To manage your anxiety about coronavirus, here’s what you should know:
Most people with the coronavirus have relatively mild symptoms; the danger is in not knowing you have the virus and you could be passing it on to more susceptible individuals.
Symptoms appear between two and 14 days from exposure to the virus and start much like the common cold.
Coronavirus is fatal in about two to three percent of cases.
The virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is stable for several hours to days in aerosols and on surfaces, according to a new study from National Institutes of Health, CDC, UCLA and Princeton University scientists in The New England Journal of Medicine. The scientists found that severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was detectable in aerosols for up to three hours, up to four hours on copper, up to 24 hours on cardboard and up to two to three days on plastic and stainless steel. The results provide key information about the stability of SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19 disease, and suggests that people may acquire the virus through the air and after touching contaminated objects. https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/new-coronavirus-stable-hours-surfaces
To stay healthy, here’s what you should do:
Avoid touching eyes, nose and mouth with unwashed hands.
Wash your hands with warm water and soap for at least 20 seconds.
Use alcohol-based hand sanitizers as a substitute for washing your hands, but do so sparingly.
Cover your coughs and sneezes. Maintain at least 1 metre (3 feet) distance between yourself and anyone who is coughing or sneezing.
Frequently disinfect surfaces, like your desk, phone, tablet, smartphone, and countertops.
If you are sick, stay home. If you have a fever, cough and difficulty breathing, seek medical attention and call in advance. Follow the directions of your local health authority.
Follow instructions from your kids’ schools on when to keep them home.
Have contingency plans for school or office closures, including childcare and working from home.
Limit your social exposure. Be able to prepare meals at home without having to shop for several days.
Limit your media exposure and trust sources that are not supported by advertisements or subscriptions. CDC.gov is a good resource.
If you need more information, call your doctor.
The safest way through the coronavirus and any other outbreak is staying healthy and well-informed.
There are several instructional videos on how to setup your machine. I recommend you watch the following video and check out the videos listed at the bottom of this page:
I have setup three Ender 3 Pro machines and keep two of them going constantly. I’m sharing what I found to be most important and useful when working with this printer.
Foundation
The term “bed leveling” means adjusting the bed so that it is level with the nozzle.
This is important because the first layer in a build is the main support for the rest of the print. In order to achieve a solid base, the bed must be properly oriented to provide the correct adhesion and delivery of the printing material.
If the nozzle is too far from the bed, the filament won’t adhere to the build plate at all. Too close and the nozzle will push past the layer height, preventing the material from extruding and sticking. Either way, the foundation will be unsatisfactory. The sweet spot is when the nozzle allows some space but applies just a little pressure to the flowing filament in order to help it adhere to the build plate.
The Ender 3 doesn’t have an auto-leveling feature, so you have to level the bed manually.
After a few days of trying out the BLTouch, I decided it was more annoying than helpful and removed and returned it. Each print requires that the printer check all 9 sections of the bed before printing. If you have a bed that is not flat, has some wave in it, then this will be helpful for getting good prints.
Manual leveling is necessary even if you do have the BLTouch installed. Fortunately, this isn’t too difficult and is aided by some of the printer’s features. The menu provides actions that prepare the device for leveling, and the four large knobs under each corner of the bed make the job easy.
You’ll find that, once leveled, the bed will stay that way for some time. Periodic re-leveling may be necessary but once the procedure is learned it should take less than five minutes to re-level each time. I found that one or two of my adjustments felt sloppy as though there wasn’t sufficient tension…
I recommend upgrading the bed-leveling springs installed above the adjustment knobs with silicone spacers. I used these for my printers: 3D Printer Leveling Parts, Heat Bed Silicone Levelingbut I think these are more specific to the Ender 3: 3D Printer Heatbed Parts, Solid Bed Mounts, OD 0.63 in ID 0.16 in Stable Hotbed Tool Heat-Resistant
Software
You can use the Ultimaker Cura Software included and recommended by Creality. Download and install the latest version which will contain the latest default profile settings. Most 3D prints can use the default settings for the Ender 3 Pro. Other then bed-leveling, the area that I have found to require some tweaking, depending on the time of year, and whether or not you have an enclosure for your machine, is the temperature. This Winter I have been printing PLA at 210c.
Plate and Nozzle
Before starting to level the Ender 3’s bed, there are a few things you should do to get the machine ready:
Make sure the build plate is clean. On the Ender 3, you can remove the build plate and clean it.
Clean off anything that is sticking to the surface. Use a spatula if needed to break off loose material.
Wash the build plate with warm, soapy water, and dry it with a clean cloth. Make sure no lint or particles remain.
Reattach the build plate to the heated bed using the clips. Check carefully to ensure that the entire build plate is flat with no ripples or high spots.
Ensure that the nozzle is clean and free of material. It shouldn’t have any plastic protruding from the tip. An easy way to do this is to heat up the nozzle to the temperature last used and gently wipe off the tip with a soft cloth. If you do this, wear a glove so that you don’t touch the hot nozzle with your fingers.
Tune the Machine
To prepare for leveling you have to position the nozzle and bed. The Ender 3 controls make this easy.
Turn on the machine.
Press the control knob and scroll to the PREPARE menu.
Scroll down to AUTO HOME and press the knob. The hot end will move to the left front of the bed and stop.
Once again go to PREPARE.
Scroll to DISABLE STEPPERS and press the control. This will make it easy to move the bed back and forth.
Next, rotate each of the four leveling wheels counter-clockwise to lower the bed. One or two turns each should be sufficient. The purpose of this is to make sure that the bed is lower than the nozzle tip.
