifab tool Kickstarter turned business. Even cooler, they started it all from TechShop Pittsburgh.

Click here for the Google Photo album.

We got more than the nickel tour. We saw the entire BoXZY build process, played with cool 3D printed items, and cut our birthday cake with a sword (seriously, we did) which was fabricated on the BoXZY system.

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Bringing Together Makers & The 3D Printing Community

Location: HackPGH

Wow… Just, wow…

Rapid + TCT took place in Pittsburgh this year, and our humble little 3D Printing group brought together MatterHackers, Ultimaker, Make:, Lulzbot, 3Dprint.com, and Makers for a fantastic night of 3D printing tech talk and a little southwest food flair.

I would write more in this post; however, Sarah Goehrke, Editor-in-Chief of 3DPrint.com, already did! Check out her coverage of our event here.

Sarah Goehrke, Editor-in-Chief of 3DPrint.com, wrote an article about this month’s massive meetup!

Chris and Ryan had press credentials, and they got to hang out at the conference as well. You can see more about that here!

Yohe is not only a Printrbot fanboy…
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RAPID + TCT Conference 2017

3DPPGH was fortunate enough to have this year’s RAPID+TCT conference in our backyard. Chris and Ryan explored the show throughout the week and observed some exciting releases both in the industrial and consumer additive manufacturing spaces. Consumer 3D printing manufacturers included folks like MakerGear, Ultimaker, Lulzbot, Affinia, and much more… Demonstrations of a variety of industrial processes rounded out the event.

Stratysys announced their additive manufacturing cells.

The most interesting (and I use that word loosely) was the 3D-printed, accessory fashion show.

Click here for the Google Photo album.

We spent Tuesday evening at Heinz Field, and Chris and Ryan were able to grab a photo with Pittsburgh Steeler greats, Mean Joe Greene and Franco Harris!

Ryan and Chris met Mean Joe Greene and Franco Harris.
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Delta, Delta, Deltas

Location: TechShop Pittsburgh

This month we compared and contrasted the differences between cartesian and delta style 3D printers. We were hosted by Justin Harvilla at TechShop, and Billy Zelsnack shared some of his expertise with both designing a delta printer for sale and the Kickstarter experience! Ryan presented some slides:

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Midwest RepRap Festival (MRRF) 2017

Chris and Ryan attended MRRF 2017 as a Bronze Sponsor via 3DPPGH.

3DPPGH was a Bronze Sponsor of MRRF 2017, and Chris and Ryan spent the weekend Goshen, IN for another fun-filled, community-driven event. Goshen is the home of SeeMeCNC, a superb open-source 3D printer company and the host of the Midwest RepRap Festival.

After renting a vehicle large enough to transport any 3D printer home if necessary, the 3DPPGH team had a rather eventful trip this year. It is hard to get the complete story devoid of half-truths; however, from Ryan’s point of view the following may or may not have happened:

  • We ran out of gas while Chris was driving- just presenting the facts.
  • An Indiana State Trooper may have allegedly assisted Ryan in stealing a gas can from a nearby gas station.
  • When pulling into the gas station after a tense refill on the side of the highway with a stolen gas can, the van was driven into the bollard protecting the pump. Chris was driving- still just presenting the facts.
  • Upon stopping the van, the vehicle was left in drive and may have allegedly dragged Ryan a couple of feet. Chris was still driving…
  • The cap for the gas can broke, so the bozos decided to make a temporary cap with layers of shopping bag plastic held atop of the can while screwing on the remains of the broken cap. 20 miles later into the drive, the makeshift cap broke (surprise, surprise), and Ryan held the now open gas can between his legs in the front seat. We drove the rest of the way with the windows down with only some”minor” spillage
  • Matt and Mandy Stultz greeted us at the table they commandeered for us. After hugs were shared, Mandy said, “You smell like gasoline”…

Here are a few noteworthy events for Ryan as a complete 3D Printing Fanboy:

Josef and Ryan with the Make: magazine
Daniel and Ryan with the OpenRC Formula 1 car

Here are a few noteworthy events for Chris (from Ryan’s perspective):

  • Chris, JetGuy, Tom, and James were able to make a multi-material Prusa MK2 by connecting the Mosaic Palette before the weekend was over
  • Chris got to talk shop with Printrbot’s Brooke Drum while we hung out at the SeeMeCNC factory after hours.

Click here for the Google Photo Album.

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How to Test the Performance of Your Printer

Location: HackPGH

This month covers the Make: Magazine 3D printer review process and how you can determine the performance of your own 3D printer. Armed with this information, you can make focused modifications in both hardware and software to tweak your printer’s performance.

Ryan and Chris were finally able to share the exciting results from this past year’s 3D printer and digifab shootout. Ryan’s review of the Prusa Research MK2 made the cover. Want to test the performance of your 3D printer? You can download the same test probes used during the 3D Printer Shootout here.

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Printing Christmas Ornaments (and Drinking Spiked Eggnog)

Location: HackPGH

We decided to start a tradition for our December meeting:

  • 3D print something as a group which will most likely be ornaments
  • Drink eggnog and rum (or both)

Ryan designed up a 3DPPGH logo Christmas ornament, and the group tried their hand at filament swapping to achieve a 2-color print.

The Monoprice Maker Select knocked out 4 ornaments at a time with a color change from yellow to black.

Want to print one of your own? You can find the .stl file here on Thingiverse.

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How to Build a Kit

Location: HackPGH

This month was all about 3D printer kits and what to expect from your first kit experience. Chris led the group through: Hints, Tips, and Tricks for Those That Don’t Listen…

In addition to our usual presentation materials, check out Chris’s time-lapse of a Tronxy 3D printer build.