Two rolls of lovely blue and red ESun PLA filament arrived yesterday from hobbyking.com

I'm excited to get started printing but to avoid wasting time or filament I started with a test print (see montage pic), because there are moving parts it's important to get the fit right.

I'm printing on a lulzbot mini using default medium speed settings profile. I'm aware not all 3D printers are as good as the Mini so I am making the gaps between pin and barrel wider than I normal do. Additionally all the holes sizes are common metric drill bit sides (namely 2.5, 6 and 10mm) so if your printer gets over excited you can just drill the hole to clean them up.

In the original cake I used M3 bolts which are more at home in metal than plastic. This time I am using common hardware wood screws. Only two types: 25mm to securely join the feet to the base and 9mm everywhere else.

The tests print gave me the feedback I need so I can now start printing and begin the print-fail-feedback-repeat cycle until I am happy with the 3D models, then I will publish the stl's here on hackaday.