Looking back on 2024

Well, it's been an exciting year.  In addition to becoming a grandfather and going to half-time at work, I started the year learning to use my new 3D printer.  I've used the printer to build rockets that are no longer available, learned how to combine my OpenRocket skills to 3D print novel or experimental rockets as well as printing things for my wife's gardening hobby, printing things inspired by her love of the Grateful Dead and printing things for my daughters.  For Halloween, some of our neighbors had rats (we think it's caused by the construction of Northwestern's new football/concert stadium) so we were asked by our Village not to put out real pumpkins.  As a solution, I 3D printed a Grateful Dead-themed Halloween pumpkin:

I'm currently printing a (late) Grateful Dead-themed Christmas present for my wife.  This is my first four color 3D print, based upon what I learned printing multicolor coasters for Valentine's Day for my wife.  This involves printing the license plate frame with lettering and a shrunken version of the logo from the coasters added using Tinkercad.  This is a work-in-progress; my first attempt failed when changing to the fourth color, white:

My next attempt got the top white layer to work but the red layer was too thin:

I reworked the model in Thingiverse, edited the gcode generated by Ultimaker Cura and am reprinting the plate now with black -> red -> blue -> white.  I've taken notes on the timing to change colors, etc., so I can make more copies once I get it right!  12/31 update:

Feb 14th update:

Success, just in time for Valentine's Day!


Looking back at the rockets I've built during 2024 required me to zoom way out on my camera to take it all in:


Back row (L to R)- SpaceX BFR, Da' Bomb, Miss Riley, Maxi Brute Honest John clone
Front row (L to R)- Flying Port-a-Potty, Estes Loadstar II, parts for Space Shuttle clone with fall-away boosters, X-wing clone
Also shown in front are a whirl-a-gig and Mercury Redstone replacement capsule so I don't break the fragile capsule
Not shown:  My Glamorous Glennis X-1 clone needs rescaling and reprinting

Starting 2025 I hope to finish a couple of these (boosted Space Shuttle, Glamorous Glennis X-1, Silver Comet clone and rebuild Da' Bomb), finish my X-wing rear-ejection clone, and launch a couple of these new rockets!  Most of my new ones have custom nose cones adapted to hold my new GPS tracker.  I've been having fun printing but I am running out of space to display my fleet!  I've also still got another 15 or 20 Estes kits to finish!

I was also asked to print an accessory for my grandson's stroller, have a couple of Star Wars and other vintage rockets I want to clone and many parts for our Aerogardens (the company just went out of business!).  I'm no longer running my printer 7 X 24 like I was at the start but I keep finding projects to keep me busy.  I'm looking forward to discovering and building new things in 2025.

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