Show all posts by user

Re: Print not perpendicular to print bed - 10 years ago

The axes of your printer are not orthogonal. You test for orthogonality by printing a rectangular solid and measuring the diagonals in each plane. When the axes are orthogonal the diagonals will have the same length. I wrote a spreadsheet that can help figure out the error and the mechanical correction to apply. You can DL it here: The title says XY but you apply the same principle to an

Re: what is the best extruder for abs? Struggling with mk8 direct drive... - 10 years ago

If you get a BullDog XL you'll have to make some minor modifications to the E3D v6 to get them to fit together properly. 1) file a couple small flats in the part of the hot-end that goes into the shoe on the extruder. 2) file a groove in the heatsink fins on one side of the hot-end to allow access to to the smaller screw that holds the foot on the extruder 3) grind down a 1/4" washer to act as a

Re: Problem with the extruder "tube" [picture] - 10 years ago

I've had good results from my BullDog XL pushing 1.75mm ABS through an E3D V6 hot end.

Re: what is the best extruder for abs? Struggling with mk8 direct drive... - 10 years ago

I've had good results with my BullDog XL pushing 1.75 mm ABS through an E3D V6 hot end.

Re: Large envelope printer - 10 years ago

3D printers aren't rocket science- you already know how they work, what sort of parts are needed, what they cost, and where to get them. All you need to do is scale up a smaller design or copy a larger design. The motors, belts, pulleys, extruders, bearings, electronics, etc. are mostly the same. Nothing is hidden. There are no secrets. And of course, there's plenty of help available in foru

Re: Large envelope printer - 10 years ago

What's proprietary about it? Look at the photos and build one.

Re: Bed mechanical bending/deflection - 10 years ago

MDF is glorified cardboard, and at 3mm thick, it IS cardboard. Try using a frame made of steel or aluminum square tubing. Over the distances mentioned, neither will flex enough to be a problem.

Re: LCD SD Printing advice/tips needed - 10 years ago

The SD card socket in the controller can't be shared between the printer controller and your computer that is accessing it via USB. Either pull the USB cable or eject the SD card from your computer. You'll probably need to reboot the printer's controller board too.

Re: Problem with the extruder "tube" [picture] - 10 years ago

It looks like you need better alignment between filament drive gear exit and the tube inlet. Was the extruder was designed for 3mm filament and you're using it for 1.75mm filament?

Re: Controller LCD contrast issue - 10 years ago

I just received a RRD GLCD for my Smoothieboard and found the contrast very low whether powered by USB or 12V supply. After checking a bunch of threads like this one I took a closer look at the GLCD module and found that there is a tiny pot on the back side of LCD board mounted near the edge near the backlight. Unfortunately the pot is designed to be adjusted from above, but above is where the

Re: Large envelope printer - 10 years ago

Re: Weird stepper issues - 10 years ago

see here:

Re: Weird stepper issues - 10 years ago

If your machine runs Marlin firmware on an Arduino, the variables are in the config.h file or configadv.h (I don't have it in front of me and forget which it is). If you're using a board that runs smoothieware all the variables are all in the config.txt file on the uSD card.

Re: WD-11 vacuum tube base - 10 years ago

Nice! I used to do a lot of old radio restorations, too. 3D printers are great for replacing things like buttons and knobs that are lost/broken and hard to find. I usually started with refinishing the cabinet, because if that wasn't possible, there wasn't much point in rewiring the chassis. It also provided inspiration/motivation to do the rewiring. I used to replace old electrolytic caps by

Re: Weird stepper issues - 10 years ago

Try adjusting the motor current (usually a tiny pot on the motor driver board) and/or reduce the speed and/or acceleration settings in the firmware.

Re: 5v stepper motors and ramps 1.4 - 10 years ago

Two of the great benefits of those stepper driver modules is that they are cheap and easily replaced. The only reason these are benefits is because they fail frequently. One common failure mode is breaking the tiny, fragile pot used to adjust the motor current. You've also discovered one of the other problems- measuring the motor current (by measuring the reference voltage) is tricky. Where d

Re: 5v stepper motors and ramps 1.4 - 10 years ago

The noise is typical. Check your speed and acceleration settings in the firmware of the controller. Reduce both until you get the motors to turn reliably, then start turning them back up a little at a time to find where they work best. Likewise the current setting(s) on the driver board(s). If the motor driver and/or the motor is getting hot you've got the current set much too high. At only

Re: Choosing shaft diameter for machine - 10 years ago

You could always use fully supported guide rails...

