Practical printing

So a couple weeks ago I noticed I was missing the rubber axle cover on one of the front tires of the tractor.  This rubber boot is used to keep dirt out of the wheel hub area.  I can already tell not having one for a couple weeks has been bad as there is a lot of squeaking from that wheel.  I ordered a replacement rubber cap but I also was curious if I would be able to 3D print a functional replacement out of flexible filament.

I received the new boot yesterday but instead of installing it I got out my calipers to do some measurements.  After sketching up the numbers on a piece of paper I went into Tinkercad to make my 3D model which I then exported, sliced in Cura, copied to a SD card and printed.  This weekend I want to do a test fit and see if I need to tweak it at all.  Of course I recorded the process, it might be interesting to some to see how the need for a part or object can be totally self fulfilled using this method.

Last night we had a pretty serious storm that dumped a couple inches of rain in a short period of time.  This morning there is some minor standing water but we are still staying pretty dry, especially compared to last year.  By this time last year I was already pumping standing water out of the chicken area.  So far that has not been necessary.

This weekend I have stuff to do around the house just as pretty much every weekend of the last 18 years.  it may sound at times like I am complaining about it and in some ways I am. However in the big picture if I didn’t have goals to attain, problems to solve, and issues to address I would go bat shit crazy.

Another gun violence incident yesterday, another round of thoughts and prayers sent out, works great, at accomplishing nothing.