3d Printer Availability

[Sean McGinnis]

Morning All,

I was wondering if there are any 3d printers that are not being used or could be lent out for 3 to 6 months? I am working on two projects; an aquaponics monitoring system and RasPi/GPS/Camera mount for balloon, kite or pole mapping, and need to fabricate some components for both.

Please let me know if you have any questions and thanks in advance,

-sean

[Chris Fastie]

Hi Sean,

There is not much centralized control of the Public Lab printers, but most of the people who are responsible for individual printers are on this list. If you are still in Philadelphia the closest printers to you that might be available are in Amherst, MA (Ian Walls or Jake Wheeler) and NYC (Liz Barry). It's too bad there is not more information about how much the printers are being used or what condition they are in. 

Some of the printers might have some critical upgrade needs, so if you are interested in taking on a rescue project you could contribute a lot to the Public Lab printer stable by borrowing one and bringing it up to snuff.

I would also be happy to do some upgrades to a printer if someone wants to ship one to me. I don't need another printer, so I could send it along when it is running well.

There is no budget for these upgrades, but maybe there could be.

We could develop a list of upgrade and maintenance goals and how much it would cost. I have been compiling a list of where to buy spare parts for these printers because MakerBot is officially ending support for this model in March of this year. That means that this is a very good time to call MakerBot and see if they will supply free replacements for broken parts and maybe purchase replacements or spares.

Thanks for asking,

Chris

[Mathew Lippincott]

We use the one here in Portland, I can't offer it.  As for the others-- I haven't heard of any of them really being in use except the one here in Portland, Chris's, and the ones in New Orleans.  I think an under-used one can be scared up.

Chris is right, there are two critical upgrades that need to be done,  and two optional ones that really improves things:

the critical ones are:

change out the power regulator

Cut the indicator LEDs (they're on the motor circuit, of all the dumb things)

Optional are:

add a 2X-style extruder

enclose the build area

Makerbot is officially ending support in march of this year?  crap.  Gotta get on putting the 2X-style extruder on our one here in Portland. Haven't done that yet, as my ABS prints haven't been good enough and have all been warped. 

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "plotz-3D" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to plotz-3d+u...@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

[Sean McGinnis]

I was talking with Liz about it yesterday and she suggested I post it here to see if any of the underutilized ones might be accessible. I will gladly do any updates that might be necessary and put the printer back out in PL circulation.

I am down in Washington DC area now, so I am not 100% sure about the resources down in this area. Thanks in advance and please let me know if one pops up.

-sean

[Chris Fastie]

 

the critical ones are:

change out the power regulator

Cut the indicator LEDs (they're on the motor circuit, of all the dumb things)

I would add to critical upgrades replacing the x-axis idler pulley. If the OEM pulley is not regularly lubricated, the entire x-end bracket will be destroyed.

I am not familiar with the LED thing.

Optional are:

add a 2X-style extruder

enclose the build area

I might move the new extruder (filament feed mechanism) to critical if you consider reliable printing to be a requirement. The old OEM filament feed mechanism will not allow quality prints very reliably.  

Enclosing the build area is definitely optional. If you print mostly PLA, it is not worth the inconvenience. When I print ABS, I just build a cardboard house around the printer.

I would add to optional the addition of z-axis arm stiffeners. Especially if you are printing ABS (which requires more heat) the plastic OEM arms always warp. Stiffeners control this warping and add some mass and prevent some vibration so allow higher quality prints. They cost $40 to $50 (but mine are red, so totally worth it).

I would also recommend printing on a glass plate. I just tried this a month ago for the first time. I will never go back. No more blue tape, no more glue stick. Just spray Aquanet Extra Super Hold on the glass. PLA never curls off the plate. Ever. Put the plate in the freezer (or fridge, or winter windowsill) and the parts pop off in three minutes. I am so sorry it took me two years to figure this out. If your heated build plate has become warped (as mine did and most do eventually), the glass plate can solve this problem too.

Chris

[Stevie Lewis]

Hello!

I just tracked down a 3D printer here in Propeller. It was being used by a group here locally who has stopped using it since September or so. I'm not sure what it needs in terms of maintenance. I have  an email out to the person who was in charge of it, but they have since moved jobs, so it might be a bit difficult to track him down. Happy to send it on it's merry way to you in Phili Sean. Email me with some contact info if you're interested.

-Stevie

--

[Sean McGinnis]

Hey All,

The printer arrived yesterday and I started to set it up. Somehow in transit the DC-DC converter was damaged. The printer was powering up, but it was not powering the display or other components. I was able to track one down from a place in Florida for less than $5. I am going to order all of the other recommended upgrades and get it running again.

-sean

[Chris Fastie]

Sean,

That's good you were able to narrow it down to the DC-DC converter. How did you do that?

I have started a draft of my list of replacement parts and suppliers for the Replicator 1 Dual. At this stage all I have learned is that I can't find a supplier for most of the parts. That's partly because many suppliers don't identify parts as being appropriate for that printer (I guess there are not that many of them around). For example it's easy to buy a thermocouple, and I think many will work on the Rep 1,  but I have yet to find one that is identified as a drop in replacement for the Rep 1. I want to post the list to the MakerBot Users Google Group and see if I can get some help. Maybe I will make a wiki at Public Lab for the list.

Chris

[Sean McGinnis]

When I opened the bottom panel to take a look @ the boards and wiring, the DC-DC converter fell out of the bay. The glue must have let loose in transit. While moving around, the Vi(+) pin broke off the board below the resin. I pulled the resin back and saw the board was damaged where it broke off.

I ordered the part from MPJA Online (http://www.mpja.com/) and should have the middle of net week.

I don't think it would be a bad idea to start up a wiki page, I will definitely add what I am learning along the way.

-sean

[Sean McGinnis]

The question was asked:

Sean - A picture of where the pin broke off of the board would help, but
perhaps that is not necessary.  I used hot glue to attach the DC-DC
converter and was expecting that to be a robust solution.
It sounds like, if you are not referring to the pin on the DC-DC
converter that you just need to find another place to solder the lead
onto the circuit board.  The converter should still be good.

The pin broke off the board of the DC-DC converter. The top left corner (exposed board area) is where the Vi(+) pin is supposed to be. All of the other connections appear to be fine, but it is difficult to test.

[Dan Beavers]

Wow, it appears to have had ROUGH handling for the glue to give way and
the pin plus potting to pull off. Thanks for the picture.

On 2016-01-22 11:57, Sean McGinnis wrote:
> The question was asked:
>
>
> Sean - A picture of where the pin broke off of the board would help, but
> perhaps that is not necessary. I used hot glue to attach the DC-DC
> converter and was expecting that to be a robust solution.
> It sounds like, if you are not referring to the pin on the DC-DC
> converter that you just need to find another place to solder the lead
> onto the circuit board. The converter should still be good.
>
>
> The pin broke off the board of the DC-DC converter. The top left corner
> (exposed board area) is where the Vi(+) pin is supposed to be. All of
> the other connections appear to be fine, but it is difficult to test.
>
>

> <https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/--xDP_O16b1I/VqJrN9pdAjI/AAAAAAAAHx8/293gMjdiRBw/s1600/dcdc.jpg>

> --
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google
> Groups "plotz-3D" group.
> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send
> an email to plotz-3d+u...@googlegroups.com

> <mailto:plotz-3d+u...@googlegroups.com>.