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<!--Generated by Squarespace Site Server v5.9.2 (http://www.squarespace.com/) on Thu, 11 Mar 2010 23:31:42 GMT--><rdf:RDF xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#" xmlns:rss="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/" xmlns:admin="http://webns.net/mvcb/" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:cc="http://web.resource.org/cc/"><rss:channel rdf:about="http://www.freeasinsteins.com/journal/"><rss:title>Journal</rss:title><rss:link>http://www.freeasinsteins.com/journal/</rss:link><rss:description></rss:description><dc:language>en-US</dc:language><dc:date>2010-03-11T23:31:42Z</dc:date><admin:generatorAgent rdf:resource="http://www.squarespace.com/">Squarespace Site Server v5.9.2 (http://www.squarespace.com/)</admin:generatorAgent><rss:items><rdf:Seq><rdf:li rdf:resource="http://www.freeasinsteins.com/journal/2009/11/24/building-an-abs-build-base-cross-posted-to-builders.html"/><rdf:li rdf:resource="http://www.freeasinsteins.com/journal/2009/10/27/the-transmission-effect.html"/><rdf:li rdf:resource="http://www.freeasinsteins.com/journal/2009/10/12/using-a-reprap-to-make-adult-objects-aka-things-for-sexy-tim.html"/><rdf:li rdf:resource="http://www.freeasinsteins.com/journal/2009/10/4/adjusting-pid-controller-for-the-heater.html"/><rdf:li rdf:resource="http://www.freeasinsteins.com/journal/2009/10/2/reprap-firmware-and-g-code-fun-if-by-fun-i-mean-madness-indu.html"/><rdf:li rdf:resource="http://www.freeasinsteins.com/journal/2009/9/18/im-gonna-print-more-printers.html"/><rdf:li rdf:resource="http://www.freeasinsteins.com/journal/2009/9/14/bits-from-bytes-reprap-working.html"/><rdf:li rdf:resource="http://www.freeasinsteins.com/journal/2009/8/21/designing-reprap-circuits-to-be-printable-pt1-dip-chips-as-r.html"/><rdf:li rdf:resource="http://www.freeasinsteins.com/journal/2009/8/1/and-nowa-brief-update.html"/><rdf:li rdf:resource="http://www.freeasinsteins.com/journal/2009/4/28/printable-parts-for-a-3d-scanner.html"/></rdf:Seq></rss:items></rss:channel><rss:item rdf:about="http://www.freeasinsteins.com/journal/2009/11/24/building-an-abs-build-base-cross-posted-to-builders.html"><rss:title>Building an ABS build base (cross posted to builders)</rss:title><rss:link>http://www.freeasinsteins.com/journal/2009/11/24/building-an-abs-build-base-cross-posted-to-builders.html</rss:link><dc:creator>[Your Name Here]</dc:creator><dc:date>2009-11-24T11:04:18Z</dc:date><dc:subject></dc:subject><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>During my early attempts to get my Bits from Bytes machine printing, I ended up burning a rather nasty hole into my build base when I accidentally left the machine alone with the extruder still hot. So i decided to build another cover over that one in order to protect it that would stop any more damage to the base. Simon Kirkby found a source of ABS and built a platform for his makerbot and I decided to take it full size, so it also provides a very strong ABS-ABS bond for my rafts. After 3 months of using that one it ended up too warped and damaged to use. But then that was the point, because it didn't damage the acrylic.<br /><br />So with the help of Trent Lloyd I made a new one and filmed the process(Trent did a great job with the camera as well as editing the whole thing together, removing most of my pointless rambling and mistakes when we made this, though obviously plenty still remains). If you look carefully in the background you'll see some guys assembling the extruder for a makerbot in the background.<br /><br /> 
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&lt;object width="560" height="340"&gt;&lt;param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/zVwEKUsaeq8&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1&amp;"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/zVwEKUsaeq8&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1&amp;" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;/object&gt;<br /><br /><br />Apologies if it gets a little confusing. I realized while we made it that due to all the glue being used, it wasn't really viable to do multiple takes if we glued it down properly, so we never ended up glueing the ABS sheet down. If you can keep track of when it's supposed to be on and off then it should all makes sense. Also, you may wish to glue down your sheet before you drill the holes, we made this in a hurry and I possibly explained that part out of order. Either way, hopefully this will help people with making their build platforms from ABS and wood. Expect a new one one how to do this with the mendel within a month or two.<br /><br />Shameless plugs: This was filmed at the Perth Artifactory's (www.theartifactory.org) reprap night which occurs every second monday, next night is on December 7th. Our Mendel is flying out of my machine as fast as I can orient the stl's and print them, slowed only by the need for sleep, machine malfunctions and the demands from my boss to work.<br /><br />The perth local reprap site is found at http://www.reprap-wa.org . We run a somewhat quiet mailing list currently at http://groups.google.com.au/group/reprap-wa. And I update occasionally on my reprap blog at www.freeasinsteins.com (get the joke?)