here is a very detailed pic: I know there are a few things to pick apart in it, but what I'm most concerned about is the middle of the y axis. Circles are perfectly and consistently shorter in the y axis in the middle of the print, but not the top an bottom of the print. notice the layers stack really well, showing that it's consistent. I tightened my y axis belt 3 different ways with the saby Anthong Redbeard - General
some other things to check out. Make sure you don';t have too much current going to the stepper. I know I had this problem when my steppers sounded like a charging camera flash. you can also try ramping firmware like sprinter. It has a peripheral advantage of being easier on a stepper because it builds speed, taking advantage of momentum. make sure everything moves smoothely back and forth on tby Anthong Redbeard - General
one common thing is the filament heating up while pressure is pushing down on it and it swells. try putting a fan on it like this:by Anthong Redbeard - General
I've been discovering items over time that are better when printed in PLA and which are better for ABS. of course this is very anecdotal, not meant to spark religious debate. better in ABS: The filament drive block. Both the extruder motor and thermal break can get very hot, ABS is perfect here. X carriage can benefit from the heat tolerance, although there are other things to mitigate this. bby Anthong Redbeard - General
I have been playing with all of the various versions of acceleration firmware that have been around. I have a 1.2 RAMPS, I have done beautiful prints on it before, but can;t help but try new stuff and sometimes it doesn't do as well. my current issues tat I would really appreciate advice on are: 1. I can;t seem to separate out the z travel anymore. I thought this was done in the limit sectionby Anthong Redbeard - General
yeah, that's been one of my dilemas, was how to use 3d printing for patterns without oo many steps, and knowing that the heat thing would be a problem, obviously. My idea above is in a diferent direction of thought however, using scrap PLA to make my own PLA sheets for vacuum forming over patternsby Anthong Redbeard - General
been printing for a while now, but am just starting to get interested in vacuum forming. The initial materials are cheap and easy, can use a home vacuum hardware bought parts and an oven. I have been brainstorming on different ways I can combine 3d printing and the vacuum forming. Need input on this new idea: using leftover PLA to make a PLA sheet for vacuum forming. the plastic sheets for vaby Anthong Redbeard - General
json or one of the json derivatives like bson would be a decent drop in replacement for the xml format while preserving the restby Anthong Redbeard - General
im hoping pay it forward replication programs do better. I printed parts for the cost of plastic on the condition that the recipient do the same when he's done. It's a very long term strategy, but I like the community aspect of it. I saw this formalized in a recrnt post where they set rules like if you quit then you give the parts to someone else etc.by Anthong Redbeard - General
belts simply allow faster travel than threaded rods. If you can get a threaded rod and stepper setup to go fast enough for you go for it. Everyone knows it's doable but more expensive. heated beds prevent warping of plastic. if you can keep a 2' x 2' stable you'll be fine. Parts that large would take a long time to print, even with the fastest speeds people report. At some point you'd have to tby Anthong Redbeard - General
looks like you could play with your skeinforge settings some more. try lower the layer height to 0.25 and play with the width over height ratio. lower width overheight ratio, lower layer height, lower temp and speed, have allowd me to print better overhangs, of course they all have their limits. Good luck and congrats.by Anthong Redbeard - General
When you are in repsnapper can you get it to extrude at a rate you expect? Make sure Dimension is enabled with add flowrate in skeinforge. What material are you extruding and at what temp? Verify your thermistor tyoe and that's the one you have set in the configuration.h firmwareby Anthong Redbeard - General
thanks jacabrer! I think you are onto something great. I want to make a big fat nozzle to put at the end of a fat ptfe barrel like that.by Anthong Redbeard - General
thanks, it's good to know that it can be achieved, I wonder if the ABS instead of PLA makes a difference on this.by Anthong Redbeard - General
I am really sick of the warping PTFE scenario. I've had PTFE fail me on every *type* (Not manufacturer) of extruder I've had my hands on. I only extrude PLA so I use temperatures lower than people who do ABS. Is there a system for which this is not a problem? On designs that have a insulating tube that go all the way to the nozzle the opening of the tube shrinks until filament can;t be pushedby Anthong Redbeard - General
I forgot to mention smaller layers in carve is better for this issue as well. If you aren't at .25 layers try that.by Anthong Redbeard - General
reduce the width over height ratio in carve, that should do it.by Anthong Redbeard - General
Do you have cool enabled? If I were to print that object, it would be really slow because cool would makle it be a min of 30 seconds per layer... if you tell it to wait after each layer it will sit there and possibly ooze. when it restarts it may delay extracting again. I use limit for my z speed, currently set at 16. My initial though when seeing this was also the Dimension plugin. You could pby Anthong Redbeard - General
I like to mount things on the excess x rod. I put spare extruder carriage assemblies there. you don't need smooth rod for the idle part of extruder, you can use threaded rod, or cut off a piece of m8 bolt.by Anthong Redbeard - General
you need to swap the black and white wires on one end of the cable.by Anthong Redbeard - General
solid choice of electronics. the extruder is going to be other critical and challenging piece of the puzzle... you'll need to choose a filament drive have a compatible hot end and custom mount it on your repstrap. The only thing I DON'T recommend is starting out by making your own hot end to start with, get one from someone willing to support it. Once everything is up and running you can venturby Anthong Redbeard - General
please do post your results. This is one of my current projects as well:by Anthong Redbeard - General
it's hard to judge scale on this. It would help if you had pics of it mounted, and some printing results. I love the built in giant heatsink with fan mount. have you tested it on a PLA extruder to see if it can stay cool enough to not meltPLA plastic parts at the top?by Anthong Redbeard - General
I DO highly recommend the spool, it take a lot of the hassel out of the printing process, and removes potential for filament issues screwing up your print by putting torque on the extruder. I really like the arcol.hu hot end the the latest adrian designs. MakerGear is really proud of their quality and they are definitely easy to get a hold of for support, their design is really simple. I'm curiby Anthong Redbeard - General
I run a Prusa Mendel and have problems with the couplings, testing a design to remove them but keep the 2 motors. I dont want to down it too much, it's simple and definitely good enough to get started with and even print all your new parts if you decide to mod it. printable build area is usually around 200mmx200mmx170mm but some get more out of it. There are parametric mendel designs that allowby Anthong Redbeard - General
I think you pretty much described a Prusa. If you want to get creative on mixing breeds I suggest assembling a Prusa and use the sells mendel Z axis (pulley and belt instead of 2 steppers.)by Anthong Redbeard - General
you can make a ramps, ultimachine is supposed to have a new board soon.by Anthong Redbeard - General
wow, you went all oldschool with the nichrome wire and acorn nut the plumbers tape might actually insulate a bit as you say but it wont be enough to keep the nozzle from heating. I think the important thing is that you put your thermistor on your nozzle so that you know what the nozzle temp is regardless.by Anthong Redbeard - General
I dont think there will be a definitive "Next version" I see the sells Mendel staying relatively the same for a while. the prusa and huxley maturing/evolving for a while, and a few others sprouting up in parallel. I think there may be more divergence over time as the project grows rather than a straight line. This will undoubtedly make it more difficult for a newcomer without a mentor. Luckilyby Anthong Redbeard - General
another option is try to try and go with a lighter x carraige, here are many variants. You can print one by setting your end stps and limits so that nothing knocks aginst the bolts until you create the solution.by Anthong Redbeard - General