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Re: Reprap circuits from scratch - 14 years ago

Hello Mako Welcome to the world of RepRap - It's not a mad idea, and I wish you good luck if you go ahead with building up your own electronics from scratch - and I'm happy to help and advise you as much as you need and can handle. But my advice is to think about a slightly more standard way to get going in this project so you keep momentum and make it to the end-game of a working 3D printer

by richrap - Controllers

Re: Machined Extruder- Thorp's build log - 14 years ago

Any New News Thorp ? I have been test-building a few dual extruder hot and cold ends over the last few weeks, but I'm still really interested in your nice machined design.

by richrap - Plastic Extruder Working Group

Re: "Doboz", aluminum/plexiglass repstrap with (very basic) 3d scanner - 14 years ago

Thanks Jeff I was thinking Z, didn't mean to type X Two motors driving one axis always seems like a bad idea to me, but I can't see a way around it for my next Repstrap as I really want to keep a fixed bed.

by richrap - General New Machines Topics

Re: Build Bed material testing - methods, results and reasons. - 14 years ago

Thanks for the feedback everyone - Well, I had some fun testing everything I could find and here are my results - My reference is Opal Polycarb and Kapton tape, for me that's really good. In all tests I printed a 20mm Cube using the same Gcode each time and my Natural ABS is at 236 Deg C Same print speed (1000mm/Min) for all layers. PET tape = Not great, initially sticks well, but slowly un-s

by richrap - General

Re: SD card reader working with Reprap Software? - 14 years ago

I should have said - Serial should not be a bottleneck in Reprap style machines sending Gcode commands for many years yet. If you have a machine or Firmware that needs/sends Raw XYZE data (direct-drive of motors etc.) then you may need a higher speed comms interface in the future. Sending Gcode commands lets the Firmware (Machine) to do the work, where as many PC based CNC machines just drive

by richrap - General

Re: Build Bed material testing - methods, results and reasons. - 14 years ago

Thanks Buback If I carry on testing more materials I will post my results in the polymer group section, thanks. I did test 'normal' masking tape, it's no good for ABS, three different types of paper/card also didn't stick. I do now have some PLA but have not yet tested it, I will do a bit more investigation on ABS first. I'm not expecting to find a magic material that counters the warp withou

by richrap - General

Re: SD card reader working with Reprap Software? - 14 years ago

The PC is just sending GCODE messages to the Firmware, these are actually quite simple and not a high data rate at all. The Firmware is doing all the hard work and controlling the 'sudden changes in direction' etc. from 'simple' commands. That is also why when you hit stop on the Reprap host program it still keeps on going until the end of the last GCODE sequence. It should not be difficult to

by richrap - General

Build Bed material testing - methods, results and reasons. - 14 years ago

Hello Everyone, I started testing a few different bed materials with the intention to find a good build surface for COLD building and then to see what happens to the best surfaces when heated, a little and a lot. I get good results with a COLD Bed - Kapton tape stuck onto a 3mm Opal Polycarbonate sheet extruding ABS, only slight warp with most medium sized parts, but I recently changed the Poly

by richrap - General

Re: "Doboz", aluminum/plexiglass repstrap with (very basic) 3d scanner - 14 years ago

Really nice job, I will take a look at the blog later. You can always upgrade to ballscrews to get the speed up, or print yourself a Mendel ! Have you found any issues with the dual x axis motors? I am thinking about doing that on my next repstrap. Where in the world are you?

by richrap - General New Machines Topics

Re: Quality/Feedback Check: polyurethane resin casts - 14 years ago

Just search for Foton in this Forum You will find lots of feedback on these and similar cast parts. You will need to assemble carefully as Resin can crack under stress & strain.

by richrap - General

Re: Building Mendel - 14 years ago

No mention on the techzone site if it's a micro-step driver. It's not really any different from Gen3 or Gen6 RAMPS will give you a very good solution for minimal cost and it's easy to build yourself

by richrap - Reprappers

Re: Home Polymer Recycling Unit To Produce Filament - 14 years ago

I was wondering a similar thing- does anyone know of a commercial object made of PLA? ( not RP) And how reusable is PLA and ABS second time around? PP is low-cost but is very waxy, almost impossible to glue and would warp quite a lot if extruded in a RepRap extruded I expect. Milk cartons should be a good starting point as everyone has masses of them, and it's a large volume of clean plastic i

by richrap - General

Re: ABS and PLA Testers wanted - 14 years ago

I would like to test 1.7mm I would be very happy to make a new extruded to test 1.7mm if this is being offered?

by richrap - General

Re: "Oogoo" rubber compound - 14 years ago

I mixed up a batch and made a few different shaped blobs, cones etc. but I’m not sure if I used the correct Silicon (it was not very acid-smelling) as it didn’t dry for 2 days, I guess it was not correct. I tested it again and added Glycerine to the cornflour to make a paste before adding it to the silicon, this made it much easier to mix, and seemed to give it a much nicer texture for extruding

by richrap - General

Re: DIY Hot-End for Geared Extruder - Basic tools only. - 14 years ago

Hi Daniel I got mine from Zapp Automation - I may try this company next time I need some - And this one on Ebay is 20mm - They are known as 'round rail mounts' or as the ebay one 'spindle motor mount' Let me know if you use one or find another use for one - I was thinking about using one as the hot-end Heater-block, but at the moment it's easy enough to make one from Brass stock. If I c

