This is the first (and hopefully last ever) ASMR video from the DIY Launch Monitor Project:

Back story is that the sound of pulling 3D printed parts off the print bed, as well as pulling off the printed supports, is surprisingly cool.  And apparently kinda popular on youTube.  See, e.g., here and here.

So, why not make a goofy video of our own to exhibit those sounds? Turns out, there are lots of reasons.  Like because, we're software and hardware developers, not videographers.  And also the fact that recording the sounds with any fidelity is harder than it might seem.  Especially using rudimentary recording equipment.

Fortunately, an ancient Blue USB microphone was located, and that helped a lot. :)

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On a serious note, we've been doing some work to try to ensure that folks who eventually build their own version of the DIY LM will be successful doing so.  One of the more difficult parts of the build so far has  been the varied, inconsistent success we've had with printing the enclosure parts.  It's harder than it looks to get consistent results, and we want to ensure that it goes as easily as possible.  

To that end, we've been printing on different printers and with different types and brands of plastic filament to see what works best.  That's where the ASMR video came from.  Hopefully some re-designs that are in progress will make this easier for folks.  

Some other areas of concern are the calibration process (which could use some more support tools) and just the process of getting a couple of Raspberry Pi's set up as a development and runtime environment for the rest of the software.  Hacking the Pi Global Shutter camera to support external shutter triggering isn't easy either, especially if you don't have the steady hands of a surgeon. :/  An upcoming log post will go into some of the things we're learning about getting an open source project ready to release into the wild.

Anyway, we're continuing to knock off some of the rough edges of the system so that others will hopefully one day be able to replicate it on their own.  On that note, we'll soo be looking for a couple of volunteers to try out an alpha version of the system design to see how hard it will be to replicate.  More on that later...