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People building or using RepRaps.
Re: Layer height - line height vs width? - 12 years ago
Man, I feel so stupid. I've learned that I can actually control this extrusion width.. .simply by setting those values in Slic3r. Slic3r indeed changed the extrusion width when I changed the layer height automatically, but I can overwrite that with manual value... duh. Now with the manual settings I no longer get wide/fat lines with lower layer height, I am trying to tune my printer (yet agaiby Yamster - Reprappers
Anyone tried a CPU fan to cool motors? - 12 years ago
My motors are getting very hot, especially when printing bigger objects... It looks like the extruder motor is the hottest, then X motor, Z motors, and Y motor in that order. BTW, I wonder Z motors get so hot - I thought they are the ones that spins the least. I am thinking about mounting some fans on these motors, and probably connect them directly to the PSU - I don't think I really need toby Yamster - Reprappers
Re: Help Please. Bad Prints With Prusa Mendel - 12 years ago
raeliean Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > ... I would advise a fan for PLA. If you don't mind, may I ask you why? You mean a fan to cool down the printed object, right? Is it to make the lower layer more rigid therefore make the whole object less prone to shaking/curling/lifting?by Yamster - Reprappers
Re: Circuit board made of solder? - 12 years ago
Maybe we can have the third extruder, to paste rosin into the grove as a bonding agent for the solder.by Yamster - Reprappers
Re: Setting Z end point - driving me nuts - 12 years ago
But G28 is to home all the axis, using the end point switch, which is not what I want to do. What I want/need to do is (per bigkahuna's suggestion) to place the hot end bottom at the exact distance away from the heated plate (using the Z 0.1 +/- control), and establish that as the z axis zero - regardless of the state of z end stop switch. If I send in G28 at that point, it will simply try toby Yamster - Reprappers
Re: Circuit board made of solder? - 12 years ago
Wow.. that's an interesting idea. However, I wonder if the ABS board will hold up to the melting temperature of the soldier.. don't they pretty much have the same melting point? What about just printing solder lines on a plate - like a wooden plate? Without a groove the solder may flatten out a little bit, but if it doesn't require high precision, then maybe that's that a problem (but will beby Yamster - Reprappers
Re: Setting Z end point - driving me nuts - 12 years ago
By the way, I think the command is G92 Z0, not G28 Z0.by Yamster - Reprappers
True RepRap'ing? - 12 years ago
When I first learned about the concept of RepRap, I found it so cool and a bit freaky. I believe that's probably what most of people had as their first impression on RepRap. It's definitely a cool (and freaky) concept - 3D printer printing another 3D printer; 3D printer performing "reproduction" As soon as I have decided to build one of my own and started looking into the material list for varby Yamster - Reprappers
Re: Layer height - line height vs width? - 12 years ago
Wow.. I didn't know that these *.gcode files are just text files with g code instructions. Well, now I have said it like that, it's actually funny that how I didn't know that. Anyway, so I checked the g code files. I've been trying to tune my printer with 0.2mm layer height with 0.4mm first layer. My printer has 0.5mm nozzle. Here are the comments from the g code file: ; layer_height = 0.2by Yamster - Reprappers
Layer height - line height vs width? - 12 years ago
Hello, I just assumed the "layer height" is the same thing as the the "thickness" of the extruded plastic. However, after studying the objects I have printed with my printer - many of the same shape with different layer height settings - now I wonder if they are two different thing. It looks as if while the layer height can be changed by controlling the amount of plastic squeezed out by the exby Yamster - Reprappers
Re: Decompiling/Converting STL file into SCAD file - 12 years ago
Oh.. that import... Thank you!by Yamster - Reprappers
Re: Setting Z end point - driving me nuts - 12 years ago
Hmm.. I haven't really thought about this heat expansion thing... Yeah, after seeing both you and bigkahuna mentioning about heating up the hot ends first, now it make sense. Thanks! chris33 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > to be honest i would try to heat the hotend and > the heatbed to nearly the temp and do each corner > meaning each corner diagonalby Yamster - Reprappers
Re: Setting Z end point - driving me nuts - 12 years ago
Wow.. that's a neat trick, but... You have created a Z=0 button? What do you mean by that? I used Pronterface, too, but there's no such button. Could you kindly tell me how to get this Z=0 button thing set up? Thank you. bigkahuna Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I have the same problem with my prusa. > > A simple solution that insures that the distaby Yamster - Reprappers
Setting Z end point - driving me nuts - 12 years ago
I have learned the importance of the establishing the zero point for Z axis. Right now it's the single most critical factor deciding the print out come for me. When it's set too high (too much gap between the heated plate and the hot end tip) the lower layers (not just the first layer, but several of them rather) curl up and mess up the shape. I can see the continuation of this effect in theby Yamster - Reprappers
Re: Decompiling/Converting STL file into SCAD file - 12 years ago
So.. I can import the STL into OpenScad? How do I do that? Thank you!by Yamster - Reprappers
Decompiling/Converting STL file into SCAD file - 12 years ago
