Lyman just uses a hunk of lead pushing on top of his pellet hopper and then an auger drill bit. I don't know how you would determine the pressure required of his design. Looks like it was probably trial and error.by mattmc - General
For anyone else wondering what kitchen roll is, according to google: paper towelsby mattmc - General
Cool, thanks for the followup. I found a howto: Etched Heated Bed Howtoby mattmc - Reprappers
You are confusing your amps at 12/24 volts vs 120 12 volts x 20 amps = 240 Watts / 120Vac = 2 Amps 24 volts x 20 Amps = 480 Watts / 120 vac = 4 Amps Total 6 Amps, so 15 Amp circuit breaker is fine. For example, there are about 10 hair dryers on Amazon that are over 1500 Watts, which is well over 10 Amps. Additionally, hair dryers usually will plug into GFCI which are notorious for tripping eby mattmc - Reprappers
Question on Steppers... Lulzbot has a stepper here: Nema 17 stepper for $13.95 and it is on reprap.org as one of the recommended steppers. lulzbot stepper specs: 1.8 degree, 1.5A, 5.6 kg/cm, Rated voltage: 2.8 V Kysan stepper specs: 1.8 degree, 1.5A, 5.5 kg/cm, Rated voltage: 4.2 V So wouldn't the Lulzbot be the better motor since it has a higher torque at the same amps but lower voltage?by mattmc - General
QUBD has a 12" x 12" (300 x 300) silicone rubber heated bed which would be much better than the standard 8" x 8" that most people have. QUBD Silicone heat bedby mattmc - Reprappers
Link to thread on single plate DXFby mattmc - General
Don't you want 3 endstops? X, Y, & Z Also, you may not want to use optical, I am not sure why, but many have switched to mechanical as they say they are more reliable. JHead Nozzle - You may want to checkout E3D hotend. They are 34 pounds (they don't weigh 34 pounds, I am in the US, and don't know how to make the L symbol), located in the UK, and can print a bunch of different materials thaby mattmc - General Mendel Topics
I got on the IRC chat, and QUBD is not recommended at all. Not necessarily the silicon heater, just in general; failing to produce what they claim/poor quality control, I guess. Think I will go with the MK2 or MK2B.by mattmc - General Mendel Topics
Bobc - Didn't know there was such a thing as an expansion board in the works. I don't have an Azteeg yet, but other than the 8 bit processor, it has a much better upgrade path compared to ramps, although twice as much! Smoothie looks cool, hopefully they have a way to expand the motors/hotends with a header or some other way. Is there some advantage to on-board stepper drivers that I don'tby mattmc - General
The smoothie board processor is an obvious upgrade 32 bit vs 8 bit and the ethernet option will be nice but everywhere else the Azteeg beats it. Azteeg Smoothie Motors 8 5 Steppers 2.5amp 2 amp hotends 4 2 microstepping 1/32 1/by mattmc - General
What does everyone think about the Azteeg X3? Has anyone had a bad experience? I was looking for a board that will allow future upgrades and came across this board. PROS It is available in the US The 1.1 version now shipping will support Tri-extruders (actually 4 hotends) and 8 stepper motors Will run on 12-24V It is SPRINTER, MARLIN, REPETIER compatible The stepper drivers for it will supportby mattmc - General
Can you please link to your Power supply on Amazon? What electronics you running? Running hotbed at 24V? If, so which one? thanks.by mattmc - Reprappers
I have not used FreeCad, only tinkerCAD and Sketchup. I like it better than Sketchup, although I am still a noob at both. Maybe it is not as powerful, but so far it has been a good experience with Design Spark. They do have a parts library with their part numbers and a BOM function, so it may just be them trying to get makers to use their stuff as well. We use Allied Electronics all the time.by mattmc - General
QUBD tells you NOT to use RAMPS to drive the silicone heater. One would just put a relay off the heated bed output and then have the relay trigger the heated bed. I guess my question then is: How long does an MK1 or MK2 PCB bed take to get to printing temperatures (~100C)? How long does a cartridge based hotend take to get to printing temperatures? Has anyone used the QUBD and is it better, tby mattmc - General Mendel Topics
So I was planning to use the reprap.me MK2 heated bed, as it is only $14 and I was getting my MK8 drive gear from there anyway. I read somewhere that the QUBD silicone heaters heat up much quicker though and they are only $19. Has anyone used either one with a Prusa i3 or Mendel? How long will an E3D hotend take to get to temperature? Is it a big deal if the heated bed takes 3-5 minutes or lby mattmc - General Mendel Topics
Yes, BricsCAD is very similar to AutoCAD, I bought it 3 or 4 years ago cause my customers all use AutoCAD and I needed something 100% compatible, without the $5K price tag. I have never had any issues with it as a 2D CAD program. Works great. I upgraded in the last few months to v13 and went to PRO as well, thinking I would use the 3D part of it for skid layouts or panel stands, and to tell youby mattmc - General
