Another 3d FDM Printer

What's this? Another 3d FDM Printer? Well, basically yes... A little explanation is in order. When I first got my MakerBot Thing-O-Matic a few years back, I decided to create a RepRap Prusa Mendal machine http://reprap.org/wiki/Prusa_Mendel_Assembly . Unfortunately, the project never got finished and I had moved on to other things. The half-assembled frame and pieces sat in a box for a few years, but was always on my mind (I hate un-finished projects)

Lately, I've been waiting on some 80/20 1" aluminum extrusion and parts to arrive for my 3d UV DLP printer rebuild (yes, that's happening too). However, the itch to build something has been strong, so I decided to un-box my Prusa Mendal (Iteration 1) and finish it. 

Well, after reading about the numerous shortcomings of the iteration 1 Prusa design, I decided a complete rebuild was in order. Using the iteration 3 (I) design as a starting point, I made some modifications to the design, including the addition of a baseboard instead of threaded rod for the Y axis. I went ahead and designed some new y-rod holders, new endstops, a new 5mm to 3/16 coupler, Y motor mount, as well as a few other parts. 

Amazingly, I completed 90% of the build in 1 day (about 8 hours), including build the wood base, painting, and assembling. The second day (2 hrs), I wired it up. The 3rd day (last night) I attached the extruder, did some cable management, and set up the new Sprinter firmware steps per mm. 

The only remaining issues are:

1) Z-Axis endstop switch (I was designing it this morning, I'll probably print it later)

2) HBP Platform leveling.

What am I going to do with this new printer? Well, my 2 main options are: Sell it to a friend who has been dying to get one, or bring it into work under the pretense of designing / printing enclosures for the various work-related projects / products I am involved in.

As a side note, my un-released 'Creation Workshop v12 Beta' now has full support for FDM based machines. I used this to configure and test my new printer. If you're feeling bold, get my latest v12 release from Git and give it a go. I plan on releasing the latest version when I fix some support generation issues.

Update 9/26/2013 - 

Well, I got the finishing touches put on this machine, installed the extruder, leveled the bed, and finished up the end stops. I made my first successful print with it last night!

DefCon 2013 Re-cap

As a few of you know, I attended DefCon https://www.defcon.org/ this year in Vegas. I've been bugging my work to send me for the past few years, but thanks to my co-worker Jeff who pulled some strings, we both were able to attend this year. This post is going to be kinds picture heavy, so please bare with me.

Hacker Jeopardy!

Walking Bar

General shot of one of the convention hallways

I loved her dress!

Booth Babes!

SDR Radios!

A very tall Type A machine.

Add caption

Me and Eric from Hackaday.com

Here's a general shot of the vendor room.

There were a few 3d Printers there

At the Hardware hacking village

A hardware vending machine

There were a ton of interesting talks related to security. Some of the best parts were meeting random people in the hallways to talk tech. All in all, going to Defcon was a great experience, and I look forward to heading back next year. 

Creation Workshop Beta 10

Well, the time has finally come to release the next version of Creation Workshop. I keep saying this, but it's been too long since I made a release. Thanks to the help of dozens of users, I was able to make fixes and improvements to the slicing, generation of GCode, control of the printer, multiple profiles, and dozens of other items. Please see the ReleaseNotes.txt for a full list of improvements. The one things I really wanted to finish up - Automatic Support Generation is unfortunately not in this release. It will be coming soon, but I didn't want to delay this release any more.

I decided to move the software out of the Alpha stage and into Beta. It seems stable enough, and from what I've seen, dozens of users have been able to print some wonderful models with it.

I've taken the time to update the manual and add in a hardware guide to address many of the question I have about my setup.

You can get the latest Version 10 Beta from the usual spot here: https://github.com/Pacmanfan/UVDLPSlicerController/blob/master/UVDLP/Published/CreationWorkshop_beta_10.zip

Please take the time to play around with it and give some feedback. I look forward to hearing from you all.

-S

New 3D FDM FFF Printer - MendalMax 2.0

I've had my trusty MakerBot Thing-O-Matic for a few years now, and it's been my trusty workhorse. I've made various improvements to it such add a platform heat spread, LM8UU bearings on the X/Y/Z axis's, and changing to a custom accelerated firmware to print at 75mm/sec. However, there comes a time when upgrades are no longer possible or feasible.

My 'ole trusty Thing-O-Matic

I suppose the main limitation of the T.O.M. is the build tray size of 100mm cubed. That's roughly a 4" cube for all you Americans out there. Many of my designs and newer designs I've found on the web, require a larger build tray than 100mm cubed.

