{"id":340,"date":"2012-03-05T12:06:48","date_gmt":"2012-03-05T18:06:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.goodjobsucking.com\/?p=340"},"modified":"2012-03-05T12:06:48","modified_gmt":"2012-03-05T18:06:48","slug":"3d-printing-a-comedy-of-errors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.goodjobsucking.com\/?p=340","title":{"rendered":"3D Printing — A Comedy of Errors"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Printing<\/a>

Printing a Proper Raft on a Makerbot Thing-O-Matic<\/p><\/div>\n

I recently acquired a Makerbot Thing-O-Matic<\/a>, a printer I selected due to its apparent ubiquity and to its price — under $1000 if you do the assembly yourself.\u00a0 With the heady optimism and overconfidence borne of having not yet attempted something, I dove in with my boxes of parts and wiki instructions.\u00a0 Besides, I build stuff all the time, which is the point of having a 3D printer in the first place.<\/p>\n

Another appeal of a largely community-supported machine is the lack of need to talk to tech support, which is usually a dismal experience.\u00a0 I contacted a tech support for a popular anti-virus program which would occasionally inexplicably shut down when I was using it on public networks.\u00a0 Tech support’s answer: don’t use public networks.<\/p>\n

At any rate, aside from backtracking a few times (the combination of extra parts and following some outdated instructions led to a few false starts, and a quirk or two of design, assembling the little beast wasn’t a problem.\u00a0 I didn’t start causing my own problems until I actually started printing.<\/p>\n

I calibrated and made little adjustments in order to improve my print quality:<\/p>\n