I've only been involved with reprap for a couple of years, but I think I have bought and used most of the commercial hot-ends. I agree that the J-head design is probably the best to recommend to newcomers to have the greatest likelihood of success. I have two, and several Makergear hot-ends that I had a surprising lot of fun assembling (really!). I especially like the groovemount approach for attby Mkouri - Developers
Well, that design is notorious for having a weak spot where the two materials meet. You CAN make a shorter insulator out of what you've got left, turn down the PTFE until its close to the same OD as the threads and it will self-thread into the brass or steel barrel (I did it with a hand file and six-pack of beer while watching TV), but the problem WILL reoccur eventually. Its at best a short-terby Mkouri - General
That was fascinating, thanks for sharing! How did you come up with the idea of using Legos?by Mkouri - General
After creating the 3d design and saving it in the STL format, you "slice" it to create g-codes, which instruct the printer in the print head movements to actually print that design. The g-code file can be transferred to an SD card which is installed into the printer controller, or more commonly still, sent over a USB connection to the prinetr controller one line at a time. The printer controllerby Mkouri - General
Have you recently switched to a new roll of PLA, possibly a different color from the same source or from a different source? I've found that temperature settings which are perfect for one roll aren't always appropriate for a different roll. I am guessing you are overheating this PLA, causing it to become harder to force thru the nozzle, which may have some burnt material inside it. Once you get tby Mkouri - Reprappers
Mike, Have you made any progress in diagnosing the problem?by Mkouri - Firmware - mainstream and related support
That would be one thing, another would be to hook up your wires from the extruder to another spot on the RAMPS board to see isolate the stepper driver, motor, and wiring. Are all four of your stepper motors the same?by Mkouri - Firmware - mainstream and related support
I went back unthread and re-looked at your configuration.h file and realized its different than mine. I am using marlin 1.0.0 beta 1 where you have RC1. Try this. Change the version string to today's date andouille in your name for username at the top of the file, and then set your E to 650. Recompile and re-upload to the Arduino again. After it uploads, go pack into Pronterface and connect to thby Mkouri - Firmware - mainstream and related support
That idea works for heated beds, many people use a fixed current and resistance to arrive at a fixed temperature, but for an extruders hot end as you push plastic thru it the plastic itself absorbs the heat so you need to dynamically adjust in order to keep the nozzle temperature stable. Also, as you print faster for larger surfaces you need to heat up the plastic more than for smaller objects i.by Mkouri - General
In Pronterface, below the dialog window to the right side there is an input box and a Send button. Assuming you've connected to the printer and saw legible text (even if it's meaningless to you right now) show up in that dialog window, just type (I think capitalization is needed) M503 and hit the Send button. More text should appear, mostly lines that start with echo: and then show you the M-codeby Mkouri - Firmware - mainstream and related support
I'm sorry to see that people are still trusting and having problems with Botmill. I bought a kit from them over a year ago that was literally useless. I won't go into my own trials and tribulations, but I ended up buying a set of plastic parts from nophead and recycled the nuts and bolts from the Botmill kit; pretty much everything else went into my pile of regrets. From your description of theby Mkouri - Reprappers
The parameters are in order of X, Y, Z, E. If I read your post correctly you are changing Z not E. What do you get returned from an M503 command (show current settings)? I believe you currently have the steps per unit for the extruder at 2224. You can try varying the parameters with an M92 command - M92 E650 would match my settings for extruder. Once you have dialed it in, use M500 to store thosby Mkouri - Firmware - mainstream and related support
Many g-code generators print the first layer or two slower than the remaining ones, for better adhesion. It sounds like you are seeing the slippage as the printer speeds up. Are you seeing each successive layer slip, or only in that transition from slower speed to faster speed? What speeds are you using? Do you have firmware that supports acceleration?by Mkouri - Printing
AFAIK, you should not need gcc, the Arduino IDE should be sufficient. Unfortunately, the Arduino compiler has changed several timed and each time that causes problems with the firmware compilation which someone eventually fixes, only to have Arduino change again. FWIW, I think I had to revert to 0.22 version of Arduino when I compiled Teacup for my bot last summer, but was able to use Arduino 1.by Mkouri - Reprappers
