How do you program the 3D printers

I like to use tinkercad to draw it, at autodesk123d.com, then I slice it with slic3r, then print it with repetier. All of these are needed to program it so to speak.

Hi Brad, Thanks for your suggestion. I will check out Tinkercad.

John

Hi John thanks for asking this question as i am the same as you were when you first asked it, at the moment i am in the process of building my own design printer which i have decided to add a small spindle motor to try engraving/cutting soft wood for radio control models along with a laser to try engraving with it or if i can get enough power to be able to cut foam sheet again for RC models.

at the moment i am getting to the end of the main build and will soon have to start doing the electronics for the spindle i have a usb controller that can run Mach3 which appears to be the main software most people use for mills and engravers, also i have a Rep Rap control board which i was going to use with a arduino board my problem is i do not know how to get the machine running without using both boards i know how to install both of them and then just unplug the one i am not using what i would like to do is be able to run just one system for all usages in place of having to keep unplugging the one i am not using, does anyone who has given help to John have any ideas how i can manage only using one board for all operations?

regards Poppy Ann.

ps i am not trying to save money by using only one of the boards as i have already bought them both.

Hi Poppy Ann,

It sounds like you have a really nice build going there. I would bet there are a lot of members who would like to learn more about what you are doing with your multi use 3D printer. Thanks for using this thread to ask your question to the experts. Welcome to E-14.

John

Hi John,

when I first thought of building a 3D printer I thought that 3D printers, laser cutters and mills/engravers all use a basic X,Y,Z axis  cnc controlled machine and that the only difference was the head/tool so my thought was get the basic machine working and make it possible to fit/remove the different attachments as required as long as i make it easy to plug in the wiring and a couple of bolts to hold them that i could make one machine do all three operations (not at the same time) the hardest thing has been trying to find a decent size and price laser diode as if i go for a CO2 laser tube it suddenly makes the machine much larger even though the cost of laser tubes is lower the problem of cooling and holding it and then getting the extra mirrors etc fitted makes it a much larger job and beyond my space available, I have bought a 3 Watt laser diode to test it with and have located 10 Watt diode but it is a little above what i want to spend at £100 the cost of the machine has risen from what i first thought but I think most projects end up costing more than first expected once I manage to get it working I will post some photos when i first started i was thinking of making an Instructable and posting it but i had most of the basic machine built before i remembered to take any photos so that idea has gone.

regards Poppy Ann.

Hi Poppy Ann,

I am very interested in seeing your machine when you are done. The difficulty in making something goes up a lot when you are cramped for work space as you describe. Your creativity is obviously defeating the obstacles however. In my case I do not lack for space or resources, just creativity. More difficult to compensate for that.

John

Hi John,

i would not say i am any more creative than anyone else, i think it is just that i have been an engineer for all my working life and if i can think of what i want something to do then i can normally build it without to much problem, at the moment i have to keep removing one of the stepper motors from it as i cannot get past it to the stove and sink without crawling past on the floor or trying to suck in my chest as i go by as it is a little to large to sit on the table when i was thinking in my head and ordering the parts i never allowed for the size of the stepper motors which are 15cm long including the shafts and when i was ordering them i had the sudden brainwave to have them with the double shaft so trying to squeeze past the shaft digs in every time, i cut the base plate down yesterday so it now pushes back onto the table a little better than it was and is a little easier to get past, before yesterday i did not want to cut it down as i was not to sure how much i would need for fitting the control/electrical box but yesterday i decided to hack off a little which makes it much better i can now even get past it without jabbing myself. I just managed to take some photos but they are not the best so i attached them to this message hope this gives you some idea what it is like.

regards Poppy Ann.

the cable track is only connected on one end as i am in the process of making the bracket that holds it onto the y axis.

Poppy Ann, That is a beautiful job that you are doing there. Thank you so much for the pictures as they give me a visual of your project. I am still amazed that you can accomplish such beauty in your small work area. I hope you let me see more of the progress as you continue.

John

Poppy Ann, That is a beautiful job that you are doing there. Thank you so much for the pictures as they give me a visual of your project. I am still amazed that you can accomplish such beauty in your small work area. I hope you let me see more of the progress as you continue.

John

Hi John,

yes i will keep posting photos as and when i manage to get anything more done the only tools i had to get was one circular saw blade as i did not have a fine enough one for cutting aluminium and i bought a drill stand that you put in a normal power drill to make it i bench type i was lucky as Lidl was selling them for £15 a couple of weeks ago but i think it would have been almost as easy without as long as you keep the drill straight when using it. I was amazed at the low cost of aluminium plate and profile sections using the aluminium profile sections made it much easier to build than if i had just used plate to build it with also it keeps it square witch is a definite gain.

regards Poppy Ann.

Hi Poppy Ann,

I noticed that your choice in building materials was excellent and very appropriate for your design. It reminded me of some of the building sets I had as a child 55 years ago. Lots of flexibility. I have seen that many new hand drills are coming with level bubbles built into their handles so it is easier to drill a vertical hole. Of course you still have the problem of centering and avoiding drill point walk. Do you drill and cut all your own pieces or do you draw the specifications and have them fabricated?

