Hello hackers
Happy Tuesday, hope you're well, it's open evening at the hackspace again.
We're in the throbbing heart of Bridge of Don south, at...
Suite H Kettock Lodge
Innovation Park
Campus Two
Bridge of Don
Aberdeen
AB22 8GU
...there is sort of useful blurb on...
https://www.57north.org.uk/open-evenings
...and...
https://www.57north.org.uk/contact
...just press buzzer H and someone will come and let you in after a wee
wait.
Reply if you have any questions, if you want to share your plans, or if
you'd like a lift. I'll be in around 7:00, will be doing some tinkering
with web stuff, wiki bits and 2d printing things.
See you in Spaaaaace
Andy
Hiya, happy Tuesday
Hope you're well, it's Tuesday again, so open evening at the hackspace.
We're in the throbbing heart of Bridge of Don south, at...
Suite H Kettock Lodge
Innovation Park
Campus Two
Bridge of Don
Aberdeen
AB22 8GU
...there is sort of useful blurb on...
https://www.57north.org.uk/open-evenings
...and...
https://www.57north.org.uk/contact
...just press buzzer H and someone will come and let you in after a wee
wait. Reply if you have any questions, if you want to share your plans, or
if you'd like a lift.
I'll be along around 7:00, will be doing some tinkering with PHP, pootling
about, and bits and bobs.
Bit off-topic, but if you know anyone who is looking for some free
short/medium term studio space, Outer Spaces (
https://outerspaces.org/spaces/) have 4 very large open-space warehouse
units in Dyce coming up.
See you there :)
Hello there,
I will also cycle through BOD on this fine day, before ending up at the
space around 8pm.
My project for tonight? Trial software for designing furniture, and
calculate bill of materials. I have heard SketchUp might be good for that.
Anyone got experience with it?
Cheers,
Wouter
On Tue, 8 Apr 2025, 11:43 57North Announcements, <
57north-announce(a)lists.57north.org.uk> wrote:
> Hey, hello, happy Tuesday!
>
> Hope you're well, it's been a braw Tuesday out here in Westhill! It was
> cold and foggy when I left the city, but I hope that's burned off and
> all-a-y'all toonsers are enjoying the sun now.
>
> We're in the heart of Bridge of Don south, at:
>
> Suite H Kettock Lodge
> Innovation Park
> Campus Two
> Bridge of Don
> Aberdeen
> AB22 8GU
>
> There is some useful blurb on:
> https://www.57north.org.uk/open-evenings
> ...and...
> https://www.57north.org.uk/contact
>
> Press buzzer H and someone will come and let you in after a brief wait.
>
> I'll be along around 8 ish after a cycle around the bridge of don, and
> once I arrive I will be playing https://meshtastic.org/ with Tony
> ideally, and maybe talking about https://meshcore.co.uk/ and/or
> https://reticulum.network/ as interesting alternatives to approach his
> problem.
>
> Reply if you have any questions, if you want to share your plans or if
> you'd like a lift.
>
> See you there :)
>
> --
> Dave Hibberd <hibby(a)debian.org>
> Debian Developer
> Packet Radioist
> MM0RFN
> 57North Hacklab Ltd. is a company registered in Scotland (No. SC470230).
> 57North and 57North Hacklab are trading names of 57North Hacklab Ltd.
>
Hi all,
TL;DR: The Formlabs printer and Lulzbot printer really need some love. Let's spend a couple of hundred quid on each or throw them out. Can we approve a budget of up to 400 GBP to get it under control?
At the moment the printers are taking up space on a bowed desk in the lab and need maintenance to be usable for all.
In the case of both, we're at the point of use it or lose it. We're carrying a lot of stuff and there's nothing less appealing for new faces than "oh yeah, i remember when so and so used that successfully once, but we've got 7 not-really-working-3d-printers".
Let's get them moved to a dedicated, flat, stable workspace and invest in makign them usable and repeatable.
