Tiny Planetary Gears / Week of June 23 - July 3, 2012

This week's challenge if aubenc's Tint Planetary Gear set. http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:23030
Can I suggest that we move the judging to Tuesday so that it gives a full weekend to have a go at it without the deadtime between the announcement of one winner and the posting of the next challenge.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/23/2012 06:25PM by Greg Frost.

Here's my attempt at printing it. Man this thing is tiny! took: 04:53:36



It is quite well thought out how it goes together with the possible exception of the drive shaft. Nothing is really holding it in. WIth my print settings, the screws were a bit loose too (although they still were functional when tightened). The spacing of all of the elements in the stack will vary with this slackness though.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/24/2012 05:48AM by Greg Frost.

Hi Greg, Good choice and plenty tricky enough to be classed as a competition challenge.

I am falling at the first hurdle, Slicing it -

Unless I reduce infill below 60% and also keep the part count down on the bed (to below about 30pcs) Slic3r Version 0.8.3 Crashes during slicing -



Then I can get it to slice, but it has filled in the holes in my Planets! -


I want a single outline to make the gears nice and strong and get the infill into all the teeth.

I tried just the planets -

The above was with using concentric infill


Then I tried Rectilinear - that's just the same -

Finally got it to work, but only setting the perimeter to 10, and it's not giving the infill I wanted doing it that way.


Looks like this is going to be a challenge in more ways than one.

I'll try printing some tomorrow night.

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[richrap.blogspot.com]

Thats funny. I just sliced it with my fine settings I used for the impossible sphere (slicer 0.8.2) and printed it.

.17mm Layers ("Medium, Solid" settings, with extrusion width reduced to .3mm to allow infill inside the tiny gears)

Had zero problems slicing the files with KISSlicer.

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www.Fablicator.com

Wow. That's really nice andrew. I had a few dags due to extruder ooze. What is your secret? Do you have a smaller nozzle? Lower temp? Faster speed? Does KISSLICER do all the perimeters and then all the infill like slic3r? Or does it complete each island on a layer separately.

Also, did you find that the threads were a bit loose? Or were they a good fit?

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/27/2012 05:30AM by Greg Frost.

Hey Greg,

Combination of everything. Relatively fast acceleration (for a non-bowden bot) of 2500mm/s, .35mm nozzle, 1cm melt zone on the extruder, .5mm retracts at 15mm/s.

KISSlicer does each island individually before moving onto the next.

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www.Fablicator.com

Andrew,

Great prints. So precise.

What do you mean by "1cm melt zone on the extruder"?

Also, you mentioned acceleration: I thought we could only control the speed, but not the acceleration.

Thanks

Within the firmware you can set the acceleration values (Well at least in Marlin)

By a 1cm melt zone, I mean there is no more than 1cm worth of filament that is molten in the nozzle at one time. A short melt zone inhibits really ridiculous flow rates, but gives excellent precision when stopping/starting.

I forgot to mention, the threads are really loose on mine as well.

Thanks for the comments!

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www.Fablicator.com

I got around the issues with Slicer V0.8.3 to print this weeks challenge, and the new version 0.8.4 does not have any of the issues I had, so well worth a download.



I made a 6 stage version.







Some more images and details are on my blog post here.

The planets were printed seperatly as I had some issues and needed different settings, but all the other parts were printed with the following settings in Slic3r 0.8.3 -

; layer_height = 0.3
; perimeters = 1
; solid_layers = 3
; fill_density = 0.65
; nozzle_diameter = 0.42
; filament_diameter = 2.86
; extrusion_multiplier = 1
; perimeter_speed = 40
; infill_speed = 40
; travel_speed = 230
; scale = 1
; single wall width = 0.47mm

I put my travel speed up and used a 1.4mm extruder reverse for doing plates of multiple parts.


The extension bolts for a 6 stage version are up on Thingiverse here

Cheers,

Rich.

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[richrap.blogspot.com]

Shrug. Dunno how it goes together.

*Disqualification - these were made on my ProJet 6000HD (commercial machine).Unfinished - straight from SLA platform.

Layer thickness: 0.1mm
Print time: 2 hours

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/29/2012 07:54AM by proto.

richrap Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> settings in Slic3r 0.8.3 -
>
> ; layer_height = 0.3
> ; perimeters = 1
> ; solid_layers = 3
> ; fill_density = 0.65
> ; nozzle_diameter = 0.42
> ; filament_diameter = 2.86
> ; extrusion_multiplier = 1
> ; perimeter_speed = 40
> ; infill_speed = 40
> ; travel_speed = 230
> ; scale = 1
> ; single wall width = 0.47mm
>
> I put my travel speed up and used a 1.4mm extruder
> reverse for doing plates of multiple parts.

