Z Inventions Blog

ReplicatorG machines file

2012-02-10T17:09:00.000-08:00

So, I've been trying to find a comprehensive list of all the stuff that can go in the machines file, but haven't been able to... so, I'm posting my attempt at it here, post a comment if you see something I've forgotten!

The list is in a google doc, so if you want access to be able to help make the list, send me an email and I'll add you to the editors list!

I'm the Heart Man!

2012-02-03T09:45:00.000-08:00

I've recently been having a lot of fun doing various modifications to Emmett's heart gears! Learning openScad on the way :-).

So far, I've made two modifications to the AMAZING Screwless heart gears:

First, I used my old MK5 motor to motorize it!
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:16442

Next, I created a Keychain version!
Haven't gotten it to print satisfactorily yet, but I will post pictures as soon as I do!
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:16893

That's all for now, But I'll be making more soon!

The crazyness continues

2012-01-21T17:07:00.000-08:00

Well, The interface board finally gave up the ghost, but I'm 99% sure it was the LCD, so I've ordered a new one from mouser (20 bucks) and am hopeing that'll fix it.

I also added cable chain on all three axes, so now the wires are all neat n tidy! But, in doing so, I accidentally drilled through one of the RGB led sections, so I'll need to solder that back together...

I've posted a few new parts on TV:

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:16070 is a mounting plate for the filament feed tubes I use, and for the emergency stop board.

I also posted http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:16299, a 3D placeholder model of a Gen4 endstop

Finally, I uploaded http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:16302, An endstop mount for using the touch endstops with a Cupcake Lowrider.

I'll post more info once I get my new interface display module!

Good news, and bad news

2012-01-10T23:21:00.000-08:00

First off, I extend a HUGE thank you to all the guys (and girl) at Makerbot who signed my 'Bot!
I've posted the album publicly on my Google+, so check it out there!!

Sadly, this is where the bad news comes in... When the front plate was on it's way back from NY to OR, USPS was, shall we say, less than careful handling the package, and the wood arrived cracked in three places. It still works after a bit of sanding and super glue, but I wish it had arrived unbroken.

Second, I finally got the ACME Z axis upgrade, but am quite honestly disapointed... Maybe I just got bad rods, but since I've installed them, the wobble's gotten worse, the Z axis is binding tons and I've been having a hell of a time calibrating... Now to save up for precision ground linear shafting and some linear bearings and such to replace the Z axis. Oh well, I guess it was worth a shot... maybe I can figure out some sort of wobble arrestor for the leadscrews, but doesn't that kind of defeat the purpose?

Third, I've finally upgraded some of the firmware on my bot, greatly improving the usability of the interface board, the firmware I'm now running can be found here: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:15380 It's really cool, allows for preheating, continuous jog, and jog during print pauses including extruder movement! Meaning that filament changes may be doable now!

Lastly, I've installed some simple RGB strips, and the bot looks AWESOME now!

Overall, I'm happy with the machine, but it's been taking way too long to try and get rid of this wobble, and I'm running out of money (or rather, I ran out a while back and am waiting for the reserves to replenish, which may take a while as I'm a college student)

More upgrades

2011-11-25T21:59:00.001-08:00

Lately, I've been having more and more problems with my MakerBot not printing reliably, and I've worked out that the problem is very likely the power supply giving up. So, I've finally bit the bullet and bought an new power supply!

It's a 500 watt supply with two 12V 18A rails, that way I can have one rail power the steppers, and one rail power the heaters. I think that having a more powerful supply will help quite a lot!

Also, Finally bought the Acme rod upgrade :-) switching to 4 leadscrews should help quite a bit to eliminate the wobble, However, We'll see if it'll still be able to move accurately enough!

I'll post pictures once I get everything working!

Platform problems

2011-10-18T16:25:00.000-07:00

While trying to print at insane resolution (0.1mm/layer) I had a couple prints stick insanely well to the platform, and while removing them, I managed to gouge my Kapton and aluminum tape layers (missed the PCB :-) ) so I've been trying to figure out a way to make a better platform.

I think I've found a way to both make the new platform, and instantly perfectly level the new platform.

