In which your author realises that his procrastinating means his list of ideas keeps getting longer …
In creating this blog, I’ve realised a few things. Firstly that I don’t allocate enough time to it. That’s partly because of family, vacations, money, work but mostly because of procrastinating.
I have a little blue book in which I write down my ideas when they come to me. Some are “way out there” and some (I think) are worth investigating. Unfortunately my TO-DO list of investigating projects is getting bigger.
I’m also guilty of starting a project without a clear idea of how I’m going to finish it. Something I urge you all to never do. Otherwise you’ll end up with a room full of stuff that doesn’t work, that looks to everyone else like a junk heap.
Top of my list to complete is still my Phoenix 3D printer. I have literally three steps to do and it’s done. It’s taken nearly a year since I saw the Chimera instructable to get to where I am now.
I like to work on my own which is cool because I have a great sense of satisfaction when I get something done and I know it’s all my own work (Arrogance?). The flip side to that is when I can’t figure something out, it all grinds to a halt. This, combined with a limited budget for parts, means that I can’t always go from enthusiastic idea to satisfied implementation in a short space of time. The longer you leave it, the more the enthusiasm dies away.
It’s a juggling act and I’m hopeful that putting it down into words helps to make it a tangible thing which I can do something about.
The List
The top of the list is my 3d printer. I’ve run a test on the resin already, to see if the bulb in the projecting will cure it and to my surprise it worked really well. The Z-axis is now attached to my framework, after some head-scratching about parts. I’ve also come up with a way of fixing a print platform to the z-axis which should make printing possible. Now that this is sorted, I’ve got these things to-do.
- Snip out a print platform from an old DVD drive casing
- Attach it to the z-axis
- Flash my spare Arduino clone with GRBL
At that point I’ve got all my ducks lined up and I should be able to start printing.
I expect there to be a fair amount of calibration too.
I will get there.
