Ytec3D Forum

Very interesting.

Have you considered printing on a roll of PVC? Roll from one end to the other. ABS sticks pretty well to it if you 'juice it' with a light spray of acetone.

Yes - the "traveling winch spool" could easily be replaced with a traveling cable guide and pulley. In that case we would need some software adjustment to account for the moving guide, but it's a Small Matter Of Programming. As for gears - metal all the way. The real trick would be to find...

Plan C (or whatever it's going to be called) will need to control far more pens. Recently ran across this Spartan FPGA + AVR combo on Sparkfun.com: https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11953 Spartan 6 XC6SLX9 FPGA with 84 digital ios (3.3v or 1.2v), and an Atmega32U4 with 8 analog ins. The Atmega32U4 i...

.. which could be completely mitigated with the following winch gearbox. Assume the steel wire is 1mm in diameter. The wire will wind onto a winch spool, where the entire wire will wind onto a single layer on the drum. The ends of the winch spool are 1mm higher than the wire, and threaded so that on...

.. of course, the holding torque needed for this design is absurd, but it may help poke our brains into other directions.

A solution to the guidance problem is to use a wide coil spring under the powder plate. Assume powder plate is attached to a coil spring, sufficient to fully eject a loaded part/feed bin when fully compressed. The powder plate's edges are rollers in bearings in the corners. Further assume the powder...

For my next printer (a 'large desktop' size, currently in the concept phase) I'm trying to come up with ways to implement a more compact piston system. I have a few ideas: * A Spirllift style system http://pacospiralift.com/ - Pro: Off-the shelf device, in the scale needed for 'large desktop' powder...

Sugar is highly hydroscopic, and tends to clump, which is why I'm leaning towards the 4-5cm range.

Regardless, than you for your offer of design assistance - I'll let you know if I need it for the vacuum insert.

Agreed on all your points. As I am focusing on granular sugar, the filter issue isn't a problem for recovery. I'm willing to continue to sacrifice resolution for the advantages of quick prototyping (thick layers). There are many ways to make the 50mm smaller - a FFM built plastic air guide could ada...

So, here's an idea: Assume the part build area is 100mm x 100mm x 100mm. Assume the piston range in Z is 150mm. Assume a hole, suitable for a shop vacuum (with filter bag for powder) hose is at Z=0mm-20mm At Z=50mm, there is a 5mm ledge on the inside of the part chamber, and a freely movable mesh pl...