Prusa i3 3D printer

[cathouse42]

Nice , when they can print metal (selective laser sintering), I will sign up to 3D printers.

[Gina]

It's amazing what you can do with plastic

[cathouse42]

It's amazing what you can do with plastic

Yeah, I can break plastic

[Gina]

ABS is very strong.  I had my obsy roof running on printed plastic wheels until I upgraded to steel for smoother running.

[cathouse42]

ABS is very strong.  I had my obsy roof running on printed plastic wheels until I upgraded to steel for smoother running.

Yup, I see, upgraded to metal.

[tekkydave]

I have now wired up the dsub 37way

[SnakeyJ]

Lovely neat job there Dave and nice recycle of the PSU box - should keep everything tidy and cool

[cathouse42]

I hope you have ventilation (a fume and dust/particle extractor system/enclosure) for this printer, ABS plastic gives off fumes of poisonous acrylonitrile when heated.  This is a suspected carcinogen. Butadiene is a known carcinogen. Styrene is also believed to have carcinogenic properties.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acrylonitrile#Health_effects

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1,3-Butadiene#Environmental_health_and_safety

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Styrene#Health_effects

Also be careful of the fine particles

http://www.techworld.com/news/personal-tech/scientists-warn-of-3d-printing-health-effects-as-tech-hits-high-street-3460992/

http://phys.org/news/2013-07-3d-printers-shown-emit-potentially.html

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1352231013005086

http://ecoh.ca/health-safety-hazards-associated-3d-printers-dr-om-malik/

A vacuum sucking tube and sealed enclosure is probably a good idea for these to scoop up both the particles and fumes.

Gotta love plastics

[tekkydave]

I hope you have ventilation (a fume and dust/particle extractor system/enclosure) for this printer, ABS plastic gives off fumes of poisonous acrylonitrile when heated. This is a suspected carcinogen. Butadiene is a known carcinogen. Styrene is also believed to have carcinogenic properties.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acrylonitrile#Health_effects

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1,3-Butadiene#Environmental_health_and_safety

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Styrene#Health_effects

Also be careful of the fine particles

http://www.techworld.com/news/personal-tech/scientists-warn-of-3d-printing-health-effects-as-tech-hits-high-street-3460992/

http://phys.org/news/2013-07-3d-printers-shown-emit-potentially.html

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1352231013005086

http://ecoh.ca/health-safety-hazards-associated-3d-printers-dr-om-malik/

A vacuum sucking tube and sealed enclosure is probably a good idea for these to scoop up both the particles and fumes.

Gotta love plastics

Thanks for that. I'm only using PLA at the moment so hopefully no issues there.

[furball]

Dave, are you going to run a fan in the RAMPS/Pi case?

Lance

[cathouse42]

Thanks for that. I'm only using PLA at the moment so hopefully no issues there.

PLA has issues too. They all give of particles.  They tested ABS and PLA. PLA is safer than ABS, but still, they also said Asbestos, Smoking, Mobile phone usage, Mercury, Fluoride and Diesel was safe

http://phys.org/news/2013-07-3d-printers-shown-emit-potentially.html#jCp

"Estimates of emission rates of total UFPs were high, ranging from about 20 billion particles per minute for a 3D printer utilizing a lower temperature polylactic acid (PLA)"

PLA gives out 20 BILLION PPM. That's no small number

Notice the wording is "safER" but not "safe".

Relative to ABS it is "safER" but PLA is still not safe.

Did you also know, coal is radioactive   Most people don't (anything you dig out of the ground, coal, oil etc is radioactive ). (this is why you don't want to live downwind of a coal generator or an oil refinery).

Even worse, these plastic 3D printers are in confined, ventilation restricted spaces with people generally hanging around them.

[tekkydave]

Yes, the original case lid has a 120mm fan. I may have to move it to be on the outside of the case as its getting a bit tight inside with all the wires!

[tekkydave]

Thanks, Ill bear it in mind and keep the window open.

[Gina]

I'm amazed - Velleman gave wrong information   Mind you I've gone off Velleman big time!  I made my fume cupboard for the UP! Plus 2 printer because I didn't like the smell of ABS (the recommended type of filament - PLA tends to clog up the works), now I'm much relieved that I did.  I was also planning to make a fume cupboard for the highly modified Velleman kit and still will.  Reminds me I must add more to my fume cupboard thread

SO...  ABS is toxic and both ABS and PLA produce zillions of nasty little nanoparticles    That is something I didn't know and have to say, I'm shocked!  Yes shocked   I had thought 3D printers were pretty environmentally friendly particularly if you can recycle the filament, as I plan to do sometime in the future.

