Jan.01
Dual 3D Printer Hotend
So I’ve finally managed to find the time to upgrade the Hadron 3D Printer from using a single Budaschnozzle Hotend to dual bowden driven hotends using custom parts made by Ben Lear over at LearCNC. The twin head setup should provide the ability to print using two different materials, one being a dissovable media used as a support structure for the primary FFDM material. I intend on trying to use ABS and Taulman Bridge Nylon as the primary and either a PLA or PVA based secondary support material. Experimental results will follow in coming posts.
(I know the hot end mounting plate is curved in the picture, the image was taken while the parts were being fitted to ensure the tolerances and part sizing were correct, the final mounting will feature three 35mm bolts to rigidly fix the Mount to the X axis gantry)
I also recently purchased a 250gm wood based PLA from the local Jaycar Electronics store. I haven’t had the chance to try it out yet as the printer has been off line, but it’s an interesting material, made from an 80% wood filler and 20% PLA binder, the end results can be sanded and even stained and varnished. Even the woodgrain is replicated through the layers of the print itself. Great stuff, more results to follow soon.
25/12/2015 Update
As it turns out the two black printed supports were causing a small amount of bending to the hotend mounting plate. So to remedy this I’ve removed the whole blue anodised x-axis carriage and drilled and countersunk an array of mounting points. Three of these are used to rigidly fix the hotend fixture to the carriage using three 3x45mm hex head bolts running directly through the centre of the fixture to the aluminium plate. The black printed supports now removed. The whole carriage is far more rigid, and the hotend fixture no longer appears bent and remains dead flat =) I’ll run off a few points to see how well the system performs and post the results the next chance I get to get back to my house.
About Luke Nyhof
Previously employed in the Telecommunications industry as a Technical Manager supporting innovative geospatial data exploration and visualisation tools enabling strategic network planning. His role at the company as Integration Data Interlock Engineer gave light to his work on predictive maintenance systems, machine learning and network operations & geospatial analytics.
Luke's post-graduate career path began at the Centre for Intelligent Systems Research (CISR, now named The Institute for Intelligent Systems Research & Innovation, IISRI), where he was an active and published academic who's engineering research projects included robust adaptive signal processing for biomedical applications, robotic systems, autonomous ground vehicles and advanced robotic motion simulators.
Before joining the Centre he completed his bachelor's degree in engineering, majoring in Mechatronics and Robotics graduating with 1st Class Honours. During this time he was also employed by Robert Bosch Australia. Based at the Australian Automotive Research Complex in Anglesea, the role gave him the opportunity to work as part of a highly competent team of engineers developing chassis control systems for development vehicles. He truly passionate about his work and always eager to connect with other researchers for collaboration.
While Luke have been involved in both collaborative and independent work, his favorite part of project work has been in developing unique solutions for intriguing problems.