Prusa i3 3D printer

[weareborg]

This is a really excellent project to find on here. I didn't know this sort of thing exsisted until I saw an advert on TV the other day which described building a 3D printer via a weekly or monthly magazine. I decided to check out the links you posted and it looks very interesting. I then decided to take a look on good old Youtube to see what they had and came across this step by step video log detailing the same build. 

[Mick J]

The right-hand bracket has finished printing. This is based on an item I downloaded from Thingiverse. I widened the 'mouth' of the bracket from 7 to 22.5mm using Sketchup to fit over the edge of the cabinet above the printer. They could potentially support multiple spools by placing a section of dowel between the brackets.

prusa_print_filament_holder_R.jpg

That part looks really good Dave, you must be pleased with progress, difficult to judge size from the jpg - would that be 50mm end to end.

Great thread again.

[mapstar]

Great thread, I've enjoyed reading it and just shows how things are coming on in the 3d printing world. 

Damian

[tekkydave]

That part looks really good Dave, you must be pleased with progress, difficult to judge size from the jpg - would that be 50mm end to end.

Great thread again.

A bit longer than that. This shot shows the completed brackets in use. The tie-wrap is to keep the brackets from pushing apart. I need to put a length of pipe between them to form a fixed 'axle'.

[tekkydave]

I made a better x-axis endstop bracket this afternoon. Much better than tie-wrapping them to the rods. I downloaded the stl file from Thingiverse.

[sgazer]

Those orange bits look 3d printed themselves.

but what came first - the 3d printer or the 3d printed parts!

[Gina]

The first 3D printer I had (as a kit) didn't have printed plastic parts, they were injection moulded.  But globally, as soon as one 3D printer existed, the plastic parts could be printed to make others   This is the principle of the RepRap printers

[Dave Lloyd]

I suppose the next stage will be producing components with the necessary tensile strength to be flexible. I'm guessing the printed plastic parts are quite brittle?

[Gina]

Actually, they aren't brittle, especially ABS.  They are amazingly strong and flexible enough to use as springs   I have produced several springs including a door latch and return springs for adjustable scope alignment.

[Dave Lloyd]

[quothey'reame=Gina" post="2542497" timestamp="1421921876]

Actually, they aren't brittle, especially ABS. They are amazingly strong and flexible enough to use as springs I have produced several springs including a door latch and return springs for adjustable scope alignment.



Ah right, they're far more versatile than I had imagined.

 

[Dave Lloyd]

p.s can someone edit my abomination of a post?

[tekkydave]

Made a couple of improvements to the printer this weekend.

First was to print a y-axis endstop bracket. The kit doesn't come with one and the microswitch was just tie-wrapped to the frame. This was proving a bit unreliable. So it is now mounted on a stable bracket on the rear of the frame. I removed the wheel on the switch arm to make a better contact with the bed base.

I also rewired the ATX PSU so the power resistors are on the inside of the case. I snipped off all the un-needed wires at the pcb and replaced the multiple thin wires with more heavy-duty ones. These are all terminated on a chocolate-block strip on the side. I have made the 12v, 5v and 3.3v lines available, although only 12v is used by the printer.

[SnakeyJ]

Made a couple of improvements to the printer this weekend.

First was to print a y-axis endstop bracket. The kit doesn't come with one and the microswitch was just tie-wrapped to the frame. This was proving a bit unreliable. So it is now mounted on a stable bracket on the rear of the frame. I removed the wheel on the switch arm to make a better contact with the bed base.

yendstop1.jpgyendstop2.jpgyendstop3.jpgyendstop4.jpg

I also rewired the ATX PSU so the power resistors are on the inside of the case. I snipped off all the un-needed wires at the pcb and replaced the multiple thin wires with more heavy-duty ones. These are all terminated on a chocolate-block strip on the side. I have made the 12v, 5v and 3.3v lines available, although only 12v is used by the printer.

prusa_psu_rewire1.jpgprusa_psu_rewire2.jpg

I do like that ATX supply mod Dave - very neat and tidy!