<br /><br />Teaser: The artifactory has decided to assemble our mendel in a single day, something we will do with a webcam running the whole time. If our internet gets running we'll webcast this, but at the very least we'll have a time-lapse of it being made for you all to see. If we web-cast we'll announce here first.<br /><br />-Peter "letsburn00" Hillier <br /><br /></p>]]></content:encoded></rss:item><rss:item rdf:about="http://www.freeasinsteins.com/journal/2009/10/27/the-transmission-effect.html"><rss:title>The transmission effect</rss:title><rss:link>http://www.freeasinsteins.com/journal/2009/10/27/the-transmission-effect.html</rss:link><dc:creator>[Your Name Here]</dc:creator><dc:date>2009-10-27T12:11:00Z</dc:date><dc:subject></dc:subject><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>For starters, there is now a working dedicated WA reprap mailing list at http://groups.google.com.au/group/reprap-wa</p>
<p>There is also a reprap WA website, set up by Daniel Harmsworth. It includes a maker list (mainly focussing on Reprap's and makerbots) http://www.reprap-wa.org</p>
<p>Reprap meetings continue every 2 weeks at the artifactory, next one is 2nd of november.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>I recently managed to get my firmware issues aside, the final solution to make it all work was:</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Motherboard firmware V1.4</p>
<p>Extruder firmware V1.6</p>
<p>Replicatorg 008</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>The old problem basically was that after a layer or two the entire machine's steppers would simply stop sending g-code (or more likely it would send a start spurt then send no more).I went to this firmware setting and it worked perfectly.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Then recently it would just stop working again(after I printed a few things). Current main theory is motor issues (I swapped out motors, but I had an issue a few minutes before that so thats up in the air.) or possibly some wierd thing going on with replicatorg. I'll report back when I've cracked it.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Anyway, when I'd fixed the problem and everything was working perfectly I made this. It was when I was printing off the very first part of the artifactories mendel.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
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<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Enjoy!</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Also, a website for the artifactory at</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>-Peter "Letsburn00" Hillier</p>]]></content:encoded></rss:item><rss:item rdf:about="http://www.freeasinsteins.com/journal/2009/10/12/using-a-reprap-to-make-adult-objects-aka-things-for-sexy-tim.html"><rss:title>Using a reprap to make adult objects( aka things for sexy times)</rss:title><rss:link>http://www.freeasinsteins.com/journal/2009/10/12/using-a-reprap-to-make-adult-objects-aka-things-for-sexy-tim.html</rss:link><dc:creator>[Your Name Here]</dc:creator><dc:date>2009-10-12T14:41:10Z</dc:date><dc:subject></dc:subject><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Essentually every time that the reprap is brough up as a news story, at least one comment says "it'll soon be used for sex toys".</p>
<p>Yes....yes it will.</p>
<p>It's a simple fact the when it comes to technology, two things really can drive a new technologies development. Violence and sex.</p>
<p>Violence generally is an unpleasant thing by pretty much universal agreement, and frankly the reprap is about making the world a better place. Yes violence gave us better Radar,plenty of malaria meds,jets and nuclear power but we'd rather be avoiding that for the reprap, a sentiment that pretty much everyone agrees on in the reprap community.</p>
<p>And onto sex...it is truely an awesome thing. And people often like a little assistance for either when they're with another person(known by the technical term of "it's business time" or going solo. As long as it doesn't overtake the rest of your life, sex is just an awesome thing generally. And when it comes to assistance, it can sometime cost alot of money and time to find the thing that suits yourself (or your partner) perfectly. Something isn't quite long enough? That Bulge isn't is quite the right place? Just edit the original file and have another go. Thingiverse does not allow sex stuff on it (for a reason, probably so the site won't be thrown in with porn sites on filters)</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Anyway, the current reprap is unable to directly make anything thats safe for use inside of a person (outside is another issue, but we won't get into that). So how can it be used. Quite simply in fact. Just print yourself a mould and fill it with the right type of rubber resin or medical grade silicon (there are plenty of website which describe this, source the actual material from them).</p>
