Tag: tools

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Fancy Sanding Blocks

About a year ago I “designed” (ha ha!) and 3D printed the Super Boring Sanding Block which has served me well for sanding miscellaneous wood in the shop, but I found a nice parametric sanding block for OpenSCAD so I thought I’d give it a try.

You can adjust the length, width, and height, and basically make it any size you want. I made mine to fit the sheets of sandpaper I normally buy. I’ve now got six of them with various grit for each one so I can just grab the right one and get to work. (I also added labels to each using the Niimbot.)

My one complaint (which someone else also had) is that you can’t easily figure out the size needed to fit a specific length of sandpaper. I don’t know if there is some OpenSCAD wizardry or maths that would do this for you, but my solution was to print a really thin version (repeatedly) and adjusting the numbers until it properly fit my sandpaper, then I made full width versions. Things like sanding blocks are a perfect match for 3D printing.

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Gridfinity Organization (Part 1)

I mentioned Gridfinity a bit in my post about a custom box for hardware, but I’ve also been working on an organization system using Gridfinity for my soldering desk. I’ve got Version 1 done, but of course the beauty of Gridfinity is that it’s modular, and you can make it more modular depending on how you do it.

Usually when you see people print the baseplates for Gridfinity bins they are a large rectangle because they are putting them in a drawer or some other very rectangular area, but I have a weird non-rectangular thing going on, so I printed a bunch of smaller baseplates and bolted them together. The Gridfinity Rebuilt in OpenSCAD library adds some nice features, and one of them is these baseplates with holes, so that’s what I used. (As a bonus I used a bunch of #4-40 hardware I had lying around because I tend to use 3mm hardware for most things.)

As mentioned, it’s modular. So it’s easy to rearrange things, take bins out and move them around, and put them back in place… and they are held into the baseplate with magnets, so they (mostly) stay put. The larger gray one on the left side is my little trash bin. When soldering I put bits of insulation, wire, or any other tiny scrap in there, then dump it into the rubbish bin when it gets full. The rest of the bins are the things I use most often when soldering. I may still make a few tweaks but this is a huge improvement over the cut up cardboard box I was using. The “everything in its place” approach can definitely be a good one.

There’s one custom thing here, in the back row, which is inspired by The New Tool Holder but in Gridfinity form. I rushed that piece and didn’t have enough clearance on two of the holes so I ended up drilling them out a bit. It worked fine, but it does serve as a reminder to slow down and get it right.

(I didn’t get a photo of it actually on my soldering desk… if I’m honest it’s still a bit of a mess, just because there is so much on it. If I get it cleaned up I’ll grab a photo and add it here.)

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NIIMBOT Label Maker

I recently got a NIIMBOT D11 label maker. I’ve had a DYMO for years (and even shared a great tip for it!) The NIIMBOT has some nice features but also a few things that are sort of annoying, and I’ll ramble on about those things in this post.

Here’s a short list of the good things:

  1. It uses an app
  2. It has a built-in battery
  3. It’s inexpensive
  4. It’s pretty simple
  5. You can make fully custom labels

And another list of the bad things:

  1. It uses an app
  2. It has a built-in battery
  3. It cannot stand up
  4. It’s complicated

The App
Okay, let’s start with the first item on both lists… the app. Many years ago I got a DYMO LabelManager 160 Portable Label Maker. It’s dead simple to use, does not need an app, and just… makes labels. We have one at work, and at my previous job, and anyone can use it quite easily.

With an app, you first need to install an app (of course) and that is the only way you can use a NIIMBOT. There is no keypad, you can’t connect it to a computer (which would be awesome) and so yeah, an app. The world is full of apps now, and you need them to do things, which means you need a mobile device to do things.

And yes, the NIIMBOT is a Chinese product, so the app is also from China, so if you are hesitant about installing apps from China, you are out of luck. Supposedly you do not need to register to use the app, unless you want to save labels/templates for future use. I found this out after I registered. The app also has “Premium” content, where it shows you clip art and fonts that you cannot use unless you pay, which is quite annoying.

The Battery
It has a built-in battery, which is of course good and bad. When the battery dies, it’s not going to work until you charge it. You can’t swap in a fresh set of cells. Of course this also means it won’t kill a set of 6 AAA batteries like the DYMO might. The built-in battery thing is a toss up but everything nowadays seems to be headed that way. Once the internal battery is dead I guess you just chuck the whole unit into the bin. More rubbish.

The Cost
The NIIMBOT D11 costs just under $20 USD, which isn’t too bad. My DYMO purchased in 2017 was about $10 USD (and is currently $45 USD!?!?) of course you can get an old school embossing label makers for $12 as well, and no batteries are needed!

It cannot stand on its own…
The strange design choice to add a completely rounded bottom to the unit means it cannot stand upright. I fixed that with a 3D printed NIIMBOT D11 Stand.

Simple
If you just want to print labels, it’s pretty simple. In some ways using the app can be easier than using the keypad on a DYMO 160. So yeah, as long as you have no issues using the app, you get simple.

Complicated
If you want to get complicated, you can. As I mentioned, completely custom labels are possible but they are more work. If you don’t like some of the aspects of the app (China, Premium content, an account) or have issues connecting via Bluetooth, well… it can get more complicated.

