It Extrudes!

After a weekend of heavy tinkering, I finally got the printer to spool a fair amount of plastic through the nozzle. The only bit I have left to finish now is the print bed, endstops, and the final bits of wiring/calibration - and then all of the optional bits, like insulation and taping the motor to reduce slip.

The very first stages of the extruder assembly - the clamp on the right grips the  plastic filament tightly. The grub screws (in theory - not on my first run!) hold the hot end in.

Later stage of the extruder construction - the big cog is driving the bolt, which in turn drags the filament through.

The near-finished extruder, now with motor.

No photos of the rest of it yet, I simply didn't have time - the SAQ isn't exactly the quickest form to fill out...
Charlie

3D Printer

Prusa Mendel so far

So, I spent a fairly long time over the weekend assembling my 3D printer. I'm still waiting for some bearings for the extruder, the print bed. and the final motor but otherwise it's all ready to go. Not much else to say, really, except check back soon to see it printing!

Charlie

I've made little progress with the game - what I have done has been mainly aesthetic, no physics yet. Normal mapping is almost finished - just need to compute the tangents and it'll be ready. On the plus side, I've made decent progress with the moped - it's in a decent condition given that it's been stored for several years with no maintenance. The brakes are even functional, though the front cable had seized. The gearbox (well, belt box) is also functional, but there's still plenty to do on it - for example, the engine has to be removed, lights sorted, legal bits checked, and it has to be weighed and measured fairly carefully, so that I can revise my estimates and get some real-world numbers to work with. I'll also have to buy the replacement bodywork. Motors are to be ordered shortly, it seems pointless to wait for delivery from China. Charlie

Scooter Mechanics

I spent the last few hours working out the mechanics for my electronic moped project - it should turn out to be fairly practical if I've got my estimations right. The range on about £450 worth of batteries is the limiting factor - about 20-35 miles depending on speed and mechanical efficiency. The problem comes in when you factor in hills - even a mere 5% incline is enough to significantly eat into battery life. Combined with a 1 hour charge time, it should be pretty useful as a commuter or student vehicle though. I still need to wait to hear about sponsorship, funding, and the legal status of my "donor" moped, and look into the process and costs of registering the vehicle for on-road use after it's been rebuilt, but it looks like the project is, at least in theory, possible. Even if it isn't entirely road-legal, 6kW (8hp) in something that weighs around 45kg will be pretty fun for off-road use.

The 3D printer project is not entirely forgotten either - expect to see more on that soon...

I'm also just going to leave this here regarding the quadrotor:

Yours textually
Charlie

Personal statement: Complete!

Since the deadline for submitting my UCAS application is tomorrow, so I hope you can excuse a terrible post. Just to say that I haven't yet got shadow mapping done, but it's not too far off now. The quadrotor theoretically now has spinning blades (fun fact: the tip of the blades move at over 80ms-1), which will be tested fully later today.

Charlie

Speculars: Sorted

Specular lighting is now sorted and working perfectly. I'm also now able to re-build shaders virtually instantly, which means no load-up time for minor changes - which should make shadows much easier to create and debug - more on this next time. The next big hurdle is getting some real game logic running. SSAO and anti-aliasing can wait until there's something playable, with good scene management, and at least vaguely optimised.

Charlie

Kind of Proper Lighting

Back to school tomorrow, already up too late. Ah well. Progress has been made on lighting - apart from shadowing and specular reflection, it's now fully usable. There are a number of speed improvements which still need to be done, but those changes will have no real effect on the image. Rendering speed is still acceptable as-is with the single light I've been using to test, but it can easily be pushed up far faster than it is currently - I'm using the simple but time-consuming approaches for now.

Charlie