<p>Anyway, onto the pictures, I haven't made it yet, but this is a proof of concept. You print two of these and then screw the two pieces together then fill into the open end. It's actually a very short piece, about 9cm long, mostly because I wanted to reduce warping and to make it makerbotable.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span class="full-image-block ssNonEditable"><span><img src="http://www.freeasinsteins.com/storage/mold side.JPG?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1255360692079" alt="" /></span></span></p>
<p>The stl file can be found <a href="http://www.freeasinsteins.com/storage/dildomold1.stl">here</a></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Major factors in printing this is:</p>
<p>-Don't bother giving it a high fill, fill it to the minimum that will work and be done with it. I'm having a go at printing with .15 fill and seeing if this works.</p>
<p>-Make sure the whole thing is watertight. I recommend pulling back the speed of your print by 1-3mm because this will make the whole build much more watertight to keep either the silicon or rubber in it's place while it sets. Another method to ensure a solid watertight piece is to adjust your layer thickness. If the piece isn't watertight, try getting the piece and lowering the thickness by .01 or .02 mm. This will often show up as a much stronger bond.</p>
<p>-If you simply bolting 4 of these together you could make a much more reasonably sized piece, simply build a hole along it's long axis would work, though warping would effect it a bit.</p>
<p>-This design is only suitable for vaginal use(if used for that, see next point for my little legal disclaimer). It's base is not flared and thus would be easily lost if use anally</p>
<p>-I offer no guarentees or recomendations for the use of this file. If it's illegal to make or sell sex toys where you live (sadly this is true even in some modern countries) then I recomend you don't do it. Also This is legally a novelty item and for legal reasons I cannot recommend that they get used for their obvious use.</p>
<p>-Have lots of fun with this.</p>
<p>And cos I feel like saying it again....it's business time!</p>]]></content:encoded></rss:item><rss:item rdf:about="http://www.freeasinsteins.com/journal/2009/10/4/adjusting-pid-controller-for-the-heater.html"><rss:title>Adjusting PID controller for the heater</rss:title><rss:link>http://www.freeasinsteins.com/journal/2009/10/4/adjusting-pid-controller-for-the-heater.html</rss:link><dc:creator>[Your Name Here]</dc:creator><dc:date>2009-10-04T10:15:30Z</dc:date><dc:subject></dc:subject><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>The makerbot version 1.6 firmware includes a PID controller. This is designed based on a makerbot extruder, which used nicrome and kapton tape.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<div class="PhorumReadBodyText">I use a combination of 2 5 Watt ceramic resistors and fire cement (all wrapped up in PTFE tape) for my rebuilt BfB extruder(it's hard to find insulated nichrome in Australian electronic stores). Normally if it was running at room temperature I would need about 10 seconds before it started to show any effect in repg and (ie the lag between the ceramic heaters and the thermistor is pretty big) so my range would be around 235-255(probably much higher) for a setting of 250. <br /> <br />Running the PID enabled makerbot firmware I've found that for something with such a large mass and time lag then I needed to adjust the PID settings. The effect was that it would tend to sit about 5-10 degree's below the set point because it would stop driving as hard a little too low. I adjusted the PID settings and now it runs pretty much perfectly, with it floating at 248-250.</div>
<div class="PhorumReadBodyText"><br />The original settings were:</div>
<div class="PhorumReadBodyText"></div>
<div class="PhorumReadBodyText">+#define TEMP_PID_INTEGRAL_DRIVE_MAX 110<br />+#define TEMP_PID_PGAIN 5.0<br />+#define TEMP_PID_IGAIN 0.1<br />+#define TEMP_PID_DGAIN 100.0</div>
<div class="PhorumReadBodyText"></div>
<div class="PhorumReadBodyText">My settings are: <br /> <br /> #define TEMP_PID_INTEGRAL_DRIVE_MAX 120 <br /> #define TEMP_PID_PGAIN 8.5 <br /> #define TEMP_PID_IGAIN 0.13 <br /> #define TEMP_PID_DGAIN 30 <br /> <br />Basically what I did was increase the max drive a little (more to make initial warmup a bit faster for me, i'm not running the motor at this point anyway so it won't really have that much of an effect). I then drove the PID more towards a PI controller than a PID. I've found that this controller works when the dominant effect is loss of heat. At low temperatures (I tried it at 150C) then the weakened derivative controller really has an effect and it see saws alot (it really moved around in a range of 135 to 165 and was all over the place). But I've found that at higher temperatures with a lot of heat loss then there is much less fluctuation and the stability is great. <br /> <br />BfB's wiki page on Gcodes already defines an M code which is made to change the PID controller variables. This would make tuning much easier so I'm having a go at simply making these an M code that the extruder can understand with a quick patch to the firmware.</div>
<div class="PhorumReadBodyText"></div>