The process would be to bolt a 3-4mm thick 10X10mm aluminum plate to the platform, then temporarily replace the toolhead with a dremel flex-shaft with a ball-end mill in it, and machine off the top layer of the aluminum, making it perfectly flat, and perfectly level with respect to the toolhead.

I'll post more updates as the idea develops!

Odd print problem

2011-10-02T10:40:00.000-07:00

In my attempts to print at 0.1 mm/layer (i know, i know, it's not recomended with a 0.4mm nozzle) I've run into a slight problem. One side (right side) of the print is coming out with a weird looking gash in it!

Not sure what's causing the gash, if it's too much or too little plastic, but it sure is annoying... It seems to start small, then get wider and wider as the print progresses.

the part I'm currently printing is a 1cm^3 (1 centimeter cube)

Here's a picture of the problem:

I colored the flat area on the side with a sharpie, so that you can see the gash, there's also what looks like a bunch of bits of plastic fused to the part on the other side of the gash (where there's a bunch of dots).

New electronics INSTALLED!

2011-10-02T10:30:00.000-07:00

Just finished installing my new Gen4 electronics! The first thing I noticed was the reduction in noise! this thing is amazingly quiet now, and with the MK7 Extruder, I've been pushing for higher and higher quality (test print running now at 0.1 mm/layer.

Hit a couple snags during installation, the worst of which was running out of plugs (even with a splitter on one of them) on my ATX supply! However, it was pretty easy to solve by hooking up the power supply from an old USB-IDE converter.

Pics of the build:


Other than the color of the boards, doesn't look that much different from the Gen3's, o wait, there's an extra stepper driver :-D YAY!

Interface board, with arrows drawn onto the keys :-) I'll probably print some keys for it later as well, make it a bit more proffessional.

This peice of flex tube goes from the boards to the extruder, I twist tied some of the wires to an empty mounting hole on the extruder stepper driver so that it stays upright :-)

Gen7 extruder and safety cutoff board! Got everything working, then accidentally broke a fan blade, so now it buzzes really loudly, gonna try n re-balance it, but that's not as easy as one would think...

New electronics

2011-09-21T17:39:00.000-07:00

Finally upgrading my MakerBot to Gen4 electronics! just ordered them, plus a MK7 extruder!

My plan is to install everything on the Cupcake, use the Cupcake to print a printer that I'm designing, then transfer all the electronics and stuff to the new printer! afterwards i'll probably still keep the Cupcake around for fun, with gen3 electronics on it again.

UPDATE! the parts have shipped, expected delivery = 9/28! *happy dance*

Spa work

2011-09-01T19:24:00.000-07:00

For the past couple months (though more lately) I've been working on refitting an old inground spa that my parents put in 10 years ago. The pump system's been giving us problems, and it's been getting more and more frustrating having to buy expensive chemicals (chlorine is over 150 a bucket, and a bucket lasts about a year) and filters (160 bucks each, new one every 3 months, well, 6 in our case, but that's really pushing it). So, I'm completely re-doing the entire system.

More after the break

New pump (Hayward 1.5 HP 2-speed with a giant strainer basket)

New filter (Hayward 18 inch sand filter)

Chlorination unit (Hayward Goldline T-Cell 3)

and new heater (Hayward 5.5 KW electric)

I'll be posting pictures as soon as the project's done!

The whole new system is going to be housed in a box about 15 feet from the old pump box, but that means it'll also be out of sight :-) a welcome relief for my parents.

It's been almost 5 hours of digging so far to get ready to pour a concrete pad for the new equipment, but it'll most certainly be worthwhile!

Spam

2011-08-29T00:11:00.000-07:00

Yeah, I hate spam just as much as you do. And ads. Especially those ads that appear under posts on blogs... and in sidebars... oh, wait, there are some on my blog? WHAT?

Yup, it's true, I've caved to AdSense... I'm not particularly proud of it, but it may earn me some extra bucks... Depending on how much I make in the next few months, The ads may stay... or may not... we'll see...

Because I hate ads just as much as you, I will say that there are great ad-blockers out there that will help.

Anyway, My apologies to all my readers for the new ads :-/ I'm just a college student trying to make a buck.

