Sad News Alert

Lets talk about the tracks.

They are a fucking nightmare, every single stage of the design for the tracks was a nightmare.

I had nothing to go on regarding the dimensions, undulations or even the best way to print them, so i just kinda worked with what i could find.

I managed to find a picture of some waltzer wheels that had marking on them, from that i was able to find the tyre dimensions, which then enabled me to work out how wide the track needed to be, based on 1/24 scale, which this waltzer is.

Im not gonna go to much into the design process as once the undulations had been figured out, it was a simple 'sweep' to get the full track with a t shaped profile and slicing it into 12 sections.

My biggest issue with the track was printing it.
oh my god it was a nightmare. The track has marking on it to indicate its location, so they needed to be easily read, but the top of the track needed to be as smooth as it can be (i dont like post-processing stuff😭).

When i eventually managed to print them to a somewhat reasonable quality (they are REALLY bad), i realized they just wasn't gonna hold in place by themselves, once i had all 12 in place, they held together pretty well, but they were still moving up and down, which made an audible thumping noise when the ride was running.

So i redesigned the gates to include pins to hole the track in place (like a real waltzer has), and then had to reprint them. Thankfully i managed to do it in one batch, but jesus it takes a lot of support material.

I haven't been able to pull it off since, but i originally managed to print them standing on there ends. it took far to long, but the quality was nice.

The pins work incredibly well. The ride in its current state feels sturdy and not like something is going to fall off if i knock it to much.

here is some pics of the pins holding the tracks in place. i think they look quite nice 🤷‍♂️

The biggest annoyance i have so far with the waltzer is that the moving platforms are kinda light, so when they go around, it BARELY makes contact with the track at its loweest point. If i weigh the platforms down, they make contact great, but the weight makes more work for the motors, which are kinda already close to there limit.

I did add some holes on the underside of the platforms for adding some m3 nuts, thinking it might help with making contact to the track, but it hardly did a thing.

i get the feeling at some point im going to discover something that pushes me to adjust and reprint the platforms, which i really hope i not.

1. because they take ages to print
2. i can only do 3 at a time

The only thing im nervous about with the waltzer is the posts, They have some holes in for the top brace, rafters and handrails, but im nervous about the strength of those holes. i dont think they will break, but i get the feeling over time, they will start to creep, which the holes being the most likely place for that to start. Hopefully the final weight resting on the posts wont be to much😬

Just put all the gates in place and then realized i forgot to drill the track pin holes out 😭

Started printing the outside posts of the waltzer last night, just got another 12 to print today.

I was just going to put the new gates on, but forgot i had to wait for the glue holding the pins in place to dry, no idea why i made the holes so big🤷‍♂

Originally i made the gates thinking each was going to be customized in some way, but since ive made these modifications for the walkway and the track, they are all identical. So now i can probably remove the markings indicating there position on the waltzer. The benefit of no markings means there will be 4 gate models instead of 24. Then i can just print off as many as i need for each.

I should probably create a print list...

i wonder how long it would take to 3d print the eiffel tower, and much filament it would take 🤔

According to the cad software im using, im on version 459 of the waltzer. Feels like v4000😭

The hinge bars and the missing shutters have now finished printing, but im to high actually make use of them at the moment lmao

If your into 3D printing, buy a deburring tool, they are amazing once you get the hand of it🥰

I was about to say the shutters have been printed, and im now printing the hingebars. But i was just counting the shutters and im missing 2, so now ive gotta change spool back to red 😭

just got out of the shower, was drying my feet and i have a fucking spider stuck to the my heel 🤢

I wonder if you could use the part cooling fan on a 3d printer to help cool the bed after printing, or if that would affect the quality 🤔

Social media posts should operate under the same rules as tv broadcasts. If someone is in the video, get a fucking release before posting that content somewhere 😒

I have this specific spot on my print bed that always seems to lift for some reason, despite it being probed with the auto bed leveling multiple times. I have no idea why, its been like it since the day i got the printer, its usually ok so long as the bulk of the print area is covering that spot, but if any corners or such are in that area, its almost guaranteed to lift.

Thanks Creality😭

I think im gonna print them in red. The waltzer im basing the design on is mostly red, and i have red loaded in the printer, so might as well use it. Surprisingly its only going to take 2 print plates to do all the shutters, and the print time isnt too bad either, i managed to get it down to about 3 hours.

do i print the shutters for the waltzer in red... or random colors 🤔

I know i said im going to sleep, but my brain wont shut off.
I wonder what year would be considered the most favourite year. For me its probably 1999, It was the last year i remember being a good happy year for me, after that it all went down hill.
It had good music too 😂

Walkway Batch 2 is almost halfway done.

im going to sleep

I never really understood peoples liking of Jack Black, Ive never been a fan of his acting, except in Shallow Hal (which im pretty sure was poorly received) and I liked that song Tenacious D did, but that's it 🤷‍♂️

i dunno what it is, but when the printer stops and returns back to its home position, it always manages to unravel the filament a little bit, and always to the back of the machine so that i have to return it back to the spool, if it fell forwards, i wouldnt have to touch it, because it wouldnt be in a situation to be tangled. i need to design or find something that i can add to the side of a spool to prevent the filament slipping off 😭

It only does it on fresh spools because of how full they are, after a quarter of a spool has been used it doesnt slip anymore 😒