Nats Nonsense

Motor controller

2011-10-28T07:02:00.001-07:00

Motor controller, originally uploaded by Roboteernat.

Motor controller

Heatbed heaters... using hair straightners

2011-06-26T07:42:00.000-07:00

Well, since march, i been loking at making my own heat bed for my huxley.
Speaking online last night to reprappers on irc, i came up with the idea of using PTC heaters as a heating element for the heatbed. I saw these: which are available in 30v (powered from 12v) and 200watt versions.

Researching into these, it turns out that PTC heaters are used in Hair straightners too!
I looked in my local shop and the cheapest was £4.99 but these were not variable heating, these were £20 onwards. The veariable ones would be required, as these can go down as low as 40degrees C.

I decieded to try and get some second hand ones as the cost for a new one, that i could potentially break, as a bit outweighted.
The local Carboot sale prooved fruitfull. The 50p box at one stall revealed many electrical items including 4 sets of variable hair straightners.

The models i got are:
Remmington S-8200 (85 Watts)
Superdrugs own brand MCS3701/405965 (160 Watts)
KODO (cheap n nasty) KO300V (65 Watts)
Tony and Guy TG094 (Straightner adapter) (24-70Watts)

The first 2 are aluminium plates and the other 2 are ceramics.
The Tony and guy model features an LCD display!

All are variable and low on one model shows 60 degrees celcius! prfect for PLA

There are a few features that are a bit annoying... all have 60minute auto off! this should be bipassed by using a relay connected to the on/off switch and controlled through the mosfet on the electronics board. These are all 240 volt models and therefore could be VERY dangerous! Im using a RCD device when testing these, and hopefully i will still be living enough to finish this post :D

The KODO model

These by far look the cheapest, and the connector for the mains plug feels a bit gritty, so i will take these apart first f all.

The heaters which seem to be in heair straightners are PTC which is 'Positive
Temperature Coefficient' information can be found in more detail via http://www.dbk-usa.com/ptc-heaters

"Positive Temperature Coefficient (PTC) heating elements are small ceramic stones with self-limiting temperature characteristics. PTC stones have fast heating response times and plateau once the pre-defined reference temperature is reached. It is possible to form the stones into a square, rectangular, circular or ring shape. Above the reference temperature, the semiconducting and ferro-electrical properties of the ceramic are utilized to produce a rise in resistance of several orders of magnitude, and thereby creating it's self-limiting properties"
from

So, peltier stones ay? lets see what these look like...

Taking apart the KODO heater, it is obvious why cheap hair straightners break, the wires are thin!

The circuit board seems to feature AC input into a TRIAC http://www.datasheetcatalog.org/datasheet/stmicroelectronics/8666.pdf BTB04-600SL The heater wires connect to one power side, then then the TRIAC.
The temperature wires - i assume a thermistor like we use on repraps, connects to power and a small chip, PM3/8U? which i assume is a microcontroller.

The heater elements look as if it is clamped into the ceramic housing, this is to force contact onto the ceramic plate.

The heating element is actually loose and taped together using polyimide tape but features 2 power plates and 2 ceramic Peltier? blocks, all sandwiched together.

The fact these are loose means that this is a very cheaply made unit, and the ones on farnell seem to be housed inside an alumninium block.

Eitherway, if i were to use these i will have to force contact.

The remington straightners.

These are aluminium plates and could be very easy to bolt to an aluminium plate.

Again a small circuit board, with a TRIAC and variable resistor.

The aluminium plates also seem to have loose PTC elements (this time taped togeter in more kapton tape, but a much larger plate!

The superdrug straightners.

OOh a nice WADE spring!

Again, the heating plate is made up of 2 plates and some ceramic plates inside,
but this time the plates are mecahincally clamped in

Its been a while... - update for past 4 months

2011-06-26T06:46:00.001-07:00

Hi folks, whats new?

Well its been a few months since my last post, and i been needing to update things.

Basically i am creating the Huxley MD (My Design) reprap machine with my machine, and also started to make a stepper struder for my makerbot - running mk5!

so there has been lots to talk about.

After heading to the makerfaire in nottingham, i spoke to jeanmarc of emaker shop, and saw the small huxley he was making, i liked it, and wanted to make it. I didnt like the design for the extruder, and i wanted a more recognisable extruder that has been used, therefore i wanted to use the makergear hot end.
Also i wanted to use different bearings, lm6uu for 6mm rods.

I designed the parts and a picture will be put here, but there are flickr pictures!

I also have bought some angel eyes from ebay to fit onto my makerbot and reprap - 90mm and 50mm diameter lights! VERY nice and a recommendation to all!

The makerbot has been upgraded to feature a stepper motor, and im waiting for the gen 4 stepper motorfrom makerbot to fit onto it and make it amazing :)
Looking at stewarts build, the stepper motor design makes FAR better quality prints!

anyways, im also trying to design a heat bed for the huxley 140mm by 140mm so that Jeanmarc can use them on his emakers he is selling, and i can have one for myself!
sadly the etch tank has become too full of copper, and therefore i need to dispose of it and start with a fresh ammount of acid. This is a complex process involving taking the chemical to a hazardous waste recycling facility! and costs!

anyways, thats a brief summary of whats been going on. Oh and i got woodworm in my room, so im hoping its not going to the makerbot!!!

Well, its been a while

2011-06-26T06:43:00.000-07:00

regarding poaterobotics.co.cc - business card web address issue :(

2011-03-12T14:12:00.000-08:00

After handing out many business card at Makerfaire UK 2011, it has become apparent that my registration for co.cc has expired as of 4 days ago.

Sadly i cannt log into my account and therefore people looking for it, it will not display.

If you are one of those people, please visit the original hosting address of:
http://www.poaterobotics.webs.com

this is currently being updated so please take a look and contact me for any info.

yay! dont you just love payday!

2010-11-12T12:38:00.000-08:00

well, pay day is upon us, well its been a few days and aftre sorting out all my other bits ni need to buy, i decieded to put money towards a mk5 and a few other bit and pieces for the makerbot... so putting in my order, i am dreading the cost of uk import tax... estimate it to be about £50 so when it comes i will let you know, but... it has been ordered!

for some reason i cant add a pic... but the total cost was $259.70, thats about £158.
i got:
mk5 plastruder full kit: $185 (£114.42)
2 x lengths of nichrome to replace mk4 bits: $10 (£6.18)
frostruder mk2 experimenters kit - to use on my pcb smt setup: $20 (£12.37)
10 x 3mm gold magnets: $2.50 (£1.54)
and postage: $42.20 (£26.10)

we shall see! its been shipped along with some timing belts to replace the ones i have originally, they were open ended belts glued together with wet suit glue so will eventully break!

but yay,

need to also buy a new stepper motor chip...

