If you want to know more visit my 3D printer website

For the last few weeks I have been concentrating on building a 3d Printer kit. During this time I have learn't a lot about soldering and electonics (in a very small scale!) and now have a fully working 3d printer.

The Sumpod is at the cheaper end of the scale in terms of purchase price but it is a well designed kit. The main body is made from MDF and is produced using a CNC router. It is very sturdy and will mill MDF with a Dremel 4000 attached to the top axis.

And now I have it working in its main function, 3d printing. it is quite amazing to see it produce a full useable hard plastic gear. Something I would find very time consuming if I wanted to machine one. A video below will explain better than my words.

So now the build and debugging is out the way I can start to use it. Mainly for patterns for casting and little fittings/ items for the Grandchildren (Have a new grandson to add to the minx that is Freya!)

Just a brief note to wish you all a happy new year. I will be reviewing 2011 soon and hope 2012 will be better for time spent in the workshop! Fingers, knees and toes crossed!

I finished off the part I promised to make for someone and its a good job its just prototype, because I did not account well enough for a skim finish to loose he  4 jaw chuck marks. However it should be good enough to prove whether it will work! I have ordered some 304 stainless steel bar 16mm square so the next one will be much less effort!

The pictures below show the project in more detail.

Well since the last set of spinal injections I have been able to get back into the workshops, but the priority was a woodwork project for my granddaughter, Freya namely a kitchen! As soon as that was finished (last week) it was starting on the build of my SUMPOD 3D printer kit which has been both enjoyable as well as testing. Its not yet completed but it will be a tremendous additional facility for my model engineering hobby. The first and main reason I wanted to participate in this relatively new and exciting hobby (which I believe will have a massive impact on society) was to print plastic parts that I could then use for patterns when I cast aluminum. However the SUMPOD offers much, much more.

Due it its substantial build and the quality of the parts, it can be used for cnc work. A Dremel bracket is included in the kit with future additions such as a drag knife, and the ability to machine foams/wood and the like. Like all new and developmental products, modifications to improve performance are a natural progression.

Richard (the designer and owner of SUMPOD) became aware of my model engineering and asked me if I would be prepared to make a prototype of a new part in stainless steel? Being pleased to get back to metal work I readily agreed so a couple of days ago Richard sent me a Google sketch of the part he needed. I then redrew the part using Alibre CAD and sent it back to Richard just to make sure it was ok. With one modification (placing the grub screw on the same plane as the two mounting holes) I made a start.

Now the initial problem was that I only had a large diameter bar (from the local scrap yard) so the first job was to cut a more manageable slice off before cutting it again until I had  a manageable piece to mill into a 15mm square by 16 long block

Tomorrow I will chuck it in a 4 jaw chuck, centre it then turn down one end before drilling 3 different holes. I will update the article after finishing it off tomorrow. We will then see if the prototype works!

Nice to be back to metal shavings though!

Whilst frustratingly (been 3 or 4 months now!) laid up and not able to get back to either my metal workshop or the relatively new (and separate wooden shed 'wood' workshop)I have been researching 3D printing and I must admit is is mind blowing what it can do and how it will affect all of our lives! Yes I believe its impact on all of us will be dramatic.

At the hobby level there is a thriving home build printing world with several embryonic new companies and individuals involved. There are also some major players in the commercial sector already saving massive mounts of money with prototyping. Its not just plastics though with the big boy's. Oh no, they even print in metal! Some of the complex mathematical shapes drawn on CAD programs are printing in metal and would be if not impossible to machine, would be prohibitively expensive. There are a couple of video's below that will illustrate some of what I mean but I want to concentrate on what uses I will put my kit to when it arrives in early October (fingers crossed).

Metal printing!....yes printed!

How about printing a working ball bearing? well here is an example......

Finally how about an adjustable spanner that works and no assembly! Straight from the printer.

There are two main uses I see for me in the first instance, one to create patterns for casting aluminum and secondly, printing parts for use in their own right. The plastic filament at present for the home use is either PLA (based on sugar starch) which is recommended for the casting use, or ABS which is the same plastic used in Lego bricks.

Whilst waiting for the kit to arrive I have made several drawings in Alibre 3D CAD of items to printout. These are saved as STL files which are then imported into a great piece of free software called ReplicatorG which cleverly converts the model into slices and then converts that to the GCode required by the printer.

One of the first items I want to printout is a holder for my Proxxon precision drill/grinder and this will then allow me to have a small capacity CNC facility. Exciting times.

If you want to know more about 3D printing the visit my new website http://www.3d-printer-kit.com where I will cover both he build and also experience using the printer.

Whilst I may be laid up and unable to work its nice to see someone being successful! Steve Huck (who helped me with the camshaft calculations and cutting chart) has now finished one of his engines. Its nice to see the many many hours of work be completed and working! Well done Steve!

Well I decided to give the lathe a good sort out after the Seal crankshaft. So I replaced the face plate with the three jaw chuck which allowed me to replace a tightening bar I snapped the end off some time ago.

I decided to use stainless steel and it didn't take long to make the bar in the pictures, in fact I surprised  myself how quick it was. I suppose this only emphasis's the complexity of the work I have been doing on the Seal crankshaft.

