This is a minor update of the previous pinch wheel extruder. I've logged about 40-50 hours on the previous design and have discovered some areas that could use some improvements. This design should be easier to use. For example, the smaller gap between the wheel and the Filament Guide will make it less prone to jamming during inital filament loading.

here's a flickr set for this bot
flickr.com/photos/sixmilliondollardan/sets/72157616240288122/

the zip file is a bunch of solidworks files. SW2006 i think. but i can't remember exactly. i will try to find my parts spreadsheet and toss that up as well.

Spring 2008.
I designed and built a simple torso for a Go playing(manipulation driven, not strategy) robot for Prof Rod Brooks at MIT CSAIL. Postdoc Eduardo Torres-Jara works on the motor drivers, control, and hand design. Josh Kargas did some of the electronics mounting and routing.

Robot has 6 Series Elastic Actuator degrees of freedom. But waist is locked out and shoulder joints have the spring shorted out.

DOFS:
waist yaw
shoulder x 2
elbow x 2
wrist vertical axis x 1
wrist rotation axis x 1
neck pitch x 1
head tilt x 1
head pan x 1

yes analog sensors. potentiometers are awesome.

Personal 3D Printer rev.3 Beta

A powder-based 3D printer.
Build area: 15.25"L x 8.8"W x 6.6"D
Based on a Lexmark z715 inkjet printer.

This is a revision of a project started at University of Washington, under Prof. Mark Ganter, in the Solheim RP Lab.

Credits:
P3P rev.1:
Kory Koyamatsu, Kristina Olson, Erik Roby, Nathaniel Thompson, Tri Truong
P3P rev.2:
Steven Balkus, Miguel Guzman, Kevin Hawkinson, Ben Palmer, Vlad Nesterov
P3P rev.3:
Kevin Hawkinson


3D printing information:
tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/diy_3d_printing_and_fabrication/

This is the final episode of a three-part mini-series on making things with low-melting-temperature-alloy. The collection of things here form a hot material transfer system that can be used to extrude (sort of) molten metal or wax. This is inspired by earlier work done by Dr. Sells and Prof. Bowyer reprap.org/bin/view/Main/AutomaticDepositionOfMoltenAlloyInt oACastingChannelToCreateAVerySimple Electro-mechanicalComponent .

As usual, remember that low-melt alloys are toxic and hot enough to cause burns and fires, so only use this material if you are experienced in a lab environment. On the plus side, this system can also be used to make things out of wax, which is much safer to use, although you still have to watch out for burns and fires! Possible uses for a wax-handling system include: 1) automated wax casting; 2) use of wax as a support material.

If you omit the heaters, you can probably use the nozzle and syringe pump to deposit slurries or liquids.

The idea of operation is that a standard RepRap prints a layer of plastic (HDPE, ABS, etc). Then the toolheads are switched, and the metal/wax toolhead deposits molten material in the channels or cavities formed by the plastic. If necessary, the process can be repeated for constructing thicker and more complex parts.

We have had good success using the nozzle as a hand-held tool for transferring metal. For example, we used it to make this thing: thingiverse.com/thing:802 .

We have had somewhat less success using it when mounted to a RepRap, as seen in the pictures. The main problem is poor control of flow-rate (see photo of pattern on hot plate). With some modification (such as a smaller nozzle hole diameter) and tuning of parameters (feed rate, height of nozzle above plate, etc) it might work much better. We RepRapped a simple test piece, manually filled it with metal while it was still on the hotplate, then let it cool (see photo of widget with 25-cent piece). This yielded fairly good results, indicating that an automated system may be able to produce usable parts.

The main components of the system are

1) Heated cup - this is a heated reservoir that contains the molten work material.

2) Heated copper nozzle - the nozzle slurps up material from the cup, then moves to a desired location and deposits the material.

3) Syringe pump - a motor-driven syringe controls air flow in and out of the nozzle, which in turn causes the nozzle to slurp or deposit material.

4) Heated plate - this keeps the work hot to improve the flow of the heated material. It also melts the base of the deposited part, creating a good seal between part and plate, so that molten material does not leak under the part. In general, the heated plate seems to help avoid warping, but the downside is that the bottom of the part starts to ooze outwards after a while.

