Favorite 3D prints: painting pyramid

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Painting pyramid you can print!

One of our members shared this clever painting pyramid model that you can download from thingiverse for 3D printing.

A painting pyramid is used to elevate a work piece off of your workbench after painting to allow the work to dry. These pyramids are stackable, for easy storage between use. Additionally, these are way cheaper to print than to buy in a store.

If you do painting or staining of your projects, you should try out these painting pyramids. Share your work with us – we love to see other people’s projects!

Favorite 3D prints: phone stands

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At Workshop 88 a lot of our members create their own designs for things they want to 3D print. But there is a great variety of models designed by other people available for download on thingiverse.

One of our members recommended a phone/tablet stand that prints all in one piece in place:

  • 3d printed phone stand collapsed
    3d printed phone stand collapsed
  • 3d printed phone stand set up
    3d printed phone stand set up

You can download this phone stand model from thingiverse. There are a few remixes of this thing which you might also want to check out.

A cautionary tale for 3d-printing with glass beds

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Several of our members have had great success with using glass beds to do their 3D printing on. (We even have a tutorial on how to cut glass for those who are interested!)

Recently one of our members shared that one of her 3d prints stuck a little too well to the bed and then the bed chipped when trying to pull the print off.

Chip out of a glass bed.
Chip stuck on a 3d printed part.

The filament used was PLA, and the bed was prepped with a bit of hairspray before printing. Other members here at Workshop 88 use isopropyl alcohol to prep their printer beds before printing with PLA.

The advantage of using glass is that the surface is extremely flat and smooth. Just let this be a cautionary tale that there is some risk of chipping the glass if the print adheres too much. But if you know how to cut glass yourself, you can always make a new one!

Making custom awards

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Custom award made at Workshop 88.

One of our members, Mark Frost, recently made up some custom awards for a group at his church. Here’s what he had to say about this project:

Every summer for 30+ years some guys from church have been doing a golf trip. I’ve been going for the last 15years or so and have recently taken over the “hardware” aspect. In previous years we would order engraves plaques, mugs, glasses, embroidered towels, etc. But this year I figured I’d take production “in-house”. I grabbed the church and resort logos, threw the text on top and engraved squares I cut from a 2’x2′ MDF board from HD

Mark Frost via slack.com

This is a really great example of the kinds of projects that our members are able to create quickly at Workshop 88! What could you make with a laser cutter/engraver?

Signage at Workshop 88

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Multi-material fabrication of signs at Workshop 88!

One of the challenging aspects for getting visitors to Workshop 88 is that our location is not obvious for first-time attendees. We have long joked that if you made it to our door, you must be the type of person who belongs at a makerspace, because sometimes it can seem like you really have to want to find us in order to get to Workshop 88.

Of course, we want everybody to be able to find Workshop 88! One of our members, Gail, has taken the initiative to make some signs for various uses at Workshop 88.

One sign was made with a 3d printed logo and also has solar lights attached to it for illuminating the sign after the sun sets. The other sign was made with one of our vinyl cutters and is used to direct people in for classes.

If you’re in the downtown Glen Ellyn area on Thursday evenings, you are likely to see at least one of these signs welcoming you in to our open house hours. Please stop by!

We have a heat press!

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New video featuring our brand new heat press at Workshop 88

This week we introduced a new tool to the Workshop 88 inventory – a heat press for making custom t-shirts, mugs, hats, plates, and anything else that you can put heat transfer material on.

As you can see from the brief video above, we also tried out some laserable heat transfer material. Probably more testing is needed, but after a bit of clean-up on the shirt, it was deemed a successful trial.

Here’s a video showing the features and how to use the heat press:

What would you make with Workshop 88’s heat press? Come to our open house and find out more about becoming a member of our community!

Stuff for making stuff: RasPi AC adapter

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AFFILIATE LINK BELOW – CLICKING THROUGH SUPPORTS WORKSHOP 88

END AFFILIATE LINK HERE – IF YOU DON”T SEE ANYTHING, TRY DISABLING ADBLOCKER

This is one of the best power adapters you can get for running your Raspberry Pi projects. Why? The built-in power button for easy cycling on and off of your Raspberry Pi while you are building your latest and greatest project with it. This is easily one of the best upgrades you can make to any of your RasPi builds – no more unplugging and replugging the USB adapter!

How to 3D Print: A Beginner’s Guide (class!)

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Learn all about 3D printing at Workshop 88!

We are thrilled to announce a class we are hosting at Workshop 88 (June 12th) and at Fox.Build (June 26th)! Here’s the details:

When – Wednesday, June 12, 2019 from 6:30 PM to 8:00 PM

Where – Workshop 88

What – This class is a collaboration between Workshop 88 and Fox.Build and will be taught by Gail Jo Kelly. She has been 3D printing since 2014. The class will be directed towards people that are new to 3D printing. She will explain how 3D printing works, within the context of the 3D printers at the makerspace. There will be printers on hand for demonstration. Information will cover the process of obtaining a file for print, preparing the file in the compatible format for the printer, using the related software interfaces, along with how to load the filament (materials) and features of the 3D printer. To view 3D printable items, take a look at https://www.thingiverse.com for examples.

Please RSVP for this class at our Meetup Page!