Tracking numbers are here

Finally have a tracking number for my Sumpod unit.  It has taken a long time but the unit should hopefully be her after the weekend.  Will be hunting for some MDF primer and paint this weekend.  Interesting times ahead.

Charge of the SUMPOD

The first unboxing of a SUMPOD has been documented by fixer in his new blog.  He posts very detailed RAMPS 1.3 instructions and some useful hints if you intend to expand functionality.  Also plenty of photos of the MDF frame and finish. Good times ahead.  Richard Sum was expecting to deliver the next 30 units or so this week which means I should start clearing my workbench and buy some paint.  That and order me some stackable pin header samples :)

KAMKOP a very impressive tricopter

Found this beautiful tri-copter while prowling diydrones made by Peter Koppendorfer called KAMCOP.  It features 6x 350W motors and a custom carbon fiber shell with a transparent plastic dome in front with a pan-tilt camera.  Excellent design and professional finish. Envy!

Will serve as an inspiration if I ever get around to build one for my self.

Lots of nice build plans

Need plans? planes, tanks, ships, engines John-Tom seems to have a little bit of everything.  Bad ass Sherman and Tiger scale tanks with BB guns fitted amongst other things.  Will have revisit to prowl his magnificent collection of projects and plans.  Might a be interesting source of stuff to printing in 3D.

How to paint my SUMPOD?

So while waiting for my SUMPOD someone asked for a template to try out different color variations before buying paint.  So did just that using Gimp. The result is a poor mans hack but it works.  You can pretty much just select the color of the base and carrier by coloring a couple of layers and it turned out pretty nice.

You can find the template here for gimp in .xcf format and a .psd export here I made but haven't tested at all.

Here you see a few examples I made using the template.

I seem to be favoring a blue unit with completely white interior, not just the surface carrier, unlike the picture shown here. The white will increase the visibility inside the build chamber to better see the details during a build.  I saw a TOM in action the other day where there where problem's with the feeder while using transparent plastic. Being able to clearly see what was being layered down seemed useful.

Edit: added a new layer for the inside of the template

When putting things in the blender

I started using Blender again this summer with surprising success. The new 2.5x layout and UI is much better IMO.  I just found this note about the keyboard layout and mouse theory for Blender.  I was actually trying to find a way to fix manifold problems in blender (water-tightness) after seeing people having issues with it on thingiverse.  That was when I found a tutorial from Shapeways cover exactly this issue.

Have a feeling this may prove useful.

PCB heatbed

Here is a very clever use of a PCB. You an buy them off the shelve and cut with a knife if you have to. I will probably use the SUMPOD itself to etch a PCB to make it all uniform an pretty. I can probably use an Pyrogel^® XT Blanket (aerogel) underneath to direct the heat and hope fully lower power consumption.
A hot end I saw recently on thingiverse prompded the idea to use a aerogel thermal insulation to concentrate the heat and keep the exterior cool (as in not burning). Someone had even tried to use aerogel before and abandoned it. Will have to find a adequate seal to keep fine grained aerogel dust from the environment.