Progress

The main reprap bed parts

Download and print instructions from bitsfrombytes

A hobby box (this one is a cross-stitch box) keeps your nuts seperate

Some sub-assemblies from yesterday


I'm having fun.
:-)

Kit Arrived!

I've been a bit quiet as my RSI is playing up and my wrist hurts so I have been off the computer for a bit.
Instead I will post some photos.
Normal service will be resumed asap.


rods


extruder kit


lots of bits

Final stepper board complete!

Last night, I completed the final stepper motor driver board. I re-tested all three and all three leds light up nicely.
The final board went very smoothly. I'm finally getting a bit more confidence with soldering, and third time around I knew where most of the components went. I started after the police dogs program last night, and finished just before big brother, so it took me almost exactly one hour.

Timings for each board (starting from scratch, with little soldering experience, pretty cautious):
Practice - 1.5 hrs
Arduino shield, DC motor driver, PWM - approx 1.5 - 2 hrs each
6 opto-endstops - 2.5 hours total
stepper 1 - 1.5 hrs
stepper 2 - 1.25 hrs
stepper 3 - 1hr
(timings include setting up and tidy up for each session)

All in all, the electronics went better than I expected. Because of the separate boards, they fit well into doing a board during an evening. If you sat down and worked continuously, things would probably go faster - but I didn't have a weekend free.

I've been able to test the PWM and DC driver boards, but the steppers have yet to be connected to a real stepper.

Now, I'm just waiting for the bitsfrombytes kit to arrive...

Two stepper boards done!

Over the weekend, I finished off and tested the first stepper board. Loading up the arduino test, the LEDs flicker and everything appears to work! I haven't got a stepper yet (they're still on order) to test properly, but so far, so good.
On a roll, I soldered the second stepper board and connected it up. Flickering lights again! I think I'm finally getting the hang of soldering.

Only one more stepper board to go, and the electronics are done.

First stepper motor driver board - nearly done

Started soldering the three remaining stepper motor driver boards today. I'm glad I left them till last, they are more complex than the other boards, and have quite a mixture of components and headers. Print out a resistor colour chart, or label your resistors as there are several different values in different places.
I'm still impressed with the RRRF boards, they're very well printed and the instructions are good. On most of the pictures you can see the resistor values to help cross-check after you've inserted the components.

The first board is 95% done. All I have left is the wiring and connectors, then testing :-)

Six opto-endstop boards finished

I sat down last night to 'finish off' the six opto-endstop boards that I'd added the components to last week. It's surprising how long a simple task takes, like cutting a couple of feet of 3-core wire, stripping the ends, and attaching the plugs and soldering to the board, especially when you have to do it six times.

All the endstop boards are now complete, so I can run the stepper motors from end to end without banging into the mechanical stops at either end.

I've only got the three stepper controller boards to go!

Laptop power plug fixed.

For a while now, my laptop power plug has been getting really annoying. It will only charge the laptop if it is left in a certain position - with the plug fully inserted and the wire bent to the side - and often runs the battery down, as my laptop is typically on most of the time. The screen keeps dipping in and out of power saving mode (going dim and then bright) as the power is connected and disconnected.

This got too annoying last night, so I fiddled with the power plug and the entire plug barrel came out of the plastic shield. It seems that the tiny solder joints holding the plug into the shield had broken (leading to the intermittent power connection).

Time for a fix.

I cut away the shield to expose the connectors at the back. This was a replacement 'generic' PSU, so it had a generic two-pin connector to several sizes of power plug. I could then re-solder the power connectors, like so:

Then I grabbed some of the 'Polymorph' (CAPA) plastic from my RepRap project. Softening a bit in some hot water, it could be moulded into a custom 'made to fit' plug shield for the laptop:


It looks a bit different, but it does provide a stable power connection and will allow my aging tablet PC to limp along for a while yet. It also seems to be more securely plugged in.