gzumwalt

Thanks Donald,!I've got a remake project in process inspired by you in one of your videos, stay tuned!Greg

Thank you very much, I'm glad you liked it!Thanks for the video suggestion, but I'm too camera shy! :)Greg

Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it!It did make an "Intelligrill Pro" which did indeed have two probes plus a number of other features (auger control for a pellet smoker, etc.) but I had designed it using the Feather Huzzah 32 from Adafruit and experience static discharge issues that Adafruit could not resolve, so I never published it.Thanks again!Greg

Thanks Donald!I try to "stumble" across less expensive and time consuming solutions to problems, and this motor controller board in combination with the Heltec Kit 32 WiFi Kit 32 were great solutions for this model. I used the Heltec board since it has a built in display, is less expensive than other ESP32 boards (with a display), and is not "static discharge crash" sensitive as is the Adafruit ESP32 (I tried for weeks to solve the static discharge crash problem with the Adafruit board on an earlier project but failed, and had virtually no support from Adafruit, I was truly disappointed as I had previously loved Adafruit products, but their board must have a design issue). For use in this model, the motor controller heat sink could be smaller, but I've other plans ...

Thanks Donald!I try to "stumble" across less expensive and time consuming solutions to problems, and this motor controller board in combination with the Heltec Kit 32 WiFi Kit 32 were great solutions for this model. I used the Heltec board since it has a built in display, is less expensive than other ESP32 boards (with a display), and is not "static discharge crash" sensitive as is the Adafruit ESP32 (I tried for weeks to solve the static discharge crash problem with the Adafruit board on an earlier project but failed, and had virtually no support from Adafruit, I was truly disappointed as I had previously loved Adafruit products, but their board must have a design issue). For use in this model, the motor controller heat sink could be smaller, but I've other plans for this motor controller along with some 3D printed micro universal joints, stay tuned...Many thanks again, and I truly, truly enjoy your channel!Greg

It looks fantastic, congratulations!Greg

Thank you very much, and you are very welcome! I'm glad you enjoyed it!Greg

Thank you very much, and I'm truly pleased this model made you happy!Greg

Thank you very much, I'm truly glad you liked it!The stacks are sealed at the bottom, and while I didn't show it on video, we filled them with water and added dry ice strips for a smoke effect. It worked quite well!Thanks again!Greg

Very nicely done, I love it!

Thanks Martin, I'm glad you liked it!None of the threads are left handed that I recall. Did you perhaps mirror a component with the slicer?Sorry for the problems.Greg

No problem at all!The printers I use do print quite small and accurate but I’m not sure how well the materials I use would remain attached to the copper during an etchant bath.Using the materials on light sensitive PCBs may work better, you’d just have to print in a darkroom environment .Ultimaker told me there is conductive filament available (not from Ultimaker), but from my understanding, it is resistive but I don’t recall an “ohms per inch” value.Good luck, and keep me informed of your progress, sounds very interesting!Greg

Sorry you are having difficulties with this model.Did you print the gears on a raft?If so, try scaling down the X, Y plane of the gear (not the Z) by a very small amount, print two gears, then try them on the model (you may have to slightly enlarge the hole for the axle).Hope this helps.Greg

Thank you, I'm glad you liked it!Greg

“This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons, movie characters, etc., living or dead, is purely coincidental.”:)Greg

Thank you very much, I'm very happy you enjoyed it!Greg

When you say "freeze", you mean your printer just stops?What printer are you using?

That depends on what you mead when you say it "stops about half way". Is your printer air printing? Does it freeze up? Is the model skewing?First, using Cura, place the viewport mode in "layer view" the, using the vertical slider, make sure Cura t is producing a slicing pattern suitable for your printer.Next, if it is air printing, then it's more than likely a nozzle or filament feed issue.And finally, if the model is skewing, then it is more than likely a printer issue (loose belt, loose build plate, etc.).I'm not sure which it is, but hopefully with a little more experimentation we can fix the issue.Sorry about the problems you have had with this model.Greg

Thank you very much, I'm glad you enjoyed it!I do tend toward mechanical designs with "some assembly required".Thanks again,Greg

The libraries have the same names as the ".h" files, thus you will need to add "time.lib", "WiFi.hlib, "WiFiUdp.lib" and "U8g2lib.lib" to your sketch. On a Mac, these libraries are located in "Documents/Arduino/libraries".Hope this helps!Greg

