The issue is I think how much printing do you do? If you use up the spool quickly then there is really nothing to be gained. If you print infrequently then a sealed desiccant spool holder is probably a good idea.by garyhlucas - General
Jamie, I could give you a fish, but I think you need to learn to catch one yourself. Ohm's law E=IR is your friend with dc power. That's Voltage = Current x Resistance. Also P=IE. That's power in watts = Current x Voltage for dc power. Reprap power supplies usually are little on the small side, as well as the stepper motors, and drivers. So you don't want to throw away much power in wiring loby garyhlucas - General
I recently had something happen that makes me realize how unforgiving the internet can be when it is populated by people hiding behind pseudonyms too afraid to actually face the real world. I was on Compuserve before the internet, and then pretty early on the internet because a friends dad worked for the goverment and had a really early internet connection. We worked together for 4 years and hosby garyhlucas - General
I don't believe it is cable slip that is causing the problem as such. I think it is actually cable stretch which causes the cable to actually walk in the direction of travel so the axis doesn't actually return to a starting point.by garyhlucas - General
In looking at this very interesting hot end it occurs to me that this is the perfect part to be 3D printed on a laser or electron beam sintering machine. Built that way you could do it in one piece with gently curved passages for the filament, passages for the cooling water etc. You'd probably need to clean up the external and internal threads and maybe extrude hone the filament passages and itby garyhlucas - General
There really aren't any voltage issues. Solar panels have used inverters for years now to output 120vac or 220vac to connect to grid directly. So there is little point in accepting the limitations of 12vdc.by garyhlucas - General
Recirculating ball bearings have a problem where two balls next each other rub because the surfaces are going in opposite directions. It gets worse at high speeds or loads. The common solutions are make every other ball smaller and only carry load on the large ones. THK actually uses a plastic chain like spacer to keep the balls from rubbing.by garyhlucas - General
There was a geodesic dome home manufacturer near where I live. There were a number of homes built in the area. We also had a school with a geodesic dome. For frameworks like the pipe frames you built it is really neat. The problem comes when you try to cover it. You find out that sheet materials that start as rectangles produce an unbelievable amount of waste, so the material efficiency is vby garyhlucas - General
Aluminum cuts very well on a wood cutting bandsaw. Use a skip tooth wood blade and go for. I've cut 3" aluminum plate that way. The secret is the skip tooth blade that keeps the blade from packing with chips. A 1/4" x 6 tooth per inch skip tooth cuts shapes nicely in 1" thick aluminum. 2" thick you want at a 1/2" x 4 tooth per in inch blade. I have a Milwaukee deep throat portaband on a tabby garyhlucas - General
The reason that the ratios are odd is often so that the teeth on one gear mesh against the same teeth on another gear infrequently. Otherwise the gears wear in a pattern that gets noisy and sloppy very quickly.by garyhlucas - General
No triangles in the frame means it deflecting a whole lot. Add some crossed flat strip diagonals on all sides and it will be so much stiffer you won't believe the difference!by garyhlucas - Extruded Aluminum Frames
Very nice job! I suspect that 3d printing will have a greater impact on people with disabilities than on everyone else. If you need a special prostetic you print it right out. Maybe the attachment points for hands and such need to be standardized like tool changers on industrial robots. With a standard mount designed for a 3d printed attachment it would it easy to change. A soldering iron coulby garyhlucas - Look what I made!
A couple of thoughts here. Nice job on your blog! Look for triangles. Do you see any triangles? No? Then your printer frame will not be stiff as the triangle is the only stiff shape in nature. Rectangular frames are notoriously flexible. You need triangles. If you have room for X bracing, which uses only tension you can use just strips of flat metal across corners. If you can only brace inby garyhlucas - Reprappers
Extrusion shapes mean almost nothing in the cost of making a filament. EDM has made it possible to make almost any shape die cheaply. Look at the star shape of many weed trimmer lines. However the rectangular strip is likely to be difficult to feed because for a given cross section area, the volume of material extruded, it will be much less stiff than a round filament and will tend to buckle.by garyhlucas - General
The water pump won't work, air is so much less dense it can't be pumped by a water pump impellor. What you need is an Ametek Microjammer or similar. These are brushless motors because they need to revolve very fast. They alos have mutiple stages to get the pressure up. Using a larger tubing would help a lot.by garyhlucas - Developers
It is a very good idea if you are using two motors to drive a gantry, especially if microstepping, as the motors may take completely different positions when first turned on.by garyhlucas - General
The issue of whether voltage makes a difference or not is mostly affected by what you consider low speeds. For 3D printers low speeds are actually out to the right where the voltage does make a difference.by garyhlucas - General
When you slide on a T-slot extrusion you aren't actually sliding on aluminum. You are sliding on aluminum oxide from the anodizing. It is actually harder than alloy steel, but very thin. The real issue is that sliding has on average 10 times more friction than rolling, and stick-slip too. So if you are going build a larger machine with slides you really want larger motors, heavier belts, andby garyhlucas - Extruded Aluminum Frames
The main reason for a flanged bearing is so it can take thrust as well as radial load, otherwise there isn't any operational difference.by garyhlucas - General
York, Brecoflex to mention two.by garyhlucas - General
Experience, its what allows you to recognize a mistake. When you make it again!by garyhlucas - General
I would think that changing the number of segments reduces how many there are, but they then must be larger. So the total number of steps to be generated hasn't changed and the processor is doing the same amount of work. The fact that it slows down when the display is used says that the processor fails to keep up with generating steps because it is busy talking to the display. So turn off the dby garyhlucas - Printing
How to price: Customer smiles, too low Customer doesn't buy, too high Customer grumbles but still buys, just right!by garyhlucas - General
Kyle, The idea that the delta printers have reduced resolution at the edges is somewhat inaccurate. I have modeled a fairly large one in SolidWorks and I discovered that when the ratio of the pushrod lengths to axis locations are correct the steps per mm are almost linear over the whole work envelope. The machine I am working on with a friend has a work envelope of 22" round x 24" tall, and a fby garyhlucas - General
Curtesy of Warner Berry and the Berrybotby garyhlucas - General
Antonio, Steppers are extremely noisy electrically speaking so you really should use shielded cable with a braided shield not foil. This is because the frequency of the pulses is very high and up in the range of radio waves. Ground the shield at the driver end only, unless the motor frame is completely isolated from ground by being on a plastic mount. When other wires are involved do not installby garyhlucas - General
Probing the bed won't produce flat objects. It'll make the layers parallel to whatever the surface of the bed is. So if your bed is bowl shaped your parts will be bowl shaped, even if all your axis are dead straight and square.by garyhlucas - General
When "patent pending" is claimed it means that a patent application has been filed with the patent office (PTO). Until the patent issues there will be no public disclosure of anything relating to the patent application. So there is nothing for you to search on. If the patent issues or is denied the patent pending notice must be removed. I suspect lots of patents are rejected but they don't removeby garyhlucas - General
Change in temperature of the room? Change in weather like humidity?by garyhlucas - Printing