Gina

Finder-scopes can blind you if pointed at the sun. PLEASE BE VERY CAREFUL!!

Don't even think about it! There is very great danger unless you really know what you're doing with solar. For white solar, Baader solar film in front of the telescope is what's needed. For Ha you need very specialised equipment - get it wrong and you can easily blind yourself!! Wrong parts in the telescope can result in fire or explosion.

But produced in vast numbers!

I've often 3D printed text on my objects, with SketchUp in the past, nowadays with a very old copy of Autodesk Inventor.

As James said, you can't make certain parts any smaller. My Mini printer has a footprint of 400mm x 360mm. It may be possible to get it a bit smaller but not much without sacrificing accuracy.

Some years ago when |I had the little UP Plus 2 with 130mm x 130mm print area I found it decidedly limiting. My smallest working printer now has a 200mm x 200mm bed. There is very little to be gained by going smaller even if you only ever want to print small parts. Going smaller means going non-standard and will cost more.

I use auto-bed-levelling but that needs a probe to measure the bed at a number of points (usually 4 or 9). This feature is available in Marlin and a number of other firmwares.

Well, I tried Bowden feed a while back and gave up on it. OK I know many manage to use it successfully but unless you want a double extruder I thing direct feed is better. Using the E3D Titan extruder with lighter weight stepper motor and geared feed the extrusion is excellent and the weight is minimal. I print at up to 120mm/s.

Hmm... I don't like Teflon (PTFE) in hotends and much prefer an all metal version. In fact I only use all metal hotends nowadays.

Filament reel support added. This shows a 4.5Kg reel of filament.

I use mains heaters on my two larger printers and will probably change the Mini over to mains in due course.

Once you have the printer working you can make a frame of PETG or ABS to hold the glass. That's what I did. Also, you can buy self-adhesive silicone heater pads that can be stuck directly to the glass giving a much more even temperature over the bed. OTOH if you don't want the heater stuck to the glass you can get these heaters without the self-adhesive layer and hold the heater against the glass with polyurethane foam. I currently use that system on my Mini printer (200mm square bed).

Here is a diagram of how the parts are to be laid out on the top of the printer. Key :- Filament Reel (4.5Kg) - Black Fume Fan - Red Water Reservoir - Blue Control Box = Yellow PSU - Green

Now looking at the location of other parts - PSU, control box/board, water reservoir & pump and fume vent/fan. Checked up on the Duet 2 WiFi control board that I'm using for mounting and cooling advice. My other printers currently have the board mounted vertically and open but I would prefer to have a box round the board for protection. Previously, I have had the board mounted in a box vertically with a fan behind it - so lots of cooling - but the orientation looked untidy and it was difficult to connect the wiring. I would prefer to have the board mounted (in a box) horizontally on top of the printer, though it could go on the side and vertically but again the connections would be awkward. Mounting the board horizontally with air blown across underneath the board seems overall best, I think.

Lots of mud here too.

Update on cable chain and umbilical.

Ground looks much like here - wet!!

Still working on my Giant printer - it's a big job!

Oops - double post.

I have a bit of advice that might help fault-find. If you have two thermistors by your hotend(s) and find a broken wire then find what you think is its mate - check carefully that one of the wires on the other thermistor isn't broken or you might end up as I have just done with my wires crossed!!! Grrr...

Much the same here as for the weather though the sun popped out for a few minutes this afternoon.

Yep! Get them from E3D... Well, at least for their standard hotends which are commonly cloned.

Hotends are often supplied like this! It's a definite cause of problems.

One of the wires on one of the thermistors on my Giant printer has broken - not a problem, just need to solder it and cover with shrink sleeving. Worse is that one wire has broken off one of the hotend heaters - that needs heater replacement as wire has broke right at the heater. Think I have a spare.

Kapton tape is what you want.