Community News and 3D printing Tips: Bad Batteries and Great Colors

Hey there! It's been a while since we did a community newsletter. The email system was a bit of a mess so we thought we'd try this as a blog post instead.  Please enjoy some updates and a bit of show & tell from our community, mostly from our Discord. 

Updates about our 3d printed kits: 

The kits for the remainder of the year are set! this is exciting news. There are still a few design tweaks happening but we're further ahead of the deadline than we've ever been. This will hopefully result in higher quality kits and manuals. 

One problem we had was the folding of the LED strips in the PixelClock. Luckily, most folks were able to resolve the issue, like Silverbaer (below). We're fixing that problem with the remainder of the kits, so if you happen to buy one retail, just know that you won't experience this problem! 

There's not much that feels better than seeing a tool you designed being used in the wild! Here Silverbaer is using our helping hands kit to fix the pixels that broke in their PixelClock (above). 

Ripley shared a peak at their sample collection. They're up to 343 samples! Of those, over 150 are from us or from previous incarnations of us, like Alien3d!

3d printing tips & tricks! 

On our discord, we were trying to figure out why ManaaniWanderer was having issues with their Magic 8 Ball only working when plugged in, as opposed to batteries. It turns out that they were using rechargeable batteries and the rechargeable ones don't put out the full 1.5v you expect from a AA. This is a known issue with rechargeables, so keep it in mind. If you're having issues with power, check that voltage! 

Community 3d printed kit builds!

Holtz showed off this awesome black and orange build of the desk jet. That looks soooo clean. 

Silverbaer's pink magic 8 ball is delightful. 

And Tim Cahoon had a little mishap that made his 8 ball into a 3 ball. Luckily the magic is still intact! 

Gypsy brought us some sick looking black and red to their 8 ball. that is a super clean print! 

Gypsy's color scheme for their PixelClock turned out really well too. 

Abe Weiss found a nice home for his moon lamp, above a grandfather clock!