rwillett

I've wondered about doing this for a few months and never had the time to think this through. Background As part of the Basschat 8" speaker thread, I needed to attach a speaker grill to some risers. I wanted the speaker grill to be easily detachable without using any tools, such as an Allen key or a screw driver. I did look at quick release fasteners but they didn't quite work for me, so I thought I'd make some gnurled knobs using M3 bolts. I've made loads of these type of knobs before and have always followed the same pattern, design the knob, then insert a bolt after printing and use a little plug to fix the bolt in. Here's an example, the bolt goes through the hole and I simply glue a plug on top. Dead easy BUT it requires glue and a plug. So I wondered if I could design a knob that has the bolt put in as part of the printing process and not afterwards and therefore no plug is needed? This technique might be useful to somebody else so I thought I'd document it so somebody else can benefit from it. This is a little advanced in the number of steps and it might well be partly Prusa specific and Octoprint specific. Solution And this is it. This is a cut away of the knob and you can see where the head of the M3 bolt would sit. It looks like there is already the screw element of the bolt already in place, this is the long column underneath the knob head and this is actually never printed, though it is exported to the slicer. The column is there to position the knob head correctly in the vertical axis in the printer slicer, in my case PrusaSlicer. There are actually two different bodies in Fusion 360. The long column is 3.25mm in diameter and the hole in the knob head is 3.25mm as well. In this case it's a little under 16mm long as I will use an M3 16mm hex headed bolt and part of the bolt is in the head. Technically the knob head has zero surface overlap with the sacrificial column, this is important. Both bodies are exported to PrusaSlicer as a single component. In PrusaSlicer they are then converted to Parts, not Objects in the right hand mode pane. If you convert them to Objects, the head loses it's vertical position. This is done by selecting the component and right clicking it. The bottom of the knob head is painted for manual supports, that's the blue bit below. I used a "Smart Fill" and as the knob head base is flat, that works well. If the edge of the knob has a chamfer, the "Smart Fill" gets it wrong. Select the sacrificial column in the main window and in the right hand Mode Window add in "Infill" and "Layers and Perimeters", using a mouse click. This creates these options JUST for the sacrificial column. This presents these two options at the bottom of the Mode window as well. Change the settings to 0 for everything in these two windows. This tells PrusaSlicer not to print anything for this specific part, the sacrificial column. The column is still there holding the knob up, but doesn't exist for printing purposes. It's worth exploring what these options can do if you change them. Change the support options to "Generate support material" and turn off "Auto generated supports". This is really important, if you don't, PrusaSlicer will generate support material for the inside of the knob where the bolt head will slot in, this means you can't put the bolt in. Press the "Slice now" button and you get this. However your job isn't done yet. You can tweak the support material settings if you wish, I tend to just leave them as-is for this. Using the layer inspector, slide down the layers until you are one layer below where the head of the bolt would be The picture below is one layer higher and you can see the blue indicating an "Overhang perimeter" in PrusaSlicer. If you can see the blue layer, you need to go one layer lower. Right click on the Layer Inspector and select "Add Custom G-Code" You need to add in specific G-Code here to tell the printer to pause. I use Octoprint and a pair of Prusa Mk4's (not the MK4S). The below works for me, but if you have a Bambu or an Creality this might not work, The gist of the code above is: a) Move the printer head to X=10 and Y=200, basically away from the part you are printing. That's the G1 element. b) Make three 1.5sec beeps - That's the M300's and is used to attract my attention. c) Disable the stepper motor timeouts - This is needed for Prusa's but I'm not 100% certain as to why I used this command as I wrote this a few years ago I think that this was because if the stepper motors timeouts aren't disabled, then if I wait for too long, the stepper motors are disabled or de-energised and so aren't fixed in position using a steady current and if you knock the the printer at all, the printing head won't go back to the exact same position. d) Energise the stepper motors - Put some current in the stepper motors to fix the position of the plate and the head. e) The @pause is an Octoprint command which displays pause on the Octoprint (and Octodash) display and then allows you to press "Resume". This is the bit where you then insert the bolt. Kinda important. An email is also generated in Octoprint and sent to me so I don't have to watch the printing. The email is specific to Octoprint and uses the notifications plugin. d) The M105 returns the print head to the correct temperature after the pause (and the insertion) of the bolt. When the printing head temperature is back to the right temp, the printer carries on. I turn off the temperature as it might be an hour before I respond to the email. If this is left with the hot end hot, the Prusa shuts itself down as it thinks there is a problem, safe but not what we want. You now have a knob with an M3 bolt embedded in it, no glue, no plugs, so it's a lot stronger and neater. This looks like a lot of fuss and steps but it's probably 90 secs to go through to setup. Once you've set it up, you can then "Add Instance" and you can create four of them in a few seconds. Hope this helps somebody Rob

As I don't have Facebook, I'm assuming the increase in price is from £1 to £1.10? I know firewood prices have gone up a similar amount...

