Prusa MK3s Upgrade Kit today so better get refreshed on the disassembly of the extruder for the new filament sensor. As i thought that the doorbell went and DHL delivery from Prusa research lol freaky
decided to get the version with the printed part as the printer is working intermittently.
Black Elegoo Resin is arriving so can finish off relocating the USB plug might also give backplate another go. should have this before the end of the day. depending on amazon some time erratic delivery.
Last nights offerings.
Curing station was going to do it last night but got home and by the time i had fed and watered the son put him to bed was late so i just tinkered with the mk3 Prusa and managed to get it to Print a job with only one filament reload.
I then called it a night as was wet and felt like some PS4. I know i don’t post every day on here but bits are constantly going on in the background whether its day job or crafting business or fun projects and unlike the greats of web and youtube i am a one man operation and i love it.
Tonight will be a washout as at a wedding hoping to get some the upgrade done over the weekend. time allowing as looks like quite a few steps are needed.
RIght finally have finished cutting my curing station time to get it all assembled.
After Friday nighs miss calculation of size i didn’t want fully print base and holder so last night i printed bottom and top and one lamp holder ring of the 4 needed.
and so it beginensit all fits nice and snug.
I then cut the rest of the spacer rings for the lamp. After doing so i put 4 x m3 hex bolts through the top of the lamp. I then glued each layer and added m3 nuts to hold all together.
first layer glued.all glued up.second later installed.all 5 layer bolted together now to wipe off access glue.
after i had assembled it and glued the light fitting i did a test fit of the lamp to the holder.
nice tight fit.perfect fit.
I then cut the rest of the box for a final fit.
sheet 3 of 4 nearly done.test fit of the turntable.I then placed the lamp on the top of the box to see how it looked.both sides of the box assembled missing 2 sides inner and outer walllooks good for curing my prints.
now to add some tinfoil and assemble the curing station.
I don’t like the finish going to order some aluminium tape.don’t like it.
I don’t like the finish going to order some aluminium tape. malke a smooth finish to it. I might add a camera to it as well to show it in action. will make the plans available shortly once i have finished it fully so hold on for part 3 next few days.
Update redesigned the box to be hinged. picking up aluminium tape tomorrow as want to get make it easier to use
As luck would have it i am working next door at the sensor and instrumentation show. stand 39 if you want to say hi.
the new SL1 Prusa printer looks good a little out of my price range.
As 3d printing is one of my many passions i thought i would go take a look around the show and who did i bump in to. the man himself Joshep Prusa had to shake his hand for developing such nice machines.
The Man Him self
I also managed to have a chat with him about my machine issues. so might be able to fix that on my return to London. I have already ordered the parts so hoping to fix this at the weekend. whilst i was there i also managed to grab a textured build plate for the mk3 printer.
looked a Crealitys latest printer with a swappable head for cnc, laser and 3d printing. and the rest of the range.
Ultimaker had its new range of printers and wall of filament on the show but the price bracket is out of my league till someone sponsors me.
new ultimaker with filament library .
form labs stand hade the new model SLA printer again big bucks to buy so not on my shopping list.
form labs sla machine nice bit of kit
Chatted with some nice chaps @kora3D who have some great safety enclosures for 3d printers with fire detection and fire suppression also filtered to keep the nasties out of the atmosphere. they gave me a free sample of there bed glue called formula 3D. wil let you know what its like once i get my printers up and running.
cool environmental enclosure
i then wandered over to makerbot and saw there newly launched method x printer with support for there preloaded filament reels and also 3rd party support filament, with removable bed and build size of 190×190
Method X MakerBot printer.
also spotted the duet 3d six spool multi-material printer on a quick wander through the hall.
as i was leaving hall 3 to grab a coffee i spatted the xyz printing colour printer looks interesting will try swinging back later to find out some more information
colour printing.
I had some time this afternoon to pop back over to the show and talk to some managed to get some free esun filaments to test, some cool carbon fibre filament from Filamentum. will take for a test drive when i have a hardened nozzle,
laser-based resin printer full Pantone full colors
Laser lines full-colour resin printer was awsome no mess but comes at a price not for the hobbyist.
Creat3d large scale 3d printer with the massive build plate.
After a 4 hour drive back to the house i have decided to give resin printing another go.
death trooper underway will check on it later or tomorrow.
saw a video 3DPrintFarm about hollowing out a print and set up of the print. so have decided to copy it and see if it works for me. As dident manage to get much time on holiday do some research.
i also test cut the base and roof of the curing station must have been drugged as hight of light support is way off so going to remeasure. ajust accordingly lol.
Time for some Rest and relax as been a long few days. Will finish curing box on Saturday night as long as son sleeps. will start looking and my 3d printers.