My Second design of a small geometric sculpture that explores the battle between cake and pie

I decided that the timing belt gear in my plastruder was just too unreliable, so I wanted to try out a worm gear drive cog like I'd seen others have good success with. I have a cheap 9x20 lathe and a tap set, but I was missing something to hold the gear blank to the tap while letting it rotate. So I fabbed one.

This isn't a robust thing, but it's good enough, and I've been able to make several small brass worm gears with it.

The human powered internet cafe looks at the issues of renewable power generation and aims to educate users to the energy requirements of surfing the internet.

Users are asked to peddle the exercise bikes in order to turn a dynamo which would in turn power the computers. If users fail to peddle hard enough the computer monitors will begin to flicker encouraging them to peddle harder.

The thing would ideally be placed in public areas where all forms of society could view it and try it out for them selves, thus educating as many people as possible.

This is a new and improved drive gear for the upcoming Plastruder MK5. It is backwards compatible with the MK3/MK4 plastruder designs and provides 200% increased push force.

For more information, see the blog post: blog.makerbot.com/2010/05/21/mk5-drive-gear-now-with-science

To purchase one for yourself, visit the MakerBot Store: store.makerbot.com/mk5-drive-gear.html

This is an alternative extruder hot-end design for the makerbot, though it may work for other 3d printers as well.

The big advantage is that it does not require an insulator (usually PTFE or PEEK), which causes problems for some (or perhaps many). Instead, a stack of washers and nuts is used as a heatsink to reduce the temperature.

It worked really, really well for me, no more stalled extruders, stuck filaments, half-way prints. It heats up rapidly less than 1 minute from 25 to 220 degC), and I haven't had any problems with it (yet..).
I've only printed ABS so far, so I have no idea if it will work with other materials.

My original version used an aluminum heatsink (bottom image), but I thought that might be a bit hard for others to duplicate, so I built this one. Works just as well, just looks a little less fancy.

You'll need a small fan, stainless steel M6 bolt as well as a stack of M6 nuts and 25mm M6 fender washers in addition to asome components from a standard makerbot extruder.

This is a spin-off of the Wobble Arrester by twotimes:
thingiverse.com/thing:2151
I love his idea, but I had a hard time getting the offset linear guides to work properly - my prints always had a sort of blobby section right at the top, which took my bushings out of alignment and caused binding. No doubt I still need to work on my skeinforge skills.

Anyway, I figured that ideally the Z-rods should be somewhere in the middle of the Z-stage - in other words, between the drive screws. This should reduce binding and in the event of a crash won't load the Z-rods and bushing clamps as badly. It also turns out that there's space enough to add the standard makerbot rod mounting scheme: through holes with external covers, although the covers are a little different due to space constraints. I have uploaded DXFs that can be used as templates for modifying your top, middle, and Z-stage; if you have access to a lasercutter you could use them to cut drop-in replacements to the standard makerbot parts.

I certainly don't want to step on any toes, but I'd like to see Z-rods as a standard option, so I tried to make this mounting arrangement easy to implement on the production side. Unfortunately I couldn't find a stock part for the bearing mount, but it should be easy to machine in quantity if it comes to that.

The bearing retainer comes in 3 flavors: 3/8" through hole for use with bearing inserts, 1/4" through hole for use without bearings, and 3/8" without counterbore for printing. (Note that if you intend on printing you'll have to use a non-headed bushing or relieve the underside of the Z-stage to accommodate the bushing head.) Just choose your poison.

EDITED TO ADD:
I noticed an error in the modified Z-stage DXF, so I have removed the old file and uploaded a corrected one. The first version would still work fine as a template to modify an existing stage, but not for cutting a new one. Please download the updated version.

I'm embarrased to say I forgot to measure it before I installed it. Tired of breaking my acrylic idlers, I had my father help me rig this up in his machine shop. Yes, it's been done before, but it's SUCH a better solution. I'll upload the measurements at a later point, like the next time I have to rebuild the head. Which is hopefully never.

