QuoteMechaBits Your first idea could be enhanced with rods & bearings, or guides on the 2 columns, but still driven by one motor If I understand your point correctly, the first does have guides on the columns, it's just hard to see them. There were, as guides, z-slot wheels on the back of the X rail against the towers, as well as z-slot wheels on the front against the middle vertical T membeby mcdanlj - Extruded Aluminum Frames
At MakerForums, Eric Lien (of HercuLien) convinced me to compare a cantilevered model: I had to change components to make that work with acceptable (to me) deflection. Here's another animation, again you'd have to click on it... I can add a second tower and guide wheels to damp Z axis dynamics if they are a problem during infill or gap fill as Eric suggested. There's room to do it if I needby mcdanlj - Extruded Aluminum Frames
Thank you! I had thought a little about this, but the question caused me to think more thoroughly. There is a problem with me not having a STEP or IGES to upload. It's hard to see the tiny little wheels on the back side of the X rail in my animations. The two wheels on either side of the inverted T vertical section are easy to see in the front view, but there are also two wheels tucked in at theby mcdanlj - Extruded Aluminum Frames
I was pondering how to use a bunch of project leftovers and excess parts and re-usable bits from an otherwise junk printer to make a new printer with minimum of purchasing new vitamins. I believe I've got a design that requires me to purchase only a 100-tooth closed GT2 belt; I think everything else I can source from within my house. To do this, I came up with a gantry mechanism that's a hybridby mcdanlj - Extruded Aluminum Frames
Because I already had 40mm fans, I decided to try designing an adapter before ordering 30mm 12V fans. It's kind of ugly, but compact, and it's working. Took me three iterations to get a part cooling fan adapter bracket design working well, but now it's working just fine. I'll probably get better fans at some point, but at this point it works well enough that I'm inclined to wait to worry aboutby mcdanlj - General
1605 — 16mm diameter, 5mm lead — is common. So is 1204 — 12mm diameter, 4mm lead. 4mm lead is the same as two-start trapezoidal. I know quad-start 8mm lead and single-start 2mm lead are the most common options, but 4mm is fine too.by mcdanlj - General
Yeah, I also keep buck converters in the parts bin. I was just focused on 24V. Myopic thinking on my part.by mcdanlj - General
Thank you! I was assuming 24V and wasn't thinking about a buck converter, silly of me!by mcdanlj - General
Quotethe_digital_dentist buy a Sunon fan for $7 from digikey and you're good to go. Did you find a 30mm sunon fan? I didn't find one at digikey or mouser. Did you use a 40mm fan and print an adapter to the 30mm bracket that comes with the XCR3D hot end, or just make a new bracket? (Sorry if you blogged it and I forgot; I'm now at the stage of needing to replace the fan that came with my XCR3D hoby mcdanlj - General
Quoteleadinglights Quotemcdanlj Not only that, but also—even if you mill rolled plate flat to the same precision as cast plate, the rolled plate still tends to warp when heated due to internal stresses, whereas cast plate does not. There is a great difference between believing that something won't work and trying it out. I was informed by several people on this forum that 0.25mm thick PTFE overby mcdanlj - General
Quotethe_digital_dentist But not just any aluminum plate. "Normal" plate is rolled or extruded and not very flat. Cast tooling plate is best because it comes milled flat on both sides. Not only that, but also—even if you mill rolled plate flat to the same precision as cast plate, the rolled plate still tends to warp when heated due to internal stresses, whereas cast plate does not.by mcdanlj - General
QuoteDark Alchemist Yes, BUT is that 7hz for the LPC 1768 as well? Something tells me it isn't due to it running at 100mhz vs 16mhz. Timer frequencies are specified independent of CPU frequencies. I think that it happens that it's derived from the base CPU frequency on AVR, but if I'm reading the LPC1768 HAL headers right it's just an independent timer there. In both cases you should expect aroby mcdanlj - General
Marlin 2 Configuration.h says: * The PID frequency will be the same as the extruder PWM. * If PID_dT is the default, and correct for the hardware/configuration, that means 7.689Hz, 7.689 Hz is approximately 10 Hz for the purposes of this discussion. If an approximately 10Hz signal caused the MOSFET to burn up, something else is wrong. Using the board's integrated hotbed MOSFET as a driver forby mcdanlj - General
TDD == the_digital_dentist The pillow blocks I'm talking about have set screws (grub screws) to hold the lead screw, and the lead screw would never touch the riser. I have no recollection where I bought them, but is an example of the kind of pillow block I'm talking about. Wouldn't damage a riser block on which it was mounted in any way. I put pillow blocks like that at the top of the lead scrby mcdanlj - General
If it matches the 2mm pitch of your lead screw, it's kind of guaranteed to match the 2mm pitch of your GT2 belt, and vice-versa. You could design replacement mounts that are sturdier. Metal risers and pillow blocks were trivial though. I just drilled holes in aluminum stock. TDD has written many times about how to design plastic parts for high load; model a solid block and remove from the blockby mcdanlj - General
