Okay, I'll have to try that.by MaFraL - Reprappers
I printed a whistle from Thingiverse at 200C. The body came out fairly well, aside from some small holes. There was some trouble bridging the large gap to make the last side (the cause of the holes). The plastic sagged somewhat. The whistle also had a 'pea' in it. This was supposed to be a sphere, it also sagged and deformed. Could I expect a lower temperature to help with the sagging, or is therby MaFraL - Reprappers
Okay, thanks. I'll try to print with a lower temperature. I thought the entire extrusion would be discolored when the temperature was too high. I had assumed the occasional brown pellets were normal.by MaFraL - Reprappers
More prints, better prints! First four attempts to print the "cube." In order from earliest to latest. A 25mm diameter by 25mm high cylindrical container with a lid. Just to print something other than a cube and to make something of my own. I seem to have more success as I tighten down the clamping mechanism on the extruder and raise the temperature to around 240C. I'm wondering if Iby MaFraL - Reprappers
I fixed the jamming. It turned out that I had the large gear on my Greg's extruder on too tightly. I noticed that and loosened it when I took it apart. Now I need to figure out what software settings and temperature to use. I'll post photos of the prints I'm getting later. I'm posting from a cell phone now.by MaFraL - Reprappers
I have my hot end set for 210C. I don't have a fan yet, I'll try that. Extrusion has been stopping and starting. I played with the pressure on the pinch bearing a lot and it varied between being too loose, in which case the hobbed bolt dug a hole in the filament, and being too tight which caused the filament to deform and jam. I'm going to disassemble my extruder and see if I need to clean anythiby MaFraL - Reprappers
I'm having some trouble with my extruder now. It tends to jam a lot when it's trying to extrude. When I was calibrating and tried to send 50mm of filament through it, it would consistently seize up before the end of the filament. Does it not melt PLA fast enough to push that much through at 300mm/min? I did manage to get something of a print out of it (intended to be a solid cube), but it randomlby MaFraL - Reprappers
Okay, I'll hook it up that way. Thanks. Here are my RepRap and my power supply. I'm about to power it on and hopefully get the firmware on it and start calibrating and printing. I ended up going without the wire wraps, so my wires are an ugly mess, but it should work anyway. The round connector supplies 12v to the Gen6 board and the heat bed is just getting alligator clips for now.by MaFraL - Reprappers
Okay, and you just operate your heat bed on a 12v lead from an ATX?by MaFraL - Reprappers
Those are definitely cheaper than new. Another user recommended SparkFun item ROB-10846. I bought them for my Prusa but haven't completely finished yet to say how well they work because I ended up leaving out some parts in my initial order and had to have one of the steppers replaced because it arrived with a bent arbor.by MaFraL - Reprappers
The difference in ABSPrusa is that it uses different parts? I had guessed it just meant it used ABS plastic. I'm working on a V2 Prusa right now (also my first RapRap). The "Buying/Building My First RepRap" thread might help you figure out where to buy parts and how to work through some of the steps that are a little foggy in the instructions. There are actually a few people who were getting stby MaFraL - Reprappers
I ended up modifying a PC power supply (crudely). I pulled a +12v, +5v, and two ground leads out of the ATX connector and put a piece of steel wire between the 5v and a ground and spliced the other ground and the 12v onto a round connector I cut off of an old AC/DC wall converter I found laying around the house. It does give me 12v on my meter now. I couldn't get that voltage without the steel wiby MaFraL - Reprappers
Not yet. I need to wait for the replacement for my damaged stepper, build my extruder, and figure out a power supply. Then comes software/firmware. Are any of the other first time builders from this thread printing yet?by MaFraL - Reprappers
I actually already got that answer and wired my steppers from a page in the wiki. I didn't go looking for the data sheet though. There's a chance I wired mine backwards, but if that's the case I'll just flip my connectors over. I'm still having trouble with the power supply. Should I just modify a PC power supply, or does anyone know of a decent power brick I could get online?by MaFraL - Reprappers
I didn't want to wait for the Kapton to ship either, so I ended up getting fiberglass tape at a local electric supply store (I couldn't find Kapton locally). If that doesn't work out for some reason I'll have to order Kapton. Won't aluminum tape freely conduct heat to the shrink tube and melt it off the wires? I've seen people melt through that stuff accidentally when applying it with an electricby MaFraL - Reprappers
The instructions I'm following on the MakerFarm site say to use Kapton or something similar to insulate connectors and hold wires together on the j-head hot end.by MaFraL - Reprappers
SparkFun shipped me a motor with a bent arbor. I don't know if it was like that before it shipped or if it happened during shipping, but I sent them an email and they're shipping a new motor. I don't even have to send back the damaged item. They only requested a photo "for their records" and had already shipped the replacement by the time I sent that. I didn't realize I needed some kind of heatby MaFraL - Reprappers
Yes, I'm in the US (central PA) and ordered the SAE kit. Thanks for the offer Chuck, but I'll just see if I can find those connectors locally. I don't see them being too pricey, even if I do get them from Radio Shack.by MaFraL - Reprappers
Oops. I ordered right after I made that post. I'll either have to pay the $11 shipping for those connectors or try to find them locally. I intended to buy a few things locally anyway. I'll be able to get the wire and threaded/smooth rods at a hardware store. I'll have to check for those connectors while I'm in there. If I can't find them there or at Radio Shack I'll just have to place another ordby MaFraL - Reprappers
Okay. I'm ordering the kit from Maker Farm and using the SparkFun steppers you recommended. I should have at least one PC power supply laying around and can get a few miscellaneous parts from a hardware store. Is filament diameter important or can the extruders take both 1.75mm and 3mm filament? That $35 filament reel was 1kg from Amazon. If you could get me the part numbers for those connectorsby MaFraL - Reprappers
Thanks for the advice. I'll go through my orders again today and make some changes. Akhlut, McMaster doesn't seem to have a part with the number 91252A230. Thanks for the sleeve though. I had seen it on some videos of RepRaps and didn't know what to call it in a search, I was going to go to zip ties. I think I've finished my orders and the price comes to just about $700 with shipping (the printby MaFraL - Reprappers
I'm building a Prusa Mendel and need to ask some questions about purchasing components. I've looked up most of the machine's mechanical parts on McMaster-Carr's website (my order so far is attached as a PDF), found a length of belt (part number A 6T35MC100) which I believe will work on SDP/SI's website, and stepper motors (part number SY42STH47-1684B ) from Zapp Automation. It looks like I can bby MaFraL - Reprappers