Calibrating and other fun

Getting the 3D printer completely calibrated and functioning properly is certainly a lesson in patience. Some more prints I’ve managed:

This first one is a failed whistle, apparently some issue in skeinforge causes it to align to 0,0 even with multiply off and thus some objects cause it to hit the x-opto. This then skews the next layer to the right until it no longer hits it. Thus the print is “shifted”…
Failed Whistle
Update 1/26 – this pic has a working one!

These next 2 are of a failed prusa vertex I tried to print. It seems to be too hot, and the size is too small do to my having calibrated to a part that wasn’t the size I thought it was!
Vertex from the top
Vertex from the bottom

This last one if of my first 2 good prints. A nophead pulley gear and a adrian extruder pinch wheel piece.
Pulley and Pinch

And one of the best prints yet, this is a adrian’s extruder driven gear but due to software it somehow printed 10 to 15 percent larger then it should have. I rotated it with sketchup and meshlab and wonder if something in that process messed it up.
Driven Gear

I’d had a lot of trouble with warping in the colder temps I allow my house to hit. Even the 20mm hollow test cube starts to warp without a hair drier to heat it. I’ve now built a heated bed using 3 loops of roughly 60cm nichrome for a 5.6 ohm heater. I’ll plan to find a variable power supply today to power it. I also need to switch the bed springs to metal since the plastic ones might not last long with a heated bed. Of course then I have to worry about the heat spreading down the bolt/sprint to the mounts in the lower end. I’ll most likely get some nylon washers in between.
Heated bed

In other news, camiel from mendel-parts.com has again told me on 1/22 that he’s going to ship me another peek block (since I never received the last one). We’ll have to see if I actually get anything ever.

This entry was written by Shadowmite , posted on Sunday January 23 2011at 10:01 am , filed under News and tagged , , . Bookmark the permalink . Post a comment below or leave a trackback: Trackback URL.

One Response to “Calibrating and other fun”

  • Tristan Loteryman says:

    Hey I’m doing a RepRap project with my friend, and it’s been difficult to find the electronic components to build it. Would you be able to give me your source, I really wanna be spared the pain of making a printed CPB THEN buying the components to put it together. I haven’t been able to find the CPB’s for the Mobo Motor drivers and controllers.