RUG/Pennsylvania/State College/Printers/PSU Unit Rainbow
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This printer started construction in the Fall 2012 semester. It is an Open Hybrid Mendel model developed by the reprap PSU community. Pictures of this printer being built can be seen below in the progress section. The printer is in the completed state and is ready for printing. See Operation specifications below for the most up to date information its operating conditions.
Contents
Log
Date | Modification / Problem |
---|---|
12/06/2013 | Extruder tip not working. Axis need to be homed. |
09/04/2013 | Changed Z-Axis / Motor Axis holders |
Operating Specifications
Design | Ohm |
Electronics | RAMPS |
Firmware | Marlin |
Extruder | 0.5mm |
Fall 2012 Build Members
[Greg Mann]
[Alex Blenheim ]
[Mallory Guarino]
[Dan Guy]
[Alex Kasinec]
This printer is part of the [PSU] reprap group
Build Progress
This section includes the progress the build team has made on the rainbow printer on a weekly basis. We hope that this timeline will help other teams with building their printers.
Final Update
Things that still need to be done:
1. Finish assembling the extruder
2. Solder the thermocouple junction onto the electronics board
3. Connect all wires to the electronics board
4. Organize the wires so they will not be in the way while printing
5. Test. This printer has not been connected to a computer yet
Week 15
The wires are all crimped and ready to be connected to the RAMPS board. We also hace all of the end switches mounted on the printer as well as their connections made. The extruder has gears and hot tip with the thermocouple installed as well. The electronics have been programmed with the firmware and we are making final adjustments to the machine to put it into final working order. Of course more tweaking is necessary to determine the step size and speed that the motors drive the different axes with the printer interface program. These adjustments are made in the firmware and once all the parameters are in place, the printer will be ready to go.
Week 14
The electronics have been mounted and the motor wires attached to the board. The extruder base has been assembled and placed on its track. We also installed the pulley system for the print bed.
Week 13
We have mounted the print bed and have almost all the parts for the extruder printed out. We have also attached the piece to mount the electronics to.
Week 12
We have almost finished assembling the x-axis carriage and we are waiting on a few parts to finish. We have mounted the z-motors and are ready to mount the x-motor and y-motor as soon as we get the parts needed. After the carriage is finished we hope to print out more parts for the bed of the printer as well as mounting the x-axis carriage.
Week 10
Week 8
All of the X axis parts are printed and waiting to be assembled. Our next task is to install the smooth rods associated with the X axis. Also, get the printer ready to be mounted with electronics and motors.
Week 7
We have named our printer and built this page on the wiki. We have assembled the frame and we have various parts for the x-axis printed. We also have our motors (the top two are mounted) and have braided all the wires on them. If you don't know how to do a 4-strand braid click here
Printer Components
Below is a list of all parts that will need to printed for this specific printer, this table can also be found on the [OHM] page. Also included in this table is an inventory column to help the group keep track of what needs to be printed.
Frame and Z Axis Parts
In addition to these printed parts you will also need an assortment of threaded rods and smooth rods. More information on how to build the OHM can be found at this [Link]!
Quantity | File-Name | Comments | Diagram | Part Progress |
---|---|---|---|---|
6 | Camiel_frame_vertex_6off | Alternative part by Camiel | Printing Complete | |
2 | z-prusa-motor-mount_2off | Printing Complete | ||
2 | z-bar-top-clamp_2off | Printing Complete | ||
4 | prusa_bar-clamp_2off | Printing Complete | ||
8 | y-bar-clamp_8off | Printing Complete | ||
1 | y-idler-bracket_1off | Printing Complete | ||
1 | y-motor-bracket_1off_mod3-15 | Modified by PSU Reprap Collective | Printing Complete |
Y Carriage Parts
In addition to these printed parts you will need a print bed. They can be thin aluminum or in our case a strong clear plastic that gives the printer a sharp look.
