Printing Stuff At Last

Well, I finally fixed enough problems with my 3D printer to actually start printing some useful (and fun) objects.

My most prolific issue was slipping of the X and Y axis under high torque situations.  It turns out the grub screws for the aluminum timing gear pulley were not nearly long enough to get a tight fit against the flat of the motor shaft.  Once I used some spare M3 bolts to tighten the pulley, I was good to go.

There are so many things I need to do and try it is hard for me to keep track...

• I need to mount a 30mm x 30mm fan under the carriage to try and cool the heat break.
• Problem - Gunk On Small Surfaces
• Problem - Strings!
• I need to test out various Extrusion Widths to see if they help with the current issue I have with gunk and strings on the prints
• I need to calibrate and tune the hot end temp and PID
• Print duct for main fan so that it blows more directly on the print
• Calibrate X and Y (very accurately)

The Debugging Continues

As I try to get my 3D printer into working order, I am finding out about things I need to work on.  The first problem is the cooling of the heat break just above the hot end.  I removed all the Kapton tape that was insulating the heat break as a first step.

The next step will be to re-direct the fan air flow to be over the heat break.  Temporarily, I think I will jimmy rig an adapter that will allow me to point the fan better.

Of course, the correct fix will be to put a small fan directly blowing on the tube.

The other thing I am looking into is upgrading the firmware on the printer,  I have a Melzi board that I believe will be able to run Marlin... an up to date firmware that seems to be the most popular.

Problems With My Hotend

I have been trying now to figure out an issue with so little extrusion coming from my 0.2mm nozzle.  The first problem I noticed was that the extruder feed was not moving very fast at all.  This led me to the firmware for the printer and the following changes.

I changed the E-steps setting in the firmware calibration from...

to this value...

And I finally was able to see some movement of the extruder motor during printing.

As a side note, I have learned that my hotend is not being properly cooled.  I need to cool the "heat break" and the print area, while now there is a fan blowing on the whole thing... even the heater block.

As soon as I am able, I will print a fan shroud that can cool both from the 40mm fan I currently have.

Printing At Last

Well, I took matters into my own hands and found some compression springs at the local Home Depot.  Actually they were a pretty good fit.  So I have been trying to get the hang of using my machine.

Although I have some ways before I figure out how to make perfect prints, I have been encouraged by what I have been able to do with a machine I built myself.

I will begin using this blog to track my progress.  Stay tuned!

Ready to Print (Almost)

Well I have to say the weekend ended better than it started.  Thursday night my stomach felt terrible and I had to stay home ill on Friday.  In time I began to feel better, but I was still pretty tired.  And then on Saturday they delivered a pair of flexible aluminum  couplers that I had order off of Ebay.  I was in business!

It wasn't until today however that I was able to get this thing ready to print.  Most of that time was trying to figure out how the Repetier-Host software was supposed to be configured.

Gotcha #1
I do not believe the firmware was pre-loaded on the Melzi board.  Whenever I connected I kept getting a serial error.  Then again, it may have been my baud rate.  It needs to be set to 115200.  Anyway, I was only successful after I had loaded the supplied Arduino program.

Gotcha #2
While I realized right away that I needed to reverse the X and Z axis directions, I failed to realize that the Y axis also needed to be reversed.  It is confusing to beginners because the Y axis is moving the bed, which is opposite to the direction you want to go.

Gotcha #3
Calibrating the home position took quite a bit of time to figure out, with just poking and prodding.  Finally, after fixing all the axis problems, the limit switches began to behave like I expected.  Home is on the "origin" of the three-dimensional space cube that makes up the print area.  It is the bottom left corner of the print bed. When you get all the limit switches placed to give you the most printing area, pressing the home buttons will move the particular axis to it's home position by tripping the switch.  

Gotcha #4
Then you have to set the size of the print area so that the printer will know when to stop on the opposite end of each axis.

Anyway, I think I am ready almost ready to print.  All I need are the extruder springs.

Wiring Done

Well I bit the bullet and began wiring the printer to the CPU board.  After some tedious detangling, organizing, cutting, stripping I think I am finished.

I tested and hooked up the power supply.   I think I might add to the mounting of the power supply.  It tends to swing when the printer is moved.

Anyway, I am about finished with what I can do, without the missing parts.

 Next steps... re-check wiring and connections.

3D Printer Progress

Well it is the 6th of January and this is the current state of my DIY 3D Printer Kit...

I'm doing what I can to finish the printer, while I wait for the two parts I need to complete the whole thing.  I should be able to finish the wiring in the next day or two.  While the rats nest of wire is a bit intimidating at the moment, I should be able to take it, one connection at a time.

Once the wiring is done, I won't be able to proceed with calibration and testing until I receive the last parts.

RepRap Prusa Mendel

Well I have taken a step into the world of 3D printing.  For Christmas, I was given a Heacent 3DP03 DIY 3D Printer it.  I have to tell you... I was pretty intimidated.

Only a few things come pre-assembled...

• Extruder/X-Carriage
• Heated Bed
• Limit Switches

Other than that, it comes pretty much as parts.