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Sunday, August 13, 2006

Second prototype gets some guts

I've got the electronics mounted up and the motors installed. This is much more of a working environment than a prototyping environment, so all the baords have been hived off into a little plastic box. It has a lid, and maybe one day that'll fit on. Meanwhiles, I fear the spaghetti will proliferate a bit. Thought you might want to see this morning's progress:



Yes, I know we planned to mount the little boards on the parts that they control. However, I need equipment that will survive the airline baggage handling system so something a little more robust is needed.

There have been questions about how the Polymorph and No. 8 wire are used to hold on the Mk 2a head, so here's a detail view with the background shaded out to clarify things. The long machine screws have a nut on them underneath the Polymorph, which is in turn cored with single strands of No. 8 galvanised fencing wire:



A wire end can be seen sticking out lower right. The saddles provide a handy anchor for hose clamps, and are contoured with a lip to help keep the clamp in place. The black heater power cable snakes through the view.

Vik :v)

6 comments:

  1. I've pretty much arrived at the same conclusion. That way all the electronics can go in one box with a cooling fan or two and maybe even the power supply.

    In fact, why not put the whole shebang in a minitower? Hmmm...

    I can see why Sai wants to take it apart. :-D

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  2. It should be interesting to see if they are going to let you on a plane with all that suspicious electrical stuff and a sack of white CAPA granules. :-D

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  3. Fantastic. That really looks the mad-scientist part - perhaps you should add flashing lights and a skull somewhere.

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  4. tesla coil sparking and flickering in the background would be better. :-D

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  5. hey, a skull might be a good challenge for reprappers.

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  6. How about a Jacob's ladder? Bzzzt-bzzt-zzzzzt! :) Also, I highly recommend blinking LEDs. They give the workshop, ahem, -lab- an atmosphere of cryptically monitored technology.

    BTW, that closeup of the extruder really shows how RepRaps can be built much more lightly than subtractive CNC machines. I also like how the extruder is static. That way, the tallest component is not swaying back and forth as the machine works.

    Now as for the skull suggestion, how about a brain, a Brain... Aaa -BRAAAIN-!! Bzzzt-zzt-bzzzt!

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