Saturday, April 07, 2012

Enclosure Dissaster!




The Hains printer in the semi-finished enclosure at the Makers Guild Meeting.

The the enclosure for the Hains /was/ in final stages, needing just windows, front door(s) and lots of work on attaining the piano finish that I want for the case exterior. The rough edges of the particle board, especially around the openings for the windows, is giving me fits. And I am a bit stuck about what to do about the front door. Fourteen inches is too wide for a door, I think, but dividing the door into two seven inch doors means that there will be an obstructed view from the front when the doors are closed. Plus, figuring out how to lock the doors when they close in the middle like that is challenging. I've decided to use t-nuts instead of printed trapped nuts for the screws that hold the case on to the base. T-nuts are awesome, and will give a nicer, cleaner profile on the inside of the case. They will also be less hassle than would be designing then printing up the bits I need for the trapped nuts.

Note: I said /was/ in its final stages.

I was in such a rush to get the enclosure finished before the expo at the KIA that I was slapping layers of paint on it right up until the night before. The paint wasn't completely dry, so the case got stuck to the base. In short, I busted the top of the case hammering on the underside to get it unstuck.




In my rush to repair it I fail to think things through sufficiently and break the case in two more places.







Yeah, so.... I think it's salvageable, but it's going to take some thinking.

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Tuesday, April 03, 2012

RepRap SitRep



The Hains is due for a rebuild, adding longer leadscrews and the MakerGear Z-axis stabilizer clamp (a.k.a., lower-z-bar-clamp, right and left), and replacing the fender washer pulleys with printed ones. Before I dare tear down the Hains I have to first get the Desmonda working. For the Desmonda the rods are all cut, parts are all gathered, the heat core just needs it's final cook to be ready for assembly into the hot end, and construction of the frame has begun. I still think that if it weren't for the fact that I'm trying to figure out the exact length the rods need to be to use acorn nuts on the ends I could get it done in a day.

By the way, so far I've figured out that the triangle frame pieces for a Prusa should be exactly 370mm long, the x/z axis crossbars at the top need to be exactly 440mm long, and the x-axis crossbars (4) need to be exactly 282mm long. Still working on the lower z-axis bar, lead screws and drill rod. I'll be posting an updated instruction set for cutting the bars when I get them all sorted.

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Location:Glenwood Dr,Kalamazoo Township,United States