Welcome to the forum! I've run across all sorts of odds and ends in the Home Hardware stores, they can be helpfull in a pinch. BTW, 5/16 threaded rod is interchangable with M8. 5/16 is easy to find. Brafasco is good, they can order just about anything, but they can be expensive!by Yvan - General
For the 3mm ABS I've been using to print with, temperatures are set between 230 and 240°C. I suspect you might need to test hotter for ABS that was not originally designed for low temp extrusion. I'm seeing 270 to 280° as the high end for injection molding, but I don't know if that is truly required, or just the limit of what the plastic itself can handle for a few minutes. I'm thinking if youby Yvan - General
Fresh pellets could be added to the mix in controlled ratios to keep things within spec. I suppose.by Yvan - General
Some epoxies are just fine up and above 120°C, but I don't know what the thermal expansion of composites are compared to aluminium. It might be one of those things that is not worth researching and sourcing for just one prototype. I love that Frankenstein moment when it moves for the first time! I'm waiting for the next photos...by Yvan - Reprappers
Sehr interesant! So are the plastic chips bigger than the pellets one would normally purchase? Some plastics may need higher temperatures(260°C or even higher?). I think the ABS filament usually used for RepRap printers is a lower tempurature formulation(235°C or so).by Yvan - General
QuoteMaxx Mayhem Well, all I would really need is a somewhat larger printer... ?? You mean to print the Z platform you have made out of aluminium? I'm not sure what you are saying. I was thinking instead of building out of aluminium, composite materials might give you the same results and require less labor. But I don't know how all this works with the rest of your design, so maybe that suggeby Yvan - Reprappers
That is one beautiful piece of Meccano you have there! Very nice work. I can't help but think there might be a way of replacing all that intricate work with a nice composite assembly. Some structural urathane foam for example, and a bit of carbon fibre? Not sure how all of this works with the rest of your machine, so maybe that would not be an option...by Yvan - Reprappers
Daniel, that is a good price for Thompson shaft. I just might need some at some point... Garry, it looks like toluene is not available at HD in Ontario! I'm going to have to call around, it is still being used in the real world from what I know.by Yvan - General
I don't mind when old topics are resurected with good on topic info. I just copy pasted Erza's old post into my spec file for my oversized machine, and then looked at CB's thingiverse file. I purchased one of those 12 x 12 inch 400 watt kapton heaters from Trinity BTW.by Yvan - Reprappers
I've built a few Prusa i3, and they are okay. Not more not less, just okay. I don't quite see the reason for the huge buzz around them. Maybe it's like the Volkswagen Beetle. It was okay as a car, but man did they ever build a lot of them... I should also point out that the J-Head is a good hot end, but it is a step down from the Eckertech all metal hot end, if that is the one that is in the oldby Yvan - General
At some point the Eckertech guys had some higher temp. ABS, I don't know where they obtained it from. I've got a couple of their all metal hot ends, so those are the ones I used for anything on the hot side like nylon. The J-Head is on a machine without a heated bed, so it would be for PLA only at the moment.by Yvan - Reprappers
I've printed many kilos of ABS, mostly on all metal hot ends, so this PLA thing is new to me. I've been getting conflicting info about whether or not to cool the PEEK J-Head body. Possibly this is from people printing with ABS which needs a slightly higher temp. With PLA, there seems to be an issue where the PLA plugs up above the melt zone and the extruder strips the filament. QuoteKDog The fby Yvan - Reprappers
Thanks for the feedback everyone! LOL about the 70's paneling, I've used that stuff for all manner of things! I was trying to figure out what to do. The aluminium groove mount is time consuming to fabricate, but I don't want to skimp on something critical. I will try an ABS version for the next batch of machines. With these machines I have to stick with aluminium, because I'm fitting a J-Head uby Yvan - Reprappers
Looks really good, I can see why you wouldn't want to weld that. At some point I will have to weld stainless and aluminium, but I'm still having fun with my light duty MIG and a small oxy-acetylene kit for now. BTW, what brand of taps are you using? I just purchased a Greenfield two flute style tap, and it is very very superior to the run of the mill stuff I have been using for decades. Much quiby Yvan - Reprappers
Hello Everyone, I've started installing a J-Head hot end, and I'm wondering if it really needs the thick aluminium groove mount? Does the plastic style work just as well, or does the aluminium act as a heat sink to such a degree that it improves reliablity with PLA for example? I've actually fabricated one nice aluminium groove mount, I just wonder if I should just print up an ABS version for tby Yvan - Reprappers
