Some KickStarter Projects I've backed

I've been slacking off in my backing as of late, but really enjoy being able to help people achieve their dreams, even if it turns out not to be their cup of tea.  For the most part have been very happy, and have gotten something from the projects.  Though there's always one or two which don't live up to expectations.  Not all are successful, in initial funding or in final delivery.

Two wheeling America

While this is about motorcycles, and I'm into scooters, backed this to raise awareness.  Haven't had any update on it since October, which is fine, as the funding they raised was only to generate a pilot, supposedly to hawk to television places.  Am happy!

Minion, Wireless Dev Board

I have received this and it looks great!  Unfortunately don't have a use for this (yet), but will be working on a use fairly soon within the RV so things can talk to each other wirelessly.  I prefer to run cables, but sometimes this isn't possible for a variety of reasons.

Have some projects to work on, namely fixing my ailing water heater, and some other nifty improvements I want to make, where integrating this could help.  That is, if start focusing.

TGT

While overpriced for what it is, am extremely happy with this project.  It is something I use every day.  It's very convenient, slim (mostly), and convenient.  It's made in the USA, Brooklyn I believe, and it supported someone's dream, even though it was more of a "dream" than they realized, haha.

It's basically a piece of elastic fabric (the one I have) which holds license, cash, cards, whatever of that size.  And it's GREAT!  This is my wallet and only (mostly) carry necessities in here.

Sir, You Are Being Hunted

This is a game of stealth, deception, and a little action now and then, though the action HURTS.  And, it's a very unique game.  I'm all about uniqueness.  It has a very interesting setting, in that am a live human, and have been trapped on an island, well actually, five islands.  Goal is to collect many artifacts scattered throughout, which will allow me to get off the island, while avoiding humanoid robots.  The robots have blunderbusses, hot-air balloons, and now, levitating robotic horses.

Very far fetched, not very realistic (in the story), but still a wonderful game!  Not really my type of game though, but that's not the point, it's all about helping with diversity!

What happens when you Die

This project wasn't successful, though it was the second project backed.

Some things in life we'll never know until it happens, such as loss and love, and this is one of those things that falls into that category.  It would've been a documentary about Near Death Experiences.

Shaker, an RPG

Was saddened when this one was cancelled, prior to being funded.  Liked the premise of the game, and it would've been fun to play. Am hoping they'll restart, or start another project.

My Alien Science Project

Only backed this because it came from my home town, and had an interesting premise for a children's book.  If did receive it, unsure what would've done with it.

LA Area - Vegas + January Video

Sunday left the place I was camped out, Eagles Aerie #506.  This is a very good lodge, situated a little far from downtown LA.  The people here are top notch, the camping area is very very nice, with real grass, real trees (and leaves), water, and electricity, even a dumping station!

They almost always have something going!  Bingo Thursday and Saturday, steak and karaoke on Friday, Taco Tuesday, and a host of other things!  Extended my stay here another week because it is a good place, people are good, and everyone is friendly.

Didn't go many places here, went to one great mexican restaurant which will be featured in my 1SE video for February.

Sunday packed everything up and came back to Vegas.  The highway driving isn't all that fun or exciting, especially in an RV.  It's slow going, and for the most part, it's set the cruise and forget about it.  There are some occassions that I have to pass a very slow car, or more often, pass a trucker, but other than that don't really have to worry.

While I don't enjoy the traffic here in the city, there's always something to do.  Was just talking with someone today about all the different shows, not to mention all the gambling and other activities.

Same person I talked to said I also had to check out some restaurants.  Asked them for suggestions, on what they enjoy, instead of what I want to do, as it's all about getting out of the same ole thing rut we all get into, and try something new, exciting (hopefully), and just different.

Some restaurants/bars to check out (NOT the heart-attack grill, erkh)

Hash House A Go Go - When was first told about this place I thought it was a pot haven, or a bar full of go go girls.  Have been assured it's neither of those, but they do serve awesome food and this was first place which was recommended.  Have to come here for breakfast!

