A Crash Sensor For Delta 3D Printers

It doesn’t happen that often, but this is the last time that [Lucas] comes back from hours of unattended 3D printing to find a large portion of plastic spaghetti mess and a partly disassembled Kossel. The crash sensor he designed will now safely halt the printer if it detects that something went wrong during the print.

Unattended 3D printing is even more thrilling if your delta printer’s effector platform attaches to the delta arms through magnetic joints. While magnetic joints have their benefits, a small irregularity in the printing process can cause them to detach. The unknowing printer will then …read more

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Open-Source Laser Cutter Software gets Major Update, New Features

The LaserWeb project recently released version 3, with many new features and improvements ready to give your laser cutter or engraver a serious boost in capabilities! On top of that, new 3-axis CNC support means that the door is open to having LaserWeb do for other CNC tools what it has already done for laser cutting and engraving.

LaserWeb3 supports different controllers and the machines they might be connected to – whether they are home-made systems, CNC frames equipped with laser diode emitters (such as retrofitted 3D printers), or one of those affordable blue-box 40W Chinese lasers with the proprietary …read more

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Build A 3D Printer Workhorse, Not an Amazing Disappointment Machine

3D printers have become incredibly cheap, you can get a fully workable unit for $200 – even without throwing your money down a crowdfunded abyss. Looking at the folks who still buy kits or even build their own 3D printer from scratch, investing far more than those $200 and so many hours of work into a machine you can buy for cheap, the question “Why the heck would you do that?” may justifiably arise.

The answer is simple: DIY 3D printers done right are rugged workhorses. They work every single time, they never break, and even if: they are an …read more

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