jonnybischof

I don't know about the HK stuff... You will definetly not lose a lot of money, but be prepared to get very low quality stuff which may or may not work. I've ordered some things from HK before. Some parts there are actually very good quality (like the XT60 connectors), but some other stuff is just plain awful. I'm probably a bad advisor here because I usually just buy the premium stuff regardless of expense (one of the benefits of being single )... About rain: Electrically insulating all the electronics isn't difficult (but makes it very difficult to modify something afterwards!). The motors shouldn't care much about water, as long as their wiring is insulated. Then, it's mostly a question of size - the bigger the model, the less it's going to be disturbed by rain. A tiny quadcopter is prone to being blown astray by wind or "beat down" by rain. But a big model doesn't care much. We should also distinguish between the following two uses, as they make a big difference in the hardware needed: - A "drone" with self-stabilisation, precise and easy-to-handle control, and maybe even autonomous flying capability - A "multicopter" for fun-flying with aggressive, sharp control similar to 3D helicopters The first one depends on a good (and expensive) electronics platform, but doesn't need very strong motors. The second one is just the other way round. Not many electronics needed to get a multirotor flying (if you know how to fly them...) but you need powerful motors with lag-free control. Actually, I don't know if there are models that can handle both "modes" as I've never actually come to buying one, but I'd guess that these would be the most expensive platforms of all... Personally, I'm completely unable to fly an RC helicopter (I know it, I've tried...), so I prefer "drone-like" control like for example the parrot drones.

The most expensive parts are the gyroscope ICs (they cost around 50$ alone), and also the ability of the software to actually work with them (quite a big feat in engineering...). GPS also isn't too cheap, because you need the electronics and an antenna which both cost something. The best choice would be to get a complete, fully featured kit. Ideally one that exists in several variations within the same form factor (with or without autonomous flying capability). There are so many different platforms available that I don't have an overview over them anymore...

Hm, also auf dem ersten Bild erkenne ich kaum was. Aber auf dem zweiten Bild, auf der rechten 12mm Welle ist ganz klar zu erkennen, dass da etwas nicht stimmt. Vielleicht sind die Wellen vernickelt, keine Ahnung. Könnte auch sein, dass da etwas leicht verbogen ist und zu erhöhter Reibung führt. Hast du den Ultimaker Support schon angeschrieben mit dem Problem? Das könnte recht wichtig sein, falls die tatsächlich ungeeignetes Material einkaufen...

The leadscrew is supported by an angular bearing in the bottom. I've simplified this structure (previously I was planning to use an axial roller bearing to support the weight) because the angular bearing I took is quite massive (26x10x8, OD x ID x H) and should be able to handle much more weight than "just the few kilograms of the z-stage". The beauty of this (combined with direct drive) is, that all the motors are located very close to each other. Put the electronics nearby and you have less than 20cm cabling for any motor.

Note that these are nozzle temps, not "set temperatures". Your nozzle is probably a bit colder than the measured temperature at the heater block...

I changed the setup mainly because I wanted to increase build height. My z-stage design reduces z-height, as well as the E3D hotend which is slightly longer than the stock UM. So, I threw out everything below the bottom plate and moved the bottom plate down 45mm. The electronics are now placed on the rear side of the printer, close to all the stepper motors. Motor cabling length is heavily reduced which should decrease EMI and maybe even improve motor efficiency. Also, I didn't like that the z-motor actually has to carry the full weight of the z-stage. Motors aren't made for this kind of stress... And, my z-stage is MUCH heavier than the stock UM one... The Oldham coupling I'm using is made out of: Hub parts: 1.4301/X5CrNi18-10 Sintered Alloy Spacer: Aluminum Bronze (Sold Lubricant Embedded) I wouldn't recommend using any kind of plastic spacers.. I'm using set-screws for all the parts. Clamp-on is better (though mostly because it just clamps to the shaft better and more evenly than a setscrew), but considerably more expensive. Note that an Oldham coupling from Misumi costs 21 EUR, and a flex coupler costs 26 EUR (without taxes...). You could just use some thread-locker to prevent them from becoming loose. Just have to use the correct one (especially with steel & aluminum combinations). /edit: By the way, I think I could just have used a solid coupler. I don't think there will be more than 0.1mm in displacement because all the parts are precisely machined (and I don't use wood). But I thought I'd give it a try...