Peppermill Fireside Lounge - This is actually on the strip, well, end of the strip, and was second place I was told about.  Plan to be checking out the strip this weekend sometime so will time it to get here when hungry.  They also serve a fair portion for the price, from what was told.

Hofbrauhaus - I have a "small" weakness for German food, and beer too, but no more beer.  Was told I MUST check this place out, as it was third on the list.  While it's a little pricey, do get a good amount of food for the price.  Am sure they have tons of German beer, will make sure to take a picture for all of you beer afficionado's out there.  Hopefully they have Yaeger Jäger fries (half way down is quick description), at least that's name I was told, which are french fries with a light brown gravy and mushrooms.  It's vaguely similar to the Canadian Poutine (with cheese curds instead of mushrooms), but this is a dish had in Germany, around the town of Bad Bruckenau, at an outdoor restaurant, in a galaxy far far away, and a long long time ago.

The End - So, not sure what type of trouble I've gotten myself into, but asked the person for a place, which served food, that can ONLY be found in Vegas...  First thing they popped out with was this place.  It's a Zombie themed bar in "Old Vegas".  Not sure if should be excited to go here, or a little wary...  Will find out relatively soon.

VIDEO

My Life_Jan 01 2014 - Jan 31 2014.mp4 from Richard on Vimeo.

Filastruder assembly - from KickStarter

Some time ago I backed a filament extruder project on KickStarter called Filastruder.  I finally got around to setting it up and was very successful actually extruding from it.  Quite pleased and happy with myself.

This project took way longer than it should have, due to what I consider icky instructions and a "slap me silly" moment or two (actually two).

My "number" is 151, and it's Version 1.1.  Look forward to many many pounds of plastic extrusion through this beast.  I found it actually pretty well engineered, using mostly off the shelf parts and put into a nice little kit.

The Build

Inventory

First step is actually taking inventory.  Here I just did a quick check to make sure have all the parts that should be included.  In terms of bags of parts didn't inventory those at this stage, just made sure had the bag and fondled the bags to gawk at the parts, looking them over, and making sure nothing was bent, broken, etc.  At this stage everything looked pretty darn good.

Two of the first steps are:

• Debur nipple cutout with file, dremel, or deburring tool
• Grind lips of nipples until there is no ridge left on inside of nipple

Nipple before deburring

I have no idea what a nipple is, in this context.  Eventually figured it out after gawking through the bags again.  There was this long pipe with the cutout.  It is somewhat hard to see in the picture, but there is some pieces of metal which needs to be trimmed off.  Took the picture with the handy dandy "dremel" tool from Harbor Freight..  Eewww..

All done, oh so shiny!

Most times, especially with electrical tools, it pays to get the real stuff, the real deal.  The dremel tool was barely adequate, in that it did the job, was able to successfully finish the piece, as shown, but it took me at least twice as long as normal.  Used a cutoff wheel to get rid of the big pieces, then a diamond thing to get everything flat and smooth and oh so nice feeling.

Closeup view - straight on

Close up view of one end of opening

Notice that the inside is a little on the rusty side.  This is the black iron pipe that I've seen used in things such as natural gas piping for homes.  I forget the actual name of it, and am sure there are many other uses for this black pipe.  Will have to run a bunch of filament through here to get rid of the rust, before feeding the filament through my new 3D printer which should be in my hands within couple of months!  Can't wait, hence why am assembling this now, gives me chance to have the plastic smell.

Initial assembly

This is another place where I felt the instructions could've been made quite a bit clearer.  Looking back on it, after have it figured out, it all makes sense.  While assembling though put these parts on in the reverse order.  Had to watch a youtube video by someone who has the same version number before it finally clicked.  While this wasn't cause of my problems later on, am sure it didn't help, though am also sure it would've worked regardless, assuming everything else was done properly.  What had reversed was the shaft collar, thrust bearing, and the bushing.  Again, after the fact I should've picked up on it, such is life.  At least it's fixed now, and it's proper.

