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General discussions. For specific printers / electronics / fabrication methods / softwares, please see other sections.
Re: G-Code optimiser - 8 years ago
I've written many unit tests over the last week in my software which helped me fix a lot of bugs. It is now running much more stable and seems to output correct G-Code for the files I've tested. I should be ready for beta testers in a couple of weeks or so. The next thing I need to do is to get it to read it's settings from a config file so that things can be user configurable. I don't like howby KarlB - Experimental
Re: G-Code optimiser - 8 years ago
Thanks for the reply Joro. Hopefully my software should be able to solve the problem you have with missing extrusion for the first few mm of the track by minimising travel moves. You're right that the main slicing programs don't appear to have any intelligence in minimising travel moves. They will go back and forth over the bed laying down paths in all different places when the moves could haveby KarlB - Experimental
G-Code optimiser - 8 years ago
I have noticed that Slic3r does not optimise very well the order of extrusion paths it takes to minimise print time. For example, the order in which extrusion paths are made within the same layer can be rearranged to minimise the travel distance between these extrusion paths. Some initial inspections of the G-Code produced by Slic3r reveal that travel time alone between extrusion paths can take aby KarlB - Experimental
Re: DIY filament extruder, half working, many questions 
- 11 years ago
Hi, an update from the last week is that I now have the treadmill motor coupled to the auger bit. 12V from the PC power supply is more than enough for it and it has enough torque to operate direct drive (yay, no messing about with gearing ). I received a PWM controller a few days ago to control the speed of it, most of the time it only needs around half power. I shortened the barrell to remove tby KarlB - Plastic Extruder Working Group
Re: DIY filament extruder, half working, many questions - 12 years ago
haha, the motor is not coupled yet, what you can see there is a few blocks of wood superglued to the end of the auger bit with duct tape around it to provide grip for hand turning. The motor is just lying next to it for demonstration I will build a proper coupling and a frame to secure the motor once I have shortened the barrel.by KarlB - Plastic Extruder Working Group
Re: DIY filament extruder, half working, many questions - 12 years ago
I forgot how big my treadmill motor was! I'ts as big as the extruder itself! It may be overkill for this project, but considering I got it for free (a friend was throwing away the treadmill) I might aswell use it. At 12v I get about 100rpm and it gives shed loads of torque so I'll have no need for gearing. Just a PWM for speed control.by KarlB - Plastic Extruder Working Group
Re: DIY filament extruder, half working, many questions - 12 years ago
Thanks for your help. Yes, the reason I used a 12mm pipe at one end and a 10mm at the other is that I had a 12mm auger but only a 10mm brass fitting to screw the end stop into. I didn't mention it in the first post but I have already cut the end of the auger flat due to problems with the pipe clogging. I understand what you mean about the pressure drop, I can imagine some of the plastic having frby KarlB - Plastic Extruder Working Group
DIY filament extruder, half working, many questions - 12 years ago
Hello to everyone on the rep rap forums. I am hoping that people here who know more than me on filament extrusion can help me with a project of mine, a DIY filament extruder, which has given me proof of concept, in that it melts plastic and begins to extrude it, but not with a very consistent diameter. I will start from the beginning of my build and highlight any questions I have along the way.by KarlB - Plastic Extruder Working Group
Repurposing a gen6.d board - 13 years ago
I have a gen6.d board which has a blown extruder motor driver. There's no chance of being able to replace the motor driver as it's all surface mount. The rest of the board all works fine so I am thinking of repurposing the board as a datalogger for some personal projects. I know the board is based on arduino, and I have experience of using the arduino IDE to flash new firmware, but I've never donby KarlB - General
Re: Extruder motor stalling - 13 years ago
Tightened the grub screw. It took about 1 1/2 turns to get to the point where it could no longer turn, so maybe it was in fact a bit loose. Re-printing now and currently on layer 5, so things look good. I will eventually aim to get a fan on the stepper motor to keep it cool, but until then I'll pause the print every half hour or so and leave it for 5 mins to let the motors cool down. Thanks for tby KarlB - General
Extruder motor stalling - 13 years ago
I have been printing for about a week now and made 5 moderately sized prints that came out fine. (All smaller than 50x50x50 mm) I set a print going last night, which was a gear 80mm in diameter and 7mm high, with 0.3mm layer height. The ETA was about 1.5 hours. It was printing fine until about 45 minutes in (layer 15), the motors got hot, and the extruder motor started to stall (motor humming butby KarlB - General
Re: Working on a filament recycler - 13 years ago
lazzymonk Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > in the firmware there should be an option the > change the bed max temp How do I modify the firmware? crendon2854 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- >Are those American milk jugs by any chance? >Do you think soft drink bottles will have similar results? >Please post pics of yby KarlB - General
Working on a filament recycler - 13 years ago
I've been working on a filament extruder for the last few days, and so far my experiments with melting HDPE (old milk bottles) have been going very well. Used some old copper pipe for the tube, and a large wood drill bit (steel) for the auger, wrapped some nichrome wire around the tube for heating, and secured with kapton tape. I connected the nichrome wire to the extruder heater out pins of a geby KarlB - General
Re: Acetone fogger using piezo? - 13 years ago
Seems like it would work, I know that maplin (UK) sell these in a completely metal case.by KarlB - General