TTYlater Wrote: > I use linux primarily, but I dont say windows > suck unlike many. > And then I will probably turn to > the CNC mill crowd after this and tell them why > CNC milling machines suck compared to 3D printers. > The truth is the truth, Im just telling it like it > is without being blinded by idealogy. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!!! Plby julianh72 - General
I just had a brain-wave, which I am keen to try out. I have successfully installed and tested my SD RAMPS on my RAMPS 1.4, and it works great. I can upload gcode files to the micro SD card, and use Pronterface to pick one for printing, start the print job, and disconnect the USB cable and let the printer do its stuff. However, I still have to start the job with a physical USB cable link betweenby julianh72 - RAMPS Electronics
NoobMan Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I dunno why u ppls still bother. Because it's fun to engage in an ultimately futile debate in an attempt to convert someone that you truly, deeply believe (know!) to be wrong! (TTYlater is probably thinking exactly the same thing!)by julianh72 - General
I was struggling a bit to understand how to fit my SD RAMPS onto my RAMPS 1.4 - and then I realised the layout of the 1.4 board is subtly different to the 1.3. The photos on the Wiki show the SD RAMPS lining up neatly with the corner of the RAMPS board. On RAMPS 1.4, the corresponding pin pads have been moved a bit closer to the corner of the board, so it looks a little bit different, because thby julianh72 - RAMPS Electronics
@TTYlater: Do you accept that a virus is self-replicating? Because if you do, than RepRap is self-replicating; if not, then we are never going to meet on common ground. Characteristics of a virus: A virus is a small infectious agent that can replicate only inside the living cells of organisms. ... About 5,000 viruses have been described in detail, although there are millions of different types.by julianh72 - General
Why don't we all just concede to TTYlater that there is absolutely nothing novel about RepRap, and then he/she will go away, and we can all stop wasting time on this pointless "debate", and get back to making spare parts and upgrades for our machines?by julianh72 - General
Check out this page on the RepRap Wiki: Connect the 4 coil wires to the controller in any pattern. If it doesn't work at first, you only need try these 2 swaps: Arbitrary first wiring order Switch end pair Switch middle pair You're finished when the motor turns smoothly in either direction. If the motor turns in the opposite direction from desired, reverse the wires so that ABCD wouldby julianh72 - General
Getting back to the OP's original question: So what is so special about reprap in this case? I dont see how this whole idea of self replication is anything novel. We have been doing this since the beginning of mankind. In fact, mankind is the only reason why there is any tool replication and evolution at all throughout all these years. Two points in response: Who cares? RepRap is cool - andby julianh72 - General
Traumflug Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > What's a "glider"? Probably you don't mean a > sailplane I'm guessing one of these: The Glider 3.0 PnP 3D Printer This is a fully assembled, plug-and-print Desktop 3D printer! Take it out of the box, plug in the power cord and the USB and upload a 3D Model to print (no building or calibration necessary). Softwby julianh72 - Reprappers
Look at the diversity of opinions in even this one thread. For example, compare and contrast Pointedstick's view that "you don't need to worry about a power supply for a heated bed because you'll only want to print in PLA" (I'm paraphrasing a bit here! ) with others who warn of the downside of printing only in PLA. Printing in PLA definitely seems to be the place to start; whether you need to goby julianh72 - General
I am also a first-time RepRapper, building my own Prusa Mendel. I don't have a more sophisticated working machine to compare it against, but my PLA Bushes (supplied with my kit of RP'ed plastics) seem to be working fine. When I first snapped the PLA bushings onto the 8 mm steel smooth rods, at first, they seemed to be quite tight, but they all freed up nicely with a light smear of electric shaverby julianh72 - Reprappers
Auzze, I am tentatively interested - I'm just starting to have some success with my first machine (a Prusa Mendel, printing PLA without a heated bed). I figure I will almost certainly want a heated bed soon, but haven't done any research yet as to which type, etc. Let me know if / when you are planning to buy, and I will let you know if I am ready to "take the plunge".by julianh72 - Australia, Brisbane RepRap User Group
But the main cause of my printing problems turned out to be backlash - thanks to Triffid Hunter for pointing out the symptoms to me, and what to do about fixing it. After tightening my belts, my print quality has improved dramatically:by julianh72 - Reprappers
I may have inadvertently found at least half the "fix" to my print quality issues: Without tweaking any firmware or software settings, I have found one thing that seems to make a dramatic improvement to the quality of my prints is using genuine Scotch Blue Tape 2090 on my print bed. If you check out my blog posting on the subject , you can see that printing on Blue Tape gives me MUCH improvedby julianh72 - Reprappers
I would also love to hear advice from people who know how to do this! I am getting "reasonable" prints now; still a lot of tweaking to do before I would say I am really happy, but my main gripe is that the bottom and top layers are nowhere near watertight. I have been printing some 20 mm calibration cubes - overall dimensions are close to spot-on, and everything I print now clearly resembles theby julianh72 - Reprappers
