Clambering on upon the fractal trunk

Clambering up the tree,
I pause, hugging the trunk,
and reminisce, as time flies,
seeing how far I’ve come,

The roots are far, earthbound,
set in steadfast soil,
and I stare at the long knurled path,
with human hands gripping the bark.

These hands of mine, my body machine,
The bless’d chariot to carry me,
as I float for eternity,
climbing up under the starry sea

I tear my gaze from the ground,
and crane my neck, glancing up,
The trunk stands tall, old oak,
piercing the horizon, a wheel spoke,

Fractal branches, fracturing in the sky,
at each end, a fate of mine lies,
I know not the end, nor the path,
and I clamber on, through the clouds dark.

The multitude of leaves shine and glimmer,
Iridescent, bright, pastel, and shimmer,
each leaf a goal, a life to the end,
where the body is left, and the soul ascends.

-Adithyaa

 

Hello, fellow followers!

Life is no easy parade for any of us, invariably we humans have a tendency to bring ourselves up to the level of our problems, or perhaps  it would be better said as “each person rises up to the height of their inefficiency”, but I feel even that falls short of describing the issue. Safe to say, we all have our worry-line engraving events, and no shortage of concerns.

I’ve been a little quiet on this medium as of late, life’s been catching up in more ways than one, and in it I wrote this poem a few months back. You can’t know the future, besides what subjective predictions you make, but even then in the face of absolute uncertainty in a tumultuous time, you must keep moving on, forward unto dawn. While stewing in my mind, I was reminded of an excerpt by Sylvia Plath, illustrated here in by skilled Gavin Aung Than.

Zen Pencils – Sylvia Plath: The Fig Tree

The takeaway here is, life spares no one, if you ain’t got it tough, then further down will be rough. Keep on moving forward, and never stop learning.

See you soon,

Adithyaa

 

 

(cover image created using Paint.net)

 

The Battle

The Battle

 

The whistling shells and the war bells
rang through the day
The swords flashed, the warriors clashed
on the battle way

The cannons roared and the shots soared
as the banners wav’d to the sky
men killed, blood spilt
and the day too, died

On the ground, amongst the sound fought
an army of freedom, the other for conquest
The invaders from the far lands
driven by a mad lord at its crest

The other king, touched his ring
an elemental gate
Demons spewed forth, to the boiling broth
and changed the battle’s fate

Wise Solomon, his toga worn
frugally, simply tied
ruled the day, his other prayed
as the battle died

The foe fled, as his wounds bled
his high honor gone
The battle lost, his army tossed
he cursed he’d been born.

-Adithyaa

 

Hello, Saturday!

My more fervent readers would be able to recognize this as one of my older poems, due to the way it’s written. I don’t recall exactly when I wrote this poem, but I know it was written many years ago, after I had finished reading The Ring of Solomon. It was agreat story, and Magic ( along with sufficiently advanced technology), has always captivated my romances.

Until next time,

~Adithyaa

 

Poem: A Spoon most runcible

 

A spoon most runcible

Steve sat reading a book,
for he wanted to learn to cook,
he read the recipes, every single one,
from jams to breads, cheese and buns.

Then he read a strange new trick,
“instead of using a stirring stick,”
“try to use a runcible spoon”
“and stir it around like a typhoon”

What is this? Steve thought to himself,
he began to search his all his shelves,
ladles, forks and a rusty harpoon,
but not a single runcible spoon!

“That simply won’t do” Steve said,
How can I ever keep others fed,
with all kinds of tools strewn,
and yet not a single runcible spoon!

And so Steve set off on his quest,
he would have to face this challenging test,
with wind in his hair and whistling a tune,
for he simply must have a runcible spoon!

he walked along to the store,
and pushed open the door,
“pardon me, Sir, the time is noon,”
“but would you have a runcible spoon?”

“We’ve got tea and table, dessert too”
“and they come in red, green and blue”
but even from forests to desert dune,
you won’t find a single runcible spoon.

Steve left the store, and wandered on,
“it’s getting late,” he said with a yawn,
but I must go on, it’s still to soon,
for I’ve yet to acquire a runcible spoon.

He looked up, and saw the blacksmith
“Here’s the answer to this myth!”
Perhaps his goal could be hewn,
a shiny metal runcible spoon!

“Smith, Mr. Smith!” He yelled,
the smith looked up from the iron he held,
“you are the only one who can grant my boon”
“Please make me a runcible spoon!”

“Alright alright,” the smith said,
“you’ve come to the right shed”
“Pay me a single gold doubloon”
“and I shall make you a runcible spoon”

“That’s a lot, but it’s worth the price,”
“so buy it quickly, don’t think twice”
Now Steve was no foolish buffoon,
but he really wanted the runcible spoon!

“I’ll pay you half, how about that?”
“Deal,” Said the smith, and tipped his hat.
His hammers started ringing attune,
and began forging the runcible spoon.

