I would HIGHLY recommend a more traditional build than this for your first. Your first design will cost almost double what it would had you had some experience, and that is just building a normal Reprap. Trying to design it yourself at the same time as something original is likely going to double the price again, if not more. It's very easy to get in over your head just building an already proveby sheepdog43 - Delta Machines
I believe I used 14ga for the bed, 16ga was not quite enough. For hot ends, I usually just strip an old computer cord.by sheepdog43 - Controllers
Quoteggherbaz It is not my intention to start a debate her, but let me clarify my point. I worked in a hospital back in my country of origin and saw many kids with missing limbs, a kid likes to play and enjoy life without limitations. Explaining a kid what he can an cannot with a plastic printed prosthetic it's impossible, once they know they can walk they will run and play football (soccer). A wby sheepdog43 - General
Control would need custom firmware and slicing.by sheepdog43 - Delta Machines
Have you looked at? They build lots of prosthetics for kids (and some adults) and cover a lot of the questions asked. I'm working on one for someone right now. As for the printers, these ones are just using PLA, but some are using Nylon for certain parts. For the one I'm doing, the finders and joints will likely be Nylon for durability. As mentioned, most printers run off 12v, ours certainly doby sheepdog43 - General
Just don't run the auto level command. There's no need to try and disable it or strip it out of firmware. Simply don't use the command or use firmware that lacks it. Also, while there are times manual can be better, if your machine is built properly, unless you have a ton of measuring devices and impressive math skills, you will NEVER, EVER manually calibrate a delta printer as well as the softwby sheepdog43 - General
QuoteUkIan The venue is pretty cool, I keep almost getting one to run the printer off. I find it helpful to have a real laptop there at the moment though, so it has not come to pass. The surface pro is just an overpriced laptop. I had a pro 2 which failed to deliver on any level. The 3 is marginally more sensible, but still has the damp stupid kick stand. Going a bit ot, so back on track, Broby sheepdog43 - General
That's how it should work. On startup the system always assumes you're at z0, and therefore will only let you move up. Once you hit the endstops, it now knows it's at z=max and will let you go down. Without this, you could drive the hot end right through your glass. Try moving up some, and then try going back down or trip the end stops and see what it will let you do.by sheepdog43 - Delta Machines
That design allows for a lot of effector freedom which would be great if you can control it, bad if you can't. If you read the last line of the pdf, they state that the joints were a problem, so while they could control it with some degree of precision, it wasn't enough for say, 3d printing. Granted, this was 14 years ago and you can say things have progressed, but one could also say what we uby sheepdog43 - Delta Machines
It's not the retraction that will cause problems for you gears... Printed gears just plain stink. They will wear no matter what you do. Either make some adapters and use injection molded ones (and forget herringbone!) or move to something with metal gears if you want long term reliability. Gear wear and slop is easy to dial out, so most people don't care about it much.by sheepdog43 - Mechanics
QuoteLoboCNC I like the idea of printing on something you can then flex to release the print. But with large thin pieces (the guitar top is only ~1mm thick), I'm worried that the part will just flex with the garolite.rather than pop off. Worth experimenting with, though. We experimented with 1mm thick Gorilla Glass during our testing (almost as stiff as 2mm Boro), it was nice as you could flexby sheepdog43 - General
Microsoft now gives Windows with Bing to vendors selling sub 9in tablets and it's going to DESTROY the Ipad mini. The first models are just now hitting the market. The Dell Venue Pro 8 (about $299) and Winbook 8 series can both run it, they run regular Win8 and run Repetier and Pronterface just fine. So long as it doesn't use Windows RT, it will run it. The cheapest setup out there that can runby sheepdog43 - General
Retract causes issues with over heating your hot end, but that has nothing to do with lift, only with how far you retract and how often. From my little cartesian experience, without a bowden, 2mm can be a tad too much retraction. The Taz at our hackerspace, with a J-head doesn't like more than 1.8mm and the stock Buda nozzle liked 1.9mm. More than this caused over heating. When it over-heats,by sheepdog43 - Mechanics
I wouldn't go more than 50-75% of your filament diameter for max nozzle size, however that's just a guess. You need some back pressure I would think. As for what to take into consideration, you will need a bit extra heat since you are pushing more filament. As far as differences, here has been my experience. .5mm low back pressure (High speed), and very hard to clog. .4mm medium back pressure,by sheepdog43 - Delta Machines
You need to check the right place if you want up to date Smoothie. Last update was 5 days ago. I've been using the X5 on several deltas for a while now and while Smoothies documentation isn't always perfect, I love how it runs.by sheepdog43 - Controllers
