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General discussions. For specific printers / electronics / fabrication methods / softwares, please see other sections.
Re: Getting Polycarbonate to Stick - 11 years ago
I have been printing quite a bit of polycarbonate recently (it's a different brand though, from Orbi-Tech) and here's how I have gotten best results: * Kapton or PET tape * Bed cleaned well from grease (several rounds with electronics cleaner) * 120 C bed temperature (don't know whether even more would be better, my current setup won't go higher than that) * Bed smeared with medium thickness ABSby ttsalo - Reprappers
Re: Spools - 11 years ago
Well, we see the printing filament as "raw material" but from a production standpoint it's not... It's a product that has been refined one degree further than the actual raw material (granules) and there's no basis to claim that it "should" cost the same per kg as the granules. It's not a complicated product but it needs to be consistent (no bubbles etc.) and accurate, and like in any industry quby ttsalo - General
Re: varying fill - 11 years ago
NewPerfection Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Until we have a better 3D file format, I believe > it is fair for the parser to do the work. What if > you want some areas to have higher density than > others, but not necessarily solid or completely > hollow? > > The ideal solution of course is to have a decent > file format that can represeby ttsalo - General
Re: Not Sure on What to Calebrate (NOO
- 11 years ago
The hollow thin-walled object is more of an advanced test object, so you can try printing an easier test block. I like the 40x40x5 solid block. It's probably the easiest to start with. Once you get the first few solid layers done, you can already see whether the extrusion is too much or too little. (Or whether there are some other problems.)by ttsalo - General Mendel Topics
Re: printing inverted cones - 11 years ago
jeblesh Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > lat's say u print a solid cylinder of 3mm u need > to scale it up exponentially from predetermined > distance from the perimeter while printing > > in other words u well need to offset the the > infill from the perimeter in relation to the > circumference of the perimeter i think that well b > the bby ttsalo - Slic3r
Re: Extruder Performance Measurements - 11 years ago
There are no existing specifications like this and no measurement procedure. One reason for this is that there is no "reference" plastic that could be used to make repeatable measurements between different people. With PLA the differences between plastic brands, colours and batches are large and with ABS it's even worse.by ttsalo - Plastic Extruder Working Group
Re: Polycarbonate printing - 11 years ago
Even if the hot-end jams and overheats, it will only cook a small amount of plastic. The decomposition products would have to be seriously toxic for that to be a hazardous situation. Of the commonly used plastics, only the ones containing halogens (PVC and PTFE for example) are worth worrying in this regard. That said, at least my hot-ends always have some slowly decomposing plastic stuck aroundby ttsalo - Polymer Working Group
Re: Can I print my own timing pulleys? - 11 years ago
I have been using printed T2.5 timing pulleys for some time. They work just fine. You just need a printer with a 0.35 nozzle and no (significant) backlash. Here's the model I usedby ttsalo - General
Re: part 6 - 12 years ago
roland Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > One "force unit" will consist of three coils > spooled onto upside down U-formed 2mm iron rod, 10 > mm height. > Offset of these three parallel electric U-magnets > should be 4mm, so when putting them over the > neodym-rail, they will be 120° out of phase. > I have just made this up during lunch. But an &by ttsalo - Developers
Re: Plastobot - 12 years ago
Tantillus has a fully printable frame. You could also just ditch the idea of linear actuators bolted to a frame. With a SCARA arm you wouldn't need a frame at all, just an arm moving above a stationary bed. Here's a printed implementation. You can see how few parts that design has compared to other printers.by ttsalo - Developers
Re: low bond strength along planes (delamination) - 12 years ago
Good layer bonding needs a suitable combination of the extrudate temperature and the temperature of the base material (previous layer). The extruding temperature is easy to control, but If the previous layer has cooled too much, it's hard to make the layer bonding strong even if you crank up the temperature. At low heights the bed heat keeps the object hot enough for good layer bonding, but highby ttsalo - General
Re: Heated Bed insullation - 12 years ago
I'm using self-adhesive pipe insulation strips under the bed. Works really well. High-temperature variants are rated up to 150C, here's one example. As for the heating, since the corners lose more heat than the middle, mounting 25W power resistors near the bed corners gives quite even heat all over the bed. I think I measured +-2 C at 110 C with this kind of design.by ttsalo - Reprappers
Re: CNC with Sanguinololu/GRBL? Advice needed 
- 12 years ago
Another thing I noticed is that with both electronics (Sanguinololu with 16x microstepping, Gen6 with 8x) the maximum speed is 300 mm/min, when using the standard M6x1 lead screws. Anything over that causes the motors to just start stuttering. I wonder if this is a firmware limitation in Marlin? (Maximum step rate being hit?) I might try Teacup since I'd like the mill to move at 600 mm/min for miby ttsalo - CNC Routers, Mills, and Hybrid RepRapping
Re: CNC with Sanguinololu/GRBL? Advice needed - 12 years ago
I have been running a CNC mill (built using this MF70 CNC Conversion Kit) with Sanguinololu and Gen6 reprap electronics and both electronics work just fine in CNC use. I have been using the Marlin firmware. I have heard that GRBL and Teacup firmwares would work better in CNC use, but I haven't had any problems with Marlin either, so I haven't bothered to try anything else yet. For the CAM progrby ttsalo - CNC Routers, Mills, and Hybrid RepRapping
Re: Polycarbonate printing - 12 years ago
You just need a hot-end with heat break made of metal (usually a thin tube of stainless steel) instead of PEEK or PTFE, since neither of these plastics can take the temperature needed for extruding PC. The usual ceramic heater resistors and thermistors work fine even at PC temperatures. (At least mine do) The smell when extruding is not bad, PC smells better than even high quality ABS. But it'sby ttsalo - Polymer Working Group
Re: Thingiverse Alternative poll on Reddit - 12 years ago
Dark Alchemist Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I just know you would never get the original file > from me if I had worked on something for thousands > of hours. I give what I give and people should be > grateful not demanding more and I expect no less > from others. This has nothing to do with open > software so don't try and pull that one outby ttsalo - General
Re: Hottest Hotend Available - 12 years ago
Lodorenos Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > What is the highest temperature rated hotend > available? I would love to be able to use self > made 3mm PETE filament to eliminate the need for > buying filament. The Arcol V4 hot-end from arcol.hu also has full metal construction and handles 300+C temperatures just fine. I think I ran it at 320C when I was eby ttsalo - General
Re: Machine cost per hour - 12 years ago
C. Cecil Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > The default accel in yours seems to be set to > 300...default is 3000. I use 1500 as a starting > point...2000 is probably good also. I leave the > max acceleration where they are. Then on my > machines I set the default xyjerk to 10. I found that setting xyjerk that low causes the printer to start stutby ttsalo - General
Re: DeltaBot Printers (Rostock) - Prusa Killer or Passing Fad? 
