MJ.... What ever made you think that you were buying an Orca V 0.2 printer for 570 euros, along with the level of hand-holding that you seem to wish to have.... Reprap is an adventure in learning, and expecting Mendelparts to spend the day on the phone with you, when you clearly don't go looking for answers in the wider reprap community is, I think, one of the reasons they are so far behind.. Iby araspitfire - General
Like with the magical dissapearing ABS question... one should consider that it is hard to make stuff dissapear (there are physical laws that state it's impossible).. if you accept that your steps are always the same size... then restarting more than you retract, without leaking some out along the move.. will result in a blob... I'm with nophead that soft material moves less when being driven byby araspitfire - Skeinforge
Ok.. I've got this working.. and I am sold... For the info of people scratching their heads.. a brief tutorial follows... I'll post something with pictures on the Mendelparts forum in a couple days for the plug and play people... I entered very carefully a measured E steps per mm using ABS, as I mostly print in ABS. I also measured the diameter of feedstock very accurately.. The way I measureby araspitfire - Skeinforge
Ok.. I checked again.. I'm moving exactly the right amount of feedstock with the given E-steps 1 exact rotation takes 529 steps. Repsnapper when told to feed 20mm rotates the big gear 1 rotation, exactly, and feeds 20mm.... But I'm still too high with the flow... what should I tune in sf that won't wreck the way it's supposed to work now? I feel like I'm missing something here.. Al...by araspitfire - Skeinforge
I spent some time last night trying converting to the sf40 way of doing things.. I'm still struggling to get where I was with sf39 (on a Mendel with RAMPS) I very carefully measured my extrusion distance per rotation with an M8 hobbed bolt (in a Rhys herringbone extruder).. came up with 20mm per rotation, which is 529 steps per mm (1/16) Carefully measured and input both PLA and ABS diametersby araspitfire - Skeinforge
Where /how did you get Teacup compiled for Arduino?... I've been using RAMPS for a while now, and have always used tonokips or tesla's fork... I've run into issues with XY speed being lower than expected at higher feed speeds now though, and am casting about for other options. Al...by araspitfire - RAMPS Electronics
I have also always just used 1.8 as PWOT... my fine stuff at .25mm layers have smaller width strings... and I like the detail.. I just adjust my e-steps per mm till I get good bottom fill and the perimeter is about right (always a bit thicker).. and I get reasonable loose fill... I'll try to do it this other way and see what benifit I get... Al...by araspitfire - Skeinforge
I've had close contact with Mendelparts.com's two UP!'s 3 different times.. I set the first one up. It's printed 3 or 4 mendels... tons of stuff.. (Camiel's gone through 17 rolls of plastic I think.. more now) I've assembled one of the mendels.. and am assembling one of the other ones.. It is a joy assembling an UP! printed Sells Mendel. They have had teething problems, like all new products.by araspitfire - General
Repsnapper doesn't save everthing.. On latest bineary for Windows for instance.. You need to specify the comm port each time, and the temperature. Al...by araspitfire - RepSnapper
No Contact, but he's made updates to his site, and has been shipping orders. So he's still breathing... (and shipping) Al...by araspitfire - General
Tried to get this working on XCBot, which has a custom RAMPS settup. (different pins, on a breadboard) Things went well until I tried to set up the heaters... In the Config.h I set the motor pins and steps per mm commented out #Define Gen3 Changed values for steps and speed Defined Pins.. had to change AIO to DIO for the top bunch of pins (X and Y) There is some wierd programer stuff going onby araspitfire - Firmware - experimental, borrowed, and future
I think it depends more on your nature... FDM printing is pretty forgiving and I believe that a well tuned Prusa will produce just as good prints as a well tuned Sells mendel.. So then you make the decision on esthetics... The Prusa mendel (I believe, without having printed any parts or built one) has a 'temporary' feel about it... Sells mendels have been printing LOTS of hours without needing mby araspitfire - General
Check your optos... If you have them hooked up.... perhaps they need to be inverted in the firmware... Al...by araspitfire - RAMPS Electronics
If you want to avoid getting burned.. .I suggest you embark on a project to read, full time, for 2 or 3 weeks before comitting any money to a 'path'... There are lots of people doing reprap (all of us by definition, developers).. all with differing opinions... For you to commit money, aimed at selling 300 machines.. (though at 30 dollars it shouldn't be that hard).. working out which paths haveby araspitfire - Plastic RepRap Parts for Sale
Lots of people keep blogs.... Work out who does nice prints.. go read their blogs. One way to sample all the blogs (and get lots of ideas on print quality is to read one) of the feeds available off the reprap wiki front page. IRC has some people on it who do nice prints... spend a few hours on IRC... Unfortunately, since reprap is a place for development... there are so many variables that onby araspitfire - Mechanics
