Hope this is OK I have taken the liberty of creating a thread for the 3d Scanner in:- Other Fabrication Tech. (Computer Controlled) This is not that any of the others are'nt worthy of the same (I realy think they are) it's just that I fancied this one too much to not make the effort. cheers aka47by aka47 - Mechanics
OK this is one carried over from the Mendel Tool Head Wishlist. To kick off How about a distance measuring pen that can be put into Darwin (or anyother) in place of the extruder. 3D Scanning could then be literaly a scan of the object on the bed (not used during the scan) and will give a topo plan. aka47by aka47 - Plastic Extruder Working Group
3D scanner hmmmmmm Now there's a challenge. Don't know about you guys but that one is worth a discussion/thread all of it's own. I am not sure if here is the best place though because this is something that could be implemented (and I am not sure that it shouldn't be, I can think of lots of reasons why it should) for Darwin. I fancy doing some thinking and discussing on this one.... What doby aka47 - Mechanics
Thanks kyle Correctly speaking the limit switches should really be something that cut the drive for anything but the reverse direction. (Saves burnout and smash) Ideally without requiring the motion controller to think about it (A hard wired reflex if you like, that saves burnout and smash caused by software crash). This is very easy with micro switches and servo driven DC motors and correctlyby aka47 - Mechanics
Viktor Looks cool. I like bots. Just for fun here's an idea for 2 opto interrupters in 1. length of the interrupter decides which sensors are interrupted. Separation distance for the two sensors and angle is determined by the angle of emission of the LED. This is so obvious I think someone must have done it before somewhere. aka47by aka47 - Mechanics
If you mount your opto sensor on the moving platform (Whichever axis) you only need one for the axis. And an interrupter (Post/flag/sticky out bit) for each of the three stations ie either limit and the middle. I guess if you want to be really sure and don't want to construct clever rules to determine state you could use two opto sensors mounted on the moving platform and arrange them so that thby aka47 - Mechanics
hehehehe That ones easy If your either a priest or supplicant then you refute any technology that is'nt your one true faith, The rest is heresy and must be cast out by any means possible. If you are an engineer then you choose the established technology that best suits the application within the specified cost constraints and that choice can be backed up by math etc that stands up to verificatby aka47 - Mechanics
Following on from Sean's post earlier Error correction and re indexing steppers. As you observe zeroing the heads at regular intervals is not a bad idea. But as later observed breaking off from work to do this is impractical. There is a general assumption to all of this that zeroing is achieved by running the steppers up to a physical stop (Risky and likely to contribute to burn outs to motorby aka47 - Mechanics
Hmmmm I seem to remember someone turning out potting resin in mix in the bag packs. Sort of a plastic bag with two compartments and a clip on divider. Two part epoxy was in the bag one part in each compartment. Remove divider, massage bag till mixed, cut corner of bag and pour. The surplus set in the bag and could be thrown away relatively safe. (If you did'nt use it for something else ) aby aka47 - Mechanics
Hurro Viktor If milled with a pointed mill having a 45 degree angle/cone or even a square ended bit set at 45 degrees glue placed along the inside of the fold just before folding should be enough to hold it whilst molding. I can actually see a market here for diy repstrap items in kit form. Sheet pre milled plus resin + filler. With Templates and drawings available in Open commons or GPL for thby aka47 - Mechanics
On the subject of milling and folding. Diabond looks pretty useful, this could be milled (Top layer and middle) leaving th lower aluminum layer as a hinge. aka47by aka47 - Mechanics
Hehehehe I never said I was a good locksmith.... aka47by aka47 - Mechanics
There's something desperately wrong with the logic... (Sorry cultural differences in play here) You can have assault weapons, guns and bullets but no Teflon..... It's a bit like saying you can molest children but are not allowed Vaseline. Sorry, yes, I am from across the pond..... There are also friction reducing car fuel and/or oil additives that do similar I think it is called Slick50 or Sby aka47 - Mechanics
Ummmm, Teflon is slipy stuff, good, thinks me it is (In best yoda style) Talking of which. there is Teflon depositing lubricant that comes in aerosol spray cans for bicycle chains etc. this should also help no end. And is easily within fiscal reach. aka47by aka47 - Mechanics
