35mm film driven repstrap

In the Arduino IDE, did you set your type of board? See Menu -> Tools -> Board .

If yes, the serial port might be in use already. You can't run a host (or some other) software using this port and upload a firmware at the same time.

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Generation 7 Electronics	Teacup Firmware	RepRap DIY

jmarsden: As noted in my post, I haven't tried the reprap host software yet. It was more a general observation that the default Java on Ubuntu can have issues sometimes (like any piece of software), and that he could install sun Java to try/eliminate the issue. He tried and still couldn't get it to work, which points to his issue most likely being unrelated.

It's good to see that openjdk runs the reprap host software fine, which removes the need to install the sun Java unless needed elsewhere.

Note: One of the programs I have seen the behaviour I was describing was in the latest version of PCGen, but that is not a story for here, as it is NOT reprap related. I can replicate the problem on demand, so once work calms down a bit I'll look at logging a bug with both Launchpad and PCGen about it.

FWIW: I discovered the issue about 3 days before I posted (Ubuntu 10.04, 64 bit), and then just after I posted, work sent me interstate on a job for a few days. Damn this work business constantly getting in the way of reprap stuff. Would much rather concentrate on my mendel build :/

yep i had sanguino selected also the port was free no other software running.

just so people don't have to go back a page... here is my current problem:

OK i have reprap software running on windows XP service pack2 (on bootcamp on macpro) and it doesn't seem to be connected to my repstrap. i've installed the FTDI driver and my machine is working fine under the windows version of replicator. I've changed the reprap settings to my port (com3) and changed CommsDebug to true.

The only other glitch i'm having is that when i upload the firmware (on windows arduino), the extruder firmware uploads fine, the FiveD_GCode_Interpreter also uploads but with this message:

avrdude: stk500_getsync(): not in sync: resp=0x00
avrdude: stk500_disable(): protocol error, expect=0x14, resp=0x51

also i get this in repraps console:

comms: G-code: N0 T0 *26 dequeued and sent [0.000s/-1279213586624ms]
comms: G-code: N0 G1 F1500.0 *116 dequeued and sent [13.516s/13516ms]

The last hint in my repertoire is to unplug the Sanguino before uploading. Plug it in again, wait some 10 seconds until your OS has recognized the device, then upload.

Others report pressing the reset button on the Sanguino would help. Press it for a second when the message "Binary sketch size ..." appears in the IDE.

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Generation 7 Electronics	Teacup Firmware	RepRap DIY

... i have te same 'manual syncing' with the Arduino Pro Mini and the Boarduino - i press the reset-button shortly when the compiled size is shown and it uploads fine ... the Arduino Mega does this syncing automatically ...

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Viktor
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Aufruf zum Projekt "Müll-freie Meere" - [reprap.org] -- Deutsche Facebook-Gruppe - [www.facebook.com]

Call for the project "garbage-free seas" - [reprap.org]

that was it i had to hit the reset button twice. now i'm getting communication with the reprap software! thanks guys.

yayy

Don't 35mm cameras have rollers like that in them? Every time I go to a thrift store, I see cheap plastic cameras for sale for next to nothing.

i missed this.. R.J that's a good point, decent size too you would just need to lathe a bushing to reduce the diameter to 5 and add a tension screw.

i'm not sure how easy the tiny film sprockets would be to print on reprap, they would over hang, but they only need to be 1mmX1mm...

I printed my own film gear (closer to the size of the reprap gear) successfully on a commercial printer (shapeways).. although for some reason the internal shaft didn't print out?? It arrived as a solid cylinder with sprockets... might have been my noob modelling.

for my printers gears i borrowed one from work, made a plastic bushing on a lathe, put it in and made a mould of that. Then i cast it in resin, cast a bit more resin to beef up its body and tapped a 4mm hole for grub screw. Also i made sure the diameter of the gear was a few .1mm less than the motor shaft so it has to tightly squeeze on.

If anyone wants to have a go at printing the film sprocket i made here is the STL and the blender file:



blender file: [www.marklagana.com]

stl: [www.marklagana.com]

it would be great if someone could excavate a rectangular bit of mesh out of the side for a captive nut, like nopheads pulleys, or if someone could tell me how to do that, I use blender.

actually those sprocket tips go down to a tip and shapeways emailed and said they had issues wtih that so if anyone actually does want to try printing this, let me know and i'll beef up the sprockets a bit for you.

the sprocket holes on the film are quite a bit bigger than the teeth and because i'm using less teeth than usual here it would be better to make them bigger.

in other news, my printer's still being calibrated, i have a mendel coming along very slowly, the resin parts i bought off fotonlabs on ebay, which i'm cleaning up and molding myself, and all the gears i'm getting printed on a commercial printer to mold and cast, mold and cast (luckily i'm used to making tonnes of molds)

the 3d printer at my uncles work (engineering company) prints using a dot matrix system, print material is a powder with a different material to support overhang. the parts are amazing but the powder is pricey. (no where near as pricey as the CNC machining they do although). I will momentarily get some photos up of the gears it printed for wades geared extruder,

i got wades extruder half off ebay and the gears my uncle printed at his work (engineering company) then made molds.

