jonnybischof

Well, to me it doesn't really matter how long it takes to heat the bed up. What matters to me is the print results that I get. But I guess with the silicone heater it shouldn't be much of an issue, you can put quite a bit of power into these things... I guess I'll just try this out. The bed only costs 30$ (plus 60$ shipping :??? and if it's too heavy, I can probably find some other use for it (e.g. a nice surface to do soldering work on)

Complaint: Basic formatting stuff like "return" doesn't work in comments (namely comments for ideas). I just created a longer comment on my FPGA robots idea which is basically unreadable because all my "returns" got deleted... Can this be fixed?

...but ideal for every customer outside the EU! Afaik that is how most international (technical stuff) shops do it. A nice feature would be to show VAT according to a selected country, but that's just nice to have, not standard..

In terms of weight, a printed PLA part is pretty similar to balsa wood if you print the parts hollow with some 25% infill. I guess this won't be a problem anyways as you can also build (bigger) RC planes from stronger and heavier plywood and still get them to fly. You can use PLA, it won't decompose while your plane is in the air ABS might be stronger (haven't printed ABS myself yet) but the UM2 can do both materials anyways. Just don't forget that your maximum print size for a single part is about 20x20x20 cm.

Hi there I'm looking for a good material for a heated bed. Now I wonder about the maximum weight that is good for the Ultimaker. The original build is pretty lightweight, but I found a suitable material which is something above 2 kg heavy. Will this be a problem for the UM? I don't want to solve a problem and create a new one in the process... regards Jonny

Ok, so basically, there's no solution to my problem: If I use Altium, no one can directly collaborate unless he's using Altium, too... I'm saying 'directly' bercause others can still comment and give inputs, but only I can incorporate them into the actual designs. So, if I (generally speaking) quit the project, it's f@cked.. o.O Btw: I'm doing military service for the next three weeks, so it may take me some time to reply here.

It should take something around 100°C before the motor wiring burns up. I don't think the motors easily get that hot... I'm still going to add fans to them, but you can leave the heat sinks away, they are completely obsolete if you have active air cooling.

Ah, I guess there is the problem, I measured it without filament inserted... I'll check on that as soon as I can!

Hi Bram Your project sounds interesting! One question: how do you handle electronics design? I mean what software do you use? That is the one thing that I'm not sure about when it comes to collaboration. Because I use Altium designer and I'm not really willing to switch to something else... I have created my own part libraries, templates etc. I can't expect anyone to switch away from his preferred program, either, so there's gonna be a problem, especially with bigger projects or when a developer quits the project.

Naja ein PCB plus ein separates Netzteil ist auch wieder teurer als das Silikon-Heizbett... 240V direkt ist allerdings auch nicht unbedingt elegant. Naja meine eigene Lösung ist bald soweit, werde dann Rückmeldung geben.

I have a similar "problem" with my compression spring. Mine is 15-16mm long, not nearly 11mm as they always say. Can't screw in the bolt any further. With the silver PLA that came with the UM I don't have any problems, tough... Maybe try using a shorter bolt? That's what I'd do if I had problems (might happen to me, too with another filament...)