Completely Custom Labels
Now for some good news. Since you can load any image into the app, you can create completely custom labels outside of the app. Just use your favorite software to design a label the proper size (in one color) and export it as an image file (PNG or JPG) and then load that into the app and print it. This works well, but is obviously more work than just doing the label design within the app. I used Inkscape on my desktop computer, but for you mobile freaks you can probably figure out some mobile app that can work.

One More Bad
I saw a YouTube review of a NIIMBOT printer and supposedly the reviewer had a NIIMBOT made by… not NIIMBOT. Yes, there are fake/counterfeit units. NIIMBOT themselves even note that there is a fake app you need to avoid. So fake hardware and fake software are things you need to avoid when dealing with this device. Fun! (No, not fun. Bad.)

Whew! With all that out of the way, the labels themselves are good. The app can certainly be easy to use, and spits out labels quickly and they stick well. So yeah, a label maker should be simple, and the NIIMBOT D11 certainly can be simple.

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Hardware Gridbox

After I got the Bambu Lab P1S I stress tested it a bit with the 3D Printed Pegboard but before that project I actually printed this Gridbox which uses the Gridfinity organizational system.

The way Gridfinity works is that there is a grid (duh) and you print bins or other “things” that fit into the grid. The bins can be 1×1 or 2×1 or 4×4 or whatever fits into the grid. I actually used Gridfinity Rebuilt in OpenSCAD to generate these little bins because I prefer OpenSCAD to Fusion 360.

I scaled the height of the bins to the internal height of the Gridbox. I can tip the box over and all the hardware stays where it should. Almost. The washers are small and thin enough they occasionally end up in the top part of the bin where the labels are. I could probably solve this by gluing a piece of foam inside the top lid so it closes and provides just an extra bit of cushion. I may try that… If I did this again I would perhaps alter the bins just a bit to have flatter tops since I won’t be stacking these bins.

This really is a great way to store all of my 3mm hardware. As I’ve mentioned in other recent posts, I’m really trying to organize my shop and maximize efficiency. Before this I kept all the hardware in individual bags and then in a larger bag, which meant pulling out all the bags, grabbing the one I wanted, opening that bag, getting the hardware, etc. Again, let’s make this easy. I can also see how much hardware I have in each size easily, as compared to being stuffed into bags.

This Gridbox is a really nice design. I used the 4×4 version and will probably make another for my 2.5mm and 2mm hardware. There’s also a version that allows for a clear acrylic laser cut piece to fit into the top lid so you can see what’s inside. I don’t need that for my hardware, but it is a useful feature.

The model is based on the Rugged Box (Parametric) by Whity, which sadly is only parametric if you use Fusion 360. Sigh… I did find this Parametrizable Rugged Box (OpenSCAD) by Dochni but I don’t love it. I’ve started to try improving the code to do what I want but then I just started to write my own which I haven’t finished yet. (Note: See Rugged Parametric Box in OpenSCAD for a great new model!)

Besides a few things that give it away as 3D printed, this is another print that just does not look printed. The quality of the print is so good, and the design is top notch, so yeah… we’ve come a long way since 2011.

Anyway, the 3mm hardware is now sorted! That said, I have been using my Parts Tray with Sliding Lid for over a year now and I’ve been quite pleased with it. I may make a few changes to it though, as there are a few specific pieces of hardware I like to have at the ready.

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Filament Containers

I’ve been working on reorganizing (or just “cleaning”) my workshop and that’s forced me to look at the processes and tools that I use. In the case of filament storage I used to just stick an opened roll into the plastic bag it came in, toss some desiccant into the bag, and then shove it into an old filament box. It works, but I find it annoying. The bags are a pain, and once they are in a box I don’t know what color is in what box.

So I looked around for some filament storage solutions that involved clear containers. This STACKER F-Box is about $50 USD and I don’t need a container I can print from. This Kingroon is under $30 USD, but again, not quite right. There are these PrintDry containers but it’s $75 USD for 6 of them and I’ve seen a few non-favorable reviews…

Ultimately I got a six-pack of these PRAKI Dry Food Storage Containers for less than $25 USD. And every roll of filament I have actually fits. (About $4 USD per container is not bad at all!)

I was concerned the containers would be crap, or not air-tight, but they’re probably more air-tight than the plastic bags I use over and over again and just fold over and tape shut. These work well for my needs, fit on my shelves, and are nice and clear so I can see what filament is inside. I remember that there was a huge tub at Milwaukee Makerspace that could hold a dozen or more rolls, but that’s not a good solution for my needs, so these individual containers work quite well.

I think this is a good example of COTS (commercially available off-the-shelf) where you can find an existing item which has a specific purpose, and then repurpose it for your needs, and it ends up being less expensive than the item that was specifically designed for a need. So while a few companies created filament storage containers it makes a lot of sense to just repurpose something like a food storage container, of which there are hundreds (or thousands) of different varieties.

Update: In this thread Mastodon user @GeekAndDad pointed out these large IRIS 44 Quart WeatherPro™ Containers they use which can each hold 7 rolls, so the 2-pack will set you up for 14 rolls of open filament! It also looks like there are a variety of other sizes if you prefer the “large container” approach.

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