Well making mistakes is just one way of getting closer to finding the right solution

Ok, so my kit arrived, the interesting part is that I don't see the back frame plans in the MANY build manuals he gave me, have you guys seen a design like this?

Hmm.. that's interesting, but the problem is that the UP's print bed moves vertically, so anything attached to it would need to move with it or risk getting tangled and stuff.

Second problem is how the Up Mini's 'sensor' works.
http://thevariableconstant.blogspot.com/20...ature-hack.html

Ok, I've started working on my i3 now, managed to get half the Y axis done, but didn't get much else done because.

- As mentioned, they don't have their own build manuals yet, and them giving a whole bunch of manuals when none of them fit exactly would have confused the heck out of most people.

- They left out some screws and nuts which I needed for installation of the Z axis motor!!

- The smooth rods of the Y axis seem to be of slightly different lengths, which is probably gonna make aligning the sides a little.. interesting.

- you need to SNAP the rods into the grooves? is it a good idea to do that to 3D printed objects?

- The holes in the Y corner pieces for the side threaded rods are TIGHT, in all the build manuals I've seen they mentioned that you insert the rods through the holes, I needed to SCREW the corners into the rods to get them to move, makes me wonder if there was a misprint of the parts...

On a side note, a roll of Kapton tape was provided, which means I can use it on my UP mini along with a glass bed in order to try the various methods of holding the ABS in place while I print.

And for anyone interested, I'm actually recording my build sessions.. Remember that below is raw unedited footage for now. in this case I'm actually chatting with the 3dprinter.my people on the various queries which I have.



This post has been edited by marauderz: Nov 16 2014, 11:37 PM

As I mentioned, I felt that the Y Corners that came with my kit felt a bit weird, so I decided to print a set of my own using my UP Mini.

As I expected, the base lifted because it was a long wide base containing the four pillars. so I'm pretty sure the measurements are slightly out on my piece, but check out the comparison between the two pieces.



You can see the bigger image here :- http://1drv.ms/1xL7uIh

The one I printed is on the left, the one I bought is on the right.

It should be pretty obvious that the one I bought doesn't look very good, the layers are jagged and uneven compared to the smoother even layers which I printed.

What my question here is that if the person could have printed his part at a better quality, why didn't he? After all, he's selling these anyway.
The other question is the obvious is this the best a RepRap can do?

There are a few answers to this. like @altan has mentioned previously, the guy could be inexperience at doing this and done this less than perfectly.

I'm posting this not to deter people from RepRaps, this is for everyone's knowledge about what's available out there.

One of the main reasons I bought the RepRap is for knowledge and experimentation, the UP! printers are very rigid and inflexible and also my UP! Mini is flawed by default. So it all depends on what exactly you want to do with it.

I will defiantly have further opinions once I actually finished and used the Reprap myself, but this is just food for thought currently. I'm sure those of you who already have RepRaps can chime in on this.

good to know, anyway I got my glass plates already. Gonna try the glue stick trick and see if I can get a better hold.

I think ANY 3D printing is about iteration till you get it right.

Anyway... the glass plate I bought was too thick for the Mini's holder.. I guess another thinner than 5MM would be a bit dangerous to handle?

I tried just just kapton tape on one of my perf boards, then use glue stick method.. didn't work.

I'll try the super glue trick tomorrow, though I'm a bit worried about the super glue vapors in the enclosed space and what it'd do to the components...

Ok.. well... I'm off to get some extra strength hair spray now. Gonna save the super glue for last resort.

It's ok... BECAUSE I GOT MY CHIPS TODAY!!!

Just soldered it in and preheating the table, looking good, rising up to 70 degrees already, as long as it stops around 100 I guess it means it worked!

Yes!! The higher temperature seems to be working!! managed to get a nice flat solid 10CM diameter disc printed just now, had been warping like hell previously!

Thanks, it's still warping a little, but I think it could be because the platform levelling got effected a bit when I removed the heat bed. Gonna relevel and try again sometime this week hopefully.

Ok, finally I had the time to recalibrate the platform, and my prints are performing very well, no more platform warping any more, already printing out new corner blocks for the Rep Rap and hope I can get back to it soon!

Once I carefully chip away all the support materials let's not be too hasty and snap anything again!

Here's another lesson for people interested with 3D printing, after you get your print, it might be filled with support structures where the holes are.



And you need to take care of them, by digging, cutting, picking, praying you don't damage the actual part, so after one hour these are the results.



Nice looking blocks, a bunch of excess, and one cut in my finger where one of the blocks slipped and a splint sticking out jabbed INTO MY FINGER!!



This post has been edited by marauderz: Nov 30 2014, 01:18 AM

Well, I'm still getting the hang of everything, and not even sure about designing my own items yet, so I'm still not too sure about when to use supports and when not to.

Glad to see I'm not the only one storing the cast off and failures.



I'm still on my 1st reel of ABS, haven't been printing much yet since I needed to fix the warping problems, should do much more now.

Hi guys,

Just had some more face palm moments dealing with the kit.. but anyway..

I was comparing design between my Up Mini and the Prusa, and I realized it had these springs on the timing belts, these seem to just tighten the tension around the belts easily.

I'm gonna order some and try it out. Anyway of you have some experience with it?

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/10pcs-Timin...1712635698.html

Ok.. Altan's comment about not all RepRap sellers locally being able to deal with these things are really hitting home hard...

I've just discovered that the stepper motor wires which I were given were 4 pin connectors, where as the stepper motor has 6 pins... And the YAxis idler screw is still missing... *FACEPALM*

Pic of the motor

Well.. already bought, and they already SHIPPED it.. so..

The guy says he'll send me the right cables, I wonder if the control board needs to be changed...