On Monday, February 27, 2012 08:16:45 PM Ian W. Wright did opine: > Hi Kent, > > No, on this one I'm using the stock Arduino electronics - it > was easier to set up and it works fine. I'm using the Marlin > firmware and Repetier host software on an Ubuntu 11.x box > (with Mono to allow the Repetier to work in the linux > environment). I'm also using Slic3r to post-process the STL > files. On the Arduino Mega 1280 I have a RAMPS 1.2 board > with Pololu drivers running the 5 motors and I'm using a > home-made heated bed and a cooling fan. So far I'm only > printing in PLA as that is all that is readily available in > the UK but its a good hard and robust plastic and is > relatively cheap to buy. > > I started building the printer really just as an experiment > as I have been fascinated with 3d printing for several years > now - in fact, my 4-year old grandson helped build the frame > and is now quite adept at wielding a spanner and turning > nuts in the right direction!! However, I have been very > impressed with what the printer is capable of and I have > used it several times to make jigs and tools for odd jobs. > In the case of the microscope job, it arrived in the morning > post - I identified the thread and said 'damn' I can't cut > that on either of my lathes - worked out that I could do it > on my little 7 x 12 if I had a 51 tooth wheel - grabbed a > cad outline from one of the gear company websites and turned > it into a 3d STL file and ran it through Slic3r - printed > the gear in less than an hour and at a cost less than the > postage would have been if I'd sent for one and cut the > thread and finished the job before tea time...... It was on > its way back to the customer the next morning and the > following day the money was in my Paypal account... now > that's turnover..! > > Gene:.. you asked about resolution for gears... have a look > at these and several more on Youtube.. > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H21v8PpB9OM > http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=zMwu0ZsG_3I > <http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=zMwu0ZsG_3I> > Eccentric gears. I'll bet that was quite a challenge in the math dept.
> There's also a guy making tiny gears for helicopters and > planes and making them to fit on the little cheap Jap can > motors you find in kids toys... > > Best wishes, > > Ian I took the cross slide apart on that 7x12 today, and I am amazed I could ever actually use it. When I took the bolt out, the first thing I did was take the bearing to the surface plate and take all the rough machining marks off the back face to see if I could take up some of that 10 thou worth of backlash, and did take out about 5 thou of it, but almost overshot it when I was putting it back together as I normally tighten that stuff to about 1/8th turn from broke, but 99% of that drag went away if I only tightened it to about 1/4 turn from broke. I thought I push the cross slide off and check the rest of it since its always been quite draggy to move regardless of the gib screw adjustments. The gib fell out of course, and when I picked it up to wipe it off, I found that it was bent, with a bow in it of about 3/16"! So I took it to the shops porch banister along with some alu plates to hold one end up so I could lay a persuader on it & try to straighten it. But I'd get one side looking good, then the other direction was off so I had to work on it from both angles. Getting it looking good, I laid it in the carriages V-way to check for smooth motions, at which point I discovered it was also tapered, enough that the back end of it was holding that corner of the slide up about 25 thou! About half an hours worth of drawfiling & some time on the surface plate with 600 W-r-D under it and that began to look good. I put it back together for the half dozenth time, and with the screws snugged & backed up 10 degrees, it will now run end to end with about 10% of the effort it was taking before I took it apart. No wonder I'm swearing at the rubber carriage and tool post, it had at least 10 thou of crushable air under the tool post mount. Running as easy and smooth as it is now, that 52 oz motor has way more than enough beans in its pockets to run this lathe's cross slide now. Rear of the carriage type mounts are 'under construction' but my feet says they are cold enough for one day. I pulled those plastic pulleys those motors all come with, off, and it looks like the best shaft extension is to turn an alu rod to fit the motors shaft, bored to around .3000 to .302 ID, 3/4" deep and drive it onto the knurled type splined shaft, which is about .3045 to .3065 OD depending on which digital caliper I measure the splines with. Drive it onto the shaft as an extension to reach the back end of the bolt, which I will drill for a roll pin the extensions far end will be machined to drop over to drive. At least that is the plan ATM. Maybe I can get that part finished tomorrow if its not too cold. Today was nice although the wind was frisky & I had to chase down the tarp I usually toss over the air compressor 2 or 3 times. [...] Cheers, Gene -- "There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order." -Ed Howdershelt (Author) My web page: <http://coyoteden.dyndns-free.com:85/gene> Everywhere I look I see NEGATIVITY and ASPHALT ... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Keep Your Developer Skills Current with LearnDevNow! The most comprehensive online learning library for Microsoft developers is just $99.99! Visual Studio, SharePoint, SQL - plus HTML5, CSS3, MVC3, Metro Style Apps, more. Free future releases when you subscribe now! http://p.sf.net/sfu/learndevnow-d2d _______________________________________________ Emc-users mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
