I've heard very good things about the Makergear Prusa kit. Plus the Prusa variation is very well documented. I think the biggest problem I had, like with @ghostling, was skeinforge. Trying to figure out your settings can be quite a nightmare. Luckily, Slic3r makes fantastic gcode right out of the gate if you enter your parameters correctly and your printer is properly calibrated. bdc ~Stay Calmby bdcannon - General
If I could add my two cents on this, because you learn the hardway sometimes. If do you use thermal compound, I'd go with one that is not electrically conductive. Can cause some undesired shorts. bdc ~Stay Calm Out Thereby bdcannon - General
Hey guys, @nophead and @cecil. You guys are right, I have seen this Mendel in person and it definitely is milled, not extruded. I've have been trying to help stevenlpeterson with getting their Mendel running. Granted I don't have much experience with the original Mendel, something about the X-ends doesn't seem to add up after comparing images of other Mendels. bdc ~Stay Calm Out Thereby bdcannon - General
This could be interesting. Not exactly a "standalone controller" but it could be fun to see how it works as a host. bdc ~Stay Calm Out Thereby bdcannon - General
Dang Cecil. That's a hell of a setup. I think it might be simpler just to tap the holes, like you did Cecil. Thanks for the input guys. One more thing, what power resistors do you guys like to use? A particular manufacturer? Definitely going to have to new a new head bed build. bdc ~Stay Calm Out Thereby bdcannon - General
Hi everyone, I wanted to ask what people were using, I guess what fastener and the size of the countersink they were using, when fastening power resistors to aluminum beds and if you getting a really flush surface. Any tips or hints would be great. Thanks for the info. bdc ~stay calm out thereby bdcannon - General
Hey Wildseyed, I have the MK1 bed still and I am using a layer of glass, not Pyrex but I thought I'd give it a chance since I already had it. It actually seems to be working out just fine. I have the bottom of the MK1 covered in 3 layers of ceramic insulating tape, I kept adding to try and reduce the loss of radiating ambient heat, but to no avail. I actually don't have my thermistor in the cby bdcannon - General
Hey Anthong, I used to print only in PLA for this exact reason. I wanted to be able to print in ABS as though. bdcby bdcannon - General
Hey Everyone! So I have the Mk1 Heated bed, RAMPS 1.2, and the firmware I'm running is Marlin 1.0. The issue I have is that, when I'm trying to print ABS, I can't get the heated bed hot enough. The bed is usually reported around 96 C. I see most people run their beds around 110 C. I have two 18 amp, power supplies running in parallel so its not that I am current limited. I thought perhaps, itby bdcannon - General
martinprice2004 got it. This is written into the firmware, I'd imagine with mechanical endstops in mind, because they can have a variance of about +/- .1 mm (if I recall correctly). Advance very slowly back into the endstop helps to alleviate this problem. If you scour the code in your firmware I'm sure you can find the lines that govern this action. Hope this helps. bdc Stay calm out there.by bdcannon - General
spad007 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > so would printing from your sd card help? Referencing what brnrd was saying, printing from your SD card could eliminate the problem of whatever your host software is, like pronterface, not being able to keep up with the moves of the printer. For example, if your printer is executing gcode commands faster than your host sby bdcannon - General
Hey Grog, I think I know what your problem is. It's been a while since I used Skeinforge for GCODE, but I my memory serves me correctly there's an option to reset the extruder before a print, I think its under Preface, and this is what the long retract is. I think by default it's selected in SFACT if you turn it off, i think that should fix it. Give that a shot. bdc Stay Calm out thereby bdcannon - General
Hey Everyone, I was just wondering if anybody has had any lick with Marlin and Ramps 1.2. I'm trying it and running into some issues. For example, the temperature readings seems to be some arbitrary analog reads that don't seem to change. I can get the hot end to head up and steppers to move, but I can't get the fan to turn on. So I'm thinking the pins are wrong, I did select 3 for define boardby bdcannon - Firmware - mainstream and related support
Nice work jkomp! I remember getting my first print after about 5 straight days of working on my printer from 6 in the afternoon till about 3 in the morning. Mind you it was a hideous glob of PLA. but the steppers were humming and the gcode was flowing... my grades haven't been the same since. Stay calm out there. bdcby bdcannon - General
