Posts Tagged ‘3D printing’

Printing Bug

March 5th, 2010

Prior to our successful (and very exciting) print the other night, we ran into a curious problem during print attempts. Namely, during the actual printing all the stages would suddenly stop but the Plastruder would continue emitting plastic. Here is an example of a failed attempt:

We even tried loading the model onto an SD card and building from the card. The same problem occurred. The interesting thing about this is that the print would stop in a random location each time. Finally, after digging around some forums for awhile, I found a post by someone suggesting a specific combination of versions for the software and firmware to use. With a lack of anything else to try, we decided to give it a shot. This involved downgrading the current versions of the software and firmware we were using. We then, with anticipation, attempted another print and, seemingly like magic, it worked!

Here is the list of software/firmware versions that we were using when our print was successful:

ReplicatorG 009
Skeinforge 005
Motherboard firmware 1.4
Extruder firmware 1.6

First Print!

March 4th, 2010

Sara and Stephanie should be very pleased; they are responsible for the construction of Allegheny’s first Cupcake CNC 3D printer!

[youtube width="560" height="340"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1RcMtu1UR8[/youtube]

This was very exciting.

The builders and their aptly named Victory Cupcake.  Many congrats.

X, Y, and Z: Putting it all together

January 18th, 2010

Once all the stages were assembled, it was time to put them all together.

To install the X/Y stage, we first had to attach the X-stage belt to the pulley and stepper motor, and make sure that it was at a good tension. Once that was done, the rods needed to be threaded through the side of the printer body, then through the bottom of the X-stage, and finally stopping on the other side of the body. Then, finally all the stages were together and we had a fun time playing with the stepper drivers to move each stage and see how all three of them would work together.

Here are some pictures with them all together:

AllTogether

AllTogether2

AllTogether3

Printer shipping…delayed

October 12th, 2009

Following up on my own posting, the TCNJ printer won’t ship until about 10/27 now. There’s a delay with some of the electronics.

The First Post

September 21st, 2009

Yea! First post time.

I’m a junior at Allegheny College and a Computer Science major. I am excited to be in this project where I not only get to learn a new programming language and play around with the emerging technology of 3D printing(and create some awesome 3D figures!), but I also get the chance to help out blind students.