Hi Jim,I believe the only tutorial I created using Autodesk Fusion 360 was this: https://www.instructables.com/id/The-Design-of-Cy... and it's really not that good.I'll see what I can do for a marble machine tutorial, maybe even this one.Thanks for your question, and if you have any more, just ask and I'll do my best to answer it!Greg

Comments such as yours are inspirations themselves, and I cannot thank you enough for your kind words, and am glad you enjoyed this, and my other models!Greg

Thank you very much, I’m glad you enjoy them!Greg

Thanks, I'm glad you do!Greg

Thanks yet again Donald! I am very excited to see your results!Except for the threaded components (you may require a tap and die set) this model assembles easy and runs great.Greg

Thank you very much, I’m glad you enjoyed it!I was truly surprised at how fast and reliable the short looped track is!Greg

Many thanks Donald, I always highly appreciate your input!

Thanks! It's a fairly simple print and assembly, and mine has run for a week without dropping a marble!Greg

That looks awesome, congratulations !Greg

Thank you so very much for your kind words, I'm truly glad you enjoyed it!Greg

I’ve had a lot of fun using this board, good price also.

thank you so very much, I’m pleased you enjoyed it!

Thanks, that’s why I enjoy this!

Unfortunately, I cannot seem to find the manner in which to export CAD or DXF if Autodesk Fusion 360. If anyone can direct me to the procedure, I'll do my best.Greg

I've uploaded "Base Plaque Left Blank.stl" and "Base Plaque Right Blank.stl".Please let me know how they work out.Greg

Thanks, I'm glad I received a smile from this model!Greg

Thanks!I most certainly will! I’m away from my office right now but I can easily upload them tomorrow. Just to make sure, you want just the plaque background with no text, correct?Greg

That depended on the color for the ball joints. When I printed the first model using Ultimaker Transparent PLA, there was no "oozing" and the ball was almost exactly 6mm. In this case I use the 2.2 mm version which, being thicker, has a larger surface area between the rod and ball. When using certain other colors, white for example, there was some oozing and the ball was slightly larger than 6mm I used the 1.2mm in these cases.Hope that helps!Greg

Thanks!I'm truly sorry you're experiencing difficulties with this model. The ball joints are perhaps the most precise parts in this model. Try scaling the arm down very, very slightly on the X and Y dimensions, but not the Z (thickness) axis.Hope this helps!Greg

Thank you very much!I have yet to create a web radio, but keep watching, I may do so soon!Thanks again,Greg

Lora and I are attending the Rapid conference in Fort Worth this week (rapid3devent.com) with Ultimaker. If you’re interested in the future, you should attend with us. Ultimaker’s new S5 printer is stunning!

Thank you, I hope you enjoyed it!

Hope this is who I think it is...What, you didn’t like this: https://www.instructables.com/id/Hummingbird/???Hi Geoff!

Thank you very much!I do not, but if Autodesk Fusion 360 can export in either of those formats, I’ll see what I can do. I also have grandkids, I know that feeling!Greg

I developed the leg motions myself. I used software I had written (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbzAQyXUwXs) for Saber and Saber 2 (https://www.instructables.com/id/Saber-2/), Grashofs laws of 4 bar linkages, Autodesk Fusion 360 joints and joint animations, as well as a healthy dose of trial and error! Hope this kinda helps. And thank you very much, I’m very pleased you enjoyed this model. Greg

Sorry yet again, I am away from my computer right now, but if I recall there is only 1 AxleGearDrive.stl (connects the motor to the gear train), 5 AxleGearLeft.stl (used to connect the left side control arms to the gear train), 5 AxleGearRight.stl (used to connect the right side control arms to the gear train), and 10 AxleGearIdler.stl (for those gears without control arms).I'll examine the PDF when I return.

No, that would be AxleGearDrive.stl. AxleGearRight.stl and AxleGearLeft.stl are used in combination with SpurGear(16 teeth).stl to form the mechanism that animates the legs.AxleGearDrive.stl connects the motor to the gear train.

Congratulations, great work!Greg

You are very welcome!Yes, I believe that is correct.

I'm truly sorry about that, I believe I uploaded the correct file into Step 1, AxleGearRight.stl".Again, truly sorry.Greg

If you’d like, I would be happy to upload the body halves, wings and stem in Autodesk Fusion 360 format.

As noted, I'm using Cura 3.2.1 as well on Ultimaker 2+ Extended and Ultimaker 3 Extended printers. I haven't a clue as to why your experiencing this, but you might try the "Enable gradual" infill option that should increase the infill as the model height increases.Sorry for the problems.

Thank you very much, and you are very welcome, I’m truly happy that you enjoyed it!