[cathouse42]

I'm amazed - Velleman gave wrong information   Mind you I've gone off Velleman big time!  I made my fume cupboard for the UP! Plus 2 printer because I didn't like the smell of ABS (the recommended type of filament - PLA tends to clog up the works), now I'm much relieved that I did.  I was also planning to make a fume cupboard for the highly modified Velleman kit and still will.  Reminds me I must add more to my fume cupboard thread

SO...  ABS is toxic and both ABS and PLA produce zillions of nasty little nanoparticles    That is something I didn't know and have to say, I'm shocked!  Yes shocked   I had thought 3D printers were pretty environmentally friendly particularly if you can recycle the filament, as I plan to do sometime in the future.

Most if not all plastics (probably except organic plastics) are toxic

Sure even bottled water in plastic bottles cause health problems (their dirty little secret they won't talk about).

Best to use a fume/particle extractor system with these devices.

Put a filter in it and watch it get clogged up, then imagine yourself breathing that in

Generally you don't want anything in your lungs, it is soft tissue, and will linger around for long periods of time and accumulating.

[CoolHand142]

Made a lot of progress today and got most of the mechanicals built.

To assemble the x motor mount I needed to cut out a small section of plastic in the centre that was stopping the two bearings from sitting flat and in-line.

prusa _xmotor_01.jpg

The tie-wraps needed to be curled tightly at the end in order to get them to bend round and come out of the exit holes. The bearings were then mounted and the tie-wraps tightened. I used one of the smooth rods while doing this to ensure they were perfectly in-line.

prusa_xmotor_02.jpgm

prusa_xmotor_03.jpg

prusa_xmotor_04.jpg

prusa_xmotor_05.jpg

prusa_xmotor_06.jpg

The same was then done for the x idler...

prusa_xidler_01.jpg

prusa_xidler_02.jpg

...and the x carriage

prusa_xcarriage_01.jpg

prusa_xcarriage_02.jpg

The idler bearings were installed in the x idler.

prusa_xidler_03.jpg

The M5 nuts for the z-axis drive were then inserted in the x idler...

prusa_xidler_04.jpg

...and x motor mount

prusa_xmotor_07.jpg

The x axis smooth rods were then carefully inserted into the three x axis components.

prusa_xaxis_full.jpg

The next step was to mount the z axis lower left & right mounts

prusa_zlower_01.jpg

prusa_zlower_02.jpg

Then I carefully pushed the z axis smooth rods through the holes in the brackets. The holes are very tight so needed widening carefully with a round file. The brackets did bend slightly once the rods were inserted but once the motors are mounted it will give them strength.

prusa_zlower_03.jpg

pruser_zlower_04.jpg

The x axis assembly was carefully slid onto the smooth rods and the upper pair of brackets installed. The x axis length needs to be adjusted while doing this to ensure that it runs smoothly along the z axis.

prusa_z_and_x.jpg

prusa_ztopright_01.jpg

Next I installed the z axis threaded rods. These are driven directly by two z axis motors and move the x axis up & down via the M5 nuts held captive in the x motor mount & x idler.

prusa_zdrive_01.jpg

prusa_zdrive_02.jpg

Next I installed the z axis motors on the left & right lower brackets. They connect to the drive rods via a plastic coupling which is also tie-wrapped to prevent slippage.

prusa_zmotor_01.jpg

prusa_zmotor_02.jpg

prusa_zmotor_03.jpg

http://stargazerslounge.com/public/style_images/SGL_2013_Images/attachicon.gif prusa_zmotor_04.jpg

http://stargazerslounge.com/public/style_images/SGL_2013_Images/attachicon.gif prusa_zmotor_05.jpg

The z axis endstop was clipped round the smooth rod and secured.

http://stargazerslounge.com/public/style_images/SGL_2013_Images/attachicon.gif prusa_zendstop.jpg

The y axis motor was mounted

http://stargazerslounge.com/public/style_images/SGL_2013_Images/attachicon.gif prusa_ymotor_01.jpg

http://stargazerslounge.com/public/style_images/SGL_2013_Images/attachicon.gif prusa_ymotor_02.jpg

