No worries. I was already looking into acquiring the parts myself. Wouldn't want to duplicate effort if you were already working on it though. On another note, how seriously do you think it would affect the design if I used a set of NEMA 23 motors I already have left over from an older project? Obviously the mounts would have to be enlarged, but would the extra weight cause any effects I shouldby Samuel - Delta Machines
Quotenicholas.seward I already have the electronics for the beta kits but all of those will be getting paired with the mechanicals so I can do some consistent beta testing. It won't be until December when I will be doing this for real. So does this mean that there will be kits? That post seems a bit old, so I'm not certain. I was just starting to figure out what it would take to buy the parts anby Samuel - Delta Machines
Any suggestions on retrofitting current drivers with connectors and cables? Or should I just solder the motors and slice the main cable?by Samuel - Controllers
Cool. Why did you pick SATA? (just wondering) -Samuelby Samuel - Controllers
Here's a few random ideas I've had about the smt process while reading this thread: 1) use some printed plastic traces for board alignment. Shouldn't be too hard. The board can be cut in an asymmetrical fashion to prevent placing upside down. 2) Have a very simple single tape reel system for pick and place. This could just be a reel on one of the solarbotics motors currently used for the extrudby Samuel - Controllers
Cool, maybe if we could let it go a little hotter, we could use our stepper drivers to melt our plastic. I have a few questions of my own about the driver boards, though not very related. Are there any plans to support the bipolar series configuration of the keling motors in the future? Having the option of more amps would also allow bigger motors for larger machines, and cnc type work as wellby Samuel - Controllers
I'd be interested in hearing about your experiences with GA, Forrest. Unfortunately, it probably isn't related enough to reprap to post here. Got any better ideas? On a more topic related note: Yes, the extruder physics stuff would be hard to do with GA, but the suggestion about circuit boards would be more approachable. Maybe you could use it to come up with a better slicing/filling algorithmby Samuel - General
Are there any plans to sell the Kelling motors on the rrrf store again?by Samuel - Mechanics
Re: Backlash Might I suggest, if you are worrying about backlash, an anti-backlash nut? It's basically two nuts with a spring between them so that they are pushed up against the thread, significantly reducing backlash. You use them instead of normal nuts when attaching your carriage to the lead screw. Mind you, it increases friction some, thus reducing the efficiency of your device. This methodby Samuel - Reprappers
Basically what I'm wondering is: how complex would such an interface board need to be? I think it might be possible to reprap most of such a board, so that in the end such a solution is cheaper than one with a microcontroller. Yes, it requires the pc while the build is running. But even with an sd based system, the computer is required to download the part files to begin with. Besides, a netbookby Samuel - Controllers
I'm sure this has been considered before, but why are the end stops optical? Is it more precise that way, or less expensive then a simple electromechanical system? Is there any reason why having a whisker switch or electrical contact wire would be worse? I should think that it would be easier to use and less breakable if the end stop was just a bent wire that touched a contact plate, connectingby Samuel - Controllers
Ok, update: I have learned how to use avr-gcc and avrdude to program the Sanguino, and it's not really all that hard. However, I still have to push the reset button. It's more reliable though, in that it always works if I push the button. What I'm wondering is, do you know of anyway to tell linux to reset the serial connection from the command line, so that I don't have to manually push the buttby Samuel - Controllers
Hey all, I've been looking at a set of three KL23H286-20-8B motors. Here's the specs: And the torque/speed curve: There's not that much information there, but I was wondering what modifications would be required to the reprap driver boards to be capable of running them, or a similar motor. Or does this motor fit into the same category as the ones above, and can easily be run under peak voltaby Samuel - Controllers
Having recently assembled a Sanguino, I have been busy coming up with strange ways to use or extend it. Most of my ideas have been on the interesting but probably useless/impossible side. Here are the first two, concerning storage and memory: 1) I know that similar things have been done before, but how would you connect an sd card to the sanguino? It should have enough space for that. After itby Samuel - Controllers
