World Domination, I just got my self a 3d Printer!!!

[MattyCiii]

so i moved the 3rd one with my hand, the one that feeds the plastic, i saw lights come on at pcb

Current was sent back to the PCB and frizzed the firmware,
now i have to reflash the board to get it working

Good news, bad news...
GOOD: You probably didn't fry anything. I move the axis of my Makerbot by hand all the time, and the stepper motors generate electricity/make the LEDs on the M'Bot's light up. It's never caused any harm, and since so many of these designs are derived from the same source, they're probably all just as robust.

BAD: If the above indeed isn't a problem, you're back at square one in figuring out what's wrong.

 

[nechaus]

its just got the one controll board, even if it fried, id say its less than $30 in parts,
they seem pretty confident that is the problem. fingers crossed

 

[Alan B]

We have had problems with cheap commercial motor drives that are destroyed by the back EMF from the motor if the drive is unpowered when the motor is moved. It is crazy to design the electronics like that, I hope you don't have that problem.

 

[Kin]

If you need to replace the stepper driver, I recommend Pololu's A4988 driver (with voltage regulator if that's the easiest way to wire it.) It uses a quality chip. I'm not sure if there are any Pololu distributors in Australia though.

 

[nechaus]

Nah its an easy fix,

My stepper motors will do the job.
its just my own fault, i moved the motors, frizzed the firmware,
super easy fix if you have a AVR programmer thing,



Basically from my understanding from changing firmware and bootstrappers on my htc mobile phones,

My Printer is Bricked, but fixed once i reflash, it will work. When i moved the motors by hand, the current sent back ruined the bootstrapper causing the board to be useless for now
i have ordered x2 different programmer units, one from ATMEL and another small cheaper one, one local and one from the US both compatible with the chip on the pcb
so Tuesday i should be printing if the programming unit is able to flash my chip

 

[nechaus]

worst case, i would have to buy another gen6 board, they cost about $139
but i highly doubt its ruined

 

[StudEbiker]

[youtube]cmr4HqjSSw4[/youtube]

 

[flexy]

http://inhabitat.com/areion-ev-worlds-first-3d-printed-car-hits-140-kmh/

 

[spinningmagnets]

I just stumbled across this open-source 3D printer, might be of interest to some of the readers of this thread.
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:28915

 

[nechaus]

that looks awesome!!!


an update on mine,

All flashed and programmed, and its running pretty good..
just having a small issue with the extruder, the part that feeds the plastic


When i first got it that was the part that cracked,

Last night printed off a few pieces, looks good, but it broke because one part is partially cracked. so im trying to glue it
the guys i bought it off are sending me a whole bunch of replacement parts after sending them pics

 

[nechaus]

some pictures,
they are rough,

But it will only get better as these were my first prints

 

[Kin]

Hey nechaus, do you have any ideas/recommendations for most useful plastic colors? I'm sure it's particular to your situation, but I thought maybe there might be something I'm not thinking about.

I'm probably going to make an order from a place that requires 10lbs an order, but only charges $10/lbs, so it seems worth getting a color or two. I'm set on getting 10lbs on black, because I have a big project in planning for my girlfriend, but I'm not sure if I should get 10lbs of something like yellow or white (Another general color). If I had money to throw away I'd get 10lbs of glow in the dark , but I don't (quick fading of the smile.)

This post simultaneously confirms I bought the Solidoodle . 7 weeks to go before it arrives...sigh.

 

[nechaus]

AWESOME!!

I had to wait like 3 weeks to get my unit, and then another 2 weeks until it started working.


I just got every color i could get my hands on, i have about 12 kg of plastic now, its quite a bit

Just make sure you get the right size pla or abs, for e.g. 1.75mm or 3.0mm



My eyes have been glued to my printer since it started printing!!!!!
best thing iv spent money on

 

[Hyena]

So where's the yoda head already ?

 

[nechaus]

yoda is coming soon.


I want to add some leds for yoda's eyes

 

[Hyena]

Dude, yodas eyes don't glow!
Save that for the terminator skull 8)

Can you pause the printer mid way though ? Like if you were making something with holes for LEDs or what ever (and otherwise somewhat hollow) could you put them and the wiring etc in place and then let it keep printing to seal up the top of the object ?

 

[nechaus]

yep, you can do that to change colors as well,

The only thing, you gotta do it quickly, the spot where the head nozzle stop will leak a lil plastic, so there might be a dot,

But will be smoothed over later...
I wasnt able to print u all the parts last night, i ended up falling to sleep earlier than normal, n courier took the parcel early...

So only printed you x1 female connector, and x2 male connects..

I can print more tho...


I am thinking of doing a whole bunch at one time.. but im going to change the design a little... try and get the right size text on the print also so it prints neat and strong.



Today im gonna test some strength of plastic sprockets... .

thinking of making a gear box for a kids scooter and then get it made out or aluminium later for an rc build.
i just have so many things i still wanna print haha,
i got some designs of a plastic robot arm using servos.. just need to get an arduino board to control the servos with some type of sensor, maybe a motion sensor.

