All new Formlabs employees must attend Print School, a half day intensive course that teaches the proper way to utilize our 3D printers.  Because my start date did not line up with the normal on-boarding period, I missed the November cohort of new hires and instead joined the December cohort.  I believe we hired something like 25 new employees last month so 4 different classes were required to accommodate all the students.  Even though, I started printing on my own several weeks ago, I learned a great deal in class and enjoyed the opportunity to mingle with other new hires.

Some images speak for themselves.

Nala is now 11.5 years old, which is roughly 77 years old in people years.  Today she refused to eat and has been limping badly.  I am afraid she is approaching the end of her life and that our family will soon be faced with some difficult decisions and grief. As she was resting in her “dog house,” an antique Japanese palanquin, I decided to take what may be one of her last photos.  It was very dark and I did not want to disturb her by turning the lights on or using a flash.  Instead, I took a 15-second exposure on a tripod.  Just as I tripped the shutter, she decided to get up and investigate which resulted in this ghost-like image.  It is hard for me not to read into the unlikely coincidence.

Few residents of Concord ever discuss the medium-security men’s prison that is part of our community.  Its presence here is quite incongruous with virtually everything else. I have been told that it is a significant contributor to our tax base and the reason we can afford to leave so much of the town’s land undeveloped.  I took time this morning to explore a new section of the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail which goes right past the prison and ends (current construction phase) a short distance later. I continued on along the undeveloped part of the train corridor over Nashoba Brook and across Route 2 until further progress was blocked by water and/or vegetation..

Several of Nicolai’s close friends from Colorado College have been visiting with us over the past several days.  Time seems to be spent equally between watching sports, playing games (console-based and old-fashioned), searching for or making food, and eating.  I took advantage of all this brawn to help move the king-size bed in our master bedroom in preparation for its sale early next week.

Jeanine, Maya, and Kyle all traveled to Minnesota this weekend to visit with my brother’s family.  Pictured above is my niece Sophia as photographed by Jeanine wearing a new pair of jeans that were a gift from her aunt.  Work commitments prevented me from joining them and probably just as well.  Nicolai is hosting four of his college friends here in Concord and it probably does not hurt to have some adult supervision on the home front.

A bit of bit organization was the theme for the day.  Customized tool storage is one of my favorite personal applications for 3D printing.  The two holders on the left have narrow column spacing to maximize density and wide row spacing to facilitate finger access.  The one on the right was design specifically for the nut driver set taking into account the individual size of each bit.  I spent less than an hour designing all three of these bit holders and am sure that investment will pay dividends over a lifetime of quick access to the tools I need.  Pictured below is a CAD view from the underside.  The holders are designed to use a minimum of material and to prevent wood dust from accumulating at the bottom of each cavity.

Little surprise that I have designed and 3D printed yet another tripod to add to my collection.  This small tabletop model is constructed of 5 plastic components and uses a single cap bolt to simultaneously capture the leg pivots and secure the ball head to the apex.  The legs have positive stops for both the open and closed positions. 

Jeanine and I enjoyed a nice walk along a recently opened section of the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail which passes near our home. We turned around at Concord Junction (memorialized by the installation pictured above) where 120 trains a day would pass during the time of the Industrial Revolution.  Quite a stark contrast to today. Now, one of the intersecting lines has been turned into a 25-mile linear park open for all but motorized activities.  We crossed over the Assabet River on a newly constructed pedestrian bridge which reflects the railroad heritage of the trail .  We are very lucky to live in a place with such easy access to nature and a commitment to historical preservation.

On the last day of the year, I like to look back at all the photos I have taken during that time.  In this case, the number of images I chose to keep is 5,267.    That works out to an average of 14 per day.  In reality, I shoot only 2 or 3 on any given day but occasionally shoot hundreds at a time while on vacation or during special events.  I should also note that for every photo I keep, I usually discard 3 or 4.  Just viewing the collection is a four-hour project (@ 3 seconds per).  Regular followers of this blog will have already seen ~10% of them (generally speaking, the better ones).  Here is one that did not make the cut but I think is deserving of a spot in the 2018 lineup.

Jeanine and I spent some time house-hunting after a late breakfast at the Blackbird Cafe.  While driving through Arlington Heights, we came across this most impressive water tower. It was constructed between 1921 and 1924 (the year my father was born) in the Classical Revival style, to provide water storage for Lexington and the higher elevations of Belmont and Arlington. The design is said to have been inspired by the rotunda from the Samothrace temple complex in Greece. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.

With the approach of the new year, I always seem to want to better organize my life and the things in it.  This morning I spent some time optimizing my tripod collection.  Yes, that is a thing.  I am now down to seven. A small, medium and large table top model, the camera stand in my studio and another table top version I use for supporting cameras being photographed, and my two main travel tripods, a small one and a medium one.  I switched ball heads between a few and made a couple of weight reductions on my travel gear.  In the afternoon, I turned my attention to my shop.  Among other things, I made a caddy for my metric and SAE Allen wrenches.  Designing it took three times longer than making it.  Not illustrated in the photo is the different ways the blocks can be nested front-to-front or back-to-back for more space-efficient storage.

As someone who does not drink coffee, I have little appreciation for the fine art of brewing the perfect cup.  Not so Maya.  She is an aficionado of the brewing process, more so than the drinking part I would venture to say.   The process to me seems quite straightforward.  Grind some beans, put them in a filter, and pour in hot water.  Done.  I was only listening with one ear as Maya explained the proper technique and offered this filter as an example of what it should look like when the water has been introduced in the perfect spiral pattern at the proper rate.

Until now, I have been too busy with organizational and product schedule issues that I have not had time to do any 3D printing.  With most people on vacation this week, I have had time to design and print a number of parts.  First up was a small tool caddy used to store an assortment of bits within a section of the tool tray in my toolbox.  A close examination of the photo below will reveal a number of 3D-printed items used for the same purpose.  I take pleasure in having my tools well organized so this was a great application for my first print.  The part turned out dimensionally perfect and was put into immediate use.