Level the Bed to the Nozzle
I suggest you make your bed adjustments once while the machine is off and/or cold. Then, once again, when the bed and nozzle are heated. The only tool you need to level your bed is a piece of printer paper. Once equipped, you’re ready to go:
Move the nozzle so that it’s positioned over the left corner of the bed. A half inch or so from both sides is a good location.
Slide the paper between the nozzle and the bed. If it doesn’t fit, drop the corner until it does.
Once the paper is able to slide under the nozzle, very slowly raise the corner with the adjuster. Remember: Clockwise moves the bed up. As you do this, gently slide the paper back and forth. The moment you feel even the slightest resistance to your moving the paper, stop turning the knob. That corner is (almost) ready to go.
Do the same for the other three corners of the build plate. Always advance the hot end to a new corner slowly. This will prevent damage to the build plate in case the nozzle starts to drag. If this occurs, simply lower the next corner (before starting the leveling process) to make some room.
After you’ve adjusted each corner once, go back and check the four corners again. You may have to do further adjustments to get all four correct.
Use the gcode file available through Thingiverse to make the bed-leveling process easier. The bed and nozzle will heat-up and then the nozzle will auto home, then move to the first position to be checked and adjusted if necessary.
Chuck explains how to get started with 3D printing using an Ender3. He explains where 3D designs come from. How you convert a design to a printable file.
I’m here to share my extensive electronics and technical experience working with Arduino, Raspberry Pi, sensors, motors, lighting, and finishing with CNC machining and 3D Printing.
What would you like to make? Leave your comment and let’s get started!
There are two important sections of The Inventory Management System that need to be backup and/or restore. The system stores images that are uploaded in a directory within the source-code. Backup this directory or the entire application to a folder on your file system.
After you download and install the library give it a try:
Using an Arduino Uno to calibrate an RGB LED strip.
The purpose of running this example is to determine what settings are needed to use the FastLED library. For this example I’m using an Arduino Uno. The Uno has a ground pin next to pin 13, so for convenience, I’m using pin 13 as a low-current Vcc for the RGB LED lights strip:
pinMode(13, OUTPUT);digitalWrite(13, HIGH);// The data pin is the pin we are using to connect to the Arduino.// Data pin that led data will be written out over#define DATA_PIN 12
// How many individual LED modules are on the strip?#define NUM_LEDS 10// When using an SPI based chipset, the there should be four wires// Clock pin only needed for SPI based chipsets when not using hardware SPI//#define CLOCK_PIN 8
Important configuration setting is to specify the model of LED strips being used. May require some try-and-error.
// Uncomment one of the following lines for your leds arrangement.… // FastLED.addLeds<WS2811, DATA_PIN, RGB>(leds, NUM_LEDS); FastLED.addLeds<WS2812, DATA_PIN, RGB>(leds, NUM_LEDS); // FastLED.addLeds<WS2812B, DATA_PIN, GRB>(leds, NUM_LEDS); // FastLED.setBrightness(CRGB(255,255,255)); // FastLED.addLeds<GW6205, DATA_PIN, RGB>(leds, NUM_LEDS);…
Phoenix Fire Lily: Solar rechargeable battery connected to a flickering LED inside an artificial lily flower residing in a hand-crafted wooden vase.
I don’t know about you, but I rarely have money to spend on projects and whenever possible reusing and re-purposing junk is ideal. Many of my projects contain parts I’ve purchased at local dollar stores and items found through eBay.
Discount hackables!!
Parts:
Artificial Lily Flower
Flickering LED
Thermostat Wire
100-330ohm Resistor
Mini switch
Solar-panel ~ 5vDC
Rechargeable Li-ion Coin-cell Battery
Rechargeable Li-ion Coin-cell Battery charger = TP4056 Mini USB 1A Lithium Battery Charger Module
USB to mini USB ~ 5ft. cord
Optional ~ hand-crafted vase station
Steps:
Cut the end of the stem and remove the wire.
Gut the Artificial Lily Flower by removing its pistil.
Using a 8-10″ length of Thermostat Wire that extends just beyond the end of the lily’s stem, solder a 100-330ohm resistor to flickering LED and/or later near the mini switch inside the recycled case.
Do I really need a resistor?
Clear LED without resistor = 30mA @ 3vDC
Flickering Yellow LED ~ 6mA @ 3vDC
salvaged 10 LED string of lights = 6mA @ 3vDC
Carefully thread the wired LED through the lily and down her stem.
Add a piece of heat-shrink tubing, solder jumper wires, and attach connector header.
Solder a set of short jumper wires to the Rechargeable Li-ion Coin-cell Battery charger output.
Solder the Rechargeable Li-ion Coin-cell Battery charger output short jumper wires, resistor, to the mini switch and recycled case ( two “AA” batteries ).
Solder the coin-cell battery holder to the Rechargeable Li-ion Coin-cell Battery charger
Insert the Rechargeable Li-ion Coin-cell Battery into the Rechargeable Li-ion Coin-cell Battery charger.
A look inside the inexpensive battery case.
Gut everything from the case!
Drill a few holes. One for the solar panel wires, and the other for USB connector.
Solder a simple switching diode, such as 1N4148, to the positive side.
Using short jumper wires, solder the Rechargeable Li-ion Coin-cell Battery charger input to the solar panel ~ 5vDC.
Insert the switch and wrap wires so they lay flat inside the case.
Test the output.
Optionally, attach USB to mini USB cord to the charger
Store inside a hand-crafted vase station.
You can purchase a completed Phoenix Fire Lily directly from me as a functioning example.
