News is today Sask Power (Saskatchewan Canada) will be sending power your way to help outSorry for the late reply, Britt. Currently no electricity with the winter storm in N Texas... two days of 5-8" of snow on the ground and near-0F temps at night. This has resulted in so-called "rolling black-outs" that have resulted in 12+ hour outages. Thankfully my old farm house has propane tank for heating and cookstove...
No better suggestions than what you've already got wrt belts, etc. Grub screws always need to be checked. Series or parallel connection of dual motor axis? If parallel, one motor can skip steps while the other doesn't and could result in wonky shapes.
I can't think of anything more at the moment. Hopefully I'll have stable electricity within a couple of days. Stay warm! -- David
I appreciate it, @Wildthing! The "rolling blackout" finally settled into a noticeable pattern (2-3 hours on, 2-3 hours off) most of the day yesterday and since sometime in the night, it's been on solid all morning. So, thanks, Saskatchewan!News is today Sask Power (Saskatchewan Canada) will be sending power your way to help out
Just saw some reports last night with a lot of people dealing with frozen burst pipes and water coming out of the walls and ceilings plus they are doing the same as you melting snow for water.An update... I've had stable electricity for over 24 hours now. So thanks, @Wildthing (and any others) who sent some of theirs my way. Water is still a bust. Thankfully had a near-full "pallet" of bottled water for coffee and am using snow water to flush on occasion. Heat is not an issue as I have a propane tank and nice store-bought propane heater which keeps my little house quite comfortable. Still snow-bound but no need to personally get out on the streets (which are still pretty bad) and I have my daughter and family next door. So I'm doing pretty well. I feel a bit guilty, however, as the news is pretty heart-breaking about how much of the state is still in dire straits. Our forecast is to finally get above freezing, starting this weekend, so hopefully some relief is on its way. My prayers to all who are suffering and thanks to all who've sent their encouragement and well wishes -- and electricity! -- our way.
-- David
Certainly the burst pipes and water damage are bad enough but it is the folks with medical issues/equipment with no power that are suffering the most. There are video reports of literally thousands of city folks living in their cars for heat... apartment complex parking lots with rows of cars with engines running, some folks spending 10-12 hours or more in their car. God help them when they run out of gas... and 911 is of course overwhelmed with calls for help from folks literally in life/death situation. Lots of folks are genuinely in survival mode... and it's truly heart-breaking to see.Just saw some reports last night with a lot of people dealing with frozen burst pipes and water coming out of the walls and ceilings plus they are doing the same as you melting snow for water.
Most new construction now they use pex almost everywhere.Having lived through the horrible experience of having pipes freeze and burst in mobile homes as a kid, and my heart goes out to everyone dealing with this crisis. When I had the opportunity to renovate a house about a decade ago and needed all new water lines, I installed PEX flexible lines everywhere. While we were waiting for a plumbing inspector to come onsite during the construction, the entire water system was accidentally left full of water over night - and the entire system froze solid that night. The next morning listening to everything creak and crack as it thawed out was unnerving - but it survived without a single burst pipe or leak. The cost of the materials were a little higher, but the installation time for the plumbers was actually a lot faster than traditional copper so the money side evened out, and I recommend anyone with the opportunity to choose during new construction or renovation to look into installing a water system that can handle damaging temperatures.
I think we are pretty much out of the worst of it... and power has been restored to most of the state, last report I heard. I still don't have "city water" but it is supposed to climb above freezing today and I still have bottled water for coffee and plenty of snow to melt for flushing. I'm in my grandparents old farmhouse, built 1950-ish, so it's antiquated plumbing, repaired numerous times ad hoc with whatever materials were on hand... but mostly PVC pipe now. I drained back all the faucets in the house before it got too bad so hopefully it'll all still be intact once warmer temps have had time to do their magic.
I'm doing fine and Prusa is staying busy building a new Z-axis for a couple of machines...
Thanks again for all the kind words and well-wishes. Stay warm!
-- David
Britt,David, what laser are you using on this machine? It looks like you are able to cut through 1/8" plywood with it.
