43001 (TL902_Mod) Journal Entries

#0240 (2026-04-23): Matt DiPalma

Removed silicone mold from plastic mold and casted the 3 bracket pieces. Used a Teflon mat against an aluminum plate as an upper caul surface which worked amazingly, though it did add roughly .4mm to the part thickness. Demolded the brackets and cleaned them up with pliers and drilling. Glued the two-part piece together and filed them down as necessary to fit in the laminator. Was very lazy when installing these pieces in the laminator, and did not want to cut any wires and thread them thru. In the future I should put removable connectors on everything instead of solder. Eventually got the laminator mostly back together, also due to the size of the left hand bracket it did not close completely. Either way, it does manage to heat up PCBs to close to 200 degrees Farenheit. I also should have made 3x separate silicone molds, as it would have saved a lot of silicone. In addition, some small features at the bottom of the mold cavity did not resolve properly or at all likely due to bubbles remaining on the bottom. This could be fixed by having larger features at the bottom, degassing the polyurethane (hard because pot time is only 2 minutes), or vibrating the mold during cure. Otherwise this entire process was a pretty good success.

















#0237 (2026-04-22): Matt DiPalma

Printed 43001-001T1 mold for negative silicone mold, to eventually be used for heat-resistant polyurethane. Cast the silicone mold.





#0234 (2026-04-21): Matt DiPalma

Demolded negative silicone mold, cleaned up edges using razor blade and tweezers. Note that for open-top silicone molds, it is important that there be no way for silicone to find its way between the part and the 'bottom' of the mold. Poured Smooth-On Task 8 heat resistant polyurethane resin into the mold, and it cured in around 10 minutes, getting quite hot in the process. The parts turned out as well as one could expect for a first attempt and a pretty mediocre silicone mold. The parts filed extremely cleanly. The parts did bulge at the open faces, but that is relatively easy to sand flat against a file. I noticed a small geometrical error and decided to design a full 1-piece mold-box combo for all the 3 parts, to be printed tomorrow.











#0232 (2026-04-20): Matt DiPalma

Started silicone mold for heat resistant polyurethane bracket components that hopefully won't melt in the laminator.







#0213 (2026-04-12): Matt DiPalma

Only burned myself 15 times while soldering and assembling the final modified TL902. It does seem to work pretty well. It manages to get over 220F and the potentiometer enables you to select a different max temperature. I used polyamide tape to secure everything in place on the inside. However the side brackets are beginning to melt at those higher temperatures, so attempts will be made to cast from a high temp polyurethane resin instead. See video.







#0212 (2026-04-11): Matt DiPalma

Drew, etched, and soldered the electrical modification board for the thermistor resistance. Was able to do it in less than 30 minutes while streaming, which is pretty quick.





#0207 (2026-04-07): Matt DiPalma

Rebuilt the laminator using the new side brackets and, although they were not perfect (in reality the lower pin on the motor side bracket needs to be adjusted slightly, though it works as is), and resoldered all the connections after threading the wires through the printed pieces. The motion system works perfectly as intended. See video of it in action.







#0206 (2026-04-06): Matt DiPalma

Updated design for left-hand bracket per fitment test of previous iteration. Prints should complete overnight. There is no need to actually bond these two together, as they will be clamped together in the assembly. Likely won't need to print/source new gears, as the existing ones seem to mesh fine with the greater separation distance.





#0204 (2026-04-05): Matt DiPalma

Incorporated design iterations in 43001-002 and divided into an upper/lower half to facilitate printing.



#0202 (2026-04-02): Matt DiPalma

"Fixed" the printer problem from last night by leaving the lid open. The right-hand bracket does seem to fit all the components perfectly, though the top pegs can be thickened, though they currently match the original part. Designed and printed left-hand bracket piece, without stepper motor standoffs.









#0201 (2026-04-01): Matt DiPalma

Revised right-hand roller support bracket to improve fitment and modeled left-hand bracket. Left-hand bracket needs mounting holes as well as standoffs to mate with the motor bracket. Had printer issues related to the thermistor while trying to print. I think it's some connectivity problem and am working to fix.



#0200 (2026-03-31): Matt DiPalma

Began teardown of TL902 thermal laminator for thickness mod and temperature mod. Located potentiometer and JST connector for temperature mod, and began redesign and print of one side of the internal bracket that spaces the rollers apart.