(also posted on direct drive extruders) Well I have my Ebay extruder working OK(ish). I drilled out a 1.5mm hole in the brass body and inserted a thermister. It takes a little longer than my J head to get to temp but there is no smoke or flames and will go well over 240 if required. Im using it with 1.75mm filamant and if I try to stop it pulling through there is lots of extra torque available.by Vince - General
Well I have my Ebay extruder working OK(ish). I drilled out a 1.5mm hole in the brass body and inserted a thermister. It takes a little longer than my J head to get to temp but there is no smoke or flames and will go well over 240 if required. Im using it with 1.75mm filamant and if I try to stop it pulling through there is lots of extra torque available. I currently dont have its cooling fan wirby Vince - Reprappers
I have poped the jumpers back on and slowed down the Z rate and it seems ok now. However I am courious why I had no movement at all when full stepping. I have only done a rough calibration so far but guess its inside 10%. Also now getting x axis slippage. Might be power or a slipping grubscrew. Anyway, some recoganisable things comming off my massive DIY printer so I will have a tinnie to celibraby Vince - Developers
The maching is now printing but I would like a bit of advice please. The Z axis is occasionally stalling and I have tried adjusting the power but it still occasionally happens. It seems logical to go for less steps on the Z axis as all jumpers are in place. When I remove them (for full step) the motor just sits there buzzing. Power adjustment wont help. Im assuming its now getting step pulses tooby Vince - Developers
Hi Roger. The X is on a pair of 12mm bars with a 3mm pitch belt drive Y is on massive 25mm rails (to avoid sag over the 1m length) driven on a pair of 3mm pitch belts (9mm wide) driven from a common tortion bar. Y rails dont move so their weight dosent matter. For Z I have a 10mm leadscrew at both ends, giuded by a 20mm rail. Both leadscrews are driven by a single belt (5 mm pitch) and motor. Soby Vince - Developers
Things are moving forward with the printer now the frame profiles and rails have arrived. For the print bed I will probably use 8mm glass with 240v silicone heat mats stuck to the underside. As I already have one on those ebay extruders I will probably fit it, but Im not expecting great things from it. The profiles were ordered from a UK site but were despatched from Austria leaving a trail of sby Vince - Developers
I have just connected up the heater on my ebay extruder. I have to say it seems fine. I had no way of monitering the temp but it was extruding ABS when pushed through by hand with very light pressure. It was using 1.9A giving 23W. The force required to push the filament through was so light this thing may end up working after all. Of course it could have been way to hot but it didnt burst into flby Vince - General
Assuming Ive bought a dud I will need another extruder for my new printer which is comeing on nicely. If I had the time it would be quite interesting to develop an extruder but with 101 current projects I just want to buy something. Obiviously my Mendel has a extruder but it has been a bit troublesome and I dont like having to disconnect the wires to clean it. So, any recomendations for a good rby Vince - General
Im still using 3mm but one thing that will surely be better is the ease 1.75 will come off the reel. When im getting to the end of a 3mm reel the printer is practically climbing up the filament. Perhaps my workshop is a bit too cold.by Vince - General
Thanks. That worked.by Vince - Slic3r
When I set the perimeters from two to three and save. it resets back to two. I have to make a new config name to get it to accept 3, then at some point it will reset to 2 again. I guess I may be changing something else that only lets you have 2 perimeters but I cant figure out what does it. Any ideas?by Vince - Slic3r
So apart from the motor not extruding, the thermocouple not sensing and the heater bursting into flames they should be OK. Perhaps it could print a chocolate teapot.by Vince - General
Quotecozmicray CoreXY is a way of driving the X Y axis with timing belt drive. See O yes. I didnt know that system had a name. I looked at using that on the x only, like the cartiso printer but my gut feeling was to keep the x.y belts short. The slow z wasent as critical.by Vince - Developers
Quotewoo QuoteVince My mendel has two z motors and they somehow seem to get out of step quite regularly, fortunately not during a print, just between. I was determined to lock these new ones together and reduce the hassle. I was thinking of using the 8825s for drive but will take a look at Core, thanks. classic reprap mistake. set Z axis to full step and its solved. Woo, do you have a link forby Vince - Developers
My mendel has two z motors and they somehow seem to get out of step quite regularly, fortunately not during a print, just between. I was determined to lock these new ones together and reduce the hassle. I was thinking of using the 8825s for drive but will take a look at Core, thanks.by Vince - Developers
A few short months ago my son ordered a mendelmax printer which I thought was a waste of money. However I rapidly changed my mind and it has been going non stop, producing parts for many different projects, mostly to do with UAVs. On a few occasions I have had to make a piece in two parts as the print area was rather limited so last week I took the plunge and decided to build my own larger one. Iby Vince - Developers
Roger, I dont think it would be easy to remove the thermocouple out of the one I have but there is probably enough room in the brass to drill a small hole and fit a thermister. Im regretting getting this thing. I thought it would be ready to drop in but the stepper drive may be weak and the temp sensor is probably wrong.by Vince - Reprappers
After much more research I think this may be my answer. Heat mat stuck on a sheet of glass. Or two of them in my case.by Vince - General
Those are 'big' questions. The multicopter 'drone' community is constantly searching to reduce vibration, both for camera equiptment and because the flight control units can be affected by too much vibration. I have built my (4 so far) machines using silicone o ring suspension systems. I am getting some of the lowest vibrations ever recorded but still get a little shake sometimes. More work to beby Vince - Look what I made!
