Extruder back in action...

Extruder back in action... and working better than before.With the printer happily singing away again I though it a good time to give an update... I had snapped the wire on the heater resistor a while back, and without a spare it ground me to a halt for the best part of a week. There's a lesson there I'm sure! Carry spares if you want to get back on the road quickly. :-)The resistor was easily replaced, and with the extruder out it was...

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Test printing continues...then stops! :-(

[This is a duplication of the update I just posted to the forum (forums.reprap.org) but I wanted to log my current status here on my blog also.]Update: I removed the extruder drive shaft and re-hobbed it cleaner and deeper (M3x0.5  tap). I tightened the springs on the idler bearing also once re-assembled, and tigntened some other cold-end motor mounting bolts that had come slightly loose. The whole assembly grabbed and fed the filament much...

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3D printing fun!

At some point over the weekend I decided it was time to step off the Skeinforge learning curve and have some fun with the printer! :) So...with the settings 'functional', if a little slow, I returned to Thingiverse.com and downloaded some items, and set the printer to work. Here are some of the results...Prusa's geeky glasses. http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5544The whistle. http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:9206Be sure to read all...

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Test printing and Skeinforge settings...

Quick update: I returned to printing some test pieces in order to improve print quality. I tried printing a 10mm cube with dissappointing results, and am now learning quickly that printing smaller objects has it's own challenges. I though it was the larger ones that had challenges! :)To seek help with my Skeingforge and other settings I posted some questions over on the forum (forums.reprap.org) and received some good suggestions already. Here's...

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