Budget 3D Printed Quadcopter Build

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Budget 3D Printed Quadcopter Build

     Immediately after building my first 3D printer I've wanted to 3D design and print my own quadcopter. It took a while but I finally got around to it. Turns out, it was surprisingly easy and I went from 3D designing to flying in a few hours. It took roughly 1 hour to design, 1 hour to print, 30 minutes to wire up, aaannnnd roughly 30 seconds of flying to crash and break my frame. I printed out a new frame and due to a transmitter setup error, promptly crashed and broke flight control board, requiring a two week wait for a replacement... I finally got the bugs worked out and have been happily flying since!

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The Folgertech FT-5 Large Scale 3D Printer Kit

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The Folgertech FT-5 Large Scale 3D Printer Kit

     Folgertech.com recently came out with a new kit for a large scale 3D printer boasting a huge 12inx12in15.75in print area. After getting my feet wet with one of their cheap Prusa i3 Kits, I started to get the itch to upgrade to a more higher end style printer. The cost of this kit was $499 and it took me right around 14 hours to build...

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Rugged Outdoor Portable Speaker

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Rugged Outdoor Portable Speaker

      When I have friends over for a BBQ or go camping, I like to have some music playing. In the past, I've used a Small Portable Speaker that I attached to a cooler. These small transducers work by transferring the sound waves into whatever surface they are connected to, essentially turning them into a speaker. Although it sounded decent, the battery life and volume was lacking....

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Smoked Brisket

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Smoked Brisket

      Brisket has always been a daunting cut to me due to the time committment, slightly higher cost than other cuts, and the required attention and care it needs during the cook. The first time I tried cooking one I was a bit rushed for time and the final result wasn't as impressive as I had hoped. I've followed Aaron Franklin for years now and just recently purchased his book, Franklin BBQ: A Meat Smoking Manifesto. The first chapter inspired me to give brisket another go and I'm sure glad I did.

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The Gameπ - Handheld Retro Gaming Console

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The Gameπ - Handheld Retro Gaming Console

      When I first stumbled upon the various Handheld Raspberry Pi Retro Gaming Consoles, I knew I needed to build one. I didn't want to simply copy someone else's design though; I wanted the challenge of designing and building my own custom game console. There are great examples out there and I wanted to combine all of their strengths into one design. The initial cost of these can be $200+, so I also wanted to make it affordable while not skimping on the functionality. It was also a perfect opportunity to become more familiar with 3D design software, 3D printing, and the Raspberry Pi. The main goal was to minimize hardware and cost and maximize the features...

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