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People building or using RepRaps.
Re: Problems with Bulldog light extruder and Hexagon - 10 years ago
Fixing things involves checking everything, and then checking the things you're sure it couldn't possibly be. Have you checked the grub screw on the extruder drive gear? Have you checked the wiring between the extruder and the controller? Is the hot-end fan running continuously? If it extrudes smoothly when you command it manually via pronterface (or whatever host software you may be using),by the_digital_dentist - Printing
Re: weird problem help - 10 years ago
Check motor current and acceleration. If current is too low and/or acceleration is too high it will skip. Do the motors get warm, but not hot, after running for an hour? If not your current may be set too low. Also check the grub screw that holds the pulley on the motor shaft.by the_digital_dentist - General
Re: car/truck air vent for hood - 10 years ago
It sounds like a perfect excuse to learn to use some CAD software. If you can handle the electronics and the 3D printing, you can definitely learn to use CAD. I suggest DesignSpark Mechanical. It is free, very easy to learn and use, and very powerful. It also produces very high quality STL files for 3D printing.by the_digital_dentist - Let's design something! (I've got an idea ...)
Re: Questions about Z axis drive - 10 years ago
I think you were wise to use 3 screws to move the bed. Not many printer builders will go to that trouble/expense, but once you've got it working right you'll have a very stable bed that will be eas y to level but won't require frequent releveling/zeroing. Using one motor to drive the three screws means they will always be in sync and the bed will stay level. Using multiple motors is asking forby the_digital_dentist - Mechanics
Re: Best stand alone RepRap extruder? - 10 years ago
I've been having consistently excellent performance from my BullDog XL/E3D v6 combo printing 1.75mm ABS..by the_digital_dentist - Mechanics
Re: Easy 3D printing guide - 10 years ago
Once you get past the basics I wrote some stuff on improving quality which you can find here:by the_digital_dentist - General
Re: Bulldog XL Spares - 10 years ago
Is there some documentation in it that I don't have? I literally don't have ANY documentation on it except for the 1 page sheet I downloaded from RRD that says the motor current should be set to 0.6A. QuoteUkIan Quotethe_digital_dentist My only complaint about the BullDog XL is the hand strength required to compress the pinchwheel springs to change filament. I have relatively strong hands (I eby the_digital_dentist - General
Re: Are my stepper motors good enough? - 10 years ago
If you really want to know about motor torque required to do a specific job, see andby the_digital_dentist - Reprappers
Re: Bulldog XL Spares - 10 years ago
My only complaint about the BullDog XL is the hand strength required to compress the pinchwheel springs to change filament. I have relatively strong hands (I extract a lot of teeth) but I have a hard time squeezing those springs without first loosening the tension on them with a wrench. I think I'm going to design a tool for it to get some leverage.by the_digital_dentist - General
Re: Bulldog XL Spares - 10 years ago
Which hot-end, what size and type of filament?by the_digital_dentist - General
Re: Bulldog XL Spares - 10 years ago
If you have tools you could just redrill and tap the holes for larger screws. It's only aluminum- in some respects it's easier to work that wood. Otherwise, I'd go right to the source- reprapdiscount.com You must have put some serious torque on the screws! Have you had a need to take the extruder apart frequently? I ask because I have a BullDog XL and been using it for the last two months aby the_digital_dentist - General
Re: Enclosure math- why they're so important and how to make one. - 10 years ago
Here's what I came up with: If you use 1/2" sheet, just scale the parts by 50% and print. If you don't need to take the enclosure apart and reassemble it just use tape to hold the pieces of foam or whatever you use for the walls and top together. My printer has a 450 watt heater and keeps the enclosure very warm without any additional heat source. I keep the door propped open a little to keby the_digital_dentist - General
Re: [Cutting costs down] Building the bare essentials only. - 10 years ago
Those are probably OK, but they come with cables to fit a specific machine. If your machine is a different size or it uses different connectors the provided cables are going to be useless. You still have to figure out how and where to mount those little PCBs. It's probably easier to buy the switches and just wire them the way you want/need then to try to shoehorn parts from a different designby the_digital_dentist - General
Re: [Cutting costs down] Building the bare essentials only. - 10 years ago
End-stop switches should be super cheap. I don't know what you're looking at that costs $20, here's a couple examples of the typical switches: What else are you looking at? If it's priced anything like the end-stop switches you're looking at you have a completely distorted view of the cost of a 3D printer.by the_digital_dentist - General
Re: [Cutting costs down] Building the bare essentials only. - 10 years ago
Quoteishe7ata 1- Do I really need an end stop? looks like a luxury to me! can't I just tell the software not to move the motors beyond this point?! 2- Do I need the LCD screen and SD reader? I will always have my 3D printer next to my PC anyway! I can do away without that too right? 3- Do I really need TWO steppers for the Z-axis? I will use Bowden style extruder so the weight to carry will be muby the_digital_dentist - General
Re: Why using two motors? - 10 years ago
No, but here's what the rebuild will look like: The original can be seen here: http://mark.rehorst.com/MegaMax_3D_Printer/index.html All the electronics will sit in a drawer (not shown) in the base of the machine. I'll add acrylic or other material side, top, and bottom panels to keep the temperature up inside the printer for making large ABS prints without delamination.by the_digital_dentist - Reprappers
