JGMaker Artist-D IDEX 3D – Kickstarter Campaign

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JGMaker Artist-D IDEX 3D Printer

This is my review of the JGMaker’s Artist-D 3D Printer. This will be a multi-post series where I discuss the Kickstarter Campaign and a review of the printer that I received. In this piece I will briefly introduce you to the JGMaker Artist-D 3D printer and provide an overview of my experience with the Kickstarter campaign that produced the printer I received. In a follow-up I will dive deeper into the technical side of the printer and discuss my impressions and observations. Artist-D IDEX 3D Printer The Artist-D is an IDEX 3D printer that JGMaker brought to life through a … Continue reading →

JGMaker Artist-D Duplication Mode

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The JGMaker Artist-D is an IDEX printer that is really, really neat. One issue I’ve run into is with duplication mode. Duplication mode works, but depending on how you send g-code to the printer you can get a very nasty grinding from the left extruder (T0). I believe there is a bug in Marlin that needs to be addressed, however coming up with some simple start g-code, the issue can be avoided. To best take advantage of this it is a good idea to create another printer in your slicing software. There are two advantages of doing this. First, you … Continue reading →

Xplorer Version and Variations Differences

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After much discussion on the “X3” thread on RCGroups.com I decided to come up with the following article discussion the evolution of NAN’s Xplorer.  The Xplorer from NAN Models started flying in 2008. It was an immediate success in F3J competition. Over the years the Xplorer underwent three major revisions. Along the way there were some intermediate variations that changed up the current offerring. In this article we’ll explore the differences in the Xplorer’s versions and variations as well as looking at the evolution in the model over the years. NOTE: This article is a work in progress. Xplorer 1 Link … Continue reading →

Working on Your Blog Locally – Step 2, Setting Up WAMP

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If you like tinkering with things you will have inevitably run into the scenario where you had something which was working, albeit maybe no just quite how you wanted it. After looking through manuals and reading a bunch of documentation it’s time to play around with things that may seem a bit foreign or off the beaten path. What generally happens to me is that I’ll mess with something in an effort to make it better and then end up screwing up everything. This is the second in the series of posts I’ll be making on how to backup your WordPress … Continue reading →

Working on Your Blog Locally – Step 1, Back It Up!

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If you like tinkering with things you will have inevitably run into the scenario where you had something which was working, albeit maybe no just quite how you wanted it. After looking through manuals and reading a bunch of documentation it’s time to play around with things that may seem a bit foreign or off the beaten path. What generally happens to me is that I’ll mess with something in an effort to make it better and then end up screwing up everything. I’ve run into this scenario more often than I care to enumerate. What I’ve learned after spending much of … Continue reading →

Florida Soaring Society 2016 Wrap-up

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The scores for 2016 were recently posted for the FSS 2016 events. Here are the results for the year: Expert Rank Pilot Contests Flown Scored Points Yearly Average 1 John Kennedy 11 7808 824 2 Mike Naylor 10 7648 830 3 Michael Gardner 9 7483 831 4 Jamie Mercado 8 7460 932 5 Steve Blake 7 6174 882 Masters Rank Pilot Contests Flown Scored Points Yearly Average 1 Raed Elazzaw 14 8668 915 2 Jody Miller 8 7700 962 Wow! 3rd place finish! This is my second year of flying competitively so I’m very pleased. John, Mike, Jamie, and Steve … Continue reading →

Logitec MX Master Mouse

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I’m a mouse snob. Software engineering pretty much takes place at a computer. So I work at a computer about 9 hours a day during the work week. It therefore goes that I will use the computer peripherals that best meet my needs and comfort. I could go on about my keyboard, monitors, any of the stuff on my desk, etc. but today I’m going with pure mouse snobbery. The first mouse I fell head over heals for was the Microsoft Intellimouse. I hadn’t immediately jumped on the optical mouse bandwagon. When I did I went for one that had … Continue reading →

Finishing Up The Xplorer Build

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It Flies!

After having received the Xplorer a few weeks prior I finished up the build. In the last post I finished up the servo install in the wings. I was in a bit of a hurry to make a FSS event in May. It would be the last one until October. In the end I was unable to finish up the build before the event. I decided it was much more important to have a completely built plane that I was 100% confident in flying than putting a plane on a winch for the first time with epoxy barely hardened. The last items … Continue reading →

Xplorer Mark 3 Servo Install

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In my previous post about my new Xplorer Mark 3 I detailed how I setup the wing for pushrod exits. Now that I have each of the exits cut, the linkages measured, and the servo frame locations set it is time to glue those frames onto the inner skin of the wing. Let’s talk about a Xplorer Mark 3 servo install! Each step in this build, especially when it comes to the wing has been one where once undertaken cannot be undone. It really isn’t more evident than gluing in those servo frames. Once cured those frames are impossible to … Continue reading →