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Building a SplineScanner or BookScanner? Using one, made it better? Your RepRap is a scanner? You just use a (video)camera to scan things? You make your own telescopes? Talk about it here.
Re: HP Has 3D Printers? I did not know that. - 13 years ago
Interestingly these Stratasys printers still have superior build quality even to the so prised UP Printer. (HP only resell them for a higher price) And the price mainly seems a sales strategy meaning that we could probably replicate it in some way. The axis seems to work similar to how Darwin does things. X and Y do not meet in the middle with just one smooth rod visible. But that's only on theby ElectricMucus - General
Re: Introducing KISSlicer - 13 years ago
Are you aware that you can charge for software and make it open source too? Not that this is common practice, but if you really want to there is a way.by ElectricMucus - Experimental
Re: Suitibility of reprap firmware for CNC - 13 years ago
jamesdanielv Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Get generic cnc board that includes parallel port Can you recommend a specific board for this purpose? I also have my mill on the way, and was looking forward to using ramps, but if there is a better solution I would certainly consider it.by ElectricMucus - General
Re: Implementing Postscript as firmware - 13 years ago
jamesdanielv Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > yeah, some of the above comments went a little off > topic. Atmega is a strong driving force, and you > will be hard pressed to get people to stray away > from the platform. It is not just the speed people > are looking at, it is the quality of the ide, and > the support network around it. ARM processoby ElectricMucus - Firmware - experimental, borrowed, and future
Bipolar Stepper driver with just 2 DACs and 2+1 mosfets - possible? - 13 years ago
I have a question regarding Stepper motor drivers: Would it be possible to drive a Stepper motor using 2 DACs, with one side of the Windings of several motors connected to a high power mosfet driven by a reference voltage? The remaining ports should be driven by a mosfet directly driven by the dacs. The reference voltage should be half of the drain voltage so I get a bipolar voltage on the windby ElectricMucus - Stepper Motors, Servo Motors, DC Motors
Re: Microprocessors manufactured locally - is it possible? - 13 years ago
Not with the current technological paradigm. With upcoming technologies, almost certainly - even to the point of total decentralization. For example ice lithography, which can provide higher integration and reduced equipment cost. This could even be a sidekick project to metallicarep at which point we would have reached total self replication capabilities. Awesome stuff but there is a longby ElectricMucus - Controllers
Re: Skills gained from building a RepRap - Your thoughts please. - 13 years ago
I wouldn't want to add this to my "skills" I would mention that only verbally in "what I do and hobbies"... To be worth a specific mention you would have to made a major contribution to the project, developed your own machine or similar... People like Prusajr probably could do that... imho the contribution should be pretty substantial to be recognized as a qualification.by ElectricMucus - General
Re: Why are filament spools so expensive compared to pellets? - 13 years ago
Madkite Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I have been trying to find how commercial machine > get rid of the air and so far I'm not sure. > > Does anyone know or is the air removed by the > screw pump process itself? I always thought so... at least I know of no other way. The spaces between the screw threads are chambers where the material gets cby ElectricMucus - General
Re: Why are filament spools so expensive compared to pellets? - 13 years ago
ablainey Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Greats minds and all that. I was also thinking a > piston but the feed pellets being in a vacuum > chamber to stop any bubbles. The problem with vacuum pumps is: they are expensive. But if you design the system in such a way that you only need one pump even with multiple extruders it might be worth it. and I am unby ElectricMucus - General
Re: Why are filament spools so expensive compared to pellets? - 13 years ago
ablainey Wrote: ------------------------- > ooh, I Have now! Well, thanks. I actually thought of a piston driven mechanism either fed using air pressure or gravity. The problem is even if you squash one pellet while melting you could still get air coming out of the nozzle. And we would have to completely get rid of stringing and ooze if we run two or multiple extruders in rapid succession.by ElectricMucus - General
Re: laser moleculare material phase state change to increase quality of prints - 13 years ago
To be honest this is the first photo where it actually looks somewhat nicer afterwards. But maybe this is the flash, maybe try using a diffuse lightsource. (Desk lamp reflecting off paper works nice for macros...) I wonder if the result could be improved if you align the laser path to the outline layers. If you always travel in one direction you will hit the layers with a different angle resultiby ElectricMucus - General
Re: Why are filament spools so expensive compared to pellets? - 13 years ago
I think the most viable option is making an own dedicated filament extruder since one machine could be used to provide filament for multiple repraps. Lets face it, no matter what you do the pellets will be the cheapest option no matter where it comes from. (industrial, recycled, or selfmade) it will always come in some sort of granular form. A granular extruder will always be more complicated, hby ElectricMucus - General
Re: Why are filament spools so expensive compared to pellets? - 13 years ago
Sorry; maybe I've used the wrong term. It should have been 100% sell for the double price what you've bought. What ever that is. I'm not all for nit-picking, I think it was clear what I meant.by ElectricMucus - General
Re: Why are filament spools so expensive compared to pellets? - 13 years ago
spacexula Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Why is popcorn so much more expensive than raw > corn by the ton? > > Why is peanut butter so much more expensive than > raw peanuts? > > etc etc etc That is a very good point. So do peanut butter & popcorn cost 20-figure the amount of their respective raw materials? I think you all now the aby ElectricMucus - General
Re: Why are filament spools so expensive compared to pellets? - 13 years ago