After paying off my crippling credit card debt and finding myself flush with some extra cash, I decided to splurge on a new Machine. Now, I've been looking at machines online for months, trying to decide what would be a good upgrade. 

I had a few requirements:

• Large Build Tray
• Heated Platform Bed
• Reasonable cost
• Good product support

The heated build tray was probably the deciding factor in my final choice. Machines like the Replicator 2 (http://store.makerbot.com/replicator2.html) have excellent customer support as well as multiple print heads, but in the end, the ability to print plastics other than PLA was more important.

My final choice came down to the MendelMax 2.0 http://store.makerstoolworks.com/printer-kits/mendelmax-2-0-standard-kit/ . It has excellent specifications, a heated build platform, and a large build volume.

I ordered one and it arrived far faster than I expected:

Mendel Max 2.0 in kit form.

After about 8 hours of assembly over the course of 2 days, the machine was assembled and calibrated.

The Assembled Mendel Max 2.0

Here's the machine sitting on my kitchen table, waiting to find a spot large enough somewhere else in my house.

My first 'Real' Print.

 After printing the end-stops and fan mount, I decided on a Buddha.

I'm sure over the next few years, this machine will help me build miracles. :-)

Pip-Boy 3000

Basically, I'm just a big kid, I love to play video games, and one of my all-time favorite games is Fallout 3 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallout_3 . When I saw a model for a Pip-Boy 3000 on Thingiverse http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:109716 , I knew I had to make one. This excellent model is provided courtesy of dragonator http://www.thingiverse.com/dragonator/designs .

I printed most of the model in White ABS, here you can see both the white and the natural ABS.

I finished the Pip-Boy in "Hammered Metal" spray paint. It couldn't have turned out better!

ABS plastic swell and print quality differences

      Something has been bothering me for a while. At first I thought it was all in my head, then I ran a few tests. Basically, I've been noticing differences in the print quality and characteristics of different color plastics. When I first got my 3d printer, I stuck with mostly blue and green, with the occasional red ABS filaments. I print primarily 3mm ABS, with the occasional PLA print. I've tried at least 8 or 9 different colors, and from what i can tell, each color has a different "swell" factor while extruding. Green, Blue, and Natural have minimal swell, while White ABS has a horrible swell. I've taken the time to measure the input filament diameter (in most cases it's around 2.9xxx mm). 

      White is the worst offender. Shown below is a simple knob printed on my Makerbot T.O.M.. In each case, identical print parameters and speeds were used. As shown, the Natural color ABS plastic looks almost perfect, while the White ABS looks horribly overfilled. Because the input filament diameter was identical (2.92 mm) and the identical GCode file was used, the only logical conclusion that I can reach is that the White ABS must somehow be expanding more than the Natural color during printing. I'm wondering if the dye or pigment used is causing this somehow.

      Out of all filaments that I've used, the Natural ABS plastic has the best printing characteristics. Red and Green are a close second, Red's not bad, White is a monstrosity. Anyone else have issue such as this?

Identical prints?

Printing the Liberator

My Experiences Printing 'The Liberator'.

Recently (http://defcad.org/liberator/) DefCad released the STL model files for 'The Liberator', the first completely printed 3D gun. Even more recently, the U.S. Government claimed ownership of these files and had DefCad remove them(http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-22478310). Almost immediately, the files appeared on torrent sites. I was lucky enough to have downloaded the files while there were still being hosted, although I'm sure that I would have had no trouble finding a torrent of them if I had been too late.

The parts I've printed so far

Legalities:

First, let me say that I'm not a lawyer, nor should you just 'take my word' on any legal claims here. A quick Google search on 'homemade guns' would seem to indicate that many people have been building guns at home for a very significant time. A few more quick searches about the legality of doing this seems to indicate that it is allowed by the United States Federal Government, provided that no existing federal laws are violated. Hurray 2nd Amendment rights!

An inventoried list of said parts

More disclaimer:

Although I'm documenting the process of printing and assembling 'The Liberator', I'd like to make it clear that I'm not a gun nut, nor have I ever owned a firearm (Actually, I have an antique Civil War flintlock somewhere in storage I got as a gift from my Grandpa). I remember firing a 22 rifle in boy scouts at 15ish or so.
     My plan is to add the steel slug weight to make the gun detectable by metal detectors to comply with federal law. Additionally, my plan is to print the -Frame, Grip, & Barrel as 0-20% fill. I think this should made it clear this gun is being produced for display/research purposes only. Any attempt to fire a pistol at this low infill would probably be suicidal. I am also going to not install a firing pin for safety reasons. I think at the end of this all, I'll probably build a display case for this in my office as a conversation piece.