 

[Hillhater]

id love to recycle plastic, i wish i could do any types,
i get enough fumes from when i use my soldering iron or welder,

im keen to just use pla plastic for now, if i can recycle that i will..
here is a pic of some pla i got today, i have more coming of different colors

Its actually really quite stiff, its hardly a soft type of plastic,
I melted a small piece, it does not smell at all like a normal plastic

I assume you know that PLA is not a conventional oil based plastic ?
Its a "substute" plastic made from vegetable starch and is bio degradable.
Whilst you may be able to "reuse" pure PLA, (oxidisation and impurities etc , can reek havoc in extruders and injection nozzles,.. it cannot be mixed with other plastics and hence cannot be recycled in commercial recycling processes.
Also be aware that most of the plastic products we see (pop bottles, milk containers etc) are made from multi layers of different plastics often with "barrier layer" coatings applied after blow moulding to give additional properties.
Generally this means that few of them can simply be "melted down" and reused. Commercial recycling of these products is a very complex process and even then the recycled product is considered very inferior to "virgin" product.

 

[nechaus]

haha yeah,
i would not try recycling random plastics mate,

Just my own job muck ups, im assuming pla can be reheated an melted with out any problems.


Ill have to basically extrude all the old plastic into 3mm thick line,
I cant be bothered doing it just yet, but in the future i will when i have kilos of junk pla plastic...


Im not sure my printer will take it unless the extruded line is 100% perfect 3.0mm or very close to that, and no bumpy edges..
The most problems i have now with my printer is using PLA... some works some does not.

I have found a source that is good and cheap that works with my printer..

But after time pla can absorb moisture and prints will come out with bubbles, to reverse this, i got a carboard box with a hair dryer...
it works like a dehydrater

 

[nechaus]

I had troubles when i first got my printer, total noob!

now i know a bit more,
it is absolutely the easiest thing to operate... ( hardest part is sorting the PLA so its all nice an str8 for printing! )
I hope when i get a cnc machine it will be this easy haha, i highly doubt it tho

 

[Alan B]

These 3D printers seem very interesting.

I'm tempted, but I wonder if CNC'ing a mill would be a more useful project:

http://www.grizzly.com/products/G0704

It would cost more, probably about the same as my Greyborg. But it would save me work on some of the parts I make now, and allow me to make some things that I can't make on a 3D printer.

 

[Kin]

I'd say they're very different creatures.

I figured that most things I'd want to CNC were too big for a personal CNC machine. Either I'd need to be working at someplace with one, or go to a local 'hackerspace' that has one.

I made a long list of things I'd like to make with a CNC machine and 3D printer, and although there are a few big projects for the CNC, the 3D printer overall had a longer list and seemed more logical for my personal projects.

Also, 3D printer keeps more of a focus on improving my cadwork skills, and improving machining abilities is on the backburner a while from now (i.e, 3D printing has less "tooling" kind of work, once you figure out what can be printed and how to go about the harder prints.)

But if you do DIY/retrofit a CNC machine, look at instructables.com. They have a section of CNC instructables. As well as CNCZone, another seemingly healthy forum community (with CNCZone I just bumped into them when doing various research on stepper motors. Instructables isn't really a forum, but CNCzone is.)

 

[nechaus]

yeah i did the same thing, made a list, found i could make more stuff with the 3d printer for stuff Around the house too...

but all the same, i want both, i think ill get a 6040, something that can just do aluminium.. no steel...



But iv gotta say, before it was a pain for me to use cad programs, but now its so much fun, i love to be able to design something and print it off!!!





IM gonna upload some pictures of my 3d prints soon!!!
its a bit to fiddle with when you first get one, but once its going, its very easy to use and maintain,


When printing pla,
Its something you can have in your office!!!, doesn't need to be in the shed,
It does sound like a pacman tho, but its not to noisy when the the doors to my office are closed.

 

[Alan B]

Very neat little router, the 6040. Had not seen that one before. About 2k$.

For those interested:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250749245907

I've been reading CNCZone threads for awhile.

The Grizzly 7040 has a pretty large work envelope for $1100. Probably a couple of K$ to CNC convert it, plus computer and software. So 1.5 or 2x the 6040, but it will do more and larger. Be nice to be able to make custom torque arms or other steel parts occasionally, but most of the time aluminum and plastic are enough.

Heck, get one of each.

What useful stuff are you making on the 3D printer? I mean besides Yoda.

 

[nechaus]

ok some things iv made so far,

electrical connectors for my ebike,
Gears
Hand wind dynamo
Servo parts
Quad Copter.
art
wirestrippers
Tripod attachment for the gopro

clips and clamps
Solder spool
spool for my printer.
cat toys...



I printed off some new gears in yellow for my printer, so it looks a bit more colorful, but im keen to get orange and blue happening.
I think its a good tool to have, and its something you will find uses for in the future..
But in saying that, you can almost do the same thing with a cnc machine, but i guess there is wastage...