Broken Z Axis

My Z axis coupler has broken. :(
Luckily a little super-glue solved the problem in minutes. Maybe it took a bit longer as I had to re-calibrate the printer..... ;)

Some printed replacement parts

I've printed some replacement parts for my 3D printer. I do this for avoid future emergencies. :)
Most of the small parts are done. So I'm moving to printing the larger ones.

RepRap Printing it's own Parts!

RepRap prining four PLA brushes. My new skeinforge settings start to get me better quality prints. :)

First Printed object!

Here is my first printed object, what actually looks approximately how it should. It has many issues the quality is terrible, but it is the very first!
 So I can start to fine tune the printer, now. ;)

Calibration.... calibration... calibration...

I'm trying to calibrate my Mendel for three days now. I got some great help on Prusa's calculator page. But I still had a problem, Z-axis worked fine when I tested, but when I printed it didn't move (only made some short loud noise). After two days I had the feeling in my guts it is something to do about speed. I upgraded to skeinforge 40 because I found a setting in it to limit the Z-axis speed. It worked like a charm. ;)

Some of the settings still off, I had to set my flow rate on skeinforge to 1700 to get plastic extruded. (I think official setting should be tenth of that). But it may related to the firmware, what I'm using. I may try a different one.

Here are some of the failed calibration prints.

Pololu A4983 Stepper Motor Driver with Voltage Regulator and RAMPS electronics

There is a shortage of Pololu A4983 and I got some Pololu A4983 with voltage Reg.
So I figured out how to mount them onto RAMPS electronic.
I installed two of these motor drivers, for Z axis and extruder.  And they are perform great!
If you want to use all 4 of them with voltage reg, than you need to use more stackable pins on two of them to able to fit them in. (you can get creative ;) )
Differences:

1. It has extra two gnd, 5v, vdd, 3v3 and ref connection points
2. It is longer
3. It is wider

 So what we need to do in order to use it with RAMPS is add ground from the two extra GND.

Solder across the 5v bridge.

I used 3 stackable sockets to lift it up high enough to fit it.
Because this breakout board is wider then the one without the regulators. Please notice I installed the legs in an angel to fit.

Please don't forget to use heatsink! Without heatsink it could burn out as easy as the non voltage regulated one. See my earlier post!

X and Y Axis Only Printing Test

This is a test for X, Y axis. For the test Z axis and Extruder were disabled.  It is "printing" of this own parts for this test.