No worries about the tangents, it's called a discussion for a reason!


The photography of the build has begun. Resin Printer Build

Boring so far, and mostly a practice run anyway (I'm borrowing a nicer camera next week and will set up some lighting) but I'm going to try and make photos and renderings that show things in an exploded view so that people can see what order the washers and spacers go in without having to read.

I've also been looking at the other sites that I should publish a step by step guide on. I've done a handful of Instructables before, but I think that the grouping and nesting in WeVolver might be a better fit for the this one. Here's the writeup that I did there: {{meta.title || 'Wevolver'}} What other sites do you guys post builds on besides this one?

 

Parts continue to arrive!

Here's the SeeMeCNC Flex Vat and matching build plate.



And as promised, the last few OpenBuilds parts have arrived!!!



Now that just about everything is here, and I'm drooling to get things started, it just happens to be the last week before classes start and I might get swept away with the back to school rush. (I do AV work for classrooms at a university) Fingers crossed that I can sneak away a little bit and start the build!

 

It's been a while since I checked in. It was a busy BTS, but classes are started, classrooms are running smoothly, and I've just now gotten back into my project.

Less words, more pictures.
So far so good.









I'm happy to report that (so far) there haven't been any glaring oversights or impossible assemblies. Aside from a small hardware order that I need to place soon, things are coming together very nicely. Expect more updates soon. More pictures, too (as soon as I've uploaded the "real" ones from the DSLR).

 

The assembly in the picture is the BOM check. Things are only finger tight, and it was a mockup to make sure that I had the right number of screws in the right places, and things like that. I'll take detailed disassembly pictures, and then flip their order and write my assembly instructions with them.

You nailed it. The connection is as solid as a rock, but the leverage involved allows the horizontal piece of the frame to twist just a little bit. Luckily, it's not really a load bearing column, it just needs to be steady and not vibrate. Either way, I think I'll move the C-Beam down the thickness of the end-cap and add a second horizontal 20x40 to the front side of the C-Beam so that it's attached to the frame on both sides and is (hopefully) twice as rigid.

The parts all look good. The main nitpick that I have isn't really design related. I just don't have enough hands to hold the screws and nuts in place while juggling the motor and trying to apply tension to the belt while tightening it I'm going to design either individual nut holders that can keep each nut from spinning, or a ring that goes around the whole motor and holds all 4 nuts in place for one handed tightening. That'll make things much easier to handle and adjust. It also seemed like the pulley on the leadscrew was difficult to clamp tightly enough to keep it from wiggling a little bit. Chances are that I was just too shy with the allen wrench to really torque it down tight enough, but if it turns out that there's a tolerance thing going on, I'll shim with really thin kapton tape or something like that. Too soon to say, at the moment.


Have a great weekend, everybody!

 

That would be ideal, yes. I don't think it jives with this design, though. The cross-bars in the middle will be in different positions for everyone else who builds it because the mounting points on the projectors aren't standardized...

Maybe there's a way to do it from underneath...

 

Here's what I initially had in mind... Can you even fit an allen wrench in two adjacent angle connectors? I could move one set down and avoid the interference, but I'd also hate to make the top and bottom attach points closer together... A conundrum.







Part of me is wondering if I shouldn't just put two 20x40's back to back with joining plates. Or I could buy a 40x40 to replace it all together.

 

Agreed. I'm thinking that's the plan, now.

 

Order is placed. A 40x40 beam, some connectors, and a pack of screws that I didn't know I needed before are on their way!

The printed parts have been designed, and the first test pieces are printing now!
I even found out that the LittleRP build plate and the SeeMeCNC one share a mounting hole dimension, so I'll be able to design one plastic piece that fits both of them!





I also designed that nut holder that I was talking about. Looks good so far! I'll publish the files shortly, and post the link here.

 

NEMA23 Nut Holder is published.
NEMA23 M5 Nut Holder by jimustanguitar

 

Things are starting to come together!

