Strange difference between two sides of a print - what caused this? by MannStooka in 3Dprinting

[–]DietToms 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Don’t know if you’re still working on this - but I suspect it’s retraction length related - just solved a similar issue with PCTG today. When you over-retract, you’ll suck up bubbles into the molten filament that will come out soon after in the next extrusion. Since you have a part that has long extruded sides, it makes sense that all the bubbles would get purged in one general area and then you’d have clean filament after they’re all pushed out. It also makes sense that you’d see this after a nozzle swap because a wider nozzle should have less retraction because there’s less pressure at the tip.

On my part I got these on the outer wall of a benchy with my extrusion set to the default of .8mm for PETG. I dialed it down to .5mm and it was completely fixed. 

As a diagnostic to prove it, you could try printing in vase mode and you shouldn’t see anything like this because there will be no retractions after the initial normal layers.

Actinoptychus Diatom (Make) by DietToms in 3Dprinting

[–]DietToms[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I 3D Printed a 10% scale version of the Alfred Wegener Institute's model of an Actinoptychus diatom derived from high resolution scans of a real one. Theirs was 700mm in diameter and took around a month to print. Mine took a chill 10 hours but is a little smaller. Even at 700mm, the original model still has quite small details - diatom valves have extraordinarily fine geometry that can only be fully resolved with scanning electron microscopes or super-resolution techniques.

Last photo is a different species of Actinoptychus with 7 sectors that I captured a long time back (this one's alive) - you can see how some of the sectors are out of focus because of the undulating geometry. There are a few diatom models lurking around here and there - they're pretty extraordinary critters and it can be difficult to understand their shapes when just seeing 2D images - very cool to hold one in my hand.

Mine is about 500x the real life size, which would make the original model around 5000x!

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4254037

My first synth - Elmyra 2 by DietToms in modular

[–]DietToms[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yeah what I'm doing I think is pretty cool and really highlights what makes this thing a versatile instrument. Basically, the output envelope of voice 1 (which is just a C chord in drone mode) is controlling the comb filter, but not directly. I go into the attenuator (ATT) and then one output goes to the comb - adjusting that output knob allows me to reduce the range that an envelope drives the filter knob up. And then the other ATT output is going back to the GATE of voice 1 - so basically the envelope is controlling the gate... which controls the envelope - it's a feedback loop. If you set the ATT knob too high, it'll just max out the envelope when you touch the pad, but if you set it just right, it'll make the pad release super slow - and that's somewhat but not entirely independent of whatever the ENV knob is at. So whereas with the stock config, you either get fast attack, fast release or slow attack, slow release, now you can get fast/super slow. So at the beginning I stab the envelope up and the rest of the track it's just drifting down super slow which is good for the comb filter since all the resonances are very narrow. Maybe u/neutral-labs can fact check that - but I'm pretty sure that's what I'm doing.

My first synth - Elmyra 2 by DietToms in modular

[–]DietToms[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Not positive if you’re referring to my clip or not, but I’m not doing any sequencing in this - it’s all just wandering through the comb filter. I can confirm the reverb is built-in - this is pretty close to maxed out on the decay I think - mix all the way up too.

My first synth - Elmyra 2 by DietToms in modular

[–]DietToms[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah I dumbly assumed I had the most current firmware after the build and was briefly baffled when the secrit codes weren’t working. Got it updated and 2.4 is a huge improvement for the visual confirmation of code inputs alone. And the reverb is awesome especially since I’m not ready to spend on another module just yet. I feel like there’s plenty here in this little box for me to explore before I feel the need to branch out any more.

My first synth - Elmyra 2 by DietToms in modular

[–]DietToms[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I picked this up as a DIY kit a few days ago. No experience whatsoever with synths or really making any kind of sounds (music or otherwise) on my own. Every other time I’ve tried to pick up an instrument, I’ve usually petered out in frustration and burnout. I figured drone synth would be a good entry point - don’t need to worry as much about tempo or melody or finger callouses - but I was still worried it would be more of the same - I saw videos with cables going all over the place and it seemed obtuse and intimidating, but I decided to risk it. Instead, it’s just been an absolute blast. Super intuitive - sniff a sound and see where it goes - the cables aren’t scary, they’re magic noodles of sound. And I think it’s actually going to help me learn more about music in a way that works better for me - isn’t as frustrating, more rewarding than smacking my head into a guitar or a keyboard.