I had trouble printing the grip, so I split it into two halves

Examining the files:

After examining the files, I noticed the objects needed to be scaled by 25.4 to convert them into mm. Most of the parts seemed simple enough to print, others had significant overhangs the required building the models with exterior/full supports. I'm still in the process of printing all the parts on my Makerbot. Most of the parts printed without fault, however, the -Frame.stl file was too large for the Makerbot TOM build plate, so the model needs to be split for printing and joined together with acetone after printing. As of today(5/14/13), the only thing left to print is the Frame. Additionally, I had issues with printing the Grip.stl file, so I split the model along with Y axis and created my own GripLeft and GripRight stl files.

Durability of printed parts:

This is a big issue that cannot be ignored. While it may be convenient  ABS or PLA printed 3D parts do not have the durability of machined steel commonly used in gun production. Others have quickly noted that this is not a safe gun (http://www.geek.com/science/3d-printed-gun-gets-test-fired-but-is-far-from-safe-1554232/). Other materials can be used to print the parts. Hopefully in later blog installments, I'll go through the process of printing some Liberator parts in UV resin. ABS plastic can be re-enforced a bit by using an acetone vapor smoothing process (http://joesmakerbot.blogspot.com/2013/03/acetone-vapor-for-smoothing-abs.html). This will fuse together the exterior of the parts, lessening the chance that a part may split along an axis.

Nylon would be a better choice for printing some of the parts, namely the barrel. Nylon is far more durable of a material, however printing nylon from a FDM printer at home is challenging, namely because of part warpage and shrinking. A heated bed and chamber may be necessary to proper print nylon without warpage.

Casting the parts for mass-production:

Another option for part durability and repeatability is to cast the finished printed parts in metal such as aluminum. This process has been described before by several other 3d printer users (http://3dtopo.com/lostPLA/) .

I'm fairly certain that creating a 2-part reusable mold may be possibly either directly created by a mill, or from the castings of these 3d printed parts and is practicle for making multiple copies. This would yield far faster, more economical, and more durable parts than printing all the parts in plastic.

3D UV DLP Printer progress & alpha 09 release

I keep saying this, but it's always too long between my updates. I have been working steadily on my Creation Workshop program. I have high hopes for this program to control a vast variety of 3d printers/ milling machines/ powder printers/ all sorts of machine to extrude plastic, and process materials. They way I have architected my program (hopefully) will allow for multiple 3d machines to operate simultaneously through a central control machine. 

I have just released Alpha 09 of my control and slicing software. You can get it here: https://github.com/Pacmanfan/UVDLPSlicerController/tree/master/UVDLP/Published

As far as my machine update goes, I have completed the tilt mechanism that I described in my previous blogs. I haven't had the opportunity to run a full resin test yet.

An update

So, I haven't made a blog posting for a while, but it's not because of lack of progress. Progress continues on my Slicing and building software https://github.com/Pacmanfan/UVDLPSlicerController .The main issue that I'm facing right now with my UV DLP Printer is the resin sticking to the bottom of the vat. The UV light cures the resin, and it adheres fairly well to the glass bottom of the build tray as well as the build arm platform. 

 The problem happens when the arm (and platform) try to lift the slice up. The printed resin slice is too firmly attached to the glass bottom of the vat, and the resin releases from the build arm platform instead of the vat platform. I've tried roughing up the bottom of the build arm platform for better adhesion, as well as greasing up the glass vat with silicone lubricant. No luck so far.

   Other designs I've seen use a mechanism for sliding and/or tilting the build vat. This allows the interface between the resin and the bottom of the vat to release suction before/during the lift sequence. 

One problem that I'm facing now is that my vat is fairly large, and I don't have room on the surface of my printer to add in a tilt/slide mechanism easily. The reason my vat is so large is because I didn't modify my projector optics for a shorter throw distance. I suppose the "ideal" throw distance would project the 1024x768 resolution of the projector onto a 102 x 77mm area on the bottom of the vat for a 10 pixels per mm resolution. My projector's minimum throw distance is a little longer, giving me a size of approximately 155 x 120 mm. This is fine by me, however; if I want to add in a tilt mechanism, I may have do one or more of several things:

 1) Adjust the projector throw distance to be shorter, so I can have a smaller vat, and more room for a slide/tilt mechanism on my existing machine.

