Sunday, November 6, 2011
Building a RepRap Prusa Mendel 3D Printer
I have been absent from the electronic scene for quite some time now, but my interested has been rekindled after some time researching 3D printers. I have decided to build one for my Grade 12 project!
My first goal was to build the printer for 450 dollars, so I began to research all the available options and their associated costs. I finally settled on a combination of parts, with the majority ordered locally. I will make a basic list of the main components and where I purchased them from:
Electronics - RAMPS board on Arduino Mega
http://ultimachine.com/
http://www.ebay.ca/Arduino Mega
Motors - Wantai 42BTGHW811 bipolar hybrid stepper motors
http://www.wantmotor.com/
Stepper Drivers - Pololu A4988 stepper Drivers
http://mixshop.com/pololu
Vitamins - Complete structure kit
http://mixshop.com/
Extruder - Complete Wades Extruder kit
http://mixshop.com/
So far I have received the Arduino Mega and the RAMPS board, which I assembled. If you aren't comfortable with SMT soldering, I would suggest going with the SMT already Soldered option.
I went to the open night at the Toronto Hackerspace http://hacklab.to/ and found out that they had a working makerbot which they are generously letting me print my parts off of. So far I have printed 3/4 of the parts over the course of a couple weekends. Hopefully by next week I will have the Mixshop order and all the parts printed and will be able to begin assembly!
My first goal was to build the printer for 450 dollars, so I began to research all the available options and their associated costs. I finally settled on a combination of parts, with the majority ordered locally. I will make a basic list of the main components and where I purchased them from:
Electronics - RAMPS board on Arduino Mega
http://ultimachine.com/
http://www.ebay.ca/Arduino Mega
Motors - Wantai 42BTGHW811 bipolar hybrid stepper motors
http://www.wantmotor.com/
Stepper Drivers - Pololu A4988 stepper Drivers
http://mixshop.com/pololu
Vitamins - Complete structure kit
http://mixshop.com/
Extruder - Complete Wades Extruder kit
http://mixshop.com/
So far I have received the Arduino Mega and the RAMPS board, which I assembled. If you aren't comfortable with SMT soldering, I would suggest going with the SMT already Soldered option.
I went to the open night at the Toronto Hackerspace http://hacklab.to/ and found out that they had a working makerbot which they are generously letting me print my parts off of. So far I have printed 3/4 of the parts over the course of a couple weekends. Hopefully by next week I will have the Mixshop order and all the parts printed and will be able to begin assembly!
 |
| Unpopulated RAMPS |
 |
| Finished RAMPS Board |
Monday, March 30, 2009
TV-B-Gone!
Hey guys,I just received my TV-B-Gone in the mail today, I ordered it from Adafruit Industries, the shipping to Canada took exactly one week. I was very impressed at the detailed instructions. It took me about half an hour to assemble and test with a camera. I haven't had a chance to test it on a TV yet, but I plan on making a video of turning off all the TV's in Sears! I cant wait!
Nigel
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Ideas...
I'm in a sorta contemplative mood, and I have come up with an interesting quote:
"Being a scientist, or an inventor, is like being a lawyer. The laws of science have been laid down years ago many have tried to outright break them and failed, they cannot be broken. the ones that are successful are the ones that find loop-holes, alter statements, try different perspectives, and sidestep these laws without ever breaking them to achieve their goal. And when one can do this, anything is possible."
~Nigel
"Being a scientist, or an inventor, is like being a lawyer. The laws of science have been laid down years ago many have tried to outright break them and failed, they cannot be broken. the ones that are successful are the ones that find loop-holes, alter statements, try different perspectives, and sidestep these laws without ever breaking them to achieve their goal. And when one can do this, anything is possible."
~Nigel
Sunday, March 22, 2009
The Scotch Tape Spirograph!
Hey guys,I was getting sorta bored over March Break so I decided to build a laser Spirograph. I had most of the parts so it took me about 3 hours to build and tweak. I finally got a chance to use my box of pots to control the speed of the three fans. The laser is from a 2 dollar laser pointer from Active surplus, so its pretty crappy, after 2-3 minutes of use it starts to lose intensity until you can barley see it, not sure why it does this. I plan on replacing the laser at some point. Once I'm back in school I plan on building a nice little enclosure for it out of wood and acrylic. I will make a video as soon as I get a better laser.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Enclosure Project
I finally finished my project, well I finished the enclosure, but still need to finish the electronics and write the code. I decided to use pots instead of the faders because it was much easier to fabricate. I haven't rigged up the LED's yet, but plan to do it sometime soon.
Monday, February 2, 2009
Enclosure Project
Hello all,
Lately I have been very busy with school and exams and other stuff so I haven't had much time for working on electronics projects, but with the new term, I have started woodwork class, and our woodwork project is to make a nice wooden box. So I decided to make a music mixer that will control music in Ableton Live. I plan on using 6 faders and possibly some switches. The main body will be made of wood and the top will be see through, this way I can put some RGB LED's under the faders for some cool illumination. I might also put an audio jack in the side so I can use the synth program too. When I'm done the project, (which should be tomorrow, at least the enclosure) I will post some pictures. If anyone wants to make a project like this just send me an a message and Ill see if I can do a tutorial or something along those lines.
Nigel
Lately I have been very busy with school and exams and other stuff so I haven't had much time for working on electronics projects, but with the new term, I have started woodwork class, and our woodwork project is to make a nice wooden box. So I decided to make a music mixer that will control music in Ableton Live. I plan on using 6 faders and possibly some switches. The main body will be made of wood and the top will be see through, this way I can put some RGB LED's under the faders for some cool illumination. I might also put an audio jack in the side so I can use the synth program too. When I'm done the project, (which should be tomorrow, at least the enclosure) I will post some pictures. If anyone wants to make a project like this just send me an a message and Ill see if I can do a tutorial or something along those lines.
Nigel
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)