The new SKR boards are pretty sweet, but they’re currently in v1.0, and that means bugs. Cheap Chinese parts, poor QA and a price tag of a Dominos pizza, too good to be true? Right, so the 5V line that powers the BLTouch is shite, it’s really choppy. Here’s a pic from the 5V line on a scope, as you can see, it’s naff. This is causing the BLTouch to smash your nozzle into the bed when it auto-levels. So how do we fix this? There’s two things to do for a sure fire fix that I’ve found, firstly in your marlin configuration_adv.h search for and enable: //#BLTOUCH_FORCE_SW_MODE by removing the // Secondly, adding a 100nF ceramic capacitor between the VCC and GND pins on the BLTouch: Pretty straightforward way to fix the issue. Obviously we all wish we didn’t have to “fix” a brand new board, but it is…Continue reading SKR E3 Mini/Dip BLTouch crashing the nozzle into the bed?
Category: Hobbies
Installing the SKR E3 Dip mainboard into an Ender3, using TMC2208 v3 in UART Mode and a BLTouch. Setting up current Marlin_2.0_bugfix for the SKR E3Dip with BLTouch enabled.
There’s a big buzz around the new 32bit SKR boards available from Bigtreetech. There are now four flavours, the larger SKR v1.3 and Pro v1.1, and the smaller Mini E3 and the E3 Dip. The last two are direct swap in replacement for the existing Melzi board that is shipped with the Ender 3, the larger boards will require a new case to be printed for them like this. So what’s the hype? Well 32bit boards are the future for 3dprinting. The existing melzi board in the Ender is a known bottleneck, this is why many people use Klipper running on a Raspberry-Pi that takes on all the processing and prevents the bottlenecking. The drivers that are now available are just getting better and better, the TMC2209s are the new kids on the block, handle large amps but as they’re not shipping for many weeks, I went for the TMC2208s…Continue reading Installing the SKR E3 Dip mainboard into an Ender3, using TMC2208 v3 in UART Mode and a BLTouch. Setting up current Marlin_2.0_bugfix for the SKR E3Dip with BLTouch enabled.
Ender 3 / Pro, Bed Levelling and first use tutorial
There seems to be a lot of confusion on using an Ender 3 3D printer about, and the same questions keep getting asked over and over. The printer is cheap so everyone and their grandmother seems to be buying it, which is great, but oh the questions of bed levelling! The very first thing to do is build the bugger correctly. The instructions are nothing but garbage, I didn’t even open mine. Lay all the bits out on a large table, sit down with this video by Tomb of 3d Printed Horrors, get a beer and build it as they do. Allow a couple of hours to do it correctly, I can’t stress this enough, build it once, build it right. If the thing isn’t square from the outset then you’ll just introduce more issues as you try and upgrade/improve the print quality of it. Once you’ve got it constructed,…Continue reading Ender 3 / Pro, Bed Levelling and first use tutorial
How to fix a sticky Yashica TLR shutter
I recently bought a very cheap Yashica 635 TLR on eBay. The reason I chose the 635 was due to it being the only medium format camera ever produced to use either 120 and 35mm film. 35mm is still fairly affordable and easy to develop whereas 120 is becoming more expensive. If the rumours are true that Fuji no longer make film and Kodak aren’t making any more c41 120 then in the near future this will become incredibly expensive, having the 35mm option on the TLR at least allows me to still play with it and not relegate it to being an ornament. So the reason it was so cheap was due to the sticky shutter leaves and the camera was filthy, the shutter wouldn’t open at all. I did some research and found it’s due to the old lubricant on the shutter leaves becoming sticky. The general gist…Continue reading How to fix a sticky Yashica TLR shutter
Howto strip paint from Games Workshop Citadel Miniatures
Recently I decided to have a crack at painting some citadel miniatures. Since I’ve tons of them in the loft at my parents I dug some out. I wanted to start afresh so needed to strip some of paint. These were mostly painted in Citadel Acrylics with the odd bit of Humbrol enamel. I use to use acetone as a kid but it never worked well, so did some research and came up with Dettol antiseptic. This is also safe on plastics. Above is an example of a model painted well over twenty years ago, badly. Although not bad for a 12 year old I guess. All my models were base coated with citadel spray paint primer, then painted with citadel acrylics. So the model is broken down and placed into a glass jar, in this case with lots of others and in fact too many. Top up with…Continue reading Howto strip paint from Games Workshop Citadel Miniatures
New Toy! Evolve Bustin, Gen 2, Electric Skateboard, esk8. First Mod, Remote LED Charging Monitor
Ive got a new toy! Well, a second hand new toy! An Evolve gen 2, esk8 board. The specs look pretty cool, top speed 38kmh, range of 30km. Albeit a little less since the lion battery is now 18months old. But it was cheap, like the budgie! This variation is the Bustin limited edition series, but is based on the Bamboo GT. I haven't been on a skateboard for twenty years so it took me a few kms to get use to even being on a board again. I remember that I skate goofy but it feels weird so I may try regular tomorrow, perhaps absence has changed my style. This thing is so quick. I've mainly used the low speed setting, the fast speed is like a rocket! The brake is surprisingly effective too, and the motor regenerates the battery on braking, great! These boards were nearly £1300 new so…Continue reading New Toy! Evolve Bustin, Gen 2, Electric Skateboard, esk8. First Mod, Remote LED Charging Monitor
