How to power your 3d printer with car battery

James Bruton shows us how to use a car battery to power a 3d printer.  His test shows that you could print the entire day with charged car battery. This could be useful, even more so if you can attach some solar panels to the setup.




He used his Lulzbot:

Read More

Repstrap 3d printer that is easy and cheap to make with timber pieces structure

Here is very simple, low cost and easy to make wooden Repstrap 3d printer presented on Thingiverse developed by user "skeat". It has a relatively small print volume (120mm x 120mm x 100mm) but it was designed as very simple and cheap machine to produce 3d printed parts for your "bigger" machine.
You will need only few common hand tools and materials. The structural frame is made from 12.5mm x 24mm wood pieces and 6mm plywood held by screws and liquid nails.

The design is based on Prusa i3, so the vitamins needed are:

• 6x smooth rods 
• 1x M5 threaded rod 
• 11x LM8UU linear bearings 
• 4x stepper motors 
• 2x 608 ball bearings 
• pulley and belts 
• 1x coupling

Only 3d printed part is the extruder.

I love the design style:

Here is video of it in action:




All the details and building instructions can be found at:

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:452770


To see more wood frame printers, with some that need no 3d printed or cnc cut parts, go to:

http://diy3dprinting.blogspot.com/2013/11/diy-3d-printers-made-from-wood.html

Read More

MSF 3d printer is work of a Repstrap genius

This wonderful DIY 3d printer was made by peterthinks and it is a work of a Repstrap genius with its improvisations, innovations and rough design. The entire machine cost around 120 USD and it will get even cheaper.
I'm a big fan of wood frame machines and building stuff with anything you got available.

Here is the presentation of MSF 3d printer (you will find out what MSF acronym stands for later on in the description ...):




Here is MSF moving:





From project description:

This is not a kit. This is an introduction to the Monkey Shit Fight repstrap RepRap. It is seeking it's end-stops as it prepares to print a louse. That's me mumbling in the background trying to not sound like a crazy shut-in.

It's super easy to put together and I want to make a laser cut version. I've eliminated almost all the parts associated with traditional RepRaps. Not including the base I have the entire machine frame down to 10 wood parts. I will have the kit down to about 7 laser cut parts and 4 of those will be exactly the same dimensions. Pretty simple stuff!

I built this for about $120. That includes all electronics, motors and materials. Eliminating one of the Z axis motors really lowered the part count and increased the Z resolution. The V grove pulleys do double duty in that regard. They multiply the lifting force of the motor and increase the number of steps required to move up a millimeter. All the design changes I have made to improve this RepRap including fixed drive belt sections attached to metal edging, using Kevlar to tension the frame,

The blind nut adjusters for the Z axis smooth rod leveling, The flying gantry X carriage, The single motor Z axis pulley and carriage bolt Kevlar suspension system for the X carriage and the silicone tubing tensioning idler for the Y axis are all free to use for private non commercial use under the GPL licence. So if you wanna use these improvements on your own personal machine feel free. If you want to use these in a kit or sell upgrades for commercially available machines you'll need permission.

The build area is about 250 by 350 by 200 millimeters but I got it dialed down to match the heated bed till I can make a bigger one. All work was done with simple hand tools. The most exotic tools used were a Dremel a cheap drill press and a ancient one speed hand drill.

MSF Repstrap parts list:

1 Sheet of plywood for base
2 Y rod wood ends
4 wood screws to attach Y rod ends
2 sections smooth rod for Y axis

2 Z rod wood ends
2 wood screws to attach Z rod base
2 hose clamps to secure Z rod top
2 sections smooth rod for Z axis

2 wood adjustment horns for top of Z axis
2 blind nuts
2 bolts
2 wood screws to attach horns to top of Z axis
1 washer
1 screw
2 bearings
1 V groove bearing cover

