Giveaway 1 - Parametric pulley & idler

Pulley and matching Idler for string driven Rostock Style 3D Printer

• STL and SCAD (parametric) format
• Both pulley and idler are preset for M3 nuts
• Parameters are isolated in a separate file
• The ODS file contains some calculations to help you with the parameters and the calculation of the string lenght

Download at: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:36951

(Enjoy printing. Feedback is welcome)

Drawing parts (1 / many)

Pending the arrival of the last parts, I decided to start designing some modifications I plan to incorporate in my printer.

First things first though. So activities of yesterday's and today's evenings were:

• Install OpenSCAD 3D modeling software which seems to be the favorite amongst the freeware loving builders/makers community.
• Learn the OpenSCAD scripting/programming language. Luckily it comes with the decent manual and there are quite some interesting lessons on Youtube.
• Design a first thing to get a feel of OpenSCAD. I chose to design a 'parameterized' new version of a pulley for a string driven Rostock (preset for M3 nuts and bolts). Came out quite well,... I hope (can't print it yet, so I hope to get some feedback from my readers or from people downloading it from Thingiverse.
• Post the pulley on Thingiverse for everybody to use www.thingiverse.com/thing:36951 

Parts arrived! (part 5/7)

Today the Spectra braided line arrived. It came nicely packages via air mail all the way from China. Unlike most others working on Rostock or Kossel type 3D printers I didn't go for the heavy duty type of line with a 0.6mm diameter and capable of pulling a car. I settled for the 0.2mm sized braided line which should be able to pull 20LB (9,0718474 Kg). After all, the weight of all moving parts combined is just a few hundred grams. We'll see how the line behaves once my very own Rostock type 3D printer is moving. By the way, the line is red as my printed parts will be.

Still on their way:

• Rods (expected during or juster after the weekend)
• Plastic parts - red (expected during or juster after the weekend)
• PTFE tube (just ordered today; should arrive in 4-5 days)

Parts arrived! (part 4/7)

Today it's nuts, bolts and washers day. What can I say? They arrived, ... that's about it.

What's still missing?

• Rods
• Plastic parts
• PTFE tube (still looking for a supplier that anything than by the meter

Parts arrived! (part 3/7)

Ordered on the 8th, arrived today in Belgium!


Parts arrived 

• 1 MR105ZZ 5x10x4 ball bearing

Parts arrived! (part 2/7)

Ordered on the 8th, arrived today in Belgium!

Parts arrived:

• 1 Sanguinololu (incl Pololu's) (UK)
• 1 J-Head MK Vb (UK)
• 1 MK7 Gear (DK)
• Carbon tubes 6mm (BE)

Parts arrived! (part 1/7)

Ordered in The Netherlands on the 8th, arrived today in Belgium!

Parts arrived:

• 4 Nema 17 Stepper motors
• 6 LM8UU Linear bearings
• 3 608ZZ bearings