Re: 3D printer progress

Graham,

Thank you for the details. 1M is a bit more than I'd be willing to
give up!<G>

Seems there's got to be a way to shift from dance and pre-print to
carriage travel... Cuz that's the only way we're gonna seamlessly
use existing printer routines...

I useta work on copiers and we had a number of spring clutches that
were solenoid operated. Seems one of these might be just the ticket?
Still have to determine how/when to engage the clutch to go from
dance to move...

Bt at least this way you could absorb all(or part) of the pre-print
movement, and easily engage for the print page cycle with only the
actuation of a solenoid... FWIW, These spring clutches are really
common in copiers, so parts and replacements should be easy to get.

Trying to cover your back<G>,appreciate your efforts,

Ballendo

P.S. Doesn't the propeller seem custom made for multi-axis motion
control!? Parallax headquarters is only a few miles from me. And a
friend has promised an introduction to Chip and his brother (owner
and mgr of Parallax; designer of basic stamp and propellor chip.) I
need to make that happen... I can see an NCpod or Grex in the
propellor...

--- In CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@yahoogroups.com, "Graham Stabler"
<grezmos@...> wrote:

>
> --- In CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@yahoogroups.com, "ballendo" <ballendo@>

wrote:

> >
> > Graham,
> >
> > Would it work as-is if you had more gantry travel?
>
> Possibly but I already have far more travel than the length of a

piece

> of paper, you would probably need twice that, it would end up

being a

> super long machine.
>
> > How much travel do you suppose is necessary to accomodate ALL

the

> > pre-print dancing?
>
> I'll video it and then count the rotations of the paper feed motor,
> well over 1m I'd say.
>
> > And how much is required of the start-up routine?
>
> nearly all of my travel, I forget what that is, probably 450mm
>
> > Do these both use the same "space" in the travel?
>
> nope.
>
> > What is the paper sensor in the print head looking for? Is it
> > a "safety" switch? Or used in overall registration?
>
> That's only on the Epson (and possibly better HP's), it is just a
> proximity sensor looking for light reflected back from the paper.

It

> looks for the edge and then end of the paper I think. So you could
> have a black bed and paint a white box to look like the end of a

piece

> of paper I'm guessing.
>
> > Thank you in advance, Don't give up!
>
> I won't. I have the paper feed encoder connected to my propeller

now,

> reading an encoder is just a matter of downloading an encoder

object

> (though I have my own) so that's easy, I can look at the counts per
> second or something to work out when the paper feed happens and

then

> output a stepper pulse every x encoder steps, easy! ;)
>
> Graham
>