No sign of PTFE anywhere in the filament path. It all looks like stainless. I think 1.75 should be 3x easier to bush down the hole than 3mm but probably a bit more difficult to grip.by Vince - General
I have had it for a while now but havent fitted it, mostly because I sorted out the problems with the old one. It is very well made and looks good quality but I wont know how it works unitl I put it in my new-build printer, probably in a week or two. The motor is a 42HB34F08AB. Hot end and nozzle look good. The nozzle will unscrew easilly without disconnecting wires. This is a pain on the J headby Vince - General
A few months ago when I was having extruder issues with my new mendelmax I ordered one of these: Extruder During the wait for it to arrive I got the old one to work fairly well so haven’t got around to changing it yet. I have more experience now and doubt this new one will work well. I cant fault the construction, very well made but it’s a small motor driving the filament directly so expect it wiby Vince - General
Have recently finished a gimbal to mount a sony nex5 on an airbourne platform with printed parts and carbon. Also many parts on the octacopter were also made on the printer. More info on gimbal here. Camera gimbal And octacopter here. Example of video from stabalised gimbal shot on Dartmoor. Dartmoorby Vince - Look what I made!
Thats like the 12v pcb heat pads supplied with the mendelmax. It would probably actually work ok with the stuff taken off the ends. I thought a 70s warmer would be a tank top?by Vince - General
I think its very different from the usual hot plate /warmer that are bulky with either linear or circular elements inside and a metal top. If you can understand the chinglish sales prochure it seems to be some sort of semi-conductor film between glass layers.by Vince - General
I think it will be perfect so have emailed the factory. See the sales pitch.by Vince - General
I would stick the thermister on it somewhere and allow the ramps board to control the temp. If it gets up to 100 that should be ok. My mendelmax struggeles to get to 60. I think that hot plate is using some quite new ceramic film heating technology, in which case it should be a very uniform heat. It may also be junk so its a bit of a gamble for £140.by Vince - General
Im constructing a new printer with a build size 700x400x200 and have been considering many options for a heated bed with miniumin effort. I came across this for £35 so ordered one. they withderw the item and refunded (and the same happened again with a different supplier) Now the only ones left are £140. Too much to see if it will work or not. I was hoping that 'cordless' means it will stay warby Vince - General
Ive just posted a very similar question on the forum. I cant get my head around the 4v thing when the ramps and DRV8825 are running off 12v. Im sure they are just being over driven on a short duty cycle or something but it makes motor selection more of an art. Im wanting to use nema23 size with a ramps and DRV8825 from a 12v supply. I think the 4v 2.1A version is the best choice but I am far froby Vince - RAMPS Electronics
Im getting really confused about stepper motor selection. I am building a new large printer using the ramps 1.4 and DRV8825 driver from a 12v supply. I already have a mendelmax using this setup except with standard A4988 drivers and nema17s It looks like both drivers use the main Ramps 1.4 voltage (12v) as the motor drive. OK so far, except the nema17s supplied with the mendelmax kit are ratedby Vince - Stepper Motors, Servo Motors, DC Motors