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People building or using RepRaps.
Re: Filabot: Plastic Filament Maker - 14 years ago
does anybody else think it looks kinda like a Mr Fusion?by Buback - General
Re: definition of RepRap (request from a copy editor) - 14 years ago
Recycling old plastic things and making them into new, useful things is a goal that has not yet been met by the vast majority of repraps. It is one of the ultimate goals, but will likely never be as simple as "drop in old plastic and out comes a toy train."by Buback - General
Re: General Guidelines for Part Designs - 14 years ago
What would you say are warp-less maxes? PLA doesn't contract much, but I do start to see a little bowing at around 100x100 with a cold bed. I've never printed ABS so i can't speak to it's properties.by Buback - Developers
Re: Full crosbraces for Prusa Mendel - 14 years ago
Ah ok. Yeah the acrylic will look slick, like it's floating :-) BTW, if anyone is interested in the place i found for dibond, it's here: But i just noticed they have a $100 minimum :-(by Buback - General Mendel Topics
Re: Full crosbraces for Prusa Mendel - 14 years ago
You've used dibond before, Nophead, why not for the frame? too thin? granted, I haven't had much luck finding it, myself. I found one printer (as in a purveyor of printed signs) that sells small custom signs for around $10, but most suppliers are selling 4x8 ft sheets (or large sheets at least) for $150-250. What's nice with getting it form a printer is you can send them an image file with allby Buback - General Mendel Topics
Re: Gear milling machine - 14 years ago
No Ii think you'd still need a second planar axis to control tooth depth. And a dremel cutting bit, instead of the cutoff disks, would allow you to cut helical or herringbone gearsby Buback - Let's design something! (I've got an idea ...)
Re: Full crosbraces for Prusa Mendel - 14 years ago
The printed tnut is really just to prevent the nut from spinning. I also recommend using a washer with the tnut, but don't have a depressed cavity because it won't print. You would certainly have a problem if you removed the screw, because the washer would slide out, and getting them back into place would be a major chore. I haven't assembled all of the printonian yet because i got sidetracked wiby Buback - General Mendel Topics
Re: 8 mm Rods: Shafting Steel vs. Stainless Steel vs. Mild Steel - 14 years ago
I've been using carbon fiber tubes for the past year, so you can pretty much use anything you want just to get set up and printing. Though i am upgrading to steel rods now since i'm switching to lm8uu linear bearings.by Buback - General
Re: Gear milling machine - 14 years ago
I've attached a very quick mockup. The orange part is the dremel, the yellow is the printed frame, the blue is the gear blank, and the green is printed racksby Buback - Let's design something! (I've got an idea ...)
Re: Full crosbraces for Prusa Mendel - 14 years ago
m3 plus fender washer (9mm diameter) fits perfectly, except for the spinning nut, but i've made some m3 tnuts that print nicely and prevent spin (up to some unknown torque. i haven't investigated at all). I would only use m3 in situations where weight (edit: or space) is an issue, though. I used mostly m3 when designing the Printonian truss, but used m4 with the Prism. I think the mendelmax usesby Buback - General Mendel Topics
Gear milling machine - 14 years ago
I'm thinking something like an eggbot with a dremel. it would need control of the drill head height and lateral position, and a stepper for the gear rotation. This would be a nice little project to put together after building a reprap, since you could use your steppers and electronics to control the axes.by Buback - Let's design something! (I've got an idea ...)
Re: 8 mm Rods: Shafting Steel vs. Stainless Steel vs. Mild Steel - 14 years ago
Skypuppet Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > This 52100 has a brinell hardness of 248, where > 303 stainless is 262. I'm think that will be fine, > but please let me know if not. The yield is 62,000 > - 87,500 psi which tops the 303 by a long shot > (303 being 30,000 to 50,000 psi). > > Is there any reason that I'd have a problem with > the Eby Buback - General
Re: Full crosbraces for Prusa Mendel - 14 years ago
yes Sorry Lathan w all the thread-jacking. great job with the crossbraces.by Buback - General Mendel Topics
Re: Full crosbraces for Prusa Mendel - 14 years ago
hmm well Misumi required me to put in my business name and ship to a business address, but i just put in my work company name and email and address. They even had a sales rep call me up after my order, so they think i'm a business. I don't know if your employer would have any problems with having things shipped to work, but if they do, maybe a relative or friend would let you use his/her employerby Buback - General Mendel Topics
Re: [QUESTION] New to RepRap, built Prusa. Still need a Hotend/nozzle. Suggestions? - 14 years ago
I just got a J head from Hotends.com. Great machining. it does seem to drag a lot on the first layer, but it's a smaller orifice size and a whole new hot end for me, so i probably just need to dial in skeinforge. I was using a Mendel-Parts v6 for the past year, but the ptfe finally failed on me and started leaking. Worked very well at first, but had been inconsistent for the past 6 months. alsoby Buback - General Mendel Topics
Re: Full crosbraces for Prusa Mendel - 14 years ago
For the prism, each 400mm piece of 2020 from misumi was $2.28, and you need 9, so $20.52. It doesn't add significantly to the cost of the printer, really. You have to generate a quote on their website in order to get those prices, though. the prices they list are higher. What were expensive are the steel t-nuts: 1 bag(100 nuts) was $19.32!! the freight for the order was $6.94. cheaper than tby Buback - General Mendel Topics
Re: Full crosbraces for Prusa Mendel - 14 years ago