1 Z axis motor
1 long hex nut drilled to take a pin
1 pin
1 nut
1 carriage bolt
1 carriage bolt end guide
1 bracket
2 wood screws to attach bracket to bolt guide
1 wood brace for Z string idlers
2 Z string idlers
2 screws to attach Z string idlers
1 length 150 pound Kevlar for Z axis string
1 counterweight for end of Z string
(Most of the Z axis top assembly will become 1 laser cut part later)

1 base for Y axis
1 Y axis motor
1 motor pulley gear
1 set screw
1 length of belt
1 length of aluminum molding
4 linear bearings
12 wood braces to box in the four bearings
4 screws
4 washers
4 springs
1 heated bed
1 sheet of glass
4 spring clips
1 length silicone tubing
2 screws to attach tubing to brackets
2 brackets to attach tubing to Y axis base

1 base for X carriage
4 linear bearings
4 sticks to brace bearings
8 zip ties to attach bearings
3 screws
6 bearings
3 V groove bearing covers
1 length of belt
1 length of aluminum molding
3 lock nuts

4 stepper drivers
1 ramps
1 arduino
3 endstops
2 thermistors
wires

1 hotend
1 hotend heater

1 extruder motor
3 base parts for extruder
1 screw
3 bolts
2 nuts
4 washers
1 extruder gear
1 set screw
1 bearing
1 bearing arm
1 bowden tube
1 bowden end
1 bowden end bracket

2 lengths 150 pound Kevlar string for bracing
2 turnbuckles
4 wood screws

Epoxy
Crazy glue

Read More

Kinect for Windows gives you direct 3d scanning into 3d Builder app

Microsoft is getting stronger into 3d printing with this new integration of Kinect for Windows as 3d scanner into their 3D Builder Windows application.

In their promotional video they are showing Kinect being use as a sort of family oriented imaging device, a kind of 3d camera. I would like to see it being used to 3d scan some sort of small mechanical part, since this function more suits my hobby needs. Hopefully we will see more DIY oriented reviews or tests in the future.

Kinect for Windows has developer SDK platform available for independent developers so 3d scanning and input into more 3d printing or CAD software could be available in the future.

You can manipulate 3d scanned object in 3D Builder by touch controls on Microsoft surface tablet 

Kinect for Windows home page:

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/kinectforwindows/default.aspx

And this is probably just a beginning ... 3d scanning could be integrated in all tablets and smartphones in future ...

Read More

Tutorial vray for sketchup making a modern bedroom #1

Fantastic tutorial, shared with us by Dario Ilardi, of  Grafica2d3d.com,  I recommend to see.
The website is in Italian, but it is full of excellent tutorials, understandable in any language.

This great tutorial, explain, step by step, how to obtain, by using vray 2.0 for sketchup, a render, clear and clean as what we see in the picture below.
Dario say : " I'm experimenting with the use of brute force as a substitute of irradiance map and I must say that in terms of speed and quality impressed me positively "
Thanks so much Dario for this one, the result is really good !

final render Vray 2.0 by Dario Ilardi 

HERE THE TUTORIAL

Making a modern bedroom #1 by.grafica2d3d from sketchuptexture

Read More

Tutorial Vray for sketchup puddles on the road after rainy

Here is a little Vray tutorial , for creating puddles on the road after rainy,  shared by Ida Bagus Angga Pramana‎ , (You can contact him by clicking on its name) in our working group on facebook . Thanks so much Ida Bagus !

Read more »

Read More

Free sketchup model modern villa in Sri Lanka #28

This beautiful sketchup 3d model of today, is courtesy by archt Thilina Liyanage (You can contact him by clicking on its name) who shared with us his project of this modern villa in Sri Lanka , available in sketchup 2014 , complete with all the textures and hdri used for this scene.
Thank you so much for this nice contribution to our community !