<div class="PhorumReadBodyText">-Peter Hillier</div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>]]></content:encoded></rss:item><rss:item rdf:about="http://www.freeasinsteins.com/journal/2009/10/2/reprap-firmware-and-g-code-fun-if-by-fun-i-mean-madness-indu.html"><rss:title>Reprap Firmware and G-code fun (if by fun I mean madness inducement)</rss:title><rss:link>http://www.freeasinsteins.com/journal/2009/10/2/reprap-firmware-and-g-code-fun-if-by-fun-i-mean-madness-indu.html</rss:link><dc:creator>[Your Name Here]</dc:creator><dc:date>2009-10-02T14:27:55Z</dc:date><dc:subject></dc:subject><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Last few weeks I've been printing on and on and on. My main problem has been getting my extruder to work properly. I rebuilt it and now it's working fine. Now a huge firmware/Gcode problem has appeared.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>I build and it all works fine...then suddenly at somewhere between 1 and 10 layers in it just stops working. My steppers stop working, but my extruder just keeps running and a huge blog just appears under the stuck extruder. At the end of a normal build the M103 command is sent to the machine which turns off the extruder. What happens now is that the machine just stops. I usually turn it off as soon as I can, though I've left it for 30 seconds during a crash once when I was out washing the dishes during a build.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>A vaugely similar problem occured a while ago when using firmware 1.4 in that the machine would turn off the extruder, but keep on working. It was as if the host machine just stopped sending M101 signals. I downgraded to 1.2 and the problem vanished. But even using that same 1.2 firmware this problem just kept occuring. I tried upgrading to 1.4 and the problem just kept on, then I tried doing a run entirely from SD card. I tried this and the same problem occured (though this time it didn't crash until it got to layer 10 or so, while from cable it was crashing at 2-5).</p>
<p>Anyway, given that my extruder has been rather shonky, and I want to make myself a new extruder. This is for two reasons, the first is to take advantage of the nophead developments. summed up, it's better to use steel and a heat sink instead of PTFE. This is combined with a short heating region to make the whole thing work better.</p>
<p>The second reason is to finally get around to running my series of extruder experiments where I mess around with extruder diameter. I want to up the speed as much as I can for printing main parts and I want to see what the effect of a 1mm extrusion diameter is. I've already thought up how to do a strength test and it should be interesting.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>A search for materials continues of course. ABS and PLA in australia is difficult to say the least.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Getting the Gcode from 3D to 5D</p>
<p>The main problem with getting this process to work is getting the gen 3 extruder working. It runs via stepper motor that can't be run using the makerbot firmware, or at least it's very difficult and noone on the forums has worked it out. Hense we need to use the normal official firmware Made by Adrian Bowyer and the Bath reprap team. This needs 5d Gcode, which does not have any M code and that data is mixed in with the Gcode. The basic difference is that the 5D code has more processing done before it gets to the firmware. Skeinforge is currently only working in 3D Gcode, and I personally very much like skeinforge and how it works (at least now that I've gotten my head around the program).<a href="http://blog.erikdebruijn.nl/"> Erick debruijn</a>&nbsp; has developed a code that is written in php which converts this gcode into 5d gcode. For the life of me I can't work out how to use the script though. I've learnt how to make a php server that I can run locally (I use WAMP server which is nice and open source, it gives the same result as a closed source program I tried later) but all I can make the php script do is spit out a single out GCode file which is about 10 lines long which mostly has settings listed. I think that I can mess around with the output file name, but searching through the code I can't work out where to put in the input Gcode into the script.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>In a completely unrelated area,<a href="http://www.theartifactory.org"> the artifactory </a>has been set up pretty well and things are now going really well with it all. I'm using our drill press quite alot in making my new extruder barrels.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>-Peter Hillier</p>]]></content:encoded></rss:item><rss:item rdf:about="http://www.freeasinsteins.com/journal/2009/9/18/im-gonna-print-more-printers.html"><rss:title>I'm gonna print more printers</rss:title><rss:link>http://www.freeasinsteins.com/journal/2009/9/18/im-gonna-print-more-printers.html</rss:link><dc:creator>[Your Name Here]</dc:creator><dc:date>2009-09-18T04:31:03Z</dc:date><dc:subject></dc:subject><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Since I got my machine working properly (as opposed to the rather half working way it used to be working that I assumed was just the way things were) I've been printing parts like crazy. I'm at this moment doing a multpile print, where I print two objects with one press of a button. Once this print is done, I'll have all my Y axid bearing mounts. Oh, and kudos to VIk for<a href="http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:921"> redesigning the reprap mounts to make it all </a>much easier to build.