Monday, August 29, 2005

 

Meccano EVA extruder plans

No pictures to show today, as work was fairly slow in New Zealand on the weekend. But our PIC serial port does at least connect to the PC to the point where we can turn a motor on and off with it.

Attempts to drive the 5V Meccano EVA feed motor with a relay resulted in a "smoked" PIC, due to accidental non-connection of backlash diodes. These are normally integral to the buffer but wiring them got missed out.

This has prompted the move to a 12V-only EVA feed. The DVD drive shown last month has now been dismembered and the motor/gearbox from the sliding DVD tray is being pressed into service. The only snag is that it works on 5mm shafts and the Meccano EVA feed is on 4mm so there's a bit of turning on the lathe to do.

Finally, a submission for a RepRap presentation has been made to LinuxConf Dunedin for 2006: http://linux.conf.au

Vik :v)

Comments:
Interesting. We've previously considered using a laser pointer shining on the turntable to capture point information on a video camera. Being able to do it with snapshots from a digital camera might be easier for the user.

BTW, the new EVA extrusion head is now assembled and awaits initial mechanical testing tonight.

Vik :v)
 
Would you care to share the scanner software with the Great Unwashed?

It'd make an interesting sideline for the RepRap project.

Vik :v)
 
The code would be good. We can simplify things by using the turntable height controls to gradually lower the object each revolution, so no beam spread would be needed and spot movement would be linear.

My Mum is visiting, so I've not had much time to myself. Hopefully I'll get the head depositing again tonight. Just got to brace the nozzle better, fit a tray to catch spilt molten plastic, and arrange a crude 1 in 4 duty cycle for the extruder motor. Piece of cake :)

Vik :v)
 
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