Auger inserted into shaft and secured to support

All in all, this part was mostly start forward, with exception of above.  Four bolts, nylon spaces, hopper, and all that happy jazz.  It is surprisingly sturdy and solid.  Most, if not all, of these parts, with exception of the hopper, are off the shelf so easy to replicate or find replacements.

Motor mount

Unbeknownst to me, this gear motor had to  be positioned in a certain manner so this part took one or two times to get right.  It was unclear exactly how this was to be mounted so put it on the wrong way.  Couple steps later, when had to actually mount this whole part, things were not lining up as they should have.  The connector piece was at an odd angle and am pretty sure it was meant to be straight to keep unwanted forces at bay.  Moral of the story is to test fit (which I did) prior to locking everything in place.

YAY Tools!, err, washer too

So, this socket, the wonderful DeWalt Impact Ready socket, is labeled as a motor/auger coupling.  I actually thought it was meant to tighten some of the bolts down.  Oh woe is me.  When putting the socket (end which fits on the ratchet), onto the auger motor shaft, it spins freely which is generally not good.  That is what the washer is for, to provide the extra material to prevent the free spinning.  It was a little wobbly but still sufficient, if everything is assembled properly.  I had issues, but people tell me I always have issues.

Socket, washer, and auger

The business end of the socket fit like a glove onto one end of the auger.  Used the weak "dremel", or rotary, tool to flatten one side.  Had to put washer in a small vice and then grind down one edge until it fit into the square end of the socket..  There really is a joke here about fitting a round thing into a square hole, but exact words escape me.  However, it's all complete and ready for the auger motor!

Heating element

Shaft with coupling/heater

Next step was to attach the coupling onto end of the nipple, and then wrap it in a heating element.  There is a brass plug in here too, which is seen later.  This part is actually fairly straight forward as coupling just screwed on, the heater element fit nicely around the coupling, and used an allen wrench to tighten it down.

The brass plug actually goes into the other end of coupling, as shown.  In the inventory picture I have three plugs, a blank one, one for 1.7mm and 3mm filament.  Am happy got the 3mm filament one as saw a new printer at the 3D world expo in LA that actually uses 3mm, though for the most part new printers use 1.7mm, which think offers more precision for extrusion.

Completed extruder section

Here can see the completed section with brass plug, insulation, hopper, and everything else in place where it should be, in an ideal world.

Motor mount mounted

Now it's time to assemble all these pieces into one fully functioning machine.  A couple quick screws on the bottom secured the motor mount to the board.  A quick note on the board, it's one I grabbed while was on Vashon Island, and it looks to have been part of decking or something.  Unsure what it's old use was, but it's new use is to hold everything together!

Auger and motor joined

Next up was to mount the actual filament extruder and joint it to the auger motor.  The instructions said to make sure it's a tight fit and that there is no movement, i.e. have some pressure between the two so it's not all sloppy when running.  It actually makes sense and was able to pull it off pretty well at this point!  Secured it with couple more screws from the bottom, and two plastic angle brackets.  Pretty nicely done.

Drilling out fan holes

Due to reusing a board that was "almost" long enough, had to figure out some way to mount the cooling fan.  While am sure this way will cause me challenges in the future, especially since am in an RV, only way could do it now.  The original plans called for it to be on the "other side" of the fan mount board, which would keep it protected from the additional risk of being snapped off.  Didn't have the luxury due to length of the mounting board.

Fan mounted

This was the final step, prior to installing the electronics and wires, of the instructions.  Picture on the left shows fan mounted, as well as the completed Filastruder, sans electronics.  Looking back on it, after successfully extruded, it was a fairly simple and straight forward process, assuming understood the instructions.

Lonely left-over

This led me to reinventory and identify if had any parts leftover which didn't have a home, or I forgot.  Found this one piece.  It's a reducer to go from one size pipe to another.  Scanned the instructions thoroughly and didn't see anyplace where this was referenced at all so it goes into box of unknown parts, or I ziptie it to the extruder...

