Yeah, but I wasn't entirely sure what it meant. QuoteThe USB 5V VBUS is connected to the output of the 5V regulator. This is bad for the regulator and bad for the PC. Some users report the regulator getting very hot (because it is trying to power the PC), other users report the PC giving USB over current errors. Nophead and Nothinman recommend cutting the 5V track to the USB connector. The onlyby makeme - Sanguino(lolu)
So, a bit of backstory. I got this Sanguinololu put together, along with a 12v power supply that has an LED next to the rail letting you know when it's live. The PS doesn't have a switch on it at the moment, so I leave it unplugged from the wall when I don't need it. So it was connected to the screw terminals on the motherboard, but without wall power. I plugged the USB cable in and got a good coby makeme - Sanguino(lolu)
As I understand it, 1.75mm is easier to push through small nozzles because it's smaller than 3mm.by makeme - General
If the ultimate point is to provide closed-loop positioning, and this solution is roughly $390 more expensive*, then would that money be better spent on some kind of machine vision? Then the feedback mechanism could be stuck onto any computer controlled positioning system and could probably be upgraded to provide quality control of the part itself. * $125 for motor and encoder $500 for 4 axes vsby makeme - General
The RAMPS board has open slots into which you need to put stepper drivers. That way you can upgrade the stepper drivers, or replace them if they burn out. Not all electronics have removeable stepper drivers. Some of them are part of the board.by makeme - Reprappers
There are too many variables to say whether or not a unique application will or won't work. You'll basically know within the first couple millimeters whether or not the plastic is going to adhere properly. It either will or it won't. If it doesn't there are a lot of things you could change to try to get better results (the paper, surface coatings, the plastic, extrusion temperature, first layerby makeme - General
RepRaps can do .1mm layer heights. They can also print lines that are thinner than 1mm, depending on how small the nozzle is and how slowly you extrude. Plastic, particularly ABS, tends to shrink as it cools, so when you print it onto a thin, flexible material (like paper) it will either detach and curl up into the air or make the paper wrinkle. That might not be a problem. It's a balancing actby makeme - General
I can't find anything that's already used to add a relatively thick, harder outer layer to a softer part. And you make a good point that the coating would have to be pretty thick to support itself, otherwise the soft middle would deform and let the surface crack. Like a hard boiled egg. But there are plastics that are harder than the extremely common ABS/PLA. For example, nylon might be a littleby makeme - General
Has anyone tried printing the filament drive gear and dipping or coating the ABS/PLA/nylon/whatever in something that dries to become harder than the plastic? If the drive gear and/or hobbed bolt could be printed, and then made hard enough to drive filament with some kind of coating, that would be cool. Just wanted to check and see if it had already been done and I missed it.by makeme - General
Thanks guys, that posi-drive stuff is described as handling non-parallel shafts and can be endless. I can't find much information on it outside of that. Time to experiment!by makeme - General
Quotegaryhlucas You actually can drive timing belts around corners. They easily twist 90 degrees to go off in a different direction, then twist back 90 degrees. So they can bend 180 degrees around an intermediate set of pulleys. I'm not sure from reading that if you mean that they can be bent into new planes, or if you mean they can do complicated things in one plane. I've attached an exampleby makeme - General
Quoteiquizzle I also think that gt2 is generally the best timing belt technology for 3d printing. The point is finding a linear motion transmission system that can work in more than one plane. Belts are great if the axis of all of the bends are parallel, but if they're not, then it doesn't matter how great the belt is because it can't go where it needs to go. After looking at the synchromesh itby makeme - General
Thanks for the brand name and link crispy1! I originally tried searching for "synchromesh" but nothing showed up on Google so I thought I had remembered the name wrong. This thread indicates that it has worked well for the Bukobot Seems to be working here too Anywho, the reason I thought about this timing cable is that I want to see if I can move all of the motors to a stationary positioby makeme - General
I could have sworn I saw a few projects that were using some kind of timing belt that looked like a spiral around a wire so that it could bend in any direction, not just in two dimensions. Now I can't find anything like that. Does a spiral timing belt sound familiar to anyone?by makeme - General
