crispy Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > The logic might look something like this: > printer skips steps -> skipped steps are detected > -> printer pauses print, retracts filament > slightly -> printer tries jogging the axis to > determine if it is still stuck -> if stuck, flag > operator. If free, re-home and resume print where > tby sansbury - General
Sounds like Star Trek technology to me. The temperatures required sound daunting to say the least. At those temps you are near or past the melting point of almost everything. I wonder if it would be more practical to make an extruder which dispense a wax and a core material which can build up a cast core ready for investment. Lost wax casting is bronze age tech but building up molds is very cosby sansbury - General
Yep, a Mori Seiki is pretty much the Ferrari of VMCs, except it's a lot more reliable. Nothing like seeing a thousand pounds of iron moving at 1000IPM with .0002" repeatability. Especially when it's swinging a 500lb workpiece around on a 5-axis trunnion table. The Ferrari is probably cheaper! If you can do it, I'll be ordering one. I have my doubts, but unless you're promising an over-unity poweby sansbury - General
I wish you guys all the best luck, and if you get there, I'll be a client. But, I'm really dubious about this for a couple specific reasons. First, those custom ballscrews (or ball-style?) can't be cheap to manufacture. Even Chinese-made screw and nut sets quickly hit $100+ per axis, and that's for mass production in a low-cost environment. I've watched a lot of guys building hobby-sized CNC milby sansbury - General
So with the summer months coming up I will have a little downtime and want to get serious and build a machine. I've been following this for a long time and asked this question a while back but things evolve rapidly here so al the great advice people gave me last time is probably out of date by now I am looking for advice on what mechanics/electronics/etc I should choose. I am looking to optimizby sansbury - General
OK, RAMPS (I think) it is. Also, I've been successfully counseled that a Prusa Mendel is the better way to go, rather than a Sells.by sansbury - General Mendel Topics
So after a lot of musings on alternative designs (see ) I've decided that the most sensible place for me to start is to build a Mendel. I have a small machine shop and have built a number of CNC machines so am not afraid of the somewhat higher cost and complexity versus a Prusa. My plan is to buy a printed parts kit from one of the various suppliers and get the basic mechanical bits from MSC/McMby sansbury - General Mendel Topics
Just in case anyone finds this thread in a search, I asked this question in another section of the forum and got some additional answers there:by sansbury - General New Machines Topics
I'm just getting started building my machine but when it's ready I'd like to try this. The standardized install approach has been a big win for the EMC2 project which has some fairly complex dependencies. This seems like a no-brainer to me.by sansbury - General
I posted another thread about this in the general forum which got more responses. Some people seemed to think that there would be some benefit to a more rigid frame like a T-slot extrusion approach. I'm not looking to re-invent anything for the sake of originality, but I don't have a problem inventing for a purpose. The Mendel is designed to maximize use of printed parts, which I personally don'tby sansbury - General New Machines Topics
jamesdanielv Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > ball screws would be the way to go if we had a > solid hardware that did not do micro pauses and > had great interpolation. the belts allow the give > needed for this, and microstepping allows the > motors to absorb this a little better. sometimes x > does not move for 2 steps between y but then it >by sansbury - General
So, here is a question: is there a consensus on what is the best configuration in terms of machine axes? Looking at the Stratasys printers it seems like the extruder moves in X and Y and the table moves in Z, like Darwin, while Mendel moves the table in Y and the extruder in X and Z. In terms of the Z axis, I would be tempted to have the table on linear bearings at four points, with a screw inby sansbury - General
Engineering is largely about picking your tradeoffs. The Mendel is designed to be self-replicating and require no complex tools, which makes total sense in some contexts. I want to build a lower-cost 3D printer which makes minimal compromises in terms of the print quality. With machine tools (the area I'm most familiar with) it's all about rigidity, so mass is seen as virtuous. With a laser cutby sansbury - General
So, I'm interested in building a RepRap after seeing several working at the Bay Area Maker Faire two weeks ago and am looking for some guidance. My goal is to be able to make smaller (say <3" on any side) primarily mechanical parts like gears in a relatively reliable fashion. Speed is less important to me than precision, repeatability, and finish quality. The best RepRap-made parts I've seenby sansbury - General New Machines Topics