One minor complaint I had was they didn't show pictures of everything wired up.  There are two schematics in the install guide which have to follow in order to wire things up.  These schematics are for different types of controllers (for the heater).  I was following the wrong one, and when got to last step in there was looking for a #2 connection point that didn't exist.  This is when I went, ruh-roh, and saw the other schematic.  Had to rewire at this point a little, not too bad.

Nastiness

After had wired everything up, turned it on of course.  Did a dry run and everything seemed fine..  When put in pellets to start the extrusion process they went backwards.  At this point the solution was simple but for the life of me had a huge brain turd and the solution didn't come to me.  Spent a lot longer than necessary trying to figure out why pellets were going backwards.  The simple solution was the motor, but I refused to believe it was that as had the red wire hooked up to the terminal marked with a red dot.  Right, right?  Turns out, long story short, just reversed the wires and it extruded perfectly.

Things in right order

But, this gave me the opportunity to fix a wrong I had made.  Pointed out above that had put things onto the auger shaft in the wrong order.  To clean up this mess had to take everything apart so watched that youtube video (trying to figure out why auger was going in reverse (duh)), got correct order of these parts, and fixed them.

AAAHH, extrusion

Was very elated to finally get an extrusion.  It was quite dirty at first due to black pipe goodness, but it cleaned up quite well, though still has a little more to go before it's pristine.

When had motor going right way, the extruder tightened itself up which threw off the hopper a little, as shown here.

 It's a little hard to see, but there is a thermistor, which measures temperature, in end of the brass plug.  The instructions called for wrapping it in Kapton tape, which is a resistant to high temperatures.  Didn't have any handy so chose to go through my garbage, grab piece of aluminum foil, wrap that around the brass thing and secure it all in place with a hose clamp.  This seems to work very nice!

Closer view of extrusion

 If get the opportunity to do another one of these, I know which steps to do, and not to do, and which parts to pay more attention to.  This was a little challenging, some names were threatened to be called.  In the end was victorious without having to call in reinforcements, or post a "HELP ME" thread to message boards.

Roofing on the way!

Roof on this wonderful RV of mine looks to be the original rubber roof, and it definitely shows it's age.  Seems like every time I climb up there see another sign of shrinkage and other things which need patching.

So, I have JUST ordered (yesterday) my new roofing material, from Grizzly Grip.  Will be receiving it late next week.  Saw the idea for this type of roofing, though different material/manufacturer, from this post on RV.net forums.  Seems like it's a fairly simple thing to do and not all that complex.  They put it on in one heavy coat and have developed a couple leaks, due to some thin spots here and there.  I plan on following instructions (ssshhh, I normally don't) and do it in two coats.

Will be posting pictures of the whole process.  Saturday will most likely start cleaning and what not, and actual application will be later.

Other happenings

Nevada DMV

It's been a while since have jotted down my travels.  I was in Palm Springs when received e-mail from mail forwarder stating I had a certified letter arrive from the DMV.  It was a very quizzical moment as knew had to get the VIN inspected though was under impression (after calling them) that it wasn't all that big of a deal.

Turns out they are little sticklers for having insurance on vehicles, and they use the VIN (Vehicle Identification Number) to match up electronic feed from insurance company to registration.  I knew, after receiving a letter from them, that the VIN they read didn't match up to the VIN on the original title I received from the seller.  This was very troublesome in that had to make special trip.

Left Palm Springs (actually Eagles club in Coachella, CA) and drove to Pahrump, NV, before they suspended the registration.  It was a REQUIREMENT that it be read at a Nevada DMV office.  One thing that hurt me, though I totally expected it (avoided filling up in CA), is that I put in 77 gallons of diesel into the tank upon arrival..  That hurt seeing the numbers keep going up n up n up.

Got to the DMV office, and after waiting two hours was called up.  It was funny in a way, just the mentality, in that the lady who helped me started blaming me, then the insurance company, for having an incorrect VIN.  I simply stated, as tactful and respectful as possible, that it was an incorrect reading by the prior DMV employee, and she just had to accept that.  This prompted her to get the VIN read, and by golly, I was correct.