You could print clothes right onto yourself. Best way ever to get dressed

Well, I hope I have this problem sorted out - this part is where I have made several big modifications. The z motor is on top. It is connected to the leadscrew with an oldham coupling, allowing it to shift to the sides slightly. The leadscrew nut on the z-stage is fixed with a press-fit hole into a steel part and screwed down. No movement possible there. Then, the leadscrew is supported on the bottom panel using a radial bearing and an axial bearing an angular ball bearing. All this combined with the much stiffer frame and increased weight should eliminate any kind of wobble or banding. I'll see it as soon as it's completed. Timescale is still two weeks (still need to make that Misumi order...).

You should probably wear safety goggles

Update! I received the Trespa panels today: Only 76kg of the most awesome building material I've ever seen I'm working hard on finishing the UM black edition design (it has become so big that Sketchup is getting really laggy when I view the whole thing...). By now, I've redesigned the complete machine, pretty much down to the smallest screw... The bad thing is, there is just about zero compatibility to the orignal Ultimakers. But as this is not an upgrade kit anymore but instead a complete replacement, it doesn't matter... I'm expecting to start CNC-milling tomorrow. The bulk of the design should be finished by the end of this week. Expect more pictures soon

Ultimaker ABS rot ist ein fürchterlich hässliches rot (PLA weiss ich nicht). Sieht aus wie ein rotes T-Shirt nach 10 Jahren... Faberdashery Firetruck red ist vermutlich das edelste rot von allen! Ist zwar auch sehr hell, aber halt eben "fire truck red".

Bist du sicher, dass es sich um eine Beschichtung der Welle handelt? Es ist normal, dass sich mit der Zeit Ablagerungen auf den Wellen bilden. Diese sollten ab und zu mit einem Tuch abgewischt und die Wellen bei der Gelegenheit neu geölt werden. Die Ablagerungen kommen unter anderem vom Druckmaterial, von den Bronzelagern und von den Riemen. Letzteres ist allerdings nicht gut - wenn sich die Riemen abnutzen, muss man sie neu ausrichten oder die Pulleys auf scharfe Kanten / Brauen überprüfen. /edit: Bei Misumi kann man Stahlwellen mit Hartverchromung HV750 bestellen. Diese Beschichtung dürfte allerdings so gut wie unzerstörbar sein. Wenn sich tatsächlich eine Beschichtung ablöst, dann ist das ein Zeichen von ziemlich minderwertiger Ware.. (Wovon ich beim UM2 nicht ausgehe...)

That is one possibility to do it. But this means a lot of stress on the Z-axis. The leadscrew (or mostly the leadscrew nut) will see a lot more wear & tear with this feature, especially when you have a heavy z-stage (My z-stage and build platform weigh about 5kg...). So, the day is over (in central europe) and I've thrown together my own optical endstop Will publish it and order everything tomorrow. Then it's going to take about 2 weeks until I can test it.

Achso, darauf hatte ich natürlich nicht geachtet o.O Naja schauen wir sonst einmal. Ich muss vermutlich bald etwas von delta-tower.ch haben (faberdashery Verkäufer in der Schweiz), ich melde mich dann per PN bei dir Lukas

I'd also be very grateful if someone could explain these specs in human-readable language. Technical drawings (with surface quality, tolerances and so on) are very hard to understand for someone who doesn't to this professionally...

