RepRap: Blog

Here are a couple of printed parallelogram flexures, overall length 140mm. These have a 2.5:1 reduction ratio, and I can get between +/- 5mm-8.5mm of maximum movement on the central joint depending on how much stress I'm willing to put on the flexures.

While they look similar there is a significant difference. The top one was printed horizontally and the bottom one vertically. They're very similar functionally.

Being able to print the flexures vertically allows me to effectively print a side-by-side stack of flexures. This is important, because if I want to have parallel "flat" areas at the joints (to attach motors and linkages to, for example) I have to use at least two parallelogram structures that constrain each other in a way that keeps the flats parallel. A side-by-side stack should allow me to create a structure from multiple flexures and allow beams to cross over one another without interference.

On the V0.04 reassembly front, I've upgraded the Axis Drivers. Have yet to test them under a microscope to make sure they move smoothly, and I have suspicions about one of them. I've increased the speed by 20% and had to bump up the stepper controller power.