Last issue I mentioned how my kids recently became converts of the board game Gloomhaven . This is a massive game, with tons of pieces and an extreme need to keep things organized both during a 'scenario' and across sessions in a campaign. Side note, while pulling links for this issue, I noticed that Gloomhaven is priced lower than I've ever seen it on Amazon, so if you don't already have this game, now might be a great time to grab it. There are several 'organizers' for Gloomhaven that are commercially available, but none of them really nailed exactly what I was looking for. I decided to 3D print my own and I'm still in the process of tweaking things to perfectly match all of my needs. In order to get everything to fit in the original box, it was an absolute requirement to maximize placement of every piece in the space that was available. Also, since I don't have a 3D printer that is capable of printing Gloomhaven-box sized trays in one print, I had to break things up into pieces that I glued together after printing. I'm not a fan of spending hours cleaning up prints... especially if they're more utilitarian than art piece. Because of all this, creating pieces that had high dimensional accuracy was a very high priority for me in this project.

The first step in getting a 3D printer dialed in so that your prints are dimensionally accurate is to find some quality calibration models. Here is a list of ten that cut the mustard and are a good starting point for getting any printer to be more accurate. Of course, test prints are worthless if you aren't aware of how to fix any problems that might manifest...

Got 3D printing issues? Check out the 2019 3D printing troubleshooting guide to common 3D printing problems. I send this guide to every person who's just getting started with 3D printing. It contains 41 of the most common problems for both FDM and SLA printing and offers several possible solutions for attempting to fix them. This guide is fairly thorough and if it doesn't provide a solution outright, it gives enough information that you can use for further googling related to your specific printer and software stack. Once your 3D printer hardware is dialed in, the bulk of printing issues arise from the instructions that are being sent to the printer telling it what to do. A 3D model is converted into these instructions using software called a 'slicer '. To master 3D printing you must master both your printer hardware and the software slicer that you are using.

Ultimately, every slicer turns a 3D model into G-code . G-code is close to a universal language for telling 3D printers what to do. Not all printers support all G-codes and some manufacturers use their own creative interpretation for some of them. Understanding G-code, how your printer interprets them and how your slicer generates them is important for getting the most out of your printer. Printing my Gloomhaven trays perfectly required me to debug the G-codes that were generated in order to come up with the appropriate steps to adjust things when printing a million calibration models just didn't meet my level of accuracy.

My dimension issues led me to discovering a hardware problem with my specific printer that I was unaware of until this project. I wrote a blog post about how I determined there was a hardware issue and ultimately how I fixed it. It's worth checking out if all this talk of calibration prints and G-code has kept your interest!

My favorite recent purchase has been the Bowflex SelectTech Adjustable Dumbbell set . One of the many reasons why I've moved away from relying on free weights as part of my daily exercise routine is all the wasted time involved in setting up the weights for each different exercise you want to do. You can get around this by having dedicated weights for each exercise, but that requires you to also have a dedicated room in order to store everything (I personally hate going to a gym). These dumbbells solve both problems. You can adjust weights quickly and everything stores in the included stands which you can keep in any room hidden and out of the way. I've added these to my daily routine on top of my existing bodyweight focused exercise program and I'm extremely happy that I did!

I'm going to say it... the milkshake IPA is played out! I'll enjoy one of these every now and then, but I don't want to drink them all night long. So I was ecstatic to find a great Pennsylvania made Pils at one of my favorite local watering holes. I enjoyed several Northbound Pils by Northbound at Northbound in Souderton, PA since it was debuted last week. If you're in the area, and want something that goes great with food that you can drink all night long, I encourage you to give it a try.

That's all for now, but there are lots of interesting things fermenting at the moment:

• In a little more than a week, I'll be heading to the west coast for Google I/O. The last time I attended, I came back and had some of the most prolific months of making and creation that I can remember. I'm hoping for the same after this trip.
• All of this stitching together of Gloomhaven trays made me wish I had a larger capacity CNC capability. I did some digging and discovered Maslow. This open source project checks all of the boxes for me and I'm already investigating a way to adapt it to my particular constraints. Expect to hear more about this in the future!
• I'm in the process of onboarding some new content contributors. Expect more in depth articles in the future!

J

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