Hex Coupling Nuts as bushings?

A friend of mine, who's recently also caught the RepRap bug, was looking for bushings to use with the 8mm rod. With access to a lathe, he reamed out some Hex Coupling Nuts, using an 8mm reamer, and gave me some to try. The process was quick and the result was excellent!With 8mm centre removed what's interesting is that a sliver of thread groove remains inside. We figure this would serve well to retain some light lubricant.It's a lovely...

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Motors and electronics ordered...

Quick update: I've ordered Gen6 electronics and motors today. I'll continue to investigate extruder designs and only move on parts for that once I've chosen a design I like. I plan to experiment with extruder variations once I have a functioning chassis.Thank you for visiting! Feel free to leave a comme...

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The Print Platform...

This week I gave time to the print platform construction, reviewing images, approaches and discussions on the topic. The basic Prusa Mendel style print platform is a two tier structure. The lower smaller board has bushings attached and rides on the parallel rods of the Y-axis. The upper board is typically square (225mm) and held aloft by springs on four bolts, and usually carries some kind of heated bed.The debate continues on-line about the purpose...

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Got some 8mm Stainless Rod for X and Y...

This week... I found a local supplier of stainless steel, and bought a 3m length of 8mm stainless rod (Good value round these parts at �6). They only sell in full lengths. I cut new X and Y axis rods. The stainless was easier than I thought to cut even by hand with a hacksaw. Mark the desired length carefully and grip the rod in a vice, protecting the rod from the vice jaws.Once cut it's a good idea to round off any sharp edges with...

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Either end of X...

I had some 6mm rod around, and found the center bushing from an old set of rollerblades fitted the rod nicely (I'm saving the rollerblade bearings for later). Now, I do suspect the 6mm rod would be much too light for use in the Y or X axis, but in a vertical direction (Z) I just might get away with it. With my self-imposed material choice constraints (wood), I reviewed the existing plastic design for the 'x-end-motor' and 'x-end-idler',...

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Two steps forward...

When I get so far with measuring and cutting, it's hard to resist a little bit of building! I know it's a waste of time to start construction until you have all the bits, but it's hard to resist! :)I got some 8mm rod over the weekend and cut it to size. I got enough rod-clamps made up to fit the Y-axis loosely, and then cut two Z-axis motor mounts, again from my trustee oak floor board. (I'm going with the Prusa variant, which uses two Z-axis motors.)I'm...

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Rod Clamps...

The Prusa Mendel has the simplist of rod clamps, a good improvement on the original Mendel design. But faced with which type of clamp I could make more easily with 'stuff' to hand, I reverted to mimic the original design.I routed two 8mm slots, 8mm deep, in what was left of the oak floor board. It would have been better to use a round-nosed 8mm bit, but didn't have one to hand.Back to the chop-saw to cut to length 35mm.Rotate through 90Deg, push...

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The Frame Vertex

The 'frame vertex', or what I might more loosely call those corners on the equilaterial triangles of the RepRap Mendel frame, is a lovely simple little joint. But, try find a dimensioned drawing that you can easily use to reproduce one of those joints in any other way than on a 3D printer! That's the whole point you might say! Anyway, I eventually gave up looking and did my own 'old school' drawing, so I could make a template for my 'corners'. A...

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Printer build under-way...

Greetings and welcome!After reading up for the past few weeks on the whole 'RepRap' concept (http://www.reprap.org/), I took some time over the holidays to gather materials and devise an approach, a plan! This is just an initial post. I'll add more detail as things move along.At this stage, it's probably more a RepStrap than a RepRap since I'm using wooden joints. But once under way, the plan is to replace wood with plastic, just...

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