Im new here and to the cnc world, that includes 3d printers. I am almost done with my ME and im looking for something OTHER than THEORY!! I have had alot of classes and hardly any hands on. So i am taking matters into me own hands.
I started printing the stl files from the following page:
I will be using the 23.5 3/4inch EMT style. Where my question lies, the links to the motherboards are dead. I have no idea what to search for or buy for the controller. I have seen many ramps 1.4 + mega 2560 boards out there with 5 stepper drivers. in fact i was buying one for a 3d printer of mine. Well this $35 board work? if so, how well will it work?
Bare in mind, i have no knowledge of this stuff. im starting from ground ZERO!! i just found out that i had to adjust voltages on my tevo tornado 3d printer and that took a minute to figure out haha
thank you for your time, patience and kindness as i learn
Off topic but I’d highly recommend doing some extracurricular activities at your school before you graduate. I learned way more that is applicable to the real world in my extracurricular programs than I did in my classes, and it was that experience that actually got me jobs.
Before you do too much printing get your hand on a piece of 3/4" EMT, and a sampling of mounting hardware (or just take a few printed part to the store) and verify that the holes in the parts you are printing are suitably sized. This is something you want to figure out before you spend a few weeks and 1.3kg of filament printing out parts that don’t fit well, or all. At best you just need to drill,sand, file, etc. but if there is a more serious error (3/4" EMT is not actually available locally,all your holes are drastically over/under-sized) you are reprinting everything which is no fun.
If you have no prior experience under your belt I would strongly suggest buying the pre-configured board and the wiring kit from the store since that will save you a lot of potential headache. Any RAMPs+Mega kit will work, in theory, but QC is all over the place and the change of getting a dud is not insignificant. Likewise you can make your own wiring harnesses as well (or buy and splice premade stuff together) but that requires time, skill, and a decent collection of tools. If that’s your bag, knock yourself out, otherwise you are probably best served by outsourcing that job.
Welcome to the forum and keep us update on your build!
@Tim:
Yes, i agree with the extra stuff outside of classes. Im trying to find some things but sadly there is not a whole lot. Hence why i am doing this. But i will keep looking. I was in the robotics club for a few weeks, but it ended up no one doing anything but talking about random stuff.
@Frosty:
A friend of mine is an electrician, actually he is a student of mine in my math class i teach. He is bringing me 20 feet of 3/4 EMT. I have only printed the two bottom corners which are parts BOTTOM CORNER and BOTTOM_M_CORNER. My printer is only off by 0.02mm. I printed a 100x100x100 cube and calibrated to that.
Will these pieces suffice for testing to see if everything lines up? Also, where is the build guide so i know where what piece goes where, how the electronics fit, etc etc?
@Marion:
Thanks. I will keep the group updated with my build. I do have SOME electronic exp such as basic wire soldering and i made a cool blinking PCB christmas tree once from a kit haha, but i do struggle with it still haha. Do you know what firmware it is flashed with? can i use the same firmware as my 3d printer? i use marlin fro my cr10
I just did my CR10S this weekend with the latest Marlin. I am having issues with under extrusion. I have gone through everything and I think it is the bowden PTFE tube gromet that is not snugging down. Saw a good video explaining it. First calibration cube looks good until 1/2 way. Next one is worse. Third one is very sparse. Ordering new ones tomorrow. I hope that is all that is wrong.
Why is it that our programs dont really give much hands on experience? Im about to graduate with a bs in Manufacturing Engineering and hardly did anything hands on. Thankfully I made friends with our shop engineer and got some experience with cnc and 3d printing.
I felt the same way. It sounds like you both are heading in the right direction but some engineers never do anything hands on. Some prefer it.
My grades were barely passing in all the classes until it got to hands on then we (my team and I) Dominated absolutely every hands on assignment. At one point we had 200x 2nd places score. I am a hands on person 100%.
In my last year of school I worked for free for Robo3D for a few months then went to minimum wage. What I learned in that time period was as valuable as all my years of school. If you can not find an internship, offer to work for free. How are you supposed to know what you need to know or what you want to do if you do not know what an engineer does? If you can’t get someone to let you work for free, start a project. Find a way to collaborate. Engineers never work alone, you will always have a client or manufacturer to deal with, that is the hardest part of the job. Like Matt is doing dig in, out of your comfort zone and figure it out, ask for help, but put in work by yourself as well.
My prints suffered for a while until i figured out TWO MAJOR things. The spring style coupler flexed way to much, causing some z-banding, under/over ext at times as well. SO i replaced it with a solid coupler. You can either 3d print one or buy one for $8 off amazon. One that was swapped out, alot of issues went away. I then adjusted vrefs to appropriate lvls. Then my prints were as smoooooooth as butta!!!
I use a mix of s3d or prusa slic3r. S3d is working better than prusa slicer at the moment because prusa gives me a crap load of ripples in my prints, where as s3d does not, and i print them exact same settings and printer haha
@Jesse: Bro, i feel ya! it drives me crazy. I have had 13 semesters of math, 5 of physics, 2 programming classes, both of which made me CRY alligator tears and snot out my nose… I HATE HATE programming. it makes no sense to me. anyway. I never had any hands on in school with 3d printers or building, except one small intro to shop class that i took OUTSIDE of my engineering degree. I did not operate the CNC machine but i got to see it work. So i decided to take matters into my own hands. I took a solidworks and drafting course over the summer last year where i became cswp and certifide with inventor as well at a tech school, not my university. Last year was the FIRST time i ever saw a 3d printer and i got to use it. not to sound cheesy, but i was so happy to see one and get to use it, i stared at it for about an hour watching it haha. I purchased mine in may of this year:)
@Ryan: I wish we were local as well haha. Utah is a chill place but hard to find some engineering internships. ATK, the palce that makes rockets here, is always full. My neighbor, now in his 90s, was the one who told them not to launch the challenger rocket. he was the manager of the engineers at the time. I have talked with him in the past to gain some insight. This MPCNC of yours, should help me understand some things and i will for sure put it on my resume.
My printer prints the parts fast. i printed all 4 corner brackets and locks in 6 hours with 55% infill, 0.28 LH, and 0.5EW. So far so good. I should be getting the conduit from one of my students this week
I learned way more that is applicable to the real world in my extracurricular programs than i did in my classes, and it was that experience that actually got me jobs