Dale Dunn Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I'd be curious to see how rigid a cross-braced > Mendel is if the frame is constructed of smooth > rod rather than threaded rod. Even short > cross-bracing would make the vertices much less > like a hinge and more like a rigid mount for the > beams. Construction methods with a jig might even > be favorby Buback - General Mendel Topics
Re: Commercial 3D printers now available for everyone? - 14 years ago
Considering that there are enough printers cheaper than a good DSLR or laptop, i'd say 3d printers are cheap already. I have at least two hobbies that i've spent more money on than my printer, and i'm not a rich man. of course, it's not "developing world" cheap, but most high tech projects aren't. I don't think you could make a 3d printer cheap AND idiot proof. idiot proof is going to require tby Buback - General
Re: Printable ceramic hot end - 14 years ago
well i have very little experience with plaster, but from recent reading i've learned that gypsum plaster (plaster of paris) will break down back into powder around 200C (i think ) Vic used cement and pearlite, with wire reinforcement. I may start there, with fiberglass fabric instead of wire, and a ptfe liner. Another option that I've heard about but know little about is dental plaster. it seby Buback - Developers
Re: Printable ceramic hot end - 14 years ago
I'm interested in trying a cast plaster hot end. Not the nozzle, just the insulator. Vik Oliver made a wiki page about a similar experiment he did back in 2006, but there's no conclusion on how well it worked, and a lot has changed with hot ends since then. my extruder is kaput, but when i get the new one installed i'll print out a form and give it a try. I'd like to have a working backup on hanby Buback - Developers
Re: [QUESTION] New to RepRap, built Prusa. Still need a Hotend/nozzle. Suggestions? - 14 years ago
fabbing your own is a crap shoot, in my experience. you can spend a lot of time and money and get so-so results. plus, the specialized materials and tools can easily cost more than just purchasing a hot end, if you are starting from scratch. The other problem is the hot end can be your biggest cause of grief when printing. a couple extra bucks can save you a lot of aggravation.by Buback - General Mendel Topics
Re: lmf8uu for z axis? - 14 years ago
of course you also don't need to use 8 screws. two or three would probably be enough, since the flange is so rigid. i think it's a fine idea, but just like lm8uu, somebody has to create a design that uses them before people will realize the benefits,by Buback - General Mendel Topics
Re: active torque control? - 14 years ago
But a saved state just makes the problem worse, if I understand it correctly. if you are at 3/4 of a step when the motors are disabled, it will snap to the 4/4 state. then when you power up, the controller thinks it needs to be at 3/4 step, so it goes to the 7/4 position. so instead of being 1/4 away, your a full step away from where you left off. and even if the controller could assume it wouldby Buback - Developers
Re: Introducing the Prism Mendel - 14 years ago
yes, but either the parts or the tslot profile will have to be modified a bit. Some of the parts have a 5mmx2mm tongue that goes into the slot. This keeps them centered and properly aligned. The tslot I used has a 6mm wide channel which gives about 3 degrees of misalignment between two screws 20mm apart. the tongue printed closer to 5.5mm for me when i printed the parts, so the 6mm channel is neby Buback - General Mendel Topics
Re: Introducing the Prism Mendel - 14 years ago
Thanks for the input Dean. You are printing at much better quality that I am. I don't really like working with arcs and rounded parts, but that's just a personal preference for angled shapes. Anyway, all the parts work fine, since I've printed them myself, but I'm very willing to incorporate parts that work better into the design. And anybody that wants to fork the design is, of course, welcome tby Buback - General Mendel Topics
Re: Thoughts on Fill Algorithms - opinions welcome - 14 years ago
I like the 'triangulation to nearest vertex' approach, but it doesn't fill the model enough and leaves long faces without reinforcement. Maybe make it iterative: define a shortest and longest length, LS and LL, then do the triangulation, then cut all the lines that fall within the bounds in half, and re-triangulate. keep doing this 'till all lines are below the LS.by Buback - General
Re: Printing Metals - 14 years ago
I'm imagining it would be extremely slow, but the biggest stumbling block i see is that it won't be able to produce any type of overhang.by Buback - General
Re: Introducing the Prism Mendel - 14 years ago
I usually use polygons for holes instead of circles, because some firmwares have problems with processing all the gcode moves required for a circle fast enough. the code will just be dropped, and you'll end up with misshaped holes that are too small. it doesn't matter anyway, since they are hidden when it's all assembled. The little m3 screw doesn't do much except keep the rods from sliding backby Buback - General Mendel Topics
Re: integrate raft layer into model? - 14 years ago
I'm suggesting the first layer should be carved at a different layer height than the rest of the model. The overall height of the model would stay the same. adjusting the first layer flow rate settings wouldn't change the extruder paths to compensate, either, so you'd get a messy first layer. it would probably work, but not ideally. the easiest way to test it would be to Frankenstein up some gcoby Buback - Skeinforge
Re: Prism Mendel - 14 years ago
Yes I hope the similarities between our designs will lead to a bunch of co-compatible parts, such as a filament spool that can attach to 2020, etc. The Prism might be a bit easier to scale, since there is only one extrusion length to increase/decrease. On the other hand, i'm not going to stand on top of my prism, even if it can take it! :-) I'm not printing very fast, but that's because I'm behby Buback - Extruded Aluminum Frames