Printing at Last

Not posted for a while.  Had been waiting for my new controller board to arrive, which is now installed.  Have now got past the testing stage and am finally beginning to print of 3D objects.  However I still have some minor tweaking to get the printer calibrated correctly and also need to install a secondary fan on the Hot End carriage in order to cool of prints as they are being printed.  From what I've read this improves the quality of prints.

Printing is a bit hit and miss at the moment as I am trying to figure out how to correctly calibrate/commission the printer.  Will just need to research more thoroughly what's out there on the RepRapPro Mendel.  Overall though I'm fairly satisfied that I'm heading in the right direction.

Update a few days later...

Used up my first 100m of filament.  Doesn't sound fantastical, but so far I've printed 3 Iphone cases, a snowman shaped cookie cutter, a pair of tweezers and lot's of calibration objects.  In order that my filament does not get tangled as I have to leave on floor I printed out a filament spool holder that attaches to the printer  All the time I'm experimenting with different settings and learning new things as I go along.  Right now I'm printing out parts for a 3D printed actual working clock that will tick!

That's my 3D Printer Project build now complete.  It has been great and I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in making stuff! 

Well, thanks to all for taking the time to visit my blog.  At some point I may post again, but for now all the best.

Jason



Some first prints.  Iphone case at top went wrong!

Broke It :( Fixed It :)

1 Still on Board 1 Pin Broken

It was all going so so well.  I was just at the end of testing the electronics prior to commissioning and something bad happened.  This is a lesson learnt.  Try to identify for sure what a component is before you do something to it.  The last part of testing the electronics is to adjust the potentiometers on the controller which reduce the power to the stepper motors.  The instructions tell you to turn them gently anticlockwise fully and then turn clockwise by 45 degrees I think.  Well, me, with a big pair of long nose pliers turned what I thought to be the potentiometer anticlockwise.  At the time I thought it was little stiff, and started wondering if I was doing the right thing.  The component started to come away a little, alarm bells started to ring in my head.  It was becoming loose.  Too late, I'd broken it.  Of course I was simply forcing a capacitor (not sure if it is a capacitor, but looked like something I could turn) of the board and not adjusting the tiny little potentiometer screw to the right of it. 

Spent ages thinking I could solder this thing back on, but the little leg was only a millimetre and a bit big, and was not easy to offer up, wet the solder and keep in place.  Did manage it once, but then couldn't force the component back on again.

Now a delay to my build.  Suppose I could test all the other bits out, but I'm thinking that maybe I will have to get another controller board or RepRapPro may offer some advice.  Perhaps it's possible to source another identical component or equivalent and solder back.  I don't know.  I've emailed them and dropped a post of on their forum, but as yet no reply.  So am in limbo.

After some thought, a workaround, cool!

A few hours later and I've carefully started to master the Pronterface software.  All connects up fine by USB.  Can connect to printer and send commands.  Interface starts become useful and is no longer just an unknown.  So, full steam ahead.