The bigger project context

So what exactly am I trying to achieve?

The Arduino Due

First of all I was (and still am) a noob in electronics, robotics and 3D printing.
My hunger for knowledge drove me to the internet to search for some tutorials and the first encounter I had was with the Arduino prototyping board.

The programmer background I have, made for an instant hook. I began to further explore the possibilities of this small piece of wonder and got to the electronic part and the programming tutorials.

I also found out that prototype desktop 3D printers where using the Arduino as controller and so did various other robotic projects. The 3D printing avenue seemed even more appealing since it was still in its infancy (2011).

Makerbot Thing-o-Matic

That's when I decided to buy a Makerbot Thing-o-Matic 3D printer kit.

Ultimaker

Later on, beginning 2013, I also bought the Ultimaker 3D printer assembly kit because the evolution of build volume and electronics has been huge in those two years time.




In this Blog I will let you in on my adventures (failures...) with building and operating both 3D printers and, if time permits, the side projects linked to 3D printing and robotics programming. (read refinement, alignment, calibration, a lot of patience....)

The end goal: A completely autonomous Robot that solves the 3D printed Towers of Hanoi

My ultimate goal is to have a completely autonomous Robot that goes to the correct 3D printed tower (there are three of them) and takes the correct 3D printed disc to place it on the correct tower.

For you people who are not familiar with "the towers of Hanoi" please have a look HERE. This is a classic for beginning programmers to solve.  I would like to have 4 disks (so it means that the robot needs to solve it in 15 steps (2 to the n - 1 where n = number of disks)). Each disk is a little smaller than its predecessor and you can only move 1 disk at a time being sure that a bigger disk is never put on a smaller one on any of the three towers.

For the moment I am busy with the first part: getting a working 3D printer to design and print the disks and the towers. If you look on youtube for the towers of Hanoi you can find static robots (Lego or other robotic arms) solving the problem. But I did not come across an autonomous robot. It surely is a big challenge given the sensors needed and the programming.

So if you have any ideas how this could be done or you already did something similar with successful results, please let me know by reacting!! All tips and suggestions are more than welcome!!

Usefull links:

RepRap where it all started  ==>  Click HERE.

Makerbot can be found HERE, and Ultimaker HERE.
The full picture set of my ToM can be found HERE.
The full picture set of my Ultimaker can be found HERE.

Welcome !

Hello all you tinkerers and enthousiasts!

I will try to share my experiences with 3D printers assembly as well as calibration, maintenance, programming and usage.

Other related electronic or robotic experiments with Arduino, Raspberry Pi, Mindstorms will also be shared.
So where am I standing? Somewhere at the end of 2011 I acquired the Makerbot Thing-o-Matic DIY kit and I started a video series in dutch. (You can have a look here or on my Youtube channel "Snuckyfication")

Some major day-to-day events made me stop after the x and y stage where completed. Now I restarted the assembly and the extruder, PSU and case are ready. I will post some pictures in a next post.

You can imagine that the (r)evolution of 3D printing didn't stop because I was lacking the time to continue...So on top of continuing my, by now, dinosaur ToM kit (not sold anymore), I ordered a new Ultimaker rev4 kit (pictures in a separate post).
This machine is said to be more accurate, faster and more reliable + it has a bigger buildplatform 8"x8"x8" or 210mm x 210mm x 210mm.

The wooden case of the Ultimaker has received a custom color allready, so I am ready to start the build in paralell with the ToM kit.

More to follow!

Cheers

First test print Thing-o-Matic Calibration Cube

Hi all,

finally 26th of September 2013 was the big day. The first calibration print with my completed Thing-o-Matic!

Have fun with the compilation video beneath:

More to come...

The road goes on and on...

23 July 2013

Assembling the MK7 Extruder.

After completing the X-Y and Z stage assembly, I finally had the time to assemble the extruder/hotend combination for my Makerbot Thing-o-Matic MK7 3D Printer.

Hotend MK7

In the pictures you can see the insulated hotend including the 0.4mm nozzle, the heater cartridge, thermocouple and the thermostat for the safety cutoff switch.

Extruder Stack

The picture of the extruder stack shows the stepper motor who is responsible for feeding the plastic Filament (ABS, PLA, PVA, etc...) into the heated chamber of the hotend. There the filament will melt and via the nozzle, or the printhead if you like, the melted plastic will be deposited to the build platform. (also heated in the case of my ToM using ABS 1.75mm, not heated for the Ultimaker using PLA 3mm).

Hotend Closeup

This wil be done layer by layer, hence the name additive manufacturing or FFF Fused Filament Fabrication, until the 3D object is recreated physically. (hopefully!)

Complete extruder setup

If you want to know more about 3D printers and there usage, calibration, etc.. i can recommend the book "Practical 3D Printers, The Science and Art of 3D Printing" by Brian Evans at Apress.