Yeah figured that it had to be something with the microstepping. Circles are definitely my favorite. The different acceleration rates also make interesting sounds. Stay calm out there. bdcby bdcannon - General
Hey Everyone, I tried doing a little bit of research on this but I didn't find a particular answer. I'm sure everyone can hear the difference between a Ramps driven printer versus something like the sound of a Makerbot printing. Printers driven by Ramps seem to have a hum and ,what I believe is the Gen6 electronics, correct me if I'm wrong have a clicking sound. Is any one privy to why this is.by bdcannon - General
Hey guys, Thanks for your responses. Firstly Jcabrer, i'm in southern california too. I live in Hermosa Beach and go to grad school at long beach state. I was thinking that since I'm only about a block from the ocean, it could have an effect. I still haven't had the chance to test this theory with the humidity. I have a 1lb roll of PLA that hasn't been out of its original packaging. I figure thiby bdcannon - General
Hey millergd247, It seams that 5 or 6 ohms, as in the total resistance of the piece of wire you are using, is a number people typically use. I have the makergear hotend and I cut a piece of nichrome wire to 6 ohms. I used a multimeter to measure the resistance and the length of the wire. Great tool to have. If you look at Ohm's Law.. I (Current) = Voltage / Resistance you can calculate aboutby bdcannon - General
Hey kyleeamonahern, Awesome congratulations on your parts! Your in luck, it doesn't really matter what type of fasteners you buy as long as they hold your stuff together, it fits, and it doesn't get in the way of anything moving. My current printer is a Frankenstein's Monster of sorts, meaning that my Z threaded rod is SAE and my smooth rods are metric, mixed in with SAE and Metric fasteners herby bdcannon - General
Hey daufhammer, Sorry to hear about your troubles. It's interesting to hear that it is only on your Y axis, because I had a similar experience. I would check/replace your Y endstop. The problem that I had was that my microswitch had gotten tired and the contact would occasionally open due to vibrations, so the software would think its home and could go no further. That would be my suggestion.by bdcannon - General
Hey Everyone, I wanted to see if anybody else is having similar experiences or at least to get other's input or even validate my theory on this. So periodically, I'll observe my printer, printing as it normally does, deposition rate is steady and then all of a sudden, way too much plastic will rush out. Then for the next 20 or more mm or travel there will be little to no plastic being depositedby bdcannon - General
hey ElMatador, When ever you finish your build, make sure your thermistor (or whatever temperature sensor you have) is completely insulated/covered from your fan. If your sensor is exposed and you have cool air blowing onto it, the controller will read that your hot is cooler than it actually is. For example, you want to extrude your PLA at 185 C and your thermistor is reading 185 C, but your hoby bdcannon - Reprappers
Hey Mike, I have to add, the power resistors can save quite a bit of hassle. For one, they are already insulated from conductive material, so it is as easy as slipping it into the bore for the resistor. And two, they are much easier to switch out if, lets say, one dies. The nichrome is nice because you can literally just wrap it around a hot end design and then insulate it. I guess they each havby bdcannon - General
Hey misan, I was wondering what version of ubuntu you are running. I am also running a 64 bit version of ubuntu / natty narwhal. I usually flip back and forth between windows and ubuntu, depends if im trying to develop at the same time im printing or not. It seems to be working fine, but my arduino board is also a 2560. bdcannonby bdcannon - General
I'll post it right now. It is now posted. Let me know how it goes.by bdcannon - General
Have you guys seen these? Flexible fan, I guess you typically use them for cooling ram, but seems pretty handy. I got this at best buy. Point it at your controller, print bed, or the x or y stepper. I drew up a little mount in SolidWorks that slips over what threaded rod I have left on the left side.by bdcannon - General
The majority of my Prusa is now in PLA, the only problem I had was my x carriage got a little soft and warped. A fan fixed that no problem. bdcannonby bdcannon - General
I'd have to agree with what everyone has been saying so far. I have had what seems to be a very similar experience with Nudel. My first RepRap was a Prusa Mendel and my first prints were, at best, globs of plastic with a vague resemblance of what they should actually be. That time, very young in my infancy of RepRap, was only a short 5 months ago. It was a standard Prusa, PLA bushings and such, aby bdcannon - General
Got it brnrd. Thanks for the suggestions. The devil was in the details on this one. Carve settings bdcannonby bdcannon - General