2) Rebuild my machine with a larger top surface for additional space for the tilt/slide

3) Completely rebuild my machine - Now to be fair, I was thinking about doing this anyways. I want to have a smaller design that uses a horizontally mounted projector and a mirror to project the image to the surface of the bottom of the vat.

Well, I should just choose an option and stop stalling so I can get up and printing. 

On some good news, several people have reported to me that they've used my software along with their printers to successfully print!

I'm still in the process of adding more functionality to my application. Look for some good new features real soon.

-Steve

Resin tray rebuild and UV Resin testing.

Last week, I purchased some UV resin specifically designed for 3d printing from 3DInk http://buy3dink.com/p/59/uv-resin . It arrived yesterday and I immediately started conducting a few print tests. One of the first things I noticed is that the resin was much less viscous than the SolarEZ resin I tried before. The 3DInk resin flowed almost like water. Again, I put a few drops in a sandwich bag and placed it on my resin tray.

I fired up my software and picked a nice slice from the 'Goldberg Sphere'. The resin cured within seconds! Good progress so far. The next step was to test the adhesion (or hopefully lack of adhesion) to my polycarbonate resin build tray. I used a silicone spray and paper towel to grease up my build tray, and I place a small amount (few drops) of resin on the tray to be exposed.

The remains of my first build tray.

Unfortunately, The resin firmly adhered to the build tray. No amount of coaxing could remove it. I decided polycarbonate might not be the best choice, or I might have to use a thin film of Teflon coating on the polycarbonate. Either way, this build tray was toast. 

Shown here is the resin stuck to the tray.

I found a nice small pane of soda glass I had been saving, and re-tried with a few more drops on an un-coated pane. Even un-coated, the resin did not adhere very well to the glass. I was able to slide a few test prints off the pane.

Some test object slices of the 'Goldberg Sphere'

New build tray

I used some aluminum channel stock I had lying around along with the glass pane to construct a new build tray of the proper size. I used silicone sealant on all bottom edges and the corners to ensure a proper watertight seal.

I think this new build tray will do the trick. The last thing I need to do is finish the arm that connects to the ZAxis and dips into the resin. I've already added a leveling system to the bottom of the build tray on the printer. I may have to add a small leveling system (some screws) to the build arm.

Exposure Tests

I ran some exposure tests last night. I placed a small amount of UV resin into a plastic sandwich bag and laid it flat on the Resin tray. I went to a middle layer slice of a model slice and I let the resin expose for approximately 30 seconds.

Exposing the Resin to the projected image

As you can see, the resin set into the slice of the projected image. Exposure time took longer than I thought it would, and the resultant piece was still very soft and rubbery. I think I'm using a non-optimal UV resin for this printer. (I bought a quart over 2 years ago from www.solarez.com that was meant for surfboards). I need to bite the bullet and invest in a small quantity of of resin that is specifically designed for 3d printing.

The resultant created object.

If anyone knows of a site where I can purchase a small (quart or liter size) amount of UV resin specifically designed for 3D printing, please let me know.

Initial Alpha release of software

Well, I felt it's time to share the initial software release of my "Creation Workshop" UV DLP Slicing and control software. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. You can download the initial release from GitHub here : https://github.com/Pacmanfan/UVDLPSlicerController/tree/master/UVDLP/Published

UV Printer getting closer to completion

I spent quite a few hours this past weekend working both on my 3D UV DLP printer, as well as the control software for it. I took the time to take a bunch of pictures. This is going to be a picture-heavy post, so please bare with me.

In this pic, I'm attaching the z-axis arm to the top of the printer. I've cut a hole to allow for the DLP projector to shine light on the bottom of the plastic build tray.

Here's a picture of how it's attacked. I used 4x 5mm bolts to secure the z-axis and prevent any wobble.

Shown here is the attached Z-Axis with the build tray in place.

I have the projector mounted at a fixed location on the interior of the printer cabinet.

I remembered that I had a 4 axis CNC stepper motor controller board along with an Arduino Mega 2650 that I had used in another project. I plan on recycling some of it as a controller.

After debating what I should use as a power supply, I settled on using a power supply from an Arcade Cabinet (Yes, that one...http://probjectblogs.blogspot.com/2009/04/heres-donor-tv.html). It's a 5v 11amp and 12 V 4amp power supply. More than enough to power an Arduino and NEMA 23 motor.

I wanted an integrated 1-push power system, so I dug through my spare parts box and found a 3 prong power receptacle as well as a push on/off mains switch.

I quickly designed and printed a plate for the rear of the machine to hold the switch and power receptacle.

Shown here is the mounted power supply wired to the back plate and the DLP Projector. Now, one push can turn on the entire system.