Hi all, I've been following the Reprap project for a couple of years, and now I've finally decided to build my own. Over the Easter weekend I hacked together a quick belt driven Repstrap (based on the Mantis CNC designs) out of MDF and perspex. It is controlled by an Arduino Mega with TB6560 based stepper drivers and seems to work quite nicely - albeit only with a pen taped to the z-axis. Nowby ro - Reprappers
I had the same issue. A smear of epoxy on the very end of the motor axle and a smear along the studding before the tubing was pushed on fixed the problem. I've now run my mcwire with a heavy dremel on the z axis for a couple of 4 hour sessions and have had no slippage. When you want to remove the tubing you can slit it with a sharp knife and the epoxy will fall off the studding and the motor aby ro - Mechanics
Wonderful. Thank you! Just ordered 1kg ABS - wish me luck!by ro - Reprappers
OK, I'm virtually ready to try my first print with my repstrap. I just need some plastic! My question is which is better for my first prints? ABS or PLA? There seems to be a lot of talk about both but I can't get a handle on which one is the easier to use. Any help would be greatly appreciated as I am getting far too excited about the prospect of having a 3D printer and almost literally can'tby ro - Reprappers
I stand corrected! Sorry for any confusion caused.by ro - United Kingdom RepRap User Group
You don't really need the full gen 3 electronics. I have my repstrap working with an arduino mega and pololu stepper boards. Total cost about 50 quid. If you do decide to go down the gen 3 route bear in mind that the extruder controller does not support stepper driven extruders.by ro - United Kingdom RepRap User Group
Damnit! The only German supplier I can find only sells 5kg and with shipping on US orders, small amounts seem to cost the same as bitsfrombytes! Has anyone tried using ABS Welding Rods ( ) in a reprap extruder? It strikes me that they should be the same as the ABS filament and if one uses a bowden extruder there should be no issue of them jamming when switching to a new rod.by ro - United Kingdom RepRap User Group
With my McWire working and my extruder build nearly finished I thought it might be time to buy some filament to try some printing! Looking at UK suppliers, the only one I could see that people have used is bitsfrombytes who do seem to charge a lot more than the US distributors. Is this the only way to get hold of a small amount (ie 1kg) of ABS in the UK? Or are there any other suppliers that Iby ro - United Kingdom RepRap User Group
The geared extruder doesn't look like too much more work, especially as I have a load of gears from an old laser printer (which my steppers came from too). Would I notice much difference in the end result between the geared pinchwheel design and the direct drive design?by ro - General
Thank you very much for your advice. I think I'll steal your designs but use mdf for the stepper mounting.by ro - General
Hi, I have just completed a mcwire style cartesian bot controled with reprap software running on an Arduino board. I'm extremely impressed with the accuracy of the design and ease of use of the sofware! I've got it running with a dremel mounted to the z axis and it engraves text and cuts out 5mm perspex beautifully! But now i want to build an extruder assembly for it in the hope of being able tby ro - General