I love seeing new printers Both models are clean. Do you have pictures of objects printed with the MK3 and MK4?
Thanks for the kind words! Most of the things I've printed are either tucked away in some crevices, thrown away or not finished yet but if there is something specific that you'd like me to print to see "what it can do," I'd be happy to try. Today I am upgrading my pulleys to a larger diameter so I'll be printing some test parts to see how well the new pulleys work so if you want to get in on that, that'd be great! -Brian
This is awesome. I have been eyeing those Misumi extrusion box setup. How long did it take for you to get them? Also, I would appreciate your time updating the part list with more information.
Took about a week (in business days) to get whatever I order. I absolutely love Misumi and generally only order my extrusions from them unless I need something specific from 80/20 or the like. My only gripe with Misumi is their ordering process is not very user friendly. I find that most times I have to double and triple check my order before I submit it. As for the extrusion box, my only wish is that they came with some sort of easy to follow diagram on how to build it. The only gripe with these is that they are cut in a fashion that makes it very confusing to build, and not very modular. As far as a parts list, I didn't really keep track of anything, but if there is something particular you are interested in knowing, I can do my best to help you out.
I wonder what you used for the plate that holds the piece currently bring printed. How do you mount it to the z axis? I see that you have some kind of motor plates for the y-axis, did you create those yourself? What nema motors are you using? I don't see much of the electronics? Are they mounted in the back? I assume you are running an Arduino with some driver that outputs g-code to the motors?
A.) The build plate is made from 3 different piece of metal plus a pane of glass. The bottom most has the same hole patterns as the 80mm plate from Openbuilds, the middle plate has just 4 holes that match that pattern to allow for bed leveling and then the top most plate is more like a frame with holes in it such that it can be secured using screws. Then inside that frame is a 8x10 picture frame glass pane from Target for $3. B.) The Z-axis arm is a 20x80 extrusion with half of a slot milled into the one end to allow the z-axis screw to pass through. The only other modification to this part was that I tapped all 4 holes with an M5 tap such that it can be mounted to the 80mm mounting plate from Openbuilds (OB). That plate then rides on two OB rails which are then mounted to another 20x80 extrusion. C.) The X- and Y- axis motor plates were made using my CNC router which I have yet to post but details about it can be found on Shapeoko.com's forums. You really don't need a CNC router to make them, I was just bored/lazy and wanted to. In any case They work very well but if I were to make them again, I would add certain modifications to them so building/disassembling the printer would be easier. D.) The electronics are a RAMPs v1.4 on an Arduino MEGA 2560. Nothing special about that really. I run slic3r with Repitier-Host and Sprinter firmware. Not the best combination in my opinion but I don't know of anything better at this time.
Way to go Brian really nice work on both of these machines! You know your going to have to do two builds!
What size and torque is your Z axis stepper? I am assuming that your build platform is 8x10 from the glass size. I am in the process of building one similar to yours except I will have two Z axis steppers and a 12x18 build platform. With your single motor setup does it ever struggle with bigger/heavier builds?