This is the wades extruder block, with a few modifications to allow the addition of the MK5 hot end. The hot end may not work on a Mendel. But I can verify that it will bolt up to this modified extruder block.

I have only bolted the hot end up, I have not turned it on or done any other testing, I am still making a few parts for it. I have replaced the ptfe spacers on the hot ends with some aluminum heatsinks to try and cut down on heat transfer into the extruder block. I also have modified the extruder block so some metal plates can be used to distribute the load across the top of the extuder block where the MK5 bolts are attached.

This is a test object, like I said it will bolt up to the hot end, maybe not your printer, and it may not function, use at your own risk. I will up load pics later, and will update as needed.

These are the production files for Shapercube 2.0, the cool, solid like a rock 3D printer from Germany. It is approx 42x41x42cm big and has a print surface of approx. 190x200x185mm (X/Y/Z).

The DXF file is ideally 5mm aluminum, cut with a water-jet (a powerful laser would work too).

The DXF file include an experimental mount for a second extruder, which limits the X movement to ~140mm.

The STL files have to be printed out on a 3D printer.

All files are published under GPLv2 or later.

The STL files include original and derivative work from:
thingiverse.com/thing:3069
thingiverse.com/thing:4835
thingiverse.com/thing:1794
thingiverse.com/thing:3462
thingiverse.com/thing:2151

This is a work in progress for an x-carriage for Mendel.

I used similar PTFE bushings for my build platform with great success so I’m trialling it on an extruder carriage. The PTFE thermal barrier is located with a M6 nut & grub screw.

This is the standard spacing so it should fit huxley without modification.

Also can be used with my x-axis replacement: thingiverse.com/thing:4831

Follow my build log on: strelly3d.blogspot.com

This printable extruder is intended to work on RepRap Mendel (both standard and Prusa), RepRap Huxley, and virtually any other open-source 3D printer you can find.

It features:

1. 1.75 mm filament
2. Adaptable mounting plate to attach it to virtually any 3D printer
3. Very compact high-torque NEMA 11 motor
4. Active ducted fan cooling for high reliability
5. Wade-style hobbed bolt filament transport
6. Wing-nut drive to spread the torque loading on the plastic gears
7. Push-fit hot-end parts - no thread cutting
8. Easily replaced PTFE liner for the hot end
9. A single M3-threaded rod cut to lengths makes all the fixings
10. Lightweight: 420g
11. Compact design (110 mm x 90 mm x 80 mm)

I based this design (loosely) on Jstkatz's extruder (http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:7037), in particular, the idea of using a lever to trap the filament against its drive.

2 print parts
2 round rod d6x215mm
6 retaining elements
8 screws m3x8
2 elastic band

This paper-roll-transport-system is built for an installation of the
exhibition-project of Written Images.
A thermal printing-device will receive short text messages via mobile
phone and the text will be interpreted into simple 8-bit pictures.
therefore the continouos paper-roll will be streamlined and transported
step-by-step in the right length the images are printed. To manage the
right length and getting the streamline in correct adjustment the
transport-rolls are extended with a pendulum-roll, which manages the
correct adjustment. To get the paper pulled tight, the motor gets
started everytime the paper-roll is loose.

for more information about the project visit writtenimages.net

project by Martin Fuchs and Peter Bichsel.
Big kudos to Mauro and his excellent engineering-work!
youtube.com/watch?v=rnOd0R58kQg&feature=player_embedded

Its a Turntable for tie bar, watchtower, sputnik or something else.

You have to modification the hub of the motor with a M5 screw thread.

All Parts printad with PLA on a ShaperCube

in action: youtube.com/watch?v=fENlIcpdby8

Motor:

Type: Modelcraft RB350200-0A101R
12VDC
max. 26rpm
gear load 18kg/cm
steady gear load 6kg/cm

parts

6x m6 screw nuts
2x rod d6x200mm
2x rod d6x150mm
1x bearing 19x6x6mm
1x ball 1x d18 with m5 thread
300gr. of washer
1x d6x30 thread rod m6 and unc 1/4-20


print parts

1x cam holder
2x end piece
1x gimbal ball holder
1x gimbal holder cap
1x hand grip

This is a design for a new, more durable flexible coupling (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coupling) for use on the z-axis motors in the Mendel: Prusa RepRap machine design. The design allows for 2-3 degrees of play, but can be adjusted depending on how it's machined.

