Evolution of a Blog

This blog has evolved as I have as a maker. It starts at the beginning of my journey where I began to re-tread my tires in the useful lore of micro electronics and the open-source software that can drive them. While building solutions around micro-electronics are still an occasional topic my more recent focus has been on the 3D Printing side of making.

Sunday, April 27, 2014

Some 3D Printing Projects to Date

I am using Thingiverse to publish many of the things that I have designed for, and then created using, my 3D Printer.   All of these designs are available with their source (I am using Sketchup).










Sunday, April 20, 2014

Detailed Photos of Prusa I3

In response to a request, here are some detailed photos of my Prusa I3 including some of the enhancements that I have implemented on top of the original kit.

Not the neatest electronics stack in the world by any means!

 Z-Axis end stop.  I used the mount that came with the kit but it is not bolted as there was not room for the entire mount and some cutting with a hot knife was involved.   You can also see the bottom part of the easy Z-axis adjuster knob which is one of the printer enhancements.

 Here is the complete extruder assembly.   Some detailed photos will follow later.

This is the X-axis end stop.   I did not use the mount that came with the kit as I could not get the optimal positioning that I was seeking.  So, horror of horrors, I used some epoxy to put it where I want it.   I want to switch to Hall Effect end stops so no physical contact will be necessary but have not spent the money yet.

Cooling fan for the electronics stack and a master power switch.   The power supply can be powered on and off via gcode but I wanted a hard wired switch as well.

Close-up of the cooling fan for the hot end.   Trying to use a small fan to keep the hot bed from cooling too much.

Two enhancements at the top of the extruder assembly.   First one to make it easier to change hot ends (though not as eloquent as some would do with a plug and socket arrangement) and the second being a filament cleaner that also lubricates (found it on Thingiverse).

Original power supply was the LED strip variant.   Replaced with a PC power supply as it offers an on/off feature via grounding or ungrounding the green wire that you can see above.  Connected to the switch shown above.

Y-Axis endstop.  Again I was not able to get the exact positioning that I wanted from the mount that came with the kit so printed this one (and used some more epoxy).   For a while the endstop was actually stuck to the servo...

X-Axis tensioner (found it on Thingiverse).   The Y-Axis had a workable tension adjustment but the X-Axis did not (unless I installed something incorrectly).   This does the trick though.

My solution to reducing friction of filament feeding from behind the printer (available on Thingiverse).

My solution for reducing Z-Axis wobble.   I still don't have this licked but this did help.

An elastic band to help keep the hot bed cables from jamming under the hot bed mechanism.   You can see where the cable cover had meed damages from said jamming!

Securing the extruder assembly to the X-Axis.  Could never get the right tension just with the cable ties so added the tensioner shown above.

Two enhancements shown here.   First being a corner adjuster for the hot bed.   REALLY makes the job of fine tuning the bed easier than without said adjuster  (found it on Thingiverse).  The other enhancement that might be obvious to some, but was not to me, is that you need to insulate the bottom of the hot bed if you are going to use higher temperatures needed for ABS.   I have some cork on order but this photo shows some aluminum foil wrapping a couple of paper towels.  I use the same thing on top of the bed during the initial heat up.
  
Y-Axis tensioner as shipping with the original kit.   Works fine.