26 Reply by dkeeling728

  • dkeeling728
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Re: Why belts?

fischelbyxa wrote:
adrian wrote:

Context! Its an important thing smile

Yes, and so is mind-set.

If we, the pioneers as you call us (20 years into the 3D printing), keep working in a mind-set of being pioneers and tinkerers, we will go through the same slow evolution the 2D printers did. But if we change our view on how 3D printers should work to try to get fully automated 3D printing appliances, we would help the 3D printing revolution greatly!

Solidoodle claims the SD3 to be able print out-of-the-box, as does other manufacturers. If people buys SD3s on that statement (as I did, I'm not really a tinkerer), 3D printers will get a bad rap. A bad rap that will slow the spread of 3D printing down.


by my math, we're only 2-3 years into home 3d printers. 3d printing as an industrial and scientific endeavor has been around since the 80s. but we can compare those to the massive warehouse sized printing presses used to print thousands of books and newspapers, while our miniature units are like the most advanced laserjet of today.

home 3d printing was launched by the opensource tinkerer community for the very reason that its so overly complex as not to appeal to the unskilled masses. this is why the big names in professional 3d printing have never tried to offer an affordable home model. because they know keeping up with adjustments and technical problems would be a nightmare if every macbook toting hipster had one.

not being negative at all, just realistic. it is up to us to innovate and keep making the technology more user friendly. i would love to see something made with less tweaking required. perhaps a ballscrew driven version of a rostock delta bot, since i dont think the H frame configuration will lend itself to them too well.

but perhaps more energy should be focused on creating a self cleaning hot end to reduce or eliminate clogging, and continue research to make the heated elements more robust so as to not have failures requiring months of waiting on replacement parts. belts are a minor hassle in comparison.

27 Reply by fischelbyxa

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Re: Why belts?

dkeeling728 wrote:

not being negative at all, just realistic. it is up to us to innovate and keep making the technology more user friendly. i would love to see something made with less tweaking required. perhaps a ballscrew driven version of a rostock delta bot, since i dont think the H frame configuration will lend itself to them too well.

Hear, hear!

dkeeling728 wrote:

but perhaps more energy should be focused on creating a self cleaning hot end to reduce or eliminate clogging, and continue research to make the heated elements more robust so as to not have failures requiring months of waiting on replacement parts. belts are a minor hassle in comparison.

Uh, oh! Worse is still to come? :-)

28 Reply by ronsii

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Re: Why belts?

dkeeling728 wrote:

[snip]

but perhaps more energy should be focused on creating a self cleaning hot end to reduce or eliminate clogging, and continue research to make the heated elements more robust so as to not have failures requiring months of waiting on replacement parts. belts are a minor hassle in comparison.

I have been trying to design a hotend with high frequency elements in it for a sort of ultrasonic cleaner type setup but am having trouble finding enough time to devote to the project... as if I don't have enough things going on at once wink but I am making small amounts of progress every week once I solve some of the coupling issues I ran into it will be a big hurdle covered smile

29 Reply by danny

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Re: Why belts?

dkeeling728 wrote:

by my math, we're only 2-3 years into home 3d printers. 3

you need a better calculator.

I worked at the University of Bath some seven years ago, and heard about the Mendel printer in a staff news letter.

there was already an established rep-rap project at that time, with people making them at home.

30 Reply by tealvince

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Re: Why belts?

dkeeling728 wrote:

but perhaps more energy should be focused on creating a self cleaning hot end to reduce or eliminate clogging, and continue research to make the heated elements more robust so as to not have failures requiring months of waiting on replacement parts. belts are a minor hassle in comparison.

Making everything reliable sounds hard; in the meantime, how about just making them cheap and easy to replace so we can treat them as consumable items?  I'm thinking of an easily removable hotend mount (ala mk4), a wrench-friendly peek with flat surfaces, a one-piece brass barrel and nozzle, and a cartridge heater pre-soldered to the appropriate connector.

31 Reply by solijohn

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Re: Why belts?

tealvince wrote:
dkeeling728 wrote:

but perhaps more energy should be focused on creating a self cleaning hot end to reduce or eliminate clogging, and continue research to make the heated elements more robust so as to not have failures requiring months of waiting on replacement parts. belts are a minor hassle in comparison.

Making everything reliable sounds hard; in the meantime, how about just making them cheap and easy to replace so we can treat them as consumable items?  I'm thinking of an easily removable hotend mount (ala mk4), a wrench-friendly peek with flat surfaces, a one-piece brass barrel and nozzle, and a cartridge heater pre-soldered to the appropriate connector.

Not a bad idea.

Former Solidoodle employee, no longer associated with the company.

32 Reply by dkeeling728

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Re: Why belts?

solidoodlesupport wrote:
tealvince wrote:
dkeeling728 wrote:

but perhaps more energy should be focused on creating a self cleaning hot end to reduce or eliminate clogging, and continue research to make the heated elements more robust so as to not have failures requiring months of waiting on replacement parts. belts are a minor hassle in comparison.

Making everything reliable sounds hard; in the meantime, how about just making them cheap and easy to replace so we can treat them as consumable items?  I'm thinking of an easily removable hotend mount (ala mk4), a wrench-friendly peek with flat surfaces, a one-piece brass barrel and nozzle, and a cartridge heater pre-soldered to the appropriate connector.

Not a bad idea.

of course its not a bad idea. you get to sell more stuff =P.

all joking aside, its a great idea. mostly the quick access mk4-like extruder part. making it easy to work on a problem prone part makes that part less apt to be poked and prodded with contrived tools to try and avoid taking it out properly, or ignored until it does have a problem.

i think making the parts more robust will be an ongoing process. new materials will need to be tested and evaluated, and the best of all ideas combined into a perfect world situation. think: graphite material (like metal casting crucibles) hot end body and nozzle with ceramic heater core for long life and easy cleaning. not sure if possible, but its an example of a path forward.