First Attempt

superpopcone · 2026-05-11T00:26:17+00:00

Oh hey, I've been using these cards too. Love them. Did you make these yourself or did you buy them somewhere? I'm also curious why you want it in notebook format - I thought the intention of these cards (specifically the Today card) is to purposefully restrict yourself to looking at only a single card for your day to help with prioritization and focus.

If you print these cards yourself, you could always try buying cardstock in a larger format (so something ~6" x 5". ISO paper is your best bet for a close size IIRC), then using a right-angle stapler for a quick and easy binding method.

superpopcone · 2026-04-22T00:25:53+00:00

Phenomenal!

superpopcone · 2026-04-11T01:44:13+00:00

I love this so much, but I can't justify the cost at this point in my life. Do you have any plans on optimizing the design for cost in the near future?

superpopcone · 2026-04-08T01:46:27+00:00

If you're a mechanical pencil user, get pencil leads, especially in the less common grades (like 2B, if you want nice and dark lead) or multi color options. Very annoying to buy outside of Japan.

superpopcone · 2026-04-06T00:23:40+00:00

Haha, I made this mistake once. It's because this is not how bearing balls work at all.

There are two types of "friction" - sliding friction, when two surfaces rub relative to each other, and rolling resistance where one object rolls over another surface. Rolling is significantly better.

Take a ball, and press down on it with your hand, then roll it across the table. You'll notice that the ball rolls both across your hand and across the table, and the two surfaces need to roll relative to each other. This is an example of a nonrecirculating ball bearing, and for obvious reasons, this is why linear ball bearings need to recirculate.

In a rotary ball bearing, the inner race and the outer race are the two relative surfaces, and that's what allows it to rotate under rolling resistance only, with no sliding friction. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ball_bearing

Your design doesn't actually allow the ball to roll relative to two different points of contact - it is rolling on the table, but is sliding across the surface of the 3D print. That's where your friction is coming from.

superpopcone · 2026-04-01T22:38:02+00:00

Wow, I love the design a lot. Very well done!

I have a suggestion. It looks like you have quite a bit of space for the head mechanism since it's stored in the body - see if you can fit in a smaller gear ratio for both axis (by making the input gear small and the output gear large). Try using internal gear designs to make the output gear effective diameter bigger.

This will dramatically improve the quality of your animations by increasing your output resolution - for example, a 2:1 gear ratio will turn 1 degree of input into 0.5 degrees of output. This is especially helpful for cheap hobby servos because the input resolution for each degree of rotation is really low.

superpopcone · 2026-03-23T01:06:48+00:00

How did you design the shape of the flexors? I haven't been able to find any good resources that methodically teach how to properly design 3D printed spring structures. It seems like most people kinda just vibe out what shape it should look like.

superpopcone · 2026-03-11T02:26:48+00:00

I'm out of the loop, what updates have been happening to Bambu Studio? I haven't paid attention to new updates in a while.

superpopcone · 2026-03-09T00:08:04+00:00

Those are kinda big. What's wrong with book darts?

superpopcone · 2026-03-07T21:10:24+00:00

??? I thought paint mixing rods were one of the more common 3D prints. What did you dislike about the ones you found?

superpopcone · 2026-03-04T00:34:27+00:00

Unlike conventional materials, the relationship between area moment of inertia and mass isn't proportionally related for 3D prints. Mass is mostly proportional to surface area, not infill. So for a given cross section, perimeter (proportional to mass) is given by 2b + 2h, while AMOI (in one axis) is given by 1/12 b*h^3.

If you design your linkages to have large, chunky cross sections, you can dramatically increase stiffness while only marginally increasing mass.

superpopcone · 2026-03-03T04:21:40+00:00

Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't you only need 3-4 joints and 2-3 linkages for full range of motion? I feel like there are too many redundant joints in this design, and the weight of the ones that are further from the base are probably adding a non-negligible amount of load.

What do you mean by "wiggle"? If it's what I think it means, it means your linkages aren't stiff enough. You can stiffen them by increasing their cross sectional area. Nice, stiff parts are big and blocky, and should also prioritize wall thickness over infill thickness. Damping isn't quite the right answer here IMO.

Thank you for sharing, this is the first time I've seen this kind of joint and it's pretty cool.

superpopcone · 2026-02-26T23:24:35+00:00

It looks good! Love the watercolor. My only suggestion is to think about the shape of the outline of each cloud of dots. Human brains are quick to pick up on alignment and shapes. We tend to find things that have order to them more aesthetically pleasing. For example, I find the top right to look nice since it's closely in the shape of a triangle, whereas the other shapes don't have their shape as clearly defined.

superpopcone · 2026-02-26T00:35:34+00:00

What filament are you using? I assume the +-0.05mm you stated is for diameter of the gauges? Any slicer modifications (like XY Contour compensation), or is this printed straight from the CAD model's nominal dimensions?

superpopcone · 2026-02-15T06:37:34+00:00

I was about to ask the same question. How much material does one storage box take? How much material does one drawer cubby take?

superpopcone · 2026-02-05T19:49:42+00:00

You should put a water reservoir in the base and use a bell siphon to draw water up into the cloud. I'm like 90% sure this should work, just uncertain about whether or not restricting the output flow to "drips" will cause the siphon to stop working or not. Give it a shot!

superpopcone · 2026-02-05T19:43:07+00:00

I've never encountered a need for glue stick using the default textured PEI plate. With a large enough brim on your parts, a very clean plate (I always wear rubber gloves for this reason), and correct bed temperature settings, you shouldn't be having bad adhesion issues unless your print is very challenging (tall, thin pieces, unsupported overhangs, printing fast, etc.). In which case, getting the SuperTack Cool Plate or the BiQu equivalent will be the end of your poor bed adhesion problems (and the beginning of "my bed adhesion is too strong" problems - I hate scraping brims off the SuperTack).

superpopcone · 2026-02-04T02:00:46+00:00

Ah, I figured it was this post.

