May the 4th be with you.
This fun little decorative stand is available for free, along with many other Star Wars related projects, in xTool studio! While projects that involve interlocking with each other have quite a bit of size limitations to ensure they can still interlock correctly, projects that are just simply glued layers can be lasered at any size desired.
This was a combination of a simple interlock as well as a layered project. The backing and base were laser cut with black acrylic while the text is cut with white acrylic. To help with the alignment of the lettering, the letters were actually lightly etched onto the black acrylic so that way there are guidelines as to were to place the white acrylic.
Template etching and or creating jigs is a great way to ensure things line up the way you want them to.
Lab Survey Conducted
Over the past week, VISST students were invited to complete a feedback survey to provide insight on how they currently feel about the lab and how we could guide its growth for the future. While metrics are collected on a weekly basis, student input is very valuable to ensure that the space is properly curated for them.
From that survey, we have compiled a State of the Union for students to read for a sense of how the feedback went and what our next steps are.
While we won’t be linking the student-only document here, we wanted to recap and share some of the key points.
The overall sense is that students love having access to the lab and enjoy being able to learn about the tools and use them by themselves - something not actually available at many other schools.
Despite tidiness being a pain point with so many different projects going on all the time, students have found the lab to be a very welcoming and inspiring space to be in.
Workshop interest and attendance has greatly increased compared to last year, and the students have found them to be insightful and fascinating. There has been an appreciation of offering elective project and skills based workshops beyond the tool safety orientations.
Using their feedback responses, we’ll continue to shape the maker lab into the ideal fabrication space for the students of VISST and continue to provide a space to make.
Tiny Bases Requires Brims
Very small 3D models should always be printed with a brim and not just a skirt. The brim will provide additional surface grip so it is likely to topple over or slide off the build plate during the printing process. This does not apply to coins as those are generally flat and won’t experience toppling issues.
Preheat or Control Temps First
Before running your prints, it is recommended to either pre-heat the printers using the designated functions, or manually control the nozzle and plate temperatures.
It has been observed that adjusting the temps on the Ender after launching a print may cause some file reading issues where it suddenly switches to a different file. To avoid that bug, try manually heating things up before selecting your file.