QuoteTrung Hi John. Excellent work. Thank you. I may take the plunge soon. For John or anyone, I understand the intent to keep things small and "simple", but could this design be adapted to use extrusions to connect the corner pieces instead of the printed mid sections? I am thinking this would allow one to scale the print diameter. Thanks. Of course, you can do anything :-). Seriously, thby JohnSL - Delta Machines
MakerFaire, here we come. For those of you going to MakerFaire this weekend, I'll have my 3DR "Simple" Delta printer there. You can find me in booth 403. I'll be showing my printer, as well as a circuit board that a friend of mine and I designed for automatic bed leveling with Force-sensitive resistors.by JohnSL - Delta Machines
Just guessing...that sounds like it might be a wiring issue for the Y stepper. You can try swapping the wires between Y and the X or Z to see if you get the same behavior.by JohnSL - Delta Machines
Thanks for the link. That's a pretty long thread! I posted over there and we'll see what happens next :-).by JohnSL - Delta Machines
It's been a while since I've posted anything to this forum. Part of that is because I have another project I've been working on for the past month, and I wasn't sure how well it would work until I tested it. So I didn't want to post anything until I was sure it would work well. It does. With the help of my friend Stephen, I created a circuit board with a little microcontroller that does all thby JohnSL - Delta Machines
You should be able to plug the fan into the FAN connector on the Printrboard. This is a PWM output, which means it's controlled via software. Once you enable fan cooling in your slicer, it should work. QuoteRTurnockOnly problem is that I do not have 12volts at the fan pins so I may need alternatives, like direct wiring or desktop fan.by JohnSL - Delta Machines
There is a section on endstops here: Does that help?by JohnSL - Delta Machines
There is a nice trick I learned for keeping the set screws from coming out. If you screw in a second set screw, it will act as jam and keep them both in place.by JohnSL - Delta Machines
I believe Thingiverse's search is based on tags, so to make your thing show up in search, you'll need to add some tags.by JohnSL - Delta Machines
Hi, I've finally gotten around to setting up Arduino1.0.5 so I can build more recent versions of Marlin for the Printrboard. My plan is to experiment with adding Johann's automatic bed leveling with force-sensitive resisters. I have his branch downloaded and just need to do some wiring. But before I do that, I have this memory of someone mentioning another branch that people really like, but I cby JohnSL - Delta Machines
I believe the "curve" you're seeing is also a Moire pattern, which is a result of the stepping from the three towers. When you're dealing with a Cartesian printer, the circles require moving the X and Y only, so the stepping patterns will be the same for every layer. However with a Delta, the X, Y, and Z are all moving. This means that the pattern will shift a little when you change layers. I hopby JohnSL - Delta Machines
PierreB, thanks for pointing out that they were missing from the BOM. I've just updated the BOM. In my case I used two M3 x 50 screws. I had to push against the springs to get the screws started, so they're perhaps a little short. I haven't tried 60mm screws--I'll have to see if I can get some to try them out. As to the smooth or threaded rod, I just looked at noticed that I didn't use one--my bby JohnSL - Delta Machines
I switched over to using the Tridprinting.com metal spools and I really, really like them. My printed ones were always a little fussy. It was hard to get them so they were completely coaxial, and also the screws had a tendency to loosen over time. The metal one fits very snugly, without any wobble, and the set screws seems to hold very well. Here is a link to the spools I'm now using: They'reby JohnSL - Delta Machines
I'm having problems publishing a new thing on Thingiverse, and I'm wondering if anyone else is running into the same issues. What happens is that I attach some STL files, fill in all the required fields, and then click Publish. After a short while it comes back and says I need to publish the thing before anyone else can see it. When I click Edit, none of my STL files are included anymore (but theby JohnSL - General
Interesting that they have a smaller motor for Y. My original Printrbot Simple had three small motors and one large motor. If you look at my construction motors, you can see that all three of my tower motors are the small ones. I have another Printrbot Simple hard-ware only kit I got so I could build another printer (this one laser-cut acrylic), so I'll do some experiments. I'm thinking that witby JohnSL - Delta Machines
Woops, I'd forgotten that the images are on a different server. They should be back online later today.by JohnSL - Delta Machines
This approach definitely works, as it's one of the methods commonly used to set the height of cutters on CNC milling machines. Here are a few examples:by JohnSL - General Mendel Topics
Hi Everyone. I was absent for a little while because of an issue with the forum--I was getting a message that I was banned, but I really wasn't. And then things were busy at work. In any event, someone (I can't remember who, at this point) requested that I upload STEP files onto Github so they could edit solid models instead of the mesh in the STL files. I've now done that. I've also incorporatby JohnSL - Delta Machines
Ok, my account seems to be working again. Thanks.by JohnSL - Administration, Announcements, Policy
Actually, I made a mistake when I transferred to a new provider and forgot to route my blogs correctly. I just fixed the problem, so you may be able to get to my blog again now. Sorry about that.by JohnSL - Delta Machines
Yes, I changed service providers, so it will take up to 48 hours to "appear" again across the world. In other words, it should be visible to everyone before the end of Monday.by JohnSL - Delta Machines
RTurnock, I have a complete (I think) parts list on my blog: . This list assumes you're starting with a Printrbot Simple, so whatever steppers that come with the Simple.by JohnSL - Delta Machines
I only have experience with 1.75mm filament and a Bowden tube. I would expect it would take a lot more force to push 3mm filament through a tube, so you might have problems with the extruder. Perhaps there are others who have tried 3mm who can speak up. As to the controller, pretty much any controller should work. I've designed the mounts specifically for a Printrboard, so I don't know how wellby JohnSL - Delta Machines
At the very end of my latest entry you'll find links to instructions Building the 3DR “Simple” Delta Printer, Part III And yes, you have to follow the same steps as it seems the Printrboard doesn't have a bootloader that would allow you to download the firmware directly from the Arduino IDE.by JohnSL - Delta Machines
I've updated my Firmware settings post with the current numbers for this printer. I wrote the original blog post for the first version, and the published files are for the second version. My post now uses numbers from the "final" design. I've also updated the photos, and corrected one mistake where my measurement wasn't quite correct. 3DR “Simple” Delta Printer Firmware Settingsby JohnSL - Delta Machines
Here are the numbers that I get directly from my SolidWorks files: #define DELTA_SMOOTH_ROD_OFFSET 133.54 // mm #define DELTA_EFFECTOR_OFFSET 22.87 // mm #define DELTA_CARRIAGE_OFFSET 16.5 The first number is a little smaller because the image in my blog post on firmware settings isn't correct. It should be the distance from the rods to the plane through the center, not to the center itself. I'by JohnSL - Delta Machines
I've just published Building the 3DR “Simple” Delta Printer, Part III on my blog. I believe I have one final part to publish, which is about installing the firmware and calibrating the printer. RichRap has done a great job, so I can just cover what's specific to this printer.by JohnSL - Delta Machines
brendanjerwin, here are the clips I was referring to: Bed Clips The version of Marlin I have on my printer is RichRap's version, which doesn't have support for M666. I'm hoping I can get the latest version of Marlin building for the Printrboard, which will then have support for M666. In any event, I really like the bed clips with the Printrbot bed-leveling screws between it and the bed, as tby JohnSL - Delta Machines
Funkymonk, That's a cool spool mount you've made. I'm going to have to try it out. -- Johnby JohnSL - Delta Machines
Here is a photo of the jig I used to set the length of my rods: And here is the link to the parts (printed in green and mounted to the extrusion on the left side): http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:166605by JohnSL - Delta Machines