nophead Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > A company will always sell at the price they think > maximises their profits. Why would anybody do > anything else unless they were a charity? This is > the world we live in. > > The only motivation for reducing the price is if > the sales volume increases by a greater ratio, so > more overall profitby ElectricMucus - General
Re: Why are filament spools so expensive compared to pellets? - 13 years ago
So if we assume cheaper prices would get 4.85€ /kg to run the machine alone (labor, storage and infrastructure costs are already in the markup) which could seem about right. If you consider taxes it could be that the machine really does cost that much. But that _still_ seems excessive if you consider the machine processes any reasonable big amount of material a day. If it is only a tonne a dayby ElectricMucus - General
Re: Why are filament spools so expensive compared to pellets? - 13 years ago
VDX Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > ... some people tried much cheaper sources (mostly > from china), but the quality of the filament > wasn't usefull, as the diameter was +/- 0.3 to > 0.5mm off. > > So the higher price is mostly caused by the > expensive machines used for making 'good' filament > So lets consider this: The company who mby ElectricMucus - General
Re: Why are filament spools so expensive compared to pellets? - 13 years ago
You guys seem overly defensive on the plastic producers / suppliers... I certainly realize that there are good reasons why we pay more for our filaments, than lets say some company making injection molded parts. What concerns me is just the order of magnitude of how much more expensive it really is. Andrew Diehl Wrote: > > Alone the fact that the mendel-parts guys can > > offer 1by ElectricMucus - General
Re: Buying mini lathe in UK cheaply? - 13 years ago
Meh i'll just wait till I can afford an emco compact 5 on ebayby ElectricMucus - General
Re: Implementing Postscript as firmware - 13 years ago
That is nice and all but what does this has to do with a hypothetical "postscript in 3d"? From my pov this would be something like having a openscad interpreter in the firmware. Postscript can do much more than lets say gcode so unless you are some sort of realtime scheduler programming wizard you'd have a hard time getting that to run in an atmega.by ElectricMucus - Firmware - experimental, borrowed, and future
Re: laser moleculare material phase state change to increase quality of prints - 13 years ago
Have you thought about doing this layer by layer during the print? It would take longer but you could focus the beam correctly.by ElectricMucus - General
Re: Why are filament spools so expensive compared to pellets? - 13 years ago
nophead Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Measuring the pressure is a non-starter because > you need to measure the pressure at the nozzle, > accurate to a few %, not the force on the filament > because a large part of that is sliding the > viscous plug at the transition zone. It will also > depend on temperature, how close the nozzle is to > thby ElectricMucus - General
Re: Why are filament spools so expensive compared to pellets? - 13 years ago
QuoteHow about a good old clock gauge measuring the filament as it goes in. I am sure i have seen digital gauges with RS232 out. We could adjust feedrate based on measuring the pressure of the melt I think if we ever could get filaments who were made directly at the plastic plant we could certainly come up with something. You are right. The only thing we would need to do is measure the pressby ElectricMucus - General
Re: Why are filament spools so expensive compared to pellets? - 13 years ago
"Niche Market" just means that there is less volume and thus a tremendous markup somewhere in the supply chain. But except for merchants most of those companies who sell filaments also produce the plastic itself. At least they sell the pellets too. What bugs me is as said before that the process isn't that different, both come from cylindrical extrusion. How I understand it a machine used to mby ElectricMucus - General
Why are filament spools so expensive compared to pellets? - 13 years ago
I haven't yet understood what makes filament so much more expensive to buy compared to the pellet form. Both are extruded from the melt as a String of plastic. With the filament it is wound up and with the pellets it is cut. Both require one additional electric motor. Transport costs could be higher for the Filament (maybe not since the pellets do not line up in the bags and you still get alotby ElectricMucus - General
Re: What would be the ideal (theoretical) hotend/extruder combo? - 13 years ago
Yeah that would maximize the contact area, but might be very challenging to implement mechanically. Or did I understand you correctly? what exactly do you mean by hobbed pulley? I think the major advantage would be the larger contact area. It is possible to use piezoelectric elements to move something in a similar fashion. look at for an example. If there are elements all around the filament thby ElectricMucus - Plastic Extruder Working Group
Re: Buying mini lathe in UK cheaply? - 13 years ago
Would be interested in that as well....by ElectricMucus - General
Re: Induction heating can be used for extruder - 13 years ago
this has already been done: I wonder on the efficiency of this particular design though. The interest should be to make the hot zone as small as possible and use as much heat-insulating material like glass, ceramic or peek as possible and just a small spool / a small ferromagnetic part.by ElectricMucus - Plastic Extruder Working Group
What would be the ideal (theoretical) hotend/extruder combo? - 13 years ago
I wonder what would be the ideal hotend... for either PLA or ABS. Could we come up with an idealized model what _should_ happen in the extruder independent of whenever this can be mechanically implemented. What would be the goal of this exercise? After thinking and reading about several variations on materials and heating I've come to the conclusion that there are just too many possible combinaby ElectricMucus - Plastic Extruder Working Group
Re: Solar Sinter - 13 years ago
This is the most awesome thing I've seen lately... thanks! Lets just hope this idea doesn't disappear shortly like many of these projects... Building an autonomous fully automated robot with this technology would be as straightforward as it gets. It could make parametrized bricks for a house, pottery, pipe segments & channels for water distribution, etc... Heck make this technology a bitby ElectricMucus - General