December 27th, 2009
Progress on my CNC router platform has been progressing slowly but I’ve hit a few milestones. I got 4 RepRap 2nd generation motor controllers assembled and tested and have acquired 4 new NEMA23 steppers and one used high torque Xylotex NEMA23 from the local swap meet to use in the prototype. I got the X axis up and running and was quite pleased with the torque even the smaller steppers put out. I also picked up some nice 4-pin sockets, terminal strips, and limit switches for the prototype build as well as a few other electronic goodies at the SSARC Hamfest about 2 months back.
As far as design goes, I’ve decided against the 1″ square tubing and skate bearings design pictured above. It’s just too bulky for anything other than the X axis so I’m going to switch over the the more traditional precision ground shafts and bearings for linear guides on all axes at this point. Other than being bulky, I like the design and will probably try to utilize it at some point in the future. I’ve already acquired some shafts and bearings for testing this new setup but have yet to cut new bearing brackets to install on the boot-strap platform. The overall design is on its second revision on paper with details for the X and Y axes specified and sketched up. I’m looking at alternative linear motion setups that I could possibly fit within the specified budget so it may undergo another revision before I start cutting parts for the boot-strapped version.
This project will likely progress slowly for a bit longer as I seem to have outgrown my current work area. I’m hoping to be able to move to a more suitable location in a few months time and set up a proper workshop, or at least that’s the plan.
Tags: CNC, CNC Mill
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December 6th, 2009
Construction of CCCKC’s CaveBot and my PE00001 MakerBot was pretty straight forward for the most part. The only major snags we hit were versioning issues and a finicky extruder. New laser cut parts are easy to get our hands on and relatively cheap, but extruder parts have to be ordered from MakerBot Industries costing us time and money. Also, if you want to re-use your nozzle and heater barrel, you have to soak your parts in an acetone bath for a few days to clean it out, which is a real pain because you also have to agitate the bath as well if you want to be reusing those parts any time soon. I’ve been told you can also use a lighter to melt out the plastic, but I have yet to experiment with this.
Anyway, here are a few things we picked up while debugging the extruder to consider in addition to the instructions on the MakerBot site:
- Don’t cross thread the PTFE! This is relatively easy to do since PTFE is a pretty soft plastic. If you’re worried about it, use the 3mm hex wrench as a guide when screwing the heater barrel in:
- Remove the PTFE as a load bearing structural component. This amounts to adding an M6 nut and washer in between the PTFE insulator and the fender washer. This translates force on the heater barrel back up to the main plastruder body through the bolts connected to the fender washer. While this won’t stop damns of plastic from forming and slowing down extrusion, it should keep the heater barrel from getting pushed out of the PTFE, stripping the threads out as it does so.
- Add a hose clamp where the heater barrel and PTFE meet. While not required, it probably couldn’t hurt and it may stop damns from forming. I’m hoping this will extend the life of my extruder a bit. Remember to periodically tighten this clamp up as the PTFE “flows” away from the clamped area over time.
Check out this entry on the MakerBot Blog for some additional info and some more awesome mods to the basic plastruder setup.
Tags: 3D Printer, Makerbot
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November 30th, 2009
I posted two upgrades I’ve made to my MakerBot to Thingiverse this weekend. First is a build platform upgrade, which is just a quick mod that allows you to use “throwie” magnets to couple the build surface to the y-axis instead of the 1/8″ cube magnets that come with the kit. While I like the original design, the larger magnets are easier to come by and you don’t have to worry about them working their way out of the wood platforms over time because they’re not held in place by friction.
Second is the drop in Paxtruder. My MakerBot has been down for about 2 weeks now because I cracked my idler wheel. I decided to take this opportunity to play around with an alternative design someone posted to Thingiverse that uses a Delrin pusher rather than an idler wheel. I modified the design a bit so I could reuse the mounts and heater components without too much difficulty. I haven’t been using it for too long, but I love that it takes next to no time to change filament with this design and that tension is ridiculously easy to adjust. During the short time I’ve been using the new extruder, I’ve also noticed that the gear motor noise (and presumably load) seems more consistent as well compared to the idler wheel design.
Tags: 3D Printer, Makerbot
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October 28th, 2009
My personal MakerBot is up and running! Above you can see it extruding that beautiful black ABS during the extruder burn in test. I’ve printed a few objects with reasonable success after making a few adjustments and I’ll have a more detailed write up covering some post-construction thoughts in a later post. Below you can see the printer laying down a raft for a z-crank. Check out my Thingiverse page for a couple more pics of objects I’ve printed.
I also printed out my first from scratch object, this awesome spider ring for Halloween! I would have liked to make my first design truly 3D rather than a simple extrusion of 2D shapes, but I’ve got a lot to do before All Hallows Eve and Blender has one hell of a learning curve!
Tags: 3D Printer, Halloween, Makerbot
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October 20th, 2009
If you like Cartesian robots and/or erector sets, you should check out the Contraptor Project. It’s an open source construction set for things like CNC machines, plotters, and 3D printers. It’s kind of like a rapid prototyping system for automated construction/manipulation bots using cheap, easy to build parts. Its components are easy to build with a few simple tools and they’re compatible with their more expensive industrial counterparts. Many of the parts utilize some interesting construction tricks so it’s defiantly worth a look if you’re into low cost robot construction.
Tags: CNC
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Progress on my CNC router platform has been progressing slowly but I’ve hit a few milestones. I got 4 RepRap 2nd generation motor controllers assembled and tested and have acquired 4 new NEMA23 steppers and one used high torque Xylotex NEMA23 from the local swap meet to use in the prototype. I got the X axis up and running and was quite pleased with the torque even the smaller steppers put out. I also picked up some nice 4-pin sockets, terminal strips, and limit switches for the prototype build as well as a few other electronic goodies at the SSARC Hamfest about 2 months back.