Using the 40x40 beam for the vertical C-Beam mount works very well. It's much sturdier than the 20x40 that I was using before. There's 90% less wiggle on that part from the aluminum twisting now. I'm quite happy with it. Money well spent.




I've got the carriage arm and leveling block installed. They're both my own design, but the dimensions of the leveling block and the block on the build plate are compatible with the stock LittleRP pieces, so I think there're some synergies there. A pair of rubber washers on each of the 3 mounting screws will squish enough to let me level the build plate. I've also designed a newer piece than what's in the picture to match the vent holes on the SeeMeCNC build plate (the LittleRP plate is what's pictured below).




The projector mounts up as expected, so that's good. The mounting screws are an M5 thread, so I had to ream out the angle brackets just a touch to fit them, but that's no big deal. That part of the build will vary by projector on everybody else's build, so I don't think there's a need to go looking for a different part.




Here's what the mounted build plate looks like, when it's dipped down into the build vat. It's really starting to look like a printer!




Today's mission is to modify the projector's lens so that it can zoom a little bit larger and focus a little bit closer. That part of the build will also vary depending on what projector the next builder throws at the project, but it should be pretty easy for me. It's an all aluminum, fully threaded lens so I'll probably just have to remove some stop screws. I may even get the motorized part of the lens to work still. Heck, maybe it'll even be motorized and let me index it still!

After that, it's all about the electronics. I'm thinking about making a single sleeve to hold the Raspberry Pi and Arduino + Shield. If I get that all mounted, it's time to learn the ins and outs of NanoDLP. Luckily, there's plenty of room on the back of the C-Beam to mount it all.

Wish me luck, I'm trying to finish the build this week!

 

I made a Gerbil Tube for the electronics (raspberry pi for NanoDLP, and an arduino running GRBL plus a motor driver shield) ... Still need to add mounting holes for the C-Beam, but at least it all fits!
I should have the machine moving that afternoon.

 

No time for typing, but IT'S PRINTING!!!
Words coming soon, here're pictures for now.

 

Hi again, all!

It's been a while (much longer than it should have been) but I'm back on this project, and gathering all of the parts and documentation so that I can publish a 'real' build log for other DIYers.

Things are printing well. I created a calibration cube with words on all sides so that it was easier to tell which way to flip the projector to get the right results (i.e. ceiling or floor and front or rear projection).



I've also updated my Raspberry Pi and Arduino holder so that it's got little fingers to grab the C-Beam and attach it to the machine. I need to print and test the final revision still, but I'll be uploading it to the existing Thingiverse page when it's ready today or tomorrow. GRBL Tube - Raspberry Pi & Arduino Sleeve by jimustanguitar



It looks like the newest build of NanoDLP has some new support features built in, so I'll be playing with those. I also like the idea of the new "resin test" feature, but I'm not sure how to use it yet.

I'm going through the BOM, making corrections, updating the CAD drawing, and preparing to finish publishing the design. I'll send more updates as things unfold!!

Jim

 

The side views aren't as impressive I need to do some pixel color/dimming to get a full cure without bleeding. That'll be a learning curve, so I'll report back when I know a little bit more about it.

 

I don't know if these are useful to anybody or not, but I've started making videos of the software side of the printer. The first steps are loading NanoDLP onto your Raspberry Pi and flashing GRBL to your Arduino. Later, I'll record how to connect and configure everything, and then I'll do one of how to actually run a print.

 

Got another video done... This is how to ID the USB port that your GRBL board is using on the Pi, and to set the Baud rate and all of that good stuff.

 

I'm not sure if these are particularly useful to anyone or not, but I've made some more videos to go with the other documentation for this project.

Here's the software side of starting your first print.


And if you're not familiar with NanoDLP at all, here's an overview of the entire program.

 

Settings and configuration of GRBL and NanoDLP.

 

By the way, these videos are not monetized, they're not intended to promote a particular product or company, it's not even to create a YouTube channel or anything like that, I just made them to try and be helpful. When I finally get my build documentation together, I'm hoping that teachers and librarians and others who aren't "professionally-technical" can pick this up and run with it. That's why I'm posting so many videos lately.