Wednesday, March 04, 2026
PIKA - Upgrades following first attempt
Sorry for the gap in posts, lots going on in my personal life, and the printer is running commission prints. Anyway, PIKA had a few problems. The PIKA frame was not sturdy enough, the Z Tower was too close, it was insanely difficult to insert the Stage mounting nuts, and the Microscope Brackets weren't as stable as I'd like. So, changes:
The base now has a much thicker edge, and there is a stiffening band 15mm down from the top edge. That should stop things going out of alignment if the unit is moved. The Z Tower has been moved back a bit, and extra bracing thrown on to keep that corner stable. There are now only 4 holes to mount the stage, and the mounting nuts are inserted from the more easily accessible side (at 45 degrees, sorry, only way I could do it given the print-in-place slope). The Microscope Brackets have been moved closer to the centre, and the bottom one lowered. This increases stability, and makes the lower adjustment screws easier to access.
The Microscope Clips will now have to be redesigned slightly - not quite enough clearance on the V0.04 ones. Once I've done that, and this massive commission job is done, I'll post to github and test. That won't happen this weekend as I'm away at a competition, but my life will settle down again after that.