So, after another hour I was able to leave, though it wasn't truly "fixed" in the computer.  The manager, Deb, actually had to do some weird funky stuff, like creating a new "record" (registration I assume), and then the IT folks would merge it the next day.  Either way I walked out with a fixed registration.

After spending 3 hours there, I left soon as they told me to.  Turns out I also left my license (they had it in paperwork and I forgot they had it), so had to go back the next day.  Then, a day later Deb, the manager, called me back stating that everything was good'ish.  YAY, but still 3 hours out of my life I would've not liked to spend there, not to mention drive up there and back.

Pahrump, NV

While in Pahrump, stayed at the Escapee's park, Pair-A-Dice, and it was a fairly good park with a very reasonable weekly rate ($90).  Was quite happy and will be back here if have to come back.  Great people, great comraderie, and just a wonderful feeling.

Acton, CA

I stayed in Acton for 3 days, and then I had to "rage leave", in that cell service there was very iffy, as place was in a canyon, and internet that day was very very spotty.  The campground was fairly nice, except for lack of cell and reliable internet service.  If don't need those two would come back here.

The town was a very nice, quaint town.  Was very happy as went to local pizza place, local grocery store, etc., and really like the area due to it's "small town" feel.

Los Angeles, CA

When decided to leave Acton, truly had no idea where I would be going.  Planned on going to the 3D Printer World Expo in the area so closer to there was my goal.  My first destination was an Eagles Club in Downtown LA, somewhat close to the docks.  On phone they said I could "try and come", though there was very limited parking available.  As between rock and a hard place set destination there first.  Got there and it wasn't pretty.  Not exactly easy to drive RV through the streets and am sure people were thinking who that crazy person was.  Found quiet spot to pull over and called another eagles club, in Riverside.  They have RV parking but referred me to one in San Bernardino as they have full hookups.

Long story short, got to San Bernardino around 9 PM, spent night in parking lot, and then got a nice site the next day.  There's actually real trees and real grass!! Price is right, $12 a day.  They have a dump station but not "full hookups" as have to drive to dump the yukky stuff.  Still a very nice area and very nice people here.  Would do again, but drive straight from Acton and save 3+ hours of driving.

Turns out Acton is closer to the Expo than San Bernardino, but at least have internet and cell phone!

Follow-up on 3D PrinterExpo

My last post focused heavily on the RigidBot printer, which I backed via KickStarter.  I mainly did that for all of my fellow backers which ponied up some cash for it.  However, there were quite a few other very nice printers there. It was geek heaven, at least for me.

There were many other manufacturers there, from other KickStarter projects and independant companies.  Also some design software, 3D printing services, etc etc.  Am jotting down what I found neat.  Here is their pdf version of their floor plan.

In no particular order:

3D Printer Corp

This booth didn't really invoke images of splendor or quality.  However, one look at their sample prints and couldn't see, or feel, any ridges commonly associated to 3d Printers.  They used the printers which require resin (SLP I think).  Looks like they had very high quality resins (which can only get if buy their printer). The sample parts they had were very detailed and looked like some of them came out of a milling machine, it was that smooth.

The printers start out at $10K and go upwards of $300K.  The person manning the booth was definitely full of himself, but he had some reason to be with the quality I saw.

Based on the prints I saw, I expect close to the same quality from another Kickstarter project I backed, The Peachy Printer.  Still a ways from fruition but the layer depth is highly customizable, hopefully laser accuracy is very precise.  This project is in no way related to this booth.

Matterhackers

Didn't look at this booth all that much, though did catch a glimpse of the software they displayed to control 3D printers from a desktop computer.  This looks to be primarily a 3D filament company, which is essential to 3D printers.

Primary feature of the software I saw was the ability to schedule jobs and have them run in that order. For that functionality looks like computer needed to be connected to printer, though it is possible to export the STL (or GCODE?) files to an SD card, which would then insert into most printers.  One of the few printers it doesn't support is the MakerBot's, which is fine by me.

