Building a RepRap: Gathering stuff.

First I want to source as much as I can before I start building to avoid any long stops that could kill my motivation....(Cont. updated until everything sourced)
Update:2011-16, Motors!

UP! was Down! :'(

Yesterday during a 3 hour print the printer just stopped mid print having made 3/4 of the whole print. In the UP! software status bar there was the message "nozzle too cool". Not fun at all.
But during the hunt for the error I took some photos of the heating element and the thermocoupler.
(And yes it´s alive again!)

Measuring the resistance with the voltmeter gave me 150 kOhm on the heater meaning that it would need something of a few kV to get that hot. So here was something fishy.

Holiday Prusa Mendel prints

This is my continuously updated post about the prints from Kliments "Holiday Prusa Mendel",

It may not be updated every day but all the prints will be here, if not my printer breaks down or any other stuff happens.

Jump to the prints!

Update: All prints done!

RepRap Christmas special!

Kliment, who is involved in the reprap project, has just made a great holiday/christmas prusa mendel version. This might be the excuse you need to start building a RepRap, at least I´m jumping on and starting my build! You will find a new STL file every day, Christmas-themed in one way or another! And on the 24:th you will have all the parts so you can stay up all night building.
Christmas doesn't get better than this...

Christmas special STLs:
Kliment thingiverse page

Don't know what it all means? Get educated here:
RepRap Project
RepRap project, Prusa Mendel

The UP! extruder

Here are some photos of the UP! extruder and nozzle...

DIY Butter!

I made my own butter tonight from cream and some creme fraiche. I guess there are more hard-core DIY versions than this but since I dont have my own cow (or could borrow one at short notice) I went to the supermarket instead.
It´s delicious with fresh baked bread...as well as with old bread :-)

40mm fan mount

I modified the 50mm into a 40mm, 40mm fans seems more common than 50mm.
Have not tested this although

Zip with STL and ViaCAD files, download here.

50mm fan mount/changing the nozzle fan.

I thought of making my machine (mostly the fans) a little bit more quiet but without reducing the airflow. So plan is to fit in standard fans with more airflow and less noise if possible. This is my first step, mostly because it was the simplest and didn't force me to take the machine apart that much. The STL and ViaCAD files are of course available for download.

Getting rid of warping, part one.

The printer has been running quite much lately, and everything is running fine. I've been trying to avoid printing large prints due to the warping problem. I thought I would try to fix this, or at least minimize it so it´s negligible.
In this first part I'm trying out a new platform adhesive paint.

Mikkeller - The American Dream

Note to myself; get this while availiable!
For the hop-lover this is a must, fruity and hoppy.

http://www.mikkeller.dk/index.php?id=10&news_id=60&land=1

Be square! (squaring my UP! X/Y axis)

How I squared my UP! after my ball bearing broke and skewed my machine...

Beer of the week!

My usual wednesday-beer at the pub was a nice surprise this week. At the moment I´m having a thing for American ales, and especially "hoppy" ones. Of course most imported beers (and alcohol in general) in Sweden comes with a crazy price and this was no exception, 125 SEK (around 15USD) for a 12 OZ bottle.
But it was worth it at least to try it out once, and only once per evening as it is 8.5 Vol %

It´s brewed by Victory Beer and it is a very nice hoppy beer with sweet candy and a little bit of citrus. As strong as it is it doesn't really taste alcohol at all. A little more depth would make it a great beer to sip in front of the fireplace to the sound of that buzzing 3d printer in the background...
Cheers!

Thermal images of the build platform

I wanted to see how the temperature spread in the build platform in the long quest for minimizing warp and had the chance to borrow a thermal camera. I´ve posted a few pictures in intervals using the "preheat" function.

Maintenence on the UP! printer.

My UP! started screaming and squeeking after about 1½ spool, especially the upper (X axis?) linear rail. It also made the whole machine resonate and vibrate so I thought that lubing up the rails and bearing would be a good idea.

Adjusting the UP! build platform

After some adjustments on my printer I found out that my platform wasn't level at all. So I started to see if there was any easier way than to put kapton tape or pieces of paper in the corners to get it level. I found that it worked quite OK with 2 washers.

Ian Hawgood - Slow Films in Low Light

How did I miss this one?
http://www.homenormal.com/releases/ian-hawgood-slow-films-in-low-light
Just listen to the first track, "A Film by Federico Durand", it melts my brain.

For a free download in company with other great works, visit http://reviews.headphonecommute.com/2010/03/21/hc-at-home-with-home-normal/
Their latest mix "dream scores" is also deadly.

Acrylic build platform for the UP! printer.

After trying out pretty much every setting to escape the warping in the corners I focused on trying out an acrylic build platform instead. It seems like makerbotters and reprappers like it cause the ABS plastic sticks pretty good to it. The result was actually great. Although I found out that my X and Y axis wasn't square, but hey, you cant have everything. So follow me to the acrylic world...