I spoke with VXB yesterday and found out that they are supplying case hardened precision linear shafts instead of the oil hardened drill rod; that is the reason for the discrepancy. You are getting a better product from them for that $30 than you are for the $15 plus shipping from McMaster on the oil hardened shafts.by J-Dubs - Mechanics
@Grogyan - I haven't heard back from them regarding the belts, so I asked again @Pica - I have no influence or stake in VXB, they were the only supplier that was willing to offer discounted packages to this group when I inquired. I did provide feedback to them in regards to this price. I think that this price was originally set up when the bearing kit was $10 more so they might be willing to cby J-Dubs - Mechanics
VXB reduced their price on the original kit to $39.95 now!by J-Dubs - Mechanics
The 3 extra bearings are now in the kit.by J-Dubs - Mechanics
I'll ask Sam, maybe it was just an oversight. Thanks for catching that.by J-Dubs - Mechanics
Here's the G-Code that I did for most of the parts, here's the deal though. It's 3 axis and some of the parts neet to be layered. Most of my material thickness was 18mm so I had to work within those limits. Also, we didn't have dnc capability at the time so the files are split into smaller chunks (A, B, C). This will probably be worthless but I figured I'd offer it.by J-Dubs - Mechanics
VXB now has a kit that includes the bearings and the ground precision rods cut to size:by J-Dubs - Mechanics
I am using the gen 1.2 motherboard and the 5d firmware.by J-Dubs - Controllers
I am using an external temperature controller and I want to be able to pause the program right where it is if the temperature falls to low. The temperature controller has an alarm coil that I am using to enable the extruder stepper driver.by J-Dubs - Controllers
I am wondering if anyone has added a feed hold switch to their machine or if anyone would have an idea on how to do it. I was thinking that I could use pin 1 on the motherboard as an input and then have the firmware follow the state of that pin and pause the program (much like the host software "Pause" button) when the pin goes high or low. Here are the two hurdles: #1 Is pin 1 useable? #2by J-Dubs - Controllers
Sorry that it took me a while to get back to you. I have been chasing my heater around trying to tweek it so it does what I want. FYI, check out the extruder controller page, it says to use output "B" for the heater because it is the only output of the three that is PWM. My firmware was using an analog write to pin 12 which is not PWM. Setting my default PWM to 700 and my Extruder0_ExtrusionPby J-Dubs - Controllers
I spoke with Sam again yesterday and he has now added an additional 3 - 608 bearings to the kit so you can build Wade's Geared extruder without having to order additional bearings. Even better, he kept the price the same as it was before!by J-Dubs - Mechanics
Wade, I come up with a necessary pressure of about 18 pounds of force needed to be exerted by each spring. Please let me know where I am messing this up. 16 kg / 0.5 (coefficient of static friction between ABS and steel) = 32 kg 32 kg / 4 springs = 8 kg 8 kg = 17.63 lbs. of force / spring That seems really high. Should I be using a higher coefficient of static friction being that there areby J-Dubs - Plastic Extruder Working Group
OK, I thought it was a ground loop problem so I re-wired everything. While I was re-wiring things I would troubleshoot each connection. I was trying to power my limit switches from the 5 volt output of the power supply. For some reason the motherboard didn't like that too much because it would shut down ttl communications when I did that. The extruder board was the same way, I had to power itby J-Dubs - Controllers
What are the specifications on the springs for Wade's geared extruder?by J-Dubs - Plastic Extruder Working Group
This is now solved - I had ground loop issues and noise issues. Re-wired the whole thing and the electronics are solid.by J-Dubs - Controllers
I have cooled off now for a week so I didn't just pitch the whole thing in the garbage being that I am so so so close to a working machine (it is complete and was homing all 3 axis correctly before this happened). I have called in my brother-in-law who works with embeded systems all day long to take a look at what is going on. 1st step will be to test my TTL device.by J-Dubs - Controllers
I started up the electronics again tonight to start debugging and now I can't communicate with the motherboard. Things have gone from bad to worse. When I open the reprap host software it says: comms: G-code: T0 dequeued and sent [0.000s/-1272420286281ms] and it stops there. It was working before this whole fiasco but I double checked the baud rates and all of the wires anyway; but still I amby J-Dubs - Controllers
That's interesting. I assumed that it would have the same architecture of the stepper motor drivers. Can I just take the step and direction lines from the motherboard and connect them to a real stepper driver that accepts step and direction pulses?by J-Dubs - Controllers
My extruder stepper made a high pitch whine whenever it was idle. I was testing my current settings and filament spacing tonight and I noticed that the two IC's next to the stepper terminal block were extremely hot, so I let them cool down while I worked on adjusting my endstops for the axis. When I came back to the extruder controller the stepper wouldn't turn. The four LED's cycle but I haveby J-Dubs - Controllers
buy some 9 or 10 conductor ribbon cable from All Electronics and cut off the conductors you don't need? -Jby J-Dubs - General Mendel Topics
That sounds like a fun project! Another idea that I thought would be nice is if there were an MDI (manual data input) section in the host software. One can dream can't they? I need to finish my lathe though, so I can get my extruder design completed. Then I'm on to my heated bed concept, so programming will have to wait. Cheers, -Jby J-Dubs - General
How about adding backlash compensation to the firmware or the hardware? -Jby J-Dubs - General
I thought that I would toss my plan into the ring here. All of my design is completely untested at this point. I am looking at a 1/2" thick piece of aluminum cut to the geometry of the Mendel table with water lines drilled in it and then hacking a coffee maker for heater parts. I'll insulate a container and I figured I could hook the schematic as shown previously to an SSR to control the heatiby J-Dubs - General
Import the step file in the distribution and then use feature recognition on all of the parts. This way no extra work to dimension it,supress features, etc.by J-Dubs - General Mendel Topics
I am happy with the product that I received and I feel that I got good value for my money. The shipment was prompt and arrived per their estimate; it was in a bubble packed envelope and the bearings were in plastic tubes to keep them clean. Plus, they came from California not Germany so transit time was shorter. Best of Luck, -Jby J-Dubs - Mechanics
Awesome, thank you very much. That's the way it always goes, I overthought it and went back too far. -Jby J-Dubs - RepRap Host
I installed arduino 18 and then used the patches from the sanguino download per the directions. If I use the Sanguino board definition, nothing will compile, it comes up with an error " c:/program files/arduino-0018/hardware/tools/avr/bin/../lib/gcc/avr/4.3.3/../../../../avr/lib/avr5/crtm644p.o.init9+0x0): undefined reference to `main'" I thought it might be java related, so I uninstalled javaby J-Dubs - RepRap Host
I spoke with the guys at VXB today to see if they were open to kitting the bearings for Mendel. They responded positively with a kit of 48 - 624 bearings and 2 - 608 bearings for $49.95 Link is here:by J-Dubs - Mechanics
Cool Blog, I like your concept. It is coming together nicely. -Jby J-Dubs - Controllers