Reprap dirge

[Allen Brown]

There were three of us beating on the repcrap last night.
And we got it working better than before. But we were
really just peeling the onion.

We actually got it to do a test print. That is a substantial
milestone. Or would be if the printing produced anything
remotely worthwhile. It was supposed to be a bust of Beethoven.
It looked like what the dog leaves behind when it has diarrhea.

As far as I know the electronics and firmware were working
correctly. But who really knows? If they were working, the
failure was almost certainly the mechanicals. That's the part
that we have not replaced much of.

It's time to look at what we have replaced. And what we
probably would need to replace to get it working.
* Main electronics board - replaced with a board borrowed from Cassie
* All motor controller boards - replaced with boards borrowed from Cassie
* firmware and software - replaced
* Cables and connectors - replaced with ones that are polarized
* printhead - replaced with a printhead borrowed from Cassie
* Plastic supply - Cassie lent us a roll of PLA.

That's a lot of stuff replaced. And all of it was borrowed.
So to make those changes permanent we would have to lay down
some more money. But wait, that's not all.

We would also almost certainly have to replace the following:
* Extruder frame.
* Extruder gears.
* X axis frames, sprockets, and bearings.
* Z axis frames, sprockets, and bearings. Plus add another stepper motor.
* Replace all belts. The current ones are defective.
* The bed. A heated bed isn't optional. It is required if you want
a printer that actually works.
* The power supply.
* The limit switch blades. They need to be easily adjustable.
We were constantly adjusting them. Bending steel to do this
was a royal pain in the ass.

It would have been easier to list what didn't have to be
replaced. The basic frame. Maybe the steppers, altho it
really would be better to have more powerful steppers.
That's about it. In summary, we might as well have thrown
our thousands of dollars down into a hole in the ground
for all the benefit we got. Actually that would have
been better since it would have require considerably
less wasted effort.

Shannon should perhaps speak for himself. But my impression
is that he won't have time to work on this much. And won't
be bothered by abandoning it. He is inclined to wait until
somebody redesigns the reprap to use an Arm instead of Arduino.

If any of you investors want to take over this repcrap, you
are welcome to it. I don't want to look at it any more.
If there are no takers, I propose we give it to Kassie.
--
Allen Brown abrown at peak.org http://brown.armoredpenguin.com/~abrown/
A life that is planned is a closed life. It can be endured perhaps.
It cannot be lived. --- movie: Inn of Sixth Happiness

[Shannon Dealy]

On Thu, 2 Aug 2012, Allen Brown wrote:

[snip]

> Shannon should perhaps speak for himself. But my impression
> is that he won't have time to work on this much. And won't
> be bothered by abandoning it. He is inclined to wait until
> somebody redesigns the reprap to use an Arm instead of Arduino.

[snip]

All true. Classes start in less than two months, so I won't have
much time again in the Fall. The Arduino development environment is
painfully primitive and the lack of source level debug is a great way
to waste a lot of time that I don't have.

Shannon C. Dealy | DeaTech Research Inc.
de...@deatech.com | - Custom Software Development -
Phone: (800) 467-5820 | - Natural Building Instruction -
or: (541) 929-4089 | www.deatech.com

[abr...@peak.org]

----- "Allen Brown" <abr...@peak.org> wrote:
> If any of you investors want to take over this repcrap, you
> are welcome to it. I don't want to look at it any more.
> If there are no takers, I propose we give it to Kassie.

Going...
--
Allen Brown http://brown.armoredpenguin.com/~abrown/
I find television very educational. The minute somebody turns
it on, I go to the library and read a good book. ---Groucho Marx

[Toby Martin]

Going ...

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[abr...@peak.org]

Kassie, if you want to come by this evening I will hand
it all to you.

BTW I am still interested in Blender. Would you mind
giving an intro to it? Bring your laptop.

--
Allen Brown http://brown.armoredpenguin.com/~abrown/

Anti-intellectual: Never trust anyone with an IQ over 30.

[Kassandra Kaplan]

Sorry I didn't get to you soon, as I was out and about on business till now. Anyway, I mat be able to come Thursday. Perhaps I could join you for your game night. If that doesn't work out (there is about a 25% chance that I will be needed elsewhere), the next soonest day would likely be next Wednesday.

As for blender, it is perhaps one of the most complicated art programs out there. Even an 2 hour intro would probably not leave you able to do anything useful. 10 sessions would probably get you pretty comfortable with a couple aspects and probably get you doing most of what you want, but whole sections and major features would not even get a quick glance. In fact I have been using blender for about 2 years and some sections of the program are a mystery (namely the game engine).

This estimate assume that you know some basic 3d theory or would be a quick study.

Note that 3d software is notoriously difficult to learn and blender was designed for the professional user with an eye toward efficiency not friendliness. (read complicated multi key command with no easy access to the same feature via menus)

I am willing to teach, but I also want you to have a realistic expectation. Also I would want to know your goals so I don't waste time focusing on stuff you don't need.

どうぞおげんきで
Kassie

[abr...@peak.org]

OK to games. But of course that will preclude Blender.

I want to be able to model 3d objects for design purposes.
No games. But simple motion would be nice so that I can
see how parts work together in an assembly.

Centuries ago I studied 3d graphics. With a lot of
brain strain I might be able to write down the formula
for rotations. Well, maybe not. But I understand the
concepts: translations, rotations, projections.

--
Allen Brown abrown at peak.org http://brown.armoredpenguin.com/~abrown/

People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments
should be afraid of their people. --- movie: V for Vendetta

[abr...@peak.org]

OK, Kassie, do you want to try again tomorrow evening?

Or would one of you others want to nab it first?
BTW, GOING!

--
Allen Brown abrown at peak.org http://brown.armoredpenguin.com/~abrown/

If knowledge can create problems, it is not through ignorance
that we can solve them. --- Carl Sagan

[Kassandra Kaplan]

Planning to come and do blender stuff.

どうぞおげんきで
Kassie

[abr...@peak.org]

GONE!

Tonight, Kassie gave a blender lesson to Jeremy and me.
We created a slightly stylized bicycle wheel. There
will be future lessons.

--
Allen Brown abrown at peak.org http://brown.armoredpenguin.com/~abrown/

By trying we can easily endure adversity.
Another man's, I mean. --- Mark Twain