My RepRap Build. (3d printer for those not in the know)

[Collinstheclown]

http://www.curiousinventor.com/store/product/200






-CollinstheClown

[Oneslowz28]

Dan. I am was shooting for a 10" x 10" workable area. However that just can not happen with my current design. The rails for the x stage are 21" long and the x stage plexi is 10.5" long so that leaves 9.5" of travel total or 4.75" in each direction from left to right. This could be increased by lengthening the rails the x stage slides on. Technically with a few modifications to the actual base of the machine you could make have a 20x20" workable area. For my needs a 5"x5" workable are would be enough. The largest part I need to print is about 4" long.

thanks collins, but that is solder flux not actual solder paste. I may just order the smd kit from makerbot. it comes with some nice tools too.

[crazybillybob]

one,
I noticed that the makerbot guys mentioned that they had not refrigerated their solder paste.... While it's true you can get away with it for a while... best practice is to keep it cool, it lasts longer that way 12g may not sound like allot but I'm going to say (based on the complexity of the pcb) you should be able to get 50-60 boards out of a tube... easy if there small boards you can get more out of it!!!


Nice project... It's one of my daily stops

CBB

[Collinstheclown]

thanks collins, but that is solder flux not actual solder paste. I may just order the smd kit from makerbot. it comes with some nice tools too.

Doh! For some reason I read it and thought of paste flux...
I've never used solder paste however so I don't know where to get it. Google it maybe?




-CollinstheClown

[Oneslowz28]

BB. I went to the site that Makerbot gets their stock from and the manufacture advertises it as a no refrigeration paste but on the other hand they also sell the refrigerator rack to hold the tubes in the right orientation. The kit they offer is $50 and comes with nice tweezers, a LED visor magnification thing, 12 gram syringe, fine tip, plunger. The manufacture sells the paste for $13 a syringe. I think I may just go that route.

I was looking on ebay at lab hot plates and was wondering if they get hot enough to melt the solder. Makerbot, RepRap, Metalab, Make, etc all recommend a cheap $12-15 dollar hot plate from a discount store for reflowing the solder paste. There will be an update tomorrow. I had planed one for tonight but I went over to the woman's place and spent some time with her. But tomorrow you should see some threaded rod, and a Y stage coming together.

Collins- No worries. Is that a radio shack iron in your sig? If so I have an interesting article coming up about regrinding tips that fit that iron.

Project update: Still waiting on the electronics to come in stock at MakerBot, also waiting on the Nema 17 stepper motors to arrive from California. I also need to figure out some feet for the bottom of the base. They need to be adjustable so I can level the bot. I am thinking about some bolts with rubber caps as feet or some cool acrylic with leds in them... Dunno... if you have any ideas post them.

[Oneslowz28]

Oh forgot to update on the workable area. I did some measurements and it looks like it will turn out to be 9" x 10" or 9" x 9.5"

[Oneslowz28]

Just wanted to share the news that I was asked to be a contributor to the reprap builders blog. http://builders.reprap.org/

[Collinstheclown]

Collins- No worries. Is that a radio shack iron in your sig? If so I have an interesting article coming up about regrinding tips that fit that iron.

Why yes, yes it is. It's my old faithful backup now though. I now am a proud owner of a Weller WES51. I know what your talking about when it comes to grinding the tips. Thing is do we use the same method? I stick mine in a drill press.

Congrats on contributor news!

*Edit: Forgot to say, Curious Inventor has an article about using a toaster over for paste flowing.




-CollinstheClown

[Oneslowz28]

Why yes, yes it is. It's my old faithful backup now though. I now am a proud owner of a Weller WES51. I know what your talking about when it comes to grinding the tips. Thing is do we use the same method? I stick mine in a drill press.

Congrats on contributor news!

*Edit: Forgot to say, Curious Inventor has an article about using a toaster over for paste flowing.




-CollinstheClown

I use a drill press too. I use a dremel stone to get the rough shape and then a fine file to tune it and then follow up with 600, 800 and 1500 grit wet sand paper to get it perfect. My tips usually last 2-3 months of good use before I regrind or toss them in the trash. I bought a lot on ebay a few months back with 50 of the chisel point tips for the radio shack irons. I had a weller up until last year when it let out the magic smoke. I bought the dual watt radioshack deal because I needed to finish the project I was working on. It works great (do miss temp control though) for what I am doing right now. I may break down soon and buy a hakko in the near future. If this hotplate reflowing works out great then I may just move to smd design and only use through hole where it would be easier.

IIRC I saw a toaster oven on hackaday that was arduino controlled and used a thermocouple for temp sensing. Might be an interesting future project.

[Oneslowz28]

Stepper motors came in. Was overcharged on the shipping but other than that they are what the seller said they were.