It is called BricsCAD from Bricsys. BricsCAD It is $300 CAD program similar to AutoCAD. We use it for electrical schematics and panel layout drawings, only in 2D. It does have 3D capability, but it is not near as intuitive as tinkercad, sketchup, or design spark. I find it very hard to use for 3D.by mattmc - General
Not too familiar with the 3d CAD programs. When I opened the dxf in my Cad program, it looked more like wireframe, but was 3 dimensional. I did not try and rotate or anything as I only use this particular CAD program for 2d cad and never messed with its 3d capabilities.by mattmc - General
QuoteOne other thing that makes DesignSpark stand apart from SpaceClaim is the available export formats. There are no CAD formats supported (open formats like IGES and STEP or proprietary formats like ACIS, Parasolid). I believe you can only export to STL. Not sure if you are talking about SpaceClaim or DesignSpark, but DesignSpark can do: dxf obj pdf skp stl xaml jpg png I just saved my drawiby mattmc - General
Not sure where you are located but: TRC Electronics has good prices on power supplies, unless you want the $15 ebay chinese junk ones. $45 for a 29A, 12 V power supply from MeanWell, which makes power supplies for other manufacturers, and you will find their small dc power supplies in all sorts of electronics if you open them up. Amazon has similar name brand supplies for close to $80.by mattmc - General Mendel Topics
I have been playing with it the last few days. Quote I still have yet to learn how to do some very basic things still like erase lines and faces. To erase lines use the trim (blue arrow on attached pic) To round use the create rounded corner (red arrow on attached pic) or if it is already in 3d, you can PULL to round the corners as well. Here is a 90 degree 10 mm rod connector I made last nighby mattmc - General
Keeps the filament from sticking inside the tube leading to the hotend. Post a video of it in action please.by mattmc - General
On the i3 Prusa Single Aluminum Frame with an 80mm carriage, will I still have the full 200 mm build volume? According to here: X_Carriage based on that picture of the x frame, there will be about 320mm of open rod end to end. Can someone measure their alum frame and see if the Left nozzle on a 80mm carriage would reach the right edge of the bed? And will the right nozzle reach the left edgeby mattmc - General Mendel Topics
Quotejay Just tried the Monoprice.com PLA 1.75 or 3 mm ? I was wondering if the monoprice stuff was going to suffer from inconsistent diameter? No problems so far, I guess? Just looked at Protoparadigm..... Great selection, good price at $33.50 Freight to Texas UPS Ground $13. Ugh. $300 order gets free shipping though. How about makergeeks stuff? They seem to have a bunch of options stby mattmc - General Mendel Topics
Ok. Here is the lowdown on the DXF. I tried downloading it as well. If you right click on the name and do 'save as' , then you get just a webpage link saved. If you click on it, then you get a full page of text. So you have two options: Option #1. Use my version: Here is the file that I converted with the following changes: Prusa i3 Einstein Variant Single Plate Frame aka 'Prusa3ALU-FREZOVAby mattmc - General
Thanks once again. Please link to your BOM and some detailed pictures after your next round of classes.by mattmc - General Mendel Topics
Thanks for the reply.... Yes, I know I need to make the threaded holes to 2.5mm for threading, but in looking at the build pictures it is hard to tell what is and is not threaded. I know the two Z ends (top and bottom on each side) should be threaded. I know that the Ramps mounting holes should be threaded. On the Y carriage,, I know that 2 holes on each side of the oblong hole (where the LM8Uby mattmc - General Mendel Topics
Vegas... Well I asked the questions, so I am the one that started the hijacking. Hopefully Franck doesn't mind too much. I put it on this thread, because I like his extruder design and plan to use it and the e3d extruder, so I thought he would be a good source for info; and to keep it all in one place for future 3d enthusiasts getting started. Anyway, do you recommend changing all the 3mm holeby mattmc - General Mendel Topics
So unfinished means non-anodized or something else? Tapping is not a problem as we do it at work everyday. This is definitely not a hobby printer! My vendor has a $250,000+ laser table that will cut 1/2" steel and takes up 500+ sq feet of shop space. He can definitely handle the job, he just may not be willing to since he is really busy. It is quite a sight to see in action. Wish I had one. Yby mattmc - General Mendel Topics