Baby’s First 3D Printer

Posted on 2016/05/13 by tjkopena

After years of thinking about it I finally got a 3D printer. Several models currently on the market at last hit the combo of price, print quality, and ease of use for which I’d been waiting. I haven’t done much with it yet, but so far it’s really exciting. Getting it set up and making my first print was wondrously easy, even in the somewhat obscure variant of Linux I use. Similarly, I was able to whip together a quick test part in a simple 3D modeler that was vastly quicker and more intuitive for that small job than the engineering CAD tools with which I’m familiar, and browser based to boot.

Some test parts. What’s up, Rocktopus?

I have just three thoughts to share while I listen to the servos on another print.

Magic

One is just a reflection on the shocking banality of magic. This is a magical device. And yet it sits on my desk, at home. The whole process is magic:

I order a very complex assemblage of electronics;
Not 24 hours later it’s delivered to my door, at no shipping cost;
I go back online and find some crazy mini-sculpture on a lark;
A simple tool lets me examine the model and send it to the device;
Minutes later I have a good quality 3D replica on my desk.

Nearly everything about that sequence is almost so easy to overlook today. Having an uncommon, advanced electrical appliance delivered almost immediately is a concept that would have been all but unfathomable to regular consumers even ten years ago, and very expensive five years ago. The whole Internet component of that process is itself such deep magic taken so trivially for granted these days. But producing a complex physical artifact is still this moment just rare enough that it highlights the heights of sorcery which we have brought into our everyday lives.

Just, you know, surfin’ around, lookin’ for some demon knight sculptures to turn into physical artifacts. Typical Thursday.

I saw my first 3D printer some seventeen years ago. As a college freshman, already working in two research labs, I tagged along on a trip to a conference on solid modeling. One of the corporate vendors in the exhibit hall was demoing a 3D printer for rapid prototyping in mechanical design. Some of the features are still not that common: It had two extruder heads, so they had a great demo wherein they printed an enclosed gearbox as one solid piece using two materials, dunked the piece in solvent to dissolve one of them, and produced a functional, intricate mechanical drivetrain that would be near impossible to build out of separate components.

At the time that demo was amazing, science fiction. But today, you can readily buy that kind of dual-head capability for home use. My printer does not have two heads, but I could buy or make an upgrade to do so. And it’s likely that the resolution on mine is as good or better as on that extremely expensive machine I saw then.

Sometimes it’s surprisingly difficult to see technological progress, either because it’s invisible or actually hasn’t happened. Just to pick two examples: It’s difficult for most people to really appreciate the improvements in automotive technology that actually have been made, as the real developments are all literally under the hood and body and mostly show up in absentia, via dramatic reductions in fatalities and pollution. Meanwhile, a true lack of progress, much of America still has barely better Internet access than it had when I was growing up on dial-up.

But this device is concrete and tangible progress you can put on your desk. Over just the course of my adult life so far, less than two decades, 3D printing has advanced from a technology just starting to transition beyond a research concept, to one rapidly becoming a household commodity appliance.

An exemplar of one of the world’s most advanced technologies! … being used here to print a literal tower of skulls for next month’s boardgaming …

Science

My second thought is that, of course, this has happened before. One of my very earliest memories is the soft blue console glow from the Commodore 64 that my dad put in my bedroom as a very young kid. There has effectively never not been a computer in my life, and the profound impact that early, constant exposure and intimate familiarity has had on my career, friendships, and life is incalculable.

Demographically though I am certainly on the leading edge of the populace for which that could have been the case. Even up through to high school it was just starting, even in middle class circles among the more education-committed households, to be reasonable to assume that people had a computer at home. And yet, the middle class and up cohort born then will essentially all never have known a life without computers. Over that fifteen years or so PCs had advanced from new, somewhat obscure technology, to a near ubiquitous household item.

As a new father then, it behooves me to think—and worry—about what is next. My wife was teasing me earlier than our daughter is going to grow up thinking that everyone has a 3D printer. But that’s exactly right, everyone will. Not next year, not the year after, but absolutely by the time our baby is in high school and quite likely while she’s still in elementary school, these are going to be everywhere. Right now you can walk into several big box chain stores and pick up a 3D printer for a few hundred dollars or less. Granted, those models might not be that capable or that robust. But that’s only a question of time. This isn’t a technology that’s coming, it’s already here, already massively changing engineering and design, and poised to change business and everyday life. Being immersively fluent in 3D modeling and rapid bespoke manufacturing is going to have the same magnitude of bearing on being a scientist, engineer, or any number of other careers that computers had for my cohort. So, yes, our daughter will always have one of these around.