I'm glad you made it back to this project. Nice to see more of these cool parts coming together! What alloy is that BTW? How many amps will it take to weld that? I have a cheap 140 amp MIG, so I have not tried aluminium.by Yvan - Reprappers
Bonjour, Je crois que l'ABS est plus résistant à la chaleur, est moins cassant mais plus flexible que le PLA. Le PLA est plus rigide. Pour le diamètre, on dit que le 1.75 mm peut aider à former des objets plus précis, mais je n'ai pas encore vu de bons exemples pour juger cela. J'achète toujours le 3 mm, il est parfois plus économique.by Yvan - RepRap Groupe d'Utilisateurs Francophone
J'ai seulement du ABS 3 mm en ce moment. Les petites bobines de 1 kg ou moins me donnent parfois plus de problèmes que les grosses. Les petites bobines sont enroulées plus serré, et c'est plus difficile à dérouler que les grosses, surtout si le filament est plus rigide. Je crois que le PLA est plus rigide que l'ABS, par contre le filament de 1.75 mm est plus flexible que celui de 3 mm.by Yvan - RepRap Groupe d'Utilisateurs Francophone
J'utilise souvent des bobines de 3 kg. Elle pivote simplement sur une tige filetée M8 horizontal sans roulements et mes extrudeurs du type Wades et Eckertech n'ont aucun problème à les dérouler.by Yvan - RepRap Groupe d'Utilisateurs Francophone
Bonjour, c'est quel genre de buse chauffante au juste?by Yvan - RepRap Groupe d'Utilisateurs Francophone
The herringbone gears really reduce slop. I've had good results even with the Eckertech extruder which uses a smaller gear than the Wades. Both strip the filament before anything else fails if something plugs up the nozzle. This is all with 3 mm filament ABS which is harder to strip than PLA. That leads me to suspect that the Wades is good, but just overbuilt for the job. Dropping to 1.75 mm wouby Yvan - Reprappers
Je réduit souvent First Layer Height. Par exemple, j'ai Layer Height à 0.29 (pour une buse de 0.35) et First Layer Height est à 0.22 pour aider l'adhésion de la première couche au plateau. Sur une dizaine de filament de 3 mm assorti que j'ai essayé, la grosse majorité son entre 2.9x et 2.8x mm. Si j'ai un filament de 2.845 mm et je laisse le diamètre dans slicer à 3 mm, j'ai des trous dans les oby Yvan - RepRap Groupe d'Utilisateurs Francophone
Réduire de 0,4 at 0,3 pourrait aider un peu. Est-ce que le diamètre du filament est bien calibré dans slicer? Si il est trop petit, pas suffisamment de plastique sort pour bien remplir la surface supérieur des objets.by Yvan - RepRap Groupe d'Utilisateurs Francophone
Bonjour, pour slic3r dans la fenêtre Print Settings, sous Horizontal shells, Solid layers Top est bien a 3?by Yvan - RepRap Groupe d'Utilisateurs Francophone
Wow, very nice! I suppose a bowden extruder would even out the weight gain from the X axis motor on the X carriage if you really wanted to counter the extra weight arguement. Also, I wonder if it would be possible to keep the X motor static, and have the rack move with the X carriage? Just a reversal of the present arrangement.by Yvan - General
So plating less than one thousandth of an inch thick will roughen a surface... but drill rod seems to start off smoother than the inox rod I've seen, so maybe it wouldn't matter much? 8 mm rods in inox or tool steel don't seem to be particularly straight, but I guess that doesn't matter too much given the reality of RepRaps. Warping plastic after printing would be a bigger source of error I suspby Yvan - General
5/16 works out to 7.937 mm, which is about the accuracy you might get from random 8 mm stainless smooth rod that many are using. 15/32 is only 11.9 as you point out, which is a bit loose for an LM12UU. Either way that is not the key factor. Most Reprap style linear bearing assemblies are so inaccurate that the linear bearings are twisted or offset from the axis of the smooth rod. Contact betweeby Yvan - General
uncle bob, good points about the chroming. The 304 rod I've seen is far from precision anything, and usually undersized. The drill rod on the other hand is more accurate and if the chroming added more than one thousanth of an inch or so some of these cheap LM8UUs might be a bit tight. They have slack, but I don't know how much. Daniel, I'm glad you are posting here, lots of interesting info inby Yvan - General
NormandC, thanks for pointing out M8 vs 8 mm, I was trying to sort that out on the phone with a supplier the other day, and it helps to know what the proper terms are. At least then you can talk to others, even if they sometimes use innacurate terms exclusively in a specific industry. Don't get me going on French terms for woodworking machines! Un planeur ça vole dans l'air!by Yvan - General
dissidance, yes I believe chrome with PLA would be a good combo. I'm fussing with nylon bushings right now(my linear bearings are in Singapor at the moment!). I would think that nylon would be slippery and tougher than PLA, does anyone know more about one versus the other? I have not used PLA. BTW, patching a Hypalon boat is like patching an inner tube but much fussier and a lot more critical!by Yvan - General