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>My current findings.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>1. The fan is not needed for most small parts. In fact the fan causes huge problems with construction in that it makes parts not bond properly, the side effect being that they will warp very easily as well as tend to detach during printing, but not having the fan running this is avoided. By adding in a cooling time, but not using a fan, the needed cooling is taken care of.by simple contact with the air.</p>
<p>2. When printing, a fill rate of .75 can produce parts that are very very hard. Also useful to know is that by setting the build nozzle size in skeinforge you can alter the strength of parts. Major settings that really alter the strength are.</p>
<p>-The build speed, setting it above your extrusion speed really causes problems with inter-layer bonding. It looks the same as having temperature set too low, but isn't. (According to Simon Kirkby, he had the same effect from when his machine was set to too low a temperature)</p>
<p>-The nozzle diameter setting. Although this would appear to be a physical setting that you just set and forget, it's basic that the higher your nozzle&nbsp; setting then the fast you build, but weaker you find the resulting materials. If the nozzle is set big then the head rises just enough for the material to spread and when it does it tends to spread out a little, this makes it bond much better then just having the edge of the filament touching.</p>
<p>-Setting to a high temperature doesn't really hurt things, especially when I built my machine to have an ultra rugged resistor heater. A resistor heater is a little more bulky, but is basically much easier to use when heating, given I'm pretty sure that the larger surface area that contacts the melt chamber gives the whole thing lots of energy when operating. Wrapping the whole heater in PTFE (AKA teflon) really helps the thing work well. In order to get higher temperatures, you simply need to mess around a little bit with the firmware heat sensors. You'll find that the original values supplied with reprap gen 3 firmware might be a little off. Simply adjust them a little by getting the mython program on the site and tweak the values a little so that it generates numbers that mean that a certain reading of resistance is assumed to be a reading that is a bit lower. As long as you remember that a reading of 220 is really a readying of 235. This helps you get around the max value of 255 temperature that the firmware has(It probably could be gotten around, but given this is the max of a power of 2, I'm worried it'll cause problems with overflow.</p>
<p>3. The use of the Old solarbotics GM3 (though the one that came with my reprap seemed to have been mis-sized vs a normal gm3.) Has the problem of not lasting very long. Fortunately, while the motor quickly burns out, the gearbox works fine ever after multiple motors have gone through it. I'm still printing a new extruder as a high priority though. I've worked out how to jerry rig new motors pretty fast though, so it shouldn't be a problem in the near future, I bought a dozen new motors anyway online for like $2 each.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>]]></content:encoded></rss:item><rss:item rdf:about="http://www.freeasinsteins.com/journal/2009/9/14/bits-from-bytes-reprap-working.html"><rss:title>Bits from Bytes reprap working</rss:title><rss:link>http://www.freeasinsteins.com/journal/2009/9/14/bits-from-bytes-reprap-working.html</rss:link><dc:creator>[Your Name Here]</dc:creator><dc:date>2009-09-14T11:07:03Z</dc:date><dc:subject></dc:subject><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>For the past 6 months, I've been trying to get my bits fromy bytes reprap to properly print. I thought I was close to this when I blew my electronics about 4 months ago. Since then I've been trying to get electronics to work and to alter the software to get printing at any level of normalicy.</p>
<p>Today I tried tightening two screws on my extruder by a single full turn.</p>
<p>My reprap now works absolutely fantastically and great, still trying to get the sceinforge settings perfect (it turns out my last months of altering them was wasted time. The first part (a shot glass) I tried after the print worked perfectly well.</p>
