So it's been quite a while since the last update, I figured I should at least put down in writing what's been accomplished.
Physically with the printer, the axes have just been completed. The gears and belts arrived recently and have been installed, so all that's left for machining would be the mounts for the electronics and the hot end of the extruder. Now that the co-op term has ended and we're heading back to Waterloo in the new year, machining time should be less of an annoyance.
The electronics though are another matter. Being a complete novice to electrical design (aside from the introductory circuits course I took last term) means everything is going slowly. So far it's been me reviewing the pololu electronics page and getting acquainted with stuff like stepper motor drivers, bypass capacitors, PC power supplies and their voltage rails, etc.
Specifically, I've been slowly re-routing the stripboard layout Adrian made of the pololu electronics on stripboard. Our lofty aim is to reorient it such that all the stepper motor drivers (with heatsinks on the IC's of course) are on one stripboard, and the heater components (extruder, heated bed) are located on the opposite stripboard. A fan would blow through the gap to cool down the heat-generating mosfets and driver IC's.
Hopefully next time I'll be able to put up a rough layout of where items are being placed and how they're going to be hooked up.
Oh and Happy new Year to you all!
-Eric
No comments:
Post a Comment