Another 3d Printer build... Prusa Air and Huxley

[ChrisC]

Hi I've been lurking on the site for quite a while but have been stirred into action by the excellent introduction to 3D printing by ParCan and  craynerd's build log for his Prusa Mendel.  I have had a Prusa Mendel running for about a year and have recently started building two new Repraps.  The first is the Prusa Air, which is similar to the Prusa Mendel but uses laser cut 6mm acrylic for the main structure.  The second is the Huxley, which is a smaller version of the Prusa Mendel using 6mm rod instead of 8mm.  I've attached a few photos to show where I've got to.

The first attachment shows the smaller Huxley, the second a general view of the Prusa Air.  The final attachment shows the Z axis nut on the Prusa Air.  I used steel hex drilled out to take a bronze rod, held with loctite which was then tapped M8.  There are a pair of such nuts held in the black printed housing held apart by a spring to give an anti-backlash Z nut.  The combination of Stainless steel screwed rod and the Bronze of the nut should run better than simply using a stainless steel nut.

Chris

[shipto]

That middle pic with the laser cut frame looks very interesting. while i dont have access to a laser cutter we do have a cnc router at work would you have a copy of the drawing for that by any chance?

[ChrisC]

The middle picture is a Prusa Air 2.  The design is published on http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:14204  I have a laser cutting machine, so I cut the acrylic myself.  Routing would probably work ok, but laser cutting does leave a better semi polished edge.  I have seen them advertised on ebay, but I think the supplier was from the USA. The original was cut from clear acrylic, but having made one in clear and one in black I think the polished black acrylic looks much better.  If you want further details let me know.

Chris

[raynerd]

Hi Chris
I`m looking forward to watching this build come together!

Chris

[ChrisC]

I've started wiring up the Prusa Air.  One of the most difficult aspects of assembling RepRaps is trying to keep the wiring reasonably neat.  I've mounted a 6mm acrylic plate on the side of the machine to which I've attached the electronics (a Sanguinololu board with Pololu stepper drives). I intend to make a black acrylic box cover to fit over the electronics when completed.  As you can see I've run out of black tie wraps... I'll replace the white ones with black when I get some more!

I test assembled the Extruder body and the hot end assembly on the X carriage.  I've attached a few photos to show progress.

Chris