Hi Rich,
Fabulous work!
Just a quick question... is the Slic3r nozzle_diameter of 0.42 the 'actual' hole size or a fudged figure? I'm curious to know how you arrived at 0.42. It's seems a non-standard number, with nozzles typically being sold as .5mm, .35mm, etc.
Tks,
Ivor

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[numbersixreprap.blogspot.com]

NumberSix Wrote:
---------------------------------------------------
> Hi Rich,
> Fabulous work!
> Just a quick question... is the Slic3r
> nozzle_diameter of 0.42 the 'actual' hole size or
> a fudged figure? I'm curious to know how you
> arrived at 0.42. It's seems a non-standard number,
> with nozzles typically being sold as .5mm, .35mm,
> etc.
> Tks,
> Ivor

Hi Ivor,

Take a look at this Thread

And this blog post from Brian (J-heads) -

It's basically a bit of an odd issue to do with J-head nozzles and Slic3r, so Yes I have a '0.5mm Nozzle' but I need to set it to be 0.4 or 0.42 to get the correct relation of extruded plastic and width over height (automatic) correct for a given layer height.
It could all be done by-hand in Slic3r, but it's really nice to have exact same settings and only need to change the layer height, everything then works out correctly if I set the nozzle to be about 0.42mm

Cheers,

Rich.

---

[richrap.blogspot.com]

richrap Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> NumberSix Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -
> > Hi Rich,
> > Fabulous work!
> > Just a quick question... is the Slic3r
> > nozzle_diameter of 0.42 the 'actual' hole size
> or
> > a fudged figure? I'm curious to know how you
> > arrived at 0.42. It's seems a non-standard
> number,
> > with nozzles typically being sold as .5mm,
> .35mm,
> > etc.
> > Tks,
> > Ivor
>
> Hi Ivor,
>
> Take a look at this Thread
>
> And this blog post from Brian (J-heads) -
>
> It's basically a bit of an odd issue to do with
> J-head nozzles and Slic3r, so Yes I have a '0.5mm
> Nozzle' but I need to set it to be 0.4 or 0.42 to
> get the correct relation of extruded plastic and
> width over height (automatic) correct for a given
> layer height.
> It could all be done by-hand in Slic3r, but it's
> really nice to have exact same settings and only
> need to change the layer height, everything then
> works out correctly if I set the nozzle to be
> about 0.42mm
>
> Cheers,
>
> Rich.

Thanks Rich, that could save me a struggle. I've just received my new .5mm J-Head. I might even give this Planetary Gears a go if I get the new hot -end singing in time!
Ivor

Such fun, I couldnt resist building another:

Very shiny! It glistens like it is wet. Does it look like that in real life or is it an artifact of the photography?

---

[www.hydraraptor.blogspot.com]

Well, here is my semi-succesful attempt. Tried the last two weeks, but couldn't finish the prints. Inspired by the above (and stubborn) I finally got some good parts.

The Parts:

Assembled:

and the reject pile (most from tuning) you can see herringbone gears, as an attempt to adjust the 'stringing' I was getting, I swapped my extruder gears to herringbone, but still could not print multiple parts without stringing.


Homemade 8020 extrusion frame, ABS, Greg's with .35 J-Head, Slic3r, Repetier host & frimware, Gen6 (heated bed always on....)

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Thingiverse ID Alan1279

I know you said Tiny gear set, but I could not resist any longer and had to print a massive one -

350% bigger version -





The Crank is MASSIVE! compared to the original





It all fits perfectly and works very well, you can really see all the fine detail in the Knurled handle and nuts at this size.

You could probably print a 400% sized version on a Mendel if you had enough plastic

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/02/2012 06:00PM by richrap.

---

[richrap.blogspot.com]

Congratulations to this weeks winner: Andrew Diehl

I couldnt go past your fantastically clean prints. Magnificent job.

Well done to all the others who managed to get good results of this challenging print, and nice huge gear set richrap.

Oh, to answer nophead's question. It looks reasonably shiny in real life, but that pic has a bright light close by as well as the camera flash, so it is probably doubly shiny in the picture.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/03/2012 05:59AM by Greg Frost.

