While I can use QCAD with great proficiency, 3D has been an ongoing struggle. My biggest struggle is accurately lining up pieces into an assembly. However, having spent most of the weekend researching 3D CAD packages, I believe I have found the solution. Instead of approaching the problem by find a package that will detection part collisions, I discovered what I was neglecting to include, pointby cptwinder - 3D Design tools
I'm looking for a Design/Modeling/CAD package that will understand the edges of object and know you can't put a steel bolt through a steel beam without first making a hole. Does that make sense? What would this feature be called so I can google for software packages that have it?by cptwinder - 3D Design tools
I have been looking into making PCBs at home with a CNC mill/drill. However, I have a couple issues/ideas I would like to run by everyone. 1) I have not been able to come up with an easy and cheap way of plating through holes. I have found the rivet solution such as, and the paste solution such as, . But both seem expensive for as few boards as I see myself making. Has anyone come up with an eaby cptwinder - Controllers
I was wondering how long it would take between the video post and when someone would add the feature to the current tool chain. 6 hours it is.by cptwinder - General
Your analogy is a good one in regards to physical products, but brakes down when dealing with virtual products like software. Not everyone will have the skills, time, or raw resources to build a car, even given the specs. However, almost anyone with access to a computer can copy files. I say almost anyone, because I'm constantly having to help my mom copy them. If your future business is on theby cptwinder - General
Understand and thank you.by cptwinder - Controllers
However, there isn't anything stopping someone from recreating a "strikingly similar" product and closing it, as long as they can show that all development was done outside of the existing RR project. But depending on how "strikingly similar" it is, it could be hard to argue it didn't come from the RR project. So say I wanted to create a wedge shaped rapid prototyper, in a diy kit, based on commby cptwinder - General
Master Nophead, share with us your wisdom and guide us to the path of truth and enlightenment. *bows* It seems this is a reoccurring question. It would be helpful if there was a page on the wiki that explained how these things work and the differences between the different drivers. I would do it myself, but I'm still not 100% sure how all of the math works. I thought I understood it after the thby cptwinder - Controllers
Ya, I kept everything except the plastic cases. I have had them for quiet some time and my roommate gave me the "strip it down so it will fit in your parts box or it goes" ultimatum. I guess she didn't like a bunch of broken printers taking up room on the porch. Not that I blame her. If I would have had a little more time I would have traced the connections to the fusers. But as it is, I'll haveby cptwinder - General
I just finished dismantling four old laser printers for parts. I'm wondering if anyone has ideas for uses of the laser diode and scanning mechanics? I may take one and replace the laser diode with a visible laser and use the spinning mirror to create a laser line for a 3d scanner. But that still leaves 3 others.by cptwinder - General
QuoteNophead In this example you would need 12R 2W resistors. How did you come up with the 2W? If I use resisters in series with my coils. What do I need the bias resister to be? The IC won't run without one. In the long run, I'll probably use a chopper drive like the gen3 RepRap driver; but this will allow to me experiment and I believe I'm finally understanding how all of the math fits togethby cptwinder - Controllers
When I went home for lunch I checked and rechecked, read the manual for the meter, then check again the resistance of each coil. They are roughly 20 ohm. So much for data sheets. That would make then a 12V motor? I say 12V instead of 10V because it was a cheap analog meter and 10V seems weird. I'll have to pick up new batteries for my digital meter. Lets make sure I'm understanding everything.by cptwinder - Controllers
That link is for the motor in question. I have the bipolar version of it. It has only four wires. I'll measure the coil resistance when I run home for lunch. However, this is where I start becoming extremely confused. I get how you figured out the 3V for the motor; but why does the data sheet say 24V? Are they saying 24V with a chopper drive to bring the current down to 500mA max? In which caseby cptwinder - Controllers
Ok let me make sure I have this right. First the IC is a Motorola MC3479 and the stepper is a NMB PM42M-048. The IC can support 7.2v to 16.5v at 350mA/Coil. It does not look like a chopper driver. The motor in bipolar mode is rated at 24v, 500mA/phase, and 6 ohm phase. In the data sheet for IC in the section talking about the Bias/Set resister. It is as follows: QuoteThis pin can be used forby cptwinder - Controllers
fullspeceng: Agree, if investors and creditors need to be paid, then that has to be a company's first priority. However, if you look at the software industry, it is becoming more common for them to open source their products once they can no longer make money with them.by cptwinder - General