I suggest the old radio area that currently houses a boat anchor and TV, maybe combined with the table housing a sewing machine. The Desks are flat steady and reliable.
Formlabs (SLA):
This has sat unused for a long time as we're a bit afraid of it, but it's an outstanding printer which is easy to use and, if dialled in and cared for, should be a pull factor to the space.
Items/Parts/Hardware it needs are:
* New Tank
* Resin
* Wash / Cure
Tank: This is the thing the resin sits in and the print rises out of. Formlabs considers them consumable, and ours has sat with semi set / set resin in it since the last time anyone tried to print. [1]
Resin: the printer will take all kinds - I sugest we standardise on something cheap from Amazon[2] and get that dialled in.
Wash/Cure: Once someone has printed something, it needs exposure to UV to cure and IPA to wash off excess resin. Floating around there's an ultrasonic cleaner and a UV Lamp, but with the explosion of home resin printing there are dedicated products on the market that are affordable, we just need to match our print area in size [3].
Lulzbot (FDM):
The hackerspace has always been a bit crap at FDM 3d printing with printers that almost work. The lulzbot is currently in the liminal state of mostly working but being a bit disappointing. Every print I've done this year has had a warping/lifting issue [4] and layer 1 is a bit crap, I don't really know where to start on improving that.
It would really benefit from someone dismantling the hot head, cleaning it thoroughly and assessing if we need to repair/replace/update the whole thing or the nozzle or something else.
Similarly, it has mounting holes for a plastic enclosure to improve temperature regulation of the print area. Is this something we need? [5]
We have a lot of old filament that isn't well stored, which probably isn't a great starting point for good printing. Does anyone have any opinions on whether we can revive it, or are we best to chuck it out, invest in some decent storage [5] [6] and start from scratch? I lean towards a new and controlled start.
Computer:
Wipe it and restart//recover the root password and update.
Cura LE [8] is now under active maintenance again, get that installed.
Other Printers:
When these two work, let's give away every other 3d printer we have as 'free to a good home, no warranty' on facebook marketplace/somewhere else as a ploy to both clear the shelves and get people in the door.
[1] https://www.solidprint3d.co.uk/shop/spare-parts/3d-printer-spare-part/resin…
[2] https://www.amazon.co.uk/ELEGOO-Washable-UV-Curing-Standard-Photopolymer/dp…
[3] https://www.amazon.co.uk/ELEGOO-Mercury-Machine-Station-Double-row-Yellow/d…
[4] https://www.simplify3d.com/resources/print-quality-troubleshooting/warping/
[5] https://www.3dupfitters.com/products/lulzbot-mini-enclosure
[6] https://www.123-3d.co.uk/Polymaker-PolyBox-Edition-II-filament-drybox-70180…
[7] https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dry-Store-Multi-Filament-Container-Materials/dp/B0…
[8] https://lulzbot.com/support/cura
--
Dave Hibberd <hibby(a)debian.org>
Debian Developer
Packet Radioist
MM0RFN
Code the City have got their own building. Have been a couple of recent news stories that do a better job of explaining what + why than I could:
https://postabdn.com/historic-aberdeen-building-reimagined-as-tech-and-comm…https://aberdeenbusinessnews.co.uk/aberdeen-charity-transforms-empty-buildi…
I, and a few other people, will be there¹ on Saturday morning looking at what we can do for tech/IT/IoT stuff and hopefully making a start on setting some things up.
Plans include setting up network, putting in some LEDs, setting up Home Assistant, looking at control for the door lock and discussing what else it would be useful and/or fun to do.
I'm aiming to be there from 10:00 - 13:00. If anyone would like to help with any of this, or just drop in past and have a look round the building, you'd be very welcome.
Robert
¹ https://osm.org/go/e6mQQqL6v?layers=P&way=923091890
________________________________________________________
Robert McWilliam rmcw(a)allmail.net argh.technology
I go the extra mile.
Usually because I missed the turning I was supposed to take.
