Last weekend gave me the opportunity to continue a bit working on the Repstrap.
I have no definite design decisions because I know I'll have to improvise on the fly.
my main materials are wood and tie-raps.
Y-carriage and Heatbed
The Y axis carriage was almost finished but needed modifications - the carriage needed to be raised a bit in order for the carriage full motion.
to do so I've super-glued 3 wooden supporter for the linear bearing.
The heatbed needed wiring of the electrical input and attaching the 100K thermistor.
I'm using the 12V option on the MK2B heatbed and wiring is pretty straightforward.
The thermistor, although quite easy to assemble, needs the right materials, since it should withstand the heat.
when I've bought the heat shrink tubings I've asked for high temperature resistant tubes. hopefully I got the right kind - these should shrink but not burn or crumble when exposed to high temperature over time.
It is also critical not to use soldering wire, because it might melt.
the wire and the thermistor were clamped together and covered with the heat shrink.
all this assembly was glued to the heatbed bottom using Kapton tape.
an explanation of this can be found in here.
Z Axis
both Z axis lead screw M5 threaded rods were cut to size using Dremel multi tool( I dont have an original Dremel).
when connected to the stepper motors using coupling, I've discovered my first big mistake- the coupling are from M5 to M8 and needs to be M5 in both ends.
I've adjusted this using a tube to envelope to rod.
wood with 8mm holes drilled in them were used in order to hold the M8 smooth rods.
the Z carriage was made from another wooden stick with attached linear bearings, M5 lead screw nuts.
on the Z carriage I've mounted the X motor using plywood and idler with spring I've scrapped from a printer.
the result is a little bit messy, but hopefully it will work
on the Z carriage I've mounted the X motor using plywood and idler with spring I've scrapped from a printer.
the result is a little bit messy, but hopefully it will work
Power Supply Unit
As part of the effort to cut the price, I've tried to convert a PC ATX PSU to use on the reprap.
unfortunately the first a attempt failed and the PSU was bricked, I actually didn't check it before starting the work, so there is no way to tell if it was bricked when I've harvested it.
the second unit I got seems like a low end PSU, it works for now, but I'll try to find an alternative as soon as possible.
Arduino Mega 2560 R3 + Ramps 1.4 + Reprap Discount Full graphics LCD Marlin Firmware installation.
Installing the firmware on the electronics was one of the issues that worried me beforehand.
since I chose the electronics myself I knew that if something went wrong - if one of the parts wouldn't work it will be hard to pinpoint the problem.
luckily ,although not completely smooth, after few attempts I manged to upload the regular firmware.
but with this the LCD didn't work.
then I've tried downloading an updated firmware from both reprapdiscount site and Makersfarm site.
in these sites you can find an updated Marlin software that includes both the required libraries in the "Arduino addons" folders and the updated Marlin files.
learning what needs to be changed in the configuration.h and pins.h files required a few tries, but learning to work with the firmware is the beginning of learning how to operate the printer.
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