This interface just exudes science! … as I print my demon knight.

Change

The follow-up question is then: What else? 3D printing, drones and autonomous vehicles, massively capable AI, ubiquitous gene hacking, these are all coming, probably in that order. “When?” is inarguably a matter of huge uncertainly, but almost certainly well within the timeframe in which I need to worry about putting my baby ahead of those waves reshaping the world.

Fortunately I am professionally and personally disposed to be fluent and comfortable with most of those. But gene hacking? I only know the most rudimentary, textbook aspects. More troublingly, what else am I missing, what imminent paradigm change is not on my radar? Once upon a time and still ongoing, computers changed everything. An awful lot of people didn’t see that coming. But now there are upheavals looming not just in practical work and daily living, but basic conceptions of production, privacy, creativity, science, and even personhood. How to prepare a little person for an onslaught of change that will be deeper and faster than anything to come before, and will likely only get deeper and faster?

That prospect should be scary. In many regards it is terribly so. Humanity as a gestalt is tragically unprepared to harness and manage these disruptions.

On an individual level though, the true fundamentals will remain so even as the world qualitatively changes. Direct familiarity with the tools will always matter, and it’s grossly unfortunate that inequality in access seems poised to only grow with time. But humanity’s ultimate toolset will always be the same: Critical thinking, curiosity, empathy, our intelligence and values. Just as determinative as my newfangled home computer to my comparative success navigating the information age were much more time-honored assets: The shelf of encyclopedias and dictionaries we had within kid-reach, and the weekly trips with mom to the library, hauling home stacks of Encyclopedia Brown, Star Trek, and Shakespeare.

So, this afternoon, baby and I will probably play with the 3D printer just a little bit. It is, after all, a pretty cool robot. But then, just like most days, we’ll read our increasingly tattered copy of Where’s Hedgehog?, crawl around exploring under the tables, and give big hugs to Zebra-Giraffe and all our animal buddies. Because, just as they have always been, these are the root skills, traits, and values I can give her that are going to help her through even the changes to come that I cannot possibly foresee. Thinking, curiosity, empathy. In the end that’s all there is under everything, no matter what new and magical forms the world takes.

Baby’s first 3D printer.

Easy Modern/Future Ladders

Posted on 2016/05/07 by tjkopena

In the course of working on new terrain for our LibertyHammer event, I needed some ladders. The scratchbuild method I came up with I have not previously seen and I think it works well, so this is a quick guide.

My goal was a ladder appropriate for modern or future settings, with a bulky, heavy look to match the giant bolts and chunky slabs aesthetic of the terrain (my current project is primarily meant for 40k). The big technical challenge was being able to build quickly while still having the ladder look very square.

What I came up with uses two kinds of styrene struts: 4.8mm I-beams (Plastruct #90545) and 2mmx4mm strips (Plastruct #90767). Other sizes could definitely be used, but these seem to work well and are commonly available.

I-beams.

Strips.

The rails of the ladder are made by two I-beams cut to the length of the ladder. The ladder’s steps are strips cut to the intended width of the ladder minus the width of an I-beam. The ladder constructed here is 5.5″ long and just over 1″ wide.

These can of course be cut with a hobby knife. But if you’re doing a lot of scratchbuilding with styrene or wood strips and dowels, I highly recommend the Northwest Short Line Chopper or Chopper II. It’s a bit of a specialty tool as that’s all it can do, but it really makes this kind of work faster, easier, and more accurate.

Get to da choppa!

All the pieces.

For this ladder I spaced the rungs apart by half an inch, with a quarter inch offset at the top and bottom, so I had to cut 11 strips. The I-beams are easy to mark appropriately with a ball point pen for placing the strips accurately. Each strip is then glued into a side hollow of one I-beam rail. Superglue works well for this, it bonds well and sets very quickly but not instantly.

To get the strips aligned I used a hobby saw mitre box as a square. Basically anything will work, but I couldn’t find my actual drafting squares and the mitre box works well: It’s cut very square, with a sharp corner, and wet superglue wipes off the metal easily. Each strip just needs a dab of superglue on the end and then it’s slid into position in the I-beam. It’ll set well enough almost instantly to slide the whole construction along the square (mitre box in this case) to the next mark. To make things go faster, I glued the strips below the marks so I could just slide the marks right to the corner rather than trying to center or anything like that. This makes the ladder a little asymmetric top to bottom, but that’s fine and maybe even desirable.