As i never finished this modification off. and Karl reached out to me asking me if it was worth doing. i had a job to do tonight doing some fun stuff for my son for the aeroplane flight. So thought i would kill 2 birds with 1 stone. do some testing
So it calibrated very well with the new strip lighting now i had the head crash into the camera mount think that might be the cuse of my issues. I am currently working on a new mount made out of resin.
As you can see from the little test i put together. did a quick trace using a hand drawing, yes i know next fine artist.
wont win a prize for artisticness.
i then i tested to see if it cuts where the drawing was.
As you can see my alignment is well off and the image is enlarged.
The result is crap, So i think i will look at some videos on calibration as i want to be able to put this to bed. so the first job i will do on my return will look into this and get it all working.
Prusa printers
i will be looking at repairing these machines on my return as i want to get the project that i started before it broke.
This will then lead on to my adventures in CNC and using soft limits until i get time to wire up the end stops. thankfully after i get back i have 1 more trade show to do for this month so can do some more stuff.
More fun with sublimation
going to be getting my head around T-shirts and mugs and some other fun promo bits for the man cave. might even set up a shop selling some bits who knows.
SLA Resin 3d printing
more of this coming up as i learn more about it. going to read up as sure my recent fails have been down to me not doing things right. not the machine its self.
Been a busy week in wales holidaying and having some well-deserved rest and doing some tidying up. god i have a lot of useful stuff that i need to sell.
been a tech-free week for me but have been busy in the background buying some new bits of kit. I have also touched on some of other new bit but its time i did some in-depth reviews in my not so live posts.
I will start with the ELEGOO Mars UV Resin printer has been featured by a few of the 3d printing gods but time for me to have a play. should be landing at the cave on Tuesday have ordered some transparent green resin to give it a test drive.
I will also be reviewing the FreeSub Heat Press 3D Vacuum ST-3042Â sublimation machine. As for my day job i have a trade show coming up the week after next so will be designing some costers, mugs and bottle openers. this is already at the office waiting for my return to London.
I will cover my Ricoh SG-3110DN printer and its refillable cartridges that i got from Ink Experts. setting up an ICC profile in adobe products.
I will also cover my Freesub automatic mug press.
Removal from my cave:
My CR-10 is going to be removed from the cave as ist become unreliable will move it to wales so and revisit it at a later date.
Repair list:
my Prusa printers will work on these probably after i return from 2 trades shows and a week away some were hot and sunny will be moving things around the cave to fit the new equipment.
Time to play with:
Hoping to get to play with my CNC machine as got some ideas for Christmas presents and a bit i want to make.
right time to sleep as i have a 3+ hrs drive tommorow back to london.
After a month i have finally cleared most of the crap out of the man cave now to fix 3 x 3d printers somehow. as all 3 have different issues. I have decided that if i cannot fix them i will sell them off as only really need on a working printer to make parts. will be updating each section as i fix brake or sell bits on this post. will be covering the CNC machine shortly as the need to fix my 3d printer to make some bits i have designed to get me up and running.
CR-10
the cr10 is showing very high temp when switched on on the heat bed not sure why. going to re-solder the connector. see if this fixes the issue.
Prusa Mk2s MMU
this constantly jams the nozzle so going to look on the world wide web for some answers if not might convert it back to just being an MK2s or 2.5s depending on time and money or i could upgrade it to a Haribo edition.
Prusa Mk3
This keeps jamming up not sure why as was working flawlessly for the last 6 months again this will be a web search for an answer as i have tried lots of things that i keep thinking i have fixed it then gets to the second layer and block up.
For sale list:
Trinus 3D Printer
going to sell my Trinus 3d printer as just too small for me and not worth the time and hassle so open to offers on it comes with laser brand new extruder and enclosure with LED screen and tools spare nozzles. if anyone is interested contact me. it powers up but will need some tinkering to get it working right. open to offers
K40 modified laser
This is my k40 laser comes all working will it comes with a C3D controller board flow switch and upgrades panels featuring temp gauge e-stop switch and flow led. upgraded inline and modified exhaust fan air assist pump. looking for £400 ono
New Equipment Wishlist.
3D heat press as going to do a bit more sublimation.
As i have a spare 8m of LED tape and want to add some lighting to my very compact man cave/workshop. I have decided to use the leftover LED tape and wifi controller to achieve this.
This is a quick any easy project for anyone who like me does not have a lot of space for strip lighting and needs a quick fix.
Parts i am using:
3528 LED bright white LED tape Link here for the kit.
Wifi LED Controller. link for this great bit of kit.
I started out measuring out 3 x 800mm strips of tape for the shelves of my racking.
The first strip of led tape came with a 2.1 x 5.5 connector, I left this in place so i could connect the supplied power supply to the tape and the wifi controller will also plug into this connection between the power and the tape. will show this later on in the post.
I then used my flux pen to prim the solder pads I then added solder to the pads ready for receiving the JST connector wiring. I made sure that -+ were soldered to right pads.
priming the pads for soldering.first pad soldered ready for wiring.Just connector soldered to LED Tape.testing the strip after soldering.