Blue magic smoke :(

2010-10-22T06:59:00.001-07:00

So, here it is... as im designing a shell for use in a project, which needs to be completed by Wednesday... for the MCM expo! Yes the MCM expo in london next weekend, i go to use my makerbot, and sadly the Z axis starts playing up... then a wiff, snap crackle and pop (and no mini cartoon characters to see for miles) the stepper motor controller decieds to frazzle.

Luckily when the first time this happened, i ordered 2 spare chips, so i can replace the chip, will just take time...

Here goes!

Building of wobble arrester and new cable

2010-10-20T07:29:00.000-07:00

Well its been an eventfull couple of weeks.

firtly i decieded to change my usb ttl adapter for the makerbot to a 5v logic level, as apposed tothe 3.3v logic level one i was using. the idea behind this was that the switchover signal voltage could have been too low and therefore meant the data was not being sent at good quality. I was annoyed when i bought the first cable, as i was thinking it was a 5v level cable, but alas... oh well.

the first tests came as i was setting up the uni makerbot for a demo of high calibre... more on that in a sec, but i managed to start repg and the new software version, meaning i could import and manipulate the files stl etc in repg.

the first trial pieces were done using my pc desktop, an old pentium 4. (i now bought a i5 HP laptop, so yay!) I did wounder if the processing speed was too slow for the makerbot, and i think i might have been right...

anyway, my first prints using the 5v cable, turned out to be good. they were a corner bracket, to try simple shapes... and then the z wobble arrester. this is an amazing thing an im glad i printed it, as my sides are virtually wobble free (need a second one for other side of rear as that too is a bit wobbly...

anyhow, i printed these with great success, installed the wob arr and set to print something more complex. The gear set, recently uploaded seemd lie the perfetc vhoice.

link here :(insert link)

the results seemed ok, but the thinner smaller gear had to be height adjusted as too much plastic was comming out causing lumps. - this maybe because there wasnt enough time to cool befre the heater nozel came ploughing through, so need to work on 'cool' settings as mentioned in recent blog post elsewhere - should really write the links down!. need to adjust speed and extruder flow rate too, both adjust this issue.

right a picture...
or 2...

the L bracket, shows several wobbly edges so off to print the z wobble arrester...

the wobble arrested whilst printing

The wobble arrester works wonders, and if anyone needs to see why it is handy, check this video out of the one i installed...

with the wobble arrester installed, i made the gears.

picture too come.

dead...

2010-10-10T09:45:00.000-07:00

mkerbot mk4 plastruder is dead. and i dont have money to buy the mk5. uni have bought the last of my nichrome wire so i dont have the ability to rectify, therefore i have decieded to stick it in the loft and forget about it till i have money.

Release of Thing-o-matic

2010-09-27T05:40:00.001-07:00

no relation to wallace and gromit, but makerbot have now released the next gen of makerbot! the thing-o-matic provides automatic printing with the belted buikld base and much finer resolution printing!

It is a shame the cost hasd also increased! sadly to import one of these into the UK, will cost £711 for the kit, postage about £30? then charges totalling an estimated £140, making the total cost £900... sadly i cannot afford this, but am very tempted to break open the uni laser cutter and make myself one when the files become available :D

all for now, but check out the details online:

Solidwork developments

2010-08-22T14:19:00.000-07:00

abves y firt trialseeeeeebly wiiiiiiiiiiasme art desghned in solorksTHIWI CME Y EBAL MSCH FORRYYNIAAICCF

and now with new batteries in my keyboard...

Above is my first trial assembly which contasins several parts i designed in solidworks. This will form the eye mech for my animatronic head.

Animatronic Skin and Teeth

2010-07-29T02:19:00.001-07:00

I recently bought some Platsil Gel10 to make robotic skin from www.dauphines.co.uk they did a good price, and also sell plastic human eyes aswell - something cheap and chearfull that i could use on my larger heads.

I bought 2kg tubs of the stuff, as well as skin pigment for the silicone. that and 2 eyes came to £61.20 plus £7 postage.

The sculpture i made was of a human head whichj is about 11-12 cm tall

here you can see the small ears i made - these are about 3cm tall.
I started off with 2 inmages from google - a portrait and a side view of a male, i resized both to the same size and then used these to cut out a wooden template. The clay was then sculpted around these 2 pieces to form the smape of the head.

this is a close-up of one of the ears. I am pleased ith this one. I didnt use any references but just feeling my own ears.
Sadly, copying this ear pattern to the other side was more difficult than I thought it would be.

This is the final head with its acrylic coating. I should have spent more time smoothing it down, but this being my first project to hopefully a good portfolio, i wanted to just get it done and see what it looked like.

i then made a mould of the glay head using fibreglass matt and sheet - using gelcoat (sadly not witht he catalyst) and built a 3 segmented mould

The next step was to make the eyes, for this i used 15cm wooden beads which i bought from the local bead-ery shop (lol)

I cut them just past half way, and hollowed out the insides of them, allowing me to fit in a ball joint (will need to change this as it allows full movem,ent not just movement in x and y.)

The servo will be mounted behind the eyes, and this is an ongoing task. - the servo seen in the picture is for the jaw.
The wooden shapes are taken from the ear-to-ear template i made for the sculpture.
The front to back piece was cut out using the rear of the mould used for the skin. This means that there is a small gap between the skin and this piece - to be made from aluminium at a later date.

This is the outer skin, it is made by layering thin clay into the negative fibreglass mould, then a layer of fibreglass is layed ontop of this.
As i did the face seperate from the rest of the head - due to my 3 part mould i made (it doesnt go over a head so i adopted a different method to Daniele Tirinnanzi )
The inner mould was made which overlapped the edge, which means i can refit the inner mould to the existing keys from the front so that it all lines up correctly.
[image to come]

The rear of the skin shows the thickness and the nose which i filled in with the silicone to create a smooth base to fit onto the metal chasis inside when i finished it.

Now onto the teeth:

I purchased some dental acrylic from dentala2z which is actually used to repair dentures (if you know of better supplies, please let me know.)

This method uses powdered acrylic And a liquid (similar to acetone but smells much more potent) which melts and bonds the acrylic particles together. This creates an acrylic liquid which is pourable into the moulds.

I started off with a lump of clay, about 5mm thick, then added a bead of clay around the edge to form the teeth. The teeth were sculpted roughly – again this was my first attempt so I wanted a result, but these were actually good enough anyway. The gum lines were then sculpted into the base layer, and a silicone mould was made using platsil Gel10 (I ran out of standard silicone)

Pouring the acrylic liquid into the mould made castings of the teeth. I did this twice, then using a dremil I cut away the gum part of the casting to reveal just the white teeth.
Using food colouring, I made some more acrylic liquid and turned it red.
I placed the teeth into the mould, using a bit of petroleum jelly to seal the teeth and to stop the red acrylic sticking to parts of the teeth, I poured in the red solution.

