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hobbymods

Keep your shirt on, I knew you'd bite for that one. I wish you were a trophy fish.

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lkcl

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hobbymods
OK,

I was so horrified that you guys thought I'd use threaded rod as a frame, and that there was even a lecture about the weakness of a cardboard box with no lid on it (WTF?!),

that's not a very nice thing to say, hobbymods! you're seriously underestimating the value of what i said. flexible materials have the significant advantage of demonstrating (amplifying) design weaknesses. and also have the advantage of taking minutes to assemble a demo / proof-of-concept, from scrap materials that you'll have lying around the house.

whilst everyone else on this forum takes sometimes *months* to verify a design concept, by virtue of them forcing themselves to either implement it fully with CAD software or spend hundreds to thousands of dollars buying materials and actually assembling it, only to find that there's a significant design flaw and they are forced to start again, using cardboard, paper, straws and (strong) tape i am often done in a few hours, giving me full confidence that i can proceed to a CAD design and an actual build, with far less risk and in far less time.

so be kind ok!

also, if you have (had) CAD screenshots dd would have been unlikely to assume that you intended to use the leadscrews (only) for support. this has been a long thread (lots of questions, lots of answers, which we all love doing) if you already did publish some, many many apologies, but that's the nature of forums: nobody remembers (or reads) prior messages on 200+ long threads. can i recommend you create a wiki page on reprap.org so that "static" information is there and can be referred to? you could then put that link into your .sig so that it's always there. things like the 608 bearings you ordered, you could list them on the wiki page, so that even you don't forget.

what do you think?

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Also making me happy, my 3 lead screw Z platform works beautifully. Took a little setting up, and now the pulleys are different I had to drill some new holes, but it winds from top to bottom without any variation in level whatsoever. There will be 2 linear guides on the rear wall as well, but it looks good so far.

nice. i'm a big fan of that arrangement. 3 leads and 2 rails is the minimum and it's *really* effective. doesn't need particularly heavy-duty leads or heavy-duty rails either.

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Another change will be that I will use the Bondtech BMG extruder, which is much lighter and smaller, and specifically for 1.75mm direct drive.

ooo those look reaaally nice! zowee, $80 though. but only 22g so it's seriously worth considering. i like that they're direct-drive and have an internal 3:1 gear ratio, you could consider using lower-spec NEMA17s (lighter weight).

i remember seeing dc42's advice about NEMA17s: he said really, don't bother getting anything other than 0.9deg steppers these days, or running them at anything less than 24v. thought that was worth relaying.

also have you looked at mutley3d's direct-drive flex3drive? drop-in adapter for a NEMA17, it moves the "power" out to a static location, taking away the weight of the NEMA17 but providing far better accuracy, control and a massive reduction in torque, all at the same time. [flex3drive.com]

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hobbymods
OK,

I was so horrified that you guys thought I'd use threaded rod as a frame, and that there was even a lecture about the weakness of a cardboard box with no lid on it (WTF?!),

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the_digital_dentist
I don't think the threaded rods that are separating the top and bottom plates are going to be rigid enough for printing at even reasonable speeds. You're going to be moving quite a bit of weight around at print speed at the top of the machine and it's going to make the frame shake and wobble. The top and bottom plates will flex with the long lever arms of the threaded rods, and threaded rods themselves aren't terribly rigid- the cross sectional area is pretty small. Adding side and back panels should stiff things up considerably.

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hobbymods

Old mate was delighted with my DXF files and said he'd turn it around quick and cheap for me. Reckons he normally gets a scan of a bit of paper with hand drawn sketches on it from "nut case inventors like me", which he has to drop tools and design for them which he hates, as they don't want to pay for it. So a tip there....do your own DXF files and keep them on side and the costs down when dealing with laser/waterjet cutting companies.

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the_digital_dentist
I heat my printer's enclosure the same way. It just happens to get to 45-50C from the bed heater. I discovered that when it was in my cold basement this winter it didn't quite get warm enough, so I plan to add a supplemental heater. I'll probably use the smoothieboard controller to regulate the enclosure temperature using an unused thermistor input and MOSFET output to switch the heater on and off.

I am designing and building a coreXY machine right now and like my other machine, it is being designed to be enclosed/heated from the start.

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LarsK
Interesting.

I really only have experience with ABS. I never got into PLA. Giving up all the advantages of ABS just because PLA is easier and faster just seems wrong. Some time back a guy printing Nylon threw that exact same argument in my head :)

That said, my experience is that even an open window putting a breeze on the print can give radical different results. A continuous thin wall with some widths and heights is only possible if I reduce the speed to prevent putting too much material before the material has cooled down and settled.

For me the next step in 3d printing is making a heated enclosure to avoid those problems. Heating enclosure as a temperature regulated space that can reach above 60C.

Now you come an tell me you put 20% fresh air blowing on the print and you haven't with one word mentioned heated enclosure even as you talk about exotic materials I have yet to even see real life.


What is your thoughts about that? You haven't even mentioned putting enclosure on the printer?

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LarsK
Hey,

Looks really nice but seems a lot of work if you don't do pla printing. You for example said those parts you printed for the mock up is abs?

Are all those fans just for pla or is there something about printing I am completely oblivious to?

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the_digital_dentist
Have you checked to see if any air comes out of the fan nozzles? Axial fans don't work worth a damn against any sort of back pressure, and such nozzles create back pressure.

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LarsK
I get how the plug works on that, but what cable will you use with that?

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LarsK
Wow, those printed parts you have are so nice. I have seen a lot of printed parts on these forums, and it is usually only when people really really try hard they can make something like that... And you just made it for trial assembling...


The brown part that holds the fan, how did you print that? Support material? I am afraid that it will crack because you have the layers going in that direction and a thin square area where it comes out. Are you running high infill or what are your thoughts about that?