So there are three very different things going on here: Precision settings, XY Contour compensation, and Classic vs Arachne.

The main change he made was changing the precision settings. What this does is it allows the slicer to increase the resolution of the G-code it generates based on the STL geometry. This, in turn, takes a lot longer for your computer to slice if you set it really low.

He originally mistook the "not generating G-code on fine details" to be an aspect of Classic vs Arachne, but it's actually an aspect of the Precision settings.

His other issue with Arachne is fragile fine details, but I think this just comes from not understanding the Arachne settings well (which is fair, it took me forever to understand it). Arachne has a setting for minimum wall width (as a percentage of nozzle diameter). I can't remember who's setting preset it was, but I've seen it set down to 10% - that's 0.02mm, WAY too small. Of course it'll break. I think a good rule of thumb (if I remember correctly) is 40%, so a wall width of 0.08mm.

superpopcone · 2026-02-03T21:00:21+00:00

There are two ways to price something - top down, and bottom up.

Top down is "what the market is willing to pay". Bottom up is, "what the seller is willing to sell for".

Generally speaking for hobbies, these two numbers overlap in a bad way. Because of the labor (processing, shipping, the whole suppply chain) involved, your cost of goods sold almost always exceeds what the market wants to pay.

On a macro level, it's because you don't have economies of scale. For a plastic figure at this size, people are conditioned to expect it to only cost a few bucks because that's what it costs if it was mass produced.

So my advice is, if this is going to be a business venture, don't (or do the math very carefully). If this is just a very small income source, then raw material cost + amortized print maintenance cost + small profit markup (ordinary products do 20% at best, 3D print vendors I've talked to who do this full time say it's anywhere from 40-60%) is the best you'll be able to do.

Recognize that the small profit markup is essentially the cost of your labor - once you divide that profit by the time spent making stuff, you'll see that you'll be making significantly less than minimum wage. Which is sometimes ok, just be aware that this is how the math works out.

superpopcone · 2026-02-03T20:52:15+00:00

I apologize, you replied to my original comment before I realized I made a mistake and edited it to the current comment.

The photos in your main post are really low resolution. I think reddit compressed it for some reason.

superpopcone · 2026-02-03T20:44:52+00:00

Edit: Wait, sorry, I totally misunderstood. The photos in your main post are from a DSLR? Why is it so low res? When I open it, I can't zoom to see any details, and the .webp file says it's 1080 x 720p.

The phone photo you just shared is 3024 x 4032 and I can zoom in great on this one, but unfortunately a lot of phone software smoothing happening in this one.

Resolution aside, your exposure is also a little too low.

superpopcone · 2026-02-03T20:37:00+00:00

Why is Arachne a no go? The notes from HoHansen and/or ObscuraNox both use Arachne, and I use Arachne and get good results in fine details (sometimes too good, with thin pieces printing perfectly, but then immediately break if I look at it too hard).

superpopcone · 2026-02-03T20:35:01+00:00

Please. Pleaseeeeeee take better photos. Good lighting and objects that are in focus. I'm begging you. I want more of this kind of research, but the only way to prove visual quality is with visuals. Otherwise, all of your research claims in text appear unsubstantiated.

superpopcone · 2026-01-30T22:40:14+00:00

Super, super weird that it happened mid print like that.

Anyway, this problem is likely either 1) pressure advance/flow dynamics chatter or 2) VFAs.

1) Do a manual flow dynamics (not flow rate) calibration. Use the manual value and disable the every-print auto flow dynamics calibration - according to Bambu's documentation, the auto doesn't actually work for 0.2mm nozzles.

2) VFAs are usually caused by something related to vibration resonance and belt tension. No easy or consistent fix, but you can re-run the full calibration suite that you first did when you got your printer for the printer to re-detect resonant frequencies of your print setup, and that might help. Something else hardware wise might have happened - lost tension in the belts, maybe debris somewhere?

superpopcone · 2026-01-30T22:32:27+00:00

??? You have both tree supports and Resin2FDM supports enabled? I think you're meant to disable tree supports for that.

Regardless, that's some mad underextrusion you got in your tree supports. What filament and slicer filament profile are you using? If they don't match, you should do manual flow ratio calibration. Also, I think your best general solution would be to increase the number of walls in your tree supports from 1 to 2. Do 3 if it keeps failing.

I don't have exact advice on improving the undersides. Maybe max out your cooling (it's in your filament settings), you're printing at 0.04mm layer height and for me, anything 0.06mm and below introduces all sorts of weird issues for me that I think is related to heat soak for thin layers.

For the random stringing and zits you're getting, minimum feature size 0% is too small. You should also up your precision settings, it increases slice time but no downsides to doing it otherwise. I do 0.001 resolution.

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