I gave it some more thought (after work of course) and I think a wiki would really be the best way to go. It should be fairly easy to embed (I only have basic HTML knowledge but if you can make a cool page like YM already is, it shouldn't be too difficult for you) and easy to use. Then there's the transition from an idea to a project. There should be some way to convert an idea into a project without losing any of the content. Shouldn't be much more than renaming the thing from "idea" to "project" and maybe add more tools like a project plan, resource management, assignments and to do lists, I don't know... Maybe remove the comments at that point. And I think it's important that the person who started the idea / project has "admin" rights for it, being able to moderate the content and giving other users rights for the project. Also, only he (or moderators he choses) should be able to delete content from the wiki. Or even better, enable only people to contribute to a wiki if they are "members" of the project that were chosen by the founder. In my opinion, being the founder (that initiates a project / idea) is a reason to have these rights. If that's too much restriction, make it a difference between ideas and projects: Ideas are open for everyone, projects are "members" only. If everyone can apply to be a member (which makes sense) then this is not a hurdle. But if you want to work on a project, you can't just let anyone mess around with your files and informations. *look at my avatar and imagine some smoke coming out of the head* Maybe we have to go much more basic... I learned my business at an ISO9000 company (just had to bring that) where you work after a thoroughly (is that word correct? that looks weird...) thought out scheme called the "work flow" (or something). Man I just read that last sentence three times, it sucks... I'm gonna leave it for you to have fun with it... *more smoke* Maybe it's too late already (hot day in Switzerland) but what I actually wanted to write was that I'd like for YM to provide a workflow and a toolset to keep things organised. I'm one of the many people who needs this in order to stay focused. Otherwise I'll just lose track or interest at some point and quit. There are many examples like robot-creator forums where cool projects rise from nothing and, after some weeks, disappear back into nothing. If you want YM to work, then you have to counteract that! Workflow: Make stages: 1. Idea stage, brainstorming 2. Member and resource gathering. Organising members, contributors, moderators. 3. Make plans, make a project schedule (very important if you want to get somewhere), make forecasts 4. Get to work, by schedule 5. Complete the project by publishing the final project documentation and results 6. Maintain, improve, support, evolve... Every stage needs it's tools. A wiki (I keep bringing that until you make one) already covers a lot. Shoutbox is good for brainstorming, too. Then some member management. A simple tool to make plans like timelines, schedules and stuff shouldn't be too difficult to create / implement from existing solutions. And then that's pretty much it... All this is useful for larger projects (still thinking about the vacuuming-bot) but not for small stuff. So maybe the way to go is to have the project founder enable / disable all the tools as he sees fit. Ok, that's enough for the moment digest...

Cool My guess is, that stuff comes out of a spray can. No clue what it could be but it seems to work

Hi, You're probably interested in this: http://umforum.ultimaker.com/index.php?/topic/2536-filament-diameter-compatibility/ Sadly, you can't just switch from 3mm to 1.7mm filament without making any changes to the UM. At least it's not recommended. It is possible though if you do what was recommended in the linked topic. I didn't try it myself, I'll just stick to 3mm filament...

Hi community I'm currently working on some possible solutions for Erik's Idea on YouMagine (the vacuuming bot) and would like to put down some notes. So, if YM wants to be the place to develop and collaborate, there should be some kind of workspace that people can use. I see that you're not yet finished with the thing, so this is not supposed a complaint but only constructive thinking! So, here's the situation: I've been thinking about battery management solutions for the bot (read comments here: https://www.youmagine.com/design_ideas/open-source-autonomous-vacuum-cleaner). I found an interesting document that describes a possible solution and I want to share this document. So now I need a space to put this document along with some comment like "look I found this, seems awesome and we need to put this into our design". I did this in the comments section, but this section will be very cramped and unorganised soon. Also, I think this comments section should rather be some "smalltalk" corner where people stumbling across the idea can unload their... comments... about it. Nothing more. Right now, I (not being the creator of this idea) can't do much but make comments or link to something that I already made. Both is not what I need, so there should be more structure for the development of the idea. If I understand the principle of the YM "Idea" section correctly, then the following stuff should be possible there: 1. Brainstorming (very important in the beginning) 2. Developing the idea: from raw idea to a clear image of what wants to be achieved 3. Find people and resources for the project Brainstorming: The comments section may be used for this, but I think that's just useful for smaller inputs in early stages. As soon as the comments get filled up with "yeah cool, I like that" posts, the inputs will get lost there. I'd like to see a dedicated section to brainstorming and developing an idea. Every registered user (prevent spam!) should be able to contribute to this section. Also, it should be possible for any contributor to create a structure. In the case of the vacuuming bot, this could be "hardware design", "software design", "mechanical design". Each of which will have it's own subdivision as the development progresses. In my case, I'd like to put my input about a battery charging solution into "hardware design", subsection "power supply". It's impossible to create such a substructure that fits every kind of idea, so it's crucial that this structure can be created by the contributors as they see fit, not provided by YM with either too little or too much structure. Maybe, a "wiki" structure could be ideal for this. There's an empty main page in the beginning, and contributors can create their own categories and add articles. The articles can then be further developed and maybe commented on. Now, all of this is not necessary for small projects, but for a huge project like creating a vacuuming bot (or the thing that I want to create which is also listed as an idea) it is essential. Number 2 (development) will come automatically after some brainstorming. Interested contributors will shape the brainstorming, sort stuff out, and eventually get a complete overview of the project. Number 3 is also important. Maybe there should be an "enlist" tab where users can enlist and say what they want to do to help with the project. It's important that this section is kept clutter-free and cleaned up. Ideally, the creator of the idea should be able to make a "wanted" list of what kind of contributor he needs like "electronics designer", "3D artist", "expert on vacuuming technology ( )". I would not leave all this to a single "describe your idea" page. Most people are probably not going to read through the whole page anyways (I'm amazed you just read this post all the way until here, well done!!). But if there's a section where you can quickly see what kind of contribution is wanted, then you might just think "hey I can do that, why not?". Yikes, now I really have to get back to work o.O