Download HERE 3d sketchup model villa#28 | rar file 40 MB
PASSWORD 28thilina

ATTENTION : the password to extract the file, must be typed, do not copy and paste

modern villa in Sri Lanka - render vray 2.0 by Thilina Liyanage

It is forbidden to upload our material available for download on any website or blogs or social networks. Any violation will be legally prosecuted

TAKE NOTE HERE OUR DISCLAIMER

Read More

DIY 3d printed tray for professional pick and place machine

Parker Dillmann needed a custom tray for electronic components to be served to his DP2006-2 Madell pick and place machine, so he designed them and 3d printed them on MakerGear M2 in PLA.
The tray works under realistic conditions.

Static electricity could be a problem on such PLA plastic tray, so solution would be to paint it with some antistatic coating or use different material. Maybe some type of conductive ABS treated with acetone smoothing to reduce fine electronic parts getting caught in the layers.

Similar trays could be probably adapted for different types of pick and place machines and probably all types of electronic components. This would be great opportunity for companies in the field to cut the cost or deliver 3d tray models with their machines or components.

Project homepage with stl files:

http://longhornengineer.com/2014/06/11/3d-printed-part-tray-for-a-pick-and-place/

Read More

Retro Populator open source kit will turn your 3d printer into pick and place machine for home manufacturing

Retro Populator is an open source project by Eric Boyd that developed a kit for your 3d printer to convert it into pick and place machine suitable for small scale home electronics manufacturing.


Project description from hackaday.io:

A jig and software for allowing a 3D printer to do electronics pick-n-place assembly. It populates boards, by retrofitting a 3D printer, hence Retro Populator.

Motivation: surface mount soldering is great, but the process of placing parts is tedious and requires great manual dexterity as well good vision. Doing a few boards by hand is practical, but doing more than about 20 is hell on earth. Yet it's not practical (read: affordable) to pay industry to do it until about 500 boards - the setup charges just kill you. So there is this huge chasm between what's doable for hobbyists by hand, and where industry can take over, and this volume is commonly desired in the maker community - a small run of 50 to 100 boards is in fact typical. Thus, the desire to build machines that hobbyists can own to do electronics pick-n-place. Our cost-saving idea is to retrofit similar machines that makers already own: 3D printers.

Team:
Rob Gilson
Adam Evenden
Charles Hartlaub
Eric Boyd

There are several versions of Retro Populator being developed:

Version 1.0 : Essentially complete now. CNC milled acrylic base plate, with milled tape holders. Vacuum syringe for picking up parts, vacuum supplied by SMT rework station. Milled nozzle mount which attaches to the side of the existing extruder. Z-axis rezero jig to easily change re-zero height. 3D printed cam-lock parts to holds boards in place on 10mm peg-grid base. Code parses a yml file for board & tape placement info, and then an eagle .brd file directly for part types and locations. It generate a gcode file which goes from pick to place location for all of the parts which can be populated. Support for
multiple boards.

Version 2.0: currently in planning/design. Addition of tape advancement, including plastic cover peeling. Addition of a second nozzle which will do solder paste dispensing. Software will have 'position confirm' feature where it will move to the corner of each board, and the first component on each tape, so that you can verify key locations directly before running the entire job.

Version 3.0: part rotation. Numerous other things we'll learn about as we do V2.0, no doubt...

Detailed information and instructions:
http://hackaday.io/project/1605-Retro-Populator

Mind map and overview of the project in pdf format:

http://sensebridge.net/files/RetroPopulatorMap_V101.pdf


Maybe we will soon have thousands of small electronics factories in garages competing with corporate sector ...
But first who should be afraid of this competition are companies like Adafruit ... they are in the same market as those "hobbyists" ...

Read More

Hacking your 3d printer into home manufacturing solder paste dispenser

"Jake" and "hzeller" developed a project where KiCAD (open source electronics board development software) files are converted into g code to enable solder past dispensing with a DIY 3d printer on electronic boards.

They hacked a Type A machines printer into home manufacturing solder paste dispenser. The dispenser uses solder paste (aka. solder cream) applied trough syringe with air pressure. The team behind the project still has not released hardware specifications and details.

This project is interesting since it could enable anyone to make low cost desktop home manufacturing station and produce series of electronics boards.

