DIY Aluminium 3D-Printer, build 2 (page 4) (Page 4 of 7)

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Thanks for all of you!
Have any of you tried printing ABS to blue masking tape? I'm bit astonished when it just sticks to it, while people using hairspray etc

Now when I've printed couple dozen parts, is time to plan some improvements! First of course I need to make wirings go nicely. I already printed couple parts of cable chain from thingiverse as test, works great! Then I should make the endstops working so I don't need every time calibrate Z-axis. And find aluminium plate so I can make print bed and get it level!

You can also see kind of vibration on latest part surface. It's probably caused by x-axis wobbling, since there is only one belt on one side and weak quality linear bearings which have too much clearance. Need to say that I'm not satisfied with quality of them, but what you can expect from cheap bearings. However this is something what I want to be fixed, even it doesn't matter so much.
I've planned to make new bearing blocks which have couple ball bearings rolling on chrome bar. Maybe that would be a lot robust way to do bearing.

Now I can print those parts first to test how they works!

It came in the same order from China where was steppers etc. Seller said it's E3D but it looks bit different. So I don't know what it really is

Hello! Now been just printing parts and doing some improvements.

I was getting bored to adjust Z-zero always when restarting printer and only because it didn't have mount for end stop! So I planned simple mount for normal push button and printed it. It's just tight enough to stay on same spot and still is easy to adjust. Did also measurements and always sets in the same hundredth of millimeter when homing Z-axis. I still might do one from aluminium

And then, I printed cable chain for Z-axis also! Found good model from thingiverse and designed own heads for it to match my printer. My longest print so far came with this when I printed 20 pieces of these. It took over 7 hours Now extruder and hotend wiring is nicely attached and doesn't wing on the heat bed!

Hey all! Nothing special happened here, but next thing is great improvement. I've been struggling with seeing the printing process because I have so weak lightning in my room and priter don't have any lights. So I figured out that I could use led bulbs for cars and bought couple of license plate bulbs and designed mounts for them. As you can see from the picture, they just snaps to the bars ans bulb snaps to the mount. There are two holes for wiring also, so I can just put wire there and bend it to match to the contact surface. Works great and now I can see what is happening!

https://db.tt/0Yk647gm
https://db.tt/dUCJpUxo
https://db.tt/tqGN5K0u

Made also second mount to another side. Somebody maybe noticed fan which are blowing to hot end. I made fan mount for two fan, one of them blows to nozle and second to hot end.

I have now little vacation, so maybe I have enough time to desing new bearing for linear guides.. That's it for this time!

...Or maybe I should learn from my mistakes and build whole new printer! Now when I have much more knowledge about this stuff and needed electrical parts already, it would be way easier to desing new one.

And I would move hot end rather than bed, as people guided me earlier

Beefy aluminium extrusion frame and H-belt system is very interesting. I would be happy to hear your opinions and experiences! Let's see what I'll do.

Edit: http://openbuildspartstore.com/black-v- … fullSite=1 I'm getting excited!

And again my post..

I've been designing new printer and ordering parts for it! I build it with v-slot extrusion etc.

I found this from somewhere and I think it's very interesting system! http://mutley3d.com/Flex3Drive/

So, I designed my own version of it, with steel worm and brass gear. This is a first prototype for just testing it with my old extruder. For new printer I've planned to build whole new extruder with this kind of power transmission. Weight is way less than stepper motor

Thanks!

Yes, I'm bit worried about that too. I did small test print, and it seemed pretty good even I didn't touch any of retraction settings. I think this is good compromise between direct drive and bowden. And if it works well, it have only good features of both!

Thank you!
However it have too slow gearing with 9mm filament pulley. I planned to make ~20mm pulley for new extruder. But recreation isn't problem even with this pulley.

Here is some teaser of upcoming:

Yep, wheels are getting pricey when buy many. That's why I made them myself. Bought 50pcs of those bearings, they cost about 15 euros. And I made also those angle pieces, so I saved about 100e

Oh, sounds interesting! Do you have project blog somewhere? And where did you get those leadscrews

Here is test video from today. I printed wheel plate just for testing, I make one from aluminum (ofcourse ) maybe next week.

Those screws sounds pretty good, I bet it'll be very precise printer! Yes, machining capability is great thing for me. I wouldn't have started building my own printer if I couldn't do machinings myself. Like you said, it is very expensive. Sadly I have that capability only to next autumn.

Today I made wheel plates from aluminum. I think there is nothing special in them. Except, I made very well working belt clamp to x-plate! You see it in picture.
Gantry is very rigid now, even I haven't tighten everything up yet. But those plastic wheels are doubtful. They feel little flexible and that is not what I'm looking for. And it's so slippery material that bearings won't stick to them.  I go with them for now, but probably make another set of wheels from steel.

I'm going to start engineer studies in university of applied sciences. Until then I'm working in machine shop so I have machines in use. Of course I also have machining capability then, but it's way more limited access.

So for now I try to make as much as possible