I started to add the strips of tape to the different areas that i wanted to light up. so in my case, I put some above the vinal cutter and in the CNC enclosure, i then added tape above my parts bins to light them up and also above my 2 x 3d printers and several other areas i wanted to be illuminated.
Installed led tape underside of shelving.initial test of the lights yes i know its messy got to finish finding homes for everything, now to make it wifi controlled.
now time to install power and the wifi controller. just plug-in power supply and then the controller stick controller down. take a picture of the QR code and install the app.
a simple inline device that works great going to order 2 more of these for other lighting sets
The end result is awesome as I have had to go off to Wales for a nice long weekend of RnR with the family i will post some images of the finished project tomorrow. as i didn’t get a chance to photograph it before i left.
As i have had some issues with getting my lightburn camera to align and recognise all registration marks in calibration and alignment set up. I have decided i am going to add a better light source and see if this will improve the process.
first of all, i am going to identify current strip is running 12v or 24v or 240v so out with my trusty voltmeter. As i can see a 3 prong pin looks very similar to some i have seen on Amazon or aliexpress so once i know voltages i can look at my options. i am hoping its 12v as then will be as easy as buying a connector and digging out some led tape.
high voltage led strips so i have decided to go down the route of low voltage dimmable LED’s as cheap easy to fit.
Some fun with LEDs
As a maker, i had all the bits, apart from the led tape that i needed to order. So I found a cheap 5m kit off amazon prime as time is always an issue when ordering from China.
I have 50m of red and black, led wiring cable in my stock of parts. I started off by stripping the wiring off both wires and tinned them, I then took used my flux pen to clean up the terminals and added solder to both solder pads. I then soldered the wires to the pads.
All ready to tin and solder
I then used isopropyl alcohol to clean the area i was going to stick the tape to. I started bottom right worked the tape around the edge of the bed above the rim. Till it had gone around the bed.
all stuck down now to run the wiring
i added cable tabs to so i could keep some cable management i then threaded the wiring through the laser and out through a hole in the floor i then wired up a d 2.1 x 5.5 female connector to the end of the cable.
this is where i connected the dimmer switch and plugged the lighting into the mains
The end result looks good and hoping will cure my lightburn camera issues.
All wired up and working. yes, i will be cleaning my bed this week.
Next up:
I am going to see if i can now calibrate properly using the lightburn camera. if that works fine, I will design a slimline camera mount for the lightburn camera. As an issue with current cameras mount is the laser head hits is when running on the bottom of the printer.
Right as one on my side projects is now done for another month. i can get back to doing enjoyable bits and get to finally clean up my workspace. get everything up and running and ready to work.
So last nights and tonight project is a freebie for my son’s nursery sports day for the toddler group some medals. with the heatwave starting to rush in not sure how much i can do over the next day or so but going to crack on and get the last 28 medals run tonight water temps allowing.
Designed a 2D trophy to give to the toddler and baby rooms of son’s nursery 28 per sheet.
I taped up some 3mm plywood after i had sanded both sides with 400 grit sanding disc. placed it on my honeycomb bed top left. hit play and away the 50-watt laser went. i decided to crudely wire up my water temp gauge the water temp had started out at around 22c when i started to engrave
around 1hr later after the hole sheet had engraved the water temp was up a 29.9c
My temp wired water gauge in side ambient room temp gauge
This is my first attempt at mass production of a product and was an approx 2 hr of engraving and cutting of the medals with the worry of water temp raising 33.2c.
getting hot need a chiller.
this fun little project had given me some worries about water temperatures in the man cave.
I had found an original CW-5000 for £399 they had 11 in stock yesterday went to order today and they have sold out argh so going to bag some ice tonight and add to my distilled water.
Day 2 of opperation sports day medals and getting the mancave to opperatnal .
27 medals to go do love my 50watt laser so reliable fired up laser loaded lightburn put the new sheet of taped plywood and away we go.
final 4 engraving before the cut out pass.
All done and now to take all the tape off them 1 down 37 to go
taken off the tape off yash medal. going to also wipe with wihite viniger.
been a busy night on the tidying the cave now have a clean work bench getting a lot or the draws labeled up as need some organisation in the cave. starting to come together.
That’s me done for the night next operation is sorting the large form printer and my Prusa Mk3 both back online thinking about making some wall mounted spool holders as my enclosed one seem to be jamming up on me. Need to get the CR-10 up and working as well have to calibrate the machine.
Next project on the laser I have a stack of placemats to engrave for our holiday let but going to have to watch the weather and clean out the water tank and replace the dirty water. so will be doing that over the next week will cover the process and the tidying up of the cave at the same time.
but an update is due i have been playing with the map a bit more have offset the roads to make the bolder on the map have also removed some names and features.
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