“It is done!” the smith said,
before rolling into his bed.
“Finally!” said steve with a soft croon,
but he gasped aloud when he saw the spoon.

“what is this, a spoon and a fork?”
“Indeed,” said the smith with a smirk
for if you combine a fork and a spoon,
what you get is a runcible spoon.

The day was done, so was his quest,
and as Steve headed home to rest,
He danced like a loon under the moon,
and clutched in his hand was his silvery spoon!

~Adithyaa Raghavan

 

Hello, Wednesday!

I’ve been toying with the idea of creating a children’s book, so I wrote a little story as a poem, about a man on a quest for the mysterious runcible spoon. It could also be called Spork, but somehow that’s just not as appealing. As you can imagine, I was inspired by Dr. Seuss’s style, and I feel that this poem would go well with a stanza a page and an illustration to boot. This was but the first, and I may yet write more, but please be free and honest, I appreciate all forms of critique, as I’m always up for improving my poetry and writing.

Have a fantastic week,

~Adithyaa~

Poem: Ancient Bones

Ancient Bones

We walk through the bones of Titans of old,
Hallowed constructions and structures bold,
The ebb and flow of time’s seep,
Has sunk these ruins into ancient sleep,

Those fantastical buildings, Marvel’s of man,
Designed and built as a gigantic plan,
But those times have come and long gone,
These shells stand, while time moved on,

Magnificently ornate towers to a deity,
But a measure of time’s brevity,
Science and Industry, a global net,
Cannot avoid their temporal debt,
Populous cities so wide and tall,
But all within Time’s gaze are small,

The withered husks of these men, blown
By the span of time exceeding their own
For even the mightiest empire is weak to time
And ceases to exist, at the clock’s chime.

-Adithyaa Raghavan

 

Hello, Saturday!

Do you know the feeling of walking in a place that has been steeped in time? Like walking through old castle ruins, dilapidated amusement parks, ghost towns, and the like? Just thinking about it, or glancing at a few pictures, is enough to drown you in it’s history. You can feel the stories seeping out of the stones, and the greens and grasses creep up to your ears to whisper of the souls who once walked these roads.

I can’t quite describe the feeling succinctly, I don’t know if there’s a word for it. “Waldeinsamkeit” is a german word for “the feeling of being lost in the woods”, which I think can be applied in a positive or negative tone, but I don’t think it fully covers what I mean to convey.

Imagine walking down a road in a city like Chernobyl, seeing weathered buildings and structures worn down by the passage of nothing but time itself. You start to catch glimpses into the past, imagining children running around a playground, men and women walking down the street, vehicles whizzing by. The ghostly memories can feel so vivid you’d swear that you were hallucinating them into existence. Just like that, the life of the city was blown out, and naught but the structures remain to quietly inform you of that which was.

I had a very similar experience when I was recently playing Heart Machine’s masterpiece, Hyper Light Drifter. In fact, looking back at this poem, which I wrote long before the video game was ever released, I can see strong resonance between the two. I don’t recall the circumstances under which I wrote this poem, but I do know that it came from the heart, which explains why I enjoyed Heart Machine’s game so much.

Anyhoo, Thank you for your time, roam, immerse yourselves in the places you visit, and see if you can take a peek through time wherever you go.

~Adithyaa

 

 

Strengthening 3D printed parts… with Holes?..

Hello, Sunday!

 

Silence reigns as it rains down on this blog, but bear with me, for I yet persevere through my final year.

I’ve been doing a lot of 3D printing recently on my self built CoreXY “ETA”, and I had to make a case for a portable speaker I have. The speaker in question had rudimentary loops for tying it to something, but was rather insufficient for actually wearing on a belt. Having a 3D printer, I decided to print a case for it.

The blue object is the case, and the black body is a mock-up of the speaker

I quickly modeled a case for the speaker on Fusion 360, it’s a simple design where you slide the speaker into the case from the top, and a pair of clips snap onto indents on the speaker. Pretty straightforward, but during self review, I ran into a little problem. The case was 3mm thick on most sides, and as FDM/FFF 3D prints by nature are weak along the vertical Z axis, the clips looked like they would wear and break fairly quickly.

This is the orientation at which the print would be on the bed. The thin section just below the clasp is the weakest section, as repeated bending would result in it snapping off eventually.

Traditional knowledge would lead one to assume the simplest solution would be to increase the thickness of the section, or add structural elements like ribs to strengthen it.

Practical knowledge would assume that it would be unlikely that I would want to repeatedly remove the speaker from it’s case. Perhaps there could be better designs that would have eliminated the flaw entirely. However, I came up with a little trick to take full advantage of my medium, Fused Filament Fabrication, and exploit the way slicers work.

