MechaBits KraftWerk'r

Finally get the printer dialed in for this white material, it's like nylon fishing wire, printing at 210, but I have a feeling it needs a little more heat, i'll be happier when it's all gone, thought it might be good for some arty pieces with moody lighting but the time it takes to print something big means I must really want the object/item...and so far that must have item eludes me...








The building really shouldnt have been started without all the parts needed but half the fun is putting it together to see what parts you need or are short of, and now some of those bits have been made and some arrived in the mail, I'm faced with leaving it as is to test or rebuilding with the new bits, mostly nuts...but I also had a spare wide rail. If I used one wide rail instead of the two above, it means I could probably make another printer with those parts, and have a much neater minimal machine, with a lower profile bed, 30mm lower. Decisions Decisions...

What kind of filament is it ? Brand ?

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"A comical prototype doesn't mean a dumb idea is possible" (Thunderf00t)

havent got a clue, bought it cheap on a similar reel to excelvan but when it came with no airtight bag I knew it was dodgy and it's been waiting for a use for a few months in no airtight container, have had a similar type of duff roll before in grey, like fudge, but doesnt seem to have any stickyness,, but on the last print I didnt need big feet, used a little extra tape incase...but think it would have been fine without, was having a problem with the small 3mm holes on first layer, and blob buildup but that was sorted on recent print.

XL-45 is a new beefy Cantilever 3D Printer made with 45mm Profile(2x400 & 3x200). With 12mm rods for Z & 42mm wide rail for bed, it has a small footprint but is quite heavy & solid, Simple to build & Easy to maintain & adjust.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/28/2019 08:57PM by MechaBits.

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[mechabits.co.uk]

Bad 3DPrinter Blames Bad Filament...and while I still believe this stuff aint perfect and won't be buying it again(unless in error) at least now towards the end of the roll I'm getting some useful prints. The Ramps box had a severe warp despite trying to minimize it, but in the end everything still fitted and the lid/design helps hold it all together better, a little better than the last case, roll on new roll of stuff.

Changed over to known quantity and know I can see a little better how its performing, on the diag' the pulse steps are creating an interesting tactile feeling to the surface of the print, I know Z could be a little better, I wish I wasnt using short bearings for Z. X&Y belt marks are reduced but not eliminated.

The last print looks to be a tad over-extruded

first layer was far too close and i was adjusting on the fly, but the rest was 1.02 on the extrusion, I find the .2 layers need a little extra but normally 1.01 but I wasnt watching when it got to the 10mm & 15mm layer height so a little over there.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/12/2019 07:32AM by MechaBits.

Makes a change to print some things not printer related, and after a long gap without printing anything I manage 2 new projects projects in a week...well old projects just resurrected, need to finish the roll before the summer arrives

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/30/2019 06:33AM by MechaBits.

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[mechabits.co.uk]

My First Printer has the 35mm OD Black Tube Frame surrounding it, though was never meant to be part of the design, a rather extravagant use of it as it doesnt really make the most of its rigidity, so I've been wondering for a while how to make better use of it without having to drill any holes in it.

What we have here is what could go into that black frame, but I decided to build it out side of the cube to see how it went together. Ideally I wanted the 12mm rods sunk into a 50mm or so worktop thats sitting at the bottom of the cube, and I would use the 12mm rod ends to tidy & strengthen that. But the way it is here in the pictures it is surprisingly sturdy. If it goes into the black tube cube then obviously i'll make something to hold the top of the Z Rods, I've done a few ideas but still putting that on hold till new ideas come or I decide what I want.

For an even more minimal look i'd rather have the rodends for the bed also bolted straight to the worksurface/base rather than to the profile, though the profile Z is on could be also bolted to the base, and the profile the beds on could bolt to that profile, I think I wold prefer to see it without all those extras. The parts are a bit warped but seem to do the job, maybe get a heatgun on them, I've revised the X & Y ends for alternate material(metal) and alternate Z Base units where designed to bolt to the base but print time for those was more than i could be bothered with so cut them down in size.

I could add some buttressing to the profile to stop them from turning if I need to(though I wish the motors where also embedded into the worksurface). I decided to just rotate the left over rod support on the Z to stop motor rotation. Final part needed is the hotend and I have no idea which hotend to put up there, maybe another hex hotend?, so no idea yet on the mount. Will it ever make it into the BlackCube?

Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 07/04/2019 04:15PM by MechaBits.

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[mechabits.co.uk]

Well So much for Summer & getting out with the camera and my PLA parts in the hot sun...luckily best times to film are sunrise & sunset so not so warm, but so far not much filming or printing, machines lay dormant, and when they used to call out in the middle of the night & invade my dreams with requests for new parts & upgrades, they haven't been screaming for attention in ages, leaving my mind free for other thoughts, though I appear to be locked inside some deep Zen state with no thoughts about much at all, except these little spool rollers.

So you have to try & put the neglected toy to work every now & then, just to be sure it will behave when you really need it. Testing my new LED Video Light in Macro which lights up the part with a nice even light(hand held macro is tricky), if only I had this light 15 years ago, life woulda been so much simpler and the footage much better.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/13/2019 12:03PM by MechaBits.

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