Affinia

This was a very nifty, compact, and "cute" little printer.  It was featured in Make Magazine as the top printer from 2013.  Looks like can't read the article but they had the magazine at the booth, but here is an overview.  Also, sadly but not surprisingly, looks like they are, or were, being sued by Stratysis.  It seems like they're the equivalent of Monsanto, but a different industry.

The printer is priced at $1,599.00.  Not sure where their pricing numbers come from but for me it seems a little steep in comparison to what you're actually getting. Did like the printer, it was very quiet and looked very well designed.  Small print area though looked like it was truly load n print, in that there isn't much configuration to be done.

Formlabs

This company also had a successful KickStarter, which I didn't back.  Drama is never far from 3D printing as here is another one which was, or is, embroiled in a lawsuit over patent infringement.  Don't know the resolution, or anything else, about the case other than what's in the link.

This printer is a very nicely polished one, and very functional also.  Looks like the prints are high quality, no plastic extrusion, and it's a very nice job.  Didn't catch the price, but it's definitely not a cheap one, though it's a very nice package.

Airwolf3D

The printers on their webpage don't look familiar so might be mistaken on this one, but location jives from what I recall about this booth.

What struck me as odd about this printer is that it uses 3mm filament.  Most of the printers at the show used the thinner 1.75mm filament, so was quite surprised.  Questioned them on this and said one of their primary reasons for this is there's more material to grip so feeding the plastic into the extruder is more reliable.  Dunno, unsure, but sounds plausible.

OpenBeam

This company has had two KickStarter projects.  One for their Kossel Pro printer and the other for an OpenBeam construction kit.

Saw these people at the mini MakerFare in Seattle this part year and was very impressed.  While there, there was also a Google booth with a 3D printer, and the engineer who owns that printer was here also.  He has a very unique, and neat, self leveling system where, prior to print, it takes measurements of the bed height in many places and adjusts the raft, or bottom later, as needed to make printed object the proper size.

The Kossel Pro printer they had on display at this booth is the one from KickStarter.  While it's not truly for sale yet, it'll be listed on Amazon when it is.  The creator of printer was showing me some very neat, and nifty, things he did with the print head, such as adding 3 very small fans to blow air down around the print head and also through the print head so the heat doesn't go up the shaft and cause plastic to melt before it's time.  They had a very nice display and if space permits I will be considering buying one of these!

Other booths

There were several other noteworthy booths to mention, but running out of time. It was a great experience to be here.

The entrance fee was a little high, $35 for two days, or $35 for one day, didn't matter.  For the talks there were two prices, but not so for entry into the "floor" area.  Only complaint.

3D Printer World Expo - Burbank, CA

I came back to California for this primarily.  Have been without reliable internet for about a week, which is why haven't had time to post my musings.

Initially went to a campground around Acton, CA.  The campground was nice but the Wi-Fi was horrendous at times and cell phone signal (at Wi-Fi area) was nil to non-existant.  I somewhat need both for work.

The almost MAIN reason for actually wanting to come here is for the chance to get a free printer..  OK, silly reason, but they did give away 16 printers for FREE.  One of the printers they gave away is from a company who I backed on KickStarter.

The 3D Printer World Expo

Makerbot

Now, since this blog is all about me, and my thoughts, I want to mention, while not the reason I came here, did see MakerBot there.  I was a HUGE supporter of them and bought my first, and their first model, 3D printer, the Cupcake, #1670.  Went to their HQ in Brooklyn and everything.  I had nothing but problems with it and they offered no support at all in regards to it.  Someplace haveHere written down my logs, similar to this blog, about what had to do/change/etc to make it even work part way.  In short, completely replaced electronics, rewrote software, yada yada yada.  So, now I tell people to avoid their products at all costs.  The new ones today come with a 14 day warranty, 14 days from time of shipment.....  Whoop dee dooo!

