New Arrivals

30 01 2009

Got a bunch of gear in the mail this week:
img_3144

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. 

img_3155A variety of lenses for shaping the beam path.

img_31571

Pretty.

img_3158Same lens.

 

img_3161

Tiny Tiny beam splitter. 

img_3146An finally the new geared motor for the new pinch pulley extruder, with the perfect timing belt pulley on it’s end.


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Categories : Hercules Extruder, Laser

Workspace

26 01 2009

I scored this old glass door… it makes an excellent desk:

desk


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Categories : Uncategorized

Lasers

24 01 2009

Just received 3 650nm 5mW laser module.3.2V to with lens 650 nm.

I got these to a) play with and b) learn about beam paths:

img_3126

These are safe as long as you don’t look directly into the beam:

img_3122


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Categories : Laser

Coming Soon

24 01 2009

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

nema17_4

img_3131

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.


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Categories : Hercules Extruder, reprap

Heater barrel working

23 01 2009

Hooray, we got the heater barrel working. Except I _thought_  JB Weld was safe upto 600˚C, but that stuff was smokn!  gross. We’ll have to redo it using proper fire cement. Here is a short video:


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Categories : heater barrel, reprap

Reprap Gcode Gotchas

19 01 2009

For some reason, for my reprap to work I had to plug my min opto end stop in to the max port on the stepper motor controller. So for other reprap’ers out there whose symptoms include: normal response to Gcodes, except for motion towards the min opto-endstop, for one or more axes, try inserting the min opto into the max opto port on the stepper controller. Makes no sense, but bam there it is. 

I also had to invert my opto-endstops by setting this in _init.pde:

#define SENSORS_INVERTING 1

I spent days struggling with these idiosyncrasies, hopefully this post will save someone else the same trouble.

Also remember to set the baud-rate to 19,200


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Categories : Gcode, reprap

Wiring

19 01 2009

Wade is helping me troubleshoot the wiring harness. I’m currently running from the Arduino, but the Sanguino is on hot standby. Here is a pic:

 

wiring1


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Categories : Arduino, reprap, Sanguino

Reprap Frustrations

19 01 2009

I’m having a tough time getting the Gcode firmware to work on either the Arduino or the Sanguino. The PDE files compile and upload properly, but when I issue a Gcode command through the serial connection, such as “G1 X10”:  it does not work, and I get this crazy response:

??Dóçb§bçÂçbççbç1???óçbçbçbçbçbçbçbç

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Categories : Arduino, Gcode, reprap, Sanguino

Another Iteration

17 01 2009

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

 
img_3067

Now we have a lighter nema 17 motor, and better balanced on the x carriage:img_3079


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Categories : Hercules Extruder, reprap

More Hercules Extruder activity.

16 01 2009

Zach is doing R&D on the Hercules Extruder


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Categories : Hercules Extruder, reprap

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