Re: 5v stepper motors and ramps 1.4 - 10 years ago

Those are pretty small motors- they only require 0.7A, so the little drivers that plug into the RAMPS board will drive them just fine. What isn't so fine is the fact that they are small and low current- they will provide little torque. They are quite a bit smaller than most of the motors used for 3D printers. With steppers, it is not at all unusual to operate them at 10X their rated voltage, s

Re: Heated Bed Design Basic Questions not answered on the wiki (that I could see) - 10 years ago

The main difference that matters, but only if your bed moves in the Y axis, is that kapton heaters are lower mass than the silicone heaters. If it has to move fast, lower mass is better. One slight difference is that the thermistor is usually embedded in the silicone heater (and you often don't know anything about it) which means if one of both wires get broken you'll have a hard time replacing

Re: scratch built rep rap in progress - 10 years ago

Linear guide has a single rail that has grooves for balls on two sides. The bearing blocks have two loops of recirculating balls on each side. Here's an example: These things are usually precisely machined and ground and there is very little play (as in undetectable without good measurement instruments) in the motion of the bearing block that rides on the rail. I used NSK LS-15 linear guide.

Re: scratch built rep rap in progress - 10 years ago

Here is my current X-axis design- very modular and scalable. I uses a linear guide screwed to a 1" square aluminum tube and NEMA-23 motor- you can probably use a NEMA-17 motor. The X-min limit switch is on the motor mount and is bumped by the linear guide bearing block. The belt tensioner/idler has a mount for an X-max switch if you want to use one. This assembly bolts to the Z axis screws in

Re: scratch built rep rap in progress - 10 years ago

If you're planning on printing with ABS, plan on enclosing it and keeping the electronics out of the enclosure so it can be operated at elevated temperature. I think you've got a good start. Try pushing on the frame. If it flexes perceptibly, make it stiffer. If it flexes when you push on it it will move when a bed or extruder carriage is moving back and forth. If the frame flexes print qual

Re: Max temperature heatbed - 10 years ago

I recently replaced a ceramic/glass cooktop in my kitchen and did a little research on the material. It's called Ceran, made by Schott in Germany. It has a near zero CTE. I attempted to liberate the old glass top from the electronics assembly that is glued to the bottom of the plate, but was unable to do it without breaking it. Maybe that material can be purchased for reasonable price in smal

Re: Max temperature heatbed - 10 years ago

Are you planning on printing cookies and baking them as they print?

Re: Bulldog XL Info - 10 years ago

I have had no issues with my XL. It is difficult to change the filament because of the tension on the pinch roller springs, so now I keep the hex wrench handy and release the tension before trying to change filament. I use 1.75mm filament and haven't had problems feeding it into the tube. I'm considering designing a tool to release the pinch wheel to make it faster and easier to change filame

Re: Arctic Freeze water cooled hot end - 10 years ago

Questions: What happens when it fails- pump fails or tubing gets pinched/clogged, pierced/cut, etc.? Will the pump motor last longer than a typical cooling fan motor?

Re: Cura export splitting object! - 10 years ago

I think meshmixer should be able to do it, but I haven't used it much, so I can't tell you what to do with it to correct the problem.

Re: Cura export splitting object! - 10 years ago

It looks as though you took two parts and just mashed them together with some overlap. That doesn't work. In your CAD file once you've positioned the parts you have to combine them to a single solid before you export as an STL file. There is usually some sort of "combine" or "join" function on a solids menu that is used to do that, but it varies depending upon the CAD package you are using. T

Re: Need help about the Slice - 10 years ago

I have not heard of an automated process for that, but Slic3r allows you to manually specify print layer thickness based on Z coordiantes. After loading an STL file, click on the settings tab, then the layers tab. You specify the layer thickness and Z range over which it applies.