1st 1/4 of '14

     It's April and I haven't posted much about any of the projects I've been working on. I haven't completed any big projects that I thought warranted their own blog post, but I'll use this one to explain what I've been doing and what I plan on doing soon. 

My 3D Prints Summary #1

     Every once and a while I want to make a quick blog post highlighting some of the things that I've printed using my Printrbot LC 3D printer. These posts will be used to show off the prints that wouldn't be part of a larger project and are mostly just standalone pieces. This is the first of these posts. Check after the break for a more detailed breakdown.

Most of the good stuff I've printed so far

Printrbot Calibration Prints

     It's one thing to get a 3D printer set up to produce nice-looking prints, but it's another if those prints don't come out the size that you want them to. This quick post will help anyone get the axes on their 3D printer working just as they should. To make the most out of this post, you're going to need a pair of calipers.

Various calibration prints

Printrbot Tip: Leveling the Printrbed

     Shortly after assembling and caibrating my Printrbot, I was able to print out my first object (Mr. Jaws by Mahoney in case you were wondering), but it took me a few tries to get the first layer to lay down right. I was able to get it working by increasing the bed temperature for the first layer to 130C from the default of 110C. I am unable to see what the actual temperature of my bed is, because the only thermocouple that I have was not working, but it should be close. Even with the higher temperature, I still had some troubles with parts laying down. Although I did try and level the bed the best I could, I rechecked it and it definitely needed some more work. After messing around with it for a while longer, I figured out the best way to get everything as level as possible.

Bed leveled with washers

     As Brook suggested, the bed needs to be leveled with washers on the four corners. After some time, I figured out that the best way to do this is to put the same size washer under each corner so you have the ability to move each corner up or down as needed. I used a pair of Digital Calipers to measure the thickness of the washers I had. The majority of them seemed to be 1.5mm so I used that as the base on each corner, but I also had washers with thicknesses of 1.3mm, 1.4mm, 1.6mm, 1.7mm, among others so I could swap the washers out to get small adjustments in the Z-direction in each corner. I once again checked the area of the Printrbed with a slice of paper in between the bed and the extruder tip, and although it was not perfect, the next object that I printed came out without a hitch. That object, by the way, was Pi Keychain / Backpack Charm by CodeCreations.

Freshly printed keychain

Although I only printed it because it was simple,
it should prevent me from losing this flash drive.

Printrbot Build: Part 2

     I finished assembling my Printrbot LC last night. I still have to calibrate everything and make adjustments, but I now have a 3D printer that I am able to control over Pronterface. You can view the assembly from Part 1 here. Below is a video of the printer moving each of the stepper motors, and below the break are the photos from the build.

 

Printrbot Build: Part 1

     A long time ago (December 17, 2011 to be exact), I backed a Printrbot LC on Kickstarter. After months of waiting, I finally received my 3D printer yesterday and quickly started assembling it. I followed Brook's How-To Build videos on YouTube and got pretty far in a couple hours. I took (many, many) pictures along every step of the way so I thought I'd share them with you. Hopefully they can be beneficial to somebody, or at least help them decide if building a 3D printer is something they could do.

My workspace