My 4 year old has recently become obsessed with 'invisible' Dora Charm bracelets. She is the easily frustrated sort, so I didn't think a charm bracelet kit rated 2 years over her age was a good idea.She is good at knots, just not at good knots. So I bought a 1lb bead assortment and pipe cleaners.
I figured the pipe cleaners would hold the beads during assembly and knots are easy – just a twist away. The pipe cleaners are also easier to thread then a string.
She has made at least a dozen bracelets in the last day. I think it was a hit!
I rebuilt the extruder on my Delta #RepRap again. Trying different things to find something that works for me. This is a cable-laced short bowden tube with no 'real' connectors. Quick and dirty, but it seems to be working well so far.
The cable lacing is where the hold-it-all-together should happen. This is with Spectra fishing line. Same as I used for the drive-line. Low stretch. Should keep the two halves from being pushed apart.
Boom! Wonderful printing all of a sudden.
Installed. The idea is to balance the weight of the motor over the effector so the printer doesn’t have to sling all that weight around.
I used some self vulcanizing rubber tape to try to get some traction on the tube. It should also stiffen up the joints a bit so there is less flex at either end and more in the middle.
This is the prior iteration. The nylon kept wanting to stretch so I kept twisting the extruder around to tighten up the cable lacing. 2.5 full turns here! The nylon also dug into the plastic a bit as well.
This is pretty cheap. After I ordered it, I realized how short it was – it's six inches shorter than the one I already have. Short hammocks and tall people make for an uncomfortable night's sleep. So I decided to try to cheat the length a bit. I converted it to a Mini bridge hammock. Some amsteel rope dogbones, a pair of spreader bars, and it's a non-damaging modification. I think it worked. I slept in it as it came, and after the modification and I like the mod. It's much more comfortable. Not perfect, I find my feet tend to rest against the netting.
My girls hanging out in my new Yukon Outfitters Mosquito Hammock
It’s a clear tarp for me for the hammocks. Window winterizing film, duck tape & patience to make one.
This is how the hammock came. A rope (which stretches a lot the first night you use it) fed through the channel and closed on itself. Here, I’ve had to run it back up to the metal connector so tighten the hammock at 3 am so I wasn’t dragging on the ground anymore. Notice how tightly it bunches the end of the hammock up. The thin line is the stretch cord for holding up the bug net part of the hammock.
This is a miniature bridge hammock. The idea is to make the ends wider so it squeezes against the shoulders less. It is also supposed to reduce the tightness up the center under the legs that can cause discomfort.
I made 4 amsteel dogbones. These are just short ropes with eyes on both ends. I sized these so they are short as they can be and have the right length bury that nearly touches in the center.
Try to make all 4 the same length.
The amsteel dogbone is fed through the hole in the wood, fed through the hammock and the loop slipped over the end of the wood. Do this from each side.
It’s easier to pull the new rope through as you are pulling the old rope out. (trust me I know)
But it’s easier to untie if you put the old rope to the new, and not the new rope to the old. Oohps.
The hammock is clipped into the rope that it hangs from.
The offset in the carabiner can be used to advantage in counteracting any differences in the length of the amsteel dogbones.
This is with the original mounting method.
This is the girls swinging in the new method. Notice how the end of the hammock forms a gentile curve.
The hanging hardware that came with the hammock – both sides.
The new hanging hardware weighs 2 grams more. Now, this is a cheating weight, as it doesn’t include the carabiners.