clear resin is more brittle but i'm trying it for the big gear anyway because it looks cool. The idle bracket isn't beefed up but it's cast from a harder resin than the body. (would use it on everything but it's more expensive and has less viscocity)



when the extruder works it has a pretty consistent flow which is promising. i'm cleaning my bed with an old bottle of nail polish remover i found, pretty sure it's acetone.

this is my second nozzle after i ruined the thread of my makerbot thermal barrier. This is from Camiel and i think it works better but nicrome has brought on new and different problems at the moment some came free of the kapton so i'm just leaving it until i get my resistors. I'm sick of doing this:

my mendel parts arrived from fotonlabs very quickly. Pretty happy with the parts except for one x-end-bracket is pretty warped. The other is fine so i can mold and cast another from it. They both appear fine in the ebay photo, so it looks like it was taken out of the mold when it wasn't fully cured and changed shape then cured fully. Have to drill some holes completely some not at all, still pretty good for $100 australian and free international postage.

How many lumens is it?

sorry how many lumens is what? Not sure i'm going to be able to help there as i have no idea how many lumens anything is..

oh wait... was that a projection joke!? because if so, lol

shapeways stuff arrived..

ahh.. right click and view image to see the whole thing

can anyone tell me, on the frame vertex, the purpose of the two 3mm holes on either side of the big middle hole?

i can't find any info and it would be much easier to mold without long 3mm holes.

I asked Adrian the same question some time ago: -

Quote

nop head wrote:
> Seems to have three more holes in centre than shown in the build
> instructions. What are they for?

Mostly because they might be useful one day...

But one of the 3mm ones allows a length of filament to be used as a cable
support to the X axis.

Yours

Adrian

I used two of the 8mm holes to add an extra rod at the top of my machine for the feed filament to slide along.

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[www.hydraraptor.blogspot.com]

i'm not sure about filament yet. I want to take it to my apartment so it will need a box around it wtih an exhaust system, and i can't hang the filament on the wall like i have here so i'm thinking of storing the filament underneath, but i want it to be mechanised like the UP printer.. thinking maybe the filament goes through a payout arm underneath, when the extruder pulls the arm it hits a mini switch that will feed more plastic out via pinchwheel. when the extruder has enough slack the arm goes back to resting position

& thanks for quick reply nophead. i'm going to partially fill it with balsa, leaving dimples for drilling out

also thinking potentially, having the filament wound tightly around a wide holder, connected to a DC motor. the arm hitting mini switch could also trigger the whole reel of filament to spin slowly, feeding it to the pinchwheel at the appropriate rate.

if the spool of filament isn't mechanised i can't think of any way to keeping a lot of the filament wound tightly and maintain the tension. Payout unit with an arm, motorised pinchwheel with springs working simultaneously with motorised spindle.

it's pretty much how film is paid out to a projector, it sits on platters, laced through a payout unit in the center. When the projector pulls on the film the arm goes to the right, and using magnets i think tells the DC motor to turn the platter. The platter sits in a bearing, the DC motor is on the side and pushes the platter with a rubber spindle thing that is just pressed really hard against the platter.

I think you want a pinch wheel rather than motorising the spool. Unless the plastic is wound very uniformly in layers on the spool you end up pulling plastic out from lower layers and that takes some force to do.

The way the UP system works is that the spool (which is actually very small) rests on a curved bar which forms the bearing that it rotates on. That will have significant friction so will keep it taught on the spool.

So all you need is a bearing for the spool with some friction and a pinch wheel to pull the plastic off.

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[www.hydraraptor.blogspot.com]

ahh yes actually there are much easier ways of applying friction to the spool... hmmmm.

i have a cheap laser cutting place near me. i might try for designing parts for them to cut for me for a tall clear acrylic mendel box that includes the underneath spool and the top sealed chamber with fume exhaust

resistors arrived from Leo and i cut the aluminum block out of the base of a heat sink from a computer.

now just having issues with a new second hand pc i'm trying to run my repstrap with



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/04/2010 06:28AM by mlagana.

Can anyone point out to me where the PID formula is located in the 5d firmware? Or is it in the extruder firmware?

My heater block with resistor sways between +/-10 degrees using PID. I need to change to bang bang control. according to adrian via nophead,
Quote
Adrian Bowyer
It's now a parameter in the firmware. You set the proportional band
in deg C. Setting that to 0 gives bang-bang.

i'm a bit lost just rummaging through all the tabs of the firmware.

extruder.h, line 366. I think.

beauty, thankyou.

hmm still struggling with this, line 366 is a blank line (when i open it in open office, is there a go to line command in arduino?)

or could someone with resistor+heaterblock upload their extruder.h file for me?

I guess it wouldn't hurt to have a link to it at the bottom of these pages:

[reprap.org]
[reprap.org]