@nicholas.seward: Very, very exciting stuff. I am looking forward to seeing both the sextupterons and the slicer! Do you teach a school for big kids too? I want to be a part of it!by Thorp - Developers
A2, definitely opportunities aplenty, both in hardware and software The hotend heater block and cooling fan have to stay inside a cone formed by revolving a 45* degree line around the the filament axis. Then there is that whole slicing thing.... I will let people smarter than me solve that one!by Thorp - Developers
Wonderful work Fabricate! You have demonstrated value in a 4, 5, or 6 degree of freedom head. More significantly, you have a proof of concept that actually works. You have been able to circumvent the '5DOF slicer problem' in your proof of concept by simply manually writing the gcode. Well done! I have been working on this concept for the last 6 months or so and while my hardware might be a bitby Thorp - Developers
Santa brought me something today! Arranged based on the principle I mentioned earlier. Pairs of disc magnets oriented in the same direction to create an open circuit that the ball bearing closes. As you might expect, the arrangements with thinner magnets are weaker and thicker magnets, stronger. I don't really know how much force will be required but I am confident I can get it with this approby Thorp - Delta Machines
Nice work rymnd! I like the direction you have taken. I'm going to pursue a similar construction, using 6 dowel pins and 3 ball bearings to provide a kinematic coupling. In your construction, you rely on a second set of magnets to provide the closing or clamping force. You have great control over your clamping force because you can accommodate magnets of different size. A downside is that you haby Thorp - Delta Machines
Emmanuel, why do you like the PG35L steppers? pros and cons? Richrap, I just checked out your paste extruder printing bunnies with frosting. Very very cool. Direction on the project: I don't think I'm happy with the extruder design but I need to get over it and get printing with what I have. Once I'm extruding I can experiment with other concepts. In order to get there, I need a) electronics toby Thorp - Plastic Extruder Working Group
I think the best part of all this.... I have two years of nophead blogs to catchup on!by Thorp - Plastic Extruder Working Group
Oh... and I'm putting together a NC lathe. Should make that hot end design a lot more versatile!by Thorp - Plastic Extruder Working Group
Ladies and Gentlemen, It looks like I've taken a bit of a hiatus, but I think it's time that I get back into doing the things that I enjoy. I quite my corporate 9-5 job this last week with the intent of slimming down on my living expenses and working towards commercializing some of my projects. There are several projects that I'd like to work on but with only 24 hours in the day, I need to priorby Thorp - Plastic Extruder Working Group
The heater block and nozzle are two separate parts, made on the mill and lathe respectively. I was first thinking of using nylon machine screws to insulate the block but that won't work due to melting points. I will probably end up insulating metal screws with peek washers instead. It is a valid concern! The worm is metal. The two parts are matched to each other. I am curious to see what will gby Thorp - Plastic Extruder Working Group
Plugging away. Here and there... Will check your blog out with interest.by Thorp - Plastic Extruder Working Group
Paul, I have already purchased a set of gears but would be interested to see the work you are doing or any more information you have.by Thorp - Plastic Extruder Working Group
I am still alive, chasing that cake. I have a job now. Or maybe a time sucker I should say. Also a 1964 Cal28 sailboat and a girl I'm genuinely interested in. None of which interest you at all and I bring it up only to use as an excuse for my insignificant progress on the extruder... But I went ahead and ordered a set of the following *matching* gears A 1P 6MYK08R050 A 1Y 5MYK08RA And stoppedby Thorp - Plastic Extruder Working Group
What we are doing would go here: Sebastien, making changes to the wiki is a bit of a mystery to me. Both in the etiquette sense and in execution. For example, are pictures hosted to the wiki? Or should we use an external host and link? Is there a page outlining how to make changes to the wiki? There probably is, but I can't find it, which often seems to be the case. I'm not sure if it's my inepby Thorp - General Mendel Topics
Mmm.. Traumflug, what you suggest has a time and place but in a general sense, I think that is terrible advice. We're spending close to $400 in stepper motors alone. It doesn't hurt to spend five minutes to jump on a forum and ask some questions. Five minutes spent here could potentially save us loads of headaches later on. And on the pololu drivers. We're designing and making our own break outby Thorp - General Mendel Topics
I made the blunder of using two gears that are incompatible: A 1Y 5MYK08RA A 1B 6MYH08R050 They have different lead angles. SDP only stocks one worm that fits the 5mm stepper shaft. The only compatible worm gears with that worm are nylon or acetal, which means I can't machine the filament gripper onto the worm gear itself. Probably still doable, but I'd have to rework the arrangement a little biby Thorp - Plastic Extruder Working Group
A modular, stackable design is an interesting concept but at what cost? I don't see a solution to get the two or three nozzles close together in that way. Something to think about though. I would like to think that this extruder is the head on a body and will eventually go on a machine that I have also designed. I am sometimes amazed at the success that makerbot and the like have received becausby Thorp - Plastic Extruder Working Group
Thank you for your input. In what size do you microstep your extruder? 1/4? 1/8? 1/16? I read in your blog that torque is effected by microsteping by a factor of .7- is that .707 and from the RMS of the sinwave? Should motor torque vary with different levels of microstepping? What is the downside to 1/16 microstepping vs 1/8 besides max speed, or is there any? After taking a more detailed look aby Thorp - Plastic Extruder Working Group
I don't have a drive wheel to test or an accurate way to test force for that matter, but I am not too worried about it. I've found a spring that provides a suggested maximum of 85 newtons (19 lbs) that will fit nicely. If that doesn't suffice I will replace it with a stack of belleville washers. I am close to finalizing the design and the solid model is all but complete except for a couple pinsby Thorp - Plastic Extruder Working Group
JohnyR is the fellow. I also ordered and talked with him for a bit. No complaints! I was just getting into reprap and ordered a roll of PLA. Not only did the PLA and the other various components show up but also two small rolls of other filament at no charge! The ptfe barrel I purchased was slightly bigger than it was suppose to be. He got in contact with me, made me aware of the issue and shippby Thorp - General
I have switched directions slightly but have been making steady strides. I need to know the approximate force required on the filament against the hobbed wheel using a bearing. Looking at the wiki page outlining wades extruder, I found this: "For a given filament drive force, you'll need about twice the spring force - ie, if you want 100 N of filament drive, your springs need to push with aboutby Thorp - Plastic Extruder Working Group
I'm home now and had a request for my solidworks files so I'd like to edit a wiki page and upload the files somewhere but haven't contributed in the past so I don't really know how to do this. Would it be best to edit the metal mendel page? Where should I upload the files to?by Thorp - Mechanics
Jbayless, nice example. I agree with all that you say. I should have actually taken a look at the numbers.by Thorp - General
My two cents on the glass vs aluminum debate: (sorry Susan, I don't know the answers to your question) Cast aluminum tooling plate can be purchased that comes very flat- no machining would be required. The point of the heated bed is to stop warping and their seems to be two aspects to this. Heating the bed helps the first layer stick to the table. I see both glass and aluminum doing this equallby Thorp - General
Capo, I think that it would be important to get thermal images as a print is in progress and don't see how that would be possible if you were to use the printer to create the image. I also feel that the z direction temperature gradient is much more important than the x or y and don't see that possible with your proposed solution. What infill options are available and has anyone experimented withby Thorp - General
I would be very hesitant to use gcode produced from someone else. There are so many variables... Speeds/feeds, endmill diameter, post processor, etc. Crashing a mill is no fun and I think I'd be doing you a disservice by sending the gcode I used to make my Mendel. With that said, I can send you the solid model files used to create the gcode. I have redesigned many of the parts to be easier to maby Thorp - Mechanics