Da Vinci Days Wrap-up.

2011-07-17T21:50:00.000-07:00

Da vinci days was a ton of fun! printed things out all day long, and showing off the MakerBot!

My table at DV Days!!

Odd code added to the end of some files

2011-07-16T15:29:00.000-07:00

Every once in a while, a chunk of seemingly random code will get added to the end of a part file: Here's a sample

G1 X8.11 Y0.0 Z20.0 F3000.0
G1 X8.04 Y1.06 Z20.0 F3000.0
G1 X7.84 Y2.1 Z20.0 F3000.0
G1 X7.49 Y3.1 Z20.0 F3000.0
G1 X7.28 Y3.54 Z20.0 F3000.0

I found this at the end of a Gcode file that I had printed from just fine at least 10 times, then, when this code ran, it ruined the part I found it on.

The odd thing is that it's in the middle of the code that should be end.gcode, but the end file does NOT contain the extra lines!

Any ideas?

UPDATE: Here's a link to a sample part file, both failed, and fixed... it seems that "comb" is causing the problems. Unfortunately, when this one failed, the nozzle plowed through the part, both ruining the part, and cracking part of the acrylic of the extruder mounts :-(

http://web.engr.oregonstate.edu/~lehericz/gcode_problems/gcode_problems.zip

Here's a picture of what the failure looked like:

Circled in red are the points where the extruder hit the plastic,
the blue line is the original height of the wall the extruder hit.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

2011-07-15T00:56:00.000-07:00

While printing parts to be ready for DaVinci Days in Corvallis, I tried "Multilpy" on one part, and it did a great job... of showing how out of control the ooze is on my bot!

I have a Cupcake Ultimate, with MK5, and the "plus" heater. Everything is tuned amazingly well, printing raftlessly with no problems at all! Except ooze :-/

Pictures after the break!

Any ideas on how to combat this kind of ooze?

While watching the print, I noticed that the ooze is not from where the extruder leaves an area it was just printing, but from where it enters an area to be printed. There seems to be a moment where it doesn't ooze, then after about 2-5mm it oozes really badly, resulting in a mess of strings!

Come See me at Da Vinci Days!

2011-07-14T23:12:00.000-07:00

Hi all! I will be showing off my MakerBot at the DaVinci Days art and science festival in Corvallis Oregon this Sunday! DaVinci Days is an incredible festival, with hundreds of local artists showcasing awesome combinations of art, science, and FUN! More info at http://www.davincidays.org/!

If you're in the area, Please come visit! It'll be a blast!

Raftless Printing!!

2011-06-29T13:12:00.000-07:00

I finally got my Cupcake tuned well enough to print raftless, and it's amazing! Huge thanks go out to Aaron Double (AKA TwoTimes) for the sheet of thicker Kapton tape! That made ALL the difference in the world! I'll be posting pictures of raftless prints soon! Check back on this post in the future for pictures!

SPAM

2011-06-20T21:47:00.000-07:00

I think Google's Spam filtering system may have just completely failed... I had over 800 emails in my spam folder, and about 400 of them just jumped back to my inbox, as well as about 20 new spam emails not being filtered correctly... I hope they get this fixed, and soon, since I get an average of 850 spam emails per 30 days (spam emails older than 30 days get deleted automatically) and I really don't want them all piling into my inbox!!!

\end angry rant

Insanity! Again!

2011-06-08T10:31:00.001-07:00

I was planning on printing quite a bit of stuff last weekend and this week, but packing and finals have taken up all my time! I'll be printing, tuning and upgrading tons over the summer though!

Networking

2011-06-01T22:41:00.000-07:00

Went to the OSU Surplus store today, and was able to get some serious networking power for pretty cheap...

Got bored, and after a friend did a similar thing, I decided that the right thing to do with 160 ports worth of network switches was to turn them into a big LED display... yup... pictures after the break :-)

Here's a picture of the two biggest switches in the set displaying my name!
Each switch contains 10 8-port 10/100-T modules.

They're configured over telnet, and you can turn on and off the lights by enabling/disabling the 100 setting on a per-port basis.

Wasn't quite sure how to draw an n, but that's what the third letter should be.

