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Re: which are the "best" polymer materials for extrusion? - 14 years ago

ooh for sure! toss that source my way - future project right there I wonder how much heavier a printed quadrotor would be - I mean the carbon fiber is obviously lighter but not having any milled aluminum blocks might balance that out.. this might be worth some investigation once I get a 2nd printer going.

by theOtherRob - Plastic Extruder Working Group

Re: state of the art - 14 years ago

I'd love to work on tool change when I finish my current projects (see the distant future for more details) but I have never really found any details on the tool change project - it seems it was a research project at Bath or something that never ended up being technically documented online except for one youtube demonstration which I can't even find anymore!

by theOtherRob - Plastic Extruder Working Group

Re: which are the "best" polymer materials for extrusion? - 14 years ago

Based on my personal experience using a makerbot and a mendel: - PLA is good because it doesn't warp - PLA is bad because it requires finer tuning to extrude well (in my experience) - ABS is good because it is easier to buy and easier to extrude well for small parts - ABS is bad because it tends to warp catastrophically on large parts off the build platform unless you use a heated build platfor

by theOtherRob - Plastic Extruder Working Group

Re: state of the art - 14 years ago

QuoteI think Vik is trying to put together a Mendel 1.1V, by the way, with some of it in the wiki, even. Yeah, I think Vik's OpenSCAD Mendel is really the most promising design we have. The point about different model formats will probably simplify to OpenSCAD replacing AOI as the development medium and STLs will be for ease of use/printing. Since the concept of a roadmap has been brought up

by theOtherRob - Plastic Extruder Working Group

Re: Wobbly pulleys - total dealbreaker? - 14 years ago

Also if McMaster isn't easily available for you, like it is where I am I made a version you can get laser cut in acrylic locally or online with much higher tolerances then a RepRap can produce. These have been working perfectly for me so far although they require gluing to the shafts: /\ just make sure the spacing is right for your belts , i have it set for the standard McMaster Carr belt spec

by theOtherRob - General Mendel Topics

Re: Error in frame x-axis installation? - 14 years ago

crud, I have no idea. I bought what was listed in the BoM and managed to assemble my Mendel without trouble so I'd say go by the BoM. Still can someone with a Mendel on hand verify if that is supposed to be an M4x40 and update the wiki?

by theOtherRob - General Mendel Topics

Re: how to use MakerBot Electronics with Stepper Extruder? - 14 years ago

forgot to mention, I've promised a certain MakerGear proprietor a 5D firmware compatibility fix for ReplicatorG, long story short you may see a patch popping up soon on github

by theOtherRob - General Mendel Topics

Re: how to use MakerBot Electronics with Stepper Extruder? - 14 years ago

np, bowden + makerbot should be pretty cool if you get it working, i don't think anyones tryed that yet without 5d to compensate for the bowden cable tensioning. Make sure to post your results good or bad! in response to the honorable Ali G: ummmmm.. DISTRACTION (god i hope that worked)

by theOtherRob - General Mendel Topics

Re: Purge Plate? - 14 years ago

Zero documentation on this that I've seen but I use the purge plate to do a initial extrude (to push out any burnt filament/get the stream flowing nicely) and then wipe it off on the edge of the build platform. The purge plate bellow catches my extruded filament and allows me to do my printing preparations in a simple, automated way ^_^ You can see the gcode for using the purge plate in my skein

by theOtherRob - General Mendel Topics

Re: Why the Z-opto spring? - 14 years ago

Although i see your point for future toolheads, I find the spring works well enough for existing technology. I use the spring for fine calibration with a standard extruder/opto-endstop. I calibrate the spring position so that it's exactly the level i want to extrude my base layer at which is much easier IMHO then messing with raft-skeinforge settings as a percentage of layer thickness (which i l

by theOtherRob - General Mendel Topics

Re: how to use MakerBot Electronics with Stepper Extruder? - 14 years ago

ReplicatorG is not 5D RepRap firmware compatible. You need to use the RepRap host software if you have used the 5D RepRap firmware (due to changes in the protocol for checksums and line numbers). Alternatively you can try the makerbot firmware with stepper enabled (I hear it has the option now) but I also hear this is fully untested. Nema23 is heavier so moving it on X,Z would require stronger

by theOtherRob - General Mendel Topics

Re: Anyone else in ottawa/gatineau planning on building a RepRap? - 14 years ago

Hope the RUG went well Sebastien, I'll probably be moving back to Ottawa next month and pending that I hope to make it to the next RUG so I figured I'd post to say hey to the Ottawa peoples! A little intro: U of O Comp. Eng student, built a RepRap Mendel at Hacklab.to (shameless plug: it's an awesome place with awesome people - go there now!), some how ended up on the RepRap core team, personali

by theOtherRob - Canada, Ottawa-Gatineau RUG

Re: Looking for Parts - 14 years ago

RR'ed parts situtation sucks, I think your right though, lots of people are starting to sell and in 6-8 months it'll be a problem of the past. As for extruders try makerbot.com - they sell thermal barriers, nozzels, barrels, nichrome wire and insulating materials all seperately on this page -> with that you'll have everything you need for a basic extruder although if you want to get fancy/e

by theOtherRob - Canada, Toronto RepRap User Group

Re: Day1 - 14 years ago

Welcome to the small club of Toronto Mendel users.. actually, you may be the 2nd person here to print one.. after myself that looks very much like the tray of a stratasys machine, always wondered how much easier those are to use, how long did those take to print? Anyways the source of PLA I've used is ultimachine.com - actually for some reason their website was down when I tried it today but b

