PLA on an unheated bed will work just fine. If at some point you find that your print is peeling from the tape, you might have to wipe the tape with alcohol first - and then it won't ever release. If you're curling up, it could be temps or flow. You should always be running a fan on PLA - except maybe on the first layer. What layer heights are you running?by JohnA - General
When I go to 'build a reprap' I get a server error.by JohnA - General
In October (5th and 6th) I'm running a Prusa i3 Assembly Workshop in Wilmington, Delaware. I've spent a lot of time sourcing only good parts - we're not building cheap eBay junk! [*] milled and powdercoated frames from josef prusa [*] j-head hotends from reifsnyderb [*] chromed, hardened rods from makers tool works [*] borofloat heated bed glass [*] kysan stepper motorsby JohnA - Pennsylvania RepRap User Group
In October (5th and 6th) I'm running a Prusa i3 Assembly Workshop in Wilmington, Delaware. I've spent a lot of time sourcing only good parts - we're not building cheap eBay junk! milled and powdercoated frames from josef prusa j-head hotends from reifsnyderb chromed, hardened rods from makers tool works borofloat heated bed glass kysan stepper motors stainless threaded rods Class is 2 daysby JohnA - For Sale
It's definitely M5, and the rods were indeed made smaller to help with wobble issues.by JohnA - General
There are > 200 files that are dual extrusion / 2 color on Thingiverse: RepG can accept 2 STL files and will generate and merge the gcode automatically. Works easily.by JohnA - General
I mostly followed this for building my i3:by JohnA - General Mendel Topics
There are tons of vendors that sell metric rod online? Mcmaster, VXB, others....by JohnA - General Mendel Topics
Can't turn down a request from sound.... Single wall 'vase' printed on an i3 using the new 'vase mode.' Printed at 60mm/sec.by JohnA - Slic3r
If you need to slice it larger like that to make things fit, it's because something else is misconfigured somewhere. You can open the STL in anything and re-size it if you really want to go that route.... ReplicatorG, Repetier Host, Pleasant3D, etc. JohnA.by JohnA - Slic3r
I think I worked it out. It was a minimum layer time slow-down because my 'layers' were so short.... it was slowing way down.by JohnA - Slic3r
What's the failure mode on fake ones?by JohnA - General Mendel Topics
Used vase mode for the first time last night and it worked great! Just a few questions.... - what aspect of speed controls it? is it just perimeter ? - does the 'first layer' speed apply at all? what IS the first layer, when the whole thing is just one big spiral? It seemed slower than I expected, and dramatically changing some speeds in slic3r seemed to take a minute or two off the time,by JohnA - Slic3r
I built mine without an arduino box - I put the linear bearings on the platform, put the rods through, and then set the rods to be that width.by JohnA - General Mendel Topics
Got my hot-end from here: It was in-stock price was reasonable, and j-head is a proven setup. I figured I could always switch to a budaschnozzle or prusa nozzle or something else later on.by JohnA - General Mendel Topics
Pic of the first real print that wasn't a calibration cube.by JohnA - General Mendel Topics
My e-steps are off by just a few, after double-checking my calulated numbers with some other folks... but other than that, it's working great! Tons of pics here of various build steps for anyone curious: Parts list: - Frame - Jo Průša Rods - Matterfy Steppers - Ultimachine Rambo - Ultimachine Misc hardware / bearings - Ultimachine Printed parts: self-printed (Yelby JohnA - General Mendel Topics
Here are my pics of the 3D Printer Village this year: I never made it to the vendor area, so I don't have any real pics of that stuff...by JohnA - General
This is how 3D Systems does it, right? Ultrasonic + Caustic Soda for 3 hours....by JohnA - General
Forgive the crosspost in a few regional forums: This year at Maker Faire NYC we're going to have a giant 3D printing area. I think we're talking about a 60'x40' tent that'll be made up of both commercial vendors and hobbyists alike. If you're a hobbyist and you have an interesting printer, or are printing interesting things and don't mind spending 20+ hours answering questions then this miby JohnA - New Jersey RepRap User Group
This year at Maker Faire NYC we're going to have a giant 3D printing area. I think we're talking about a 60'x40' tent that'll be made up of both commercial vendors and hobbyists alike. If you're a hobbyist and you have an interesting printer, or are printing interesting things and don't mind spending 20+ hours answering questions then this might be for you! This will be the third year in a rby JohnA - New York City RepRap User Group
Couldn't it be a temperature variation? PID problem?by JohnA - General
Figured this might be of interest to some folks here. We had 35+ printers, including: Ultimaker, Ultimaker XL, Sells and Prusa Mendels, a RapMan, Solidoodle, MakerGear Mosaics, MakerBot Cupcakes and ThingoMatics, a Fablicator, some Fab@HOME units, and even the new Buildatron unit. I probably forgot a few. 2 sets of photos: I'm sure more pics will be up soon.by JohnA - General
As we did last year, there's going to be a huge "3D Printer Village" at Maker Faire NYC again this year. We had a big 20x40 tent last year, and might go even larger this time. Any DIY / homebrew 3D Printers are welcome, last year we had: sells mendels techzone huxleys makerbot cupcakes repstraps prototype printers fab@home and probably others i'm forgetting And had crowds the whole weekenby JohnA - New York City RepRap User Group
My father is selling his Mendel setup, which won the Editor's Choice at Maker Faire 2010 in NY this past year. Plastic / hardware / thick sheet: Electronics / Steppers / PSU: Heated Build Platform: - Soldby JohnA - Plastic RepRap Parts for Sale
In response to this: I've just started making my own notes about dates and topics from 2010 that have been milestones in the DIY 3D printer market, since that list was primarily focused on commercial stuff with a few exceptions. I'm open to any suggestions since I know we can collectively come up with a better list than I would have by myself. Post any suggestions, I'll include 'em! JohnAby JohnA - General
I use DX PET and Kapton tape and use tons of it, but I ONLY use it for my heated build platform surface, not for any thing where I need 'real' kapton.by JohnA - General
I've held cast parts from DesktopFab and the quality was really, really high. (I don't have any affiliation with them, but their parts looked nice)by JohnA - General
If the parts are print-ready STL files (already scaled correctly, and printable - no weird overhangs, other issues) then I'm sure you can find people to print them for you. Hell, I'd do it -- but it's not going to be cheap. A regular mendel set takes about 50 hours. How many parts do you anticipate your set being?by JohnA - Reprappers
spacexula Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > At $200 that's about $4 an hour for the printing, > which is not that bad really, not enough to run a > good business model off of, but enough to keep > people who like a self sustaining hobby going. Is that counting material cost?by JohnA - General