DIY 3D Printer Build lets you build your own 3D printer

Have you ever wanted to get into 3D printing but did not know where to start.  This DIY 3D Printer build tutorial series shows you how to assemble a 3D printer from the ground up.  The advantage of videos like this is that you learn exactly how a printer is made.  If you were ever curious about them the step by step instructions here show you everything.

This is a completely open build as well.  You can download the full bill of materials, buy the parts wherever you feel is cheapest and assemble it at home.  You may need to use a local makerspace to print a few of the parts but if that doesnt work for you there is this video on building a 3d printer without plastic parts.  This video uses the similar build type and replaces the plastic parts with temporary wood structures.  I personally would opt for the local maker-space since they are worldwide to get the few parts printed.

Overall if you're looking to get into 3D printing this series of videos can give you the knowledge you need to get into the hobby.

Google Play Market on your Kindle Fire HD

I recently received a Kindle Fire HD 10.1 5th Generation tablet for Christmas.  I love the device and the price put it in the range of a nice Christmas gift to me.

I immediately wanted to start setting up a few things and customizing it.  The kindle however locks you out of just about everything.  I'm sure that is due to all the baked in advertising.  Even with the version that doesn't have the ads on the lockscreen I still see tons of advertisements in the launcher. I can turn off the ads but I cant change the launcher.  Reading around it seems the way to go is rooting the device.  I'm familiar with doing that but really preferred to not have to do that since this is really for casual surfing, books and media entertainment.

So putting the launch screen and lock screens aside I started to load in my standard apps.  Most were on Amazon however at least 30% of them were not.  Seriously Instagram is not available for the Kindle HD?  I also can't load Vudu?  This pissed me off.  So I started reading about how to download the APK using these shady websites, etc.  Not cool.  I needed a better way and I found one that works great.

You will need to have a smartphone or other device with access to google play.  This was simple I used my phone.

Now you need to download 2 applications to your smartphone or other google play accessible device.

APK Extractor
Send Anywhere

Next go to your kindle and install Send Anywhere on the Kindle.   Once you do that you need to enable APK's from 3rd party sources.  Google the instructions for this there must be 20 of the same articles about that already out there.  Once you have that enabled you're all set for installing any Google Play app on your Kindle.

Use APK Extractor to extract all the apps you want to transfer.  I found that almost everything worked right out of the gate.  The extractor will not harm any installations.  It just builds the APK file.

Once you have your apps all extracted fire up Send Anywhere.   Click send on the app and swipe over to the "files" tab.  Select that and you'll see your files.  Scroll down to apks (the default directory for APK Extractor).  Navigate into the folder and select all of them to send.  

Once you click Next in Send Anywhere you'll get a code.  Fire up send anywhere on the kindle and enter that code.  You'll see the files instantly start transfering to your kindle.

Once it is done simply click the APK file right inside Send Anywhere.  It will fire up the installer and presto, you install the app.

This was VERY simple and repeating this process is easy.  I found almost every application worked.  The few that didn't were ones like lock screen replacements or launchers.  Instagram, Vudu and nearly everything else worked great.

Hope this is helpful for those of you who like the kindle but wish the appstore had more to offer.  Now it does through the Google Play market. ;)

Cannon Selphy CP910 Windows 10 Drivers

I have several CP910 for a photo booth business and most recently upgraded to Windows 10.  Personally I have no need to keep the old operating system so the PC I started with was a fresh install.  The Cannon website said the CP910 did not need drivers.  Bullshit.  I had no joy trying to get it to work.

Several reboots later I decided I would try the windows 8.1. Drivers.  This was the trick.  All I had to do was download from Cannon the 8.1 in my case x64 drivers and install them.  All the printers showed up perfectly.  Printer pooling also works so I was happy as could be.

Hope this post finds its way to those of you with this somewhat nice but now aging and discontinued printer on Windows 10.