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Quotethe_digital_dentist
No, not nearly that tight. If you make the belts too tight they wear faster. In the Z axis, it probably won't wear much at all, anyway, but you don't want the tension causing unnecessary loading on the motor, either.
The belt should be just tight enough...
I like it ... just tight enough.
On the advice of a friend I have supported the ends of the y and x stepper sh
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Garry Bartsch
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Mechanics
Thank you Mark. Your article on SoM was one of the chief influences in my decision to design this machine this way. I will add two pulleys to force more teeth in contact with the stepper pulley as you recommend. I know it's difficult to quantify, but can you say roughly how much tension do you have on the belt? Is the belt tight enough so you can't defect it much by pushing on it?
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Garry Bartsch
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Mechanics
This design has the two leadscrews driven by one stepper to eliminate the problems that can occur with driving two z leadscrews each with their own steppers. The leadscrews hang from the top of the printer. Inside the cylindrical housing is a thrust bearing supporting the leadscrew. Radial bearings position the leadscrew left and right . The bottom end of the leadscrews sits in a protector bracke
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Garry Bartsch
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Mechanics
It seems I mis-read the author badly but now I can disagree with him on this point based on my own experience. I have had two machines and never once had a bearing failure on a linear rail or smooth rod, much less ever even had a piece of plastic try to get into a linear bearing. I can't see it happening as long as one pays the littlest attention to the machine. I've had wisps of plastic try to w
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Garry Bartsch
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Mechanics
I guess the way to achieve movement out of spec would be to wear the balls down (make them smaller) or wear the tracks out (make them bigger). Both require metal wear which I agree should take a long time on a 3D printer. As long as crud doesn't build up in the blocks there should be no trouble.
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Garry Bartsch
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Mechanics
I was hoping that if I oil the rails/blocks periodically they would run indefinitely. On my Mendel90 I do just that; add a few drops of Vactra 2 once and a while and there is no problems with the smooth rods. I assumed the linear rails would be the same since it's also steel balls running in a steel track. Pretty few parts to go wrong.
Since the wipers on my cheaper set of rails don't fit the ra
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Garry Bartsch
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Mechanics
For the past year and a half I have been working on designing and building a cartesian style printer using linear rails for all three axes. The frame is built and the rails are in place just about to be squared. Now I read the excellent article, 'BUILD A 3D PRINTER WORKHORSE, NOT AN AMAZING DISAPPOINTMENT MACHINE' (https://hackaday.com/2016/07/06/build-a-3d-printer-workhorse/) wherein the writer
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Garry Bartsch
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Mechanics
Not sure if you have solved your problem yet put I have a very similar one (I made a thread before finding this one). After discovering the Z limit switch is broken I replaced it. That didn't solve the issue. Then I discover the Z brass nut is totally worn out! It just spins on the threaded rod. Oh my. And I have always keep the rods well oiled. Well, I have spare nuts so will replace both sides.
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Garry Bartsch
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Mendel90
The switch does not click till the switch button is pushed completely into the switch body (top of the button is completely flush with the face of the switch housing). The other switches click far earlier. I will change the switch and expect the problem to be solved.
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Garry Bartsch
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Mendel90
Thank you Chris.
Sorry for the confusion. Way back I made a Z smooth rod clamp that sets the switch 5mm lower so it would trigger long before the X end on the motor end could hit the right Z clamp. That is responsible for the different Z_HOME_POS.
The Wade's block and X-carriage appear intact and fixed together properly. A wiggle test doesn't uncover any movement in the assembly.
I was able to
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Garry Bartsch
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Mendel90
After printing happily for months upon months tonight something weird pops up. I had been printing small parts without problems (qualifications below) when after homing and lowering for a new print the machine stops with the nozzle roughly 5mm above the glass and begins printing from that height. Indeed, lowering the extruder as low as possible (after homing) with the Z control in Proterface and
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Garry Bartsch
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Mendel90
Thank you @bme and @dc42.
@dc42 your sensor looks excellent and for many reasons appears an excellent solution for Z probing. I haven't worked through all possible scenarios yet but I suspect it will be device I will eventually use for my machine.
One concern I have is how very little higher than the nozzle tip is recommended (1.5mm). This isn't much. Most times prints go well and the surface
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Garry Bartsch
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Reprappers
Thanks for posting more pictures and videos.
I notice you are using an inductive switch for Z probing AND you have glass or mirror over your aluminum plate. I don't know much about these probes but thought they needed to be able to get very close to the metal bed before triggering. You seem to be proving this is not essential. Can you elaborate on the Z proving with the switch?
