Show all posts by user

Re: We need a magazine - 6 years ago

There are lots of websites that offer free publications, articles and advice, not to mention youtube and forums. I don't think anyone would pay for a magazine like this. Established magazines and newspapers are struggling to compete with free online articles so I don't think you'll have much luck in the bought magazine regard. The reprap magazine was a volunteer and community run thing as far as

by Trakyan - General

Re: Small Delta Heated Beds? - 6 years ago

The question of where to get a small one still stands. I know kapton, silicon and pcb (and more..) heaters all exist but I'm struggling to find small, round heaters. Cartesian ones of all sizes are abundant.

by Trakyan - Reprappers

Re: MKS GEN v1.4 HELP - 6 years ago

The tft32 is a touch screen with an integrated 32 bit processor as far as I'm aware. It's made to sort of replace a raspi pi with octoprint or provide a better interface without straining the 8 bit electronics. Not the same as the encoder driven LCD screens.

by Trakyan - General

Small Delta Heated Beds? - 6 years ago

Anyone know where I can get small, round heated beds? Somewhere around 100mm diameter? The smallest I've found are the hexagonal heated beds which are around 170mm for the heated zone and just over 200mm outer diameter.

by Trakyan - Reprappers

Re: What kind of Nema 17's work best with RAMPS - 6 years ago

Things like the rumba and the mks base are basically a ramps, mega and stepper drivers all on one board (rumba still uses replaceable drivers, though). Same firmware, same pinouts, but some better connectors and less things to go wrong (imo). The price isn't too much higher, definately well under your $75 dollar budget, you could probably buy 2/3 boards for the price or one board and one of thos

by Trakyan - Reprappers

Re: Taz 6 Leveling Issues - 6 years ago

Most people find it reliable, and if you ask me it is working. What about it makes it unreliable in your opinion and could you explain what you mean by a displacement sensor?

by Trakyan - General

Re: Tiny Boy 2 Printer info required - 6 years ago

Looks basically the same, except the hobbyking version is sheet metal. What's been ruined?

by Trakyan - General

Re: Please help me to pick the right electronics package. - 6 years ago

Yes, trinamic drivers like the TMC2130 and the ones used on the duet (I forget the exact model) do support hard stop homing without limit switches, but they do not turn the stepper into a servo. I also don't know if the firmware supports it, I've read a few forum posts that summarize to "lower the motor current and ram the axis into the frame for a while and you'll probably be at your home positi

by Trakyan - General

Re: Material to hold the heated bed? - 6 years ago

For the moment I'm planning to have the bed on stilts above a machined delrin frame. putting it on stilts should hopefully make sure the acetal below doesn't hit its 80-90 degree glass transition temperature. This has also helped me get rid of a few idlers and create a (possibly unnecessary) auto calibration sequence for steps per mm and endstop correction. The downside I'm mulling over is that w

by Trakyan - Reprappers

Re: Taz 6 Leveling Issues - 6 years ago

When you overextrude or squash the first layer, you end up with a slightly wider bottom edge where it bulges out, basically a burr. By clean up the bottom edge I mean give it a quick pass with a knife, deburring tool or sandpaper. Your bed leveling issues sound like they would have been caused by filament on the nozzle preventing electrical contact, I don't see how the washers would have caused p

by Trakyan - General

Re: Taz 6 Leveling Issues - 6 years ago

I'm not sure sanding the bed and leveling pads would have done anything but hurt. Sanding the bed would create high and low spots, and the 'leveling pads' are precision machined washers from what I've read, so I doubt you could improve them by going at them with sandpaper by hand. To me, the bottom layer doesn't look like a constant level change across the bed, like you would get with a tilted b

by Trakyan - General

Re: What kind of Nema 17's work best with RAMPS - 6 years ago

Generally speaking, longer bodied NEMA17s have a higher current rating, so yes, the thinner pancake motors are usually lower amps. I've heard of a few issues regarding the DRV drivers, most notably the microstepping issue mentioned about and some whine issues. I think the A4988 are better suited for most applications, but like dc42 says plug in drivers under perform compared to integrated drivers

by Trakyan - Reprappers

Re: Please help me to pick the right electronics package. - 6 years ago

the etch a sketch is more similar to an ultimaker, it's just an ultimaker uses the outside rods as drive shafts to avoid some belt routing. EDIT: Anyways, back onto the topic. CoreXY+several extruders may be trouble for 8 bit controllers, not sure. Depending on how large the printer is, and how heavily built it ends up, you might need dual y axis drive with nema17s.

by Trakyan - General

Re: Makerbot Electronics Mods and other questions. - 6 years ago

I don't see much reason for splicing two machines together, I think at that point you might as well scrap them for parts and work from the ground up. You might also want to thicken the rods of the short axis, as they now need to take considerably more weight, even though their span remains the same. Software wise I'm sure someone here would be willing to help once you get there, and if not there

by Trakyan - General

Re: Please help me to pick the right electronics package. - 6 years ago

I don't think the etch a sketch uses coreXY, I've looked into the mechanism myself recently. Etch a sketch looks to have have been around longer than coreXY. More importantly, the X and Y are decoupled and independent, unlike coreXY (one knob moves X, one knob moves Y).