They were innovative, but innovation left and inflated prices took over.  They were purchased by Stratysis, who are a little sue happy and sued them for something.  Long story short, they settled and bought MakerBot for umpteen million bucks (overpriced IMHO).

I truly believe in the technology, so enter the KickStarter project I backed!

RigidBot

"Normal" RigidBot Give-Away

The RigidBot printer is a KickStarter project which was created by a company called Inventapart, which is a rapid prototyping company.  I thought they were only giving away a printer, but to my surprise, they actually had a booth here!  YAY YAY.

Went and talked with the two people manning the booth.  One is doing an internship there from one of the local colleges (major is mechanical engineer), and not sure what the other one does.  Schmoozed them a little, well, not at all actually, and they gave me a T-shirt, after I mentioned backed them on KickStarter.

Give-Away? detail frame/bed

Prior to finding their booth saw the "give away" printer on the front table and it was an interesting sight.  Snapped most of the pictures shown here from the prototype.

Now, judging from my limited experience with a sub-standard printer (see MakerBot #1670 above) am very impressed with how this looks so far.  To say I am utterly disappointed in that MakerBot is an understatement.

Closeup of side rod and gear. Interesting

Upon talking with the intern, and some people won't like this, it turns out that he's the one doing at least a portion of the setup guide.  Have seen many people question that.  It sounds, and looks, like there is a lot of activity underway which we don't see through the KickStarter updates.  And, some more people might disagree, but I truly think that with said intern doing at least a portion of the documentation this helps the backers as he would generally think of things that the creator (Michael) might not think of.

Power supply and connecting cables

 One thing, upon looking at the give-away machine, that I am not particularly fond of, is the propietariesh (yes, made up word) parts.  Most everything seems like it has some sort of proprietary component to it.  Some things it's hard to avoid, like the heated bed and the frame.  I hope, and have faith, that Michael put in enough thought into the complete design of this printer.  Going in knew about the number of proprietary parts, but seeing them just made me go humm.  Still have a good feeling about this project, and am very happy to be a part of it.  Will just see how everything lines up when we get to that point!

One side of Exturder (print head)

 A lot of people backing the project have had specific questions about the extruder.  While I don't claim to know much about them, and people will claim to know infinitely more than I do, this looks to be a very compact, lightweight, and simple design.  There are some things I noticed about it that seem rather interesting.

First was that the hole in which the filament fed in seemed to be able to support up to 3mm filament.  This could work great for me as I have about 30 pounds (yes pounds, or ~15 kilo's, of 3mm ABS filament).  Unsure if this could cause any problems in the long run when using 1.7mm, or maybe it's extra room for a hose to enclose the filament, unsure.

Rear of Extruder

Second was how small and dinky it looked.  Though it's been awhile, I'm used to the big and bulky Makerbot initial extruders, with the long cylinder and gads of insulation and who knows what else.  Here it looked like the thermistor(?) was fairly tiny and the melt area was also very tiny.  Hopefully that tininess is a result of great engineering!

While there, also had a talk with one of their engineers(?), the other person manning the booth.  Because of all the 3mm filament I have, inquired about a some options for me, such as other extruders, etc.  He pulled out a small bag with some filament parts and said that if I had the tools, i.e. drill press, it might be possible to drill out the inside so it can take the larger filament.  I'd then have to tune things to control the melting, maybe adjust flow rate through the software and other things like that.  Will see what happens.  He did mention I could order a bag of those extruder parts from the website to fiddle around with if wanted to.  If the mood strikes will do.

"BIG" build plate extended

From my meager software engineering mind, everything did look surprisingly well built and very sturdy.  The aluminum plate securing the extruder to the platform was very solid.  All of the rods and connection points (to the frame) had very tight tolerances.  The 3D printed connector parts (they were the prototypes after all) seemed very solid as well with tight tolerances.  The whole construction seemed very solid, from top to bottom.

