Tag: 3dprinters

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RepRap Extrusion Preparation

extrusion

I’m following the Mark Method of building a RepRap frame, which involves using large Aluminum extrusion for the frame. The process involves cutting it, milling the faces flat, and then bolting it together. No wimpy 3D printed corner brackets here!

Adrian met me at Milwaukee Makerspace yesterday and helped me get my Aluminum extrusion cut down to size. I now have seven pieces ready for the next step. There are three pieces at 460mm, two at 480mm, and two at 500mm.

bandsaw-extrusion

I started by cutting the extrusion to length (plus 6mm) on the band saw in the metal shop. We added 6mm so we’d have about 3mm on each side to mill down to get the final length. Cutting through the 45mm extrusion took some time but it wasn’t too bad.

mill-extrusion

I haven’t used the Bridgeport before, so Adrian got me all set up and walked though the process. I’ve used a few lathes in the past so the actual milling process wasn’t hard to do, it was mainly learning a new machine. I can see why people love the Bridgeport! It’s a nice machine that has some great capabilities. (I’ve got the old Enco mill at work, so I may need to play around with it a bit more.)

Milling took some time, but there was nothing too difficult about it. One thing I learned about milling is that it’s a messy, dirty process. I mean, the oil and the chips and the metal and all that. Being such a digital fabrication nerd probably doesn’t help.

marker-mill

Neat trick I learned from Adrian. Use a black marker to draw all over the face of your piece so you can easily see if you’ve milled off enough material. (I guess that’s why there’s a container full of Sharpies in the Metal Shop.)

frame-extrusion

Next in the process will be tapping the ends to accept bolts, drilling holes through the extrusion to get a hex wrench to reach the bolts, and then screwing it all together. The whole process of cutting and milling the pieces took a little under two hours. I still need to clean up the extrusion a bit, take care of sharp edges and remove little bits of metal. Adrian suggested using a Scotch-Brite pad for that.

(I’d like to thank Adrian for all the help, and Mark for the good price on the Aluminum extrusion!)

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RepRap 6000 Review…

reprap-v20-diagonal

In my last RepRap post I had modified the design to be much wider in the x and y planes, and as I did that I started to realized that it would cause a number of issues with the build. I mainly did this because I have plenty of Aluminum extrusion to work with, but as I thought about it more I started to remember why 3D printers are mostly the size that they are.

When you go beyond the typical build envelope of most 3D printers things get complicated. You can’t use 8mm rods because they’ll sag under the weight they carry, and if you make them long enough they’ll even sag under their own weight, so you need to start using other methods of linear motion. I thought about following some of Mark’s lessons from SoM, but things get expensive when you start doing that. (He does manage to scrounge and buy used things, but that can be tricky as well.)

I will definitely follow some of Mark’s techniques though. For instance, look at this build for the BA3DP. Start counting the amount of hardware used for those corner plates. Crazy! The Mark Method is to tap the (milled square) extrusion and screw it together. Simple! And you can always add some corner brackets if you want, but they aren’t as necessary and definitely don’t need as many nuts and bolts.

Some printer designs use T-slot frame members joined together with printed plastic parts. Avoid the temptation to do that. If you want rigidity, you have to bolt/weld metal to metal. T-slot extrusions are designed to accommodate standard sized screws. All you have to do to join two pieces is drill one hole and tap the end hole to receive the screw. Likewise, attaching things to the T-slot can be done by using nuts designed to fit the slots (or by making your own).

That’s my plan for assembling a rigid square frame using 40mm Aluminum extrusion. Speaking of the extrusion, here’s a test fit for some of the printed parts. I’ll probably start with these and tweak if needed. Mark suggested I make the motor mounts from square Aluminum tube, and that might be a future upgrade, but I’m okay to start with some printed parts. I do want to try to reuse many parts from my old RepRap, and use parts I have on hand, so I’m going to try to stick to that plan.

extrusion-01

One thing I don’t have is 12mm linear bearings for my y axis. I’m going to try igus drylin linear bearings. I’ll need to make mounts for them that compress them a bit so they fit properly. I’ve read enough to know you can’t just zip tie them into place, (To be honest, wires are the only things I plan to zip tie into place.)

I still need to shop for hardware. Either 5/16″ or 8mm bolts, depending on what I’m ordering from BoltDepot or buying locally in the coming weeks.

extrusion-02

One thing I’m still not totally sure of is where the vertical pieces of the gantry will sit yet. I’ve tried to calculate where to place it so that the extruder will reach the front and back of the bed properly, but I still don’t have that nailed down… partly because I’m still not sure how the x axis and carriage will work as far as mounting the hot end, connecting to the smooth rods and lead screws… I also want the carriage to be easily removable, and possibly replaceable with, another end effector. :)

reprap-v20-top

Since I’m going to avoid going wider than I need to for this printer, I can get away with 8mm rods for the x axis like I did with my old RepRap. I’ll probably sacrifice a little rigidity and precision, but that’s a price I’m willing to pay right now to avoid paying more for a proper linear guide on a square Aluminum tube. (Future upgrade?)

I’d like to keep the x axis motor within the envelope of the machine, and not hang it outside as many printers do, but I’ll need to design that as I’ve not found a solution yet that fits what I want. Time for more CAD work I guess.

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RepRap Frame and Rods

40x40-extrusion

I managed to get the 40mm extrusion I need for the RepRap frame at Milwaukee Makerspace. Mark is our 3D Printing Area Champion and he’s managed to collect a bunch of pieces from a scrap dealer, pretty much at scrap prices!

reprap-v12

I tweaked my render a bit expanding the frame slightly, and adding in the rods and rod supports. Speaking of the rod supports…

sk12-render

I could not find an acceptable file for the SK12 rod supports. I found one on GrabCAD (which I’ve never used before) but even there I found the file formats very disappointing. I managed to convert something to an STL and I didn’t like it so I used it get dimensions and then remodeled it.

