QuoteDRobs86 ..do you really think that you are going to design a relay driven 3d printer... I don't know. Perhaps. It's an experiment. QuoteDRobs86 ...then send the 300 relays needed to drive it (or maybe just the nails and coils of wire for diy relays) with a bag of 3D printed parts to an uneducated impoverished man in the third world who will somehow know how to read your instructions (hey..by WillStevens - Developers
Hi Matt, Thanks for the links to the other escapement mechanisms. It uses a sliding escapement (not much point posting a diagram because I'm sure it could be improved). I haven't tried any other escapement mechanism yet. Willby WillStevens - Developers
Hi Matt, The cardboard CNC is interesting - I like the hand-driven part of the video from about 4min 30s. I got a gravity powered unidirectional stepper motor working this morning: Gravity powered stepper motor It needs more work to increase the available torque - the diameter of the toothed wheel could be increased. I expect that the solenoid/electromagnet actuator can also be improved. Itby WillStevens - Developers
@Revarbat: I've been following your work on Snappy RepRap since I came across it last year - it's really impressive and I hope to make one when I find the time. I've started a blog about exploring the possibility of making a Reprappable control system for a Reprap: RelayRepRap blogby WillStevens - Developers
Here is the circuit diagram for the divider part of the video of the stepper motor speed controller from my earlier post. http://www.srm.org.uk/transfer/stepper_speed_control2.jpg The other parts of the circuit are the clock and the stepper driver from previous posts (Clock, Stepper Driver). The simplification that I had hoped to make (mentioned in my last post) did not work - not yet at leastby WillStevens - Developers
Here's the relay clock circuit: http://www.srm.org.uk/transfer/relay_clock.jpg It doesn't produce an entirely clean output - there is bouncing for a few milliseconds on the transitions, more so on the closed-to-open transition than on the open-to-closed transition. That doesn't seem to matter. However, if I take the clock signal from the normally open contact of the relay on the right (rather tby WillStevens - Developers
Here's an extension to the stepper driver. It allows the speed to be set to 1/1, 1/2, 1/3 or 1/4 of the clock speed using two digital inputs that determine when a 2-bit counter resets. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vq8iM2-N2kw It uses 14 relays for the stepper motor driver, 15 for the 2-bit divider stage and 2 for the clock. The clock timing is determined by two capacitors made from sodium-biby WillStevens - Developers
Here's an improved version of the stepper driver that uses fewer relays (14 rather than 19): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebBBnpma_iQ This is the circuit diagram for the improved version: http://www.srm.org.uk/transfer/stepper_driver_circuit.jpg And here is an idea about how to make a 3D printed relay from nails and copper wire (at the time of writing it is only SPST, I hope to make it SPDby WillStevens - Developers
Here's a video of a stepper motor controller made from relays: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1C2gLwbhtlY I'll post the circuit diagram later.by WillStevens - Developers
I finally found time to tidy up the source files for this. I've put them here: OpenSCAD source for the siphon: http://www.srm.org.uk/downloads/fluidic_logic/siphon.scad OpenSCAD source for the connecting channels: http://www.srm.org.uk/downloads/fluidic_logic/siphontubes.scadby WillStevens - Look what I made!
All those relay computer links are really interesting. I like the 2-relay toggle flip flop design in the 4-bit counter paper that bobc posted (it uses some relay behaviour that I hadn't ever thought about) and the efficient register design in the TIM8 with 1 relay per bit. I'm on the look out for old books and references about relay circuit design. I remember reading somewhere that in some relayby WillStevens - Developers
Hello, I'd like to extrude a 2D shape along a path to make the following 3D shape: Bridge with curved ends Does anyone know if it's possible to do that in OpenSCAD? Or if not then is there alternative free 3D software that will do the same thing (extruding along an arbitrary path)? The reason I want to make it by extruding is that the way I've done it at the moment is really ugly and does notby WillStevens - 3D Design tools
@bobc I've no answer to the question of how to produce the punched tape without an electronic computer. Maybe it will be possible to come up with a machine to make tracing out paths by hand and punching them onto tape less time-consuming. Perhaps if objects are designed and represented slice-by-slice from the outset (rather than as 3D models in STL files) then generating a path from a slice woulby WillStevens - Developers
@Gene Hacker Thanks for the fluidic actuator patent link. I am interested in the possibility of using fluidic control, and also purely mechanical logic using solid parts. The reason that I think that relays are more feasible (in the short term) is that there is already a lot of work on making reliable and fast (10s of Hertz) relay circuits, so controlling a reprap using off-the-shelf relays isby WillStevens - Developers
That RepRap Morgan is brilliant. Regarding 3D printers that are as nearly self-replicating as possible, requiring as few vitamin parts as possible, I'm interested in technological bootstrapping going right back to wood, clay, rocks and metal ore. To begin with I'm trying to work out whether it's practical to make a 3D printer where the only vitamin parts are copper wire, soft-iron rods (e.g. nby WillStevens - Developers
Hi, Here's a video of a reprapped fluidic logic circuit that I made recently: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fo85u9mnp9k It was made with a RepRapPro Huxley. Each siphon has a transparent window glued to the front. The connecting conduits have no front - they are open channels. The insides of the siphons and the channels are coated with Rain-X AntiFog, which is hydrophilic. Willby WillStevens - Look what I made!
Hi Does anybody have any experience in reprapping objects that can hold water? What's the best way of waterproofing them after they've been made? I'm interested in experimenting with making siphon-based fluidic logic - inspired by hydrostatic fluidic systems like this: http://www.marcdatabase.com/~lemur/dm-gitton.html#clocktheory http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFGVOWGnUpg&feature=relatedby WillStevens - General