Tantillus instructions

I have done my best to get the instructions for Tantillus up to a point where most of you will be able to complete your builds. If you find anything that does not make sense or you feel there should be a specific picture please let me know. Knowing the machine as well as I do I have a hard time knowing which parts need better explaining. I will be adding more videos and tutorials in the coming weeks. Tantillus.org Build Guide

A few notes to supporters of the Indiegogo campaign.

1) All the hardware and complete kits include two Bowden tubes. One is 1/4" x 1/8" which has an inside diameter of 3.06mm. The other is 1/4" x 3/16" which has an inside diameter of 4.7mm. Although the 3.06mm i.d. tubing is the proper tubing for the machine it can be too small for Chinese made filament which is 3mm +/- 0.1mm. If you plan on using high end filament that measures 2.8 or 2.9 +/- 0.1mm you should use the 3.06mm i.d. tubing as it allows you to change filament on the fly by inserting one piece after another. If you are using cheaper filament that has the possibility to go over 3mm use the 4.7mm i.d. tubing and be aware that you can not change filament on the fly because they try and pass each other in the tube and cause a jam.

2) I've included extra of the smaller size nuts as I know how easy it is to lose them.

3) I some how forgot to include two size Allen keys required to assemble the deluxe complete kits, 7/64" and 3/32" . I am more than willing to send these to everyone that ordered but I am not sure any of you will want to wait. Please let me know what you would like me to do. The 7/64" is for the carriage assembly which can be tightened via the nuts and the extruder idler which can also be tightened via the nuts and only needs to be hand tight. The 3/32" is for the LCD, Arduino and Z-coupler and is requied to tighten the Z-coupler.

4) If you have not been contacted about shipping or pick up or you are waiting for a response that just never seems to come please contact me. There are a couple of you that I have tried contacting on multiple occasions and have not gotten a response. This is most likely due to a spam filter. For guaranteed contact you can use the RepRap forums mail system as it is does not filter the content.

5) If you ordered a Hardware kit for the fully printed case you will find that it is missing the bolts that hold the corners together. They are also missing the washers used to adjust the force of the upper stiffeners. It is 8 nuts and bolts and 16 washers that are missing. If you are willing to wait I am more than willing to send them to you. If you are in a hurry to assemble your machine it will most likely be easier to get them locally. Please let me know what you would like me to do.

I would like to thank everyone that contributed to the Indiegogo campaign for their patience and understanding. This has been a real learning experience and far more work than I could have ever anticipated. After filling almost 2000 bags and 150 boxes with parts and soldering almost 700 connections I have finally reached the end and all of you get to enjoy your new printer. I will be away from the 16th until the 22nd and will have limited internet access to give support. Please bare with me during this time and I will do my best to help everyone as quickly as possible.

Tantillus parts are starting to arrive

Parts have been arriving all week to fill the Indiegogo Tantillus campaign(s).

All the RAMPS boards have arrived.

 

Some of the stepsticks have been backordered but that should not effect the orders going out on schedule.

Most of the Motors have arrived and the rest should be here at the beginning of next week.

All of the SDramps boards have arrived.

All of the 4gb micro SDcards have arrived.

All of the Arduino mega 2560's have arrived.

All of the fans have arrived.

All of the white on blue 1602 LCD screens have arrived.

The professionally made cables arrived and I will be soldering them to their respective components for easy plug and play assembly.

All of the bearings have arrived (not all shown).

The professionally cut glass build plates arrived with all the edges ground so there is nothing sharp to cut yourself on.

Most of the nuts and bolts have arrived and the rest should be in on Monday so I can finish sorting out the kits.

There have been a few delays getting some of the components due to back orders of supposedly in-stock items like the powers supplies. I have been assured that they are being shipped priority express at the beginning of next week. The few metric parts in the kit (M3 x 10 and 8mm drill rods) have also proven hard to get here in Canada in the quantities required and are the last of the hardware components to arrive. We should still be on schedule to have all of the orders from the first Indiegogo campaign shipped by the end of the month. The ones from the Maker Faire extension should only be a short time later.

I will be contacting everyone in the next week to arrange shipping now that I can properly weigh and measure the kits. If you have purchased a hardware only kit and not informed me of which kit you would like (laser cut or printed case) please contact me as soon as possible so we can be sure to get you the correct length smooth rods and the bolts for the printed case.

I will be trying to give you more updates over the next two weeks now that things are here and we are in the final stages of production.

Thanks again to everyone that contributed.

Tantillus quality

I have been working hard to create profiles for slic3r that allow you to print almost any object at high resolution with ease. This means setting up reasonable speeds to allow almost any geometry to print successfully without the intervention of the user to tweak settings based on the model. This includes sane retract lengths and speeds to allow small parts to print without lumps or ooze which was not always easy with a bowden cable type machine. This issue is far less of an issue today as it was 1 year ago due to the developments in hotend design and software (firmware and slicing). The J-head hotend used on Tantillus requires a lot of pressure to extrude which allows us to use retract to simply lower the pressure enough that it is below the pressure required to print but still high enough that we do not have lag when we begin to print again after retraction. The first few profiles are almost complete and will be posted soon but I thought I would share with you some of the results.

All of the following were printed at 100 micron layers (default 150) and have had no post processing.