Quotedslc if their programming and hardware design remains something they do in their 'spare time'. And if people are to work on something wholeheartedly, or full time, they need to simultaneously look after their worldly needs. Based on the research I've seen, open source developers are primarily motivated by pride and community esteem. Money is a weak secondary motivation. They just want to soby makeme - General
That's cool. Very linear and free of distractions. Reminds me of oManual and open hardware hub (and of course instructables)by makeme - General
Looks like the design is prioritizing, you know...design...as opposed to function. If it's exposed that kind of makes a certain amount of sense. If it's enclosed then there's no point. Not really sure which it is. Why did you start over with a new design? What was lacking in existing designs?by makeme - Developers
I'm Matt. I'm participating in a program called Startup Weekend. The goal is to figure out the structure of a business in one weekend. My team wants to create an open community portal (called Allegory) for teachers to collaborate around creating/improving hands-on aids and the associated lesson plans. Digital fabrication tools like 3D printing, CNC machining and laser cutting are becoming more aby makeme - General
Maybe try "split object" on the Object Placement tab. It kind of looks like the slicer is getting confused and giving them both the same origin coordinates. As two distinct objects, rather than one file, maybe it will preserve the distance between them.by makeme - Slic3r
That basic idea sounds like this thing that Ford made. It doesn't use a hammer, it just has a little bead push the metal into a new shape through direct pressure, but aside form that it's similar. Keeping the work piece the right temperature would be interesting.by makeme - Mechanics
What do you mean by an accordion cross-link or scissor lift? Where would that be?by makeme - Mechanics
You could use some variation on the geneva wheel and a little DC motor to index the multi-head. Less expense/weight than a stepper and it would have a mechanical hold with power off. Also, you shouldn't have to spring-load the nozzles like that. If they're free to slide up and down (which is a non-trivial part of the design) then they'll just slide up the ramp and as soon as the extruder motorby makeme - Mechanics
Moving the temp sensor wires around more seems to have stopped the errors, but when they crop up after an hour of printing they're kind of unacceptable. For what it's worth, I had to just increase the minimum limit so that it didn't error out anymore.by makeme - Firmware - mainstream and related support
Yeah, got the "dry run" error and that's the only part of the code I could find that referenced it. So far I've gotten an hour of printing by carefully moving the temp sensor wires so that they aren't anywhere near any motors; particularly the Z motor. Maybe the Z motor's occasional spikes caused temperature errors large enough to put it into dry run. The temperature graph has shown several dipby makeme - Firmware - mainstream and related support
I just started using Repetier firmware and host to run my Mendel (RAMPS 1.2, Windows 7). It was printing just fine at first. But now it goes into dry run mode right at the beginning of every print and never actually prints anything. Based on the error it seems like it can only be coming from momentarily high/low temperature readings. I say "momentarily" because the temperature graph doesn't shoby makeme - Firmware - mainstream and related support
It seems safe to assume that all of you are already familiar with the need to publicly document a project in order for it to qualify as open. The best method of doing that, however, is open for discussion and/or development. The Open Hardware Toolchain Survey is an attempt to uncover a basic list of user/developer requirements that can be contributed to the documentation discussion and, ultimateby makeme - General
I can't tell from the picture, but I assume that's a threaded rod. Sewing machines have to tension the bobbin that thread comes off of; welding machines have to do the same thing. They both use a nut to compress a spring against the rotating spool. Tighten the nut, so the spring compresses, and the spool takes more tension to rotate. Loosen the nut to fee the spool. A spring that's big enough toby makeme - Let's design something! (I've got an idea ...)
I've been figuring that a tapered roller bearing would be the best choice. All the parts could be printed without overhangs and it can be easily taken apart or put back together.by makeme - General
This post might help you out A good dimension to categorize the printers on is DIY/COTS. Another good dimension is whether or not the machine is a dedicated 3D printer or a generic CNC machine that can be used for 3D printing. I noticed that you don't seem to have Makerbot on your list.by makeme - General
Well, now Ultimaker and Makerbot have examples of detailed figurines. Looks like it's up to someone with a well-calibrated Reprap to provide some comparisons.by makeme - General