3dkarma, On point 2, it is my assumption only - as I am assuming that 100% of the particles are being captured at the source due to the enclosed chamber, and all of that stream is going through the filter. If the printer is a more open design and not enough CFM to capture, then there will be leakage. On point 4, I agree when printing PLA more airflow may be wanted, or it can be directed to theby Paul Wanamaker - Safety & Best Practices
3dkarma, That's an interesting study from syracusecoe.org. They are testing a different scenario from what I envision: they are filtering an entire room. Because of this a high particle separation efficiency will lower the performance they were testing for - since there is lower airflow with a very fine filter it can take longer to clear the room. I think we need to define some assumptions. Thby Paul Wanamaker - Safety & Best Practices
Good info 3dcarma. So we are looking at filtering particles that are 100 nanometers or less. This is .1 microns or less. Some ULP filters are rated at 99.999% of particles 1.2 microns and less. These are used in vacuums used to clean up toner and other hazardous materials. I think this would be OK, provided the airflow is sufficient at the minimal rate needed for an enclosed printer. What dby Paul Wanamaker - Safety & Best Practices
My responses: Do the fumes and by products from PLA and ABS pose health hazard? (Yes or No) Yes. Would you buy a filter if you knew it was recommended for safety/health? (Yes or No) Yes How much would you spend on a 3D filter? $150 or less Why wouldn't you buy a 3D filter? If it was too loud, to expensive, or didn't fit my setup. Why did you purchase a 3D printer? (made one) to make machine protoby Paul Wanamaker - Safety & Best Practices
He's rebuilding a Stratasys printer.by Paul Wanamaker - General
I believe the reason they could do this is because they used a special foam block to print on, so there is no problem with adhesion. Of course they got to charge quite a bit for every one. The bottom of the print would not be smooth however. Another thread here had info on this, and using a specific foam available from Home Depot.by Paul Wanamaker - General
The driver will put out up to it's rated max only, and only then if it is extremely well heatsinked with strong fan. Even then it will not quite do the max. When it's near its max it will overheat, and it's thermal protection will cut the voltage until it cools off. In my experience for about a second. This is a possible source of lost steps. If you run drivers rated at 2A with 2.5A motors,by Paul Wanamaker - General
Those would be safe, but possibly not necessary. Note that you do not need to run your steppers up to the full current rating. I have similar Nema23 steppers and am running them using 8825 drivers. I am using a Rumba, but really I would recommend a Smoothie. It's a 32 bit controller and will do everything that the Ramps etc will do much easier, since it will not be running into 16mhz 8-bit oveby Paul Wanamaker - General
Thanks! I'm currently running the chamber at about 60C, but it's not controlled yet. I am thinking of adding an Arduino controller for regulating the temp in the chamber separately - to cut off the bed heat if needed, and set the speed of an exhaust fan. I also have to prop the door, about 1/4 inch to make sure it does not overheat. I have a string of 4 25 watt bulbs just for light, hidden behby Paul Wanamaker - Mechanics
I'm running the steppers at 28v, using a 36v power supply that I just adjusted down using it's adjustment. I put special heat syncs on the drivers, and use a powerful fan on them. I haven't had any problems, except that I had the extruder's driver turned up too far and it was overheating and cutting out for a second. I figured this when it was preheating, and I was hearing a clunk sound everyby Paul Wanamaker - Mechanics
Mark, That's a nice printer. I also had problems with noise, using nema23 motors. My delta printer is enclosed, and the noise was much louder inside, that got me thinking that the belts were resonating. At the beginning I had printed motor mounts out of ABS on some Afinia printers at my maker space. It turned out that these were also resonating. The way I solved it (about 75%) was by buildingby Paul Wanamaker - Mechanics
I like it. Thanks for sharing the link.by Paul Wanamaker - General
Right now I am only controlling the heat of the build plate, although I do have hardware thermostats on both the heated bed and in the chamber to protect against serious over temp. I do plan on adding a thermistor for the chamber.There are extra thermistor inputs on my Rumba (although I plan on replacing that board with a Smoothie). I do not know yet if my firmware (Repetier) can manage chamberby Paul Wanamaker - General
I scrutinized all the pics. Thanks!by Paul Wanamaker - General
