Number
(Forty) Five is Alive!
Trinity
Labs Aluminatus One
I
purchased my
Aluminatus One (A1) as part of the discounted "first fifty" offered in
December of 2012. As a result of design changes, delays in parts
delivery, and all of the difficulties in bringing the first (beta)
version of a product to market Trinity Labs (TL) missed their target
delivery date of 1/20/2013. While they were ready to deliver what they
were calling the 1.0.1 version (the
1.0.0
version was the alpha) toward the end of February because of
trips that I was committed to taking I asked that the shipping of my
unit
be delayed until the beginning of April. As a result, I got a unit that
was closer to the 1.0.2 version that they were planning on delivering
as the "second fifty". They did a lot of the assembly steps that I was
not looking forward to. A big thank yo for that!
The
comments on the pages that are linked here are a record of my
experiences putting together #45. With apologies to "Short Circuit" I
was making it "Alive"!
I'm a 3D printing virgin. While I'm familiar
with assembling mechanical and electrical equipment, I'll be the first
to admit that some of what I'm getting into will be brand new
territory. The record will show my mistakes as well as where I think TL
could have done a better job. Don't take my comments the wrong way. I
got a great deal on my printer and most of the problems I've had are a
result of my own ignorance. That said, I've been told many times that
there's always room for improvement. Maybe some of what I write here
will help others.
Initial
Mechanical Assembly - Un-boxing, Setting up, Finding
directions, Making mistakes.
First
Turn On - Electronics Assembly, Getting it connected, First
Power On, Fixing Problems, Making Changes to the End Stop Wiring
Alignment
- Squaring up the X-Axis, fixing z-axis feed screw wobble
Software & Calibration - Work flow, Installing
Software on your PC, Printer Calibration, setting firmware options -
coming soon!
Miscellaneous
- Work Table, Filament Storage, Printable Accessories for your A1, Filament Spool and Spool Holder
Printer ReBuild
I'm planning on re-building my printer.There are 3 objectives of the re-construction.
1. Reduce the noise level
2. Replace all of the PLA parts with ABS parts. I'm
going to eventually enclose the A1 to heat the build envelope. I'm
planning on printing some tall, thin, ABS parts and want to avoid
problems.
3. Move the electronics out of the base & replace the wiring to the
400w heater. The ability to access the electronics is important for the
first objective. I've also got to re-program my Ardunio to eliminate
the USB bus hangup problems and that will be easier once the
electronics are re-located. I've also noticed that the wiring to the
400W Kapton bed heater gets very hot when the bed ramps up to temp, so
I'll replace the wire with some heavier gauge wire.
Phase 1 Rebuild - Although listed last, it turns out that moving the electronics is necessary to access the components under the deck so we're doing that first.
Phase 2 Rebuild - Noise Reduction
Contact
Information
Contact me using: fpirz (at) media (dash) conversions (dot)
net