Success requires failure

The other day I started to print an Iron Man helmet on one of my Prusa’s.  It’s a print I had always thought was cool but never got around to making.  This particular model is made up of 9 pieces.  I was trying to print the largest part which is the main red helmet part.  The part was predicted to take almost two days on the Prusa.

The morning after I started the print I peeked my head in the room to check on it and saw one side had already broken off the support structure so I stopped the print.

I had recently just gotten my large format CR10S-Pro printer working again so I decided to try doing the same model on it.  Because I had more build volume available I was able to rotate the model into a more vertical orientation.  Doing so made a dramatic difference in the predicted build time and filament consumption, cutting both numbers by roughly a third.

I fired up the print last night and as of this morning things are progressing along fine.  I hope I can get the helmet built.  In total I bet it will take about a week of print time.

Last night was our last upgrade of the customer queuing software at a branch.  It broke ranks with the trend of each location taking less time than the prior to complete due to a hardware problem with the printer that dispenses tickets.  We have a work around in place to let them continue to use the system until a new printer can be swapped in.

Failure is an integral part of true success. It’s a step that many people try to bypass but the end result of doing so rarely turns out well.  If you rely on others to insulate you from failure you become as resilient as a pyramid of cards.  Even the slightest of wind makes the entire structure come tumbling down.