The red gum part is a bit dark, and it also spilled onto the teeth, but because of the petroleum jelly, this was easily cleaned off - tho some staining had occoured. Next time i will be using special gum coloured dental acrylic, sadly i thought i bought white and red coloured stuff, but i hadnt. I will not be using food colouring again and i dont really recomend it!

The final teeth:

The teeth inside the skin (stretched over my hand)

So there we go, this is where i have got too.

thank you :)

nat :D

fibre glass

2010-06-12T01:32:00.000-07:00

i went to see my technician friend at uni, and managed to aquire a load of fiberglass stuff...

glass matt (stranded stuff - bout the weaved matt from ebay)
PVA release agent
Honey wax release agent
resin and catalyis
gelcoat

so later today, my friend Caz will be comming over to assist me with some fun fiberglassing!
Yay!!!

Aluminium!!!

2010-05-10T06:02:00.000-07:00

Just been to the tech stores and managed to aquire some sheet aluminium and angle bar, rods for making my very own animatronic (im going to last longer than lego) head mech!

This will form part of my animatronic mask and eye/tail mech which i will cover in latex/silicone cover moulded from oil based clay!

Cant wait!

mk4 plastruder mod for those with issues??!!?!

2010-05-05T15:39:00.000-07:00

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Well, actually i think i have pioneered a new mod for the plastruder!

After about a month of unsuccessful prints with my faulty plastruder, i finally took my dremel tool to it and modded it!

The issue i was having was that the idler wheel would let the filament slip sideways off of the edge, sitting nicely in the corner and failing to budge causing a faulty print.

One of the issues that originally caused this was that the 'lid' to my timing pulley which fits onto the plastruder motor came off - it fell off after about 3 days - and that was many months ago before makerbot 100 was shipped!

i needed something to stop the filament sliding off to the side and getting into the corner.
The pulley placed on the end of the motor shaft did stop this, but eventually the force of the filament trying to escape the jaws of the pulley teeth would push the bearing out. i needed a way to fix it so that this force could not push on the outside and free itself.

My idea....

well. as i originally said, my plastruder timing belt lid had come off... my idea was to dremel the rough end of the timing pulley (so the teeth were flush to the end) rotate it round, and instead of having the bearing on last, was to swap it round. The bearing would fit first onto the motor shaft, then the pulley - but rotated so the screw threads would tighten furthest away from the motor. The idea being, as the motor would force the filament down, it could not pus to the side as it would push against the thicker part of the timing pulley - which is fixed...... lest see a picture!

here is the old setup, the end of the timing pulley had come away.

The pulley is placed on first, then the timing pulley - note i have tidied the end of the timing pulley to provide a flush flat edge - see previous photo)

In situe in the plastruder casing, the pulley and bearing fit perfectly and line up with the filament guides.

the filament is fed nicely through to the heater barrel.

hurray! filament is feeding at a great rate - motor set at 255 and no stripping of threads!

Also another mod i have added... A fan connected to the fan connector on the extruder mobo is positioned over the mosfets to keep the cooler - i will make some heatsinks but this seems alright so far!
Sadly they can be turned on/off using the fan control box on the control panel, however using the 'cool' function set in skeinforge (with values set to 0 and fan on at startup) we are able to make the software turn on the fan and leave it on for the entirety of the print and on afterward as well!

I must also add that the temperature of my heater barrel dropped always to 220, which caused some of the failed prints. i only just realised that this is a setting specified in the startup code. i have now modified this to display 240, and to remain hot at the end by modding the end.gcode file!

I have now had a successful continuous feed of abs t full pwm (255) for 10 minutes!
Maybe i can finally get to use my 12Kg coil of Black ABS!

my mini head can see clearly now (with clear perspex shell)

2010-04-28T16:30:00.000-07:00

After a few weeks i recieved my new makerbot shell from uni, sadly during constructions, 2 pieces went snap, therefore i have an almost clear makerbot shell... - pics in my flickr pool!

this evening, i finally managed to get the motors soldered into place and test the thing out. The lights from the electronics illuminates the makerbot industries engraving rather nicely!

also downloaded the new ReplicatorG and tested out the new preference settings - my heated build base was not getting to the correct temp as i was using a 1mm thermistor and the 3mm settings - the extruder had a 3mm thermistor.

so i finally tested it extruding, and wow... heats up, looks very sweet and .... ah... sadly the filament stripped. need to move the idler wheel closer!

other than that, i bought a few more 5gram servos to make a small miniture animatronic head. Im designing it using sketchpad and consists of a jaw, square skull with curved pieces, eyes that move left right uop and down, and eventually eye lids - all printable on the makerbot. here is for good testing tomorrow!

over and out tonight.

Nat

Rats... plastic tears and wooden saviours

2010-04-16T05:38:00.000-07:00

Last night I decided to take apart my makerbot and put it in its new shell properly.
Something’s I didn’t not take into consideration was the extra holes I made in the printer chamber base to attach the electronics, nor the fact I soldered the wires for the motor.

After cutting them, I continued to piece together the shell, sadly it didn’t quite fit resulting in the fragile plastic shell snapping in more than 3 places... as well as having the tabs snap off about 3 places.

I’m not enjoying it at all... so now I’m left with a makerbot shell snapped, a wooden shell, and a makerbots bits box that need rebuilding... fun... not.

The conclusion of the day - make the tabs bigger than the material so that it will slot in easily, or failing that...

DONT MAKE IT OUT OF PLASTIC! Wood is the way to go.

Black as night, Evil as Darthvader!

2010-04-11T06:23:00.000-07:00

Afternoon on this glorious sunny day!

i thought i would start printing with my black ABS to see whgat it is like. and results are good!

Unfortunatly i have had a few flossing issues - but i will sort that out later.

The first thing i needed to do was to feed through the black abs. This would be odd as i have been using white ABS so it was interesting to see a fhite filament turn grey as it mixed with the black ABS.

The next thing to do ws to use my Darf Vader i had previously Skeinforged... sadly i had deleted it when i was sorting out my hard drive, thereofre i opened skeinforge and redid it. Sadly skeinforge seems to get stuck and freeze half way through the process, therefore i tried my already skeinforged piece - the clean whistle.

First results seem to be good except the raft came off the build base, therefore i had to abbort, but it looks good so far!

It was a good opportunity to see the 'pea' of the whistle up close...

Anyways i need to close down now as im going to Portsmouth for my dentist appointment tomorrow! NHS for ya! cant loose an NHS dentist! (Im currently in plymouth!)

Inow you see it... now you dont

2010-04-09T16:11:00.001-07:00

IMAG0422.jpg, originally uploaded by Roboteernat.

This is my new makerbot shell from uni - as part of there makerbot manufacturing they cut me a new clear shell and plastic x and y stages aswell :) looks very sweet!

New toys

2010-04-08T11:54:00.001-07:00

IMAG0425.jpg, originally uploaded by Roboteernat.