Gluing in the strips on one side.

One side completed.

After that it’s simply a question of putting a dab of glue on the unattached end of each strip and then sliding on the other I-beam rail. Some care should be taken to line it up with the other side, e.g., standing them both up on the table top to equalize one vertical end.

To the roof!

At this point the ladder itself is done, and for some applications might be totally ready to just lean up against a structure. I wanted to make the ladder a permanent part of this building though, and to stand off a bit from the side. So I cut some 2.5mm rod (Plastruct #90860) to quarter inch lengths. These were superglued to the rails standing up, and then glued to the structure with tacky PVA.

Gluing pegs to the rails.

And then to the structure.

That’s it! This construction is very quick, and very easy to get a nice, square ladder. Compared to just using strips, the I-beams approach takes no more effort, but gives a bit more texture and bulk to the look while also enabling a stronger build as the superglue can bond both the end and side of the strip against the I-beam. I hope you found this useful, and welcome any questions or suggestions!

The finished ladder on the work-in-progress structure.

To Infinity!

Posted on 2016/05/01 by tjkopena

A year and a half after painting up a half squad, I finally got in my first game of Infinity. Our PAGE Infinity Get Started Day seemed successful, with a bunch of newcomers showing up alongside the Sunday regulars at Redcap’s for over 16 people playing or watching. A few more photos are in the gallery.

To Infinity… and beyond! (that will never get old)

I’ve been sick and had told Caitlin I’d be home early so I only got in one game, but it was a solid learning experience. Colin’s Ariadna Highlanders partnered up with my PanOceania Military Orders to fight Steve’s… Haqqislam? Nomads? I have no idea. They were painted in typical Nomads colors but my impression is he’s only ever talked about playing Haqqislam. It… feels a little weird to me to be so new to a miniatures game as to not even be able to definitively recognize an opposing faction’s models. Also, I actually saw very little of his army because they all hid behind buildings and then popped out just enough to shoot from cover.

Why are we fighting over this shanty town again?!?!

One small note is I should paint the front arc on the base of my models. Steve seems to have done that on his. Most of the models are pretty clear about which way they’re facing so it’s not a huge thing, but it’s a nice touch. Facing is important for critical game mechanics like taking opportunistic shots at troops moving around, so it’s nice to make the front arc completely unambiguous.

The enemy!

The game I think is pretty good. I’m not sure what to make of the rulebook. Previous editions I didn’t think were written very well, though some of that could be the translation. So far this edition is hard to gauge. It seems like many things are left unsaid or a bit ambiguous. But that could just be me not having a grasp of both the core mechanics and presentation style. The book does seem to have somewhat formal and systematic language around models being in particular states and so on, which is promising. Clearly though the game encompasses a million little fiddly abilities and a good number of stats, many of which seem like they may not come up all that often. There’s a lot going on, and a lot of interactions.

Overall though, the core mechanics are obviously fun and very tactical. They play out quite different from many miniatures games, and especially 40k. Infinity is hyper-focused on line of sight and sniping. I knew to expect that, but it was interesting to fool around and start to actually get a feel for how it plays out. For example, a bunch of regular troopers caught in the open really should not engage in a firefight with a sniper at long range in cover. That’s… actually pretty realistic? Similarly, charging with your sword against a guy pointing a shotgun your way is probably not going to work out well. That’s… even more realistic?

Holding down the right flank.

In the end Steve rolled us off the table in a straightforward annihilation mission. Knights on the right flank got wiped out moving forward aggressively toward close combat. Order sergeants made a serious thrust up the center but all got put away by a sniper camped out in the backfield. On the left the Highlanders got a bunch of kills with their machine guns as enemy troops parachuted in all around them, but were eventually themselves tagged. The final moments came down to a lone sergeant in high tech camouflage sniping from the rooftops, but an enemy doctor was able to creep around a building out of sight and save the downed troops, who then overwhelmed the sniper and eliminated Colin and I from the game.

So, in the end, I’m pretty excited about playing more Infinity. Definitely a substantial learning curve just to pick up all the core rules, let alone all the common abilities and weapons. But it’s a fun game and the skirmish style right up my alley.

Pop, pop!

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