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alaris2

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Everything posted by alaris2

  1. so I've always used pronterface for this. it works. it's a bit slow and bloaty and probably written in python or something, but it gets the job done with only occasional blobbing. now I've moved my UM to the garage and decided to run it from a small automotive PC. ulticontroller is out of the question since it has no ethernet, but these small PC's don't have as much grunt. it loads and runs pronterface, but if I load some g-code it just barfs and hangs for hours. it's clearly not going to be suited to the task. has anyone any experience (good or bad) with other g-code printers - anything lightweight and fast out there suited to small PC's (or even a raspberry pi for example)?
  2. all credit is due entirely to Bertho for this excellent upgrade. not that the old system ever gave me any known problems but it also gave me little confidence it could handle filament variation. be sure to pay homage to the right people i confess to being surprised it gave you as much trouble as it did and to your optimism that all your prints will now be perfect also
  3. see viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1389 but basically you're right - active cooling is the key. there's an additional advantage if you remove the PEEK, teflon and all those other meltable bits and replace with aluminum since you can now print NYLON. I might try the glue idea too - i've used superglue in the past for emergencies, but it's a bit expensive.
  4. ah bummer :( that's going to be very expensive then ;( ;( the more stuff you have for sale, the more stuff you can sell remember otherwise people look elsewhere or DIY. cutting extra slots is no big deal, I only just realized I don't have those.
  5. ahh! you need a Bertho extruder and an Alaris V3 metal hotend with active cooling then! OK, i'm definitely getting one of these nozzles now. note that they are not compatible with V2 hotend incidentally. shame only makergear sell them, the shipping to UK will kill me :(
  6. PS. it's more useful if the parts are available separately rather than a 'pack' - I have 3 bowden tubes and most of a V2 nozzle here but the thermocouple, heater and thermocouple board are key missing parts.
  7. that's OK, I can live with a week or two. thanks Daid - let us know on here when it's available would you please?
  8. I'm not sure why that should/would be a problem? sticking to the bed is an issue with thin layers - I've printed at 50 microns and had to fine tune the z-height in the g-code to within 10 microns before I got the layers to stick properly. I had toyed with the idea of a 0.25mm nozzle myself
  9. there seems to be some politics between the jetty team and the UM team and they keep having pathetic arguments on the google forum instead of getting on and improving the marlin firmware. sadly, this probably means we'll never see any of the improvements. there's another rather neat firmware (+electronics change) called tinyG https://plus.google.com/116416453568555 ... SK5YdgfQDL which is UM compatible, but it isn't certain how this is going to affect us if at all. is marlin dead perhaps?
  10. hey it looks like a Bertho extruder! fancy that
  11. thanks Daid, would rather go that route since just finding a 40W resistor that fits the hole is a pain!
  12. glad to hear it, it looks useful. what makes the robots 'too low quality' (material faults? machine faults? power cuts?) and what's the failure rate? presumably someone figures out what causes the failures and fixes the hardware/firmware/software for future releases so one day the failure rate will be nil and then UM can rule the world?
  13. ahh, busy making that heated bed we're all after I bet! how about using a resistor and thermistor like the reprap boys do? I imagine this requires some mods to the electronics and firmware to make it work tho - anyone know what's involved?
  14. silly question then but where does one get the heater and thermocouple if they're not in the shop? aren't they custom UM parts?