<p>So today we learnt exactly why bits from bytes discontinued the version 2 extruder. Because tightening two screws to be about 1 mm tighter can cost you 6 months of wasted experimentation.<a id="inlineSaveTarget" class="button button-important " onclick="this.blur(); Squarespace.ConfigurationTray.issue('save');; return false;" onmouseout="this.blur();" href="javascript:noop()"></a></p>]]></content:encoded></rss:item><rss:item rdf:about="http://www.freeasinsteins.com/journal/2009/8/21/designing-reprap-circuits-to-be-printable-pt1-dip-chips-as-r.html"><rss:title>Designing reprap circuits to be printable Pt1- DIP chips as replacement for Surface Mount</rss:title><rss:link>http://www.freeasinsteins.com/journal/2009/8/21/designing-reprap-circuits-to-be-printable-pt1-dip-chips-as-r.html</rss:link><dc:creator>[Your Name Here]</dc:creator><dc:date>2009-08-21T10:24:33Z</dc:date><dc:subject></dc:subject><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Special note: A printable circuit will not be more efficient, or smaller or easier to make or use. Making printed curcuits is more an exercise given the ojectives of self replication. Using the SM electronics from makerbot or others will probably always be an easier method. Designing circuits for printing is alot of work for not too much advantage apart from getting closer to the theoretical replication point. This design will be similar to the Gen 2 electronics(I crimped the old chips from there), only as a single large board for extruder and motherboard each as per the 3rd gen.<br />circuit<br />Anyway, now that we've thrown any idea of ease of production of simplicity aside, on to the semi-pointless exercise.<br /><br />I've been working on gathering together a list of parts for the motherboard and extruder board that are DIP(through hole) as well as SM(surface mount). The current boards work ok (though my extruder board is currently experiencing huge problems, for some unknown reason. Which is what put me down this path) but some of the parts are only listed as available for SM. Usually in the SOIC design. The ATMEGA chips all come in some sort of DIP version, but others do not or there is some slight variation in the name.<br /><br />The reason I'm looking for DIP over SM/SOIC is because printable circuits should be the objective within the short and long term future for the project. The exact spec for solder printing hasn't been released yet by Adrian (one of his final yr students worked it out, but the needs of marking rules meant he couldn't release the report immediately), but looking at the closeup photos from the blog post I'd guess that the channels are all at least 2mm wide(guessed from the grain in the photos, seem to be about 4 layers across). It's always safe to double to needed precision on a real machine. Thus the best resolution would be about 4mm (DIP chip spaces are often around 8-9 mm, leaving us space for channel seperation). This is too fine for SMT but fine for most DIP parts. Thus DIP is the way to go for printed curcuits until we get the quality way up.<br /><br />I was originally just going to design the circuits themselves as stl's, but ran into the obvious troubles with replacement chips.<br /><br />Solder would be used for now as the curcuit conductor. The problem of high resistance in solder is an issue, but for now I'll ignore it.<br /><br />The biggest problem (and in fact was the reason they went to SM originally a year ago) is replacing the A3949 chip. The old L293D chip has a much lower amps capacity than the A3949 chip(it would blow up constantly, and was a constant headache in my machine last year, due to it's low ampage capacity) and needed an additional logic chip. The only way out of this problem that I can see is either replace it with a LMD18200 chip(which is the same as a L293D chip, just higher capacity for amps), or to essentually expand the entire L293D chip out with transistors, and do the same with the logic chip. It is essentually a large array of diodes and mosfet(dmos) or other type of transistor chips(we would need 4 for the chip, and 4 more for logic control of one motor at least). These would take up alot of area, but if we are only using one of them, it wouldn't be especially difficult, just time consuming to build/print.<br /><br />Anyway, the list thus far for the extruder board, which is what I'm working on(I'm 90% sure it's my RS485 that's not working properly, but can't figure out why not). Things like resistors and capacitors I assume can be very easily replaced and are not listed.<br /><br />Note: 4 stars(****) indicates it's the exact same chip,or is the same chip, just with a different sizing spec<br /><br />Current chip used replacement chip/original chip <br />ATMEGA168 ATMEGA168****<br />SN75176A SN75176AP****<br />7805 7805****<br />NIF5002N (5003) TIP120<br />A3949 LMD 18200 or L293D expanded chip (add logic chip as well)<br /><br />Chip by chip issues:<br />7805- This is the voltage regulator, it tends to generate heat. Hense they may need a heatsink. However, this appears to be a component that is very common and is not made by just one producer. The reason for this is that some parts need 5V, some parts need 12V.