My printer is done! I have everything built and the software is good enough (more on this later). Anyhow, with the exception of bolting the extruder to the mount, and getting the plastic filament to print something there's not much else I can do.
The software for my printer is still a little bit iffy. There are many variables and settings in some 1000 lines of code, not to mention what is needed to get the LCD screen working. I have put test code on the Arduino and confirmed all my motors move. This is good. For some reason they move really fast when homing, I still may have to change some speed settings for that. The printer does connect to the computer, and takes commands. The software will be changed more as I go along to accommodate new parts or calibration. Some of the software on the computer is a little buggy and I may try a few other programs. After I get my filament I am going to just go for it and print something. It may not work the first time, or the second, or the third... but that's all part of the fun. I still have to do a little more calibration on the motor voltage, as well as frame calibration after I print a calibration piece. This will also show the quality of my printer, and how it stacks up against the commercially available $1000 dollar printer.
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| The 3-D printer ready to print, calibrated and all! |
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| My cable problems! |
Final Note: One of the things that I noticed was the excess of wires. Right now there are 20 motor wires (5 motors/ 4 wires each), 9 end stops wires (3 end stops/ 3 wires each) 4 temperature sensor wires (2 sensors/ 2 each), 4 heater wires (2 heaters/2 each) 2 fan wires (1 fan/ 2 wires) and 4 power wires (2+/2-). That's a grand total of 43 wires going to a board a little larger than a deck of cards, and most of the wires move while printing! I already have some cable management files to print when I get my filament.
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