• empireOfLove@lemmy.one
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    1 year ago

    Hmm.

    I do quite a bit of parametric modelling and I see how something like this could be made. Find the angles of the sun at specific times, project planes at a fixed distance and angle matching around your cylinder, sketch the time number you want on each plane with a fixed pitch and then project-cut back through the cylinder. Would be a pain in the ass though. And a pretty tough 3d print without soluble supports, given all those tiny tiny interior walls and cavities.

    • cassetti@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      Actually printed one on a Zortrax printer a few years back - not perfect, but came out pretty good.

      There are two different versions depending if you’re in the northern or southern hemisphere. It’s fun to show it to people and show how it changes if you rotate or adjust the pitch/angle of the sunddial.

      • empireOfLove@lemmy.one
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        1 year ago

        Is this available on thingiverse or something? I’d very much like to try my hand at printing it on some Prusa’s I have access to. But don’t think I’m up for that big of a parametric modelling challenge.

          • empireOfLove@lemmy.one
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            1 year ago

            Awesome! I’m definitely giving this a try next weekend. Hopefully the petg I have holds up, I don’t have an enclosure for ABS prints to come out right

            • cassetti@kbin.social
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              1 year ago

              I have PETG bog planters sitting out in the sun doing just fine. I print PETG all the time on my prusa printers. Just be sure to dry the filament extensively for best results, especially on something like this where you don’t want a lot of stringing lol

              • _haha_oh_wow_
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                1 year ago

                I printed mine out of PLA and it’s been fine. PETG would definitely be better though.

    • _haha_oh_wow_
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      1 year ago

      Nope, I printed this with a poorly calibrated FDM printer and it still worked great.

  • betterdeadthanreddit@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    That’s a cool project, it’d be interesting to see a time-lapse video through full daylight hours (with a couple extra frames at the intervals when the numbers are clearest).

        • xpinchx@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          It’s a maddening, yet somehow fun hobby. If you do it just remember it’s better to get a high quality small one vs a shit huge one.

          I started with a CR10 knockoff that was a fucking nightmare. Good for learning how they work, but an overall shit user experience. I upgraded to an Artillery Sidewinder X1 and all my headaches went away (for the most part)

          If you like tinkering it will be fun.

            • xpinchx@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              The Sidewinder has been reliable so far. If you really don’t want to mess with anything, a comment above recommended Prusa which I agree with they’re just pricier.

              I haven’t shopped around in a few years so there may be more notable brands now. Get one with an auto bed leveler, that’s one thing I wish I had. I don’t have the heart to flash in new firmware and deal with the hardware install (bl touch)

          • _haha_oh_wow_
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            1 year ago

            The actual CR10 is a fucking nightmare lol, PRUSA is a better way to go but I’ve heard The Sidewinder X1 is pretty decent.

        • jtablerd@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          These work great at different latitudes , you just adjust the angle to latitude +10° (and a different value in winter but same principle)