Show all posts by user
Plastic Extruders, mostly - > http://objects.reprap.org/wiki/Extruder
Re: RepRapSurvey.org - 14 years ago
@ Triffid Indeed! Let's talk more later. Right now it would be best not to influence results by giving my opinion. @ David I will see if we can change this.by ErikDeBruijn - General
Re: RepRapSurvey.org - 14 years ago
Nophead > I think this project is a lot more than open hardware or software. It is also open research. That's true. We are not narrowly defining it in the research. It's a collaborative problem solving process (if that's broad enough), and some of the products are have software output and others are designs and manifestations of physical products. The fact that physical matter is needed to teby ErikDeBruijn - General
Re: RepRapSurvey.org - 14 years ago
You probably mean Kerstin Balka's summary. One part of the survey is indeed similar, but these questions were not specific to the RepRap project. But we will be using those results too. Obviously, since data has been anonimized (as should be) we will only have the aggregate results from that study. So we can compare them overall, but it's hard/impossible to pair the results.by ErikDeBruijn - General
RepRapSurvey.org - 14 years ago
Hi, I need your help! Help me help the project we both love! Go to Why? I can understand that you don't have time for just any survey. But this one is REALLY IMPORTANT: We're trying to learn how open source software development differs from open hardware. Also, I'm learning how the RepRap community innovates and how this is different from commercial development of physical products. If helpinby ErikDeBruijn - General
Re: Hybrid PEEK/PTFE Thermal Insulator 
Need a volunteer to test it. - 14 years ago
I'm also using this teflon tube in PEEK, but with the Bowden setup. It doesn't have a lot of run time though (It's my second extruder and I'm having a BfB software problem with this Darwin). PLA didn't work with it in initial tests (got too soft higher up and forms a hard-to-push through plug). Your design is quite similar to what I currently have. I super glued the tube into it after drilling iby ErikDeBruijn - General
This weekend: RepRap at FOSDEM 2010, Belgium! (including a talk by Adrian) - 14 years ago
This weekend - sat. 6th and sunday the 7th - it is possible to see several people demonstrating their RepRaps at FOSDEM in Brussels, Belgium. Be sure not to miss the keynote speech by Dr. Adrian Bowyer, who initiated the project around 2005! Details on the main track talk: I'll also have my child RepRap on display, if I manage to complete it. This evening. See you there, Erik de Bruijnby ErikDeBruijn - General
Re: NEMA17 Stepper motor for extruder? - 14 years ago
I mean that more motor power revealed problems somewhere else (I've got NEMA23 motor, not 24 as I pointed out by mistake)). I've solved the extruder jams by completely rebuilding the hot end. I also made a second one that seems to work. When I use PLA, everything jams, so I'm leaving that alone for the fourth time. Maybe in a month I will regain the courage. It gets to hot higher up the nozzle aby ErikDeBruijn - Mechanics
Re: NEMA17 Stepper motor for extruder? - 14 years ago
I've taken a different approach. Since I'm using a Bowden filament guide, the weight of the motor is relatively unimportant (it's not part of the moving mass). I printed one of my adapter plates ( ) switched the NEMA17 with a Keling NEMA24 motor. This one won't skip for sure! I've already printed an object with it with a very consistent surface. But now I'm plagued with issues of extruder jams.by ErikDeBruijn - Mechanics
Re: Starting a DIY-mini-lathe - 14 years ago
I didn't realize it tried to create smilies out of this. On this page: Click on "Discussion".by ErikDeBruijn - Mechanics
Re: Starting a DIY-mini-lathe - 14 years ago
This one: This is their project:by ErikDeBruijn - Mechanics
Re: Starting a DIY-mini-lathe - 14 years ago
I edited the discussion page to include some ideas and findings from my trials. Discussion can proceed there since this thread is drifting off topic...by ErikDeBruijn - Mechanics
Re: Starting a DIY-mini-lathe - 14 years ago
> Best method should be laminating with carbon-fabric and heat the surface to fuse the fabric with the plastic beneath ... then fab the next slice, and so on ... But then the strength would be very directional. Especially perpendicular to the layers, the strength is lacking, and this will not aid it's strength much in that direction. I do think additive processes and composite materials holby ErikDeBruijn - Mechanics
Re: Starting a DIY-mini-lathe - 14 years ago
Another option would be to start with printed parts and bootstrap a stronger lathe. I'm just shamelessly repeating what cathal garvey just said in an email. My first thought on that is that with feedback you might not need a lot of stiffness to machine to tight tolerances.by ErikDeBruijn - Mechanics
Re: Starting a DIY-mini-lathe - 14 years ago
Nice! It's a very interesting approach. I'd love to follow follow your progress. It also really fits well in the RepLab.org concept!by ErikDeBruijn - Mechanics
NEMA17 Stepper motor for extruder? - 14 years ago
Hi, I found these: For people in the US it might be a nice and cheap, already splined shaft. Not sure if it has the torque, but at this low diameter it might be enough. If so, it would make for a very light weight extruder! When I buy 10 of these, shipping is still more expensive than the motors (>70 dollar!). So it's impractical for me...by ErikDeBruijn - Mechanics
Re: Increasing Accuracy - how? - 15 years ago
Hi Sebastien, My physics aren't very sophisticated and mostly based on introspective thought and observations rather than learning theory. Your explanation of surface to volume ratio is indeed what I see as the rationale behind it (surface being to the power of two and volume to the power of three, which is why babies need help keeping warm, or at least need more energy to stay warm). I think tby ErikDeBruijn - Plastic Extruder Working Group