Looks to me like z-ribbing, since the whole layers are narrower and wider; rather than z-wobble, where each layer would be the same width but just displaced from one side to the other. This normally is caused by some inconsistency in Z height per layer, typically with periodicity as you are showing. If the pitch of the bands you see matches lead screw pitch, it's likely related somehow to the leby mcdanlj - General
For everyone else who looks at that link and wonders where it says to seal with edges with silicone, there's a link inside it to a PDF, and it's that PDF that has that suggestion.by mcdanlj - CoreXY Machines
I'm no DD, but what's most important is that it is cast not wrought. If it is cast it will expand essentially uniformly when heated; if it is wrought it will warp as it is heated. That description looks to me like wrought plate not cast, unless there's a cast variant of the same alloy also available. There is cast tool plate in 5000-series alloys available at least in the US and Canada by the trby mcdanlj - General
My chiwin rails ran better (smoother, less resistance, more consistent) after I attached them to 2020 (using a very tight jig to make sure they were parallel all along the length) than they did unsupported, for what it's worth. Hardware store aluminum in my experience is usually pretty soft. Around here, 6061 is the most widely available strong alloy.by mcdanlj - General
QuoteNumber_5 Last night I did come across others who were getting ATP 5 plate from a place in the states for pretty cheap, I think it was Midwest metals and around $35 US plus shipping for 3/8". I bought ATP-5 from Midwest, and it came with multiple dings and substantial swarf in the box, poorly wrapped even though I asked for extra cardboard wrapping in the comments in my order. I have sinceby mcdanlj - General
When you are looking for suppliers, be aware that ATP-5 is the same alloy as ALCA5 (5083), cast in a different foundry. They weigh about 5% less than MIC6 for the same dimensions and are reportedly easier to machine. MIC6 has inconsequentially higher thermal conductivity.by mcdanlj - Extruded Aluminum Frames
It looks like there are a lot of reasonably inexpensive DROs out there. X and Y are mass-sensitive, have to move fast, and don't generally need to be super-repeatable when it comes to homing, so limit switches make lots of sense and DROs wouldn't. Z is typically not so mass-sensitive, moves slow, but should be very repeatable for homing, especially with non-sprung beds where a head crash is extby mcdanlj - General New Machines Topics
I made an output filament guide similar to the one DD blogged about and linked to earlier in this thread. Except that it's made of brass instead of aluminum, it looks like his, so no pictures really necessary... But I made it a bit differently. I used a 4mm end mill to plunge mill an 8mm deep hole on the output side, concentric with the existing ~2.5mm output hole. I faced and turned a brass roby mcdanlj - General
It's the one I asked DD about on August 12 earlier in this thread. If I wait to see if there is a problem before milling out for a second bearing on the front, I'll lose the ability to use a center finder to index the mill to the hole, and if I end up with bearings that don't align I'll really mess them up. On the other hand, the lever arm might be sufficiently constrained that there's no need fby mcdanlj - General
Quotemcdanlj Perhaps ... using an MR58 bearing would work well. So, mine arrived today. It was already milled out on the back for an included MR58 bearing around the motor shaft. @the_digital_dentist and @jinx — did yours come with bearings to go around the motor shaft? My impression is that the motor shaft bearing being on the back side of the arm and the filament bearing being on the frontby mcdanlj - General
Quotegmedlicott I was thinking that was the likely outcome. Still, i snagged a vintage NOS Makita LS1020 off eBay, which only has single miter function (not compound), so there is only one angle to dial in. Once set, I bet it is fairly repeatable. If you can "set and forget it" to be square, that might be a good option. You may be able to use a rubber mallet or dead blow hammer to gently nudgeby mcdanlj - Extruded Aluminum Frames
Quotemcdanlj If you've decided to go the non-precision route with a hacksaw, one way to improve squareness of your cut is to clamp a sacrificial fence to both sides of your material and saw against the fence. I have used this technique (though not for building printer frames) and I found it quite frustrating because not only was it slower, it still wasn't as square as I wanted... ☺ I just did anby mcdanlj - Extruded Aluminum Frames
Even if you do have the tools to square up cuts, it can still be good to order pre-cut because you also want multiples of precise, and usually different but related, lengths. For example, if you are making a frame from 2020, you might have some elements that are x mm long, and others that are x-20 or x-40 mm long. If you have the ability to do precision measurements of around x mm, great, but thaby mcdanlj - Extruded Aluminum Frames
Pixel-peeping makes it look like the whole arm is about 12mm across. Perhaps drilling the 5mm hole out to 8mm and using an MR58 bearing would work well. You could 3d-print a jig to drill a straight enough hole if you don't have access to a drill press or a mill. Even better would be milling with an 8mm end mill just deep enough to seat the bearing in the middle of the hole. So if the arm is 8mmby mcdanlj - General
Quotethe_digital_dentist I ordered an aluminum Titan from a Chinese supplier and immediately set about modifying it to work better before I ever tried printing with it. Was the kind you ordered? AFAICT trianglelab doesn't have an all-metal titan clone, so it's not the OP link.by mcdanlj - General