by theOtherRob - Canada, Toronto RepRap User Group

Re: Wiring Mendel Extruder Head - 14 years ago

Hey rusdp, The little prototype board with the 4 pin connector is entirely optional like you say. For my mendel I connected my extruder's stepper and thermocouple board (optional add-on, same applies for thermisters though) directly to the extruder board. The 4 pin header board just reduces wiring clutter, same with the power connector/usb connector board thing. A standard ATX power supply and F

by theOtherRob - General Mendel Topics

Re: Linear Bearing Mendal, any Thoughts? - 14 years ago

Quotesweaving with the current Mendal bearings, as you said they are designed and set up for inacurrate rod and alingments, for this very reason i would say they cannot be accurate, due to the design intent of being inacurrate. (if that sentance makes any sense at all..lol). Thus my design intent is to not have any inacurate rod or missalingnments, and so giving me an opertunaty to use purpose m

by theOtherRob - General Mendel Topics

Re: Mendel license mentioned on the Wiki? - 14 years ago

more license info ->

by theOtherRob - Administration, Announcements, Policy

Re: Mendel license mentioned on the Wiki? - 14 years ago

thats a good point, for reference Mendel is GPL 2 as is the whole RepRap project. I've added mention of GPL 2 to the summary on mendel's wiki page but there should really be a better quick reference for these RepRap details.

by theOtherRob - Administration, Announcements, Policy

Re: RepRap Google Summer of Code 2010 Call for Ideas - 14 years ago

see also Wiki: Comparison of RepRap Toolchains

by theOtherRob - General

Re: RepRap Google Summer of Code 2010 Call for Ideas - 14 years ago

Hey J-Dubs, I hear that RepSnapper has this - if you can figure out how to find the download link (I've lost it now that his blog is no longer in English) then it should provide the G-Code console which I think is the same as this manual data input your talking about (windows only/linux with lots of hacking).

by theOtherRob - General

Re: Suppliers in CANADA ?? - 14 years ago

* Extruder Parts: shows nichrome, mk3 barrel and mk3 nozzel in stock. I used these with the Mendel Extruder without any trouble. * Belts: possibly - alternatively find someone with mcmaster carr access (this is what i did) or go with Vik's ball-chain design ( ) BTW. thanks for the tip on Bolt Supply Warehouse, I hadn't heard of them before.. quick googling didn't return warehouse but did ret

by theOtherRob - Canada, Toronto RepRap User Group

Re: RepRap Google Summer of Code 2010 Call for Ideas - 14 years ago

Hey Mike, A belated welcome to the forums! Code is certainly an issue for this project, there is an SVN and only recently Adrian set up a bug tracker.. basically if you want to submit code and eventually get commit access you should go through Adrian (he's friendly and has never eaten anyone that we know of). SVN link in it's impossible to find place (agree we should have a more obvious link so

by theOtherRob - General

Re: Entry page for site - 14 years ago

sheep: check out any stepper motor driver version now, they should all be linked with a history navigation box at the top ( ) hope that solves the problem at least for steppers.. if someone can duplicate that for other electronic components then all would be good.. at least in that small area of the wiki

by theOtherRob - General

Re: RepRap Google Summer of Code 2010 Call for Ideas - 14 years ago

thanks rocket scientist! I'm going to keep tabs on this page as it seems to have allot of stuff we should put into the next gen RepRap (IMHO as a lowly wiki admin . Unfortunately we didn't make the deadline for GSoC - this was very last minute and we gave it our best shot given the 48 hours we were left with but ultimately we just didn't have enough time left. Next year though I think the feelin

by theOtherRob - General

Re: Entry page for site - 14 years ago

In response: bobt + sheep: Forum links are back, I added them under the heading community (as well as an irc link). I removed most of those links because the old site was overly cluttered with a billion links that made navigating to the important bits very difficult IMO. sheep: links to previous versions of each electronics (like wikipedia has for everything and anything with a previous version

by theOtherRob - General

Re: RepRap Google Summer of Code 2010 Call for Ideas - 14 years ago

bump: still could use ideas up there! If your unfamiliar with the wiki just post your ideas here and i can copy them over!

by theOtherRob - General

Re: Hello Toronto Group! - 14 years ago

I don't understand, who meets up every other Tuesday and where? I'm interested in a RepRap user group for Toronto but what your wiki page describes doesn't exist to my knowledge.

by theOtherRob - Canada, London RUG

Re: Hello Toronto Group! - 14 years ago

Try visiting hacklab.to or inter access. I'm usually at the hacklab on tuesday night (which are open to non-members) and I know inter access has open houses as well (Liav is working on a Darwin RepRap at inter access).

by theOtherRob - Canada, London RUG

RepRap Google Summer of Code 2010 Call for Ideas - 14 years ago

Hey All, For those of you unfamiliar with Google's Summer of Code (GSoC) it is a payed Google position offered to ~1000 students world wide to work with a open source organization as developers. The students are given specific tasks and a summer to complete them during which time they regularly meet with their open source group and google in working on their development task. GSOC has an applic

by theOtherRob - General

Re: A call for help/ideas to develop the Heated Bed - 14 years ago

On the Hacklab.to Makerbot I have gone with a acrylic sheet (~1/2 inch i think) on top of an aluminum heater block powered by kaptop taped nicrome on the bottom. The assembly is held away from the wooden makerbot by a nutted bolt that attaches to a lower acrylic assembly for mating with the makerbot's build platform interface. Heres the important bit: To get acrylic not to warp you need it to be

by theOtherRob - General