Last of my generation...

Got an email from the botcave today. The last makerbot cupcake has been sold. Dataman got one of the very last ones as a companion for me... I see lots of printouts ahead....

I'm currently printing my first prius rep rap. Not sure what to think yet...

Cupcake Heated Build Platform Flush Mount Screws

We've been having a lot of trouble lately with printouts that require the full 400mm by 400mm print area of Databot.  The problem is that the 3mx20 cap heads stick up into the print area and catch the head as if it tries to print too close to the edge.

Here's a picture of the 3mx20 cap bolt, that the standard hex key for reference.

Now here's the same key key next to a flush mounted screw:

To preform this operation, start by removing the original bolt.

 

Next, turn a drill bit by hand in the hole.  We started with a 1/4" and finished off with a 11/64".  Test fit the new bolt, taper head, until it is nearly flush.  We got our replacement blots at Ace hardware (part #3609c 3mx25)

Lastly, insert the new bolts.  To keep things clean we trimmed off the excess blot with a Dremel cutter.

Reinforced Kapston Belt

Looks like the humans forgot to post their progress again.  When last we left, they were battling the problem where the belt was wrinkling as the plastic constricted due to cooling. 

Padawan came up with the idea of reinforcing the Kapston by applying self adhesive laminating material to the back.  This works as the kapston resists the heat the maintains the shape of the laminate.

This is a test of .002 reinforced Kapston film:





Makerbot Tractor Upgrade Test 03: Reinforced Kapton Belt from Charley Jones on Vimeo.

Dataman is working on a tensioning mechanism for the standoffs.  Yup, it's based on captive nut technology, what else!  The idea is that bolts will adjust the belt tension.  This is actually turning out to be a engineering problem.  Standby

Makerbot Tractor Upgrade Testing: Kapton Belt

Last night the humans tested the first Kapton belt on the new design.  The build stuck remarkably well to the Kapton, with the only problem being that, as it cooled, the kapton did not resist the lateral shrink of the plastic.  This caused a bit of curling of the first object.  The second object, printed with a raft, caused even more deformation of the kapton.  But it's flexible stuff and bounced right back again.

Video of progress:
http://vimeo.com/14422350

Will work on strengthening the Kapton.  Mylar has also been suggested. 

Makerbot Tractor Upgrade Testing

Well, the humans have been really busy trying to complete my Tractor Upgrade so they can share it with the rest of the world.  They've posted pictures and a video of their first proof of concept test here:

http://vimeo.com/1438374

The idea was to eliminate as many exotic parts as possible, use as many printable parts as possible, and keep costs down as far as possible.  I think they achieved their goals.

They are in final build and testing and will be posting full STL files and build instructions by end of the week.

Requires less than $30 in parts, can be printed and assembled in a night, using standard tools (a drill, and a makerbot)   Should also work on a Makerbot HBP.

Back Online, Again...

It's been a commedy of errors lately.  We ran out of white ABS, and started on our 5# spool, only to find out the 5# spool was defective.  Unfortunately, this defective plastic seems to have set us up for some other problems.  The tension wheel broke lose again, looks like we had another defective extrusion motor (siezed), and looks like we may have blown out the extrusion controller.  Dataman is up on the spare parts though, and we had spares for everything in stock. 

Meet Darth Roboto, my first post assembly printout, with a new .5 big head from MakerGear.Com.  Prints much more smoothly than the MakerBot head. 

First public appearance is at LVBots this Thursday.  Wish me luck!

What a difference a couple of weeks makes...

It's been a couple of weeks since I've blogged about my progress.  I've got a bit of catching up to do.

For now, Dataman's Mr. Roboto is the Featured Thing on Thingiverse.Com.  Thingiverse is a place where makers meet and share their digital designs with the world.  Mr. Roboto was first printed on me.  Now there will be legions of Mr. Roboto printed all over the world.

Needless to say, I've been a good Makerbot and printing well, for the most part.  Still giving them some trouble, whenever I can...