Not said yet.. but if you want to stick ABS to Kapton.. you need up around 100 degrees C surface temperature... less than 80 deg C and you won't stick... If you want to Stick ABS to Acrylic,then lower temperatures required.. (room temperature).. but you can only make small objects due to warping. Al...by araspitfire - Reprappers
Sorry gotgot, but you have got it completely wrong.. He want's discussion moved to his private forum where he can highlight ongoing frequent customer questions.. so that he isn't using up his valuble time answering the same 10 questions over and over... Al...by araspitfire - General
This doesn't solve lots of the other problems, but while the MIG process spatters as a consequence of how it works, TIG with separate wire feed doesn't spatter. I throw no sparks when I weld. There are well developed robotic TIG welding machines. In fact my welder... (a Miller unit) is designed for robotic applications in mind, with programmable start and stop parameters. Al...by araspitfire - General
I'll just chime in here as I have a little closer experience of Mendelparts.com than most, having helped Camiel out for 4 days last week. From 4 days of observation, I can attest that Camiel is working diligently and very hard to fill his orders. He has a high standard and does not compromise in his parts quality and packing. From what I can tell, he has been honest about his delays, making noby araspitfire - For Sale
I'm wondering why re-invent the wheel here... A robotic welding machine is essentially an FDM machine... used in a limited way... I have made little 'sculptures' with my TIG welder in aluminium while practising. Welder designers have worked for decades to perfect the nozzle and inert gas environment for effective, clean deposition of metal. But, these are the issues that come to mind. Oxidatioby araspitfire - General
I just bought some video ram heatsinks... complete with sticker on the bottom... I cut the heatsink into 4... then peel and stick. Al...by araspitfire - Controllers
My reasons for sticking with a moving Y in XCBot is it seems logical to me to 'present' the print, when finished, out the front of the printer.. To enable cooling it, and prying it off the platform. Al...by araspitfire - Extruded Aluminum Frames
Have you tried Skeinforge? Repsnapper has lots of limitations... to Skein means to slice the model (cut it into layers) and calculate extruder paths for it... When you do this, you tell the slicer what your extrude looks like... of course if you design something that is smaller than your extrude... it may not work out. (try to make a .5mm thick wall, with a .7mm extrude, then you will get aby araspitfire - 3D Design tools
I did a quick test using the first plugin in your list,and got a successful print a couple months ago... But I use Inventor to make my models, so haven't exercised the sketchup option vigorously.. Are you trying to make models that simply won't skein (no matter what modeling program)? Al...by araspitfire - 3D Design tools
How are you slicing the print? Skeinforge? Repsnapper? If it's Skeinforge, perhaps you are sending an M104 command to a lower temperature? Check your temperature tab, and also the start.gcode file...??by araspitfire - RepSnapper
When I started out with reprap a few short months ago, it seemed to me (mistakenly as it turnes out) that Mendel plastic was fairly hard to come by. I decided to design my own working 3D printer based on all the reading that I had done up to that point. I built if from extruded aluminium sections and self-fabricated aluminum parts. (needs some work) I overbuilt it intending to mill withby araspitfire - General
I bought a full RAMPS kit from ultimachine, as I needed everything. It took just 3 or 4 hours from bag to printing for that too. (I own a decent soldering iron with fine tip and know how to use it) I bought all the hardware from Mendelparts.com as he's very local to me.. I cut my own rods though. (I have an angle grinder, which makes that a 30 minute job) So, once I had my plastic printed (whby araspitfire - General
I have never done anything quite like a 3D printer before, though I do have lots of experence designing things... I found out about reprap in early Spring/Late winter... and I had a functioning printer (of my own design) in July. Including the extruder. I had a functioning Mendel less than a month later. Included in this time was about 3 months of steady reading all things reprap. It was aby araspitfire - General
If you are in Western Europe, I could maybe build you an extruder. What parts do you already own? Would you want to try to re-use your stepper motor? or other bits? I have my own design, and a Wade's working very well... I'm building a Rhyse extruder right now. Al...by araspitfire - Wanted
XCbot has a SS isolator. It works very well. It took me a few tries to get a good hole drilled through my piece of SS M6. (I had no trouble drilling through a bit of BZP M6 the day before...) I believe tapering out the bottom made it easier to push melty filament through... rather than push a grippy bit of glassy filament down a cylinder... you push it away from the taper.... Getting closeby araspitfire - Plastic Extruder Working Group