Adventures in 3D printing
I believe I sorted most of the X/Y drift by adjusting the MAX_TRAVEL_ACCELERATION_UNITS_PER_SQ_SECOND_X Y and Z values in the repetier firmware to be the same as my lowered MAX_ACCELERATION_UNITS_PER_SQ_SECOND_X Y and Z settings (1000, 1000 and 100). The creep has not completely gone away but it is now down to one strands thickness, mainly in the X direction, every 10-20 layers,…
One of the things I have never been too happy about with the Prusa i3 design is the lack of ability to properly tension the X axis. The best one can usually achieve is to pull on the belt and try to keep that tension whilst jamming the belt into the back of the X…
As mentioned in my previous post, I have been having what I believe are some random stepper skips as a result of activity on my host machine that cause subsequent layers to become offset in random directions (X and Y) after successfully printing the first 6-8mm of height of a 20mm test cube. My Prusa…
My next prints have largely been additional tuning of the printer, the test print being a roller platform for the PLA spool, with varying degrees of success. My first issue has been that I have issues with Z height for subsequent layers of a print – I can manage to lay down a beautiful first…
Well, I decided that in order to rule out the torque issue, I decided to buy a Greg’s Wade reloaded extruder for Prusa i3 and mount this as a direct drive extruder. The extruder was £22.99 with free shipping from ebay and came with all the required hardware for assembly. I assembled the extruder by following the…
I found a suitable single pole single throw 12V/40A automotive relay and wired it up as per the previous diagram, however I managed to connect the solenoid backwards at first so nothing happened when I requested power to the heated bed. This was partly due to translating the pin-out on the relay to the pin-out…
After several separate attempts to work out why my end stops were not triggering, on several different occasions over a month or two, double and triple checking the wiring, trying just about every combination of settings in the firmware, I was still no further forward. I decided to add a connector to the breadboard where…
I came across an item the other day on Thingiverse that looked pretty interesting, that has huge possibilities for DIY CNC machines – that being a “thread-less ballscrew” with zero backlash. There are a few other designs that have evolved this idea a little further, including another one that uses cheap 608 skate bearings with 10mm…
I finally managed to find some time to complete the wiring, well, not quite complete, because I still have yet to buy the pins for the extruder motor connector, but sufficiently complete that I could test it out. I cut a 200 x 200mm piece of glass from one of the many sheets I have…
I was having yet another bash at persuading my breadboard based hardware to work with the I2C connected LCD display as mentioned in my Panelolu post. I have been bashing my head against a wall with the Repetier firmware for months. Every time I had it use the LCD and uploaded the firmware, the whole…