Show all posts by user

Re: where to buy filamant cash and carry? - 9 years ago

I would imagine most major meto areas would have a few places (large electronics stores like Frys or specialty stores), but I would think outside of those areas, your only hope is a one off, hobby shop or a mom & pops 3D printing specialty store. Sorry, but 3D printing is a big enough market for Wal-Mart or Office Depot to have any selection on the self. Keep in mind that shelf space in a re

by dclarkm - General

Re: Best material to reduce those pesky vibrations - 9 years ago

I seem to recall from working with Steppers of a few decades ago (Coil Winding application at a Utility Transformer manufacturer),you can get some vibration reduction with those mounting hole brackets, but a large portion of the vibration is translated via the actual shaft and that vibration is highly related to the micro-stepping settings and the current being driven to the motors coils. The me

by dclarkm - General

Re: Different styles of printers - 9 years ago

Any printer with a non-direct drive extruder is gong to make flex filament "difficult" to use. Deltas in general can use TONS of different filament besides the flex ones.

by dclarkm - General

Re: Servo control and automatic bed levelling - 9 years ago

QuoteSheldonE cozmicray Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Isn't this a bit absurd for a once a week > adjustment? Maybe, but I remember when printer paper came in perferated sheets with alignment holes on either side. Now the paper comes in single sheets and the printer aligns the paper automatically. To get 3d printers to the level of a consumer device, au

by dclarkm - General

Re: Why Metric? - 9 years ago

Quotetmorris9 I am 50 and always worked in fractions and decimals. Since I got into 3D printing I am learning metric and I really, really wish the U.S. had switched over to metric like they said they were going to when I was in grade school. It is base 10 not 12 and it is just so much easier. Jimmy Carter tried to tell us.....(go figure!) I'm sure you know, but the Imperial measurement system is

by dclarkm - General

Re: Windows 10 - 9 years ago

While it may be a bit for consumers to bite off, Big Business LOVES the fixed costs of subscription based software. M$ is just supplying what their biggest customers want (and makes them steady income, of course). You can bad mouth M$ and hate on their cost model but their stuff works. EDIT: That being said, someone is going to have to prove to me I need to move from Windows 7 or I'm not budg

by dclarkm - General

Re: Makershape, your 3D printing community - 9 years ago

Sorry, but I'm not putting in personal info to simply view a website.....good luck.

by dclarkm - General

Re: Is Autodesk Spark really "open"? - 9 years ago

I think it's a bit naive to get all upset because a huge corporation is trying to muscle in on a potentially burgeoning growth industry....what do you expect them to do? If you want to get technical, they didn't say OPEN SOURCE anyplace I saw and if it IS closed code wise, but they give it away (they did say FREE), then I'll be wiling to try it when it becomes available. You can hate on the 500

by dclarkm - General

Re: Soldering resistor onto A4988's ROSC pin - 9 years ago

QuoteOhmarinus From translating it I found: "so I have the R4 10k resistor bridges" So this probably means I have to pull R4 to ground with a 10K resistor? I think it means the R4 is a 10K resistor and he is "bridging" it....meaning shorting it out. That would put the ROSC pin at ground (note that the R2 that would be the top of the divider for ROSC is NP....not populated). At least that's my

by dclarkm - General

Re: bah, I say, to ATX supplies - 9 years ago

ATX supplies usually require both 5V and 3.3V to have some minimal load before GOOD 12V regulation kicks in. The requirement vary widely and the manufacturers would not publish numbers on what is required to run a good, regulated 12V only output (since they don't design the things to be run that way). It's really a crap shoot for the sake of day one savings.

by dclarkm - Developers

Re: OpenSource design where bed doesn't move? - 9 years ago

Any of the Delta designs popular now (Kossel, Rostock) have fixed print beds. But these are designed for printing tall in a smaller diameter build area rather than large X/Y with a shorter Z that you are describing.

by dclarkm - Reprappers

Re: Filament slipping - 9 years ago

from the video he posted, the bearing does not seem to be moving when the hobble gear is advancing the filament (Zavashier above mentioned this). It could be a combination of the gear not applying pressure to the filament side AND a blockage of some sort at the bowden tube end.

by dclarkm - General

Re: MakerGeeks.com Mini Kossel Kit - Junk! - 9 years ago

I had many of the similar experiences but will refrain from posting my full opinions until I actually have the refund check cleared (haven't gotten it yet). I will say Josh was great to work with and replied to all my issues promptly (but he could just not deliver a satisfactory product to me)

by dclarkm - Delta Machines

Re: Frame stability, higher acceleration and crazy cooling - 9 years ago

Wow....2 m/s velocity within a 0.5 m cube? That would need 80 m/s^2 acceleration just to crash the head at top speed into the far end stop.....ambitious is not the word I would use, but I would LOVE to see the test videos. One thing I will add is that most of the cube designs I see posted around here lack one component I seemed to pick up a critical for rigidity in my limited mechanical engine

by dclarkm - Developers

Re: Filament storage - 9 years ago

I wonder if one of those cheap food de-hydrators could be used for this purpose?