Yes, I could just buy some SK12 rod supports (eBay has some for cheap) but the last time I used cheap rod supports they were not great, so I figured I’d print them for now, and I can always replace them later. (And yes, the nice thing about having access to a good/working printer when you are building a printer is that you can print the parts you need.)

sk12

I printed one on the Prusa i3 at work with low infill to test the fit, and it was perfect on the second attempt. (My 3mm screw and nut hole were just a bit off on the first try.) Oh, the mounting holes are sized for 5/16″ carriage bolts, which fit right into the slot of the 40mm extrusion. That’s another trick I picked up from Mark. (5/16″ is just about 8mm as well.)

sk12-rods

After the second test I was satisfied, and printed the rest on my Monoprice Maker Select Plus at home. It’s also nice to have a variety of 3mm hardware I can use this time around. The first RepRap I built was a kit and came with everything I needed. (Well, in theory.) This time I’m figuring out a lot as I go, but I have a lot of the things I need already.

These linear rods are 12mm diameter and plenty long, so they’ll need to be cut down a bit. I pulled them from a large laminator I pulled apart a few years ago. As I’ve previously mentioned, I’m going to be using lots of parts I’ve been collecting over the years, so hopefully I can keep new purchases to a minimum, at least to get up and running with this printer.

(Note: SK12 Rod Support is available on YouMagine and Thingiverse.)

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RepRap 6000

reprap-prusa-i2

I built my first RepRap back in 2012, and it worked for a few years, and things broke, and I usually fixed them, but when I got my Maker Select Plus I sort of pushed the old RepRap off into a corner. I eventually loaned it to someone at Milwaukee Makerspace, who promptly broke it, and then I repaired it (again) and got it working, a bit…

To be honest, the machine is quite a mess, but I’ve decided to stop being sentimental about it. It’s existed for a while now as a “This is how we used to build printers!” example, but I decided that the time has come to take drastic measures, and it’s all coming apart.

Over the years I’ve managed to scrounge up some nice components for a new build. Some 450mm lead screws from an unnamed medical facility, some 12mm x 720mm smooth rods from an old laminator, etc. Couple that with the donor parts from the old RepRap and I’ve got most of what I need to build a new machine.

RepRap v07

The one thing I don’t have is extrusion for the frame, but Mark (of SoM and UMMD fame) does. He’s got a pile of 40mm Aluminum extrusion which I might acquire to start on this new RepRap journey. (If I do not acquire it, I may end up going with 20mm extrusion. Not ideal, but possibly more affordable.)

I won’t go to the lengths that Mark has in building his heavy-duty industrial-style printers, but I’m headed in that direction just a bit. I’ve looked at the Wilson TS, other T-slot designs, and any other printer using Aluminum extrusion, and I’ve got a rough design figured out. I may try to used machined parts rather than printed parts where I can (meaning where it’s practical and affordable.)

I’ll probably stick with a 200mm x 200mm heated bed for now (since I’ve got two of them) but since I have the long lead screws already, I’ll be shooting for a 200mm x 200mm x 400mm build volume. Quite a bit more Z than the 180mm of my Maker Select Plus.

While I want this to be an economical build, mostly by using components I already have, I’m not trying to build a super-cheap 3D printer. I considered buying a second printer, but the pile of parts and a mostly functional donor machine convinced me to go the route of designing and building my own. Plus, this means I’ll have a printer to experiment on while still having another that actually works! (In theory, anyway.)

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RepRap Report #6

diii-cooler-0906

It’s been a while so it’s time for another RepRap Report! So what’s changed since last time? So much… I’ll try to hit it all.

I got rid of the BuildTak and moved to a PEI Sheet. I upgraded to the Micro Swiss All Metal Hotend which made printing ABS reliable once again.

I repaired fans, I replaced fans. And then I did it again. Once I got ABS printing up to speed I printed a DiiiCooler, which I finally installed, and still haven’t used (since I’m printing ABS at the moment.) And yeah, I’m waiting for some new extruder fans to arrive after last night’s hurried soldering session to repair another bad fan.

printer-enclosure-0904

If all of this seems silly, well, in a way it is, and it isn’t. When you buy a thing (be it a 3D printer or a car) you can go cheap knowing that things might break or need upgrades, or you can pay a lot more for quality out of the gate, with the hope that things don’t go wrong or are of a higher quality. I knew that getting the Monoprice Maker Select Plus meant compromising so I could afford a printer (which was replacing my old RepRap Prusa i2 kit from 2011) and I was fine with that. There are many routes you can go with a printer. I’m going the “cheap” route right now, I’ve got friends who work for the “expensive but reliable route” companies, and then there’s the custom build route. They’re all legit choices.

enclosure-lights-0905

Oh, I don’t think I ever mentioned my enclosure. It’s built from foamcore board and covered with the packing foam that the printer came in. The front window is a piece of Polycarb I got from Amazon. It works. It’s not pretty. That’s okay. Besides keeping the heat in, it keeps the cats out. Also important. I also added a set of 12 volt LED lights with an on/off/dimmer switch.

led-dimmer-0913

If I had to build an enclosure again (and I might need to soon) I’d probably go with foamcore again, but take some effort to make it look good this time.

filament-rod-0916

I still feed the filament from a metal rod hanging above my printer in the basement. It works fine. It’s not portable, and that’s probably okay. The drybox I was working on failed, and I haven’t had the energy to revisit that project. That’s okay for now.

Besides all that, I’ve been just printing things. Nothing too exciting, but that may change soon. Happy Extruding!