Hi ntiong,Thank you very much for your kind words!Regarding the workflow for Hummingbird, as I mentioned in the introduction, my wife truly enjoys feeding and watching hummingbirds as they pass through, so I decided to create Hummingbird for her to watch during the hummingbirds "off season". I started the design using the numerous photos we've taken of the hummingbirds. I imported a few select photos into Autodesk Fusion 360 using the Canvas function then outlined the various body components (body, wings and tail) using the Autodesk Fusion 360 spline function. Next, after studying the wing motion of a "typical" hummingbird, I decided to use a captured ball joint (somewhat similar to a helicopter swash plate) for the pivot and rotate mechanism, and since I try to m...

Hi ntiong,Thank you very much for your kind words!Regarding the workflow for Hummingbird, as I mentioned in the introduction, my wife truly enjoys feeding and watching hummingbirds as they pass through, so I decided to create Hummingbird for her to watch during the hummingbirds "off season". I started the design using the numerous photos we've taken of the hummingbirds. I imported a few select photos into Autodesk Fusion 360 using the Canvas function then outlined the various body components (body, wings and tail) using the Autodesk Fusion 360 spline function. Next, after studying the wing motion of a "typical" hummingbird, I decided to use a captured ball joint (somewhat similar to a helicopter swash plate) for the pivot and rotate mechanism, and since I try to make my designs 100% 3D printed, I designed a test fixture to determine the minimal size ball joint I could reliably 3D print, which ended up being a 6mm ball and a 6.3mm hole. With these two dimensions, I was then able to scale the body, wings and tail outlines I had traced earlier to a size suitable for the wing motion mechanism. With the scale (size) determined, I next designed the gear train for the hummingbird body using the Autodesk Fusion 360 Gear add-in, then printed and assembled the first body and wing prototype which ended up looking like this: Next was the base design. In order to move the hummingbird fore and aft, I decided on a ratio of 6 wing flaps to 1 complete fore / aft cycle. This required a gear reduction which also provides the increased torque required for the fore and aft body motion. The first base design used a gear train to connect the body to the base and maintain a level pitch, and ended up looking like this:As I noted in the Youtube video comment section, I wasn't pleased with the smoothness (more correctly lack thereof) of the fore and aft motion with this base design, so I redesigned the base mechanism using a parallelogram to connect the body to the base to facilitate the fore and aft motion.Finally, the flower is my interpretation of the plastic flowers on the humming bird feeders my wife uses, and the stem was designed to position the flower at the correct point.Hope this helps, and if you have any further questions, just ask!Greg

Hi ArielB10,I'm sorry but I don't know! At my age, I've simply had many years experience tinkering with gears and mechanisms, and used some of our photographs and videos as a guideline to combine the gears with a hummingbird, and this was the result! You may try searching for gears and mechanisms on the web. I would try and search for "Autodesk Fusion 360 Gears" for example to study gears.Hopefully someone else here can direct you to an appropriate answer.Greg

Thank you very much, I'm truly glad you enjoyed this model!Regarding the power source, I use a "power jack" soldered to the motor matching the size and style of the plug on the power supply (I use ac to dc wall mount style power adapters), but you may just as well solder the power supply wires directly to the motor. Just make sure the motor turns the gears in the correct direction. Also note the motor may be installed in either side of the base, depending on which way you want your model to face and whether or not you want to see the motor.Thanks again!Greg

Excellent work, congratulations!Greg

Can't seem to view the video. :(Greg

Thank you very much, I'm truly glad you enjoyed these!I've designed other Heltec based projects, and may publish them soon.Thanks again!Greg

Hi Rolland,I've uploaded the Autodesk Fusion 360 "Flower.f3d" file which is the design file for the flower.Hope this helps!Greg

Just uploaded what I believe to be the correct "Axle Gear Compound 60, 20.stl".Sorry again, and hope I got it right this time.Greg

Just uploaded what I believe to be the correct "Axle Gear Compound 60, 20.stl".Sorry again, and hope I got it right this time.Greg

Just uploaded what I believe to be the correct "Axle Gear Compound 60, 20.stl".Sorry again, and hope I got it right this time.Greg

I’m truly sorry about this. Unfortunately, I’m out of the country right now but I’ll fix this when I return in a few days. Again I’m truly sorry. Greg

Thank you so very much, I’m glad you enjoyed it!It was indeed frustratingly complicated the first time. The second attempt finally performed as I had desired, but it too required some “tuning”. :)Thanks again!Greg