A Tale of two Ender 3’s…
“Bob Ross” and “The Plastics” (TP) were printing surgical mask ‘ear saver’ clips. A friend wanted 40 of them for his audiologist friend as they found they were very helpful for not interfering with hearing aids when using masks. Upon further inspection with a caliper the clip on the right side of the machine (opposite of the Z axis screw) was considerably smaller than the left. Also, in a batch of 5 some variation was exhibited front to back.
In the picture, Bob Ross was printing red and TP was printing purple. Bob Ross fared better but still there was some variation. See part two for details. The X-axis beam on TP was noticeably oblique to the frame.
To make a long story short (See part three for the conclusion) an offset square was developed. It is a little tricky as the important relation is the line formed by the vertical rollers on the z-axis carriage and the extrusion beam that the extruder or X-axis carriage rides on. The mounting screws of the sheet metal pieces to the T-nuts on the extrusion can allow a considerable skew. The parallelism can be accommodated by adjusting the spring loaded tensioners on the heated bed. But once measurements were taken something seemed amiss. (See data analysis in part two.)
THE PUNCH LINE:
The square developed has a facsimile 20×40 rail with a 20×20 extension at the right offset to aid in assembling the roller plate and extrusion in a perpendicular relationship. Once TP was realigned, the next batch of parts looked extremely promising and we are awaiting the results quantitatively.
Stay tuned for Part Two and Part Three where we analyze the data, describe the realignment procedure and test the results!!
Having an effective dust collection system for a CNC router keeps the area clean and chips don’t get a change to foul up the cutting. Pipe and snout pieces were designed in SolidWorks and printed in ABS. The primary nozzle has a T-slot where a flexible brush can be inserted. The system keeps the work surface tremendously clean. Parts were printed on FlashForge Creator and Creator Pro.
Biki is a tweaked design based on O.T. Vinta’s Rubiks Cube solving robot. All constructed of 3D printed ABS minus some fasteners and motors. A significant change from the original was to make the legs in 3 pieces with print orientations to maximize the strength of the various parts. The carrying handle was also not part of the original design. The embossed embellishments were created in SolidWorks. Simplify3D was used to drive various build files for the FlashForge Creator and Rostock Max.
Bob the woodworker has a special flexible brush for spreading glue but it couldn’t reach in the crack of a biscuit slot. We developed a two filament print using Tough Ink filament for the bristles and ABS for the handle. The bristles are about 1/8 inch wide and fit easily in the biscuit groove.The design was done using SolidWorks and Simplify3D makes the work flow of two headed printing streamlined. The part was printed on the FlashForge Creator.
A friend was interested in a Dinosaur bank. We found a Brontosaurus on Thingiverse. The body was hollowed out in Meshmixer and a coin slot was added. The unit was scaled and sliced with Simplify3D. This was a two tone version just to add some variety. The part was printed on the FlashForge Creator in ABS.
At a summer Make Camp we wanted an inexpensive way for the campers to jig up bracelets and other paracord weavings. A clamp for each end was devised that straddled a yard stick for easy sizing. With a trapped screw and nut the ends are easily adjustable to the right point on the yardstick.