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Garry Bartsch
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Reprappers
Thanks for the note on planarity. The test in my case will be when I bolt my rails to the extrusions and clamp the carriage to the blocks. It the carriage runs free I will breathe a sigh of relief.
I love the last picture of the yellow clamp. Nice print.
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Garry Bartsch
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Reprappers
I am enjoying your pictures. If I can achieve layer alignment like your machine I will be happy.
Like you I am using linear rails on my custom machine. My question is this: how precisely planar are your rails that the Y carriage bolts to? Are they perfectly level and planar? I'm concerned if my two rails are not perfect, binding of the blocks on the rail will occur. But I'm not yet at the stage
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Garry Bartsch
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Reprappers
Quotebme
Hi and thanks!
Aluminium heat bed plate = 270 g.
Aluminium plate = printing on it = 220 g.
Cool. Not too heavy. Well, I'm looking forward to more videos of your machine in operation and pictures of print quality if you take any. Thanks for sharing your machine.
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Garry Bartsch
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Reprappers
Quotebme
Everything on the Image is 178 grams. The weight will be around 200 grams when finished.
The weight of MGN12 carriage is 52 g.
Thank you for weighing the material and posting this picture. It's pretty light. Less than a NEMA17 stepper. I'm wondering how much the two Y plates weigh? The build surface plate and the spreader that attaches the blocks to the rail. I'm guessing this is pret
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Garry Bartsch
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Reprappers
Quotebme
I will tell you the weight of carriage when I am at home on Sunday.
Thank you. All the best ..
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Garry Bartsch
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Reprappers
I know I certainly will oil mine. The wipers on the HIWIN clones are very imprecise so they won't stop junk from getting in but I will oil them anyway. There will be friction and I'm sure oil will help. The STAF rails have very nice wipers and would stop dirt from getting in. Regarding grease: my first printer was an Up! and it used a lithium grease on the rails.
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Garry Bartsch
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Reprappers
@bme I like your machine. I've watched many of your previous video's. You seem to get some very consistent layer alignment - nice! I watched your video when you ran your machine FAST. Obviously the Y carriage is the heaviest but it doesn't seem to have you from pushing the machine pretty hard. Have you got a total weight for the Y carriage?
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Garry Bartsch
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Reprappers
QuoteJamesKThe question then becomes what to use for a normal lubricant.
I bought some STAF rails from a Chinese seller and asked her what grease she recommended. She said 'anti-rust oil'. Nothing complicated. A friend will give me some Vactra #2 way oil which I will try.
P.S. I bought a cheap set of HIWIN clones and will use them for my first machine and save the STAF for the second machine wi
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Garry Bartsch
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Reprappers
Man, you have some insane Blender skills not to mention electronic talent. I love watching your videos.
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Garry Bartsch
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Look what I made!
Quotedc42The disruptions I was referring to are short pauses that increase the printing time and cause print quality issues ("pause zits"). How much they affect you will depend on what else (if anything) the host PC is doing at the time (which in turn is affected by which operating system it is running), how fast it is, what host program you run on it, how fast you are printing (faster = more pau
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Garry Bartsch
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RAMPS Electronics
Quotedc42
QuoteGarry Bartsch
Quotedc42You will need to add an SD card socket to the RAMPS in order to get good print quality.
Hi, could you explain? Do you mean printing should be done from the SD card and not over USB? Would poor print quality result because the USB didn't pass data reliably? I'm just guessing why this might be because I obviously don't know . Thanks.
Yes. Some people report t
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Garry Bartsch
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RAMPS Electronics
Quotedc42You will need to add an SD card socket to the RAMPS in order to get good print quality.
Hi, could you explain? Do you mean printing should be done from the SD card and not over USB? Would poor print quality result because the USB didn't pass data reliably? I'm just guessing why this might be because I obviously don't know . Thanks.
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Garry Bartsch
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RAMPS Electronics
Thanks all for the advice. I put a sample in the freezer and while I haven't printed with it yet it doesn't seem to break any easier than before freezing. I shall test more.
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Garry Bartsch
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General
My wife has decided she no longer wants to see my ever growing collection of filament stacked on and under the counter in our office. I'm not sure why she feels this way but because women rule I need to find a new home for the plastic and the best other location is in our attached garage which may reach -10 to -15C (14 to 5F) in winter. Will ABS, PLA, Nylon, etc. filaments be damaged by freezing?
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Garry Bartsch
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General