My 3D Printer

4 years ago, I bought the classic entry-level 3D printer: the infamous Ender 3. It works out of the box, but I wouldn't say it works well. Full of issues like a PTFE-lined hotend, badly programmed motherboard, horrible cooling fans, and bad firmware, it requires some work to print well. Luckily, I wasn't focused on printing well out of the box. The reason I got it was to modify it, fix it, and just tinker with it. I call it: The World Ender. Here's a list of things I've done with it:

• Silent Motherboard
  • The stock motherboard on the ender 3s makes the stepper motors extremely loud, plus it it hard to update the firmware. So, I switched it for the motherboard on the Ender 3 Pro, which boasts silent steppers and a bootloader for firmware.
• BLTouch
  • I added a automatic bed leveling probe on the end of the hotend that will test points on the bed and see how level the bed is. This, combined with my custom firmware, brings the z-axis up and down as it prints to account for minor variations in bed height.
• Marlin Firmware
  • I don't like the stock firmware! It's hard to navigate on the interface, you can't change anything, and it is bad at understanding GCODE. So, I compiled my own marlin firmware. This time, I added a custom bootscreen and support for my BLTouch.
• Direct Drive Extruder
  • The stock Ender 3 comes with a bowden-style extruder, which pushes the filiment through a long tube before making it to the hotend. This works, but is not great for flexible filiments like TPU. So, I installed a direct-drive extruder, which has the filiment-pushing apparatus right on the printhead. This makes it much easier to print with harder, flexible filiments.
• Octopi!
  • This is by far the coolest thing I've done with my printer. I have linked a raspberry PI to my printer and run Octopi on it, an interface that allows me to control the printer right from my browser. I can upload GCODE, run tests, take cool timelapses, and see all the stats. It's very useful.
• Dual Z-axis
  • The stock ender 3 has 1 singular z-axis lead screw, which is on the left side. So, when the (heavy!) printhead is on the right side of the x-axis, it hangs down a little lower, which messes up print quality. So I added another z-axis lead screw on the right side as well, and synced them up so it's strong on both ends. This required me to move the powersupply under the printer, which gives me an excuse to upgrade the powersupply
• Meanwell thinner PSU
  • When I installed the dual z-axis, I needed to move the PSU out of the way. I opted to put it under the printer, but the stock PSU is too thick. This gave me an excuse to upgrade to a safer, thinner PSU which can fit under my printer.
• HEROME 7 Cooling System
  • The cooling on the ender 3 sucks!! There's one wimpy little radial blower fan that goes only one direction. So, I printed a whole new system for my printer that has 2 5015 blower fans forcing air from both sides right onto the nozzle. It also features a cable tower, bltouch holder, and fits with my direct drive extruder.
• Lights!
  • I want to be able to see my printer! So I installed LED light strips on under the frame and wired them directly to the power supply, with a buck converter to stem the voltage town to 12v. I then added a switch on the power supply to be able to flick them on and off.

Chemistry Calculator

It started as a simple python program to find molar masses, for a tedious homework assignment. Then it turned into another program for another assignment, another program for another assignment, and suddenly I had a collection of python programs I could use to do my chemistry homework easily. Then, I discovered I could add python programs to my calculator, and then I took on the hard task of optimizing each python program to use as little memory as possible, not use any external libraries, and not pull anything from a JSON file. But, once I finally got it down, I showed my chemistry teacher, and she thought it was the coolest thing. And, even better, she told me I could use it on the tests!

Check it out on github →

Graphic Design

I started being interested in graphic design after I began to make logos for my internet accounts. I got more and more interested in logo design, and improved along the way. I designed the logo and branding for my robotics team, Calamity 8280, which took multiple iterations and reviews. Because of my website hobby, I also am trying to improve at web design and UI/UX. I designed this website in a design software before porting it to html/js/css.

Calamity Robotics Logo

Robotics

3 years ago, I joined an FTC robotics team, Calamity Robotics. At the time, it was 6 people including me, but the year after, it dropped to 4. My first year actually building a robot, we built Zima. With a wide base and a lot of space inside the bot, he was a presence on the field. Add the large arm with a wrist and elbow, and he looked sick. However, he was plagued with problems, especially with the 3d prints we used (not on my printer!) So, this year, we're focusing on an extremely robust design that doesn't rely so much on 3D prints.

Our Robot, Zima, from last year (3D render)

Volkswagon Type 2

In our family is a 1974 Volkswagon Type 2 Camper. Right now, it doesn't run and I'm trying to change that. I've replaced the fuel filter, the spark plugs & spark plug lines, and have got it to run a little. The problem is, it doesn't idle, and I think it's an issue with the fuel injectors. So, I have to test them all. That's my next project.

The Bus

Thiokols!

This summer, I went up to the Juneau Icefield for a research program. It was an awesome experience, and I could talk for hours about it. Up there, there are these old snowcats from the 70s called Thiokols. They still run, but they aren't useful at all because they get horrid gas milage and snowmobiles are much better. The only reason they're still up there is because they don't have the time/money to take them down. But they're really frickin cool. So I took a bunch of pictures when I was up there and when I got back to my computer, I used them to create a printable 3D model of one of them (known as The Rolls). I used it to become more familiar with Fusion 360, and then I printed it on my 3D printer!

Check out the model

The Rolls