The instructions are up!

here is the link http://www.instructables.com/id/Add-Fan-Support-To-Gen6-Electronics/

Upgrade #2 done

I've finally got the fan working.
Instructions will follow shortly (still working on them).

Upgrade #2 almost done

Today I figured out the electronics to make the cooling fan work. Still have to make some firmware changes because the fan can only be turned on or off.
When it all works I'll post more info on how it's all put together. 

-upgrade #2

It's bin a while since the last update. Although not much has changed.
I've removed the previous update because it didn't work as planned.
The air outlet was to close to the print surface and destroyed a couple of prints. Another reason why I've removed it is because it's impossible to control the fan with the Gcode (it's always on).
I've been researching a way to make a controllable fan. I'll post an update when I've found a solution.

Follow up on biggest print

I promised to upload more photos of the largest print yet.
So here is the result.
Still had one layer shift on the Y-axis, but I hope that is fixed now. I increased the moter voltage again and decreased the max acceleration in the printers firmware.

Upgrade #2

I told you before I had a problem with the layers not sticking together. I'll try and make the layers stick together more by increasing the print temperature. This will help the layers fuse together (I hope) even if the previous layer has cooled down.
To make sure smaler layers cool down in time I added a fan.
I downloaded the model of thingiverse, for those who want to know.

The biggest print yet!

Today I printed the biggest print yet.
It's a roof for an architectual model. The print took about 3 to 4 hours.
The rest of the model will follow this week.

Temperature problems?

I've been printing a decent amount since my last post and I've got the printer working pretty well.
The only thing I notice is that on larger prints the layers don't always stick to each other very well. It has something to do with the temperature. Either my room temperature is to low or the hotend isn't hot enough.

Oops

Just discovered that the Orca prints fine even though I didn't tighten down the bolts of the x-carriage (oops).
I'll tighten them tomorrow and perhaps the prints will come out even better!

Calibration extrusion

This was the first calibration ran. With a simple guide I managed to set the correct extrusion multiplier in slic3r (see the difference in the picture). Here is the link to the website: http://cisana.net/extruder-calibration/
The first test print had rough corners but after setting the correct extrusion multiplier they improved significantly.

Upgrade #1

Today I printed the first upgrade for my printer. I printed an extended spool holder. The original spool holder was to short for the filament spools I bought.
As you can see I had a minor layer shift during the print. I hope I fixed that by increasing the stepper motor voltage.

First print

This is the very first print to come out of my 3D-printer.
After levelling the print bed and adjusting the endstop I was finally ready for the first print on my Orca v0.43.
Without tweaking any settings the print looks great already.
The only settings I changed were the nozzle diameter and filament diameter.

Day five and done one building!

I now have a printer that moves! After five days i managed to get the Orca v0.43 moving. The only thing left to do is fine tune and print.

Below you'll see some progress pictures I took during the build. 

the y and z axis which is a pain in the but to get straight.

Y motor with rubber O-rings to dampen the vibration (this is not a standard thing I added this myself)

working on the extruder/puzzle (the instructions weren't complete) 

nearly done, here I was working on the cable managment

the printer arrived!

Today my 3D-printer arrived! You can watch the unboxing video right here.
I started to build the printer and I can already say that it is easier to build then the shapercube.
The instructions on mendel-parts.com explain the build verily well, although they could give more information.
For instants they don't always tell you if the bold in the picture is a M4x16 or a M4x20 (I can't tell the difference until I notice it is to short).

First things to arrive

Today the first things arrived.
I received two 1kg rolls of printer filament. One roll of PLA plastic and one roll of ABS plastic (both white).
I'll try both rolls and see which one I like the most.

Expecting 3D-printer

My future hobby wil arrive on the end of this week, I hope (maybe next week).
Then it will be time to assemble it and hopefully print with it.
Can't wait to start printing.

Bought a 3D-printer

Today I bought my first 3D-printer the Orca 0.43. This is a 3D-printer by Dutch design. This will be my second 3D-printer build, my first build was a Shapercube. This is a german 3D-printer. Unfortunatly I this printer for my school so I couldn't use it for myself a lot.

My plan is to post my progress on/with the Orca on this blog, because there isn't a whole lot out there about this 3D-printer.

It will probably take a while till the next post, because I have to wait for 3-4 weeks for the kit to arrive.