For a metric Prusa, the M8 threaded rod for the Z axis has 1.25 mm pitch, so one full revolution of the Z-axis steppers produces 1.25 mm movement. Standard steppers have 200 steps per revolution, and if you are using 16 micro-steps you get (200 x 16) = 3,200 micro-steps per revolution gives 1.25 mm movement of the Z axis. Hope this helps!by julianh72 - Reprappers
Excellent stuff - well done! As a complete newbie myself (well, with about 2 months experience since I started my Prusa build, and first parts just starting to come off my machine now - does that make me an "old hand"? ), I have also had issues with being somewhat overwhelmed at all the options available, and all the different web sites you need to visit to get your head around it all. I have boby julianh72 - General
Simon, The short answer to your question is that yes, I bought a kit on eBay for most of the parts (plastic and "vitamins"), but I have self-sourced other components like the threaded road and round bar, stepper motors, electronics, hot end, etc. I am not sure that all of my decisions have necessarily been good ones, but learning as you go is half the fun, isn't it? For example, I bought plainby julianh72 - Australia, Brisbane RepRap User Group
Never mind - I think I have it sorted out. Having a close look at the conductor traces on the board (I have upgraded to a RAMPS 1.4 board, by the way; was using RAMPS 1.3 previously), I now see that the single pad labelled "5V" on the left side of the Reset Switch S1 and the 4 "5V" pads in the "SERVOS" set of pads to the right of Reset Switch S1 are all continuous with each other, but are not apby julianh72 - Reprappers
OK, my rebuild is complete, and the good news is that I seem to have eliminated the short from Ground to 5V - yay! However ... I finished the soldering late last night (checking for local shorts / dry solders each time I soldered in a new component), and started doing some preliminary continuity / short circuit testing of the whole board. I don't have continuity between ALL the 5V pins on theby julianh72 - Reprappers
Yeah, I happened to catch this too, while channel surfing tonight - a good story, well presented! It is available on ABC iView here: ("Catalyst" Series 12 Episode 31 - first broadcast 22 September 2011). I'm not sure if the ABC iView service is only available to Australian internet users or if it is available globally. The RepRap story begins at 0'34" and runs through to 8'15". I confidently prby julianh72 - General
Aha! Thanks Gary - that makes more sense! I understand now, and I also understand the confusion that thinking while sleep deprived can bring. (It was probably my own stupidity of enthusiastically soldering the board while suffering sleep deprivation that got me into this sorry mess in the first place! )by julianh72 - Reprappers
Well, I can't for the life of me track down my short circuit - I am guessing it might be some excess solder that has flowed through to the top side of the board, hidden from view under a header or other component. Whatever it is, I can't get the correct voltage on the 5V line, and I can't see how the board can possibly work if it isn't giving 5V where it is required (not to mention the risk of ovby julianh72 - Reprappers
Gary, Hmmm ... very strange! I will spend up to a couple of hours tonight trying to track down the possible short, but if I can't find anything, I might take a risk and try "firing 'er up", and hope I don't let any of the blue smoke escape from any of the little widgets on the board! In hindsight - it might have been a good idea to run a continuity test on the PCB BEFORE I started soldering -by julianh72 - Reprappers
Well, I have assembled my RAMPS 1.3 , and since I'm not exactly one of the world's greatest solderers, I'm taking the time to give it a thorough visual examination and continuity testing with a multi-meter before connecting it up to the motors and extruder, so that If I have shorted anything out, I will hopefully blow no more than one motor and / or one driver. My multimeter is telling me I haveby julianh72 - Reprappers
Can somebody please pin this thread (or a précis of it) somewhere prominent? I found the feedback very useful, and have followed the links and printed / bookmarked a few for future reference. I am another "RepRap Virgin" (building my first Prusa as I write this), and I have also been somewhat overwhelmed by all the options and advice available on the Wiki, in the Forums, etc. I guess this is juby julianh72 - Reprappers
Similar problems with my build , but not as severe, so I was able to correct for it by just pushing the toothed pulley a bit further along the motor shaft. Frustrating, anyway ... (My bigger problem was that the Y-Motor Mount was a bit distorted, so the motor doesn't sit quite square. It seems to turn OK, and the Y-Axis seems to move OK, but I'll only know for sure when I get the electronics wiby julianh72 - General
Lanthan Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > > To summarize: the only real self-reproduction here > is in the mental virus. But anyone interprets it > following personal ways and inclinations. A > breeder for different actions. That's a really good point! To quote a concept developed by Richard Dawkins - the "meme" of the home-built 3D printer (the Rby julianh72 - Developers
Google SketchUp is probably a good place to start, but you may need more control if you want to start modelling detailed parts. I use Alibre Personal Edition which you can buy for $199: It is very similar in functionality to Inventor, etc, so overcomes the limitations of SketchUp for modelling "mechanical widgets", for a very economical price. (Please note: I am still building my RepRap - a Pby julianh72 - General
nophead Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > > Are you definitely using metric studding with > 1.25mm pitch? I was wondering the same thing. I bought a Metric Prusa kit from a seller in the the USA. It came with supposedly metric M8 nuts, but they don't fit standard M8 threaded rod. I am not sure, but I am guessing they may be M8 Fine threads with a 1.0 mm pby julianh72 - Reprappers