You're right about the x and y endstops not needing to be accurate. But it's easier to have only one type of endstop (and the larger production volume makes the parts cheaper). But that also mean I don't want to use some 30 Euro part for the endstop... The actual "limit switches" are indeed much bigger and more expensive, and they usually have a "roller actuator" which is not really convenient inside a tight-spaced Ultimaker frame... I'm also not fond of the metal "blade" actuators. If they bend over time (for example when they're forced to over-bend because of a firmware error, or manual operation), they lose their operating point (important for the Z axis). The beauty of optical endstops is that you can move right through them, they don't touch the moving part and don't need any actuation force (not that it would be a problem, but it's more elegant...) So, I'm going to experiment with an optical solution. I found a photosensor which has a detection range of about 0.1mm over the full current range. Using a comparator will make it switch always at the same current, which should result in better than 0.01mm positioning accuracy. PCBs will cost around 0.6 Euros per piece, and the photosensor costs 4.5 Euros. so the final price should only be around 15 Euros. That's not too expensive, and after all you only need 3 pieces per printer. @Auto-levelling: It's an interesting feature, and there are already several possible implementations. But imho it takes too much effort to put it into an Ultimaker style printer. When I'm finished with the UM black edition, I'll put a Delta-Bot together which can have an auto-levelling feature almost for free. If that printer performs well enough even against the Ultimaker, I'll just recommend the Delta-Bot for people who really want auto-levelling.

Hi community I'm evaluating limit switches at the moment (trying to figure out whether to use switches, hall effect sensors, optical endstops...), and I'm confused about the usual mechanical limit switches. People here in the forums claim the repeatability of a mechanical limit switch to be only a few microns. I suppose, UM measured this in an experiment and found it suitable. Now, the thing is, if I search for these switches, I don't find any kind of confirmation for this super-high repeatability. Instead, everything points to that this statement is just wrong: 1. Microswitches (for example the Honeywell V7 product range) are not described to be usable as end-stops or limit switches, instead they are described as detect switches. The huge difference is that a detect switch does not require high repeatability at all. Instead it is nothing more than a simple switch which opens and closes when you actuate it. 2. The chinese switches (such as the one provided in the UM1 kits) do not provide any kind of datasheet with statements about repeatability. Not even actuator travel or anything like that. However, the industrial grade parts (such as the Honeywell V7) do. BUT their numbers are VERY different from "a few microns": Example: Honeywell V7-1S10D8 This is the premium-line of microswitches from Honeywell, a well acclaimed industrial grade manufacturer for different kinds of sensors. pre-travel: 1.19 mm max post-travel: 1.27 mm max differential travel: 0.05 - 0.25 mm operating position: 14.7 mm +- 0.38 mm It is difficult to understand these values (nothing's ever easy...), but my interpretation of these values is: Pre-travel is how far the actuator can be pushed down without actuating the switch. Then, there's the operating position which designates the area where the actuation point will be. It's +-0.38mm which is ok, because that only designates differencies between multiple parts, and not repeatability. Post-travel is how much further the actuator can be pushed down after the switch has actuated. Differential travel is interesting. I have no clue what they mean by that. If it's repeatability, it would be BAD. But these are some of the best parts there are - I doubt it gets much better than the v7 models. Fact: There is no statement that says "repeatability: +-0.001mm" here. Please correct me if I'm wrong!! Does anyone know any literature about this repeatability? /edit: I can not confirm repeatability when I take multiple measurements with a digital precision caliper (Sylvac, not some cheap stuff): 12.56 12.48 12.36 12.51 12.39 12.27 ...

Dafür wäre ich auch zu haben! Mein Bedarf ist momentan klein (habe noch ca. 20kg Material rumliegen), aber die Farbe würd ich jetzt auch noch nehmen. Übrigens: Wenns um spezielle Farben geht, würde ich Faberdashery auch nicht aussen vor lassen! Das Space Marine Blue zum Beispiel ist der absolute Knaller!!! Für alles, was es von DiamondAge gibt, würde ich auch DiamondAge kaufen... Bin übrigens immer noch nicht dazu gekommen, IMPLA / HIPLA zu testen o.O

That's the very same settings I use as well - nothing wrong there. But note that setting 0.3mm initial layer height doesn't mean that you also get 0.3mm! That depends on how well you have levelled your build platform.. Especially when using 0.3mm initial layer height, you can easily level your build platform in a manner that the nozzle will actually be only 0.1mm apart from the platform, which makes it squish the PLA into the blue tape very hard. I think that could be why your prints stick too hard to the platform. It's easier with a more sophisticated build platform. It's also more expensive and not "necessary", which is probably why the UM doesn't come with one in the first place. And don't forget that these printer plates are quite a new development in the 3D printer world. I believe that in one or two years they will be the standard for all good printers.

