Up from the 3D Printing Rabbit Hole

I don’t know if I’m journaling now or not, but it sort of feels like it. That wasn’t the intention. There’s things to be done, not least of which is unclogging the 3D printer…

…which reminds me why I sat down to begin with. Go me. I’d intended to quickly post regarding said clog, just to have posted something, anything, and offer something by way of explanation as to silence and falling away from my self-imposed plan. I don’t know who the audience is for that, but I do this for me. I think. Maybe? If not, why? Looking for my tribe I ‘spose.

Then I decided to take a tour through open tabs and whoopsie, right down a rabbit hole. So where was I? Oh, yeah. Meet Blob the Second.

First print of my own design

Out of the set of Midjourney images I sifted through yesterday, I thought the one below would be fairly amenable to interpretation in FreeCAD for an absolute beginner who still hasn’t finished the first tutorial because he got distracted.

Fun in FreeCAD

Apparently, the first step to me falling off a plan is to develop a plan. At least, that’s what this last week has been like. Between being a bit run down and somewhat distracted by the 3D printer, I gave myself the week off from the new routine. The step back has been good for perspective. As planned, those dailies and rounds leave no room for spontaneity. So I’ll be tweaking the plan next week to see how well it works out. Current thinking is to keep the dailies and limit the subject interests to one a night instead of trying to cram two into the limited time I’ve got. And instead of rotating through after only half an hour of scratching the surface, stick with a topic until I’ve got some meat on those bones, preferably something to show for it, like a piece of art or some kind of stand-alone offering.

There’s a new money cat in town

After enduring countless delays, I finally got a new 3D printer. My first one was a finicky pain in the ass with no support. I would not recommend it, so it shall remain nameless. Anyone in the market for one that sticks to the reviews on sites like Tom’s Hardware has no fear of ever accidentally getting one. Using it was like trying to learn guitar on a poorly made guitar. When it eventually suffered a clogged nozzle, I knew I could simply learn to fix it and learn to upgrade it, but it was so aggravating to use the motivation was nonexistent. It’s sat for years now waiting for me to come around. If and when I decide to print something huge, I’ll get back to it. That’s its one virtue. The thing is big.