I don't need all this networking power, but it's fun to mess around with it...

If I do any more stuff, I'll be sure to post

New Spool Holder!

2011-05-21T18:55:00.000-07:00

Inspired by CharlesPax's spool holder design, but lacking the room to bolt the spool to the side of the bot, I set out to design my own spool holder! Designs and STL's can be found at http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:8421, and more pictures after the break!

I started by looking at Pax's design, then set out to design my own. I chose to have three petals instead of two. I also chose to use a 6-bolt pattern instead of the standard makerbot 4, but I think that's probably overkill :-)

The second part is a clip that attaches to a shelf, so that the spool can be hung from the side. I've been printing from it for a little while now, and it's amazing not to have to worry about filament feeding anymore!!

Here you can see the clip, it failed mid print, usually it'd be a bit wider, and all the bolts would go into it!!

Here's the end of the spool, you can see the 3 petals, and 6 bolts that hold the whole thing together!

Orbit love charm by CDavis

2011-05-09T21:28:00.000-07:00

Latest printed part! First part printed with my new hot end, and it turned out great!

The part can be found at http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:8366

New hot end!

2011-05-09T21:21:00.000-07:00

Just finished my first print with the new MK6+ (or, as I think I should call it MK5+) hot end, and it's awesome! Heats up incredibly fast, and stays very stable, even at 250C

When I opened up my old MK5 Hotend to do the upgrade, I found a surprise that scared the hell out of me. The repeated heating and cooling had caused the ceramic in one of the two power resistors (heat cores) to disintegrate, leaving the power resistor unprotected and uninsulated! The other resistor had slipped in it's casing, and had the wires dangerously close to touching the case, and thus destroying my EC.

The rest of the upgrade went fairly smoothly, And it works great. My only concern, is that since I have Gen3 electronics, the thermal cutoff will only kill the heat, not the drive, and there's no feedback telling the motor to stop. I plan on adding in an additional relay to cut power to the motor as well as the heat. I had originally thought of having it cut power to the whole bot, only to realize that this would also cut power to the relay itself, starting a cycle of quick reboots until the temperature went down, which is really not optimal.

Anyway, here are a couple other pictures of the new heater and associated electronics!

Lowrider

2011-05-05T21:31:00.000-07:00

Just ordered the bearings for a lowrider XY carriage :-) Hopefully that'll quiet the machine down a bit, and possibly allow for higher speeds

Once I've got the new thermal core installed, I'll start printing pieces, pics to follow at that time!

Flattr

2011-05-01T18:32:00.000-07:00

Hi all!

Cool new tech I thought I'd share with you: Flattr. It's a way of putting your money where your mouth is when you say something you see looks cool!

In more detail: Flattr is a "social micro-payment system" where people can donate to cool causes with just a click. You pay a small monthly fee, then, when you see a site that you like with a Flattr button (There's one at the end of each post on this blog, when they are viewed individually) you can click it, and a little chunk of you monthly Flattr money is distributed to them! Think of it as a low-amount donate button. For content users, it's a great way of giving back to the creators of the content, and for content creators, it's a great way to see who's truly interested!

The website Thingiverse is already in on the Flattr goodness, automatically adding Flattr buttons to each thing that a Flattr user creates, and I hope other social content sites (like Blogger and Instructables) get on board soon too!

I've got to give a huge hand to Nicolas Gramlich for his post on how to integrate flattr with blogger! http://nicolas-gramlich.blogspot.com/2010/05/flattr-plugin-for-bloggercom-blogspot.html

For more information, Visit Flattr.com/about!

-Z

SHINY!

2011-04-21T23:09:00.000-07:00

Just ordered some cool new parts from MakerBot!

http://store.makerbot.com/mk6-plus-heater-upgrade-kit.html

With this installed, I shouldn't ever have to worry about the heat core resistors burning out! Plus, there's a thermal cutoff, which should be really nice, preventing the machine from overheating!

Will post pics and installation tips once the parts get here!

Also getting 1KG of their standard white ABS, but getting it on a spool, which should be very, very nice :-)

Sorry about the jumpy nature of this post... brain's not quite here at the moment :-)