One thing did notice, and it will make me rethink where this goes in the RV, is the build plate extends past the frame.  When ordered this printer had no inkling that would be in an RV now, otherwise things might've changed.  This, at least in my humble mind, is a design flaw.  Am unsure if it's due to these being the prototype machines, unsure if they have remedied this in the final version, I didn't say anything and they never said anything.  Take what you will from that, but this is the only thing which causes me concern.  Was going to enclose everything to keep the heat in, this puts a wrinkle in that.  One of my concerns is that things don't always go bump in the night, they go bump in the day too, and afraid that this could bump into other things.

The machine was humming along smoothly, and very quiet, though it was hard to hear much machine noise in a crowded hall.  The prints were small little keychains but still didn't see any hiccups at all.  On the control panel, in front of the machine at the booth, saw the USB plugin, which is where assume we can attach a thumb drive of sorts to load jobs.  The prints were controlled from a laptop that was right there and didn't notice any communication glitches.  There were some limit switches, saw one for lowering the extruder rig, and think there was at least one more, but didn't see that.
 As said before, am still happy I backed this project.  There are very few printers, if any, in this price range, that doesn't have any "flaws".  What I perceive as a flaw others might not, and vice versa.

Quartzsite, AZ

Took a ride out here on Saturday, 1/18/2014.  Stayed at the Eagles club #2594 in Coachella Valley.  It's out on the far edge of the valley, a good 30 minutes to Palm Springs itself.  There are a couple of truck stops just down the road, TA and Love's.  This Eagles had full hookups, electric water and the smelly stuff.  The smelly stuff was a little too far away to hook up hose to, so had to backup, empty, then pull forward again.  In a way this was OK as supposed to leave tanks in the closed position at all times, according to the guy I listened to at the FMCA Rally.

I should've taken a picture when in Quartzsite, AZ, but it was a MADHOUSE.  Wall to wall people, very little room to move around, traffic lights took forever, and then some.

Came here for a couple reasons, one to see what all the hub-bub was about, the other was to pick up a propane heater.  Accomplished both missions.

Picked up an Olympian Wave 6 Propane Catalytic Heater.  New they're over $300.  "Refurbished", at the show, they were $135.  A substantial savings if someone was to ask me.  That night I went to a local hardware store and picked up all the parts, including a flaring tool and a small pipe cutter.  These two tools, which will only use one time, added about $30 onto the bill, and the bill for all the parts, fittings, hoses, etc (tools too) came to an additional $100.  However, at the current place am at in Pahrump, there is a little workshop with tools, so maybe I can return the ones I bought when go back to Palm Springs.

Don't have any pictures yet of this purchase, or this project, but will be accomplishing it this week and posting what went through for the install process.  It looks to be fairly simple.  One thing which I have tried to avoid is working with gas, such as natural gas or propane.  In this case I actually have to work on it as, well, it's only me, and Mia.  Can't farm out the work with this one.

Already have a spot picked to hook it up, under the stove.  There's a nice copper line will be cutting into and it promises to be an easy thing, albeit several hours.

At Quartzsite, they have one main tent, think like a BIG circus tent.  Inside, and outside, they have all the vendors and it's a typical RV show thing.  Some good deals to be had, as well as some not so good deals. There were some Jug-O-Juice companies, some chintzy magnetic bands things, even saw a chintzy insole.  Most things like that I saw was not quality, and none of them seemed to only want to make a buck, and not care about why customer was looking.

While here saw some familiar faces from the FMCA rally, as well as other people I have come across in my travels.  They had an Escapee booth (and I'm a lifetime member).  Had to stop in to thank them.  I also ran into some other Escapee's I met in Yuma.  It was funny seeing them up here, fun was had all around.  I even helped someone drag her husband away from some booth.

There were booths there for all sorts of things, from Workampers (such as temporary help at Amazon or camp hosts at campgrounds), to Jug-O-Juice-O-Matic's, to Honda Generators and the like, and cooking pans too.  A large range of activities.

Next year I plan on staying in town for a week, hopefully dry camping out on BLM land.  If not there were quite a few cheap RV parks in town (very squishy squishy) if worse came to worse.  Also very cheap.