Archive for April, 2013

3-Axis Movement

3D Printer | Posted by ShadowRam April 29th, 2013

Success. I have all three axis moving.

I had some problems with the endstops that I’m still figuring out, but I’ve been able to disable the endstops in the software so I can get things moving.

You will notice in the video at about 0:40 it appears to ‘jam’. This is because I’m pushing the speed to the maximum limit. This is the steppers trying to keep up at the low current I have them set at. I could pump up the current output, but I think I will start slow, keep the steppers controllers cool, and work my way up to faster prints.

First Movement

3D Printer | Posted by ShadowRam April 27th, 2013

Now that I verified that all the electronics appears to be in good working order, crimping the stepper motors on the frame to work on the board is the next step.

I bring up the wiring diagram of these motors and I take a look at them. Weird, colours don’t match. I take a look at the wires coming out of the motor. Oh-oh. There are 8 wires coming out of the motor going into a shrink wrapped mass, but only four coming out at the end of it. No worries, I’m aware that 8-wire steppers can be wired up in a way to be 4-wire. But I had no idea what the colours at the end were. Guess I have to do this the old fashion way. I grabbed my multimeter and rung out the stepper motor connections on the frame. 5 ohms per set.

I rigged up some temporary connections to make sure I had the direction correct and tested it out. After it worked, I recorded down the pin out, and crimped my first stepper motor connection and plugged it into the board. The video show’s it was a success. I also monitored the heat sink on the stepper motor controller to see if it was getting hot handling these larger motors. It went up only 3 degree’s C. Success. Now to crimp and hook up the rest.

First Video – Electronics Test

3D Printer | Posted by ShadowRam April 27th, 2013

Here’s my first video.

This test was to ensure the Arduino micro-controlling was connecting and communicating correctly with my computer and that I was able to successfully download a program to it. I dounloaded the Ramps 1.4 test program, which basically just moves steppers back and forth and makes the LED lights blink.

I’ve also hooked up and tested an old computer power supply as a 12VDC source to power the stepper motors and heaters. I used the 4-pin video card source, as they are two +12VDC sources that are both capable of 15A a piece.

I’ve also connected the extruder stepper to each of the stepper motor drivers to ensure they were all working correctly.

Preparing the RAMPS

3D Printer | Posted by ShadowRam April 27th, 2013

So I’ve installed the heat sinks on the stepper controls a little different than what some people may have expected. I mounted them upright. The reasoning for this is that the heat sinks are pretty big for the board, I didn’t want to risk having the heat sink short out the components on the board by touching them. With the setup I have now, it should pull enough heat away from the chip, and you can see from the picture the heat sink is no where near the pin or resistors on the surface of the board.

Heat Sink Install

Heat Sink Install

Heat Sink up close

Heat Sink up close

Second Order

3D Printer | Posted by ShadowRam April 23rd, 2013

Not much to update at this point. I have on order the last of what I require to finalize this project. Wade Extruder hardware kit, and a Hot-Bed. I also picked up a spool of PLA. I think I might first test the printer using this, as the melting temperature is lower.

I have also ordered a bunch of electrical connectors. Basically the connectors that a hobby servo uses. I picked up a few 4-pin, 3-pin, and 2-pin. They will allow me to cleanly attach the stepper motors to the electronics I have here. Also these will be great for future projects for easy attaching and removing sensors/motors/etc for other robots. When I first looked at the official crimp tool, it was +$350. Screw that! I was going to manually crimp these with a pair of pliers, but I lucky for me, I found a basic $35 crimp tool that should work.
Molex SL Series

I’ve pulled apart the main electrical box, removed the old connectors, and pulled out some of the wire I won’t be needing. Getting it all prepared to at least wire the servo motors to the controller. I’m hoping this weekend to get the controller powered up, connected to the computer, and the servo’s moving.

Mobile Box

Mobile Box

Main Box

Main Box

I’m also still researching a glue that is high temperature (+300degC) and thermally conductive. The main failure people seem to have is their Hot-End overheating, due to the sensor falling out, or not reading correctly. Some ‘Muffler Putty’ was supplied with it that will handle the high temperature without a problem, but I don’t know how well it will conduct heat from the Hot-End to the sensor, which is key if I want the temperature reading to be accurate and responsive A lot of the thermal paste used in electronics for conducting heat to a heatsink is only rated to 200degC, so that’s out. I know these compounds exist, lots of testing companies use them for mounting RTD’s, but finding some where I can actually walk into a store and buy a small vial is difficult.

