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The Midweststeelsupply page is a little suspect, at least to my simplistic way of looking at it. What does 'flat within 0.015"' mean? If that is flat within 0.015" over one imperial foot, then that is a problem; but if that means flat within a sheet of 72.5" x 144.5" then it is probably as good as you would want on a printer bed size piece. We won't go into what that means with respect to differe
by
leadinglights
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Mechanics
So far it is going very well, although I am challenged by trying to get to grips with Klipper's dockable probe software. Computer languages other than Assembly are not in my skill set.
The below is a synopsis of what this dual probe method does and does not do
Advantages
The accuracy and repeatability of the sensors are limited only by external considerations such as step size and surface tex
by
leadinglights
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Tech-Talk
I have solved the problem of detecting if the sled is mounted to the effector by increasing the strength of the magnets on the effector sled mount, and by slightly changing the geometry of the magnetic circuit. The way that the detection works is that the magnetic circuit is fully contained when the sled is mounted to the sled mount. This is achieved by using high-permeability magnetic iron plate
by
leadinglights
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Tech-Talk
Now working generally O.K., but some work to do. I have put a video on
Here is a gif to be going on with
I have put a bit more for discussion in Tech-Talk
Mike
by
leadinglights
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General
The piezoelectric touch sensor is now working. In most respects, it is above expectations, but there are still some residual problems to be shaken out
video on cheesy gif on
A sensitivity of 200mg even at a speed as low as 2mm/sec has been demonstrated although I have set it at a much higher 2 grams for these early tests - note that even this is about 10% of the trigger force of a microswitc
by
leadinglights
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Tech-Talk
Serendipity can be a harsh mistress. It was thought that the contact of the actuator arm to the piezo would give a single strong pulse in the opposite sense to nozzle contact pulses and that this would be a distinguishing signal for successful sled mounting.
White arrow is the direction of movement of the effector and magnetic mount when mounting the sled.
When I tried this in hot blood, the s
by
leadinglights
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Tech-Talk
The auxiliary box with the vacuum and blower pumps is finished bar only some shake-out tests. The black carbuncle on the side contains the vacuum failure switch, the air filter for the cooling pumps, the silencer for the vacuum pump, and a box cooling fan.
The present, and perhaps last, part is a touch probe for bed mapping. Some time ago I decided that underbed sensors were inherently problem
by
leadinglights
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General
Today's problem.
The reed switch intended to give a signal that the sled was correctly attached to the holder does not work.
Early tests with larger magnets were very satisfactory, but those magnets would not release the sled at an acceptable pull while weaker magnets would not operate the reed switch.
A serendipitous solution came with the realization that when the sled was mounted to the ho
by
leadinglights
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Tech-Talk
O.K., I know, Too Long: Did Not Read. Damn, but Twitter (Sorry, X) has a lot to answer for. Pictures first then.
Sled on effector, parking place in the background.
Bare sled
Sled parked
View from front showing piezo
View from bottom
Of the most recent bed probes, there is a lot of interest in dockable probes, particularly the Euclid and Klicky probes. Dockable probes have a touch senso
by
leadinglights
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Tech-Talk
I am not sure where this query fits in the RepRap forum, but perhaps here works. I have tried on the Klipper forum but with no luck so I am trying anywhere else that I may find Klipper-knowledgeable people.
Does anybody have any idea how to get the effector on a Delta printer to move to an area outside the printing volume? Specifically, the printing volume is a cylinder of 110mm radius by 280mm
by
leadinglights
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Firmware - mainstream and related support
Thank you DragonFire, I think I have found the problem: Sometimes several different problems can all give the same symptoms and this appears to be the case here.
1) The multimeter is reading very high so the stepper drivers were set just above their upper limit.
2) The A4988 that I put in the same position on the RAMPS board is likely faulty. They were all set below the driver limit but the heats
by
leadinglights
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General
How good your prints are depends on the parts in the printer. Having said that, I think that most people who make their own 3D printer do it for the pleasure of making and the first successful prints will be a delight to their eyes. Replacing parts like rods and bearings can come later and with finding what is causing the most problems.
There are many people on this, and on other forums, who will
by
leadinglights
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Reprappers
Thanks, DragonFire. As soon as I saw your posting I checked out the extruder but it doesn't look to have any involvement. I have done many repeats now and it looks like the right-hand tower stepper motor is losing steps suddenly. The problem has become more common since it first appeared and everything has been changed except the stepper motors and the TMC 2225 drivers.
The front-running candidat
by
leadinglights
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General
O.K., so the rebuild of Miranda seeming almost to be done, I thought I would venture into fields where I rarely tread: The arts - that place inhabited by minds foreign to the Morlocks of the techy world. What I want to do is take a favorite poem, "The Raven" by Edgar Allen Poe, and print a raven perched on a bust of Pallas.
A search on MyMiniFactory yielded several possible candidates so, with a
by
leadinglights
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General
I thought it may be worth revisiting this thread as I have just replaced the 7W resistor on one of my printers. This resistor was changed with a head redesign at least 5 years ago and the printer has done thousands of hours of printing with the same resistor. Changing the heater voltage from 12V to 24V also necessitated changing the resistor.