<br /><br />NIF 5002N(there is some confusion here, since NIF5002 are whats on the board and spec, and whats supplied with kits, but 5003 is what described on the wiki page) these are made to take 42V and 20 amps(though the website for the chip on onsemi.com says they can only take 2 amps, not 20. Can someone please look into this. http://www.onsemi.com/PowerSolutions/product.do?id=NIF5002N , the spec seems to match the chips I got from makerbot, as well as the photo on the wiki. Are these the same chips? if they are, then they can only take 2 amps, not 20 and the wiki has a minor type). The TIP ones replacing it can only take 60 V and 5 amps. Plus there seems to be a slightly different design basis, given that the NIF's have 4 connectors, while the TIFS have only 3. Can someone see if there has been any major design change based on this. As far as I can see, the basic design is unchanged from the PWM board. The NIF's main advantage is the removal of a resistor(on the signal section) and a diode(on the power) from the board. They also have some sort of safety advantage, though I'm not sure if this is really part of our system (I've managed to blow my heater circuit by accidentally contacting it with the thermistor, hense why i'm trying to figure out a way to produce this system)<br /><br />A3949- As stated above, this chip gives by far the biggest headache. Apart from expanding the old Gen 2 chips outwards, I don't see an easy way to get around the problem. the A3949 chip is a great chip given it's high amps and inbuilt processing etc, but is only available as Surface mount, and is too fine to be fited in a printable circuit. The LMD18200 is pretty expensive, and expanding out the L293D chip with higher amp parts would be annoying.</p>]]></content:encoded></rss:item><rss:item rdf:about="http://www.freeasinsteins.com/journal/2009/8/1/and-nowa-brief-update.html"><rss:title>And now...a brief update</rss:title><rss:link>http://www.freeasinsteins.com/journal/2009/8/1/and-nowa-brief-update.html</rss:link><dc:creator>[Your Name Here]</dc:creator><dc:date>2009-08-01T15:06:39Z</dc:date><dc:subject></dc:subject><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Apologies readers, but the project has been on the backburner for a little while, but no longer. Just a quick update before things get crazy with the posts here. I'm currently unemployed (damn mining collapse) but have made the reprap my job for the next few weeks. So the designs will be coming thick and fast soon.</p>
<p>Updates are:</p>
<p>The Perth hacklab is definately getting extremely close to coming about. Go to our website at http://hacklabperth.org for my details. When it gets going, I plan on being a major part of the groups educational segment. I'll be working on the reprap group, and the arduino microcontroller group.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.thingiverse.com">thingiverse site</a> is filling up with data pretty quickly with plenty of stuff, among the most promising is a lasercuttable <a href="http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:8020">high power electric motor</a>. It's a first generation, but as a proof of concept it's great.</p>
<p>Simon Kirkby is doing some great stuff with his makerbot, and is currently the main person doing actual major printing in perth given I've been a little distracted with an Extruder re-design. Him and I are going to work together on more R&amp;D work on the reprap system. Our current next major project looks to be experiments on running larger bore extruders and seeing the effect of them on both build speed and strength. After that it's parallel heads time.</p>
<p>I'm currently doing alot of messing around with using resistors as heating instead of nichrome wire, since this is alot safer than nichrome. More info soon.</p>
<p>The 3d scanner design I had as my last post will be updated with a version 2. If anyone wants to have a look at it, please give me any ideas on it's improvement. I prefer zero overhang designs which are millable and printable, but any ideas are welcome.</p>
<p>As always, if anyone wants to make a post, email me and I'll get back to you ASAP.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>-Peter "letsburn00" Hillier</p>]]></content:encoded></rss:item><rss:item rdf:about="http://www.freeasinsteins.com/journal/2009/4/28/printable-parts-for-a-3d-scanner.html"><rss:title>Printable parts for a 3d scanner</rss:title><rss:link>http://www.freeasinsteins.com/journal/2009/4/28/printable-parts-for-a-3d-scanner.html</rss:link><dc:creator>[Your Name Here]</dc:creator><dc:date>2009-04-28T11:32:32Z</dc:date><dc:subject></dc:subject><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>A basic method is described for how to produce a basic 3d scanner was described on the instructables website a few years ago. It has popped up in the forums a million times, and there are some programs out there that will do a similar job.</p>
<p><object width="425" height="425" align="middle"><param name="movie" value="http://www.instructables.com/static/flash/viewer.swf"></param><param name="quality" value="high"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><param name="FlashVars" value="title=3-D-Laser-Scanner"></param><embed src="http://www.instructables.com/static/flash/viewer.swf" quality="high" bgcolor="#ffffff" width="425" height="425" align="middle" allowScriptAccess="always" wmode="transparent" FlashVars="title=3-D-Laser-Scanner" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer"></embed></object><br /><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://www.instructables.com/id/3-D-Laser-Scanner/">3-D Laser Scanner</a> - <a href="http://www.instructables.com/">More DIY How To Projects</a></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>The basic needs for this method are described essentually as</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>1. The object itself. (you're got it if you want to scan it right?)</p>
