Erik's Blog: Discussing IT, personal fabrication and a new and better world - RepRap

Getting married, Open source style ;)

nospam@example.com (Erik de Bruijn) — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 14:09:05 +0200

My 3D printed cake topper!

Friday the 9th of July, I'm getting married to Esther! I'm really looking forward to this really special day. It takes a lot of preparation, but it's also been a lot of fun. At the wedding our guests get a piece of cake. But on every decent cake, there should be a cake topper! I wanted a personal cake topper that I could print on my 3D printer. While looking on the Google 3D warehouse I found several, but none were satisfactory. I wanted a simpler model that was solid and which had a personal touch.

On Kubuntu Linux, I made a video in OpenShot (open source video editor) documenting the process from Open Source CAD software to open source G-Code tools (Skeinforge) to my RepRap open source 3D printer!

The resulting 3D model is this (parametric) model (on Thingiverse here) with the following modules: bride, groom, arm, leg and hat. Everything is made from spheres, cylinders and cubes, as you can see in the exploded view:

Exploded view

The regular model made in OpenSCAD

I printed the groom in black, which went surprisingly well (none of the overhangs were problematic and with some active cooling, no slow down was needed for thin parts). When switching to BfB's white ABS (not the creamy/beige natural color) I had some problems. The white additive in the ABS plastic required a higher temperature than my extruder's equilibrium temperature when fully turned on. I used a laptop power supply to power the extruder's heater coil with 18 V instead of 12 V. The temperature started over and undershooting, so I implemented the PID algorithm that was in the Makerbot firmware branch. I did a little software PWM trick since the interrupt settings broke PWM functionality of the I/O pin I was using. The software PWM feature just rotated an 8-bit counter, incrementing it with every step of the motors. When it was equal to the PWM value, it turned off the heater. When it rotates, it's turned on. This gave me a much more reliable temperature and I could not just extrude the white ABS better, but probably any thermoplastic.

A source SVG file for the wedding graphics that I made can be found here (single Inkscape svg file).

License:

Wedding graphics by http://bit.ly/flossWedding is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at Erik's dropbox.

For higher res pictures, click on the slideshow:

If you'd like to congratulate us on our wedding, drop us a comment.

Erik's RepRap for loan!

nospam@example.com (Erik de Bruijn) — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 14:02:34 +0200

In December last year, I became the proud new owner of Leo (after Leonard Darwin), the son of Charly (Charles Darwin (my earlier machine)). It didn't take 9 months to fully develop, but it seemed like a long time (the second and third sets of parts tooks just a week). I wanted a second machine to be less dependent on my first Darwin, in case it broke. After Leo made a few test objects that were okay, I never really printed with it anymore... why?

Now that I have printed and assembled a third machine (a mini-mendel) and got that working, the benefit of having this second one isn't so big anymore (apart from that it's more prettier and tidier than my first one). I really "know" Charly, my first RepRap much better and has proven to be very reliable having printed hundreds of parts (and counting) in only a couple of years. This makes Leonard a bit lonely, it seems he's mostly idle which is making him depressed, as you can imagine. Also, I can't give him the attention he deserves because I'm writing my MSc thesis on RepRap, talks and travel... so:

It is time for Leonard to see more of the world, and be invited to the homes of other hackers who want 3D printers in their home!

You can have fun with Leo and print yourself a set! Have him send postcards once in a while (not entirely unlike the Dwarf of Amelie's father), or post pictures of his printing experiences on Thingiverse /derivative.

From RepRap Dev

Click on the picture to see more photos.

There is one 'catch', if you use it to print one set, the new owner of this set has to print two of them with their machine (the Mini Mendel also counts, which you can print within a day's worth of printing). You are encouraged to ask for the same adherence to the RepRap etiquette. If you print two sets with Leonard, you're freed from this obligation (there are some time saving to printing everything twice). Let me know who will be the happy owner of the set. At some point I'd like to have Leonard return home. My requirement is that it's not in a worse shape than the previous person to host him. If you're thinking of really big changes to Leo, keep me in the loop.