Re: Why using two motors? - 10 years ago
The spreadsheet was my own idea. I was trying to figure out how to quantify the error in the orthogonality based on measurements made from a print. It's all simple Pythagorean theorem stuff and a little trigonometry as you can see in the diagrams in the spreadsheet (there are two pages- look at both). The initial alignment on my machine was done in a trial and error process. I am now doing aby the_digital_dentist - Reprappers
Re: Maple Syrup and Water - 10 years ago
I, too, like kapton tape. My print bed is not easily removable from the printer, so the idea of putting sticky stuff like hairspray, glue sticks, and maple syrup on it bothers me.by the_digital_dentist - Printing
Re: Why using two motors? - 10 years ago
My Z axis has one motor and continuous belt that drives the two Z axis screws. The pulleys, screw pitch, and microstepping of the motor all contribute to the Z axis resolution. I think you're making a common mistake in thinking that bed leveling is equivalent to aligning the axes. Changing plates on the print bed may require releveling/zeroing of the bed, but that does nothing to affect orthogby the_digital_dentist - Reprappers
Re: Why using two motors? - 10 years ago
I use a belt drive and single NEMA-23 motor for the two Z-axis acme screws on my printer. It works perfectly. There are no resolution issues- with 16:1 microstepping in the driver my Z axis requires ~395 steps per mm. The main advantage is that the two screws are ALWAYS IN SYNC. People like to point out how easy it is to align the X axis with dual motor drive. Sure the mechanical part of tby the_digital_dentist - Reprappers
Re: Best material to reduce those pesky vibrations - 10 years ago
How did you stick the sorbothane to the flanges? Do you see any new artifacts in prints? Those drivers look like they handle more current and are better made than the pololu step sticks, but they're still limited to 16:1 microstepping. I don't think you'll see any difference in performance compared to the A4988 because they're both chopper type drivers with no intelligence. I use this type iby the_digital_dentist - General
Re: Bed bearings explanation - 10 years ago
Technically speaking, 4 bearings is an "over-constrained mechanism". Two bearings on one rail insure motion along the rail's axis. Adding a third bearing on a second rail parallel to the first prevents rotation around the first rail/axis, thus constraining the motion completely. Adding a fourth bearing does nothing to further control the motion unless you consider a carriage that is not perfecby the_digital_dentist - Mechanics
Re: Not straight angel - 10 years ago
I made a spreadsheet for calculating the amount of error and the required correction based on the length of your printer's axes. You can DL the spreadsheet here: You tell it the size of the rectangle you're printing, then give it the length of the long diagonal and it will tell you the error (how far from 90 degrees the axes are apart), and tell you how much you have to move one end of one axiby the_digital_dentist - Printing
Re: X, Y and Z axis motors not working - 10 years ago
When steppers don't turn you need to check the wiring to the individual motors- did you reverse one of the winding's connections, etc., and check that the drivers are supplying sufficient current to get them to move. Also make sure there are no mechanical reasons the motors can't turn.by the_digital_dentist - General
Re: Not straight angel - 10 years ago
What are we looking at here? You can test the orthogonality of the axes by printing a rectangular object and measuring the diagonals. If the axes are orthogonal, the diagonals will be the same length. That works for checking the Z axis orthogonality to Y and X axes also. Print a rectangular solid and measure diagonals in the YZ and XZ planes.by the_digital_dentist - Printing
Re: Best material to reduce those pesky vibrations - 10 years ago
Can you post a picture of the machine and one of your motor mounts?by the_digital_dentist - General
Re: Z calibration - 10 years ago
You have two separate problems. What is the printer/electronics, and what slicer did you use? If you used Slic3r, did you set a non zero Z offset value? The other problem is the USB connection. I assume you're using a Windows computer. Did you move the connection to a different USB port, away from the one where it used to work? Put it back. This sort of crap is why I try to avoidby the_digital_dentist - General
Re: Extruder Stepper Too Hot - 10 years ago
Actually, the obvious answer is turn down the current to that motor. You have a geared extruder- you should not need to run a lot of current in the motor. Even direct drive extruders only get warm when running. My geared extruder uses 600mA and barely rises above ambient temperature after multiple hours of printing. The problem with A4988 modules is the tiny pot that adjusts current- it's easby the_digital_dentist - General
Re: Blown fuse in Power Supply - 10 years ago
It depends on what you want to do and what your budget is like. If you want reliable, get or build a simple, unregulated 12-24V supply. The only parts that need regulated supply voltage are fed by a 5V regulator on the Arduino board. You don't need regulation for bed heaters, motor drivers, or motors. An unregulated supply will be reliable, but heavy due to the power transformer. Try somethiby the_digital_dentist - Reprappers
Re: Problem with surface print - 10 years ago
How fast are you trying to print? Have you calibrated the extruder? Did you measure the filament in multiple places and put the average value into the filament diameter setting in the slicer? Which slicer are you using? How do you know the actual temperatures vs the set temperatures?by the_digital_dentist - Printing