Camiel has been doing this for a while, I believe he is running a full-time web shop, so I consider this a combination of paranoia and victim of his own success, as you've suggested. I'm pretty sure he has hired help, but it sounds like he needs more. I think he would do much much better if he hired someone full time to handle customer interactions. If you read thru his older posts you can see aby Mkouri - General
The front page of has as good a description of PLA as I have seen. It extrudes at lower temperature than ABS, many (most?) people say it has a sweet smell compared to the the smell of ABS (the nicest I've seen for that is "foul"), it is generally easier to push thru the hot end than ABS, and once cooled is more brittle than ABS.by Mkouri - General
As you found out, pulling back too far is bad. It's better to increase the speed of retraction than increasing the distance retracted. I think I saw nophead say elsewhere that 1.8mm is about the most you would want for a bowden cable, so I suggest you consider that an absolute upper bound. The plastic parts for my first working Mendel came from him, and I consider the quality of his prints to beby Mkouri - General
I am in. Good luck on Kickstarter, I hope you meet your goal and are able to supply us with quality products.by Mkouri - General
I just re-read your original post and now see you have mechanical endstops. I have opticals. I suspect you will need to look at the config.h file from Marlin and edit the lines covering the endstops, probably changing from active low to active high, or vice versa, then recompile and re-install it on your Arduino. I am not near my laptop with the source code so I cannot confirm the specific linesby Mkouri - General
Are your endstops recognized when you enter G28 into the Pronterface 'send' box? I recently switched to almost the same setup from Skeinforge, and had similar issues before I remembered to edit my start gcode, I now have G28 followed by G92 (home all followed by zero all).by Mkouri - General
Replicatorg uses skein forge for the conversion of STL files to g-code.by Mkouri - General
Nothing, if you can find a dead fax, printer/scanner, etc. Check out garage sales, flea markets, etc.by Mkouri - General
For it's worth, I now agree wholeheartedly with spacexula. You're going to eventually need the experience, so get it from the start. I don't know that you save money up front With that said, I now considered myself satisfied with Botmill. I didn't get a preassembled kit, but I ordered a kit back before Halloween last year, and this month consider my relationship with them finally complete. In thby Mkouri - General
Thanks, that's good to know! I wasn't so much worried about fire, as interference. I didn't do a great job of making a symmetrical heater core, so the smaller piece of insulation rides very very low on the tip, not quite level with the tip itself but low enough that it always LOOKS like it's going to drag on something. I push it up with needle nosed pliers, it creeps back down. Maybe after I fiby Mkouri - Reprappers
I've got both. The maker gear kits are very complete, fun to build, and work just fine on my wades extruder. The Mendel-parts kits are high quality too, and work just fine on my Adrians extruder. The maker gear seems to heat up a little faster and hold it's temperature a little longer, and I worry about but haven't had any problems with the rubber coated insulation.by Mkouri - Reprappers
Are you sure it's in the min-z and not the max-z port?by Mkouri - Huxley
If you can arrange the flag to engage the opto then your location should be fine. I've seen comments about using soda cans for the thin sheet flags, in north america most soda cans are too thin for any except that one, at least in my experience. I have tried, but ended up using tuna can aluminum for the x and z flags, The springs are for when (not if) you crash the print head into the surface.by Mkouri - Huxley
I would first check the connections at the headers on the ramps board, for both motors and optos. Do they slide on and off of the pins easily? If so, you may not be making good electrical contact. Make sure the sockets are pushed fully into the connector.by Mkouri - RAMPS Electronics
FWIW, I was one of the people who bought a Botmill kit last year and was horribly disappointed. I saw their posting about replacement parts, contacted them, and today received a set of parts that are gorgeous. The quality compares to a set I bought from nophead. I'm gonna get some more vitamins and electronics and assemble me another Mendel!by Mkouri - General
Excellent! Yes, we understand the sense of accomplishment - it's alive, I am a creator! You'll get just as much of a kick from your first blob of melted plastic. Then the real fun begins...by Mkouri - Reprappers