John

Hi again,

i just order what i want in stock length then mark out cut drill and tap wherever needed, aluminium is easy to work with you can use most tools you would use for hard wood and take it easy the more teeth on the saw blade the better.

With my doing it all in my kitchen i have to sweep up after every operation or get aluminium shavings all through the bungalow and once they get into the carpets you have to get down on your hands and knees with a pair of tweezers to get most of them out which i found out the hard way the first time i started cutting it (not a nice way of finding out) and for drilling it it is better to use a slow speed for drilling it or you can just cause a lot of heat and kill your drill bits, i always dot punch where i require holes and then put a small hole in first as if you make a mistake with a 10mm bit and it moves the width of the bit it ends up 10 mm out of line but if you use a 2 mm bit and it moves the width of the drill then you are only 2 mm out of line, most people who have not worked in engineering tend not to know these little tips that make a huge difference to the finished item, one tip i have made use of with using this type of aluminium profile when you want to fit onything to the face of it using the T slot is it will cost you a huge amount if you use the special nuts at around £0.50 to £0.75 per nut that are meant to go with it but if you buy square nuts you can buy them at £4.90 per 100 which is around 10% of the cost and all you have to do is sand off two of the lower sides to enable them to go into the slot, when i am doing this i just get several long screws around 3 to 4 inches long put a wing nut down them backwards then put on one of the square nuts tighten up the wing nut to hold the square one in place then just fun it against a sanding disk to angle two of the edges a little then i slacken the wing nut to check it will fit in the slots and that is it, i know it sounds like a long winded process but i worked it out i can do 50-60 in 20 minutes so it is not that bad and saves a lot of money.

before and after sanding

special T slot nut end and top view

square nut after sanding fitted on bolt and held with wing nut it takes less than 10 seconds to sand it.

testing square nut after sanding now fits in T slot. probably takes around 30 seconds to fit nut, sand nut, test and remove ready for next one i use 6 bolts at a time and do each process on all six to save time (plus it saves burning your fingers trying to undo the nut straight after sanding as they tend to get very hot, forgot to say i only use all stainless steel fittings  for 1 they look better plus they do not rust when left alone for a while.

regards Poppy Ann.

I was wonder what electronics are you going to use to drive the motors and software?

i bought the stepper motors complete with drivers, power supply and parallel port interface but i since bought one of the USB interface devices as i think it will be easier than trying to add a parallel port to my computer  from here :- Wholesale Product Snapshot Product name is Selling Well! Wantai CNC Nema 23 Dual Shaft 57BYGH115-003 Stepper Motor 425oz…

they cost me £135 including shipping which i think was a good price as they had to ship them direct from china also i bought all the mechanical parts ie linear rails, ball screws bearings etc from one other supplier in china and managed to get them to drop the postage as a benefit i told them if i find anyone else who is starting to build one that i would recommend them.

I would like to start a maker club in my area if i could find somewhere to run it as i do not know anyone who is interested in this type of thing also i have only been back in UK for just over 2 years so i do not know that many people in this area as i was away for the ten years before living on my sail boat out in the Caribbean but that is in the past i think that it is doubtful i will get to return to it and most likely will end up selling it off.

regards Poppy Ann.

I don't think I have any pc's with the db 25 connectors. It's an old oc printer connector. We use usb and micro to usb now. That's how my printer is. I'm considering a bigger build with nema 23 motors too.

It's hard to add ports, but sometimes to get them recognized and interfaced it is. Not all systems are plug n play.

Hi again, I did think of using one of the usb to parallel port adapters but when i saw the usb device at a good price i just went for that i still have the usb to parallel adapter along with the parallel device to run the system but i will just add it to the rest of the junk in here.

when i was looking at building the printer i was going to go for NEMA 42 but then i noticed that the NEMA 23 had a better torque and that for the complete system was not that much more i decided to go for the larger ones anyway i thought i know how i am as soon as i finish it with smaller motors i would want to have the larger ones and then go out and buy  the larger ones anyway so i may as just get them to start with, then if i want to build a larger machine that can do wood cutting all i would need to do is buy some longer rails as these motors and drivers will still be good enough plus they were not that much more anyway.

i have a copy of Mach3 software which can do both milling and engraving which will work with the usb device and i saw somewhere that it can do 3d printing as well but if it is to much trouble to get it to do the 3D printing i have a Rep Rap control board which i can use with the other stepper drivers i have not done any 3D printing before but i am up for a challenge.

I use repetier and slic3r, I'm thinking of buying a larger motor to replace my nema 17 extruder drive cause it slips and skips sometimes. It needs more torque to push the filament through the hot end, they came up with a double gear drive system at printrbot that I bought but have not tried yet. I have to print the head and assembl, all it is, was gears And bearings kit. If I use a bigger motor, I'll have to redesign the mount.

I believe the reason for parallel port use is timing hence a USB to parallel may cause a problem. You are probably best off with a USB interface device.