The Journey Continues.......

So after things went a little crazy, laptop funked up, printer was going a little batty, and trying to fix it all, I think I am back to printing! My main goal right now is to print back up parts now that I have things really good. I also want to start making things for people and hopefully sell some things if that's possible. I bought some transparent 3mm filament and it doesn't like the small spool it is on. So I am printing this MendelMax Spool and I should have better results and not have to watch it constantly since the plastic wants to spring off the spool.

So I will post some pics once I get back to normal here. Maybe in a few days...!

The day of winning.......

One this is for sure you don't want to miss order these 2 parts on your build, the motors and the hot end! I have learned the hard way but it's not something I can't live with. Stay away from a copy hot end, well known people you can trust. I'm talking about the one and only J-Head and there are sub-par units out  there. I happen to find one before. Just the layer tightness is enough to sell you but I'm sure there are some comparable copy J-Heads that would so it for you. I'm just listing the link in my blog for the best one, IMHO.

www.hotends.com

The Mk V-BV to be exact.

Here are a couple of pictures and you can see how tight the layers are on that second pic.

Some designs

Things are looking up for the MendelMax! I am 97% there I believe and when I receive my new .35mm hot end, we will hit that 99.9999% mark! I am just not happy with the hot end I have at this time seeing it is a .50mm end and the filament is coming out at .65-.68mm. I understand from others that the metal swells but this may be a little much and it is throwing off some of the seams. At this point, that is not acceptable to me and if I hadn't made the end to "fit" my extruder, it would be on its way back to where I bought it from. ANOTHER lesson learned. I did a little fixing on my Y axis as I installed 2 solid blocks of wood on the edges and took out the 4 aluminum spacers I had there. It just makes it more rigid and less vibrations all around. I am happy I took it apart to fix!

SO here are a few designs I chose to print from thingverse.

YODA

BRAIN SLUG V2

MENDELMAX SKELETAL SPOOL MOUNT

This is printed at a 50% size. Notice the ears have some buggers and at the neck its a little bubbly.

If you notice on the feet, there is some separation of layers and I think this is from the hot end not being what its supposed to be. It will be better once I get the .35mm end. 

and just because I had black plastic in the unit when I first printed a 100% Yoda!

A mishaT version of the spool holder

Happy New Year to all! 2013

So lets get right to it. I bought 2 new motors to replace my X,Y axis motors. I for one will not disagree any longer that cheaper will work as good as mo money ones...! Just made a believer out of me. I purchased 2 - 2.8v/ 1.5A motors from www.lulzbot.com and very happy I did. I may go back for a third for the extruder but that will happen when I get a new hot end.  So I went from a hot motor to a very cool motor and it really makes a difference. I'm still trying to get this thing calibrated and hopefully will hit that soon! I'm getting closer. Time is what I lack since I can't spend every minute of the day working with it. You can see the difference in the cheap Ebay motor on the left and the nice chunky one on the right.

Here is a picture of bad motor mojo......

And here is a day 1 picture again and a newer version from today. Its getting better!

One of my very near future plans is to re-build my Y-axis platform. I think I need something more solid and rigid. The current one seems to have vibration occurring which may contribute to my issues. 

Finally a great update!

So I have been busy with the printer and we are up and running! I'm still in the calibration stages but moving along and making progress. It's not out of the box ready and some purchase but I feel I will get there soon enough. After my power supply arrived I was able to get thing rolling and feel I'm about 3/4 of the way there.   I am getting great layer height and the ABS is sticking well to the heated bed with Kapton tape on the glass. I'm trying to get rid of the buggers building up on the corners but with some help from the forum, I am going to work on that today. I found out that I have weak motors and that is one of the keys to success is motors that can handle the work load. I will shop around and when this next purchase is made, we be getting some good motors. I laxed on getting a BOM list going but I plan to do that very soon and put that up on the blog as soon as I can. As of right now, I believe I have about $500 in parts to build this machine. Its going to raise about $100 after I get new motors and possibly a new hot end. Sure I could have bought the whole kit but when money has to be used in small chunks rather than the whole ball, you do what you can do and take some of that wasted money on the chin and move ahead. Ok enough of that and enjoy some pics. I included some short video clips as well.

Here are some links that have helped me
www.reprap.org
Google Groups
www.lulzbot.com
www.makerstoolworks.com
www.thingiverse.com
Ebay seller - Plastic parts- 3dfactory
www.makerfarm.com
Filament - www.3dprinterstuff.com
Ebay Seller -Electronics - reprapdiscount



Here is the first Ramps 1.4 test that some have seen already. You can see it on youtube with a short explanation of what I did.

Hot End is built. I broke off some ceramic around the resistor and had to order a new one. It came with the 6 ohm version and I bought a 5.8 ohm one and it really heats up quick and the matching thermistor keeps the heat steady

Thermistor 100k

The elusive 12v 30 amp power supply

My rendition of a filament spool holder. I am going to print one up very soon!

Mr. Arduino hiding in the back. Once I get things at a somewhat production level I plan to make my housing complete with more space and fan supports.

And we have some crapola for first prints

But things are looking up! This is a calibration cube that came out not too bad and boosted my confidence.

And almost done with the second section.

And the final part was a little fragile and maybe a little too much heat/filament feed

This print was going good on another square/circle calibration print until the filament spool got hung up and sent it crazy across the bed

We are getting there day by day

The extruder doin' it!

And a couple shots of the unit as it is today. My ghetto rig spool holder had to be turned so the filament would roll better to the extruder.

ok 2 more video's

And waiting....

I'm just not happy with the hot end I purchased. I accidentally chipped the ceramic off the Heat resistor tightening the set screw. I barely snugged it!. So I have to purchase a new one. Plus I am not happy about having to use heat proof cement to help hold it in. I saw a video from someone and they don't recommend using anything in it in case it falls out. I should have shopped around some more instead of looking for the best /cheapest deal. I will take that one on the chin. I'm about ready to buy another power supply and return the one that hasn't shown up yet. I know it's coming from China, but when I bought it, they shipping from New Jersey... What are they sending it via rowboat for cripes sake!!!! I bought my electronics kit from Hong Kong and it was here in less than 4 days.. I'm just not a happy camper but things will get back to where they should be...........................................

Still Waiting.....

If I would have known that the vendor I purchased my Hot End from didn't have any in stock, I would have bought somewhere else. Ok enough of this jibberish, I only have a couple pics to post as I am stuck without the Hot End.

Trying to keep the wires managable

Bad pic, sorry...   Thermistor attached with Kapton Tape

Used some heat shrink tube to finish off the connection wires

Wire bundle connected

Moves real nice with no strain on the connection...