I started with making a void in my part. Yes, I plan on making it stronger by removing material. Removing material is typically used to maintain strength while keeping the weight down like with I-beams or fullers. However I use it here to induce a certain feature in the slicer. I created a side profile of the weak point in question, and hollowed out a tiny sliver, 0.1mm thick.

A sectional analysis of the case reveals the paper thin void modeled into the case

“What’s that going to change?”, you may be asking your screen, but rhetoric questions to a monitor aren’t going to get you answers, scrolling down will. This is the result when the model is sliced in Cura.

The original shell thickness would have been 4 shell lines + the infill, but here it’s 8 shells, which should result in greater strength and bonding.

In my experience, infill has a marginal influence on strength. Around 15% is good for structural integrity, 30% for decent rigidity, and about 50-70% if you really want it as strong as possible. However, increasing shells is also an effective way to boost strength. By creating a hollow inside the weak section, the slicer prints additional shell lines in the area, and the shells fuse together to make it stronger.

Here you can see just 4 lines, infill, and 4 lines again in Cura’s Layer mode

Here is a view of the same layer in another section of the part, which is not reinforced with a void. You can see that when compared to the previous image, the number of perimeter loops is nearly doubled, effectively making the weak areas a nearly solid part.

Here you can see a close-up of the part being printed. The clip on the left is nearly solid, whereas the wall on the right is hollow but for the infill.

If this case was to be injection molded, it’s strength would be vastly superior to a 3D print of the same. However, by exploiting the nature of 3D printer slicers, we are able to selectively increase the strength of our prints in areas where it is required without increasing the entire part’s material and time cost.

 

I hope this little tip aids you in your designs, please let me know your thoughts via the comments below, and if you would like more tips and tricks in 3D printing.

Thank you, and have a great week.

~Adithyaa

Maker: Venus de Venus

My printer ETA just finished a sculpture I designed a while back, which I called “Venus de Venus”. It stands 27cm tall, and took 11 1/2 hours to print, the largest object I’ve printed on ETA thus far.

Fresh on the print bed

Snap goes the supports

Another view

Comparison between my hand carved piece and printed sculpture

A little back story on this piece. I had a class on wood and metal working a while back, and for that class I carved a statue of Venus de Milo, an ancient greek sculpture, with a little difference.
The head is an oblate spheroid, to represent the planet Venus, from whence Women are said to have originated from, for there are two mysteries that have always, and presumably always will elude man, and that is the eternity of space, and Women in general.

A close-up of my hand carved piece

TL:DR Classical Medium vs Contemporary Medium, the ongoing battle of mediums since classical times.

Until next time,

Adithyaa

Final Past Poem:

Hello, Monday!

It would have been splendid had I dug this particular poem up earlier, for it is one dedicated to mothers. Let’s get onto the reading,

 

Mother

The path has been long,

The journey makes me tired,

All the beauties of the world, passing unadmired,

I pull my self up, and gather my strength,

My brow weary, my back bent.

I look ahead, staring into space,

I find hope and peace, when I see your face,

The path is long And tis hard to stay true,

All that pulls me on, is my love for you,

For you guide me through the dark, like a beam o’ light,

You are the only thing that makes my life bright,

You guide me on, the voice of reason,

A faithful companion, in all seasons,

When I am lost, in the evil of night,

You are the thing that helps me stay right.

When I am lost in the deep with no other,

You will always be there for me, My Dearest Mother.

-Adithyaa.R

22-03-2012

Time certainly flies, doesn’t it? Mother’s are the first other being that the child recognizes, and play an irreplaceable role in our lives, from our births until our independence.

Until next time,

~Adithyaa

Poem: More past poetry

Hello, Friday!

Here the second poem I dug out of the archives, a poem that has about as much depth as a kiddie pool, but uses what used to be a oft spoken phrase of mine,

 

Me, Myself and I

 

Me, Myself and I

Three people yet the same

Me, Myself and I

Quite different but the name

Me, Myself and I

People times triplicate

Me, Myself and I

One and its duplicates

Me, Myself and I

Not but a phrase

Me, Myself and I

But one which would amaze

Me, Myself and I

Describes the same person

Me, Myself and I

And yet applies to daughter and son

Me, Myself and I

This hast cometh to end

Me, Myself and I

Such a delightful phrase to bend!

-Adithyaa.R

13/8/2011

I wrote this poem about 5 and a half years ago, using a rhyming scheme I rarely practice in, by repeating a particular phrase multiple times. An interesting aspect of this poem is that after one reads it several times, you unconsciously omit the repeating phrase while reading it in your head, and yet, it maintains a good poetic flow even without it.

I used to love throwing idioms and phrases around (As a kid I used to like reading through dictionaries to discover new words), and I used to use “Me, Myself and I” quite frequently when referring to myself. I suppose the phrase had just stuck to me, it has a rather pleasant ring to itself.

Onwards until next time,

Adithyaa~