In the most recent article, I chronicled my experience in attempting to coerce a Thing-O-Matic into working. Since then, I have accomplished that goal, going so far as making complete sets of Mendel and Prusa Mendel parts. For this most recent contribution to The Great Oracle of All That Is True and Untrue [1], allow me to share the secrets to my current level of success.
Starting with a recap, the problem I was facing is that prints would inevitably fail upon reaching a certain height: An inch or so beyond the build surface, the extrusion head would inevitably grab the top of the object and chaos would ensue. When the endless fiddling with Skeinforge accomplished nothing except trading this problem for others, I sought consultation with the Oracle. As it appears the Automated Build Platform (ABP) is the source of many troubles, I disassembled the ABP and replaced it with the simpler Heated Build Platform (HBP). Perfect. I was even going raftless with minimal effort.
Both the HBP and ABP are intended to heat the deposited plastic, improving adhesion by minimizing the thermal shrinkage should the plastic be allowed to cool. The ABP improves upon the HBP by adding a conveyor belt above the heated surface. Once a print is completed, the belt can advance to eject the finished part and immediately begin construction of another. However, with added complexity comes added possibility of failure. In this case, the belt (deformed from heat) had too much give.
While I plan to eventually reassemble the ABP, I've learned that it is better to get your machine calibrated on the simpler HBP (or even the ABP sans belt) before burning a lot of plastic wondering what's wrong.
Venus de Milo
by Jonathan McGee
Footnotes
- More commonly know as the Internet.