Hi community I know there's lots of threads about this already, but I didn't find anything about my particular problem. So here it is: Assembling my UM, I noticed the part where it says "the spring should be about 11 mm long" (not the actual formulation but I guess you know what I mean). So I screwed the thing in until the bolt couldn't be turned any more. My guess is the bolt just reached the end of the thread. Still, my extruder drive spring is like 15-16mm long. The printer works finde, didn't have any serious problems yet. The tension seems pretty stiff, but still I'm curious whether this is normal or not. I'm using the UM version shipped in July 2013 (for now I guess it's the newest one). I took the bolt with the length it said to (30mm). So, what should I do? I could just use a shorter bolt and get my 11mm. But then I don't know if there would be too much tension because there's quite some pressure on the plastic parts already and I don't want to break anything. Btw, I also noticed that the Extruder drive motor can't be locked onto the wooden part tightly. The bolts are too long... (I noticed that when the motor started to vibrate and roar like crazy) Is there something off with the assembly instructions? I feel like I should have used shorter bolts but I'm sure I used what it said in the description. Thanks for the help!

Heizen diese Silikon-Pads eigentlich schön gleichmässig? Die sehen nach ner richtig guten Lösung aus. Ich versuche es zwar gerade auf einem anderen Weg, scheint aber kaum mehr Vorteile gegenüber Silikon zu haben...

So when do we get to order the shirts? Jonny want T-Shirt!! /edit Congratz Charlotte, really nice design!

Lol, that's some way of making sure nobody buys the stuff o.O I'll see how well the resistors perform. I like the idea of having multiple heater channels, that gives me the chance to eliminate power fluctuations on the PSU (stacked PWM). The Silicone Heater could be a really good alternatice though, as you don't need another PSU for it, making it the cheapest overall solution...

That's fine. I'm busy creating a heatbed / fan controller at the moment so I can wait with the plate (yay that rhymed).

Hi Sander I'd rather replace the fans with actual quality components than the same ones that may work well for some time, but probably not for long. But that's not a problem for me, I'm used to this with computer cooling fans... Thanks! I hope something comes out of this. I'm sure you get a very good price for the stock fans, but imho that's not worth the trouble many users will have with the fans. Maybe make a poll and ask the others if they'd be willing to pay more for the kit and get industrial grade fans? ----------- I didn't take this one (hot-end) apart, but it's the same noise like another fan made. That one, I actually took apart. It's quite easy to recognise because you hear the difference when you move the fan (and the hot-end does move all the time). Whenever the hot-end changes it's direction, the balls that were spinning in circles round the bearing will break up their circle and bounce around for a short time. Then they start circling again. The electronics fan is different, I don't know about that one's bearing. I'll take a look at it when I have a replacement

That did it, thanks! Man, now I have to get to work with my designs /edit: If I click on the YM logo in my sig, it opens YM in the same window. Can this be changed to open a new window (html code should allow that definition)? I'd prefer it that way so you don't lose the UM forum when browsing...

Thanks for the info. I don't know about the thermal adhesive yet, but I should be able to go up to 150°C, although that's the maximum rating for the resistors. So it would probably be safer to set the maximum to 140°C. If that's enough for every printing material, then I'm happy These silicone heaters look interesting, but they're expensive. So maybe my solution may still be of value to someone else (IF it works....).

Awesome!! Thanks a lot

Seems I'm too stupid for this :mrgreen: Or maybe it doesn't work yet? Btw: I don't have any designs uploaded yet, maybe that's the problem?