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Wednesday, September 7, 2011

"Can you hear me now?"

A little printing fun this evening...They call it a Phonecone:  http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:6348
I also like the bigger version they call a Meg-i-phone! http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:6957

I wonder what people would say if I produced it for a conference call in work? :)

On a technical note...
The extruder is working well now. I'm printing at 20mm/sec without difficulty (PLA, .5mm nozzle, 200Deg C). It's not exactly light-speed but things are improving constantly. The PLA bushings on the rebuilt x-carriage (see previous post) can run dry and stick a little on the rods so I've taken to applying a little PTFE spray to all rails with a q-tip. I also apply some to the edge of the x and y belts where they rub on the fender washers. That stops them binding.

I'm currently printing on to 12mm perspex. PLA takes nicely to it but I will need a heated bed (not perspex) for printing larger pieces. I abandoned the blue tape. It was a constant lottery as to whether the first layer would stick. The surface of the perspex won't hack it long term though. It scratches easily. I can see now why people use pyrex glass and other heatable surfaces with kaypton tape.

Finally... despite my best efforts I occasionally crash the nozzle into the print bed. (must secure the z-opto stop a little better) I don't have springs on my print bet so instead I've devised a sort of shock-absorber for the extruder. I've fitted a spring to a long M3 bolt that holds the front end of the extruder to the x-carriage. See photo... The clamp rises up if the nozzle hits the print platform.

Thanks for viewing!
NumberSix

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