BTW, I think it is a shame that these threads have been moved to their own forum. Im sure there would be more participation if we regularly had a new thread in the General section instead.

Maybe post just a copy of the challenge introduction each week in general, and point wannabe participants here ?

---

Most of my technical comments should be correct, but is THIS one ?
Anyway, as a rule of thumb, always double check what people write.

Does anybody read forum posts using the forum? I find it totally impractical and only read the RSS feed, which is flat.

---

[www.hydraraptor.blogspot.com]

I would take a bet that you're nearly alone doing that, nophead. But then maybe I'm wrong.

---

Most of my technical comments should be correct, but is THIS one ?
Anyway, as a rule of thumb, always double check what people write.

I didn't get a chance to play this week, but did last week, just had no time to post.
I read this on the forum. I have an odd quirk though that in this part of the Forum, things look quite different than they do on the rest of the forum.
Using Chrome. Just though it odd. No delineation between posts and no graphics for forum layout.
I have checked the control panel too.
Lots of great entries as well.
I have been wanting a reason to print this before the contest. I will have to try it out at some point.

---

Lee

I only read the forum via RSS, and jump into the forum only when I get an email for a subject I am particularly following, such as this one.

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------------------------------------------
garyhodgson.com/reprap | reprap.development-tracker.info | thingtracker.net

Leeway Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I didn't get a chance to play this week, but did
> last week, just had no time to post.
> I read this on the forum. I have an odd quirk
> though that in this part of the Forum, things look
> quite different than they do on the rest of the
> forum.
> Using Chrome. Just though it odd. No delineation
> between posts and no graphics for forum layout.
> I have checked the control panel too.
> Lots of great entries as well.
> I have been wanting a reason to print this before
> the contest. I will have to try it out at some
> point.

Press "ctrl F5" and it will re-download the rest of the page. It happened to me once too.

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FFF Settings Calculator	Gcode post processors	Geometric Object Deposition Tool Blog
Tantillus.org	Mini Printable Lathe	How NOT to install a Pololu driver

Thanks!

So, I need an opinion before deciding on this next competition.

[www.thingiverse.com]

Too hard?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/03/2012 02:41PM by Andrew Diehl.

---

www.Fablicator.com

Andrew Diehl Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Thanks!
>
> So, I need an opinion before deciding on this next
> competition.
>
> [www.thingiverse.com]
>
> Too hard?

Hi Andrew,

Well done on the win, very nice print indeed. Were all the colours done in PLA or is it ABS?
The yellow looks like PLA but I can't tell with the other ones.

I would try to print the Quadcopter blade, but I usually hate Support structure, but then again this is a printing competition, so maybe we can all learn a thing or too about support.

I would have cut it in half at the middle and printed it vertically to avoid support, then joined it back together.

Let us know if that's the challenge.

Cheers,

Rich.

---

[richrap.blogspot.com]

Hi Rich
I'm still trying to print a copy of Tiny Planetary Gears that I can actually assemble!
I've used your settings in Slic3r 0.8.4 and also played around with nozzle size and extrusion width a bit but I'm consistently getting holes in the planets that are smaller than the posts they are meant to fit on. Typical values would be 3.0 mm for diameter of posts and 2.7 mm for internal diameter of holes. Same problem with the bolts and the threaded holes - nothing fits!
You mentioned in your previous post that you had to use different setting for the planets but didn't actually say what they were. Any clues to help me tune my printer up better would be really helpful.
Cheers
richgain

richgain Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Hi Rich
> I'm still trying to print a copy of Tiny Planetary
> Gears that I can actually assemble!
> I've used your settings in Slic3r 0.8.4 and also
> played around with nozzle size and extrusion width
> a bit but I'm consistently getting holes in the
> planets that are smaller than the posts they are
> meant to fit on. Typical values would be 3.0 mm
> for diameter of posts and 2.7 mm for internal
> diameter of holes. Same problem with the bolts and
> the threaded holes - nothing fits!
> You mentioned in your previous post that you had
> to use different setting for the planets but
> didn't actually say what they were. Any clues to
> help me tune my printer up better would be really
> helpful.
> Cheers
> richgain


There is a bug in 0.8.4 that make perimeters 0.1mm wider (https://github.com/alexrj/Slic3r/issues/507) that is now fixed in development branch. Try with 0.8.3 or less until 0.8.5 is out.

hoani