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While we're on the subject, I'm just wondering how everyone here connects to their smoothieboards and runs prints. What software do you use, what version of the software? Have you been able to print without keeping the USB connected? It's always been a PITA for me to connect each time, and now that ...

What do you need most in the gear system? Stiffness? Strength? Wear resistance? Temperature resistance? If you have a CNC mill, you might consider milling a circular disc with a few holes near the edges, then printing a gear-ring that slides over the outside and is held in place by the holes. It giv...

I'm a little bit hesitant about the smoothies also. I have four now, one for Rostock Max, one for sherline lathe, one for taig 4 axis mill, and one for my newest big delta. The newest one came without a microSD card, and I got no response when I emailed them about it. It's too bad that the electroni...

Yep, the flexing of the material is what allows the backlash to be taken up. This trimmer line nylon has a modulus of about 1 gpa, normal steel nuts have a modulus of about 200. I was unsure if the design would work until I tested it with a dial indicator. With small nema 23 steppers, it can still d...

They're just plain nuts, the helix is constant and matches the fast travel acme profile. Screws are never perfect, if you take a long enough nut and try to put a threaded rod through it, it will bind. The nuts on this printer are close in tolerances to the screw and they're just long enough so that ...

Hey sorry for not responding recently, my computer died and I haven't had access to one for about a week. I won't be able to do much here for another week or so when I get another computer in. The hotend mount is made from machined aluminum extrusions. I do plan on making them to sell later this yea...

arm jig empty.jpg arm jig arms.jpg I had to make a jig to ensure that all of the delta arms are exactly the same length. I don't have any saws so I can't cut my 0.5 inch CF tubes to equal length. The aluminum ball sockets on each end of each CF tube can slide a bit, and have close concentric tolera...

93,250 watts seems a lot more realistic than the 16,000 in the last post, from the specs I've been reading on military helicopters it seems to be a ratio of at least 375 watts per kilogram, and that's just to get off the ground. I found commercial boat engines that weight around 500 lb for 300 hp. S...

I'm glad you noticed the math too! I wouldn't call them inventors since they made a relatively low quality animation of a flying car. Most attack helicopters have two turboshaft engines, each providing around 1500 to 2500 horsepower. They use two in case one fails or gets blown up ect. A flying car,...

Aww you got me all excited for that. The video preview was low enough resolution that I couldn't see it was CG, I thought for a minute that some east Asian company actually prototyped a flying car! Sooner or later I'll have to build one for myself. How much does a 1000 horsepower turboshaft engine g...

I'll just ignore the heated bed for now, I'll resume working on it once I have this thing moving and printing. This is what the printer looks like half-assembled next to my Rostock Max V1. big delta next to rostock comparison.jpg This is a close up of a tower. up close tower screw.jpg Notice that it...

That's a nice calculator! I found a table in the video that explains it, shown below; http://hotwirefoamcutterinfo.com/_NiChromeData_files/1_Amperage.jpg http://i.stack.imgur.com/jkJvu.png If I use a solid state relay, I could use the smoothieboard output to the heated bed to control it. The Smoothi...

hot plate stack render annotated.jpg Here is my plan for the heated bed. It's a sheet of PEI on top of a 5/16"x16.75 (8mm thick) Mic-6 plate. I have some wet-and-stick E glass fiber sheets to put between the coil and the conductive aluminum plate, then another glass fiber sheet under that to i...

I have three smoothieboards that I operate on a weekly basis, one on a 4 axis Taig mill, one on a sherline mini lathe and one on my Rostock Max V1. Soon I'll have another on my scratch built delta printer. When you get it, there are only a few things to worry about. First, get some thick gauge wire ...

These are the balls I'm considering. They're 0.375 diameter with 8-32 tapped holes. They come in plain brass and nickel plated brass, shown next to a 3/8 chrome steel ball bearing for comparison. brass ball stud.jpg ball stud compare.jpg Unfortunately the threaded balls are not perfect since they we...

junc deviation.jpg I'm just wondering about that junction deviation thing. In the picture above, suppose the nozzle of the printer is supposed to trace the square corner exactly. Would Smoothie make it trace the curved path or the diagonal path as junction deviation? I'm assuming that setting junct...

Mine is sitting on a small wood coffee table from the 1990s. I put a 2x2 foot 1/2 inch thick EVA foam mat between the printer and the table to reduce resonance from the stepper vibrations. I also have stepper dampers on the Rostock; between the dampers and the foam mat the thing is barely audible. B...

Words are boring, so I'll keep them to a minimum in this thread. I'm building a large Delta printer. Print space is ~17" (430mm) diameter, ~22 inches (550mm) tall. Right now my design is using fast travel precision leadscrews for linear motion, but the frame is compatible with belt/pulley drive...

short roller close.jpg short roller compare close.jpg curve rail profile.jpg I made the new short rollers, about 12 total, since there are 3 rails and each needs 4 rollers. I actually designed the linear carriages for 3 or 4 rollers but I think 4 would be more rigid. Anyway, 4 of the new short roll...

I'll have to do a comparison test sooner or later between the guide rails and the roller thing I'm using now. I changed this design to be lighter and use less material per roller. Total weight of my carriage is a little bit under 300g. I also changed the roller contact points to be fillets rather th...

I thought about getting linear rails for the stiffness and straightness, but they would be quite expensive for the entire printer. Each tower would need 1200mm of rail, plus at least one carriage. The carriages are heavy from what I've heard, and I'm trying to keep the weight to a minimum to allow f...

PTFE creeps really quickly. The surfaces that contact the T slot would flatten out after a few minutes or hours.

Hi, I've been working on making a big delta printer recently, but that's another thread on its own. This one is just about the rollers that will go on it. Pictures first! all 4 types.jpg turning.jpg layout1.jpg profiles.jpg closeup.jpg OK now the write up. My big delta printer uses 15 series T slots...

I saw that thing a while ago. It looks cool and I'm sure some people will get a lot of use out of it. But it's made out of hollow aluminum extrusions and the Z axis is a single bar. It looks like it's only rigid enough to cut foam or maybe plastic with a small tool. Both foam and plastic blocks are ...

Nice design! That's a lot of bolts, stuff must be heavy.

Good thing you used black ABS, hopefully the carbon black or whatever they put in it will prevent UV degradation.