Tag Archives: i3 Berlin

3D Printing Projects 201502 – Rostock MAX tool-less home adjust cheapskate plates

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IMG_5344The original home switch dog on the Rostock Max was a long screw that wobbled and interfered with the other pieces and didn’t consistently engage the limit switch. You need a screwdriver to tweak it. We replaced it with a nice engaging, consistent ledge. While we were at it we redesigned the whole cheap skate bearing block into a “banjo” complete with toothed belt clamps. The number of parts was significantly reduced as well. The best part is no tools are required to adjust the home dog location. A screw is used as a micro-adjust and the nut is trapped in a knob. The ribs of the knob are held in place with a spring printed in the housing.

The ‘banjo’ was designed in SolidWorks and printed in ABS on the Makerbot Replicator. Each axis is color-coded to match the belt tensioners. In this version the screws enter from the inside making the tightening clumsy as your screwdriver interferes with the rods and extruder. In a later design version the ‘banjo’ is modified to trap the nut in a hex socket and tightening is accomplished from the outside with no interference.

3D Printing Projects 201402 – On the road to OrthoBot, Packt to the Rescue

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PacktVideoAt TPM Technologies we currently have a Makerbot Replicator and a Rostock Max. The build envelops are sufficient for most projects so far. Occasionally we have to get creative about placement or how to split a large assembly. It dawned on me that many part needs are long and slender but there isn’t a need to support an equilateral cube. Hence, we dubbed our large area printer “OrthoBot” as a way to describe this phenomenon. Think of a machine envelope required to print a femur, the largest bone in the body. That’s our quest. Or another way to think of it is the build envelope required to print a baseball bat. As we were kicking around approaches to this build envelope we happened across a new video on the Packt Publishing website, “Building a RepRap 3D Printer.”

I have to say I was totally impressed for several reasons. First, the quality of the video is inspiring. Having done many video projects over at StudioYouTube, I know how hard it is to make a good video. I was impressed by the videography and the ease of watching and how Sam Muirhead effectively used the video medium to pass along the content the rest of the team wanted to portray.

My next great surprise was that the Packt site would play the video just fine on my iPad so I could conveniently view it many places in my workshop, multi-tasking as I absorbed the sequence of the RepRap build.

Lastly, the content that the team put together is what every 3D printer builder can gain from. Even though they are using the i3 Berlin RepRap printer as the backdrop they have done a nice job of describing build elements and techniques that apply to many 3D printer build projects. Not only is the video full of nice technique but it is equally inspiring as you develop or build your own system. I found that once I started watching it was hard to stop. I kept sneaking away to finish watching to the end. My hat’s off to this team and their advancement of the open source 3D printing industry and RepRap. I’m sure many new applications will spawn from their efforts. You can check out the video here. More on OrthBot later.