Hello Everyone I've got a reprap Huxley and I'm Interested in modifying it to print very small objects, preferably with a feature size of less than 500 microns. The main interest is to have the stage move in very small incriments, then to focus on a suitable extruder/patterning component to use with the stage This post is to see what's out there atm.by Just_Colin - General
Replaced the Y stepper driver and it works However now its the next problem... Manually commanding any of the axis to move is fine for only a few commands, then the humming noise continues and no other commands work. I either have to turn the motors off and on, disconnect and reconnect the unit, or press the home button to get movement again. Does anyone have any suggestions? Meanwhile I'llby Just_Colin - Sanguino(lolu)
I've just removed the stepper drive by pulling it out, thanks Before hand I didn't want to force it, and was trying to remove it from the base of the chip as opposed to removing the enrtire unit. The first thing I did was check the price of the entire board, frankly I dont want to bugger it up :s I'll update on the progress when I try and put the new driver in.by Just_Colin - Sanguino(lolu)
I've ordered a new Pololu stepper driver board for the Y-stepper motor. Does anyone have any advice for replacing it? It's pretty well soldered to the board, Will it involve removing the solder at all of the pins, then carefully replacing it with the new driver and re-resoldering it, I don't want to try and force it off incase 'i break it' Meanwhile I'm going to reverse the Y and Z connectionsby Just_Colin - Sanguino(lolu)
My bad I've copied the post to the Sanguino forum. I can't see any cross connections on the board, and am looking into the software aspect. Thanksby Just_Colin - RAMPS Electronics
Hello all I can control the x and z steppers but not the Y. When executing a Y command I can feel and hear a humming from the X stepper as if its trying to move, and I have only 'rarely 'gotten a humming sound from the Y stepper, but no movement, and typically I dont get any response from it. I've got a reprap huxley with a Sanguinololu board. Everything's connected up and it kinda talks to thby Just_Colin - Sanguino(lolu)
Hello all I can control the x and z steppers but not the Y. When executing a Y command I can feel and hear a humming from the X stepper as if its trying to move, and I have only 'rarely 'gotten a humming sound from the Y stepper, but no movement, and typically I dont get any response from it. I've got a reprap huxley with a Sanguinololu board. Everything's connected up and it kinda talks to tby Just_Colin - RAMPS Electronics
quite an elegant solution, I like the idea of having a drop of the liquid and then passing the tip though it. Perhaps blasting the surface with a pulse of somesort to expel a thin liquid coated surface. Not sure how the technical side would work though :s I think i'll stick to using viscous liquids which hold their shape for the timebeing, as a starter.by Just_Colin - Tissue Engineering
I've looked into extruding 'micro lines' but the problem I've had is the liquid never detaches from the tip, it happily rises up the tip end to form a large bulb like reservoir at the end. However I am trying to use fine tipped needles. How did you address this issue? I'm guessing treating the end to become hydrophobic would work, and a controlled burst of pressure would expel a certain volumeby Just_Colin - Tissue Engineering
A micropipette with the reprap sounds awesome! having any pressured container, or syringe like tip could work, then having the reprap increase the pressure to print. How will it be adapted for 3D work though? what will happen to the liquid. A glue like liquid could be used to print on powdered PLA then oven baked to set the structure... just throwing out ideasby Just_Colin - Tissue Engineering
Hang on, using the reprap to directly print tissue? You need a lot of specalized equipment to do any cell work. Contamination is a serious problem, and keeping them alive and well. As an interest I would recommend reading up where you can about the mechanism of printing and trying to adapt that to the reprap design, the heating step will kill the cells straight off so that would need to be chanby Just_Colin - Tissue Engineering
Not really tbh, the PLA we use is a liquid at room temperature, or a powder depending on its molecular structure, and for the most part we use a UV lamp to set it. Then again I havn't explored how it reacts after heating it, or after setting it then heating up the solid PLA afterwards. I hope the work on the reprap and my current work will complement each other.by Just_Colin - Tissue Engineering
Hey all I'm soon going to start assembling my reprap (when it arrives) and hope to use it along side my current work. For my work I kinda use a 3D printer to directly make micron sized structures and we use PLA and other 'biodegradable' materials for this, with micron resolution. PLA is very expensive! and we're usually working with a fraction of a gram at most for our structures. I wouldn't wby Just_Colin - Tissue Engineering