Would using the avr-gcc uploader, avrdude, work better? Of course, this would require using the rest of the avr-gcc tool chain as well. Alternatively, is there any way to modify the arduino source to force reconnection? Also, why doesn't Zach redistribute a modified arduino ide customized for sanguino? That way it is a) debugged for sanguino and not affected by arduino's changes and b) less worby Samuel - Controllers
What can be done to fix the auto reset functionality? How is it supposed to work?by Samuel - Controllers
I've just built a Sanguino myself, and have been having very similar problems. The error message is exactly the same, but it seems to happen intermittently. Sometimes pushing the reset button after the upload button seems to work, sometimes it doesn't. Shouldn't having the auto-reset jumper on automatically reset the sanguino when the computer attempts to connect to it? Why does pushing the resetby Samuel - Controllers
By the way, if you do have trouble running software under windows instead of linux, you could try It's a version of ubuntu compiled to run as a service under windows, and bundled with several other programs so that it uses windows as the windowing agent. Basically, you can run linux and windows simultaneously, with no vm or dual boot. You can even copy/paste between windows. It is a bit slow atby Samuel - RepRap Host
I'm in Cary. Been rather lazy. I haven't done anything When I think I have enough money to be committed, I'll probably start on the electronics and do a McWire bot, but I'm still not sure.by Samuel - North Carolina RepRap User Group
Well, my experiences indicate that it softens quickly over a candle, but that doesn't help much. That raises a good question, though. What are we looking for in a plastic? I.e. what features make a plastic usable under the current extruder design? I can tell you that pet melts at 250by Samuel - Mechanics
Are there any issues extruding PET? And the only reason I would want to extrude all of these other plastics, is because I might happen to have a random piece of trash made of that particular plastic. It would be nice to be able to just grind it up and make something out of it. -Samuelby Samuel - Mechanics
In response to the remark that the first repraps should be simple: I find that making things simple, and making parts interchangeable, often seem to go hand in hand. Besides, all that I understand is required for an interchangeable nozzle is the twist off the old one, and screw on a new one. Don't we have that already? Maybe the nozzle is glued on or something, I don't know. But it seems to me thby Samuel - General
Interesting stuff on the mineral oil. Maybe someone will make a variation on those kitchen compost machines that turns half eaten food into oil. Sounds a bit like something governments waste our money on. As to the main topic, no I do not think reprap will end slave labor. Jobs are best done with the tools designed for them, and the reprap is designed for customization. Any slave labor jobs thatby Samuel - General
Great! Thanks, that'll certainly be the best way to get a strip. I was able to find a ir slot detector/emitter that looks perfect for the job. This particular sale has 500 detectors, for about $20. They come on pcbs already, so it looks trivially easy to connect and program for. Sounds like a perfect group buy They also have smaller auctions as well.by Samuel - Mechanics
Interesting idea for the air pump, Viktor. Have you actually built one? How much pressure can it apply? It doesn't look like it would apply much, I'm afraid. And the MRF pump, is that a scale model? Because I should think that with that large of a gap between the electromagnets seem large enough that it would just sequentially solidify sections of the tuby, not actually drag fluid. Maybe I'm justby Samuel - General
Hi Viktor, Nice. I never really knew exactly how MRFs behaved, so that video was quite informative. How much was the particular fluid you used? Could a similar one be made with just iron filings, oil, and some kind of surfactant? Also, how long is the life span of that fluid? I suppose that probably depends on what it's used for, though. Thanks for the video! -Samuelby Samuel - General
Viktor, What do you think would be the best way to make a simple hydraulic pump? Would you use some kind of oscillating solenoid, or just buy a cheap dc motor and reprap a rotary pump? My original idea had been to make an oscillating solenoid connected to a piston, and two one way valves on the input and output, to prevent back flow. Unfortunately, there would be periods once per cycle where thby Samuel - General
That magnet powder sounds interesting. It could be useful to be able to extrude our own magnets of varying shapes. Any idea where to buy the stuff or how much it costs? -Samuelby Samuel - General
Hi Viktor, How was the precision on the stepper? And how large were the magnets and coils? To get a decent range of movement, it would seem that you would need a _lot_ of magnets. Sounds like it could get expensive quickly, especially at >0,50 eu per magnet (>$.70). Still, it probably can't be _too_ much more expensive than the current stepper motors for Darwin, at about $60 each. If you cby Samuel - General