Lauren Weinstein on Nostr: I have a very old clothes dryer reaching the end of its life very rapidly. So when ...

I have a very old clothes dryer reaching the end of its life very rapidly. So when the START knob broke off quite sometime back, I didn't want to spend much to replace it. But due to the panel design and such, and the age of the dryer, I couldn't find anything that would fit that wasn't insanely expensive for a dumb knob (plus shipping). I've been starting the thing with a pair of pliers.

Time to try a practical print on the new Bambu Labs A1 3D printer? This is never going to work. But what the hell.

I look around and find a knob model already created that has several versions including one that looks like it might work, but it also might not fit, might just spin, and might just break off when you tried to turn it.

But it would be an interesting experiment.

Got the model, and just sliced it in Bambu Studio using the defaults (I have this running on a Chromebook in the Linux container). I expected a complaint about lack of support, because the knob's central cylinder meant most of the knob was just floating in the air.

Yep, support warning comes up.

I click one checkbox for supports. Didn't change any values.

Yeah, the graphics show it has to create a LOT of support material to hold that thing up. But it claims only 1.25 hours to print.

So I let it print.

Finished, I pop it off the plate and it looks like a flying saucer. Heavy support material under and around it. I can't even flex it with my fingers.

I grab a pair of pliers and start pulling on the support material. It actually seems to be tearing loose around the knob body. I'm left with the knob and some support material underneath to peel off.

But the hole in the center, that is supposed to fit around switch shaft and grab it, looks too large and also is full of plastic. Lovely.

But hmm. There seems to be an almost invisible line there. I take a tiny screwdriver and pry a little bit. The entire plug of plastic pops out leaving the appropriately shaped hole. The precision involved is scary.

Eyeballing it, the hole looks too large and I expect it to spin on the shaft, and I'm already thinking of what I could stuff in there to stop the spinning.

But might as well see. I put the knob on and it seems to spin freely as I feared, then suddenly drops down into place. Huh?

And it works. First try. And it actually looks decent as well. How long will it work? Seems solid right now, and is very likely to outlast the dryer given the dryer's overall condition.

No Star Trek warp drive. But at least we have replicators now.

Welcome to the 21st century.

L