Hopefully it was a really old one, therefore worthless, and not a nice new one...

Wise words indeed....

The Strat is a lovely guitar, it's a MIJ 87 which appears to be a 62 reissue, thee bolt neck etc. I'm not that up on these things TBH but it's lovely to play, has EMG active pickups, the vibrato is locked with a block of wood and at one time in its life was routed for a humbucker at the bridge. Im trying to write songs, so I use the Strat, my 3d printed headless bass and a macbook. It's hard work but it's very different to my day job so it's a good way to unwind.

I got singing lessons from t'other half. Could be a subtle (or not so subtle) hint. Never has a singing lesson in my life. I used to sing solos when I was younger in primary school and then I grew up or something like that<cough> and can now strip creosote off fences at 10m. Fish wives and RSMs aren't in it.

I printed off four cylinder puzzles for Xmas and put various Xmas presents in. I have managed to keep four people amused for two hours as they have had to crack their locks. I'm sure that constantly saying "Do you need any help?" was well received by one and all.

That's my Strat but I don't recall it looking that big 🙄

There is no stage at the Craven Heifer, we all play in one corner. There is a PA provided by the organiser, everybody uses that single PA including vocalist. No space for your own amps but the BassChat 8" might just fit. PA speaker on a table. The drummer has a toy drum set, that's not a joke, it really is a kids set with a bass, a tom and a cymbal. Thats all that fits so she brings that. She has a Led Zep sized drum kit as well but zero chance of it fitting. I take a headless as less chance of it hitting anyone. I may take the Ibanez Mikro next time as that's even smaller. If anybody moves, it's like The Shadows as we all have to move in sync. We have space for two mikes and possible two music stands so the bass player looks over the shoulder of the guitarist or singer.

Where we play, each artiste has three songs. They are free to come back round at the end of the list. That makes the assumption that they aren't doing Freebird, Bohemian Rhapsody and Moby Dick (live version). This is across a few open mike clubs.

@tauzero is pretty much spot on for the ones I've done.

I've just had flashbacks after watching this. Some songs and videos should have been buried and forgotten a long time ago. That dance with the blokes takes me back to the village hall in Tupton and watching older kids doing it. It looked shite then and hasn't got any better now. Oddly enough Ballroom Blitz isn't one of the songs to be buried and forgotten about (at least to me).

I wouldn't quite go that far about the advertising TBH. It's a bit annoying and it appears on my laptop but not on the mobile. If it was a case of you sorting out medical issues vs advertising, it's 100% clear what you should do. And no it's not the advertising just to be clear 🙄

I have a number of good and bad buys. I have to say (at the risk of being expelled, excommunicated and otherwise labelled as a heretic) that the purchase of an 87 MIJ Strat from here, was one of my best buys of the year for me. Its a dammed fine guitar that just begs to be played. It's no showroom queen and it's all the better for it. It's great for songwriting so I actually play the bass more as well. A songwriting course in Kendal. I learnt so much from Ann Marie I want to do it again. Worst purchases Some crappy Fender guitar cables. Buy a decent cable from @Chienmortbb and just have done with it. The MS1-Vave Bluetooth adapter. Junk. Any purchase that I thought would short circuit me having to learn how to play bass guitar properly. I'm still learning and I expect to keep learning until the day I stop and there's nothing wrong with that. Am looking for a decent acoustic for next year and a decent precision to see what all the fuss is about. I also wouldn't mind a es355 if one fell in my lap. Rob

Not the NW? I feel offended.. 😩 Would have to agree with @neepheid here. We don't have that many Bass Bashes and to have two on the same day seems very unfortunate. Rob

Or better still none at all...

I love "Down By The Jetty". I had no idea it was done in mono after all these years. Shows how much I know. Wonderful album.

