About

I’ll put some content here when I’m feeling bored, boastful, or simply full of myself.

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Email me at haveblue {at} haveblue {dot} org

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This blog is really more of a notebook for various projects that I’ve worked on (I refer back to it often when trying to remember a key piece of information), and a way for friends and family to see what sort of things I’ve been tinkering with lately.  I refuse to host ads on the site, but if someone really wanted to support my wide-ranging interests and encourage me to write more, my BTC address is 1GPZprFSNpnSdhK7pxnZbKR9zRRH4je66M

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23 thoughts on “About”

  3. Dear HaveBlue,

    Could you please tell me the type (voltage, amperage, exact DC type, brushed) of the motor, and also the exact type of the motor controller?

    Best,
    Laszlo

    Reply

  4. i have an fdm 2000, we got it to print last night but the big issue im having is setting the Z starting point, it wants to start each print 1 inch above the bed surface.
    so any info you can provide about setting x y and most importantly Z start point would be awesome.
    additionally the first sucessfull print was done without support material and we’d like to try to stay that way(availablility cost etc) and i was planning to replace the foam with a glass surface that can be leveled, any thought on this?

    thanks

    Reply

    1. Hi Mike –

      I just got a 2000 myself a few months ago and have been learning the quirks it has (hope to do a blog post on it soon). When you send a job to the printer, the pause light will blink. When you hit the pause button, the machine will home the X Y and Z axes and then pause once more. At this point, use the direction buttons to move the head in the X-Y plane to where you want it to start the print (generally the front left corner), and run the Z stage up so that the model tip is juuuuust buried in the foam. Hit the pause button once more, and the machine should be off and running.

      I’ve played with adding a surface to print on (when I ran out of support material) that I could level, but never had good results with it. In fact, one of the guys at our makerspace is actually thinking about abandoning use of the glass plate on his MegaMax printer, as he’s having better luck with the foil-sided PIR foam from the home improvement store.

      Reply

  5. Hi,

    Since you were the first to print an AR-15 lower, I wonder: Would you allow me to use one of your pictures in an article about 3D printed guns for a gun mag (waffenkultur.com)? If so, please contact me via the e-mail I registered with here.

    If you have a picture with an even higher resolution of “22-upper-on-3d-printed-lower.jpg”, “buffer-tower-gap.jpg”, “extraction-failure.jpg”, that would be even better.

    Also, please let me know how you would like to be attributed: Name, nickname, domain, something else, pick yours.

    Reply

    1. Hi William – I dropped you a line, not sure if you got it. Let me know what photos you’d like to use, as I can provide higher resolution ones than what’s on the site.

      Reply

  8. hello sir! I have been doing some reading up on your project, and given that your project is working with 5.56 and holding up to the strength of the DEFCAB file, I was curious if you would be willing to send me the file via e-mail so I can print it and compare it to DEFCAB’s, also, what is the sturdiest material one could use to make this from? I am very new to this sort of thing. Thankyou very much, Sir.

    Reply

    1. Yes, I have a copy of my lower here: http://haveblue.orgwordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/ARlower-haveblue-first-version.zip
      However, the Defense Distributed version is better – the buffer tower on mine is unmodified from Duke Snider’s original CAD file and is thinner than on most aluminum lowers, so it needs more material to keep flex down. The sturdiest material you could make one from would probably be PEEK, but there are currently only two machines in the entire US that can print in that material. For a hobbyist type machine, Taulman 618 is probably as strong a material as you’ll find.

      Reply

  9. Hi HaveBlue,

    My name is Brett, and I am a graduate student at Montana State University in the MFA program for Science and Natural History Filmmaking. For my second year film, I decided to go after a subject that has both the public and my attention: 3d printing guns.
    Obviously after a little Google searching, your name begins to pop up quite a bit!
    I was wondering if you had a contact email, or number where I could maybe get in touch with you? I find all this extremely interesting, and feel like your voice would be a great addition to my film! Feel free to contact me via email!

    Thanks!

    Reply

  10. I am hoping the person that posted the dimension cartridge refill will read this. we need to be able to refill cartridges on our 768. we will pay anyone that can help us go through this. even a free trip to denver as well

    Reply

  11. we are a small specialty material firm developing and commercializing 1.75 mm ABS and PLA filaments. We are looking for high end tool 3D Printer users that like Jason want to be able to buy filament on the open market rather than paying the OEM prices for filament. We have discovered many such owners are able to respool onto dedicated spools or we can do that for them. We are very interested to get yours and others guidance to see if this is a viable business opportunity. Thank you.

    Reply

  12. Hello, I recently purchased and older dimension sst 768 3d printer which has an amprov lb3-p5v computer however, this computer has failed so i was wondering would there be a way to use a more modern computer with dimensions drivers and maybe use more updated slicing software? I have actually considered using the chassis with an arduino but am unsure how complicated this would turn out to be. Any ideas or thoughts would be greatly appreciated thanks Douglas from Toronto Canada.

    Reply

    1. I’m not sure how ‘modern’ of a computer you’ll be able to get away with – getting the slots lined up for the controller board will probably be the biggest issue. I’ll drop you a line via email.

      Reply

  13. I was wondering where the collet chuck on the Grizzly 4000 came from. I saw a picture of it when I was searching for a collet chuck for my 4000.
    Thanks for your time,
    Sam

    Reply

    1. Hi Sam – I purchased the 5C collet chuck for the Grizzly from New England Brass and Tool over a decade ago. Bob was extremely helpful in helping me to make sure I got the right mounting adapter, so I highly recommend giving them a call. The 5C collet chuck is one of the best lathe accessories I’ve ever purchased, and it now lives mostly on my big Keiyo-Seiki lathe.

      Reply

  15. Hello I recently purchased a keiyo sikei lathe km 1800 and I see u posted the manual but I can not get it to come up. I would be very grateful if there was a way for you to email me a copy or any way I could see a copy

    Reply

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