It includes a full Cartesian bot with a special modification I made to prevent jamming of the Z axis and so you're able to use a continuous loop. It contains the BitsFromBytes control electronics which may need to be replaced with more open electronics (RR motherboard) or someone has to follow in my footsteps working on the OpenRapMan firmware. In other words, you'll have everything to get it running.

The person who will loan my Darwin will have to convince me that he will be taken good care of and that he will be returned within an acceptable amount of time (shouldn't have to take more than 3 months). If I'm not happy with the loaning practices I have to right to retrieve my little baby. We can arrange how we want to share the costs that improved the machine (e.g. if replaced electronics are installed). You can buy some filament from me when you pick up the machine. You need to buy a 12V 5A adapter, if you want to use the BfB electronics. It has a working extruder drive mechanism and extruder, connected with the Bowden cable as documented here. Picture:

I'd like someone to be able to pick it up by car. I live in Tilburg, the Netherlands, so this offer is probably most attractive for people based in the Netherlands or Belgium, perhaps Germany. I want to see you in person before I'm letting you take Leo and I'm not shipping it since it's fully assembled and because of the large dimensions (~50x50x60 cm WxDxH). Also, face to face I can provide some instructions on what parts of the machine may need some attention to get printing quality up. I'm pretty confident that the quality can be even better than my current RepRap because this one is so much more tidy and better studding and more ball-bearings were used.

View Larger Map

If you're interested, please post a comment and tell me why you should be the first to host Leo!

Talk on RepRap at MIT Innovation Lab March 2010

nospam@example.com (Erik de Bruijn) — Fri, 28 May 2010 15:00:34 +0200

In March 2010 I gave a talk at the MIT Sloan School of Management on RepRap and the democratization of Fabrication Technology and emergence of open hardware communities, entrepreneurial spin-offs, etc. Bre Pettis and Zach "Hoeken" Smith took the stage right after me and they really rocked with their Makerbot and Thingiverse story (due to form and substance)!

The Innovation Lab meeting was organized by Professor Eric von Hippel at MIT and author of Democratizing Innovation (available under Creative Commons license).

I finally took the time to upload the slides.

Mit Innovation Lab March 2010

View more presentations from Erik de Bruijn.

Source: OpenOffice

Feel free to ask questions or provide suggestions (other than about the formatting, which Slideshare messed up a little).

RepRap in Dutch newspapers again

nospam@example.com (Erik de Bruijn) — Thu, 27 May 2010 21:59:29 +0200

A while ago I put on my RepRap ambassador hat again which resulted in a newspaper entry in a Dutch newspaper. Since it's slightly old news now and I'm allowed to cite works that I'm mentioned in I believe it's okay to share it now:

From RepRap Misc

For those who don't read any Dutch, here are some highlights that the article mentions:

What the RepRap is
How much cheaper it is compared to conventional commercial machines
That it can replicate itself, and has indeed done so
Non printed parts are from the hardware store.
That it can print a working whistle with the pea inside
In the near future, losing a piece of the game Settlers of Catan is not a disaster anymore, you'll just print a new one!
The power of the concept lies not in the technology as much as it lies in the community that collaborates in a Wikipedia-like fashion. Sharing results and experimentation outcomes and voluntarily
contributing their improvements.
A large collection of printable designs is generated by the community, for the community.
The example of printing shoes for a child and later recycling the old plastics, adding some and printing a larger size.
We still have to make a good recycling system, but the concept has been proven.
I'm doing my Masters thesis on the economic impact of RepRap.
The non-exclusive nature of the community project.
Increasing the printing speed.

Meta-innovation: Surprise boxes!

nospam@example.com (Erik de Bruijn) — Wed, 19 May 2010 11:10:21 +0200

What I really like about the Thingiverse physical object repository is that people are not just adding awesome, innovative [1, 2] and useful [1, 2] new content. They also innovate in how they publish content and how to use the content, exploring and sharing new and innovative ways of (applying) digitally assisted making. They explore and share what works and doesn't work for them. They get other people excited to try their ideas and techniques and improve upon them. And... they find very original ways of packaging objects:

Surprise boxes!