Today i recieved good presies

A nice 12lb coil of plastic filament in evil black

A new free makerbot shell from the spare materials from the University of Plymouth makerbot making.

I will soon transfer mu parts from my wooden case to the acrylic one just after i have got my job (interview tomorrow) and tidied everything up.

I will keep the pare bits of wood however as the acrylic may snap - a bit has already broken a tab :(

The arrival of the plastic filament will be tested tomorrow when i start to extrude some - i already have Darthvader awaiting!

Again! Thank you!

+

2010-04-08T11:37:00.001-07:00

IMAG0425.jpg, originally uploaded by Roboteernat.

Comming out of its shell

2010-04-07T09:36:00.000-07:00

On wednesday last week, i took my makerbot to my uni and showed it off to the tech dept there - they were the ones to originally cut out the shell in the first place.

Attending the demo were some technicians and the guy in charge of the faculty of engineering. He saw the makerbot and instantly asked for the uni to produce one. I did tell them they needed to make any improvements open to the community, and with a flick of a switch, its now been 7 days, and they already have a shell and parts and electronics being made on the uni PCB milling machine - LPKF machine. Its only been a week!

One thing is tho, they did buy a bit too much acrylic to make the shell from... 5mm clear perspex sheet... i went and saw it at lunch time, and showed them the way it fits togeter. then at 3pm, they said they cut me a shell out of the spare acrylic.

Sweet! a clear makerbot shell is mine... ALL MINE!!!

Pics to come tomorrow when i remember my camera...

oh and tomorrow is my job interview :(

SBM0001 Gets HOT under the collar

2010-04-05T04:44:00.000-07:00

I have spent a long time trying to build a nice heated build base...

It started off with hacking a USB cup warmer (big FAIL)
then i used nichrome wire held on with kapton tape to an acrylic build base. This worked for a short while until the nichrome etched into the acrylic causing it to bend.

This is my latest solution, and one i been using for about a week and a bit now, but i wanted to wait on blogging it incase it failed too. But it hasnt!

What you need...

*Build Base with a hole in each corner (square unlike mine!)
*Double sided copper clad board (100mm x 100mm)
*Kapton tape (1 inch)
*8 M3 washers
*6 M3 nuts
*2 M3 bolts 12mm Countersunk
*2 M3 bolts 15mm minimum Countersunk
*5.5mm socket - or spanner/pliers
*screwdriver for your bolts
*100mm x 22mm Strip board tracks run longest way
*3mm and 8mm drill (countersink) bits and drill

*Nichrome wire (i used 2 old pieces i previously used for the extruder so about 6 ohms long)
*thermistor (im using 1mm but 3mm is great! (may need to sand small indent to buildbase for it to fit)
*wires
*crimps (to attach wore to nichrome)
*connectors to make it memovable (5/4 pin molex male/female)
*capacitor, connector and resistor to attach it to extruder board - as described here: plesantsoftware

Thats it... oh and soldering iron, solder... etc

Part 1, Prepare the PCB

Drill 4 holes using your heated build base as a template. these need to match up and be square so it fits the build base neatly, and allows heatness to cover the whole build area.

Now using the larger drill bit, countersink the holes so that the bolt heads are flush with the copper clad board NOTETHe photo was taken after kapton application)

Part 2. Applying the nichrome

Because i had severall attemots at the heater nozel, i have lots of spare nichrmoe without the inlator, therefore iused lot of kapton tape.

First we need to cover the BOTTOM - the bit nearest the build base, this protects from possible shorts. This meas 4 strips of kapton tape width 1 inch on the bottom then layer a second layer the other direction so there are a total of 2 layers. The important bit is that there is no overlap to the front. this is because we want the top to be flat as possible!

Once this has been put down we can l;ay the nichrome. Using the method of connecting your wire to the non solderable nichrome, just this time, add the 2 lengths of nichrome to the one wire. Then tape donn the nichrome so that it covers the whole area equally.

Next we can add the thermistor. Solder wires to the thermistor, and then attach this to the center of the board.
Then cover the whole lot in a few more layers of kapton tape.

The final step is to lay a flat layer of kapton tape onto the top of the build base... this is where you can toop the tape onto the reverse.

Part 3. The connector

This is ythe strip board where the connector is placed where you can easily unplug the build base from the cable loom.

The stripboard will be attached to the base by the longer screws, therefore you need to drill the holes into it. (see image below)
Solder the wires so that they are neat, and goto the pins of the connector. i had 2 heater wires then 2 thermistor wires. My original connector - using ethernet plugs had this different. Where the screw holes are, you need to cut the strips so that the metal nut would not short things.

Push the screws through the holes you drilled into the build base remembering the longer 2 need to be where the connector pcb is., it may be necessary to cut the kapton tape over the hole. Add 2 washers onto each of the screws then attach the build base through onto the screws (up side down remember) and so that the strip board connector goes to the side you want it (with mine i made the drill holes not equal, so it only fits one way round)

Add the nuts, so that the build base is secure. then thread on the stripboard remembering that the connector needs to face the right way. Secure with 2 nuts.

Part 4. The cable loom.

The final step is to connect the connector made using the Pleasentsoftware method (link above) and to attach it to the build base.
Change the settings for replicatorG, and skeinforge - the Chamber setting!
Connect the thermistor to the extruder board, and the heater wire to the A- and A+ connector, let it heat up and enjoy flat printing!

This is thing 932, my makerbot mini i designed! Makerbot Minihttp://www.thingiverse.com/thing:932

Arms, courses and welding

2010-04-05T03:05:00.000-07:00

Hi fellow people!

well its been a while since i updated this blogspot, an in a way quite a bit has happened...

I went to speak to a lecturer in Hertfordshire Uni as i really want to get into animatronics, and the skills i learnt on my Robotiocs BSC and MRes course didnt quite get me there, so im now looking at the MA special effects course, Which is REALLY interesting!
After speaking to the lecturer, he offered me an Unconditional MA place with first year and second year modules as part of that! Therefore im going to learn the skills envolved with skinning a robotic arm etc...
This is me at the end of my BSc robotics with my robotic arm... not quite ready for tv, but thats the skills i need to gain, so i need to save money! however...
I have applied for some funding but i think that has failed :(

anyways! i did say that it will probably be next year i will attend, as i need to save £8500 just forthe tuition fees, and bearing in mind that this will be in Hatfield 0 near london, prices do start to increase!
BUT yay!

The next thing is that i have started a welding course -City of Guilds Level 1 in TIG welding. Am hoping to use this skill when i do large scale animatronic builds - and should make me more employable in said field :)

Thirdly... which i will blog shortly is my makerbot! I have finally workid out my heated build platform for my makerbot... using Kapton tape, FR4 PCB clad board and Nichrome wire :) - Will blog about this shortly so i can lnk it on thingiverse.