by dclarkm - General

Re: Big size printing (25cm x 20cm x 10cm - 9 years ago

Isn't 230C a bit high for PLA? I have always heard that you should print at the lowest temp you can to reduce cooling shrinkage. I would suggest dropping your hot end temp to 200C (or lower).

by dclarkm - Printing

Re: Filament storage - 9 years ago

So do any of the long term printers here do any actual oven drying of spools before printing? I've seen reports that doing so gives the best results (even if storage precautions have been taken).

by dclarkm - General

Re: Length of the linear rail for a delta printer? - 9 years ago

I was under the impression that the min 20 degrees (for maintained accuracy) was between a tower and it's own arm (at closest position). All usable print radius claims I've seen are 70-65% of the tower to center distance. That only gives the usable print radius (Sin 20 or about 34% of RADIUS (tower to bed center distance)). Accuracy plummets very fast closer to the towers (or out between them)

by dclarkm - General

Re: SeeMeCNC Rostock Max V2 kit. - 9 years ago

Very interested in any feedback anyone has to offer on this kit. I recently purchased a mini-kossel kit from another vendor and am very close to returning it for a refund. Lots of misrepresentation on what I would get and what I actually got....far too much money for disappointment. That's another story.

by dclarkm - Delta Machines

Re: New RepRap Design: Your Thoughts Please - 9 years ago

Pretty much anything other than precious metals or high end alloys are going to be cheaper than copper these days......

by dclarkm - Reprappers

Re: Printer by Picture List - 9 years ago

While I applaud the idea, I do believe the main wiki Reprap Options page does a pretty good job of this and is the 2nd link down on the main page (Build a Reprap). Am I missing something or does that page not list the majority of the printers on the wiki under their pictures? That page is what I used when first looking into 3D printing a few months ago.

by dclarkm - General

Re: Stepper motors make noise but shafts refuse to move. - 9 years ago

QuotePCIsSuperior I have no end stops hooked up right now....... ....and the controller is likely reading this as a triggered endstop (per my previous comment). Not sure what the g-code is to read the enstops, but you can try that to see if this may be the issue or not.

by dclarkm - Printing

Re: My CoreXY printer iteration! - 9 years ago

Quotecozmicray Neat Z Axis drive but a lot of belt stretching and moving -- less accuracy? How about shaft drive Shaft linkage from one stepper motor to three lift screws? Ball screws expensive? I'm guessing that belt is shorter than the COREXY belts...or nearly the same length. Why would it be an accuracy issue and not the X and Y axis ones? If anything, the accuracy of belts in general C

by dclarkm - CoreXY Machines

Re: Kossel Mini Kit Review - 9 years ago

Bought the same kit 2 weeks ago....starting to wish I had investigated this purchase a bit closer before diving in (I'm not a huge DIY guy and reading these posts does not instill confidence in me getting this kit working). I'm also not overly happy that my CC was charged hours after I placed the order and I still don't have even a rough estimate of a ship date beyond, "we are running 2-3 weeks

by dclarkm - General

Re: New RepRap Design: Your Thoughts Please - 9 years ago

Per DonaldJ's concern, having the build plate balanced between those 2 lead screws presents a lot of general stability issues for the build platform. If there are other means of support than the lead screws that I just can't see from the picture, ignore my concerns.

by dclarkm - Reprappers

Re: Stepper motors make noise but shafts refuse to move. - 9 years ago

I'm guessing you need to fake out the end stop switches.....(or at least check their status before assuming the motors or motor connections are at fault). Triggered endstops will inhibit any motor movement.

by dclarkm - Printing

Re: Is my limit switch (End Stop) Fauty? - 9 years ago

Might want to document or mark the input as bad, so you don't repeat this months from now....

by dclarkm - General

Re: Large Custom Swedish Plotter Machine HELP NEEDED - 9 years ago

The 25 pin plug is likely a serial port and it likely accepts standard serial port plotter commands of that time (cursed more than a few of them in my time....). While you might be able to find some old software to try and run it, the suggestions above to just try and salvage the frame, motors and heavy metal while scrapping the control electronics is your best bet (and you state that is your ac

by dclarkm - General

Re: How accurate is your delta? - 9 years ago

Quotedc42 For Marlin firmware, it will depend on the print speed, because the number of segments to use is specified "per second" in the M665 command. That's a very interesting point. I'm guessing a non-delta would not have the same possible issues?

by dclarkm - Delta Machines

Re: How accurate is your delta? - 9 years ago

If you are using the calibration instructions on the wiki, my cursory review of the delta ones (which I will be using shortly as I have a Kossel-Mini kit on order) raised some questions on setting parameters in the firmware for a delta. The instructions left me with some confusion and questions regarding the adjustment of the z-axis flatness parameters that I cannot help but think might confuse

by dclarkm - Delta Machines