Speaking of which, I’m not sure why so many people in the home brew 3D Printer community use thermistors instead of RTD’s. RTD’s are linear in their read-out, and no profiling is required. I’ve read that a lot of people have ruined their hot-end or had problems because their thermistor wasn’t profiled correctly, and RTD’s are only a few bucks.

Either way, as soon as I figure out what compound I want to use, I’ll be good to go.

Major Delivery

3D Printer | Posted by ShadowRam April 19th, 2013

My package has arrived. Can’t say I’m too happy about shipping. Shipping + Duty taxes was 1/4 of the total price.

First Order

First Order

Included in the package is my Greg’s Wade Extruder parts. The site I ordered from didn’t have any of the hardware in stock for it, so I’m going to order a hardware kit from a local (Canadian) supplier. But the plastic is pretty good, it looks like it’s accurate and everything seems to fit well

Wade Plastic Parts

Wade Plastic Parts

Next up is the latest J-Head. Wow, was I ever surprised by the size. It’s half the size I was expecting. All the pictures on the internet of the thing did’t prepare me at all to how small it is. I threw in a AAA battery to help with the scale. It is tiny, and I’m going to need tiny hands to assemble it.

J-Head Hot End

J-Head Hot End

Next up is the electronics, I wasn’t expecting a lot of the extra stuff I got with it. A nice little SD Card slot adaptor, some wires/connections, what looks like heat-bed sensors, tiny terminal screw-driver all in a nice little plastic protective case. Gotta hand it to Ultibots. They seem to definitely have a professional setup here.

RAMPS + Controller + Servo Controllers

RAMPS + Controller + Servo Controllers

Lastly, a big old roll of ABS. I’m happy it came with a nice spool. I’m sure I’ll be reusing this spool a lot when I buy more material later.

ABS (Green)

ABS (Green)

So my next step is to get the Wade extruder hardware on order, and a heat-bed. I’ll probably throw in a roll of PLA into my order as well.
While I wait for those to come in, I’ll work on getting the servo’s and end-stop sensors hooked up. Secure the board and a power-supply. Probably drop my own program into the Arduino, and make sure these servo controllers can handle the servo’s I already have on board.

Home Sweet Home

3D Printer | Posted by ShadowRam April 15th, 2013

Thanks to Invictus Lemming’s help, the frame now has a new home. I should really think of a name for this beast other than frame. Invictus has informed me that the scale of this thing isn’t well conveyed in the previous pictures.

So here is a picture of it cleaned up a bit with my cordless drill and a can of pledge sitting in its base as a frame of reference of just how big this thing is.

In Place

In Place

Wooden Support for Frame

3D Printer | Posted by ShadowRam April 14th, 2013

So I purchased some lumber and construction screws and made myself a nice strong base to bring the 3D Printer frame up off the ground. Considering my brother is the carpenter expert of the family, I’m rather proud the way it turned out. It’s quite square and level. Now I just need to get someone to help me lift the frame up onto it.

Frame Support

Frame Support

 

On Order

3D Printer | Posted by ShadowRam April 12th, 2013

I’ve made my first major purchase in this project. On order is

  • Wade Extruder
  • Nema17 Stepper for Wade Extruder
  • J-Head HotEnd Nozzle
  • 1Kg Spool of ABS Filament
  • Arduino Mega 2560 v3
  • 5x Pololu A4988 Stepper Motor Drivers
  • RAMPS 1.4 Board

The Wade Extruder is a device that takes the filament plastic wire, and feeds it into the hotend nozzle at a controlled speed via the stepper motor.

The J-Head HotEnd Nozzle will melt the plastic via an included thermal resistor and temperature controlled via a thermistor.

The Arduino is a microcontroller that will take the GCODE commands from my computer and covert them into the output required to control the stepper motors

The stepper motor drivers are small circuit boards that will have the current capacity to drive the stepper motors.

The RAMPS 1.4 is a motherboard like device developed by the RepRap community. It allows the Arduino and Motor drivers to be combined into a neat reliable package.

Existing Electronics

3D Printer | Posted by ShadowRam April 12th, 2013

Good news! I figured I would have to purchase some micro limit switches. No need. All three axis have a through beam like sensor attached and already wired up.

20130411_114542

Wiring is already beautifully handled all through cable track. All nicely tucked away and protected.

Y - Track

Y – Track

X - Track

X – Track

There’s also a nice little panel in the corner of the frame. I may install the Arduino / RAMPS /Stepper Drivers module inside this box. All the steppers and limit switches are currently wired to the round jack. The DB25 looking pins are all hooked up to small control box on the Z-Carriage that I’m thinking about removing.

20130411_114558 20130411_114958