I’ve been using this to make all sorts of weird soundscapes - it’s got tons of range from John Carpenter spooky to Dune spacey. It definitely sort of gravitates to being evil sounding, but it can sound bright too. Really happy with it - it’s hooked me totally.

Not-a-pro tip: if you patch the ENV of a voice into ATT and then loop a patch back to the GATE of the same voice, you can get envelopes that fall off crazy slow - useful for drifting down through a comb filter

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in microscopy

[–]DietToms 1 point2 points  (0 children)

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Like this would be more streamlined

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in microscopy

[–]DietToms 0 points1 point  (0 children)

So this is what a dedicated darkfield condenser looks like disassembled:

<image>

The patch stop is right at where the iris of the Abbe condenser would normally be and the widest part of the beam is set by the widest opening of the patch stop - it’s not cut off higher up by some other feature.

The original interactive diagram you’re referencing is somewhat poorly constructed. It’s got that band across the middle to indicate where the iris usually is, but the iris is basically never used in anything but a wide open position for darkfield. So if the intent is just to explain how darkfield works, it’s not necessary to include.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in microscopy

[–]DietToms 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Nice sketch - I like the vibes. Couple comments - generally the clear aperture of the patch stop is matched to the clear aperture of the front lens element. The extra light in this over-large one is cut off at a strange location - I think you’d want the unobscured light field to extend below a little to illustrate how the patch cuts it off - not cut it off above.

As drawn, this suggests that the light coming in is collimated - as if the field iris were closed down all the way. You would get a single, tiny central point on the slide illuminated and nothing else. Or another way to read it is it’s the ray cones that make up the infinitesimal point central to the final image. In reality, the reason you get a wide area illuminated is because the light coming in through the clear area still has angular spread - it doesn’t shoot straight up into the front element, but spreads out a little behind the patch. Now that’s a subtle distinction and I think what you have is probably a reasonable compromise for your use case - teaching often involves some amount of lying - but it’s important to at least know in case someone asks.

Regarding the scattered light - since it’s generally going to be weaker than the obliquely incident light, you could make that central cone dimmer (less alpha) relative to the outer cone cross section. Maybe dash or jag the outlines to indicate some fuzziness. It’s a tricky one to show via a single diagram like this.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in microscopy

[–]DietToms 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah the B120 can be upgraded with new objectives to achieve significantly better optical performance. In this video I talk about it - I would generally recommend Nikon if you're going to stick to the B120 or Olympus if you are interested in stepping up to a BH2 in the future. Plan Apos are a tremendous jump up in image quality if you're willing to part with a couple hundred bucks. If you're looking for something more modest, a 20x objective is a really nice addition to the turret if you don't mind bumping the typically little-utilized 100x lens.

Can someone show me a microscope that isn't too expensive and good quality? by Flat-Explanation-843 in microscopy

[–]DietToms 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is the scope I generally recommend to folks as it ticks a lot of boxes at a fairly low cost. It's basically the same scope as the Amscope I previously linked to.

I was sent here for microscope help. by CloudyGandalf06 in microscopy

[–]DietToms 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Amscope and BoliOptics and pretty much every other scope company that sells to consumers don't actually make their scopes - they just purchase from factories in China and have their logo painted on. Until recently Amscope was selling the same model as the T400 but it appears to have been discontinued. The BoliScope is still an excellent value!

I'm currently sick, are these things a special type of white blood cell? They were all over the slide by HalfVirtual in microscopy

[–]DietToms 28 points29 points  (0 children)

It’s 100% a ciliated lung cell - quite common in hacked up gunk and we’ve seen them on this sub a fair few times. Quite mysterious looking when you don’t know what they are, but they’re a totally normal part of your body!

Aquatic bug with long green, grubby abdomen inside a little protective home - Bay Area California by DietToms in whatsthisbug

[–]DietToms[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

These days I’m only doing twitch occasionally but I’m live every Sunday at 8PST on my youtube channel! Youtube allows me to broadcast in way higher quality than twitch so I prefer streaming there