@crispy1 BTW. Do you know if it would be possible to build the CoreXY frame (plate) from MDF ? i.e like early Mendel 90's ( )by rogerclark - General
My MendelMax came with one of the supplies that @vegasloki link to Its OK, but I don't think the quality is that good as it makes a rattling noise some of the time. I've not taken it apart to see what the issue is, but its not a nut etc that is loose as it doesnt rattle when I shake it, so it sounds like its an issue with the fan. I recently had a bad experience buying an unbranded supply fby rogerclark - General
Perhaps we should be soldering the power wires onto the Ramps board. My heat bed wires are so thick I had trouble squeezing them into the connector. I need to tidy up my wiring and mount the 12v PSU properly, so I think I will solder the power input wires to the ramps, to save problems laterby rogerclark - Reprappers
Thanks crispy1 Quotecrispy1 Getting plates laser cut doesn't give you this design flexibility, and it's probably more expensive for a 1-off machine. Isn't the CoreXY on the website made from water cut aluminium ( ) ?? Quotecrispy1L-beams are going to be harder to work with, primarily because you're going to be drilling lots of holes in them which gets old after a while I was going to makeby rogerclark - General
@Jasper1984 No worries. I think we all post stuff that in hindsight is about an obvious problem that we've overlooked ;-)by rogerclark - Reprappers
Sorry @Crispy1, I was under the misapprehension that CoreXY was a HBot design. Any idea why this geometry isn't widely used ? Or is it used and I've just not come across printers that use this. I've researched various printers both commercial and non-commercial, and aside from DeltaBots, most XY moving head printers seem to be quite traditional, i.e have a motor on the Y (or X carriage). Withby rogerclark - General
Hi Crispy1 I've no experience of H bots, but all the designs, pictures and videos I've seen, made it looks like the components needed to be quite rigid because of the twisting forces. Perhaps this only applies to the frame. Would it be possible to have a H bot with plastic carriages and 8mm smooth rods?by rogerclark - General
Input wires to the Ramps should be around 12v, if not you have a problem in your PSU or the wires to the ramps Measure this at the ramps when the motors are moving and when the heat bed is no, I,e on load Measure the same terminals on the PSU, on load. It sounds like a wiring fault, I.e loose connections, or broken wire etc.by rogerclark - Reprappers
Measure the voltages on the USB, without the pc connected, but with the PSU turned on. There should be none if you have removed the diode in the RAMPS. Also check for shorts on the USB, specifically shorts on the USB power lines. After is had an Arduino board literally go up in smoke, because the 12v power supply delivered so much power to it, when it must have had a fault, I also disconnectby rogerclark - Reprappers
It's possible that one of your motors is missing steps, check they get enough current from the stepper drivers BTW is this a new problem or just something you've only just noticed? Print some calibration cubes etc and measure their dimensions with a micrometer and if necessary change the calibration settings (steps) in the firmwareby rogerclark - Reprappers
@crispy I have looked at CoreXY, and have contacted a local laser cutting company about getting the components cut, but I'm still not sure it's any better and a conventional XY head type, ie where one motor is still on a carriage, because the Y gantry looks like a substantial bit of metal, albeit aluminium I'm not sure how much lighter this is than just using plastic carriages and a stepper onby rogerclark - General
@crispy1 I've also been designing my own, but am no where near starting to build. As far as I can see the moving bed on most repraps is a major issue to speed. Not just its mass, but that objects simply break off the bed if you move it too quickly. The taller the print the worse this gets. Aside from a deltabots, I've looked at the Makerbot / Solidoodle and also the Ultimaker, to attempt toby rogerclark - General
@cozmicray I agree. 3D printing is not the solution to everything.by rogerclark - General
Re: Printing a house No. You can't print the tops of the door and window frames without using "support material", unless you had round windows and doors (or some other non-rectangular shape) i.e If the windows and had arches at the top it could be done. The Slicer's have an option to create support material, which you then have to remove afterwards e.g. with a knife, but personally I find thisby rogerclark - General
Re: Printing bridges Generally, I'd say print them upside down. 3D printers can "bridge" gaps, but you have to limit the angle of overhang. I successfully print pipe couplers of various sizes laid flat, so they have overhangs in both directions, ie outside and inside overhangs as the printer prints from the ground up.by rogerclark - General