There is an interesting phenomena on Thingiverse lately: Surprise Boxes! It looks like an ordinary box right? But the secret is that there will be something 3D printed inside the box! What will it be? You won’t know until you make it become a reality on your MakerBot or other 3D printer!

The way it works is that it is a box with something special inside, but to find out what it is, you have to make it… and even then only you will know what’s inside because the surprise gets sealed in! What a awesome idea!

This is so cool. What an innovative idea by Conrad2468 and it’s already been repeated by Owenscenic!

From: Makerbot Blog

The important message is that this digitally assisted making around RepRap and the many derivatives is a social phenomenon as much as it is a technological one. Both are critical enablers. Thingiverse every day proves itself to be a sustainable source of creative ideas and value produced by a community. At the same time it endorses and is a showcase example of open source development beyond software. This makes it different from the platform products that most for-profit 3D printer vendors or service bureaus would set up, who have a more closed and organization-centric mindset. Of such platforms, not just the level of participation is different, also the degree of commitment and the motivations that drive the individuals are different. The more traditional for-profit companies have little awareness of communities and the value created around community-centric "products". Though there are some notable exceptions...

SHiFT 2010: Personal fabrication

nospam@example.com (Erik de Bruijn) — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 13:52:17 +0200

Together with Siert Wijnia from FabLab Protospace I gave a workshop and presentation at SHiFT 2010 in Lisbon, Portugal. The topic was Personal Fabrication while highlighting the roles of FabLabs and the RepRap project in making fabrication technology available to the (creative) masses!

Before going to Lisbon I shipped a batch of parts. A second Mini-Mendel machine was (partially) assembled during the conference. I will blog about this later!

From SHiFT 2010

SHiFT 2010, Lisbon: Personal Fabrication

View more presentations from Erik de Bruijn.

Slides: PDF (web), PDF (print), PPT (OpenOffice, source).

Now, since the Icelandic Vulcano erupted I'm forced to spend my time on the Portugese beaches until my rescheduled flight departs on Thursday (hopefully).

[NL] RepRap op Omroep Brabant

nospam@example.com (Erik de Bruijn) — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 11:28:34 +0200

Televisie

Some time ago I had a visit by the Omroep Brabant TV crew.

From RepRap Misc

The item was broadcast on 30 March 2010. The RepRap part starts at 5 minutes and 30 seconds:

Click to watch! / Klik op de screenshot hierboven om de video te bekijken!

[update]If you have trouble watching it, please use this youtube video:

[/update]

This is the iPhone / iPod dock that was printed during the video:

From 3D printing!

Related: I've also been on national news with RepRap.

[NL] RapRap in het nieuws!

nospam@example.com (Erik de Bruijn) — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 12:42:00 +0200

(English translation here and here)

RepRap was weer uitgebreid in het nieuws. Gisteren in de "Trouw":

Krant

Klik hier voor het online artikel!

Radio

Gisteravond was ik met Siert ook in de uitzending van het bekende radioprogramma "Met 't Oog op morgen". In de laatste 20 minuten komen we het meeste aan het woord, daarvoor worden we geintroduceerd en wordt aangegeven dat Siert een fluitje gaat (proberen te) printen. Om het te beluisteren, klik hier voor de player van Radio 1 of MP3 (mirror). Ook staat er een artikeltje op 't weblog van 't oog.