by Trakyan - General

Re: Please help me to pick the right electronics package. - 6 years ago

On the 8 bit side, a few boards support 6 steppers and with a stepper expander 7. This meets your motor requirements and 8 bit boards do fine with cartesian kinematics.

by Trakyan - General

Re: A fixed-bed gantry design - 6 years ago

It's a crossed axis gantry design, similar to the ultimaker, it's just the other crossing rail is really far back (and the angle the photo was taken from doesn't help) and looks like a part of the perimeter rails in that photo. Look around google images for MPCNC and you should get a better idea of what I mean, I'm not sure I explained it well.

by Trakyan - Reprappers

Re: A fixed-bed gantry design - 6 years ago

That looks like the MPCNC (Mostly Printed CNC), I think it uses regular radial bearings for all axis, not just Z. Uses them like rollers on the tube.

by Trakyan - Reprappers

Re: Decent, low priced Prusa/Mendel printer? - 6 years ago

I usually call XZ toolhead, Y bed printers either an i3, prusa or mendel since most people recognize them under that name and "fixed gantry" either doesn't ring a bell or people don't know what it means. The designs you're calling cartesians are H gantries (because they look like an H), where the toolhead moves in XY and the bed in Z. There is also the gantry system that people recognize from the

by Trakyan - Reprappers

Re: Lost wax casting prints - 6 years ago

I don't know if paraffin is suitable for lost wax casting, but the steps should be the same as with lost PLA casting. I'm not sure what the extra steps you're referring to are. There are some wax filaments available if you look around, made specifically for either sculpting or casting.

by Trakyan - General

Re: Decent, low priced Prusa/Mendel printer? - 6 years ago

Quotedlc60 Basically, I want to experiment with one of each category, I consider the Prusa/Mendel the same because they move the bed in the Y plane and the head in X and Z, Cartesian moves the bed in Z, deltas don't move the bed at all and I don't completely understand what Core XY does yet... There are obviously subsets of the main groupings, some different enough to be of interest. In truth I

by Trakyan - Reprappers

Re: Total newb - few questions - 6 years ago

Not many printers have support for printing from a mobile phone, at least not off the bat. Most that do are the higher end ones that don't come as a kit and probably aren't super open source. And the ability of a printer to 'print another machine within reason' depends less on the printer you are using and more on the printer you are printing. Most 3d printed parts for a printer are pretty small,

by Trakyan - General

Re: Rod diameter on x gantry ? - 6 years ago

If you want rigidity try using aluminium extrusions with v wheels. Linear rails aren't particularly stiff themselves, they get their stiffness from whatever you bolt them onto, which is usually aluminium extrusions. You could also use your square tubing but the tolerances on that for straightness can be quite low. For milling and routing, even 8mm rods that are standard can be used, you just nee

by Trakyan - Mechanics

Re: Laser safety - 6 years ago

I'd like to add that some lasers are not of the visible laser light variety, and those are even more dangerous. I'm with VDX, go straight for an enclosure, much, much safer. Build one for $20 out of plywood or MDF, later you can add a tinted panel or go with a camera like VDX suggested. A second benefit of an enclosure is it makes it easier to vent fumes. Remember that the laser is literally bur

by Trakyan - General

Re: Material to hold the heated bed? - 6 years ago

My original plan was to have a pocket machined in the frame for the heat bed to pop into, so the arms wouldnt be in direct contact with the bed. That and the plastic shoulders may end up on the other side of the frame to the heated bed like in the original simpson.

by Trakyan - Reprappers

Re: Material to hold the heated bed? - 6 years ago

They don't have to, but it reduces part count and helps avoid misalignment from several mating parts.

by Trakyan - Reprappers

Re: Material to hold the heated bed? - 6 years ago

Id still need to cut the shapes to make it by stackinv, it just turns grooves into holes. Glass is pretty hard to cut holes on accurately or cut accurately.

by Trakyan - Reprappers

Re: Material to hold the heated bed? - 6 years ago

There are some specialty plastics with a low thermal expansion. The problem with tiles is similar to teflon, i cant machine the shapes, pockets and holes into it like i need to. I'll probably just use standoffs and hope they dont conduct too much heat or go back to mdf.

by Trakyan - Reprappers

Re: Material to hold the heated bed? - 6 years ago

Im not really looking for an insulator, I'm looking for something I can embedd the heater in, the insulation factor is just something preferable. Air is not an option since it cant hold the heater or bed. I considered ptfe but from what i know its difficult to machine and the forms i need arent really off the shelf.

by Trakyan - Reprappers

Material to hold the heated bed? - 6 years ago

I made a thread a while ago about putting MDF directly the print bed and in contact with the heater, I'm not sure whether reviving that thread makes sense. Anyways, I've been looking for alternatives to MDF since it's starting to look like more and more of a poor design choice. The bed heater will be directly embeded in whatever material I choose, so it will basically act like a bezel for the he

by Trakyan - Reprappers