That's awesome. Can you post what the blower model is, or post a pic of it's label? Hope you don't mind if I have a few questions... I'm looking for a lighter duct for mine, is there anything printed on the grey tube? Can you describe it's diameter? I'm wondering how stiff it is? Does it have a metal or plastic ribbing? Thanks!by Paul Wanamaker - General
Yep, that is what it's for, the water will transfer the heat very well. The cooling block could be sized a bit bigger perhaps. A couple of things to note: If you use aluminum for the tube that connects the j-head to the rest, then that will transfer a LOT of heat - its a good conductor. You will have a lot harder time getting the hot end up to temp, and the thermal break will be a lot harderby Paul Wanamaker - General
I think it's a good idea. I think you won't need a water jacket tho, since water cooling is so much more efficient. I think just a strait through channel on one side of a block (similar to how a heater cartridge fits on one side of a j-head) should be enough. I may use this instead of ducted cooling as I'm doing now. I have a left over radiator setup from a water cooled PC that might work. Hmmmby Paul Wanamaker - General
I am very interested in how the filters work for you! I need to do something like this, as I am running the printer in my office at the moment. I think the cork is a great idea, and will help absorb sound and lessen the resonance.by Paul Wanamaker - Delta Machines
I agree with Zerodameaon. If you find the adhesion is poor, and you are using a large layer height, then you may also want to try increasing the extrusion width in your slicer slightly.by Paul Wanamaker - Printing
Jake, The plastic is shrinking more at the outside than the inside of the print, so it cracks. This will be worse with ABS than PLA, as ABS shrinks more. You didn't mention if you are using PLA or ABS. For ABS - one solution is to contain the heat, near but below the glass transition temperature of ABS so there is less shrinkage while printing. I had problems like you show when I used an Afinby Paul Wanamaker - Printing
Thanks Mk3a, I don't know that a shiny surface is necessary for a build plate, haven't experience with one. I took some fairly fine sandpaper to mine with a random orbit sander actually. I did that partly because I got some scratch marks on it while machining it, but also I figured it couldn't hurt with things sticking to it. It works fine with glue stick. I can give you an idea of the dimensiby Paul Wanamaker - Reprappers
There is a great free program called Meshmixer that you can use to repair the model.by Paul Wanamaker - Reprappers
Hi, I have an unusually large printer with a large heated build plate. Some pics on my link below. In order to make sure the bed remains flat I used 5/16" cast aluminum tooling plate which will not warp when heated like regular aluminum plate. I got this material from a metal supply store as a remnant. I used 12 aluminum power resistors rated at 50w each, wired in parallel - if any one failsby Paul Wanamaker - Reprappers
Is this a new printer, or a printer that was running and now misbehaving? Makes a big difference. See this thread: Reprap.orgby Paul Wanamaker - Printing
Gabriel, That's great news! I'm glad you stuck with it, we all learned something.by Paul Wanamaker - Reprappers
Nicolinux, Its really easy. Just power it up and bring a magnet close, one face and then the other to the sensor. The endstop should light when the magnet is facing one way, just mark that side.by Paul Wanamaker - Delta Machines
Note that you must temporarily jumper the drivers to Single Step Mode to get an accurate voltage measurement when setting the current. Note that there is another way of setting current, it doesn't have to be exact. See Motor Calibration It needs to be enough so it moves consistently, but not so much that it overheats the drivers or the motors. Hope that works. If not, anyone have any other ideby Paul Wanamaker - Reprappers
Push Plastic has just announced 3kg bulk reels. That solves one problem for me.by Paul Wanamaker - Reprappers
Yes, that's fine. I agree with Faktuu. Check your wiring. And make sure the thermistor connections are good - but if you have an LCD it should have shown there was a problem. If either my heatbed or hot end thermistor is disconnected it says 'def' instead of a temp, and the heating stops. Perhaps someone else will have other ideas.by Paul Wanamaker - Reprappers
Thanks Bruno, The resistors are working fine for now. I got the from two different Chinese suppliers, and the quality from one was poor. The arrived just in a ziplock bag with no padding and they had rattled together all the way here. Some of their potting material had turned to powder. Not sure if all those will survive. If they don't I will just replace them with more quality parts, but unby Paul Wanamaker - Delta Machines