RepRap: Blog

It took me 3 goes. One cable pulled, and a stuck filament roll; but I got it printed in the end. Thanks to Steve for helping with the STL file. The object took 5.8 hours to print in PLA using Darwin hardware and Adrian's latest fixes. It has really picked up steam now and the quality has improved as the nozzle moves faster - as predicted.

No hint of curling on this part either.

If you look inside the holes on the left, you can see some stringing, but it is now more like annoying cobwebs than a barrier that needs drilling out with a cordless drill. Just as well - I did stick an 8mm drill bit in my hand last time.



Here's the view from above, with a clearer view of the stringing. The thick stuff is caused by a plotting error we're looking into, and the fine, spider-web stuff is what the more persistent stringing issue now looks like.

I've tried to bend the part, and it doesn't break despite the plastic flow being a little low, so we should be good to give it a go in a real Darwin.

Vik :v)

Labels: bed, corner, darwin, pla, reprap

By raising the extrusion temperature to 165C I've managed to get PLA going through without blowing up the extruder motor - earlier attempts tightened the clamp too much and overloaded the poor little motor (may it rest in peace). PLA strings more than CAPA, but is significantly more rigid. Here is a Darwin bed clamp that I printed off on Zaphod last night:




The holes have since been cleared of stringing with a penknife. I'll try some more complex Darwin parts later, but there are some modifications needed to the code to conserve memory for large or complex builds.

I've also got to fit the modified extruder drive - the one with a flexible shaft. Hopefully this will let the rigid PLA filament feed more freely still.

Vik :v)

Labels: bed, clamp, pla, zaphod