4thly, i have spoken to a specialist regarding my broken wrist... (yes i badly broke my wrist as i was walking tothe doctors... i tripped on roken pavement and caught my wrist ona railing.) havetohve a rebake as it is badly clicking...

right now to blog my heated build base :)

Contact companies, people regarding animatronics jobs.

2010-01-25T07:13:00.000-08:00

Jonathan Nolan: http://www.johnnolanfilms.com/animatronics/ - Worked alot at Crawley Creatures, also on Agent Crush film.

Email about tyope of design work - programming? america?

Milling a PCB with a makerbot

2010-01-18T12:40:00.000-08:00

Well, time has come to write stuff up!

Making a pcb with the makerbot has been my task for the last couple of months, and i have had experienced some issues... but happy times.

ptfe issues

2010-01-15T13:47:00.001-08:00

Well fun times I mustsay, my order part decided to fail so I can't use my makerbot at the. moment. I have a rod of ptfe but no time to make it. That's war u get for working lol. Any ways, I will make one soon so I cam start to print again

However one thing i have been looking at id converting makerbot into a PCB mill. The idea being I can take out the plastruder and add on the dremil fitting and cut circuit boards. This has led me to think about mak8nguyen a laser cuttablw cnc using the same electronics from makerbot possibly letting makerbot make and sell for a small return for me. We shall see. So far I have mote stepper nema17 and a larger nema 23 and rods from printers with a polystyrene mock up. So far looks like I can have a board build base of about 250 x 300. Fab! Pics tp come. I'm currently updating web site whilst waiting for my friend at Plymouth train station

Happy new year

2010-01-01T11:06:00.000-08:00

happy new year to you all, well those few if qny who read this blog lol.

i just wanted to update my makerbot progress, however this again will be short as im using a french keyboard and i hate typing on it - it hiurts my wrist badly

well i have had sucess on pcb making and made an opto sensor, i will write about it when i; back in plymouth as i am currently in holland.

wrist really hurts!!

sorry

2009-12-20T09:28:00.000-08:00

well i must say, i have been so much working on the pcb maker for the makerbot and writing a new wiki entry for the makerbot site - to be posted live soon, i havnt updated this much.

so yeah, thats it.

I was wanting to note a few more projects i want to have a go at -

This is Stephanie, an avatar room controller which works using voice commands.
This is something i have wanted to do for many years, and is partially why i got the makerbot in the first place. - to build parts to make an animated face that you could interact with and control stuff using iobridge.

This is a variation of room control - the 'party button'
This one was made in a dorm room, and would be great

this is more of a lower end version - noit as hightech but better in a larger venue

there are others which i will blog about, but for now im off to make a simple eagle pcb to make on my makerbot.

woop woop

Why to use the nut on the extruder barrel

2009-12-15T08:31:00.000-08:00

Just to remind me to writew a small section explaining why a nut is essential.

For those curious for now until a few hours later today till i write it, this is wehat that 4p nut on the brass barrel stops...
http://www.dawning.ca/2009/makerbot-plastruder-crash/

jUST FOUND MY MEMORY STICK AFTER ABOUT A MONTH, - i left it at work, and found my original 'plastic forcing its way out of the ptfe/heater barrel - hence the need for the nut!

you can just see the white of the melted abs poking out of the central hole of the main washer - the second 'bent' washer was to stop the barrel from being forced out.

:D

Makerbot pcb tool biTs arrive

2009-12-15T01:07:00.001-08:00

Makerbot pcb tool biTs arrive, originally uploaded by Roboteernat.

@makerbot ray from China has sent me my pcb tool biTs. Tests for PCB making quality in 9 hours . Will do so live testing using ustream of o cam get it to work

makerbot gift tags

2009-12-14T01:51:00.001-08:00

IMAG0006, originally uploaded by Roboteernat.

Deciedd yo give this a go after seeing the reprap printable logo, results are good, on way now to give it to holly, results and reaction to come

MegaUk order has arrived

2009-12-03T00:46:00.001-08:00

MegaUk order has arrived, originally uploaded by Roboteernat.

Arrived. The router PCB bits and etchant crystals

aha changed website blog title!

2009-12-02T11:23:00.001-08:00

as it says!

long live nats nonsenSe

oh and spelling

2009-12-02T11:21:00.001-08:00

yeah if you have not realised, my spelling has been poor- but i need new batteries for my keyboard.

and nats nonsence is spelt incorrectly... it should be nats nonsense... rats...

recieved notification my router bits have arrived!

2009-12-02T11:19:00.000-08:00

just got an email from dhl saying a delivery from MegaUK has been marked as delivered, am off home now (via the chinese take away - it was my birthday last saturday, and i fancy cel;ebrtating again with some chinese!) so home now and see what makerbot can do with proper router bits!

first inverted pcb :D

2009-12-01T15:05:00.001-08:00

IMAG0331, originally uploaded by Roboteernat.

second test, setting build platform level with masking tape, and using another snapped drill bit as the router, i changed a few settings in eagle to produce this design, based upon the eagle tutorials by (insert name here) on youtube.

my keyboaris playingup so i going to stop here.

also my engraving router bits from mega uk have not come yet so i will try agaiin tomorow

10 X10 cm PCB board cut ready for makerbot PCB testing

2009-12-01T06:33:00.001-08:00

10 X10 cm PCB board cut ready for makerbot PCB testing, originally uploaded by Roboteernat.

Just got some 10x10 PCB boards made u[p to put into makerbot. i need to drill the corner fixing holes but as they were not exactly lined up, i need to do this at home.

Some are double sided, and although it is a bit of a waste using this much for tests, i do have a fair bit of UV photoresist board and i got these boards from ebay at like £2.50 a board (200mm x 300mm double sided) so i think its ok.

i also have som smaller bits i can use.

I ordered 2 of each v cutter drill bits - 10,20,30,45 and 60 degrees, routers are to arrive today!

woop woop!

wouldnt it be fab that a makerbot can 'make' its motherboard as well as parts!

engraved pcb and holes test 2

2009-11-30T15:36:00.001-08:00

IMAG0322.jpg, originally uploaded by Roboteernat.

so here we have some holes and engraved tracks. as you can see i nudged it accidently, however they do line up... have a look at the flickr pic to see the notes.

s i was unsure of theoriginal settings, i didnt have the drill bit down far enough to drill some holes, howeveri manually moved it down whil;st building, therefore not all are there.

tomorrow i recieve my etchant, and also 3 router bits, so i can have a play. My v shapped cutters i ordered from an ebay seller in hong kong - carbide v bits, are due t arrive soon, well a week minimum :( but i hope the drill bits i have (100 (well 90 now as i snapped a few) - good thing i bought 100 for £12.50 (regrinds)) and the routers, i should be able to play and have a good try at making it make. I also want to design some nut holders to fit on the z plate, so that it doesnt play or have the change to nut go into the board when the z plate moves down, as it is currently relying on gravity as apposded to making it drill through the board.

