Pearce. I only partially understood your description og the setup. Can you elaborate or take a pic? I think what you are saying is that you have aluminum plate with c channel on two ends. I like your approach because i am a huge fan of using common raw materials versus purpose designed extrusions and what not, but juat be aware of the ASTM specification for flatness in an aliminum sheet. I dontby DRobs86 - General
QuoteMechaBits Here's a nice tube cutter, pity it's a little out of reach for most of us. I was singing the praises of tube lasers on another forum just this morning. I was introduced to them recently myself. The first time I saw one on YouTube I decided my new life goal was to own one. Ha.by DRobs86 - Developers
I have never used a sang board, but I can tell you that grbl would be a decent choice. It runs on an uno and you can just jump to external drivers for a heavier duty machine like I assume you would have for your plasma cutter. The real challenge I think is getting good CAM software for the application. Plasma can't be run like a printer or a mill from heat I understand (note that I am not an expby DRobs86 - CNC Routers, Mills, and Hybrid RepRapping
As dc42 said there are significant drawbacks to the series configuration. Each motor has a resistance and an inductance and these values are additive when in series. Just pull off the step, direction, and enable pins and run external drivers. ... Or you could keep going down the path you described and rework marlin.by DRobs86 - General
Some are going to tell you how you could get it cheaper, but it sounds like a fair deal especially considering it's 1 already assembled and 2 comes with plenty of filament. What material is the frame? That can matter. That power supply us overkill by the way.by DRobs86 - General
What are you cutting the tube with? It sounds like you want something of a lathe setup, but I'm not sure why you want to rotate the tube 180 degrees to make a cut. Any gcode interpretor firmware such as marlin on a mega or grbl on an uno could be used to control the drivers that move the motors. Please be careful and do your research. An automated cutting machine, especially one that will be cuby DRobs86 - Developers
While I do agree that it's not the most rigid design, I think it's shortcomings are overstated. The vertical frame is clamped right near the line of action of the y axis. If you just barely push on the top of the frame it will deflect, but there really isn't much of a force acting there during proper printing where the extruder is depositing a droplet just above the previous layer. That verticalby DRobs86 - General
VDX that is some impressive work. I translated that page from German to English so I'm sure I missed some of the technical details but I am impressed. And it looks like you and I agree on the belt drive and have similar findings. Small width belts just should not be run too fast while the tool is engaged.by DRobs86 - General
Quoteseabass07 I never said throughout a part, but if I'm making a part that has a feature that I want to fit snugly into another or be in a precise place, I'd like that to be possible. It's not really that difficult with care. $300k will buy you way more than you need to hit a .002" tolerance. Keep in mind, we're talking about aluminum and plastics. If there is significant deflection while takiby DRobs86 - General
Quoteseabass07 If it's gonna cut metal, I don't think belts are the way to go. They're cheap, but will need replacing regularly and will really mess with accuracy. Just my opinion, but if it can't be accurate to within a couple of thousandths, then it's not worth it. If you want to hold 0.002 inch throughout a part, consistently and with any notion of speed you will need to be in the market forby DRobs86 - General
I agree that you need to be looking in the direction of measurement error likely caused by faulty thermistor or wiring.by DRobs86 - General
Coming to the party late here... I commend you on your effort to pioneer something but the physical properties of acetal just make it a poor choice for printing. If you a want acetal parts I suggest you buy a lathe, mill, or pay someone with these tools to make what you need. Don't fight physics.by DRobs86 - General
Its been a while since I looked at my RAMPS lately because hi do so much more milling than printingnthese days, but the RAMPS fuse is self resetting, correct? I am talking about an actual fuse from the power supply to the RAMPS so even if the MOSFETs were to fail closed the fuse would blow, leaving it unpowered. For that matter, I'm not exactly sure why the fuse on the RAMPS isn't staying trippeby DRobs86 - General
