motor mount

Today i have been working on my Z axis motor mount, i hope i can get one printed soon or make something like it that will work for me.

i made it so that i could bolt some belt tensioners onto it. i hope it works

i have also posted this on thiniverse at http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4639

waiting

i am now waiting to get a few more parts in, i hope i can have most of my what i need in less than a month from now.

i have been trying to do what i can for my shed i am now getting allot farther than i was last week
http://picasaweb.google.com/mike.dissidence/ShedInProgress#

i am also waiting to get the dso nano v2 i ordered too, it is now in customes so yay
http://www.seeedstudio.com/depot/dso-nano-v2-p-681.html?cPath=104_108&zenid=68ca6cf27c2ab0d90baa20735bd76a1c

i have a few worries about the belt i ordered though, i think i may have measured wrong and got one that is 2 small. so i will have to wait and see. i kinda wish i knew someone who was local with a working reprap or makerbot would make my life allot less trouble.

trying to figure out a few more things

i am still trying to work on my code. but i am not able to figure out how to do a few things yet, like how to get this two work with 2 inputs instead of 1
http://reprap.org/wiki/Temperature_Sensor_1_1

i am trying to make a flow chart of how i think things should work for my slave processor but it has been slow going on that front, so maybe after work tomorrow, any one have any good sites for that.?

i am also getting a few more things done on my shed i have another batt of insulation in it now, its a start, but soon it will stay warmer at nights, so i can work on it later in the day. but soon i hope to have more insulation in it, and the more the better.

i got the idea at work to try some other stuff to hold together a the heated end, is it a gasket maker that says it is good to 500F so i may make a test heater with it to see how well it holds up to the nichrome wire.

a new workspace

i have started doing work on my shed in my yard, i hope to turn in into a workspace for my repstrap and my other projects.

shed in progress

but i hope to have it insulated in the next month or so, and i hope to have it mostly wired up here soon. but it will take until spring to get power to it. but its a start, and i am happy to see it.

i have not had much time to work on my coding yet. but i am trying still. but i am glad to see that i am starting to learn a little more.

i have been thinking a little more on how to add some optical encoders to my repstrap. i saw a post with some on some dell printers. it seems like a good idea to me if i can find them. but here is a forum thread that has a few of the ideas in it, kinda funny though has it started with a question about micro stepping on the pololu stepper drivers that i was using. forum thread

firmware.

i am starting to work on my firmware, but i am noticing that is it far from my strong suit. but i am trying to do what i can. for not it is pretty basic, but i hope that soon i can learn how to fit what changes i need into the hydra mmm firmware.

my electronics are almost done.

well has of today most all of my electronics are done, just gotta get them all cleaned up and mounted.

 once i get them all mounted i should have all that rats nest under control

 i have my pwm driver and my thermistor circuit in this pic.

here i have the arduino mega, the board for my arduino nano, and the board for my stepper drivers. on this reincarnation i have added the ability to change the stepping on it. though i have  more bug to work out with the power on it, nothing major yet, 

with all of this, i just need one more stepper and some pullies, to get most of my repstrap working.

i also need to start working on my code for the nano, i will most likely be moding  the hydra mmm firmware for this, but i really do have allot more to learn about programming than i did about the hardware.

just about there

i just about have a full set of working electronics.  i will post more here but to those who want to see them here ya go.

pieces of the puzzle

i am starting to get all my pieces together now, i still need a few more small pieces

 i hope to have them mounted to a board here soon. it will start to look a little different here soon but i am glad to see that all of it is coming together

in the picture i have my arduino mega, arduino nano, pwm driver on the left side, my thermistor reading circuit near the top, under my nano i have the board i made for my endstops and power distribution

slave processor

i have decided to use a slave processor on my repstrap. i got an arduino nano from dfrobot so far i like it allot kinda wish it had a few more pwm outputs on it but so far i like it. i am hoping to use it to not only read the temps but to also control all my hot pieces,

here is the arduino nano, on the board that i made for it. on it i have the power inputs, thermistor inputs, led status outputs, 3 pwm outputs are moved to the edge for the heater controller. and the tx rx and grd brought to the edge for communication for arduino mega.

i decided to use 3 tricolor led's just because i had a few to spare, they are all on the same outputs. so they all turn the same colors at the same time. i am planning on using it to show the temps with the colors blue for cold, green for good, and red for too hot. i think this will be a good way to show the heat status at a quick glance. that is the idea any how.

this is the back of the board

but so far i do like the arduino nano its small and has the same cpu has its bigger brother.

but i am waiting on a few parts again, but i have a few more idea brewing still so i will post more soon.

getting more things built

 i am getting a few more things soldered up and built, i am also getting some more of my cables done up.

i also placed an order at http://ultimachine.com/ today, i needed some more odds and ends, so i bought them from there.  i also gave in and bought this guy http://www.seeedstudio.com/depot/dso-nano-v2-p-681.html?cPath=104_108 because it just looked cool and i really do need a oscilloscope i am at the point now where i just need a basic small one, for all that i am doing, and i really liked how small it is

though i was wondering do the people that use a slave processor, do they use that to control the heater circuit has well, or should i use my main arduino mega for that.

yay back in action

well i was gone, up to key lake i got a few things i have been eagerly waiting on. like my dfrduino nano, and some more wire, and a pwm board from the fellow at http://ultimachine.com/ , i also got some more odd parts resistors and capacitors, but i am still waiting on my last order from seed, they normaly are not this slow, so i imagine costumes here in canada flagged it for some reason.

this is most of my order, i hope i can start to do some stuff with the parts i got here soon.