<p>2. A laser pointer (cheap and easy to get)</p>
<p>3. a wine glass or something similar (cheap and easy to get)</p>
<p>4. a webcam or something you can use to make a movie file (relatively easy to get and cheap these days)</p>
<p>5. The image processor program (this uses matlab, but the comments include references to the <a href="http://www.david-laserscanner.com/">david 3d scanner</a>, which is freeware. You can also use the blender apparently. There is someone doing their PHD on this topic, hopefully a full integrated program will do this in future, but for now these programs work)</p>
<p>6. A rotating turntable. (this one is more dificult than they make it in the video)</p>
<p>Given this method has already been described, I figured I'd design up a turntable system that is reprap printable that you can put the object on, then follow this method to get some good 3d scans. Every part that is printable contains absolutely zero overhang, but is all smaller than 10cm by 10cm by 10cm. I know the reprap can print overhang, but in order to also make this machine producible by milling and the makerbot I did it this way. A side effect is that it is probably bigger than it has to be.</p>
<p>The electronics to run it is basically just the old DC motor drive curcuit. The motor I left a hole for was sized for the same motor we used in the extruder. While designing it, I didn't include a spot for an encoder piece or for it to be bolted in, so it will just fit relatively loosely into it's slot and push against the wall when it's driving the motor. I know you can get the motor without an encoder, and in this case it's probably not needed. I'll write up some code soon, which will simply be the gen 2 DC motor tester program for arduino with some minor modifications so it just goes up to speed and stays there.</p>
<p>The basic method of design is: DC motor drives a small gear, this gear drives a larger gear (which runs slower than the DC motor spins). The Larger gear has a rotating table on top of it that you can place your object to be scanned. The large gear rests on a bearing that allows free rotation. I used m8 bolts and nuts to keep everything locked into place</p>
<p>I've delierately designed the entire thing so that everything has relativey low needs for quality. For instance, the m8 holes are actually 82mm instead of 80mm. That said, before any printing is done, I recommend people who are better at designing look over things. The part I'm most worried about is the gears. Each are just simple triangle gears and probably can be fixed to work better.</p>
<p>And onto the design pictures themselves!</p>
<p><span class="thumbnail-image-block ssNonEditable"><span><a href="javascript:showFullImage('/display/ShowImage?imageUrl=%2Fstorage%2Fall%2520together.JPG%3F__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION%3D1240920832014',455,749);"><img src="http://www.freeasinsteins.com/storage/thumbnails/3455740-2975046-thumbnail.jpg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1240920832015" alt="" /></a></span></span></p>
<p>Now this is how it looks in a pretty exploded view</p>
<p><span class="thumbnail-image-block ssNonEditable"><span><a href="javascript:showFullImage('/display/ShowImage?imageUrl=%2Fstorage%2Fexploded%2520from%2520above%2520as%2520jpg.JPG%3F__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION%3D1240920884186',454,733);"><img src="http://www.freeasinsteins.com/storage/thumbnails/3455740-2975047-thumbnail.jpg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1240920884187" alt="" /></a></span></span></p>
<p>If you're confused, below is more detail and each part pointed out</p>
<p><span class="thumbnail-image-block ssNonEditable"><span><a href="javascript:showFullImage('/display/ShowImage?imageUrl=%2Fstorage%2Fexploded%2520from%2520below.JPG%3F__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION%3D1240920990826',531,662);"><img src="http://www.freeasinsteins.com/storage/thumbnails/3455740-2975048-thumbnail.jpg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1240920990827" alt="" /></a></span></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Ok, got that? I've uploaded the 5 printable parts to the reprap site. The non printable parts are</p>
<p>1 &nbsp; &nbsp; 6cm m8 bolt</p>
<p>3&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 3cm m8 bolts</p>
<p>5&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; m8 nuts</p>
<p>1&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; m8 bearing (the same size as used in the reprap)</p>
<p>1&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; DC motor driver, of the same size as gm3. I designed the machine based on the one I got from bits from bytes, not being aware that some others have encoders.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>I hope that this design can be used and improved by everyone. Having a usable, printable turntable should make 3d scanning a bit easier with less work needed by the analysis program.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>-Peter "Letsburn00" Hillier</p>]]></content:encoded></rss:item></rdf:RDF>