Airfix 1/72 Fokker Eindecker e.ii, A01086
I’ve wanted to make one of the new Airfix models for a while, since they were bought by Hornby in 2006 they’ve started to roll out new kits made from new moulds with new decals, instructions, and type of plastic. They make a nice kit, not a lot of flash to cut away and very few mould lines. The plastic is a great material, not shiny and hard like Tamiya. A real nice thing to make. I added the rigging wire and chose to paint it a Fokker grey, rather than the boxart of canvas. These planes rarely left the factory in the same colour so it leaves a little room to play with. The rigging wire i used fuse wire, hardly to scale, but it was all I had and this was just meant to be a brief weekender kit and to test new Airfix’s new material. A lovely…Continue reading Airfix 1/72 Fokker Eindecker e.ii, A01086
TinyWhoop Quadcopter Build
So I fancied having a crack at the Tiny-Whoop craze. I had a micro-quad for a while but was a bit annoyed with breaking props once a day. This TinyWhoop is based on the Eachine E010 mini quad. In itself the quad is a great little thing, but it has the option of turning into something really fun! $20AUD delivered, what more do you need! Time for an upgrade then. I’ve already got a half decent transmitter from my other quads, so I don’t need the cheap Chinese thing, I’ve got some Dark Edition, Insane speed brushed motors too thanks to Benedikt at Micro-Motor Warehouse. Time for a sit down and think what I actually need. I want to replace the flight controller with something more useful, the BeeBrain is ideal and made for purpose, unfortately a little pricey for me, BangGood do a ripoff called the Beecore which can…Continue reading TinyWhoop Quadcopter Build
Hasegawa 1/48 Hawker Typhoon mk1B
Here’s my recent build of Hasegawa’s version of the Hawker Typhoon. Wearing insignia of 609 Squadron based at Thorney Island, 1944. It went together fairly easily, few join line issues with the upper fuselage and wing roots. I decided to spray in the invasion stripes as the kit decals looked fairly rubbish for them. My first time having a proper crack with an airbrush and compressor.
Constructo Albatross – Wooden Model Ship
I’ve been building a wooden model ship for a few months, here above is the current state. It’s taken quite a while to get to this point, probably six months worth of odd evenings. I’ve shelved it for a while as didn’t want to start the rigging for a bit. Here’s an album in imgur of the a buildlog if interested. HMS Albatross – Constructo Model Kit
Tamiya 1/48 F4U-1D Corsair
So I needed a hobby whilst job hunting and found a decent local hobby store in Sydney. I ended up buying my first model kit since I was a kid, probably in about 14 years. Having some spending money made me able to buy the right gear to have a decent go at it, whereas when I was a kid I had no money for paint, decent brushes etc. So here’s the result:
Why did I buy a DJI F450 Quadcopter?
So apparently I jumped head first into the quadcopter world by building this weapon. It’s not a drone, if anything it’s a UAS (Unmanned Aircraft System) but that sounds bollocks too. It’s a quadcopter, it’s got four rotors and is piloted by me, with a transmitter and sometimes I wear video goggles so I can fly it in first person view (FPV) depending on the situation. So the finished product, a DJI (yes they make Phantoms) F450 on my walking backpack with RayBans for scale.
Buildlog with DJI F450 Flamewheel Naza V2 and a stock Turnigy 9x Transmitter
It took me a fair while to get my 450 airborne with not knowing anything about the hobby and did a lot of research. The whole process wasn’t listed anywhere with the items I used, so thought I’d write a buildlog of my process, perhaps it would help someone else.
Turnigy 9x Stick Calibration
First thing to do when you’ve got a new transmitter is to calibrate the sticks. Very easy to do on the 9x, although it’s not particularly well-known. Just follow these easy steps.
Turnigy 9X Switch Error / Beeping
So you’ve bought yourself a Turnigy 9X transmitter, turn this shiny device on and you are presented by an annoying beeping noise and “Switch Error” and first thing you do his hit google. It’s not broken, it’s just telling you that it needs the switches all moved to the off position. Move all the switches upwards and away from you (this doesn’t include the sticks), and hey presto, no more annoying noise. Something I found out rather quickly!
Make a Half Dollar Silver Ring
I was surfing Reddit as I often am when I came across a guy who had posted a thread about a ring that his father had made from an American half dollar coin. I often find myself with nothing to do and this piqued my interest. After some googling I found that all pre 1965 American large coins were made from solid silver, or thereabouts, and these are easy to turn into a ring. So at that point I jumped on eBay and bought myself a Half Dollar coin, a 1958 Ben Franklin coin to be exact for £7 delivered, bargain! A bit of further searching and it would appear I could flog it to the yanks for about $40 if I could be bothered, I couldn’t, so ring making commenced.