Additionally, you shouldn't plug / unplug the arduino from the shield too many times as these connectors are simply not made with lots of "mating cycles" in mind. I actually tore some of the headers apart the second time I unplugged my Arduino... While you might not completely wreck the connectors, the electrical resistance may rise (due to bent contacts) and lead to other problems. The most basic IT rule of all applies: Never touch a running system /edit: That only accounts for the electronics part! The mechanical part will need some occasional lubrication and re-tuning...

You should take a look at this. 1. The material: Taulman T-Glase. Should be a good material. XT is probably very similar to T-Glase, although I haven't directly compared the materials myself. I love XT, but mainly for it's stability and ease of printing. Prints get somewhat transparent, but I believe XT is more optimized towards strength and printability than optical aspects. 2. The information on how to print stuff to get the best "transparent" aesthetics: Print with a big nozzle (if possible), maximum layer height and as few shells as possible. You can see that they get very nice results with their tests. If you want to add another material to your list: BendLay is another clear filament. Afaik it's a PET-G material, much like XT or T-Glase, but I'm not sure about that. I've got a roll here, but haven't printed anything with it yet o.O

I recommend unplugging everything from the UM shield (except the working Arduino) and try the repaired shield like that. Then re-connect all the peripherals one by one (always power-off before connecting anything, of course!). There could be a short-circuit somewhere which blows the regulator. Theoretically, it should enter thermal-shutdown (over-current protection) instead of blowing. That is supposed to work...

A shielded cable will definitely help, but it may not be enough as the SD card's data lines are very sensitive. The SPI bus which is used to connect to the SD card is intended to be an "on-board" communications interface, not for (long) cable connections. In order to connect two devices via longer cables, you'd need a stronger interface such as RS485 (or USB...) which uses beefier line drivers and is therefore less susceptible to interference. By the way, shielding isn't as easy as it sounds. You can connect the shield to GND, but that will not help much you if you actually have a noisy GND line (which is highly probable as there are some stepper motors connected to that GND...) Good shielding can only be achieved if you have a metal frame which is connected to PE (earth). You have to connect the cable shields to PE (machine frame), using a very thick and short connection, not just some small 0.5mm2 wire. You'd also have to tie the GND line to PE (through a 1M resistor) and put some decoupling capacitors between the two potentials (for high-frequency noise). Of course you'll need PE available. Using an industrial power supply with a metal frame and a 3-wire connection will be the best way to get to a PE signal. Putting the electronics into their own metal case (connected to PE) also helps a lot. I guess I'll just stop here - I'm actually not an expert in this matter. I've had some experience with electronics and wiring inside a large industrial machine, but EMI and ESD take a lot of time and knowledge to really be understood and managed. I'd say you should just try using a shielded cable! Maybe disconnect the stepper motors if it doesn't work (to remove the relevant interferences). If that doesn't help, then more shielding will also not help.

It would make sense to suspect the 12V regulator (LM7812), because if that one is dead, then the machine doesn't run. The LM7812 is used to power the arduino (and pretty much everything else is powered by the Arduino board, except the stepper motors and heaters). Note that if the LM7812 is dead, then there is some probability that this was caused by a faulty Arduino board (which is the only thing that is directly connected to the LM7812). But you say you have checked the Arduino. How did you power it? Have you unplugged it from the shield and connected the 19V UM power supply directly to the arduino? (Note that you should not do that while the Arduino is connected to the shield and the rest of the printer). The Arduino can be powered from 20V, but in that case you shouldn't draw a lot of power (like connecting any peripherals such as the Ulticontroller) or the Arduino's linear regulator will get very hot.

Usually, that is a good sign What initial layer thickness are you using? Maybe you're squishing the PLA into the tape too much. Try turning all four bed adjustment screws a little bit clockwise. Something like 1/4 turn. Maybe a little less, maybe a little more. If you're willing to spend some money, you should try one of these printer plates: http://printinz.com/printer-plates/ While I haven't had one of these particular plates myself, I've heard only good things from them here in the forums. I'm using a similar build plate (from a german seller) which performs really good and I would never want to print without it again. The only downside of these plates is that they don't come cheap. But it's worth it! /note: You don't need a heated bed for this to work! It may help, but PLA can be printed without heat.