Re: Plastics etc I think you are better off reading the info on the Wiki. But main plastics are PLA, ABS and now Nylon. AFIK, PLA is harder but more brittle, ABS is not quite as hard as PLA and is a bit more flexible, which probably makes it better for real world applications, as its still quite strong. I think Nylon is more flexible (but I've not printed with it, so I can't really give you firby rogerclark - General
I can answer some questions, but there are far more knowledgeable people on here than me ;-) Most Reprap printers use Fused Deposition Printing where the printer lays down successive layers of plastic. So you need to use a Slicer program to divide the 3D model into a series of flat slices. The Slicer generally outputs GCODE commands, which tell the printer to move the print head, print bed aby rogerclark - General
If you have a router, a better approach may be to modify MendelMax 2.0 parts. (again, I'm not sure if your intention was to build a MendelMax 1.5 or a 2.0) AFIK, MendelMax 2.0 mainly uses flat aluminium plates rather than the 3D printed plastic parts (though you'd need to double check this). DXF files for MendleMax 2.0 have been released on GitHub But you'd need to make some modificationsby rogerclark - General
I'm not sure how strong your trays need to be, as extruded 3d printed objects are not as strong as injection moulded, but I think if you could increase the thickness a bit, they would probably be quite tough. Re costs Software is open source and is free. Modelling, I use Blender and Openscad, slicing I use Slic3r, printer control I use Pronterface Pc. Anything less than 10 years old should beby rogerclark - General
What do you mean by Quote8" x 2" x 1/8" trays do you mean something like thisby rogerclark - General
Does your version of Marlin support the type of LCD you have plugged in. There are various types of LCD, each of which needs to be configured in Marlinby rogerclark - Reprappers
@psktam Heated bed helps. You could also try Kapton tape instead of blue painters tape @flemish4 I had similar issues due to air currents cooling the edges of the print, but they were being caused by a fan on my hot end. I used Kaptop tape to stop these air currents getting down onto the side of the print.by rogerclark - Reprappers
Thanks guys, It looks like the issue is the black ABS filament not the printer. I've now re-assembled the printer and printed with my white ABS, and my 20mm test cube looks fine. So the other changes I made, including reloading the firmware, replacing the heat bed with my old one, and cleaning the nozzle were a complete waste of time. Well, not a complete waste, I found that the thermistor onby rogerclark - Reprappers
What about these ones, They appear to be even cheaper than eBay.by rogerclark - General
umm I bought from who I thought was a reputable supplier, here in Australian, i.e not from China etc, but I've not established yet whether this is a filament issue (though it seems likely) If so I'll contact the supplier to let them know there are issues. I won't have time to test this until later today, but I'll post when I get to the bottom of the issue and also take some better pictures, asby rogerclark - Reprappers
Hi uncle-Bob Every layer is filled, so it looks like this is probably a material issue. I took the nozzle off the hot end, and have got it 99% clean and can see right though the .4mm hole at the end, with no sign of anything clogging it up. I used a soldering iron to heat the nozzle and make the abs liquid. I will reassemble the hot end and try another reel of abs that I thought was ok Thanksby rogerclark - Reprappers
Thanks ekaggrat What temperature worked for you? I have taken the hot end apart to clean it, and put a tube around the filament entry point into the cabinet, as I noticed some fluff in the extruder, but not as far as I can tell in the hot end. I will reassemble it tomorrow and try a known batch of working blue abs to confirm its the black that has the problem, and if the blue works ok, I willby rogerclark - Reprappers
I've been running my MendleMax for a several months, but suddenly the tops of prints have started to become concave I have printed some 20mm test cubes and the top is very concave and if I stop the print half way though I can clearly see that the honeycomb structure is falling in at the middle. I've double checked the heat bed temperature using 2 different thermometers, I've reloaded the firmwaby rogerclark - Reprappers
Thanks Isos I was tempted to buy one, even if I had to replace the thermocouple with thermistor, but it sounds like they are not really intended for use on 3D printers at all. Perhaps they are designed for some lower temperature application. (BTW. Just had a 24V PSU arrive from an eBay supplier and it went up in smoke when I connected it, so I guess its buyer beware, especially on eBay)by rogerclark - General
What printer do you have. What firmware e.g. Marlin What slicer did you use Is this your first print? Does the z axis move up if you send it a command to do so, e.g in Pronterface ?by rogerclark - Reprappers