Starting a new build that is 20 x 14 work area. I figured I would upload some pictures and notes to help others. I have an old Prusa Mendel that I made about 5-6 years ago that I want to reuse some of the parts from. My newer 3D printers just have way better quality.
Couple things so far
I ordered “1” OD {A} x 0.870" ID {B} x .065" {C} Wall 304 Stainless Steel Tube (Tubing)" from Speedy Metals. Hopefully the extra wall thickness doesn’t add enough weight to the machine. It was significantly less than .05"
I am printing all my parts. After the last few days, $190 in the store sounds like a deal. Not sure if would print my own if I was to start over. Maybe I am just overly anxious to get building, but my printer hasn’t stopped since Saturday morning. I am using a FlashForge Creator Pro, Simplify 3D and Hatchbox PLA. My parts are beating the time estimate by about 25%
I found all my 5/16 hardware at Tractor Supply. Home Depot and Lowes did not have the right lengths or nuts (weird?).
I used the spreadsheet attached to keep track of what to print, and what color.
For me cutting it was the nightmare. I drill the holes by first marking an “X” with a dremmel cut off wheel. Then its pretty easy. I do that for the regular conduit as well.
Oh the “X” is a good idea. I ended up getting holes. I ran out to the hardware store and got a Irwin Titanium bit. The regular steel bits I had barely scratched it. I started with 9/64" and then got a 5/16". I used some oil I had laying around during the drilling
Got it all wired up this morning. Unfortunately the control board I wanted to use isn’t working. It was an old Sanguino board from a 3D printer I built 5-6 years ago. I guess I will have to wait until RAMPS shows up.
I got my new RAMPS board in and the belts on. I have good movement on all axis.
Now I am trying to draw the crown. I am so close I can taste it. I followed the tutorial and manually set the pen right over the paper. When I go to print, it raises like 20-30 mm and draws in the air.
HAHAHA so awesome. I have had the magic work for me many times!
Just try not to forget it now. I have screwed up a few repeat jobs by not resetting it in between. I will move the head, clamp the part and hit go and bamm off it goes in the wrong direction usually crashing into the work piece. The new firmware is actng a bit funny but usually you can just hit reset home offsets in the lcd and it will reset them, maybe back again in the next update.
Heh, my first crown ended up being a weird diamond shape. The Z axis was moving backwards, so it drew the crown in the air and everything else on the paper.
Work got really busy, so this went on hold for a few weeks.
I got the spoil board made yesterday. I used the Dewalt to make some holes for the tee nuts. I didn’t router out the entire part, just made a small hole to get placement. Then I finished with a regular drill and counter sunk them. The spoil board is bigger than the working area, so I only cut 1/4 at a time and rotated the board.
If I was to do it over again, I would probably draw it to cutout everything. I also learned about threaded inserts, so that might have been better instead.
I will probably cut on top of foam, on top of this board. So not sure if this is really called spoil board. Foam will end up be the spoil.
