Show all posts by user

Re: A call for help/ideas to develop the Heated Bed - 14 years ago

A few thoughts: I am planning to use clay to make my plate. It is a good thermal insulator once fired, and it does not move much with the temperature. Liquid clay can be spread very evenly on a surface and makes a nice flat working plane. Plus, if I add some thin sand in it, I suppose the surface will be textured so that the plastic will stick to it. I plan to buy some Buff clay. I will let you

by Lionel - General

Re: Lighter Mendel - 14 years ago

Making it lighter was not my initial aim. The initial aim was to make to construction simpler: if you use a mesh, you don't need to drill lots of holes in a panel. You just need to cut a couple of strands and that's it. Good idea for the plastic mesh, I will try to find one.

by Lionel - General Mendel Topics

Strange reprap website - 14 years ago

I just saw this website this morning: It looks pretty empty at the moment, without date or contact details. And these guy pretend to sell Mendel parts. I was wondering if anyone knows them, because so far it looks pretty fishy to me.

by Lionel - Plastic RepRap Parts for Sale

Lighter Mendel - 14 years ago

Just a thought: why not use a coarse metal mesh instead of a thick sheet for the electronic support? There are two pieces made in the thick sheet that are square and full of holes to place the electronic boards. Using a mesh would be lighter, and the board should eventually fit in the many holes. I haven't got a Mendel yet (still looking for the parts...) so I don't know how feasible that is. A

by Lionel - General Mendel Topics

Re: Plastic recycler - 15 years ago

Ok, I have some answers from wikipedia: The straight head is indeed used for the alinement of the molecules, to make the filament stronger. This may be a parameter of importance for a good extrusion in the reprap: if the wire tends to twist easily, it will be more likely to jam the extruder. However, it does not seem like the straight head is necessary if the filament is created in the directio

by Lionel - General

Re: Plastic recycler - 15 years ago

Good links Sebastien, thanks! One of the machines (the one with the big screw) is pretty much like I imagined things. Now, it looks like the problem is the control of the heated zone. If the recycler is to be build from Reprap plastics, it needs to contain the heat in the metal parts very well. I will think about it... it looks like a nice problem for a finite element modeling project

by Lionel - General

Re: Plastic recycler - 15 years ago

About plastic toxicity, thermoplastics are not toxic (as long as they are used well below their ignition temperature, of course, and as long as they are polymerised. Monomers are usually toxic). What may be toxic are the adjuvent: these are chemical added to the plastic to give it some additional properties. It can be antistatics, fungicides, lubricants, UV protectors, and so on. More documentati

by Lionel - General

Re: Plastic recycler - 15 years ago

I see... thanks, Triffid, this makes sense. I still wonder how the vacuum conformator works. Its role is clearly to set the filament diameter, but I cannot find any information about how this thing can be build. I think this is a very important parameter since the control of the extrusion speed assumes that the filament has a fixed diameter. If the filament is uneven, the extrusion rate will be

by Lionel - General

Re: Plastic recycler - 15 years ago

Moulding would be good to make finished parts, but may not be suitable for filament making. Even though, this could be a nice technique to make lots of Mendel parts in no time... About filament making, I have found this quick explanation of principle (sorry, it's in french but it is easy to understand): Basically, the plastic bits are placed in a heated extruder (the big screw on the left) whi

by Lionel - General

Re: Where are people? - 15 years ago

About the recycler, here is the link: Maybe you can expose your ideas there, it could relive the thread.

by Lionel - United Kingdom RepRap User Group

Re: How to actually build a %%#&*$ mendel? - ebay - 15 years ago

MarcusWolschon Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I´m doing it at the moment and have an auction > running > for the parts. I don't think that using ebay will help developing a community.

by Lionel - General Mendel Topics

Warping compensation - 15 years ago

I was thinking about a nice way to increase the production rate of repraps. It seems like warping is a big problem for large pieces. To my knowledge, this effect is due to temperature gradients that distort the pieces. Temperature and heat flow models are very well understood nowadays, I wonder if it would be possible to include a prediction algorithm to determine the evolution of the temperatu

by Lionel - Experimental

Re: Mendel Parts (Germany): 150€ - 15 years ago

Hi Laszlo, I am interested in your "give two, get one" option. I can definitely send you twice the amount of ABS needed for a set of parts in exchange for a set of Mendel parts. I don't know if your reprap is still printing now, I hope you managed to fine tune it. If you are interested, can you PM me please? I live in Scotland, I hope it is not too difficult for you to send me the parts. Cheer

by Lionel - Wanted

Re: How to actually build a %%#&*$ mendel? - 15 years ago

I am stuck with the same problem: getting the printed parts of Mendel. Joshua, since you have a cupcake, would you be so kind to use it for printing mendel parts for other users? I am (very) willing to pay the costs of raw material, time and postage if you do so (plus a tip, of course). By the way, how long does it take to print a set of mendel parts?