I've cut the grill to size and used Gorilla tape on the outside of the frame just to keep it clean tidy. I've printed some riser blocks for the outside of the grill that fit in the corners of the cabinet. The ones in the picture are far too large, but they're to check things out and I'll print some better ones shortly. These will be glued to the front of the baffle (NoNails) and will have a M3 nut embedded in them. The hole for the nut is aligned to the holes in the grille. On top of the riser block will be some adhesive rubber, 1mm thick), to stop vibrations. More riser blocks may be needed, but the principle is set now. I have the "advantage" of not gigging at the moment, as there's only me and the drummer, so little chance or marauding fans rushing the stage sadly. It's very, very likely that I'll design some M3 handbolts to screw into the riser block. These will probably have the felt washers that are on the guitar strap buttons to further reduce vibration (or may not). I designed a lot of hand bolts for astrophotography, you can check them out here (https://starclamps.com/), these are all parameterised so I have lots of options. I also have some nice brass ones somewhere which might look nice. The red corner pieces have been redesigned so that they don't protrude as far into the baffle area as before, to give the grill some some space. The hand bolts should allow the grille to be taken off easily, Once I've painted the baffle board matt black, most of the riser elements will simply disappear, well that's the idea. Lets see how it works. but I'm off from tomorrow to London so nothing will be progressing. Have a good Xmas all Rob

Sorry to hear about your partner. That's a real pain just before Xmas. Pass on our best wishes for a speedy recovery I have no idea what this thread all about, but it's really interesting. Rob

Has anybody ever managed to get the M-Vave Chocolate footswitch to connect to a Mod Dwarf using the MS1 wireless/Bluetooth USB adapter please? One of my Xmas projects was to get this working. I can get the foot switch to work if I use a USB cable, but I brought the MS1 adaptor as this thread suggested it would work https://forum.mod.audio/t/midi-chocolate-controller-with-the-mod-dwarf-an-introduction/7003 It turns out that in 225 posts in the above thread, not a single one talks with any detail about how they connected using the MS1. Also searching the internet gives zero information. Connect to a PC or Mac, yes, but not to the Dwarf. Any help or advice welcome Rob

I'm probably going to try to put a small 3d printed block under each corner with quite a strong magnet hidden away. Thats the lime green bit below. The magnet is 0.5mm under the surface of the plastic and so can't be seen. It will have a plug in the back of it and it *may* have some self adhesive foam under that to avoid rattling, I didn't think of the foam so thanks for that. I will also add some foam on the top of the mount between the plastic block and the grille as you suggested. Good ideas those. The block will be welded to the corner piece (thats the purple bit). Its welded, not glued as the "glue" melts the plastic together and forms a stronger bond than the plastic itself. Might be superglue, might be Floplast. if this doesn;t work, then the recesses battern is plan B Thanks Rob

I found a broken paving slab in the back garden and used that. Lo and behold, 15 mins later, it looks a lot better. Lesson here is don't use a softwood base (cut bad puns) to hammer against. Masked the area off and cut it with a Dremel and new cutting discs and the cutting is almost done. I forgot to take into account the rubber edges which hide the raw metal so it's possibly one row of holes too large in each direction. The blue tape is just to hold things together as the rubber edge really wants to curl off I'm still thinking about how to fix it to the speaker cab OR to the red corner pieces. Magnets might be the answer here. I have a lot of the strong ones and a simple addition to the red corner pieces might work well. A little bit of velcro through a few holes would allow it to be pulled off easily. With a black baffle board, it might look quite good for me. Rob

That's exactly what I am doing. I'm working 2-3cm from outside edge, carefully going round, trying to keep the rubber mallet full face onto the metal. Every so often, I turn the grille over so it's being bashed from both sides. I've done over an hour on it and it is slightly better, but if I look at it edge on, I can see where the bends were put in 2-3cm from the edge, its not as bad as it started with. I'm bashing against softwood and I wonder if that's the problem. I'm going to try and find something different to hit against, possible a paving slab or something, cover the slab with material. I can't use plywood and drive the car over it, as I've cut it up for speakers Rob

@Phil Starr How many days did you spend doing this please? I'm using a rubber hammer (tent posts) and it's very, very slow. Actually it's even slower than that, I think that tectonic plate movement is quicker, I actually noticed species evolving around me as I was doing this. I'm trying to keep the hammer face flat, it is on a wooden surface as I don't have a metal surface close to hand (or even to hand at all). Do I need a different "soft faced hammer". There seems to be loads of Amazon, but not sure what I'm actually looking for. Do I need a different work surface? I've also tried compressed the grille between two pieces of wood and that didn't make a lot of difference. The general concaveness has mostly gone, but it doesn't look very flat to me at all. As it's now raining, I'm focussing on wrapping Xmas pressies. All advice welcomed Thanks Rob

I hadn't noticed the Lego theme. The dimples on the top are for the second Basschat speaker. So I could run them together for a little more volume. I suspect that I wouldn't actually put them on top of each other but the option is there just in case. Now that I've seen that I might try and make the lego theme a little stronger 😊not sure how but I'll ponder on it.