3D printers may seem like a piece of specialty equipment, but they have a lot of practical uses. We use ours all the time and don't know what we'd do without one! Recently my father was installing sliding doors in a gazebo. The doors hang off of a set of rollers in a track. This means that the top of the door is held in place, but the bottom can swing in and out. This could be a problem in a wind storm, so some kind of guide is needed... Off to the 3D printer! To accomplish the task, we...

Backing a bow (adding a layer of another material to the back of a bow) is done with a variety of materials for a variety of reasons. Some backings change the properties of a bow (wood, rawhide, etc.) and some are just for looks and to add slight protection from splinters lifting on the back (snakeskin, paper, etc.). In this post I'll explain how I applied a paper backing to my bow. I'm by no means an expert, but my method seemed to work very well. Preparation I backed my bow after gluing on the handle and tip overlays, but...

If you have a bow (or just finished making one, like me) then you should have a bow stringer. A bow stringer allows you to easily string your bow without putting potentially harmful stress on the limbs. Bow stringers can be purchased, but they're also really easy to make, and it just seems fitting to make your own bow stringer if you're making a bow. Design There are a few ways to make a bow stringer; mine will simply be a pouch and a vinyl strip on opposite ends of a nylon strip. The pouch goes on the bow tip...

Features Over the years I've made my fair share of camera sliders, from very simple 2x4 sliders to more complicated wooden sliders. Most of them worked well enough since they were motorized, but they weren't great and without the motor it was difficult to move them steadily. Now that I have a 3D printer, I thought I'd have another go at making a slider. This time I opted for aluminum rails and printed bushings. The tension of the bushings can be adjusted with an Allen key, which allows you to compensate for wear over time and adjust the friction of...

The hot end is one of the most important parts of a 3D printer, and also one of the most troublesome. The thermal dynamics of a hot end are very critical, and if everything isn't perfect, they just won't work. I am by no means an expert on the subject, but I've had my fair share of issues, so hopefully my experiences can be of help to others. Here are some of the issues I've had and how I fixed them. This post deals specifically with J-Heads, but most of the tips apply to other hot ends as well. Cooling...