by richrap - Reprappers

DIY Hot-End for Geared Extruder - Basic tools only. - 14 years ago

I made a New Hot-End last night loosly based on Adrians new model, but with a few changes to make it easier to make with just a Drill Press. It also uses the raw material parts I could find on Ebay for a few £ instead of expensive stock. Hopefully more people will try to make their own or maybe even design a Dual Hot-End Extruder... I first had a go at some heater blocks. - On the left was a

by richrap - Reprappers

Re: Extruder speed adjusting? - 14 years ago

The Flow-rate of feedstock does not change in the Spreadsheet when you change the nozzle size as you would expect but it is using the nozzle size and filament size to calculate the Firmware E steps/MM and the Extruder speed to use in Reprap host. I did use it as a guide, but ended up using slightly different figures for my setup. Back to the question by Hazuki - Make sure you are changing and s

by richrap - General

Re: Extruder speed adjusting? - 14 years ago

How much does a reel change? I can't see what you can do once you have sliced and started printing with the Gcode, if it changes during the print it's going to be hard to compensate until the next time you go to print? Can it mess up a whole bed of parts if you are using 1/2KG each print say? That did get me thinking if this could be done on the fly, you could have a sprung-mount digital microm

by richrap - General

Re: Extruder speed adjusting? - 14 years ago

It's not ideal having it in Firmware, but once you have it setup for a given extruder and gear ratio and Nozzle size etc. then you will never need to change it again. Until / or if you change to a new design of extruder or change Nozzle size that is. But you could always run two extruders if you want two different Nozzles etc. that's what many people will end up doing in the next few months. Th

by richrap - General

Re: Generation 7 Electronics Development - 14 years ago

You can just enumerate any micro with direct USB to look like a serial port and work in a similar way to the ftdi device, make it look like a standard HID device and it will be happy with win/Linux many examples exist, microchip has a whitepaper app-note on doing inside most PIC's serial speed is not really the issue. But a decision on what Micro to use is. Or actually it's a firmware and tool

by richrap - Next Wave Electronics Working Group

Re: Generation 7 Electronics Development - 14 years ago

Hi, Great start on an electronics collaboration page, I have been planning and working on a similar draft spec (Entitled Reprap Community Electronics 2011) It's nice to see an open community effort on this, too many electronic designs are being worked on by just one person, this usually leads to limited future expansion /flexibility or innovation. It's worth thinking about the firmware and hos

by richrap - Next Wave Electronics Working Group

Re: 3d systems buy bits from bytes - 14 years ago

3DS will be at TCT show next week and will have BFB kit on show - the press release from TCT- "TCT 2010 is only one week away and 3D Systems is gearing up to participate with informative presentations and comprehensive exhibits along with its new family member Bits From Bytes. We invite you to visit us October 18 - 20 at booth # M8 and # H10 and take this opportunity to see all of our latest de

by richrap - General

Re: Clothes iron as a heated bed? - 14 years ago

I just used this method for a quick and dirty Heated-Bed, Seems to work quite well (more testing tomorrow) - It was a brand new Iron for just £3.84 (TESCO)- It was also a good plan getting the cheapest Iron, as this just had a very thin Stainless sheet over a nice cast Aluminium base, and it was very small and Light, easy to take apart and fit onto a 3mm Aluminium Plate. While you are as T

by richrap - General

Re: Machined Extruder- Thorp's build log - 14 years ago

A lot can happen in a month... It's looking interesting, do keep on going with it. I'm having a go at my own, but there are limits with a drill-press and a hacksaw.

by richrap - Plastic Extruder Working Group

Re: Geared Extruder Nozzle - 14 years ago

Hi Brian that's great news, are you still happy to ship to the UK? My first nozzle from you is performing very well. Are you happy to make a minor mod or two if requested?

by richrap - General

Re: Vapour Smoothing System (HP) - 14 years ago

I like Victor's method - it would be interesting if you could make this into a head for Mendel so it could help 'weld' the layers during build or even as a second process after the build? I guess it could only do one side at a time unless it could rotate around the object- would be neat.

by richrap - General

Vapour Smoothing System (HP) - 14 years ago

Spotted this on the HP website - (Down at the bottom of this page) - http://www.3dprinting.co.uk/htm/coffeeBreak.htm - Nice picture of two gears Beore and After. The process works by immersing the part in a cloud of vapour, produced by heating a suitable solvent under carefully controlled conditions. The solvent condenses on the part dissolving the surface. The part is then moved to a freeboard

by richrap - General

Re: 3d systems buy bits from bytes - 14 years ago

I wonder if they (3DS) talked to Makerbot? they could now be seen as competition to crush by 3DS now, if they do throw money at it it's going to make it harder for Makerbot to keep up the pace. I expect the UP! printer rang a few alarm bells and maybe has something to do with them buying BFB. It's still going to be many years before any 3D printer is mainstream and can be bought and used ay any

by richrap - General

Re: Gen6 AI1B, heated bed controls? - 14 years ago

Cost issues? That's dissapointing. Adding it on afterwards is a big cost issue. Having a spare MOSFET output and a spare ADC input is a must for any electronics doing this sort of thing, it should only add 2euro (max)to the sales price. How is the Gen6 going to handle multiple extruders.

by richrap - Controllers

Re: Mendel frame is wobbly - 14 years ago

I guess you are in the US then? It means "I will give that a try"

by richrap - General Mendel Topics