Please see the following YouTube link that shows the an animated CAD simulation of the design:
youtube.com/watch?v=PQEHnb5eVaE
and here is the design manufactured and in use:
youtube.com/watch?v=Hu32DFF1TXY
The RepRap machine filmed in the above video is one of the two Mendel: Prusa machines located at the Digital Manufacturing Laboratory in Bath.
digitalmanufacturinglab.com/

Solid Works Drawings of a Mendel that is all metal, uses linear bearings on all axis and dual belts on X and Y to cope with extra weights involved.

This printer was started as a result of my friends astonishment of what i was able to make using a cordless drill and a hacksaw. my repstrap didn't sit flat or square it wobbled, i used lead screws to drive all the axis' as a result it was slow best speed i could get was 1000rpm ~650mm/min, but at that speed the frame wobbled and the resulting prints had waves in 6 different directions :P

With this pen lift mechanism the pen is lifted perpendicular. This enables to draw a straight line on an egg.

This is a lotus or rose or what ever is most Awesome. I made this as a gift for someone so I went the extra mile and made some brass leafs colored green and Copper wire stems so oxidize them in a brown green tone. I went to TIG the copper to the stainless stalk but It was too small so I just brazed it. I ended up Threading the stem to use a 4/40 nylon acorn nut below the flower and a 4/40 acorn nut at the top to look real.

I was finding that the printed timing pulleys (at least the ones I got) were crap crap crap - so I made myself an aluminum one on my lathe and 4 axis CNC machine :)

I converted the Hobbing Thing to openscad to allow easier and/or precise modifications.

This tool can be used to make hobbed bolts for 3d printer extruders.

5/16" x 2.5" (8mm x 63mm)

Will work with both 3mm and 1.75 mm Filament.

I would recommend use this item:
thingiverse.com/thing:13351
with Greg's Extruder.

I looked for a filament splicer “thingi” without finding much. So I knocked this one up. Surprisingly - it seems to work!
It’s based on having a hot tongue to lick the filament ends and butt them up while they are hot and sweaty. The re-shaping of the filament takes place by being forced through a PTFE tube while it’s still malleable – basically at the same time as the buttering up takes place.

I finally made a re-design of the extruder assembly of a Beta
Ultimaker.
The design was on my mind for a long time.
The advance is the bigger diameter off the "bolt" (20 mm) and a bearing as a pressure roller.
Also the wheel has just straight grooves so I don't have to clean it anymore.
Because the grooves are straight it's not grinding in the filament
anymore.
I print for many hours without cleaning.
My parts are looking better also because of the constant transit of
the filament.

The only disadvantage is that you have to make some parts in steel.

Geo Hagen
hagentb.nl

this is a proof of concept in the use of driving more than 2 filaments (3 here) using 2 motors. one motor drives the filament while the other drives a cam that pushes the filament into the drive shaft.
i am currently preparing to test this, but wanted to get it out there. current issues are that is does not have good access to the drive mechanism for cleaning or feeding filament and that much of it was designed to be machined instead of printed. the side plates are to big for a cupcake, but i ws able to print a few of the pieces on one. it may also not be compatible with other motors until there is a redesign, as the motors are integral to its strength.
if anyone has improvements, let me know.
EDIT: added an IGES assembly file(let me know when you find its broken, and how to fix it) and SW2005 part and assembly files. also added an exploded image
EDIT: lookes like this has been worked on a bit already by wildseyed thingiverse.com/thing:10783 . not sure if i should list it as derivative.
Finally got more than 1 hot end functional at a time, so to check out the filament drive in action see youtu.be/CVaYHlLkvWM
and youtu.be/yqAGEqaoPg4


it works! all 3 filaments running:
youtu.be/po8KyagUsY4
youtu.be/-X-azhcsqdM