From RepRap Misc

Mini-mendel built and working!

nospam@example.com (Erik de Bruijn) — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 22:51:01 +0200

I went to the USA to visit Zach and Bre and the others from Makerbot and to give a talk at MIT for an innovation lab. I proposed to give a demo, but didn't dare bring one of my Darwin RepRaps on an airplane. They are very heavy and fragile, unlike the Mini-Mendel, which is quite sturdy compact and lightweight and can fit in a smaller, strong box. I had brought the printed parts (blog post about ordering, printing and preparations here) with me to the US and worked on them at New York Resistor. Besides having a really great time there, I also made a lot of progress. I barely got it running in time for the demo, I had done a proof of concept extrusion with X-Y movement, but it wasn't exactly what you would call 3D printing yet, let alone reliable printing.
In the day after the presentation I fixed the most important problems (belt tension, belts running off the pulleys, writing firmware bug workarounds, etc.). The fact that I didn't have a unix based toolchain for compiling the PIC32 code of the BitsFromBytes board, did make matters really complicated.

Overly ambitious I had been trying to get multi-material working on their v3.1 board. I actually did a short amount of multi-material extrusion but couldn't repeat the same with different g-code (after deleting the file that worked from the SD card).

The parts for the Mini-Mendel were printed with both the Darwin from the Q1 2008 cast parts from BitsFromBytes and the Darwin offspring machine that I've printed with the former machine. So it's at least in part a third generation machine, but the majority of the parts came from my older machine (I'm so used to the process).

Anyway, a picture says a thousand words, so here's a moving picture (and no more talking):

(BTW: if you didn't pay attention to the song's lyrics, you should listen to it again!)

The machine is considerably smaller than the Darwin (or regular Mendel), as you can see from the following picture:

From RepRap Dev

I'm driving the extruder with my 'remote' drive mechanism:

From RepRap Dev

You can put a beefy NEMA23 on it to have a lot of torque and without much complexity (just the part, a motor, a bearing and a pinch wheel).

It is pushed into a Bowden cable (a PTFE tube). At the hot end, I'm using my new coupling to keep the Bowden cable attached to it:

From RepRap Dev

There's documentation available for it on Thingiverse, as are the models to download and print this add on. The parts/suppliers that I used for this can also be found at Thingiverse.

RepRap Survey

nospam@example.com (Erik de Bruijn) — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 11:24:57 +0100

Are you operating or building a 3D printer? (RepRap, Cupcake CNC, RapMan, etc.)

We still need some more responses for the data to be statistically significant. So if you have not done the survey, please do so! (If you have, thanks so much!!)

Why? I can understand that you don't have time for just any survey. But this one is REALLY IMPORTANT:

We're trying to learn how open source software development differs from open hardware. Also, I'm learning how the RepRap community innovates and how this is different from commercial development of physical products. If helping me graduate isn't enough reason: you will help the RepRap project (results are used by me and Adrian Bowyer) and the field of open source research (as I'm directly working with the most cited scholar on this subject, Eric von Hippel from MIT).

Your input is essential! Many others have already filled in the RepRapSurvey.org but we need several more respondents for statistical significance of the findings.

It takes people 15 minutes on average.

Thank you VERY much!

Erik

P.s. Everyone will be given access to what we learn from this study. If you have questions or remarks, don't hesitate to contact me.

Mini-mendel printed!

nospam@example.com (Erik de Bruijn) — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 18:08:49 +0100

From Erik's RepRap parts

For some, the fact that the mini-mendel isn't a finished product is a reason not to try it. For me, it's the opposite. I've now printed all parts for the mini-mendel. I've also found suppliers for (I think) all of the non-printed parts that are needed. I'm waiting on delivery from RS Components (nut's & bolts), Pololu (stepper motor drivers), Smalltec (smooth rods), Adtech (PTFE Bowden cable) and Active-robots (NEMA 14 stepper motors). If a miracle happens I will have all items within two weeks. In the meantime, as parts are coming in, I will see when I enough parts to finish one sub-assembly at a time. I'll keep you updated with the trouble I run into

This is the table with lists of parts. Interestingly, it seems possible to stay within 350 euro target in terms of expenses, for future Mini-mendel's, that is. I will probably be over this target because I won't get everything right (I already ordered some of the wrong rods, there goes 40 euro's):

The Bill of Materials:

This can also be found on the RepRap wiki.

