Makerbot on thingiverse :D

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!

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

I dont know :(

First upload, and a mention on Thingiverse blog

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...

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

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

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.

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