  15. I'm sure someone asked this before but I can't find the answer now I need it :( what's the minimum requirement for dual extrusion - new nozzle, heater block, heater, thermistor, bowden tube, extruder + motor. what else? is the 1.5.6 electronics already set for doing this (I think I remember something about needing a firmware upgrade?) cheers, nik
  16. Snowygrouch and I were discussing this and that pictures better than any words I could add - it's spot on. however, there is a subsample option in k'slicer which (might) solve exactly this problem. I haven't tried it and don't have a suitable model to play with (doesn't help I'm printing with nylon right now so might see different effects anyway)
  17. I have no clue how he got those to stick - that part on the right I had to superglue onto the bed and nearly broke the bed prising it off. w/o glue it curls like on the left part. I think your setup is probably ideal for this destroyer - but if you haven't upgraded your extruder you may wish to - you need a ton of force to push that slippery nylon through a 0.4mm nozzle! I have a Bertho extruder + V2 bolt at present - it seems to be holding up (that's why I tested it at 150% to see what would happen and if I was marginal or not) conclusion is, when manually extruding, expect it to be way more difficult than PLA (and probably ABS but I never tried that)
  18. don't those ATX PSUs switch off after a certain time if they detect there's no (or abnormal) load? have you fooled it into thinking it's plugged into a PC? (you need to short two of the wires on the big connector together if memory serves me right, but i forget which)
  19. I'll try that, thanks destroyer. yes I think it's fair to say it's more like printing with ABS than PLA - my fan has been replaced with the cold sink fan, so I only have a nearby desk fan for cooling which I had on for the first print (right) and off for the second (left). I'm not sure how important cooling is for ABS/NYLON? for PLA it was critical and of course this also affects min layer time so maybe is related. neither part is particularly flexible, but that's because i printed at 50% infill for the second one. the first one is naturally strong due to its shape. maybe i'll try printing something long and flat. the piece on the left is almost indestructible - even that flat section at the top with the hole barely moves (actually it does flex very slightly now i try it again) layer adhesion - I was going to print a test piece and hit it with a hammer. seems as good a test as any (not very scientific i know) but extruder gears should be no problem provided that curling is taken care of. I may try a chambered approach like you have and see if it helps.
  20. a couple of pictures of the pros and cons - in natural nylon 6/6. a sample i obtained from a friend but since it works i've now ordered some myself. someone on here (sorry forgot who you were) suggested using nylon welding rod. good tip, although suppliers seem few and far between. for now i've had to use what i think is intended as strimmer line, but am sticking to the white natural stuff since I don't want to accidentally get fiberglass in my nozzle thanks! nylon seriously needs a heated bed as you can see from the left sample - nice curling effect there. some blobbing, and stringing evident too, especially in the right sample. the nozzle tends to drip and retraction doesn't work the same for nylon. the rules are a little different as I also found for layer height and overlap. the infill is messy (think I mentioned that before) and the top layers are a problem still - for some reason minimum layer time works differently and the layers don't quite align so it just falls to bits (hence the broken top piece) would be great if someone else wants to try and swap experiences, it will hasten the learning process somewhat of these new materials!
  21. maybe out in the garage then. I'll probably have to move everything out there anyway - ABS, NYLON, PEEK etc. are all a bit smelly compared with PLA. and even PLA can give headaches.. but I doubt I could get PEEK in 3mm rods anyway?
  22. he's talking about the UM v2 hotend, as opposed to my unofficial v3 metal hotend which prints NYLON in the 'mods' section.
  23. pleased to say I got it working today on all accounts. it did take several tries however. I'm now using my 'config 3' (see above) with an improved heatsink and fan design to blow the warm air down onto the bed to help with bridges etc. this is necessary since I've hooked the fan up to where the original cooling fan went but I still want to have bridging capability. I got a bottle brush, drill, and some polishing paste and went mad polishing the inside of the nozzle and stainless steel section. they were already well polished and I'm not sure I opened up the ID much if any, but it made me feel better. anyway it prints NYLON at 280C and it prints it well. the cold end is cold enough to touch (I would guess 40C) so will be OK for PLA also. I need to tweak all the slicer settings big time, getting layers to stick is hard, edges are a bit wobbly right now and infill is a mad squiggly mess. I also printed at 150% extrusion to stress test. no leaks, a little bit of burning smell (I think it was the heatsink compound), no pops (since it's not possible anymore!) and a constant stream of 0.6mm material (from a 0.4mm nozzle). oh. and did I mention the NYLON and the 280C, no more PEEK for me! (hey maybe I can extrude PEEK, that might be fun)
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