But to get around the 300mA limit of the IC could I not use a L298N full-bridge driver? Not that I totally understand what a full-bridge driver is, but I believe I understand the concept. Things are starting to make sense, finally. There are too many pages on the web describing what a stepper motor is and how they work, but not enough giving the big picture. Either that, or other people fill inby cptwinder - Controllers
I'm assuming I want to stop increasing the current short of melting the insulation? Next set of questions: 1) Are there chopper and none chopper drivers? 2) Is chopper drivers doing the same thing as PWM for DC motors? 2) I have some end-of-life driver ICs, I wish I was home so I could get the part number off of them. I picked them up a couple years ago because they where used in a robots pby cptwinder - Controllers
I apologize if this has been asked a hundred times already. I did some googling and quickly searched the forums; but didn't find what I was looking for. Last night, I dismantled four printers, 2 laser and 2 ink jets, that I have saved from the landfill. It is amazing what you can get from other people's trash once you get over the fact you are going through someone else's trash. Anyway, I now hby cptwinder - Controllers
Forest, I apologize. I misunderstood what you where trying to achieve. I thought you where writing it as a .XBAP because it was suppose to be able to run in the browser, which I read as cross platform. So I was just letting you know that it didn't run on my Mac. Since you knew it wasn't going to, I'm glad I have my Windows XP VM so I can still exploit your hard work for my own selfish benefits.by cptwinder - RepRap Host
Interesting concept; but I have a problem for you. When I tried to launch your test app on my Mac it forces me to load my Windows XP VM and run it under there. The Windows Presentation Foundations may be cross browser capable, but may not be cross platform.by cptwinder - RepRap Host
Thanks for the link Enleth, that is a web site I had read a year or so ago and completely forgotten about.by cptwinder - CNC Routers, Mills, and Hybrid RepRapping
I want to thank everyone for the comments and suggestions. It has be a great help. The main reason why I was looking at Harbor Freight was because they have an outlet store a couple hours from here. I had made a list of things to check for on a machine, like belt driven instead of gear driven and adjustment screws to remove slop as the grooves in the bed wear down. However, it won't matter how clby cptwinder - CNC Routers, Mills, and Hybrid RepRapping
I'm looking to purchase and lathe/mill combo for my home shop. But I don't have a lot of room. My "tool room" is a 7 foot x 7 foot shed; however, for the most part all of my current tools fit along one wall or only get setup when needed. I have been doing a lot of searching for good, small, yet inexpensive lathes and it seems everyone has an option. So to confuse matters worse, I invite anyone whby cptwinder - CNC Routers, Mills, and Hybrid RepRapping
So today I svned a copy of the latest firmware source in the trunk/reprap/firmware/ and was looking through the firmware in the Sanguino/Sanguino3G/gcode/MasterGCodeInterpreter directory. So from what I understood from look at the code, the stepper motors are controlled via the main loop instead of a timer interrupt correct?by cptwinder - RepRap Host
You would use a milling bit with some kind of milling head. For thin aluminum you can use a Dremel tool. I would check out Forest's blog as he has done a lot with milling plastics. You could also check out the early posts in Nophead's blog. The process for milling metal won't be a lot different. I would have included links to both blogs; but my internet is acting up and I couldn't get to eitherby cptwinder - Mechanics
That shows how long it has been since I have played with it. I didn't realize you could dimension your designs or that they had a version for OS X. I may have just found my 3d design package. I have been looking for one that was inexpensive and easier to use then Blender.by cptwinder - Reprappers
What software package did you use to draw your design? I've been wanting to do something similar; but having issues finding the time. Also, comparing your design to my hand drawn ones, I can see I way over engineered it.by cptwinder - Reprappers
At a previous employer we had a Xerox printer that use what Xerox called "Solid Ink" which is actually a large bar of some sort of wax. If you removed the bar before it was gone it had a cone shape at the end. When it started to get low you simply lifted a spring lever and inserted the new bar behind the existing one. Then the printer had been sitting idle for awhile it took forever to warm up aby cptwinder - Plastic Extruder Working Group
This is one of the topics that is brought up over and over; however, no one has put in the time to make it work, or posted their progress if they have.by cptwinder - Plastic Extruder Working Group
The problem with PVC, is it released chlorine when it melts or burns. This is bad for most laser systems because it erodes the optics, not to mention what would happen if didn't ventilate your setup well enough.by cptwinder - General