The syringe dispenser pressure unit can be done at home workshop, here is a different project for reference:

https://www.sparkyswidgets.com/portfolio-item/diy-solder-paste-dispenser/

Solder paste is heated after dispensing on electronics board surface to melt and fuse the conection closing the electric circuit.


Here is the original code for solder paste dispensing that converts KiCAD files to g-code:

https://github.com/hzeller/rpt2paste

the project is further developed to include pick-and-place capabilities:

https://github.com/hzeller/rpt2pnp

Now you can start your own small desktop electronics factory :-)

Read More

Airwolf3D releases Wolfbite ABS chemical print surface adhesive

Airwolf 3D released their chemical ABS filament adhesion product that is applied on glass print bed and vastly improves its ABS "stickiness". My impression was that the technology is moving away from adhesives in juice, glue or spray form and towards more high tech print surface materials. Still, there must be a market niche for this even in the future.

From video description:

Airwolf 3D is proud to announce a new solution for adhering ABS straight to the glass on the bed of most 3D printers. No more warped, cracked or peeling parts. Apply one thin coat to the glass and it will last several prints. Water soluble, so cleaning is easy. Use Wolfbite to get better adhesion to the glass with ABS, and also to easier release parts from the glass when done printing

There is no information on the composition or ingredients of the Wolfbite.

It is priced at $19.95

http://airwolf3d.com/store/products/wolfbite-prevents-3d-printed-parts-from-warping/

Update:

Airwolf just released Wolfbite Nano for PLA:

Read More

Free sketchup 3d model tree #8

Really great  free 3d model, this tree,  available sketchup 8,  shared and modeled  by our friend Dadi Nazriel Supriadi   of which here we see the result in its gorgeous render made with vray for sketchup, A big thank you Dadi , for this excellent contribution!

Download HERE sketchup tree#8 ! rar File 24MB

PASSWORD 8supriadi

ATTENTION : the password to extract the file, must be typed, do not copy and paste

render vray for sketchup by   Dadi Nazriel Supriadi

It is forbidden to upload our material available for download on any website or blogs or social networks. 

TAKE NOTE HERE OUR DISCLAIMER

Read More

iBox Nano SLA 3d printer is best in EVERYTHING except print volume and purpose

It's the world's smallest 3D printer, it's the quietest, simplest and most affordable 3D printer on the market. It has EVERYTHING ... well ... except printvolume ... or purpose ... I really don't see the usage scenario. Maybe for some specific hobby or modelling applications. Still it is a interesting small machine.

Here are the technical specifications and key features:

• Printer Technology: Stereolithography (LCD)
• Build Envelope: 40 x 20 x 90mm
• Resolution X-Y: 328 Microns
• Print Material: iBox Resin or Makerjuice
• Power Consumption During Print: 2.7 Watts
• Maximum Z Precision: 0.39 Microns
• Noise Volume: 29 db
• Weight: 3 pounds
• Optional battery for up to 10 hours of printing
• Controlled by Raspberry Pi and remote control (computer, tablet, smartphone with web browser)
• Price: $189 early bird, $299 retail

From Kickstarter:

• The iBox Nano is designed to produce high resolution prints with the touch of a button 
• There is no software to install so you can spend less time setting up prints and more time printing 
• A robust ecosystem of open source and free software for 3D modeling and editing 
• WiFi enabled so you can print untethered
• Battery powered option for on-the-go printing (optional purchase).
• The iBox Nano is:
• The worlds smallest Resin printer 
• The worlds most affordable Resin printer 
• The worlds only battery powered (option) Resin printer 
• The worlds first production LCD based UV Resin printer 
• The worlds quietest 3D printer 
• The worlds lightest 3D printer

iBox Nano is now on Kickstarter where you can find more technical details and comparison data:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/826799607/ibox-nano-worlds-smallest-least-expensive-3d-print


iBox homepage: http://www.iboxprinters.com/

Read More