chopmeister

Ah, sorry I put the info in the image description, forgot to do so in the post. It was printed at 0.1 layers, sanded lightly and then polished. Didn't take too much time. The rounding happened while sanding, it thought it would give a more realistic metal look.

My first print with bronzeFill. It's just a small ring I designed for my girlfriend's upcoming fashion show, but boy that filament is awesome. There's absolutely no way you could tell it's printed.

Like I said on G+, well deserved!. I have always seen this community as part of what Ultimaker is, and that makes a product which is awesome on it own even better. Keep being the good guys, and we'll keep spreading the word.

Bah, ordered 5 spools like three days ago. Just my luck. :oops:

For adding detail to a model (and I use "detail" on purpose since texture means color data in 3d modelling language), you have 4 options. A.) Physically model the details, either from a NURBS surface or subdivision surface, depending on the software and workflow used. B.) Use a black&white texture for displacement mapping, where polygons on the object get displaced according to the information in the texture. C.) Scatter objects around the base mesh (like the C4D example above) and subsequently use boolean operations to attach them together. D.) Use a "sculpting" program, which is in essence a combination of A and B, but without having to know the details behind the procedure since you're basically just painting detail. Physically modeling all the details is tedious work, but generally not so hard to do, depending on the base model and type of detail you are adding. From the software you mention you used, I would say displacement mapping is not a feasible option since it requires knowledge about UV mapping to use successfully, which although not that hard for simple base objects, takes quite a while to master for anything complex. Boolean operations are best avoided in poly-based modelling programs, especially for 3d printing because they tend to produce bad resulting topology and models which are not watertight. In certain situations it will work, but not always. I would suggest using a sculpting program if the detail you want to add doesn't have to be too precise, and the aforementioned 3d coat has a fully functional (I think) trial available.

Yes, but bear in mind that is for "heavy loads and constant operation". It's safe to assume driving an extruder classifies as both, while your application may not.

Oh and yes, the retraction is a problem with flex shafts due to the winding. There will always be some backlash there, since they are generally manufactured to work either clockwise, or counterclockwise. I have heard of some specialty shafts which can handle both, but don't know much about them. There was also a patent I found for an anti-hysteresis flexible shaft for use in surgery. I even remember how it looks, but I've never actually seen shafts like that manufactured.

To be completely honest, I have none. The prototypes I used were abandoned after the first few tests in favor of a small motor based approach, which I'm developing ever since. I've never tried a 1:40 gear set, because all I had available at the time was a 1:20 set. And with that the prints were a complete mess. At one point we measured the angle at which the worm turned when manually moving the head from the front left corner to the front right, with the extruder off, to check hysteresis. And it was a lot, but I can't remember the angle, it was ages ago. In the end that influenced the quality of the walls too much. But seeing your results I'm almost certain the flex shaft I used was the culprit. The difference is simply too big - I wouldn't say your prints look twice as good due to the higher gear ratio, more like 20 times as good. The one I had was a pretty big thing, more of a Dremel type. Unfortunately that was also the only flex shaft I had access to. Well, that and a combination of me not having a guide tube for the filament. At that point in time I had very limited experience with head-mounted feeders and thus had no idea how big of an impact a guide tube makes. Darn it, to think I could have been there 2 years ago makes me want to slap myself.

I've read in various engineering books that all worm gears should always be lubricated, due to the way they transfer power. But here's an excerpt from SDP/SI webpage: It's up to you to keep them dust free in the process I guess.

Great stuff foehnstrum! Do post the pic of the finished print, I'm super curious to see the results. Also how come you haven't greased the worm gears? From what I've read worm gears shouldn't run dry or they wear much too fast.

I don't know if this has already came up before, read through the threads and didn't seem to find it. So here goes.... From a visual aspect there is one thing I find horribly irritating whenever I use YM. And that's the "Show more" button. It's placement is completely illogical for two reasons: 1. It is placed above the actual content it relates to, which is nonsense from a user experience standpoint. Logically, a user would be interested in seeing more of something after he's seen what there is to see in the originally offered content. 2. If for some unknown reason it has to be so, at least sort out the distances, or somehow visually connect it to the content it relates to. See attached image - the distances clearly suggest that the button relates to the upper content, while in reality it is the exact opposite. While on the subject of graphical layout, why is my username truncated to three characters? While this is reminiscent of a certain character from the Mentalist, I'd like to see my full username displayed instead. There is room enough. Probably something that happened in the recent updates, IIRC it was working before. o.O And I've noticed that when using chrome on my Nexus 5, the resizing upper menu doesn't really work, except when completely zoomed out, at which point all the buttons are much too small. When you zoom in, it automatically realigns to the left side of the screen and doesn't pan left-right with the rest of the page, thus disabling me from clicking anything when zoomed in. All that aside, I'm really glad you guys started doing more frequent updates to the site, and to see more models getting uploaded every day. Also great idea with the new licence and all! Just remember to never, ever, ever add a "Customizer" or similar horror to YM and all will be just fine.

That should work, I have no clue if software endstops are turned on in the default firmware though, somebody might know more about it, I don't use the firmware from Cura. A simple way to try is to start the printer and home it, then move slowly towards the end to see if it will stop with the endstops removed. If it does, you're good. If it doesn't it's an easy fix.

Funny, it was up there for a moment, I saw it, and now it's gone with a 404 error. ?!? As for the endstops, that's not about Cura per se, but about the firmware. If the travel length is set up right in the firmware, it should work as normal.

Haha, glad to hear that, that was the purpose! Do add the print on the YM page if you don't mind, so people know it works. I don't have a decent pic of this model, I use a previous iteration on my printer which is not as pretty as this one. (and I must say it does look really nice on your printer!)

I removed the max limit switches ages ago. I constantly experiment with printhead designs and therefore my print volume, so the max switches would have to also be moved all the time - much easier to just do it in firmware.