The x axis motor was mounted

http://stargazerslounge.com/public/style_images/SGL_2013_Images/attachicon.gif prusa_xmotor_08.jpg

Then the y axis was then mounted to the bottom of the frame via the M10 bolts on the y-axis.

http://stargazerslounge.com/public/style_images/SGL_2013_Images/attachicon.gif prusa_xyz_assembled.jpg

http://stargazerslounge.com/public/style_images/SGL_2013_Images/attachicon.gif prusa_ybolts_01.jpg

http://stargazerslounge.com/public/style_images/SGL_2013_Images/attachicon.gif prusa_ybolts_02.jpg

Phew, quite a busy day.

Dave

This soo cool I'm saving to get one too.. got stacks of gizmo's i need. Postage makes a $10 lens purchase $40 delivered to South Africa. Please continue to post progress here. Seriously following this thread.

Btw.. love the open source angle too

Sent from my SM-A500F using Tapatalk

[tekkydave]

Spent the best part of the day creating a lead for the low-current connections. This has a 37 d-sub (male) at each end and carries:

X motor - 4 pins

Y motor - 4 pins

Z motor - 4 pins

Extruder motor - 4 pins

Extruder fan - 2 pins

X endstop - 2 pins

Y endstop - 2 pins

Z endstop - 2 pins

Hot end thermistor - 2 pins

Heated bed thermistor - 2 pins

Thats 28 pins used leaving 9 free for future use.

[Gina]

WOW!  Wot a lot of Wires   Done a few of those in my time

[tekkydave]

Thats why it took me all day

I have some Neutrik Powercon connectors for the heated bed and hot-end circuits

[tekkydave]

The Neutriks are for the connections to the control box. I was looking for a compact, high-current connector for the printer end of the cable and came up with these Traxxas connectors. They originate from the RC model world. They have gold-plated connectors and claim to be able to take a constant 65A current.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00V3FAXQW/ref=pe_385721_37986871_TE_item

[Gina]

That should be sufficient

[tekkydave]

Latest mock-up of control box front panel. On LHS top to bottom are a 25w d-sub for the LCD (not fitted yet), 37w d-sub for low-current connections, Raspberry Pi sockets. On RHS the top 2 Neutrik powercons are for the heated bed and hot-end heaters. Underneath is the USB input to the Arduino Mega that the Ramps shield is mounted on.

The layout will be assessed & adjusted then a permanent plastic one printed.

[mapstar]

Looks good fella

[tekkydave]

Finally connected the printer together today to check it all still works. The case & fan are just perched on top for now to keep the stepper driver modules cool. The re-wiring exercise has tidied up the wiring and it looks a lot neater now.

The front panel of the control box is still in cardboard but will soon be printed up properly. On the initial tests I found the y axis wasnt homing. I soon discovered the wires on the y endstop had become detached so these were quickly re-soldered and it was homing correctly. Then the z axis wouldnt home so checked the wiring. Found one of the z endstop wires in the control box was severed so this was replaced. All axes now homing. I then checked the hot-end and heated bed and they were both ok. I then adjusted the levelling & height of the bed ready for a test print.

I decided to print a 20mm calibration cube in green PLA to check the axes calibrations.

Then I had all sorts of problems. The extrusion was failing after about half way through the print. The hobbed bolt that grips the filament and pushes it into the hot-end was gumming up with bits of filament. I cleaned it a few times and restarted but eventually the hot-end jammed up and I couldnt extrude or retract the filament. I had to take it all apart and clean it out.

I then decided to try a different filament and tried again with a brand-new pack of 3mm white PLA. This was much better and printed the cube with no problems.

I think the problem with the green PLA was that it had been sat around in the open air for a few months and had absorbed moisture. It was a cheap batch aswell so probably not great quality. The white is much better quality and a more consistent diameter.

[tekkydave]

After the successful test print I decided to go for it and do a full print. I needed to print a new extruder assembly to replace the one that came in the kit. I had managed to overheat it when I first put the kit together and it had deformed. It works ok but I cant remove the hot-end heat shield from it as it is now permanently jammed in the deformed part. I tried once with some black PLA but it had come out a bit ragged. As the white PLA was looking good I thought it would be a good chance to make the new part.

The completed print. It still needs some cleaning up with a sharp knife but looking very good I think. I might print a few more spare parts while the printer is behaving itself