Also i need to secure a scrap piece onto the build base (and possibly make it so that i can screw it onto the y carriage so it is secured firmer, and that i can drill al the way through the pcb without ruining or catching on the magnets in the build base.

then i will make a firmer fixing for the dremil into the z stages, as appsed to my (although working) scrap plastic sheet with 3 holes...

anyways, let me know what you think, as your input is helpful

out.

2009-11-29T09:46:00.000-08:00

Well, its been a while as i have not had the internet, but i managed to get it printing, i had a new barrel ordered from makerbot.com and also a new ptfe barrel - i got acetone and sorted it all.

i also bult a small heated builkd base, detials to come, but my new experiment is mamkeing pcb's with the makerbot...

results seem to be great so far, however i am using a snapped 1mm carbide driull bit., not an engraving bit as i shopuld be using.
i have bought some, and they will be with me shortly, however i shall put more pics on short;y. i got v shaped bits, and reouting bits... results are shown below.

i wpould write more, but i havnt had any dinner yet, and im suffering from a small hangover from my birthday outing last night!

this is drilling just around holes - no tracks. the width of the drill bit and the offset angle of the base meant it was not just scraping the tiop but going into the fibreglass below. results showed god, but needs new bits!

second test was with tracks...

this again is a rought output, it is using the broken 1mm drill bit, so its not good outoput - just bought these... so results will be
better!
these aare all 10 degree bits, but i have bought 10, 20, 30 and 60 degree bits, also 4 routing bits... this is how hopefiull i am inn this!

all in there!

2009-10-01T13:22:00.001-07:00

all in there!, originally uploaded by Roboteernat.

its all fitting!

extruder

2009-10-01T13:21:00.001-07:00

extruder, originally uploaded by Roboteernat.

tidy makerbot from the front

2009-10-01T13:20:00.001-07:00

tidy makerbot from the front, originally uploaded by Roboteernat.

my coil of free ceramic insulator tape

2009-10-01T13:19:00.001-07:00

my coil of free ceramic insulator tape, originally uploaded by Roboteernat.

woop woop thank you!

Twitter!

2009-09-22T07:59:00.000-07:00

My twitter section on my blog has gone 'down' so its showing not my posts.

Ps - makerbot stepper mototr driver board chip has been removed (aswell as 2 tracks after they were incinerated) but will solder wire on to fix prob - uni are currently playing with the gerbers and are sorting out making new boards for makerbot, inc stepper boards from the gerber files - however the holes used are mny! 13 drill sizes in total! will @makerbot to let them know to change these sizes so that they can reduce tooling costs in manufacture!

glasses?

2009-09-21T08:20:00.000-07:00

i nned some new glasses - asking on twitter, i had a few people say i should buy the lenses and then print myself some frames :D
heehee

Oops guess i need to go to bed before i do anymore damage!

2009-09-20T15:19:00.001-07:00

Oops guess i need to go to bed before i do anymore damage!, originally uploaded by Roboteernat.

Oops guess i need to go to bed before i do anymore damage!

plastruder!!!

2009-09-19T12:14:00.001-07:00

Sep19_09, originally uploaded by Roboteernat.

with the limited edition red piece :)

nozzels :D

2009-09-16T16:29:00.001-07:00

Sep17_02, originally uploaded by Roboteernat.

nozzel done!

PSU slot contains alot of stuff!

2009-09-15T16:39:00.001-07:00

PSU slot contains alot of stuff!, originally uploaded by Roboteernat.

nice :D

installed first opto

2009-09-15T14:53:00.001-07:00

installed first opto, originally uploaded by Roboteernat.

i did break oine of the mounting brackets, but will repla\ace this at later date

all opto sensors

2009-09-15T14:15:00.001-07:00

all opto sensors, originally uploaded by Roboteernat.

now made! off to grab some food

working

2009-09-15T14:09:00.001-07:00

working, originally uploaded by Roboteernat.

all working :)

testing x axis sensor

2009-09-15T13:42:00.001-07:00

testing x axis sensor, originally uploaded by Roboteernat.

and nothing... nada... something is not right here... multimeter!

making end stops

2009-09-15T13:00:00.001-07:00

making end stops, originally uploaded by Roboteernat.

making endstop number 1, am going to use 0.1inch headers instead of ethernet cables i think... jsut so looks nicer to start with

Dry run

2009-09-15T12:33:00.001-07:00

Dry run, originally uploaded by Roboteernat.

motherboard, and makerbot electronics and psu in psu hole in makerbot SBM00001

I have the electronics (and need of new car tyre! lol

2009-09-15T10:55:00.001-07:00

am uploading my progress of electronics onto twitter - roboteernat, anf flickr - appears in my flickr pool :D

what a day...

2009-09-14T14:31:00.000-07:00

its not been a very good day for me, i recieved an email saying my parcel which contained my makerbot electronics and nozzels were in with parcel force awaiting a customs charge. The charge is £47.52... so i go to my car to drive there and pay, when about 50 metres up the road, i hit a HUGE STONE ON THE ROAD, CAUSING A MASIVE GAP IN MY TYRE AND BUCKLING MY WHEEL HUB... and with that, it meant i was late getting to the parcelk office to get my bits, so today has cost me about £150 extra :(

i then went to tesco to comfort buy and eat cr$£ but the good thing is that i got a new wireless keyboard and mouse - its wireless so i can use it in my room on my lap, as apposed to being tethered. - plus was better than half price in tesco - £11.99 - Logitech one

will upload pics soon when i have my usb phone cable

Makerbot order

2009-09-04T09:02:00.000-07:00

My order is being sent of the makerbot electronics and nozzelds :D - thank you @Clothbot who gave me the heads up that they were on sale, subsequently they sold out 24hours later :D

anyways no internet connection at home, so updates are few, but i will try and get the password :D

Makerbot on thingiverse :D

2009-08-27T13:26:00.001-07:00

So i have finally managed to upload a working makerbot mini design :D

anyways, the main reaon for todays blog, is... PRINTERRS are AWSOME!

spare parts are fruitfull in the printers of old! Went and got an old printer today and got 2 more precision rods from them :) also am ging to get the old pronters from uni scrap pile and take the motors, rods and the end stop sensors from them so i can make my own electronics from it :D

Yay

Thingiverse!

2009-08-24T15:17:00.000-07:00

Woop Woop someone has downloaded my Makerbot mini! will it work tho????

I dont know :(

First upload, and a mention on Thingiverse blog

2009-08-24T14:55:00.000-07:00

So i just uploaded my first design to thingiverse - looks like this
tho - it may not compile - not sure if im doing it right, but let me know if it doesnt - and i will try again!

whilst i was having a look on thingiverse i came accross this article in the blog:
http://blog.thingiverse.com/2009/08/24/good-enough-for-well-a-lot-actually/
and low and behold, it links to my all-in-one makerbot :D

yay thankyou :D

I will upload more pics when i manage to do more to it - am waiting for the electronics and to get theextruder motor from makerbot stores before i can continue! Am tempted to just get the parts from onecall.farnell.com - as they have all bits in stock, but as you can see from my flickr pool, the first trys at the motherbard etching were not that good!

need to get my bubble etch tank going agin, but as im moving i cant set it up :(

oh well...