Britt
Britt,
I've got several laser modules to play with... Banggood/Eleksmaker 2.5W and 3.5W units and a couple of Neje units, both discontinued "20W" and a newer model "30W". Been having a dickens of a time trying to cut any material with massive charring and inordinate number of passes. That was all without air assist.
So now I'm playing with air assist and getting a much better result. Here, the same gcode file is run, with (right) and without (left) air assist, on 1/8" plywood...
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View attachment 193550
I recently purchased a little compressor, rated at 38 L/min, and have just started playing. I used a single line from the supplied manifold for the test above but have since removed the manifold and used larger tubing and an inflation needle (left over from early needle cutter development)... and it seems to be even better.
View attachment 193552
Single, smaller, tubing from the manifold... directed at a fairly low angle to the material...
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Here, with larger tubing and inflation needle... directed at a higher angle to the material...
View attachment 193554
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I'm seeing that real air-assist is crucial to get clean cuts and minimal charring in both ply and solid wood. Those earring blanks my daughter is wanting is ~4mm pine, cut in 4 passes at 200 mm/min and 100% power with the Neje "30W" (5W-5.5W laser power)... note the clean little cylinder due north of the right-most earring blank. So far, it appears that there is less charring with multiple, faster, passes than with fewer, slower, passes. I also intend to see what the little Banggood lasers can do... now that I have the air-assist running.
Hope this helps. -- David
Hi everyone,
New here, trying to build myself a foamboard/cardboard cutter. I did the first dry run today and noticed a lot of side-to-side vibrations (due to needle resisting bending on far right and far left position). Is that normal? I've printed TimSav version with some dimensional changes (bearings are 7mm, modelled in some chamfers to avoid small washers), but haven't glued it together, so could it be because of that?
Also, I'm currently using 0.8mm wire for needle instead of 0.6 people keep mentioning, which is harder to bend, I guess, have anyone tried thicker wire or am I the first one? I want to be able to cut regular corrugated cardboard as well, so thicker needle made sense originally, not so sure right now )
Aaand also doing clothes pin spring for driving the needle instead of flywheel I've noticed people using currently. I remember some (long) time ago reading that clothes pin was preferred approach, it has changed now? If I just run the motor with that clothes pin springy thing attached - I don't sense any noticeable vibrations coming from it, so I guess it shouldn't be due to balance issues. Should I go to flywheel design? Which one is considered to be the workhorse version currently?
And yes, I do realize that doing everything by the book originally and then applying modifications would have made more sense ) but these bearing, wire thickness, motor, etc - I had lying around, did not have to order anything, which is nice. I can order everything recommended, it just would take more time )
Here's a video for reference:
Welcome to the party, @hudbrog!Hi everyone,
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Aaand also doing clothes pin spring for driving the needle instead of flywheel I've noticed people using currently. I remember some (long) time ago reading that clothes pin was preferred approach, it has changed now? If I just run the motor with that clothes pin springy thing attached - I don't sense any noticeable vibrations coming from it, so I guess it shouldn't be due to balance issues. Should I go to flywheel design? Which one is considered to be the workhorse version currently?
And yes, I do realize that doing everything by the book originally and then applying modifications would have made more sense ) but these bearing, wire thickness, motor, etc - I had lying around, did not have to order anything, which is nice. I can order everything recommended, it just would take more time )
...
Hey All. Due to the massive request, like to update that we are producing a limited run of TimSav LITE KIT 2021 again.
More info here,
https://www.facebook.com/groups/erctimsav
Order here https://www.edwardrc.com/
wait so for these kits, you still need to 3dprint the pieces? also, does it include the electronics, or is it in the kit?For those interested, this was just posted over on the FT TimSav thread... Edward is doing a limited run of kits for $109.
I assume this kit will be the same as the original and does not includes the printed parts or aluminum extrusions. But all printed parts are relatively simple flat parts that are quick and easy to print... and the V-slot extrusions are available from multiple sources. Everything else is included in the kit... including the electronics.wait so for these kits, you still need to 3dprint the pieces? also, does it include the electronics, or is it in the kit?