Well I managed to turn all the journals to size without a major mistake (so far!) and only have the profiling to do on the milling machine. I did check the journals on the granite block and was pleased that they all came around the +/- 0.001 tolerance I set myself. However it is important I feel, to maintain one measurement instrument since there are differences between say a digital caliper and micrometer as discussed on this blog previously.

Now that the 'important' machining is done I can concentrate on the overall profile of the crankshaft. When done I will mark out the second blank waste area's and will drill away the waste before milling as I did this first one. Still, progress is progress.....

After buying a DRO unit to replace one that came originally with my lathe some 5 years ago I had some issues getting it to work.

First of all I was buying one from Singapore that advertised it as “Suitable for replacing your faulty scale / using other brand of linear scale/encoder feedback.”

I must admit I was more than a little skeptical but checking their feedback reassured me that they seemed a genuine company. Also the cost, even including shipping from Singapore to the UK for a total of approximately £120 ($200) was £60 cheaper than the original supplier (China) quoted. I decided to go for the cheaper option (twas every thus!).

Whether the aggravation was worth it then I suppose it depends on where you are in the process... When pulling my hair out over the last few days trying to get it to work, then I cursed myself for being a cheapskate (or poor....). Now that it is finally working, I have a bargain!

The positives and negatives of the project from my perspective.

Communications:

Both negative and positive! Peter, the chap I was emailing, always answered emails promptly. However language proved difficult for me even though we kept sending photo’s. If I followed what I thought (not necessarily what Peter meant!) it wouldn’t work. Resulting in several photo’s/diagrams being emailed between us. One major issue revolved around the numbering of pins on the D plug. I was reading the numbers relating to pins to be soldered to the pins to be soldered!!!! No, the pin numbering relates to the front of the plug! Indeed the numbers could be seen when using a Jewelers loupe. I then constructed my own diagram and worked out the colours for each pin from Peters labeling of a photo I sent him showing existing wiring (this was the cause of the breakthrough really). One further fault/frustration was by reading that one pin needed to be soldered and then earthed (or so I think) and when trying the plug the numerals would only change up/down by one digit increase/decrease. In frustration I decided it looked like an earth fault (don’t ask me why!) and I thought &^%$$% it, I’ll cut this earth wire to that pin.

Low and behold, when connecting the plug up it worked!!!!! The second plug was then wired and I had two readings...joy oh what joy. Then I thought that knowing my luck there would be something wrong with the accuracy of each axis. So I set up a dial indicator and checked the readout movement against the dial indicators and all was well, phew! There was a slight difference but I wonder whether in fact this error is in the dial indicator or not...I suspect it is.

So if you do buy one of these DRO’s and you have the same make of scales (see picture) then the methodology highlighted below worked for me.

One major misunderstanding related to the numbering of 9 pin D-sub miniature plugs. The pin numbers relate to the front of the plug whilst you solder to the back! Now I consider that DAFT!

Using a jeweler loupe I saw the numbers on the front side of the plug, then transferred this to a diagram of my own identifying the pins from the rear and allocated the colours to that diagram. I then de-soldered all the wires, so having a clean starting point.

Solution

Remove all wires from D plug and identify the pin numbers (look at the front of the plug). Make your own diagram showing back solder part of pins

• Solder yellow wire to                 pin 9
• Solder Green wire to                  pin 8
• Solder Red  wire to                     pin 7
• Solder Blue wire to                     pin 6
• Solder Black wire to                   pin 2   (you can just leave this one in place if you wish since it doesn’t move)
• Solder back the Earth cable to the body of the plug

This results in a working solution that was not easily seen from Peters diagrams and photo’s but that may be as much to do with me not understanding enough, so I won’t lay all the blame on Peter. If you know more about electronics you may have had no problems!

I have added various photo’s of the steps I took to perhaps help.....If I had the above simple instructions from the start, no doubt it would have gone easily...To be fair to Peter he has asked for this solution so he can add it to his blog for assistance to others.

I have no complaints (now!) with the unit itself. It is far more substantial than the original Bica unit and I would suggest its more the top end of the market, so price seem very reasonable.

Would I do it again? You bet! Would I have done it again yesterday afternoon? No way! So what a difference 24 hours makes.

In summary the unit was certainly not plug ‘n’ play for my make of scales but Peter did help to get it working and that’s fair enough for me. I believe that Peter’s company will supply complete sets with scales and of course that would be a simple fit, and I have promised to fit a set to my refurbished Myford at some time.....but the purse is empty this year so it will have to wait

Van shock absorbers - originally designed for mountain bikes

Whilst I am slowly making progress on the Seal crankshafts I am always on the look out on eBay for items for the electric van project I am going to build for my grandchild, Freya. I have done many drawings using Alibre on my downtime and the chassis is the first item I shall build when I start. I have done the specification and one of the items I need has just been sourced, the shock absorbers on eBay!

I was going to make them but was hesitant about  making suitable springs, however the springs I have purchased are for mountain bike use and are ideal for the van. They were only £5.99 each (including postage/shipping) and to be honest the materials alone would cost me more than that so I purchased 4 and the have just arrived. I must admit to being pleasantly surprised, they are ideal for the project although the must now be packed away with the wheels and rear axle bearings until I finish the Seal crank(s). If you don't use eBay you should try it. I have also bought high quality micrometers, slip gauges and the like on eBay which I never could afford to buy new!

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