Here's a few ways to adjust how much stick you get with blue tape... Raising your nozzle will reduce adhesion. Lowering it will increase it. Lower temps (a few degrees) will reduce adhesion. Higher temps make the plastic melt into it more, which is why the tape won't come off. If you use rubbing alcohol on the tape before you print, the more you rub it, the more it sticks... Wipe it less before yby sheepdog43 - General
3d printing works good for things that need constant, minor customization (teeth) or in situations where no other method works (some lcd panels). For small batches of items, you need to find your price breaking point, at what point is it cheaper to go another route. If you want 10,000 small keychains, injection molding is a good option as once the mold is made, you can make them in seconds for pby sheepdog43 - General
Absolutely. Direct drive is great for .5mm nozzles, makes for a dead simple setup. I recommend the Ezstruder from SeeMeCNC, it's a fantastic extruder.by sheepdog43 - General
The difference in pressure from .35 to .4 is quite a lot. Direct drive with zero gear reduction, more than likely not going to happen with the .35 mm nozzle, not without the motor needing a heck of a heatsink. I don't even like recommending .4 for direct drive at slower speeds, it lacks power when anything goes wrong at all. The power needed to go from 200mm/s-300mm/s increases very quickly on aby sheepdog43 - General
Have you tried Elmer's glue sticks instead of blue tape?by sheepdog43 - General
Quoteepicepee I understand that this sort of speed.... I'll keep this short, and yes, this is short as there are just a lot of hurdles in front of you and what you really need is a lot of money and/or a book.... For a Kossel Mini, I'll just say it's VERY rare to hit the speeds mentioned. Adding heat helps melt, especially at speeds. The more liquid it becomes, the less back pressure, however,by sheepdog43 - General
Quoteepicepee 100mm/min seems to work semi-reliably, but 300mm/min fails quickly. Is it reasonable to think I could get to speeds to match my delta's movement capabilities? It's not your J-head, or your extruder, it's your nozzle size. Most heads, especially J-heads, are only designed for 100mm/s print speeds. The smaller the nozzle, the lower the speed. Of the hobbs I've used, only one avaiby sheepdog43 - General
Some extruders have some flex to allow for out of round parts. For example the Airtripper extruder uses a bit of rubber hose to act as a spring and allow for some flex or give rather than binding up. The Kossel extruder on the other hand, has no spring, and therefor no flex or give (other than stretching the plastic). If something is out of round, or filament is too far out of spec, it will simplby sheepdog43 - Mechanics
1100mm bowden, no problems with 1.75mm filament. You just need a strong extruder. As for retraction, I only use 5mm. You need less distance if you can retract it fast. If your retraction is slow, expect to use more.by sheepdog43 - Reprappers
Hang the hex off the end, then roll it and see if it's bent. As above, I've used worse, and remember, bolts are not the same as a precision shaft, it doesn't have to be perfect. So long as you have some give in your extruder, it will be fine. If you have no spring/give, you will have problems.by sheepdog43 - Mechanics
Can you? Yes, but should you? Printed parts do not usually make for precision movements. Even if it does work, it probably won't last as long as something made through other means.by sheepdog43 - Delta Machines
My experience with all metal hot ends was disappointing, they are fickle at best, unusable at worst. If the heat range fits within a J-head's range, I'll take it any day of the week. If it can squeeze it through, it will do it well. On a delta, all metals just slow you down due to weight and the fact that they do not extrude as fast. In the case of the E3d V6, the 1.75mm isn't even truly all meby sheepdog43 - Reprappers
I'll tackle print times and nozzle a bit more since it was asked specifically. A smaller nozzle will let you take better control of your prints, and save plastic. If you use a 3mm nozzle, you can't very easily do a 4mm wide wall (some slicers can fake it with one or two passes). That said a 1mm nozzle will, but needs at least 4 passes to do a wall that size. A 2mm nozzle is about the largest youby sheepdog43 - Reprappers
While I agree to some extent on Ralph's idea of making the machine stout enough to maintain calibration (every machine should whether FSR's are used or not), it's hard to do on a printer with the stiffness of a wet noodle. While I greatly admire what Johann has done, his designs often leave a bit to be desired in terms of stiffness. FSR's are heat sensitive, but somewhat heat tolerant. If you usby sheepdog43 - Delta Machines
Length-wise, you are fine with GT2 and even your weight shouldn't be a problem. Redsalamander nailed it, resistance and teeth skipping will be your biggest problem. More teeth engaging is the fix but requires larger pulleys, larger pulleys decrease resolution and torque. Larger pulleys will allow for steel reinforced though, which work better with larger pulleys. There are also Kevlar belts (aboby sheepdog43 - Mechanics