- 12 years ago
Idolcrasher Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Spider-Like Video Of Rostock In Action > > Check out that video, and you will see how she > moves. It looks rock solid and deliberate. The video description says that the vertical accuracy is "within 0.25mm". That's actually pretty bad. It's more than one layer height if you're trying to print fine detail,by ttsalo - General
Re: Compatable Firmware? - 12 years ago
Marlin works for milling just fine. It's just not advertised because very, very few people use RepRap electronics for milling. This thing contains perl scripts to postprocess PyCAM and HeeksCNC gcode for Marlin.by ttsalo - CNC Routers, Mills, and Hybrid RepRapping
Re: Printable remotely operated underwater vehicle - RepROV? - 12 years ago
It's not that hard to print waterproof objects. If your objects have gaps between the filaments in the outer shells, those can be fixed by calibrating the plastic flow - it's a bug, not a feature. The big problem is going to be printing waterproof seals between the parts. Pretty much any seal requires much smoother surface finish than what the printers are capable of. Only way to directly printby ttsalo - Let's design something! (I've got an idea ...)
Re: Calculating wall thickness for printing tubes - 12 years ago
Yes, there is overlap. The most reliable approach is to slice and view and preferably also print a wall thickness test (this is a minimal one) and see which thickness works best with the given settings.by ttsalo - Reprappers
Re: Reprap for robotics? - 12 years ago
What makes robotics parts different from general machinery parts? Why should a separate question be raised about robotics as opposed to everything else? In any case the quotes you posted are in a word, hilarious. The "RipRap" quality is horrible but "MakerBot" quality is good?by ttsalo - General
Re: An all metal hot-end design (Lots of Pics) - 12 years ago
Have you seen the Arcol V4 all metal hot-end? That one also has a heat break machined from stainless steel but a lot longer and with thinner walls, so it works fine with much smaller heat sink. I have had some problems getting really good layer adhesion above 50 or 60 mm from the heat bed when printing thin walled parts with ABS and PC. The print cools too much that far up, and the filament beinby ttsalo - General
Re: Looking for some software. - 12 years ago
The mindset of the CNC world where booting from a 3.5" diskette to run a manufacturer's utility to configure some IRQs is a normal thing is not for me either... Been there, done that, never again. Anyways... I wanted a CNC mill so I bought a Proxxon MF70, printed motor mounts for it and tried running it with reprap-style electronics (Sanguinololu), firmware (Marlin) and software (Pronterface) anby ttsalo - General
Re: Painfull problem @ first layer - 12 years ago
Set your extruder motor current low enough that the motor starts skipping steps before it chews the filament. Even with everything working normally, every now and then the extruder nozzle will end up trying to extrude somewhere where there is already plastic and the backpressure causes the bolt to chew the filament if the motor current is too high. It's much better to get some skipped steps insteby ttsalo - Slic3r
Re: Extruder steps per mm! - 12 years ago
I have a toothed, not hobbed, bolt in a Wade's/Greg's extruder, a 200 steps/r motor, 16x microstepping and 33/13 gear ratio. E_steps_per_mm = 200 * 16 * 33/11 * 1/(Pi*7.5) = 407.4 theoretical steps per mm. I'm using 420 right now and the extrusion is quite accurate.by ttsalo - General
Re: Peltier for hotend on emaker - 12 years ago
A Peltier element allows cooling something colder than ambient, but if you just replace a heatsink with a Peltier, you then have 2 or 3 times the heat to remove right in the Peltier's hot side. Doesn't sound like a recipe for a lighter setup, considering that, for example, the Arcol V4 hot-end has full metal construction between the hot and cold ends and even that only needs a tiny 40x40 fan to cby ttsalo - General
Re: What is the hot end with the smallest orifice? - 12 years ago
Dark Alchemist Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > The pressure is easily handled but is the build > time simply because we need to slow down to allow > the plastic to harden before it runs or is there > another reason? No, the pressure is not "easily handled". It's produced by pushing the filament into the extruder and the filament can take only so muchby ttsalo - General
Re: Our Mendel90 Build Experience and Mods - 12 years ago
SanjayM Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > First thing we noticed was how much more easily > built this machine is than a threaded rod design. > The 4 sheets fix together in a jiffy and the axes > simply screw onto those. No aligning needed ... But this is after you either happen to own a pretty fancy workshop or had the sheets custom made for yourself sby ttsalo - General