Prometheus Fusion Perfection » Hercules Extruder

New Arrivals

Mark Suppes — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 14:23:42 +0000

Got a bunch of gear in the mail this week:

laser safety goggles, tuned to the 808nm infrared of the cutting laser. Here is the spec sheet. These are model EP-5, so they have OD3. OD5 is ideal for the power range we are working in, but OD3 is INSUFFICIENT better than nothing. To be on the safe side, I plan to only operate the power lasers in an opaque enclosure.

A variety of lenses for shaping the beam path.

Pretty.

Same lens.

Tiny Tiny beam splitter.

An finally the new geared motor for the new pinch pulley extruder, with the perfect timing belt pulley on it’s end.

Coming Soon

Mark Suppes — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 01:19:55 +0000

I took a page from zach’s design, for the latest hercules extruder:

This ended up not working very well. Not enough torque or grip overall. I just purchased this geared motor. Zach mentioned having issues actually getting his hands on the Kysan motor his design uses. I’m impatient, so I’m going to design around another motor, BUT try and follow Zach’s design as closely as possible otherwise.

Another Iteration

Mark Suppes — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 22:26:24 +0000

I still need another iteration in the design, but getting close:

Now we have a lighter nema 17 motor, and better balanced on the x carriage:

More Hercules Extruder activity.

Mark Suppes — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 21:28:33 +0000

Zach is doing R&D on the Hercules Extruder

Hercules Extruder Redesign

Mark Suppes — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 17:37:44 +0000

I did a from scratch redesign of the hercules extruder now using the nema17, mounted above the x carriage for best balance. Looks like this:

Hercules Extruder in action

Mark Suppes — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 01:37:01 +0000

Hercules Extruder in action:

Hercules Extruder for real

Mark Suppes — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 04:59:20 +0000

Very happy to have this hercules extruder sitting on my desk. Shout out to Max Steiner for time on his machine.

Nothing fit correctly! I had to file down just about every surface, but it’s very close. I need to add wiggle room for all of the holes.

Here it is installed.

It’s quite heavy, and puts significant torque on the x-carriage.

Third pass at the Hercules Extruder

Mark Suppes — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 15:09:40 +0000

So the latest design hasn’t even been made at ponoko… and I already see it is flawed. I decided to restart from the beginning… now that I have a digital caliper, and understand sketchup better. Here is the latest:

I’m not rounding the corners till the end, because it’s easier to edit with square corners. Also, I’m keeping the the panels themselves 2D, easier to work with.

Hercules Extruder 3D

Mark Suppes — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 21:05:21 +0000

Still cutting my teeth with sketchup. Here is the hercules extruder in 3D:

The sketchup-svg-outline-plugin is great for producing laser cuts for Ponoko. I recommend this sketch-svg tutorial.

Added the trapped nut cutouts:

This intersect model tutorial was essential for making the trapped nut cutouts.

I just ordered v1 of the extruder from ponoko:

Hercules Extruder

Mark Suppes — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 19:26:32 +0000

I’m working on fabricating the Hercules extruder for the reprap. It is simpler then the current extruders, and it just looks sturdier and more reliable. The lasercuts look like this:

Haven’t tried these out yet. Here is the sketchup file