Quantity | File-Name | Comments | Diagram | Part Progress |
---|---|---|---|---|
4 | bed-spring_4off | Printing Complete | ||
1 | OpenY_8mm Belt Harness_1off | Open Y by Buback, modified by PSU Reprap Collective | Printing Complete | |
2 | OpenY_8mm Crossbar Mount_2off | Open Y by Buback | Printing Complete | |
2 | OpenY_Arm 90 - 180_2off | Open Y by Buback | Printing Complete | |
1 | OpenY_arm45 | Open Y by Buback | Printing Complete | |
2 | OpenY_Undercarriage_Bracket_1off | Open Y by Buback | Printing Complete |
X Axis Parts
Quantity | File-Name | Comments | Diagram | Part Progress |
---|---|---|---|---|
4 | pla_coupling_nophead-1piece_4off | Alternative part by Nophead | Printing Complete | |
2 | x-180-z-bearing-plate_2off | Printing Complete | ||
2 | PSU_x_vert_sideplate_360_end_2off | Alternative part to x-ver-drive-side-plate-360-end_2off.stl | Printing Complete | |
2 | x-360-z-bearing-plate_2off | Printing Complete | ||
2 | x-360-z-bearing-plate-mirror_2off | Printing Complete | ||
1 | xaxis-motor-bracket_1off | Alternative part by Rhys-jones | Printing Complete | |
4 | x-bar-clamp-m3_4off | Printing Complete | ||
4 | x-bar-clamp-m4_4off | Printing Complete | ||
1 | x-end-bracket_1off | Printing Complete | ||
4 | x-vert-drive-nut-trap_4off | Printing Complete | ||
4 | x-vert-drive-side-plate-180-end_4off | Printing Complete | ||
2 | x-axis-side-plate-nut-jig_2off | Printing Complete |
X Carriage
Two major issues affected the Open-X carriage: carriages occasionally "walk" up off the tracks, and inconsistent spacing of the undercarriage bracket occasionally allowed the extruder to move/twist laterally. Both of these issues were minimized through modifications by user Joe Bartolai. The OpenX Arm was shortened and an offset was added so that the bearing attached to it is centered on the rail. The OpenX undercarriage bracket was also modified by making the angle steeper where the lower bearings contact the rail and by increasing the spacing where the undercarriage bracket attaches to the carriage. Part models will be added soon.
Quantity | File-Name | Comments | Diagram | Part Progress |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | OpenX_Carriage_1off | Open X by Buback | Printing Complete | |
1 | OpenX_Undercarriage_Bracket_1off | Open X by Buback | Printing Complete | |
1 | OpenX_arm_PSU_1off | Open X by Buback Modified by PSU Reprap Collective | Printing Complete | |
1 | OpenXY_bracket | Printing Complete |
Extruder
Currently not included in STL zipfile
Quantity | File-Name | Comments | Diagram | Part Progress |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | HerringboneDrivenGear | Alternative part by Rhys-jones | Printing Complete | |
1 | HerringboneDriveGear | Alternative part by Rhys-jones | Printing Complete | |
1 | Gregs_accessible_wades_v6 | Alternative extruder by Greg-Frost | Printing Complete | |
1 | Gregs_accessible_wades_idler | Printing Complete |
Electronics
We will be installing RAMPS onto this printer...more information to follow, for now check out this link to our class electronics page Electronics and this link for RAMPS link
After the initial construction of rainbow printer, there were some major issues with the electronics that needed to be addressed. The first of these issues arose during Fall 2013. It had a bad diode that was causing the electronics to overheat. After a week or so of waiting for parts, the solution to this problem was to get entirely new electronics. It seemed that the diode had caused the RAMPS to overheat which may have caused the Arduino to malfunction as well. The next issue was with the drivers. The rainbow printer has had many stepper drivers removed for either being too hot, not functioning properly, or being overpowered and breaking. Finding four operational drivers was difficult in the rebuilding of the rainbow printer.
This is a picture of a basic RAMPS electronic board and is representative of the one we are using in this project.