Re: Increasing Accuracy - how? - 15 years ago
One problem could be that if you extrude only a very small amount of material (a very thin wire) it hardly contains any heat. It can be hot, but might not contain enough Joules of energy to really weld properly with the layer below it. I've been using very fine settings myself (~ 0.3 orifice and 0.22 layer height) and delamination becomes an issue. Though this might be solved with a heated chambeby ErikDeBruijn - Plastic Extruder Working Group
Re: Wohlers on open source 3D printing - 15 years ago
The article was updated for publication as a column in Time Compression magazine. Not much is changed, the numbers are adjusted a bit because of increases in unit sales rates of the suppliers.by ErikDeBruijn - General
Re: Bugs found in G-Code parser - 15 years ago
What happens with the two spaces? I'm having weird behaviour with my firmware and have double spaces. I have a script that can remove them but I want to know for sure that this is what is causing them and the problem only surfaces once in a while. I sometime send rapid E commands (5D firmware) and negative values will still extrude forward. This is after a while where it goes fine. The same fileby ErikDeBruijn - RepRap Host
Re: Help with 5D firmware? - 15 years ago
The fact that everything needs spaces was vaguely known to me, so I made sure it did. Except for one bit in my gcode that didn't have this: M104S200 (set temperature to 200C). This was causing problems in the sanguino firmware. Extrusion (E code) only went forward from that moment on! That was a nasty problem! Finally this seems solved. Now I can reverse again, critical to getting strong prints wby ErikDeBruijn - RepRap Host
Re: Wire glue (Conductive glue) - 15 years ago
Today the development of an interesting alternative conductor was announced: Essentially it is a jet-able silver ink that melts below 140 degrees C. The ink is composed of 5 nanometer silver particles, allowing it to be jetted at 900 degrees Celsius lower than liquid silver. 5 nanometer essentially means that 20.000 of them side-by-side would span the diameter of a human hair. Since normal inby ErikDeBruijn - Plastic Extruder Working Group
Re: Reprap printing in multicolor... - 15 years ago
Hi Sam! Sounds like the perfect stuff to work with, except that it might be expensive. For tattoo's you'd need only a little. Now to find a supplier. I could go to the tattoo shop around the cornerby ErikDeBruijn - General
Re: Skeinforge Powwow - 15 years ago
AFAIK, Wade's using PLA, polylactic acid. It has a low melting point and low shrinkage, so it hardly warps even when you don't use a raft. I also have PLA but didn't get around to trying it yet... need... more... time...by ErikDeBruijn - Skeinforge
Re: Skeinforge contributions - 15 years ago
@nophead: (As you know) tower makes sure that a few layers of an island are built right after each other instead of many switches between the islands. For this object it is where the horizontal teardrop shaped holes are. Most of the gain in terms of reduction of stringing is because of the combing feature though. Without it, it used to jump from one place to another crossing the boundary of the oby ErikDeBruijn - RepRap Host
Re: Skeinforge contributions - 15 years ago
@unfold: I meant on double sided tape. I've seen duct tape used as well (to my suprise) but I only said that to confuse you all @nophead: I'll also try a more closely pitched top layer. The first layer of the object will be better. Right now I have trouble removing the top layer of the raft from the object. It's probably because it's at the same temperature as object is extruded at (250+). My nby ErikDeBruijn - RepRap Host
Re: Skeinforge contributions - 15 years ago
My rafts only snap loose when a few layers of the object adds to the force. nophead> If you do that the raft will have less strength to resist the layer above contracting. Do you mean that the zigzag pattern reduces the strength? I'm only talking about the foundation layer now. Or the fact that the raft surface is a rectangle regardless of the object's shape? Another idea for you guys toby ErikDeBruijn - RepRap Host
Re: Skeinforge Powwow - 15 years ago
I posted a challenge for improving skeinforge's raft making... (not that it's bad, just that there's room for reducing waste) Since many are following this topic, I thought I'd post a link to the Skeinforge contributions topic here: Of course the same goes for the Java host or any other software you might be using (are there other alternatives you know of?)by ErikDeBruijn - Skeinforge
Re: Skeinforge contributions - rafting challenge! - 15 years ago
To all who master the python Because of the shrinking of the extrudate tension builds up inside objects, but also in the raft. I sometimes get warped objects because the raft snaps loose. I mitigated this to the extent that now it is more rare, but I did that by depositing a fatter raft than before at a higher temperature. But with less material, I think that it should be possible to prevent thby ErikDeBruijn - RepRap Host
Re: Skeinforge Powwow - 15 years ago
Enrique, the Orbit function works again. I now get very pretty prints without too much strings! This made my day yesterday. Now I'm out for new challenges. Somehow inter-layer adhesion still isn't what it should be. With very thin layers (.25) there isn't much energy in the plastic to heat up the plastic below it. I'm scared that the corner brackets that I print will not be strong enough and tby ErikDeBruijn - Skeinforge
Re: HeeksCAD (Open CASCADE based solid modeling tool) - 15 years ago
Well, you also have HeeksCNC, but that's only for subtractive. HeeksCAD is a solid modeler with some type of CAM integration it seems. For additive fabrication we would not use those features, but just the solid modeler. But this is. IMHO, precisely what's still missing in the world of open source software... a good modeler. At least HeeksCAD seems like a very good start. Normal (non-solid) modeby ErikDeBruijn - RepRap Host