That sucks. Why couldn't you fuse the ramps with an actual fuse of 25 or 30 amps. That way you would probably get a puff of smoke but not an inferno.by DRobs86 - General
I could see some going for it, but I am personally more interested in what my printer can do versus how it looks.by DRobs86 - General
I'm also not a machinist, or even an engineer for that matter. I just love to build things. I have done some calculations on GT2 belt in the past. As long as thing stay reasonable, the belt stretch is pretty modest. 9mm GT2 belt is available and it is about 60% more resistant to stretch than 6mm GT2. Even 6mm GT2 belt can be suitable for many applications. The thing is that he cutting force ofby DRobs86 - General
Quotecat.farmer I have been looking for just that over the past few months. I decided I was just going to have to design and build one. I am looking at needing to mill aluminum, does not need to be a big build area(15x15 cm)would be good. precision would be my biggest request, it does not have to be "nuts on" but I can make bad cuts with my drill press. Thanks for adding to the discussion. Can yby DRobs86 - General
Thanks for the reply. An aluminum capable machine at a 300 price point is in theory doable but much more easily achieved with a machine that ends of priced at 450 to 500 plus. The issue is mainly cutting tool quality here. Aluminum can be cut with a 35 dollar rotary tool but the depth of cut has to be fairly shallow to keep from bogging or (heaven forbid) seizing the tool. What's more, these inexby DRobs86 - General
It would not be for milling heavy metal, but aluminum would be possible. It would mostly be for wood and plastics. Perhaps some very light cuts of mild steel would be attainable with the upgraded version that I have plans for. I am aware of the X carve and Shapeoko. I am actually on the SO forum. I don't own either, but both seem to be very nice machines for the money. The kits that I envision wby DRobs86 - General
I am exploring the possibility of manufacturing some CNC mill kits. I have built a couple larger machines that are working out great and I feel like a scaled down version sold as a kit would do well. I am trying to ascertain whether the 3d printer community has any interest in a milling machine. What would be important to you in terms of features, size and cost? For what it's worth I have talkby DRobs86 - General
I have been considering such a design myself.by DRobs86 - General
Have we found a cheap solution yet for preventing radial bearings from eroding aluminum rails yet? I saw seemecnc has some but it's over 2 dollars per bearing!by DRobs86 - Developers
So I have a working homebuilt cnc milling machine. I want to add a fairly powerful (as in capable of cutting acrylic and 6mm plywood)laser. What exactly do I need to buy? I see 40w laser tubes on ebay for not too much money but I really don't know what else is needed beyond that. Is the tube just a focusing system? Does a diode go on the tube? Are external mirrors needed? I really know nothing aby DRobs86 - Laser Cutter Working Group
Good all around analysis Frank. First let me say that 27 cents per kWh is steep! Ouch. Secondly I'm not sure that we don't want some of that extra heat though, particularly 28th abs. Don't we want the air around the print to stay a little warmer than ambient air? For instance, it's probably non ideal to print an 6x6 object on a 6x6 heater. The edges of the print would be subjected to a greater tby DRobs86 - Developers
How many amps are you you g to be pushing on each stepper? I'm not sure that you have enough safety margin.by DRobs86 - General
I think you are looking in the wrong place if your goal is to reduce carbon emissions.by DRobs86 - Developers
Scissor lift z axis with firmware compensation for nonlinearity.by DRobs86 - Developers
Outstanding job.by DRobs86 - Look what I made!
Cool. Best of luck to you guys. I would be interested to know how it goes for you guys selling this. I have so many ideas for machine designs that I really would like to start selling. I have one built and another in the works but both are really too big to sell and ship. Anyway.. Sorry to hijack your thread. I do have another suggestion for you. I know that you are trying to advertise the macby DRobs86 - Look what I made!
Congrats on the build. I also designed and built my own cnc machine so I always love to see other custom builds. I don't like what looks to be zip ties on the X axis linear rods. I would think that you could have created another piece that goes over the rod end to prevent or reduce movement of the rod end. I think the sip the stuff works fine on non contact applications like printers but not onby DRobs86 - Look what I made!