3D printed, motorised barn door

[MyRomeo]

I built myself a prototype barn door tracker a few months ago to test my calcs and found the results quite promising. At 35mm I was managing 10 minute ISO 1600 shots with no trailing but had found a few design flaws.

Today I started to address them using a 3D printable design found online as a baseline.

Anyhow as I type out little printer is churning away and I have a pile of parts waiting to be paired to it...

Thought I would share the progress on here as I am sure some will be interested!

As it is now...

Update to follow...

[fwm891]

CNC with a difference

Watching this, good luck

[poogle]

That's awesome! Wish I had one of those 3D-printers

/Patrik

[Andy_E]

Certainly right we'll be interested. Looks like it comes from a different century to my plywood offering

[MyRomeo]

It's sure a step forward from my cheese board prototype!

Little scare, checking progress (it's a 6 hour print) and the material reel is alarmingly low... I'm concerned it's going to run out mid run! Need to find out if there's capacity to pause and change reels mid job!

[themaninthesuitcase]

Is that the Afina one?  Seems to be a nice unit from what I've read.

I've wanted a 3d printer ever since I first heard of a rep-rap but I still can't justify the expense of one, especially as I can't 3d model for toffee!

Looks like a great project.

[MyRomeo]

All credit goes to this guy

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:11376/#instructions

So the print failed with about 30 minutes to go! The heater stopped heating for an unknown reason but I think I can make the parts work still. We're baffled as to what happened!

See the piece on the right? It had a few mm left

I'll assemble the parts tomorrow (my wedding anniversary today and I need to treat the wife to a fancy meal!) and post my progress

[MyRomeo]

Quick update.. Fitted the bearings and mounted the control board... Test aligned for your viewing pleasure

I think the honeycomb side actually works fine given it's mostly covered by the pcb so no major issue with the printing error

The rubber band is just holding the pcb whilst the glue sets and the socket is supporting the upper part for the photo...

More to follow!

[Davey-T]

Looking good , I've been looking for some projects to justify the expense of a printer

Dave

[MyRomeo]

Ok so a little more done today. Assembled the main parts and set the dimensions... 183mm between bearing centre and drive bar using an m5 drive bar gives a nice and measurable 1rpm drive speed..

So without further delay, today's progress...

All the nuts are loctited secure now and there is absolutely no play in the bearings so the main pivot is very stable.

Tomorrow's job is to build a means of fitting the motor, fit the ball head and tidy up the wiring.

Must say I am enjoying this!

[Davey-T]

Just read a news item on printing human organs for transplant, seems a real possibility.

Dave

[Ags]

This is the democratization of industry! Every public library should have a 3D printer. Oh I forgot, we don't have public libraries any more...

[Cath]

I've wanted a 3d printer ever since I first heard of a rep-rap but I still can't justify the expense of one.

You can now get a 3D printer for $200 ..

http://makibox.com/

[Alaness]

I've just finished designing this low profile filter 'wheel' for EOS cameras. I've never used a 3D printer before. It would be helpful if someone could take a look!

[Gonzo]

very cool

[MyRomeo]

Alaness, one thing I would say with the 3D printed parts is the thin stuff is pretty brittle, I considered printing a nikon f mount to 1.25" eyepiece adaptor but had worries of how secure it would be. It might be an idea to buy a mount from eBay and design the filter wheel to attach to it.

Today's progress with my tracker.. Got the battery pack fitted to the base and the conduit ran ready to fit the drive motor tomorrow. I need one last part printed so really hoping I can resolve the printer fault!

I also got the ball mount fitted ready for the camera.

The mount if feeling pretty stable so far..

Sorry no photo today... It's so close to completion I'll keep the next shot until then

[themaninthesuitcase]

You can now get a 3D printer for $200 ..

http://makibox.com/

Looks like we are slowly entering the relm where they will be in more homes.  Though unlike the ink jet revolution the skill barrier to entry is much higher, places like thingiverse can only go so far.

Be interesting to see how good the prints are from that $200 machine.

[billhinge]

well done, I was following the progress of 3 d printing, internet of things, etc at work last year. nice to see some practical applications

[Alaness]

Alaness, one thing I would say with the 3D printed parts is the thin stuff is pretty brittle, I considered printing a nikon f mount to 1.25" eyepiece adaptor but had worries of how secure it would be. It might be an idea to buy a mount from eBay and design the filter wheel to attach to it

Thanks Romeo, I'll start work on a new design. I think I'll make it simpler while I'm at it, maybe only 3 filter holes with shorter 'ears'. 

[MyRomeo]

Ok so today's update, all parts are now accounted for and I'm just waiting for the last few parts to set before completing the assembly and soldering the motor connections. I'm hoping it will all be set for tomorrow and I can complete it to start testing.

Picture as promised!

So close!!

[MyRomeo]

It lives!

Feels stable too, although the quick release plate needs modified as that is by far the Weakest link!

[corduroy]

This is awesome!  Great job.

Would you mind sharing your STL files and parts list?  Thanks

[Joves]

What an age we live in! Unbelievable!!

To think, not that long ago, to have a regular dot matrix printer in your home for personal use was a thing of the future. Now look where we're at!!

[leeseafish]

Impressive.  I've been building them out of plywood which is a material I know very well, but yours does seem very 21st Century.  Hope the photos with the mount are as exciting as the photos of the mount.

[DaveNicko]

Very impressive! I do hope you will post some pictures you've taken with this setup. I intend to make a barn door - just manual and out of wood at first...

Dave.