Webcam...

2009-08-23T10:35:00.000-07:00

Am trying to get my web cam to broadcast from my makerbot - what im going to do is have the pc running in the makerbot, which will be connected wirelessly to my router. It will be running WEBCAMXP5 (or other software thats better) which will send videos from 2 cameras inside my makerbot.

One camera will be on the nozzel so you can watch it squirting, the second will have an overall view of the makeing board. This way, i will try and make a program that can take uploads of stl files, and then produce it, so in theory i can send a file from work, and watch it being made - maybe something i can open up to the world?

Should be fun V- i got the idea from watching this: (website to be found...)

ps

2009-08-22T15:32:00.000-07:00

i bought a tap and die set so i could tap some more grub screws into the timing pullys, which haad the wrong diameter holes, and after drilling and buying the set and the grubs, i read the comment on my twitter page about using some material thats half a mm thick to make a collar... I got an milk bottle and cut it up, created the collars and hey presto, its perfect.

Bought:
Tap and die set = £9.99
Grubs 12 for £3

solution
Bit of an old milk bottle:

Cost 49p for the milk bottle in the first place!

LOL

oh well... they are always handy to have i guess...

Printers... Plastic... and still no electronics

2009-08-22T15:04:00.000-07:00

So i went on my hunt today to get printers and scanners from the tip, but they said in a very deep angry voice "nothing ever leaves this tip" so i though ooh... i best reverse...! no seriously, they dont sell stuff... my tip at home in Portsmouth does tho... odd. so my search has made its way onto twitter, and on to gumtree so i can broaden my search for faulty and broken printers for the precision rods so if you have any, let me know by leaving a comment - btw im in plymouth in the uk :D

I also bought some more plastic from a random company i came accross on the google adverts - they were very local! so i went over and boughtsome more plastic for the heating barrel heat retainer so i can use the proper stuff without it actually melting!

The third thing is, im still wiating to order my plastic and electronics from makerbot, aparently the stepper motor drivers are sold out, but i was wondering if i can buy the set (without these chips) as i can buy them from uk from farnell... (onecall.farnell.com) will email makerbot industries and find out.

Anyways im off to the car boot sale tomorrow to see if i can get some printers...

Motherboard and PSU arrived.

2009-08-19T14:18:00.000-07:00

So i now have everything to make the computer side of the Makerbot. All i need is the makerbot electronics and plastic extruder motor - not to mention the plastic... that Will be coming when the electronics are back in stock!

so... ooh just worked out how to add images to these blog posts!
This is the power supply, measures only 65x75x120mm but only features one molex and one smaller floppy drive connector. It is only 90 Watts as well... This will be an experiment...

I will make a connecting board which will fit into these ports and the atx, so i can have a connector for the motherboard, as well as one for the motherboard of the psu. If not i will have to revert back to standards.
The motherboard is a 1GHZ Mini-ITX motherboard with 512mg ram, the hdd will be either solid state, or an old hdd i have. it will just have USB input for the moment, until i can sort out a smaller more powerful PSU that will cope with both the makerbot and motherboard.

It fits nicely into the existing PSU part of the makerbot. I t has enough space to fit the makerbot electronics upside down on the roof of the PSU hole. What will be difficult, is how to attach these boards to the roof, as screws may stop the x axis from moving, and the heating inside this small space, i will need to add a few more fans... Or direct the heat into the makerbot space, so that this heat aids stopping warping... -That's a good idea nat!

PS, i found a good source of precision rods... -the 8mm rods are standard in any printer! Im going to get some broken ones and steel the rods from them, before i take the to be recycled at the tip - maybe i can get some from the tip? Hmmmmm

A premature announcement about my Makerbot

2009-08-17T12:02:00.000-07:00

So,i recieved a package today, and i just cant wait to announce my plans for my makerbot...

Featuring the

ALL IN ONE Makerbot SMB00001

Featuring...

The makerbot 3D printer
90/200 Watt PSU
1GHz MINI-ITX Motherboard
Wireless keyboard and mouse
10inch LCD Screen (with touch screen in the future)

Requires,
One mains cable
4 batteries for mouse and keyboard.
An ammount of plastic thread
Some imagination

I am in the process of inlarging the chasis to accomodate the motherboard and screen, however it should only increase size by an extra 60mm height and extra 40mm width.
It will feature all internal cables for the screen, computer and makerbot printer, an array of RGB LED's and maybe a carry handle to make it a truly portable printer!

Let me know what you think - mock pictures in my flickr pool (note the screen will be enclosed in plywood case, and feature a plastic screen cover)

Car boot sale bargains :D

2009-08-16T07:26:00.000-07:00

Looking through the shops which i got the nuts and bolts from, i could not find a brass bolt suitable for the heater element, and eventually gave up my search.

Then noticing in a charity shop lots of brass bits - candle sticks etc. maybe this could be a source of brass for a heater element? right i thought, i had a look but nothing suitable.

Went to the boot sale this morning, and rumaging around for a small tap so i can tap some more grub screws into the pulleys to make them fit squarely on the shaft of the stepper, i came accross 3 boxes of brass bits. Fantastic i thought, had a rummage, and came accross 2 bits of brass rod that seemed to not belong to anything. The lady running the stall said she didnt know what they were for, and allready had spent 20 mins trying to find its match, so she said i could have it for 20p. GREAT!

Just measured them, and they are diameter 7mm and 8mm, with a length of over the 50mm required - see my flickrpool. i also found a plastic rod - which i can use as the insulator... tho i dount its the PTFE i need... DOH, oh well... so im just going to cut the nicest piece into 50mm length, and see if i can make the heater barrel - shame i didnt buy the drill at the car boot sale :( i really need one to drill these holes! HAAHAA

well time for an update.

2009-08-15T13:23:00.000-07:00

After recieving my bits ffrom the postopffics, i opened it up, and to my suprise the precision rods i orderes where a bit loose - they are about 6mm diameter not the 8mm i was expecting. Checked the order list and sadly, it is an error on the makerbot website parts list, so watch out!!!

however i still put the belts on and realised that the tooth belts are 6mm inner diameter, where as the motor shafts are 5mm diameter, therefore they are wobbly. I need to drill another 2 holes on the opposing sides so that i can center it using 2 more grub screws.

This morning i went to the screw shop, and got some screws for the extruder - long m4's in the end as they didnt have long m3's...

Went to totem timber and got 3 1metre rods of aluminium, and 50mm washers - for the retainer plate on the extruder.

the aluminium rods i cut to size for the runners, i chose these as they seemed to run free in the plastic bearings. rubed them a little with fine wet&dry paper (wet) and installed.

