Ooh -- awesome; thanks. Sounds like it'll end up being worth the time to re-design the Mendelmax X ends then. I'm sure that there are plenty of i3 extruders to choose from, so maybe i should just go for the i3 carriage too... I do mostly pretty dense structural stuff, so reduced height isn't likely to be a problem - plus now the Mendelmax is my main printer, the i2 has been mainly used for expby tymm - General
These are commonly used in inkjet printers. if the setup is designed properly I'd expect it to work reasonably well. Probably the biggest disadvantage of flex cables is the connectors-- in fact in a product I'm working on we were doing everything possible to avoid flex cables because the connectors fail so incredibly easily (though in the end, due to specific features, we did use a flex). The cby tymm - General
A few possibilities come to mind: - Is it possible your hotend is getting tiny plugs of PTFE from the liner stuck in the tip (or if you're using a bowden tube or teflon guide tube, from that)? I've seen a number of cases where little flecks can get left where teflon tubing is cut, and these can end up clogging nozzles. Have also seen cases where cleaning can temporarily move the PTFE flecks ouby tymm - General
Cool -- how has your experience been? Looks like you're getting good prints -- how's maintenance / switching out parts? any luck with getting better cooling on the hotend?by tymm - General
Hi, I've now been using 3d printers long enough to know that I have too many assumptions when it comes to upgrades, but not long enough to stop with the assumptions. I've got 2 printers at this point; a Prusa i2 and a MendelMax 1.5+ (i2 from ebay parts and scrounging, MM from scratch using the i2 for printed parts). Both have standard horizontal X carriages; the MM has a MTW leadscrew (which lby tymm - General
I tested the belt-pulley thing a bit, so am pretty confident -- the issue is mainly at higher speeds, and with a tight belt… if the motor's shaft isn't parallel there is enough force pushing the belt sideways (even if relatively slowly in comparison) that it will bind when it hits the side of the pulley (also possibly implicated -- with my pulleys, the sides are not parallel -- they are angled slby tymm - Extruded Aluminum Frames
Hi, Sorry for long delay (have had a lot of non-reprap things to attend to)… I'm pretty bad at getting pictures & even worse at uploading them… but have sorted out a number (most?) of my issues, though of course it's an ongoing game of whack-a-mole Re: steppers -- I'm currently using these 62 oz-in motors (43 Nm cm) The RobotDigg ones look nice, though their shipping costs are quite highby tymm - Extruded Aluminum Frames
So far my experience has been pretty mixed. I did put in a 20 tooth pulley - and with the steppers I'm using am actually able to get pretty fast speeds (though i still need to turn down my jerk settings; I can move well at 500mm/sec when manually jogging about, but on longer prints I will get skipping; mostly doing things <100mm/sec printing still). I spent a lot of time trying to get the caby tymm - Extruded Aluminum Frames
Think I found my issue; i'd read a couple of installation instructions for similar products & I'd connected the belt in the simplest fashion to the belt attachment piece (the MTW instructions have the belt overlapping)… due to side effects of how my belt was stretching, the belt was causing the carriage to twist in a way that was causing much more friction than it should have. Now for basicby tymm - Extruded Aluminum Frames
Hi All, Curious to hear about others experience with Drylin W Y rails -- what to expect and what I might be doing wrong in setting mine up. I've got a (mostly self-sourced) MendelMax that I'm working on getting together. After looking at the different Y axis options I figured I'd go with the Drylin W. I picked up the rail & blocks from Igus based on the released BOMs and got the carriageby tymm - Extruded Aluminum Frames
Thanks Shawn. Björn (the developer) is great and actually contacted me... and hopefully we'll get it sorted out (though I'm amazed at the prices for shipping things from Germany!). As a backup I've got some PEEK on order, though it's likely to be a long time before I've got the spare time to do the machining -- and sadly Amazon's PEEK comes in imperial sizes that are spaced such that for Mby tymm - General
So… having had a pretty similar setup on one iteration of a first build, i've run into a few different things… what kind of hotend are you using? issues i've seen can be - crappy hotend (rough bore, improper alignment) - clogged hotend (you should be able to push filament through it at temperature without much resistance, and the resulting diameter should be slightly larger than the bore of thby tymm - General Mendel Topics
This isn't an exact comparison, but with my first setup I had a hotend that didn't completely fit into my extruder (a couple MM in diameter difference). I used O-rings to take up the space, packed in pretty tightly - but they did give enough that when the hotend ran into something it would give a bit. It was OK -- and for a while I thought it was a feature -- but it seemed to increase issues wiby tymm - General Mendel Topics
For PCB work, I sometimes use this for silver plating: Takes a good amount of work rubbing it in, and doesn't create a *thick* layer… but I've been pretty happy with the results.by tymm - General
Hi, trying to track down a replacement PEEK barrel for a Merlin hotend -- sadly due to a poor Z endstop connection I ended up totaling mine (fast Y axis move… bed whacked it from the side & bent it in half). I'd bought the hotend from RepRapDiscount; I send them a message months ago asking about replacement parts but never heard back -- hoping anyhow there might be a source in the states.by tymm - General
How tight are your belts? I've seen similar issues on my i2 when it's not tightened up well (I've seen cases where this can also match the pitch of threaded rod). I'd also make a pass & make sure your frame is reasonably tight. BTW -- how fast are you printing?by tymm - Reprappers
ah, i think i put together a 0.4.5 -- the y plates from 0.4.6 and beyond look different than mine; those may well take care of my Y issuesby tymm - Smart_Rap
Hi, So I've started building a SmartRap... For the most part it's been fairly straightforward and looks like a pretty great simple little machine though I'm trying to go for a totally rock bottom build price -- I'm hoping to put together a few to give to friends if i can get them cheap enough and stable -- so I'm going to be hitting issues that I suspect other people who don't cut corners wonby tymm - Smart_Rap