Hmmm The ferrite or ferous material to use as filler doesnt want to retain magnetic field otherwise the linear would be severely impared. The Resin and Ferous filler is a replacment for the soft iron laminations in a motor/generator that complete or form the magnetic circuit. A ferrous filler that has a high hysteresis ie retains too much of the orientation of it's last magnetisation will resby aka47 - General
A favourite lubricant could also be graphite, the locksmiths favourite. Pure and simple. Take pencil and rub It is also cheap to try and easily cleaned off if no good. Actually changing the nuts for ball nuts would be better. (But you are starting to get into purpose built lead screw territory here and that is disproportionately expensive) Yes lubrication should yeild a big improvement both iby aka47 - Mechanics
Sean My apologies for being a little opaque. By run forever I meant it takes too long to execute anything, being semi interpreted the processor has more to do and therefore works harder than if code were fully compiled. I remember star office (Write once, run anywhere, run forever) being a bit of a dog and not very snappy..... aka47by aka47 - General
Excellent Many thanks Sebastien.... Please find attached the spreadsheet that the previous link went to. Cheers aka47by aka47 - Mechanics
I think if your dead interested in the PCB production (Me Too) the PCB production thread in the old mechanical topic is very much worth a read. The tools discussed there have magically found their way into the list above. cheers aka47by aka47 - Mechanics
I can recommend as reading anything by Hugh Piggot. He's a Scottish guy who lives on the scoraig peninsula does wind power to death. Particularly making your own alternator/wind turbine using break drum components in the building of the alternator. Clever guy with shed loads of kitchen table technology, including lathing molds for permag, axial alternators using a made up lathe from a washingby aka47 - General
Hehehehe No C = No Linux and a shortage of reprap firmware. Viva la C. Still very much current and doing the job it's good at. Cheers aka47by aka47 - General
Hmmm Like the idea of linear drive. I think we need an stl design, motoring and circuitry for a universal winder. Coiling automated bliss, by hand erm sperm of the devil. I need one anyway as on my list of items to reprap is a leccy windmill..... cheers aka47by aka47 - General
Demented Sir You are sick Vi is the best ever, along with make, grep, awk and sed. man is your friend..... perl and indeed php are the muts nuts but absolutely nowhere as good as C and Assembler. sick sick sick java..... sick Write once run for ever. Grin aka47by aka47 - General
Monsieur Demented I had, had a burn through the postings to try and work out who was/were the man/men with the thankless task of keeping the whole thing going, I guessed, Sebastien-the-worthy and dropped him a PM. Hopefully we can sort it. In the interim I have stuck the spreadsheet on my website and posted a link. Cheers aka47by aka47 - General
Sean The clever thing about using make in a script is that you could actually run it every 5 minutes it wouldn't actually matter. I fact every 5 would be great. >< Make rules only process that which needs processing. Ergo no changes to regenerated PDF's if there has been no change of the source documents. If you reprocess every 5 mins spam lives for 5 mins only. I suggested 02:00 for tby aka47 - General
Umm I think it's all fine. The actual forum/s themselves may be more symptomatic than causal. (Said in best Frank n Furter style) The situation you have is that there is an awful lot of contribution going off. Whether you spread it all out thin and wide for folk to get to grips with or whether you stack it up tall and thin the situation remains the same. This is'nt a problem it's the sign of aby aka47 - General
I agree It does'nt get more ubiquitous and simple than a PDF.by aka47 - General
Here we go...... The spreadsheet will download from I'll mess with my wiki later perhaps. Cheers aka47by aka47 - Mechanics
A Ha... Don't know why I didn't think of this before..... I will put up the spreadsheet in my wiki (maybe in a flexible manufacturing web, don't know yet. I don't want to dilute the effort that is going on here) and report back with a link. Cheers aka47by aka47 - Mechanics
Hurro Jarred Thanks for the interest. Hope you got the email and attachment OK. The Motor and gear box combo is the 942D, off the shelf ratios are 5:1, 100:1 and 517:1 the web site is and the spec/catalog I used is and Unfortunately as luck would have it the particular motor/gearbox combo is the last sheet of the first and the first sheet of the last. Their catalog etc has pricing inby aka47 - Mechanics