I then noticed it was rubbing, so loosened the frame for x and y so that it ran smoother.

installed the platforms, and went about glueing the open ended belt into a circle for the z axis - i saw a film on how its made where they spliced a huge belt tog by cutting a layer (a very slowly decreasing slope in one side, and the opposing side to create a much larger surface area to bond the 2 halves tog. I tried it and tested it 30 mins later - the glue had not dried, so tried it again and yay! works... touch wood. tho i did start this l;ast night and left it over night to dry.

Also going to redesign the shell for my additional parts i got from ebay which will bne VERY awsome!!!

Watch this space!!!

pics in my flickr pool

IM SO EXCITED!!!

2009-08-14T09:32:00.000-07:00

well well well...

Plans are afoot for my mnakerbot, well some plans i cannot disclose just yet till i got all the bits, but...

MY PARTS HAVE ARRIVED FROM SPD-SI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

tho i got to go tothe post office and pay customs charge, but

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrIuTlh2dQA

Whats that comming over the hedge? is it a monster? nope its a Dinosaur!

2009-08-12T09:49:00.000-07:00

That WONDERFUL time has come, Craig in the uni of plymouth tech lab has made a wonderful job cutting out the plastruder pieces on the laser cutter! images to follow in my pool, but its looking FAB!

Plastic for the extruder is on its way :)

2009-08-09T15:05:00.001-07:00

I bought some sheet plastic from an ebay seller http://myworld.ebay.co.uk/trent-plastics/ as was the cheapest. I went for clear plastic as apossed to tinted translucent plastic, so i can add colour with the LED.s if i want :)

Shall be here tomorrow or tuesday, and i can get it cut in the laser cutter.

I have also started to make some circuit boards, using my UV box and set-up, haing difficulties witht he timing, as i forgot how long to expose the boards, so now started off with just the end stop sensors.

making pcbs?

2009-08-08T15:30:00.000-07:00

starting to make some circuit boards using my etching equip -but not with the bubble etch tank, sas i not got enough acid crystals.

Also having problems about timing, forgot how long to leave the boards in UV for :(

oh well...

chocolate spread on toast is calling!

YUM YUM

also...

2009-08-08T06:59:00.000-07:00

those who need white paint or black, or grey... and in uk, Poundland sell spraypaint and its only £1 and it gives great results, esp the black!

also... was th9inkning about this last night... What do you do with a spare eeepc 701? sell it you may say, but me... im thinking of installing it into my makerbot to have a complete system setup... :D

rediculas?

hmmm...

also the peltier cooling idea? i am thinking of installing this into my makerbot with the aim of making vertical lines :D

Order has been dispatched :D

2009-08-08T06:55:00.000-07:00

My order of bits from sdp-si has been shipped according to an email i recieved, except they are out of the 2 x 17 tooth pulleys, so these will be shipped at a later date, but for now the belrts and gears are on their way :D I did purchase open belt strips, as the other belts were out of stock, so i will have to find a way of attaching the ends tog to make the larger belt for the z axis... we shall see when i get it :D

I sold my ibooks and ipod touch to fund my maker bot and so far its looking great.

I painted the bearing brackets - and got accused of escaping from a mental hospital by the police whilst i was doing so... haha, i also painted the insides white, with the view of using some RGB leds to make it colourful... or just red... but the outside... i dont know what colour - any suggestions?

Pics are on my flickr pool :D

well lots has happened!

2009-08-01T17:06:00.000-07:00

well... now i got all my parts back from laser cutter for the main body, i wenrt and spent £16.50 on nuts and bolts - i went twice as the wood i ised was slightly thicker so needed longer lengths, but i also bought black and yellow paint, creamish white pait too for the insides, sanding paper and other bits. Took a while to finish the sanding and cutting - as was using thicker ply, the laser cutter didnt cut all way thru,. so finished off the ctu using my fret saw. now pput it together, painted the x and y and inside, also coated the whole of the wood with a water/paint mix as a base coat.

So far looks good
!

quick update

2009-07-31T02:33:00.000-07:00

well as you can see form my flickr bit, i have made the shell... will updfate later but im at work currently :P

YAY

2009-07-26T13:47:00.000-07:00

Right, i cant wait till tomorrow, i get to make my makerbot on the laser cutter, however need to resize the 4mm sheet plywood design, as its somehow saved itself as to be made 30x20 mm therefopre the pullys are nopw 4mm in diameter :(

Also today i ordered my rods and belts from spi-di but as they dont have 2 of the belts in stock i bought open ended belt, that i can cut and crip together using the clamps on the y and x axis :D

I also bought some of the bolts -and nuts, however i bought 200 m8 nuts, not 200 m3! DOH!!!

i am considering, to make it look nice, to use button headed m3 bols, to give it a nice smooth feel to the edges... we shall see as the cost on ebay is expensive - will see if i can do a deal with the seller (stainlessbolts) to get a better price - but will wait till i have the various wood bits, hopefully tomorrow afternoon!!!
right need to pack my iBook that i sold on ebay to fund my makerbot... YAY

Makerbot laser cut parts

2009-07-25T08:31:00.000-07:00

Well, i finally did it, i have taken my new sheets of plywood to uni and handed over the designs, they are going to be laser cut on a 600x800mm laser cutter, make not known, and it will require 3 parts made on the 5mm plywood (6mm) and 1 set on the 4mm plywood. this will also result in spare bits - the x and y parts are duplicated, so incase i break anything i dont have to go back and get it cut - saves time aswell as it is all contained on the one sheet.

after looking on ebay, i decieded to purchase a set of 4 stepper motors - which means i have one nema type 17 spare incase! that cost me a little over £40, but it does work out slightly cheaper than that in the makerbot store if you consider postage.

However, thinking about it, and trying to source that parts for the belts etc, im getting quotes of about £15 for the smaller belt, so it may just be easier to pay the $175 for the complete pack and have done with it. I am also tempted to buy the pack for the electronics gen 3 aswell, m but as some parts are out, then i will have to wait.

Makerbot, my plans for making one, and the first step!

2009-07-21T12:59:00.000-07:00

Hi all, and welcome to my blog.

The reason why i wanted to create this blog was to document my build of my own cnc MakerBot, which im hopefuklly going to build on my own, without buying much from the makerbot stores. I have access to a laser cutter and machinery at university, so i thoought i would have a go.

The first bits i have got are the plywood sheets from a local timber shop, so i bought 6mm (to be made down to 5mm at the joins) and 3.18mm plywood, for the x and y stages.

I have also bought the m8 screw threads for the z axis.

It has been a slow start but i have been looking forward to building a 3d printer for a while. The Reprap started me off, and the ability to make and construct things such as animatronic head and the facial features.
Also having the ability to make the circuits required for this MakerBot, i feel i can make it cheapwer than the costs given, as i have the facilities.