engunneer's projects » hackerspaces

Working on the Workshop88 makerbot calibration

engunneer — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 03:28:34 +0000

Last week at Workshop88, I was working on the makerbot calibration, and the DC extruder motor managed to die. I had two spare DC motors at home, so I brought one over to the hackerspace tonight to repair the bot. We just need it to work long enough to print itself a stepper upgrade kit.

After the replacement, I calibrated a bit more, and printed a pair of small gears. I still need to work on the first few layers, and now I’m printing a Mr. Alligator

Mr. Alligator by curiousmedia

Alligator clip

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Stepper upgrade kit:

Improved Stepper Upgrade for Mk5! by TheRuttmeister

Now with COLOSO-Gears!(tm). An improved version of my prior design. The Adapter Plate was just revised (to v1.2) the gearing was completely redesigned (which involved drawing the involute curves the hard way, which gave far better results). Gears are 51 and 7 tooth respectively. Giving a ratio of 7.2857:1. The gears are also oversized (COLOSO-Gears!(tm)). I will be uploading a slimmed down version in the near future, I just wanted to be sure I had a large enough meshing area. Note that the new adapter plate is very wide, 90mm+ and will only just fit on the cupcake platform. I recomend printing a z-rider to get a larger build area! Also, the 51 tooth gear is kinda massive. You might have issues printing it from ABS. As always, I recomend PLA. The 7 tooth gear is TINY. Sorry. It will be a pain to get to print right. I broke mine trying to remove it from the build platform. Had to epoxy it back together. UPDATE: Added 14 tooth pinions sized for nema17 and 23 (5mm and 1/4" shafts). Added an 8 tooth pinion (obsolete files gone, but 7 tooth gear left up for the brave). I recomend that you print the small gears with 0 extra shells (infill of 0.1 or higher will result in solid teeth). 9 Tooth gear is off for now unless someone really really needs it Here is a video of it running (and reversing thanks to SF35!)flickr.com/photos/45928876@N02/5405071895/

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Hackerspace Tours – Pumping Station: One, Chicago, IL

engunneer — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 15:11:33 +0000

I got to visit Pumping Station: One last night. The space looks really interesting, and has 88 members (I think 90 after last night’s meeting). One of the things I liked the most about this space is that every area has a “host”, and is responsible for maintaining each subsection of the space. This is a space that is clearly well-established, and has a good community project atmosphere.

Hackerspace tours – LVL1, Louisville, KY

engunneer — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 01:49:05 +0000

Today, I visited LVL1, Louisville’s hackerspace. They have a very active membership, and a huge amount of space. One of the coolest things here is a mini laser cutter CNC that one of the members made to prove he could build one before the space bought one. He beat them by just a day, but he did win.

Here’s my video tour of the space:

Hackerspace tours – Workshop88, Glen Ellyn, IL

engunneer — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 01:45:57 +0000

In the past month, I’ve had the chance to do two guided tours of hackerspaces.

First up, a visit to Workshop88 in the western suburbs of Chicago.