The original resistor was a Vishay Sfernice RWM6X22 v
by
leadinglights
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General
QuoteAlvon3DprinTor
...................... I always feel like I'm wandering around a magnificent immense abandoned palace with its antique library full of treasures of knowledge when I come to this forum, but it's also very difficult to make contacts here in 2023. .........................
Early on I thought that if a page got a few hundred views then a few hundred people had opened the page in
by
leadinglights
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General
Since nobody has replied, maybe nobody has thought of it, but it should not be difficult. I would suggest you start by looking up Pogo pin connectors on eBay or Amazon and google for Maxwell Couplings. You will need something to lock it all together and strong magnets would be a possibility.
Mike
by
leadinglights
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General
Almost everything is working well on the auxiliary pump box now but the vacuum pump is too powerful and I have had to rethink how this will work. The printer bed often develops a small leak through the petroleum jelly that is used on the seal and the pump may be called on perhaps once every couple of minutes for about one second to maintain the vacuum. The problem arises in that the pump is decid
by
leadinglights
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General
I have got the auxiliary box with the pumps fully working, all that is really left to be done is making a 3D printed part holding the case fan, air filter for the cooling pumps, and silencer for the vacuum pump.
I connected up the pumps for the air ring through a gapmeter to find how linear or not the airflow was and found that they are hardly linear at all: At 24V there was hardly any airflow be
by
leadinglights
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General
@MJLew. It is true that there is no definite answer as to why strain gauges have suddenly become popular, I have wondered if I missed some breakthrough discovery or invention. I have experimented with almost all of the sensor methods that I have heard about and most have some advantages or other, but all have disadvantages or weaknesses.
Your point about piezo sensors measuring the rate of chang
by
leadinglights
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Tech-Talk
I have noticed lately that there are a lot of printers using strain gauges for bed leveling, typically with HX711 or HX717 conditioner/ADC ICs.
My question is, Why? It is not the use of strain gauges themselves that is my concern: Strain gauges can be stunningly sensitive, fast responding, and mechanically stable for long periods - and they can be cheap as well. My problem is that almost all of t
by
leadinglights
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Tech-Talk
A report back on the status of this rebuild. As I said in my last posting, I am working on a box to put the vacuum pump for the build stage (table) and the air ring cooling pumps.
As with many projects, it prove to be a bigger task than anticipated, with many parts being unavailable or unacceptably pricy. Fortunately, though, some parts, such as the BLDC pumps for cooling air, were available on e
by
leadinglights
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General
Thank you deckingman. I have found over the years that steel anywhere in the path from the heater element to the nozzle was really bad news. I have followed your investigations and got very much the same sort of temperature drops with a very short stainless steel tube between the copper heater block and the brass nozzle.
I have managed to avoid too much cooling of the nozzle as my various annu
by
leadinglights
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General
That is a very nice looking water cooler. While I have used JLC PCB for several PCBs, I have not yet tried their metal 3D printing. I will have to look out for parts that I need just to try out JLCs 3D printing.
If I may venture a gentle critique though. Most watercoolers consist of a jacket over a commercial finned cold-end and are massive overkill. I have put links to three pictures on this fo
by
leadinglights
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Developers
The most recent changes are to reduce the micro-steps on the tower motors from 32 to 16. Using 32 micro-stepping, the Z homing speed was limited to about 18mm per second and X and Y movements would erratically crash out above about 250mm/s, in each case with the message reported in the last post.
Back to 16 micro-steps and the speeds don't complain at Z at 75mm/s and X and Y at 300mm/s.
A hardw
by
leadinglights
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General
@rq3. The reason I have little knowledge of the art of 3D print cooling is that most of my printers had little need for it. This, in turn, was caused by most of my prints being designed not to need bridges: In the more extreme situations, I made things to be screwed or glued together thus eliminating the need for bridges. When I did need extra cooling I either directed the cooling air from the ho
by
leadinglights
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General
The article on the Profifi site that you linked to was very interesting and a number of there points were well taken.
Having said that, there are almost as many causes of ripples as printers - sometimes multiple causes. Below is from my own observations and your mileage may vary. I tend to divide ripples into three categories:- Ripples that start at a corner or other sharp feature and die away
by
leadinglights
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Printing
Assuming that this is not resonance, the first question is if there is any noise from the idler - or for that matter, from the drive gear.
My first printer, a Prusa Mendel, did show a 2.5mm pattern effect on T2.5 belt, but it turned out to be a substandard stepper motor - the pitch similarity was coincidental.
If it does turn out that it is caused by a poor tooth form on the idler, you could try
by
leadinglights
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Printing
Just an addendum to that last: It seems that the first use of three sensors in the effector was Moriquendi back in April 2016.
Mike
by
leadinglights
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Tech-Talk
Can I pick some brains about the need for variable cooling? Previously I have rarely needed cooling, even when printing PLA. When I needed some cooling I delivered this from a diaphragm air pump, through a 6mm I.D. silicone tube to an air ring similar to a Berd Air Ring. Where there has been a need for more air I have used a bank of four 25mm fans in addition to the above arrangement.
The option
by
leadinglights
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General
