2022-02-23 22:42 by Michael Tsang

Steady improvement and the next week.

Complete blog post.

Check out the post for the details, but the gist is that the new mechanism iteration was tested out on the Z Axis and it is rock solid and smooth.

Next up is a test plot with this current mechanism and the hotend and extruder drive build. We will finish up a first printing prototype before the end of the funding, and then make some final revisions before sending out the first shipments by the end of March.

It is really cool seeing this start to come together nice and solid. More updates to come over the next few days.

(Posted by Jon Buford originally at Makible.com)

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2022-02-20 22:44 by Michael Tsang

Marlin Rocks and The Germans are Winning!

So, we’ve confirmed 60% support for the project as of today thanks to Nils Hitze rallying the troops with 20 pieces in Germany! We are revising part of our order process to make larger categories of support easier, so he isn’t showing up currently in the supporter list.

On the other end of the project, I was able to get the new firmware loaded on the driver board and started to put the machine through some paces. The difference between the new (Marlin) and old (Sprinter) firmware is pretty dramatic. Some of it is also moving to a faster Arduino than before, but Marlin looks pretty slick. I’ll post up some video tomorrow, tonight I’ve got duties with Startup Monday here at BootHK as part of the StartupsHK community, so wasn’t able to do the plotting that I wanted before heading out of the lab today.

I’m going to start working on the extruder prototype tomorrow and share some more details about that.

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2022-02-18 22:48 by Jonathan Buford

MakiBox A6 Table Movement and Next Steps

Here is the prototype print bed moving up and down along with the X & Y. I'm pretty happy with how it is working, but can see it will benefit from the same bearings upgrade as the rest. One cool thing to note is that since all 3 major axies have the same screw drive, it looks possible to do a lightweight 3D milling operation for foam and other materials easy to cut.

I'm heading to China tomorrow with the HackJam group and will visit the electronics area there, so I can pick up a few parts I need for wiring up the separate controller. Later, we are heading to the local Hackerspace, so will be a fun and interesting day.

I'll try to get the dedicated electronics wrapped up for this Sunday, so I can do some more test prints or other things to understand better what needs to be improved. Next week I will make the extruder and drive, and a friend of mine will be helping to wrap up the revisions to the mechanism so we can get the next (final) iteration prototyped in a week. This next one will be a pre-production unit, so should be pretty close to the one we will ship in March.

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2022-02-16 22:59 by Jonathan Buford

Z Axis and Other Happenings

Having a very small team for Makible makes it difficult to balance things sometimes. After focusing on some more general business things for the company and Social Media Week Hong Kong (I'm one of the founders for StartupsHK), I'm finally back in the lab and making good progress again.

tl_files/img/MakiBox_Complete_Motion.jpg.scaled1000.jpg

I'll finish integrating the controller and the motors tomorrow and get some good video of it moving around in 3D space and seeing how artistic it can be with a pen.

 

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2022-02-15 23:07 by Michael Tsang

Finally! More Progress

Hi folks, we’ve got the Z axis built and will be wiring it up to the controller tomorrow. I’ve gotten a bit waylaid by general business stuff here the last few days, but things are back on track.

See the photos here.

The current plan is to finish hooking up the RAMPS board for testing tomorrow afternoon and at least demonstrate the general combined movements. I’ve also wrapped up the preliminary designs for the extruder and extruder drive which should prove to be a significant improvement to the Wade’s extruder and others that are currently on the market. Look for more details coming up soon on that.

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