Thanks Ian...I tried to like you blog post but password isn't working. Very informative information. Thanks for putting the time and effort in to show what good printing looks like.by simspeed - Developers
I'm using Sketchup....have been since it was first introduced many years ago. Its far from perfect but I know it well enough to suit my needs.by simspeed - General
Hi Newbob...I'm sure that would be more efficient but there are a couple of problems with it for my printer. First, my hot bed fills the complete area between the bottom rails. The bed is 1/4" milled aluminum with 3mm PEI fitted to the top and a silicone heater glued to the bottom side. There's no room between the hot bed and the stainless table top to duct anything. If the cage blower mounteby simspeed - General
QuoteMCcarman Now all you need to do is attach both ends to the same piece of the door or frame. Currently you have one end on the fixed top and the other on the sliding door. Actually the sliding doors of the enclosure are on either side along the Y axis. The end panels are fixed, so the air recirculating assembly is hard mounted to the top and lower side panels at the end shown. The center sby simspeed - General
Good points fellas....thanks for pitching new ideas. I think this redesign is likely what I will go with. I'm using a larger 140mm fan and up-sizing the pipe to 4" ABS. This allows me to build reducer adapters that hold two 1/2" x 5.5" activated charcoal coffee filters above and below the fan as shown. I want to keep the quick change clamps to change these filters when needed. This also alby simspeed - General
Here is a redesign using 3" ABS pipe with two 120 mm inline case fans. The center section is clear PVC with both Hepa and Charcoal filters sitting on thin stainless rods. The center section would use quick release ring clamps to allow the disc filters to be serviced or replaced. I don't see this needing to be program controlled; just a on/off/speed manual switch should do the job don't you thinby simspeed - General
Here is a C-Beam Delta design I drew up a year or two ago. This would use 1000mm C-Beams for the verticals and 4040 extrusions for the triangulated top. The base uses 8020 for the base perimeters. The usable bed space is 500mm dia.by simspeed - Delta Machines
Thanks Lykle. I hope to be printing this summer, but that's what I said last year about this same time. I have a lot of irons in the fire so this printer isn't my first priority. I do however, finally have all the components at hand after several design iterations that were just too ambitious given my limited experience and dead end alleys with local print hubs. I ended up using Shapeways toby simspeed - General
Good points DjDemonD....I hadn't considered backpressure on the fains I just ran across this fan, sensor, controller combo and it seemed like a good fit for my machine. How about using an inline axial fan in the pipe itself with just intake and exhaust ports in the lexan panel facings? I'll see if I can find one of those near the correct size and redo the drawing for fit. I'd like to use an exby simspeed - General
I just assembled the cyclops hot end mount I designed for the air pump system. It took about an hour to clear the Alumide power from all the openings but it seems to flow pretty good under pressure. Started putting the machine back together with new linear Delrin ball slides I designed for the XY & Z axis. They feel really smooth and run really quite. We'll soon see if this was worthwhileby simspeed - General
Don't know about Db of the fans but they would be semi-enclosed since the sliding doors would be shut and the shroud covers the back side. I'll be using an air pump to feed cool air to the radiator of the hot end, and the XY motors (and the print at the nozzle). Don't know about the life of the carbon filters before cleaning them but I should be able to find that base on the CFM flow...maybe.by simspeed - General
I am considering adding an air filtration system to my heated printer enclosure based on the attached design and fan components I found on EBay. The air boxes outside the closure would contain carbon filters to keep the air scrubbed. These fans have a programmable speed controller with air temp sensor, timer, and digital display. The controller is DC with converter and USB connections for thby simspeed - General
The pumps don't appear to draw much amperage so they may work on the main power supply considering that my heat bed is mains powered. I guess I could run two SSR controllers and use the small power supply packs instead. I'm actually planning to run 3 pumps; one for the part cooling, one for the hot end heat break, and the last for the XY steppers that are mounted inside the heated enclosure.by simspeed - General
What would be the best approach to connecting a pair of 12v air pumps to a 24v printer? Would it be better to use a 12v power supply like this? Thanks....by simspeed - General