Hi all, Is there any way to "decompile" or convert STL file into SCAD file? I found very cool object, nuts and bolts, in Thingverse, but they only come in STL file and IPT file. It seems like IPT is a format for some other CAD program, which I don't have. I wanted to make the bolt a little longer than the original design. Fortunately, it seems like there are other designs of nuts and bolts iby Yamster - Reprappers
Re: Extruder Calibration - 12 years ago
Okay... so I played with this retraction settings a bit. The results is somewhat counter-intuitive. Well, maybe it's not that counter-intuitive... Basically, when I increased the retraction length, I ended up getting more ooze out! I wonder if the extruder "compensates" for the retraction when it resumes? So, if pulling the filament (retraction) did not achieve its goal (which is sucking bacby Yamster - Reprappers
A couple of problems with printed object - 12 years ago
I've printed something which I have designed (with SCAD) for the first time today. It's a shame that it was not anything useful - it has no practical use, other than the fact that my 5 year old son thinks it's cool and wants it as a toy. Also, maybe I should've made it little smaller, but one of the purposes of this object was to take the actual measurements of the printed object and compareby Yamster - Reprappers
Re: Extruder Calibration - 12 years ago
Hmm.. I think "drip" probably was a wrong choice of word. Although the melted plastic continuously comes out, it would be inappropriate to describe the scene as "dripping". The oozed out plastic actually curls up (as it cools down once it got further away from the hot end) and ends up sticking back to the hot end.. quite a mess. Anyway, when I wrote my original posting, I think I used the wordby Yamster - Reprappers
Extruder Calibration - 12 years ago
Hello, Now the biggest complaint I have on the printing quality is that there are quite a few blobs and hairlines, most of which are produced when the extrusion stops and restarts (when it prints some non-continuous shapes, like two separate objects) Most of the blobs and hairlines are small and do not really affect the print outcome, but some definitely do. The extra material causes the layerby Yamster - Reprappers
FR percentage? - 12 years ago
Hello, I have an LCD display on top of my Prusa i3. It's certainly nice to have various settings/status displayed on LCD, and also nice to have a slot for SD card (although I don't used it at all). I was pretty much able to figure out what all these numbers and symbols mean, except for one; the symbol looks like "FR", and it shows "100%" value. There's a knob in this LCD unit, and if I turn tby Yamster - Reprappers
Re: Problem with the extruder not "rising" far enough, and a few other newbie questions - 12 years ago
Wow... that was it! Thank you so much, DManTech! After reloading the firmware with those two parameters changed now I no longer have the problem with the hot end digging into the lower layer. A couple of notes on this (for future newbies who may run into the same problem) 1. When I tried to change the Z motor movement settings, I did not know I had to recompile the code. I just changed thoseby Yamster - Reprappers
Re: Problem with the extruder not "rising" far enough, and a few other newbie questions - 12 years ago
DManTech Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Registered to reply here. I also recently built a > MakerFarm i3 and I think I can help a bit here! > > I had the same problem with my Z axis not rising > enough. On some prints, they'd finish properly but > would be too short (my 25mm cube was 22mm tall). > On others, I'd end up with a huge melted bloby Yamster - Reprappers
Re: Problem with the extruder not "rising" far enough, and a few other newbie questions - 12 years ago
waitaki Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > A video of the print would be useful Yeah... I actually shot a few video footage but wasn't able to upload them because their size was too big. What would be the best way of sharing video? I've seen some other people posting video on their own blog, but I don't have a setup like that...by Yamster - Reprappers
Re: Problem with the extruder not "rising" far enough, and a few other newbie questions - 12 years ago
Thank you for your reply. I am using Pronterface. The shape was sliced using Slic3r into G code, which was loaded to Pronterface and then sent to RAMPS. I used the Slic3r configuration file provided by the vender (Maker Farm), so I think all the parameters should be correct for my specific printer. I will check the extruder unit later today to see if there are any loose connections which causeby Yamster - Reprappers
Problem with the extruder not "rising" far enough, and a few other newbie questions - 12 years ago
Hello, I've finally finished building my first 3D printer (Maker Farm Prusa i3) today. I have adjusted all motors and leveled the bed following the instructions from . I tried to print the first shape called "Hollow Cube" (attached)... and the results are not pretty at all... 1. First of all, it seems like there's some delay with extrusion. No melted plastic comes out for the first inch orby Yamster - Reprappers
Re: Y and Z motors not moving.... Why??? - 12 years ago
The seller has shipped the replacement Pololus to me at no charge. I bought my kit from Makerfarm, and a number of positive comments I found in this forum about this seller was one of the main reasons I decided to buy a Makerfarm kit. Well, I am glad I did. The quality of the parts, the service, and help you get from this seller is amazing. I highly recommend. Thank you.by Yamster - Reprappers
Re: Y and Z motors not moving.... Why??? - 12 years ago
Okay, I have some updates: This morning I have decided to swap out the Pololus, since from all the indications it looks like all motors are fine; Pronterface is sending signals to 3D correctly, and RAMPS is receiving the signals for all axis. In other words, the biggest suspect at this point is the motor driver (Pololu). So, I swapped the Pololus for X and Y motor (thank goodness for the modulby Yamster - Reprappers