by Lionel - General Mendel Topics

Re: Where are people? - 15 years ago

I have seen several painted items on Thingiverse, it is easy to paint plastics. You just need to buy the adapted paint. Recycled plastic should not differ from normal plastic, at least for thermoplastics (PP, ABS and all the plastics that reprap can use) and as long as they are clean when recycled. Thermoplastics can be melted and reshaped indefinitely, just like water can be turned into ice and

by Lionel - United Kingdom RepRap User Group

Re: Where are people? - 15 years ago

I see... but I think it would be even better to release the book to open source and let the people who use it add some info to it. I don't have enough space at home to make my own foundry, but if I ever have a garden someday, I know what to do now. I haven't made filament myself yet, so I don't know how well it can take additives. I suppose you have to select special additives if you want to cha

by Lionel - United Kingdom RepRap User Group

Re: Where are people? - 15 years ago

I didn't know these books, it will have a closer look, thanks for the info! About plastic recycling, I am definitely thinking about extrusion into filament. I have already found some info about the know-how, but not enough yet. I plan to start a blog as soon as I have all the pieces to tell what I do, I'll put all the info I have on it then. I really think we could rise the interest for reprap i

by Lionel - United Kingdom RepRap User Group

Re: Where are people? - 15 years ago

Hi Peter, I agree with you: it is quite surprising to see that no big group emerged from the UK. The US seems to be the most active part of the world reprapwise. I am VERY interested in your idea to create cast version of parts. I desperately need to get all the Mendel printed parts (http://objects.reprap.org/wiki/Mendel_solid_model_files). If you can do something, please let me know, I am a pot

by Lionel - United Kingdom RepRap User Group

Re: Where are people? - 15 years ago

Alas, my reprap cannot act yet: it is not built. I have the electronics, the metal parts, the steppers... but I still miss the printed parts (Mendel parts, if anyone has some). I will let you know when I have everything up and working. Can you send me a PM, so that I don't forget? It may not be before spring, though, it all depends on how fast I get the printed parts and Mendel parts are not easy

by Lionel - United Kingdom RepRap User Group

Re: Installing in 64 bit Ubuntu - 15 years ago

sur mon ordi je le trouve sous : /usr/lib/jvm/java-1.5.0.19/jre/lib/i386

by Lionel - RepRap Host

Re: Beware: a scammer pretends to sell mendel parts - 15 years ago

I cannot find the original message he sent me. Could it be that is has been deleted? If I remember well, his name on the forum was Martin.

by Lionel - Administration, Announcements, Policy

Re: everybody wants MENDEL PARTS - 15 years ago

Hi all, just to let you know, there is a scammer trying to get money pretending he sells Mendel parts. He contacted me using the address martin.collins84@yahoo.com. Be warned: you can only loose money with him.

by Lionel - Wanted

Beware: a scammer pretends to sell mendel parts - 15 years ago

Hi all, I have been contacted by a scammer who pretends to sell Mendel parts (for 150£... only) using the name Martin Collins. He contacted me by PM and asked me to pay him with Western Union or Money gram only. His details for Western Union are: Name:Martin Collins Address:56 Liverpool Street England Of course, no details of him on the forum. So, after a little web search, I found out that his

by Lionel - Administration, Announcements, Policy

Re: Bed material idea - 15 years ago

What about a cork sheet? I have seen (http://www.economy-point.org/i/ignition-temperature.html) that it can hold up to 300C, it is a very good insulating material so it won't drag the temperature out of the object, it has a high friction so the object should stay in place, it is easy to cut and quite cheap. The only problem I see now is that it is not a very solid material and it may bend, so a m

by Lionel - General

Re: Nichrome Wire - 15 years ago

Please let me know if it works, I may be able to do that here too.

by Lionel - Reprappers

Re: Nichrome Wire - 15 years ago

that is quite a low power. good, good... I have a toaster that just stopped working, maybe one of its heating wires will do the trick. Thanks for the info!

by Lionel - Reprappers

Re: Nichrome Wire - 15 years ago

Actually I am quite interested in that question, I need to find a supplier in Europe. What power is provided by the nichrome wire? I suppose it is fed with a 12V voltage? So, what is its resistance?

by Lionel - Reprappers

Re: Bed material idea - 15 years ago

Mothers-in-law can be useful sometimes... I was wondering how much work has been done on bed materials. I cannot find anything on it on the forum and on the website. I was wondering if a textured metallic plate would do the trick? I plan to use an aluminium bed, maybe with a thin net on top of it. Has anybody tried that?

by Lionel - General

Re: Plastic recycler - 15 years ago

I am not a specialist in plasturgy, but I suppose the first thing you need to consider is what sort of plastic you want to use. There are many sorts of plastics and each one has its own set of properties (thermal, mechanical, chemical). The process you will apply on them depends strongly on these properties, so you will probably have to make you mind on the material before considering the process

by Lionel - General

Re: everybody wants MENDEL PARTS - 15 years ago

Noooooo! Bad luck. It seems like my christmas Mendel is quite compromised. I have (almost) all the other parts now, I just need the repraped parts and the GEN3 electronics. Please let me know when you can make a set for me. I would be very pleased to make a couple of repraped parts to send to the others once the machine will be up and running. it seems like there is a huge demand... But first t

by Lionel - Wanted