I design this pumped air diffuser for a E3D Cyclops hot end for a H-bot I'm building. Haven't printed it yet, still trying to decide on what type of air pump to buy. The inlets pipes are sized for silicone aquarium air tubing.by simspeed - General
Is anyone printing with PEEK or Ultem...or know someone or a service that currently is? PEEK filament is pretty pricey @ $160 250g but Ultem can be bought for $55 at 3DXTech. I have a need...looking for someone who can do it affordably. Thanks...TP.by simspeed - General
I did order the expansion board with my Duet Wifi and I also have external drivers for each Z axis motor. I like the idea of not having to use the 3 connecting belts to sync the motors; using just 1 belt and motor at each end to drive the two corner shafts is much cleaner. In my example all the drive pulleys are the same 40 tooth. Also the weight of my XY carriage is carried by the 4 shafts; eby simspeed - General
As currently designed my printer will use 5 belts to tie 2 Z axis motors and 4 corner screws together. Will it be necessary to sync the motors with belts using the approach you described? I have a Duet WiFi waiting on the shelf for this printer....I assume the solution will be a firmware upgrade...yes? Thanks...TP.by simspeed - General
Quotedc42 - Number of Z motors: keeping multiple Z motors in sync when you power a printer off and on is a problem in all current firmwares. However, we will have a solution to this in RepRapFirmware for the Duet WiFi (and the forthcoming Duet Ethernet) soon, although you may need to use 24V power for it to work well. Please explain how this solution works dc42. I'm using 2 high torque Nema 23by simspeed - General
Yes...I've read your accounts of that technique DD. I'm sure it works well but I'd rather go the more conventional route for now. Thanks for the input....TP.by simspeed - Reprappers
Quotedc42 If you print PLA on PEI then you may find that it sticks too well. I sometimes have to put the bed + print in the freezer to separate them. PrintBite may be a better option for printing PLA on if your print bed will be non-removable. Thanks for the info dc42.....do you heat the bed when using PLA? I've read accounts that some do and some don't. MY printer will be fully enclosed so Iby simspeed - Reprappers
QuoteChorca Using a BLTouch and doing a verbose grid bed level routine, I can get the values that Marlin sees whlie performing the grid leveling. By entering them into a spreadsheet and doing a conditional coloration, it shows my bed has a bit of a curve to the sides: So, I need to try and straighten the bed out manually (bending it over something) or by fixing the height of the sides and usinby simspeed - Reprappers
There are a couple of issues using glass in my scenario. First the size of the glass to cover my bed is larger than I'd like to handle on a regular basis. The machine will be fully enclosed in Lexan where the end panels are fixed and the front and back are sliding doors framed in 2020. The doors only slide open to roughly 80% so it won't be easy to remove a large plate of glass with the printby simspeed - Reprappers
Hmmm....I'd hate to go with a 3/4" plate just for the weight and time to heat/cool. Thankfully my bed is fixed so the weight isn't relative except for handling the thing. I may compromise and do a 3/8" for the extra stiffness given the length of my bed. Thanks for the info on you bed Chorca. Hopefully mine will come without a complex dip.by simspeed - Reprappers
Thanks to both deckingman and dc42 for your advice. I like the idea of the 5 point bed mount with the center point being the 5th for removing any weight deflection. The 4 perimeter mounts would be hard fixed to the bed allowing movement against the SS table top which can be secured tight once the bed XY level is achieved. The 5th center point adjustment collar will be hard fixed to the table tby simspeed - Reprappers
Hmm....well let's look at this design from another standpoint. The SS table top is basis of the V-slot frame structure where all the perimeter extrusions are first screwed to the table top, then all the super structure is screwed, squared, and leveled off of that. The XY gantry moves as a unit along the Z axis of the 4 vertical corner extrusions. Once the heat bed plate is set level to the tabby simspeed - Reprappers
Thanks Deckingman and etfrench.....I think I'll stay with the 1/4" plate and put a center point adjuster fixed to the stainless table top. I should be able to limit the heat plate deflection by point loading the center of the plate to the same elevation as the long ends where the thumb wheel adjusters are mounted. I'll have to be careful the screw post center point isn't touching any of the heaby simspeed - Reprappers
Quoteetfrench You can calculate how much expansion the bed will have using tools on this site: I'd also recommend using socket head machine screws with a counterbore instead of countersunk flathead machine screws. The later won't allow expansion. Thanks etfrench....I have a quantity of stainless steel, socket head 5 mm / .08 pitch countersunk screws I plan to use for the plate to 2020 connecby simspeed - Reprappers