This episode is sponsored by Linode! Check out their scalable cloud solutions and get $100 free credit at https://linode.com/themeltzone
This episode is slightly different because Stefan records it straight from Covid isolation which he caught, as many others, at this year’s Midwest Reprap Festival in Goshen, IN. After a short status check and some stories from MRRF, Tom and Stefan discuss the recent merger of Ultimaker and Makerbot and what this will mean for the two brands as well as Thingiverse. Staying on the topic of Ultimaker, both talk about CURAs new Arachne slicing engine that dynamically adjusts extrusion width for more detailed and denser parts. Since CURA is open source, Prusa also implemented that feature in their new 2.5 alpha version of Prusa Slicer. Talking about open source, Tom and Stefan discuss the recent issues of Bambulab and QIDI not releasing the source code of their modified PrusaSlicer and CURA builds. The final section covers the question of what happened to PlyBot?
Tag: kickstarter
Simplify3D V5 “confirmed” & REVO problems
The first topic of this episode covers a controversial article where the author “has the feeling” that the release of S3D V5 might not be far away though there is very little substance to that claim. More substantial news is that Anker, the power bank and electronics accessories maker, will get into the 3D printer market and will launch their first machine on Kickstarter soon. Next, Tom and Stefan cover 3D printable accessories for a new Ford truck and the Steam Deck, for which Valve recently released the CAD files. Next Stefan talks about an issue he recently had with his E3D REVO review unit and Tom discusses his Form 3 review machine that turned out to be an unreleased Form 3+ which he didn’t know about. Stefan quickly gives an update about the “killed” stepper driver. Questions cover 3D printer recommendations, especially pre-built core XY, and what happens to additives and pigments when you compost plastics.