Some answers to questions I got:
Q: Does it use the same timing belt as the regular Mendel?
A: Yes. Only shorter lengths. Hopefully, my BOM shows the right lenghts that you need to order.

Q: How much time did it take to print it?
A: About 15 hours in total, I estimate. I didn't keep track of it. I just turn on a batch and work on other things. I printed it in about 8 sheets because my build platform is warped. I can only use a 20x10 space of it. So it's still pretty labour intensive to print a batch.

Q: How much material is used to print it?
A: All the parts I printed (everything minus 3 pulleys minus a couple of grams) weigh just under 300 g. I'm using 30% infill.

DIY Minority report style 3D modeling interfaces

nospam@example.com (Erik de Bruijn) — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 16:28:27 +0100

There are so many ways to get to a 3D model. Some are really great if you like programming. It is really powerful to use logic to generate objects, but not for all models. Those who are better with visual modalities will probably not like such a system much, and will like the following. Besides scanning software, modeling software is also rapidly improving in terms of usability.

There are already great pieces of software that can be used for 3D modeling of meshes.

It already shows how you can make 3D modeling accessible and still be very powerful. I would like to think about how we can achieve both with relatively simple means and do it better than in Minority Report.

Blender is another excellent product that's open source. Since version 2.5 the sculpting system has seen a major update. That it's powerful can be understood better by seeing in than by reading about it:

The problem is that the user interface is usually still in 2D and is not intuitive for beginners. A 3D interface would not only drastically reduce the learning curve for working in 3D, it would also be a lot more impressive and work much faster:

It should be possible to implement this with off the shelf parts and open source software (something interactively adjusting blender's perspective).

The wii remotes could provide useful for head and cursor (or finger) tracking. To get a "3D screen" you could use shutterglasses to generate a stereoscopic interface, or you could even more cheaply create a lower fidelity interface by just adjusting the perspective relative to head movements.

Download and print two LED clippy's on your RepRap, or if you don't have a 3D printer at home, make them yourself with some wire and Scotch Tape:

Conrad's LED clippy. Print two of these and put IR led in there and a standard CR2032 battery

Or buy off-the-shelf LED glasses. Here you should probably still replace the LED's with IR LED's if you want proper contrast with the wii-mote setup.
You could create a custom HID device or USB joystick with an Arduino. Or just put an off-the-shelf 5 euro (including shipping) IR emitter around your wii-mote or webcam.

Years ago I blogged about creative wii interfaces. You don't need expensive equipment to make interesting interfaces 3D like Leonar3Do:

These 5 euro components are normally used for security cameras. Make sure you get one that it doesn't block the camera's view.

Now the great thing about what you see is that it's not THAT complicated!.

For those of us who have RepRaps or don't hesitate to tinker with hardware, we can make the system as elaborate as you wish, building data-gloves and such. A quick google gives you things like the ZerkinGlove, built in a day and using mostly parts from Sparkfun:

Many of the parts for such an interface could be 3D printed (to exactly fit your body, you should sculpt the second iteration with the system from the first iteration).

But I like the simplicity of a simple '3D mouse' with buttons that has three markers, since most of the solution would be in software and anyone can easily get it working with standard webcams/wii-motes and software they can download. It's easier to replicate such a setup. Another option would be to use a phone (android based) and connect it to you computer directly via bluetooth, or to your arduino prototype rig (via the amarino toolkit).

Adrian Bowyers talk on RepRap at FOSDEM 2010 in Brussels

nospam@example.com (Erik de Bruijn) — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 11:39:00 +0100

I finally finished splitting and uploading the video's, so here it is in a Youtube playlist as well:

Source: video.fosdem.org

A full page interview on RepRap in the NRC, a dutch quality newspaper!