[Mick J]

Just thinking the same Snakey, that wrap well used     (good work Dave)

[Gina]

Yes indeed, nice job

[tekkydave]

Just thinking the same Snakey, that wrap well used     (good work Dave)

It's a work of art. I'm considering entering it for the Turner Prize. Beats a sheep in formaldehyde hands down.

Seriously though it also allows me to have a much longer, single cable to the printer. Took ages to do though. I had to completely dismantle the PSU, take out the pcb and drill larger holes through it for the heavier gauge wire.

[tekkydave]

I have been looking for a metal case to put the Ramps 1.4 and a Raspberry Pi in and spotted some old PC-ATX power supplies I had. So I gutted the electronics out and worked out the best orientation for the boards. Using an old psu case gives you a decent sized fan to keep the stepper drivers cool.

Next step - to the drill and hacksaw department.

[furball]

Are you using the Pi to control the Arduino?

Lance

[tekkydave]

Are you using the Pi to control the Arduino?

Lance

Yes, I'm using a program called Octoprint and Rpi model B+. There is a self-contained distro for the Pi called Octopi which has Octoprint pre-installed and is very good. It lets you connect a webcam too so you can monitor the printer remotely.

[Gina]

I'll get back to my RepRap based printer one day - concentrating on getting imaging gear sorted our ATM   I might well be interested in the details Dave - sounds very interesting

[furball]

Yes, I'm using a program called Octoprint and Rpi model B+. There is a self-contained distro for the Pi called Octopi which has Octoprint pre-installed and is very good. It lets you connect a webcam too so you can monitor the printer remotely.

Oooh, I was thinking of doing something similar, but didn't realise the solution already exists!

Cheers.

Lance

[tekkydave]

Had some time to spare (doesn't happen very often) today so decided to start on the printer re-wire. I plan to move the RAMPS into a separate case with a Raspberry Pi running Octopi (see earlier post). I want to bring all the wiring to a single point on the rear of the printer so I can have a single lead going to the RAMPS/Pi enclosure. I chose a 37w D-sub as it has sufficient pins with a few to spare for any future uses I might devise. This will carry all the low/medium current connections (motors, end-stops, thermistors, extruder fan). The high-current connections (heated bed, extruder heater) will be separate.

Here is the result after rewiring. Much neater and no trailing wires.

The large choc-block is the heated bed and the smaller one is the extruder heater.

I used these self-adhesive cable clamps. They are brilliant - you can tighten them up and release if you need to get the wires out. Then lock and tighten up again.

I have left the 37w trailing rather than try to fix it to the chassis. I will put a fixed 37w socket in the RAMPS/Pi box and make up a 37w male-male lead to connect the two.

[mapstar]

Looks a very impressive bit of kit and agreed very tidy now.

I may look into doing this myself once I complete the other projects I have going

Damian

[Gina]

Yes, that's better   Using the Rpi is interesting - I look forward to your comparison with the more usual Arduino, and further details

[tekkydave]

A bit more progress on the Ramps/RPi enclosure this weekend. I have swapped the locations of the Ramps and RPi inside as it makes more sense to have access to the RPi's HDMI socket if I need it. I have drilled the base for the board mountings and mounted using nylon screws and threaded spacers. I managed to use most of the 0.1" connectors I cut off the leads when tidying up the printer wiring but needed to make up some new ones for a few of the connections.

Most of the front panel metal grille was easy to remove with strong wire cutters and the rest with a small hacksaw. I mocked up the new front panel using thick card (~2.5mm). Once I have the printer working again I'll print a proper panel up. The 37-way D-sub is for the low-current circuits and will be identical to the one on the printer. I need to make up a 37w-37w patch lead to connect the two. The high current circuits (hot-end power, heated bed power) will be separate. I haven't decided on what connectors to use for that yet. Also, I think I will keep the Ramps power input (green 4p connector) internal to the case so that will be replaced with screw terminals or hard-wired and will not be accessible via the front panel.

I may also put a small 12v to 5v DC-DC converter in the case to provide 5v for the RPi. That way it will only need a single 12v supply.

Next I need to solder up all the flying leads to the D-sub.