Some tweets from around the time of the talk:

mvdkleijn At the #reprap .org talk at #fosdem - terrific

ppapadeas Enjoying an excellent so far talk for RepRap at #fosdem

ppapadeas "Make manufacturing more like agriculture!" Start your revolution with RepRap #fosdem

bobylito #reprap : sounds like a wonderful anarchist tool to me

NarcissusBleak I approve of the philosophy involved in the RepRap talk #FOSDEM

BatistLeman Reprap talk at #fosdem! Nice: http://twitgoo.com/db1af

ehn RepRap talk at FOSDEM. Who doesn't want a 3D printer? — at ULB Building H http://gowal.la/s/3D9b

bacharakis http://twitpic.com/11v2xl - At reprap talk! this is a 3d printer!

bartcopp Time for the way too early RepRap talk at #fosdem

Kim_Bruning I'm at the Reprap talk at #fosdem, 1st and 2nd gen machines present in Janson

josephzizys The Reprap is Marxist fantasy made flesh! Talk about controlling the means of production! #Marxism #Maker #Reprap #PhilosophyMadeFlesh

tyll:I like the #reprap talk on !fosdem !fosdem2010 currently running. Nice vision: Use old child shoes to create bigger ones if needed #fosdem from identi.ca.

It was also featured in the Dutch newspapers NRC and NRC.next, Belgian newspapers and blog posts here and there. Also, me and some other Protospace RepRappers were on television last weekend! See it on Youtube here or on the TV station's website here.

From RepRap @ FOSDEM

All-in-all, great publicity for the RepRap project!

RepRap made the Dutch newspapers!

nospam@example.com (Erik de Bruijn) — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 16:18:34 +0100

RepRap got coverage in a well respected Dutch newspaper, NRC.next. They also made a blog post with an interview, the original post is in Dutch, but here's a (poor) google Translation to English.

The interview is in Dutch, sorry. But you can still promote it and give it a good rating since it's about RepRap

Adrian Bowyer, as well as several active Belgian and Dutch RepRappers can be seen in the background. When the FOSDEM talk by Adrian is available, I will post it here!

Smooth I am, yes...

nospam@example.com (Erik de Bruijn) — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 09:56:18 +0100

You think vanity and Yoda do not go together? The force may be strong in this fella, but he used a very powerful scrubbing lotion to make him look much younger.

Stratasys sent me these sample parts to show of the impressive surface finish you get from a process they call ReadyPart^TM. Over the years I'm involved in RepRap I saw a lot of questions and remarks about polishing parts, in some cases by using acetone. I've tried to see if I could make objects more smooth by putting them in a pot of (diluted) acetone for a short while, but I never got a good result. I had this Yoda sample, but didn't blog about it until I got another question about it from someone at Nophead's post (the one where Chris shows off his smooth surface finishes!)

Before

After

For more pictures, view my Picasa RepRap development gallery.

ReadyPart^TM is only available for ABS parts, not PC or their PC/ABS blend. This probably tells us that it's a specific solvent. It's probably not acetone since that's very unsafe and environmentally bad. After digging into it they may be using a vapor degreasing method (since that's listed as a consumable of their commercial finishing stations).

This is a good explanation of the process that I found through the wikipedia entry:

"Vapor degreasing is a relatively simple process. A heat source raises the liquid solvent to its boiling point. When the solvent boils, it produces hot, heavy vapors that rise to an established vapor line. At this point, the vapors are condensed on cold circumferential condenser coils, and the vapors rise no higher. Because the solvent vapors are heavier than air, they push the air above the vapor line. Parts at ambient temperature are then introduced into the solvent vapor, and the solvent vapor condenses on the part’s surface. The liquid solvent produced as a result of this condensation dissolves the greases and oils on the part and flushes them away. As the parts are cleaned, more vapors are produced in the boiling sump to replace those that were condensed."

Source: pfonline.com

Vapour degreasing is patented but the patent expired. There are more techniques for which the patent expired. There are probably other patents to consider, so you can probably use it experimentally (thanks to the research clause in patent law) but not for profit. Another option is to buy a Stratasys smoothing station to smooth your RepRapped parts