User:Timtimred
Contents
My Project
Introduction
I plan to build a Huxley due to its slightly smaller size, sourcing as many parts as possible myself as locally as possible to the United Kingdom. This is because a lot of the kits are available from the USA, however I prefer to avoid expensive shipping charges, import duty and tax which add significant cost to complete kit imports.
I am going to document as much of the purchasing information and build here on my user page in the hope that someone else finds the information useful!
Choosing A Huxley
I had planned to build the original Huxley despite issues that others have pointed out to me, however due to a lack of availability of the plastic parts for it I have started to build the 'techzone' Huxley variant as it is more well documented and the parts seem more readily available for it. When I started this project the eMaker Huxley had no documentation and there were no plastic parts available for it immediately.
Which Electronics?
I decided on Gen 3 electronics based on the Sanguinololu board. I originally wanted to build this at home as I have kit already for producing PCBs - alas I had a go but my process for making PCBs is still not perfect. I decided to cut my losses (time really!) and just grab a PCB for it.
I already have most of the parts handy fortunately other than the PCB with the exception of a couple of bits and bobs. I found a v1.1 Sanguinololu on eBay and ordered it right away!
Purchasing
List Of Suppliers
- 2printbeta - http://www.2printbeta.de/
- eBay UK - http://www.ebay.co.uk/
- eMAKERshop - http://www.emakershop.com/
- Farnell UK - http://uk.farnell.com/
- Radio Spares UK (RS) - http://uk.rs-online.com/web/
- Zapp Automation - http://www.slidesandballscrews.com/
Parts
Parts listed below include P&P and VAT where the price is listed and rough delivery times. Where parts below are listed as from Farnell they probably need to be combined into a single order to meet their £30 minimum per order - Farnell also typically deliver next day via UPS in the UK.
- RP parts (the plastic bits) - I sourced these at 2printbeta in Germany as they were in stock - £109.70, 1 week to deliver
- Studding steel rod BZP M6x1M - Farnell part number 1419417
- Full steel nut BZP M6 - Farnell part number 1419451
- Steel washer BZP M6 - Farnell part number 1623993
- Sanguinololu bare PCB - eBay item number 160600896050 - £12.69 delivered
- A4983 stepper motor driver boards - Sold via jmgiacalone at eMAKERSHOP - £42 for all four delivered, arrived in a couple of days
- 305mm x 305mm x 4mm MDF - eBay item number 310285811189 - £4 delivered (£3 of that postage!), arrived next day
- Lead teflon bushings - eBay item number 150537809759 - £4.15 delivered (leaves 2 spares)
Building Huxley
Thick Sheet Set
To make the thick sheet set I got the MDF from eBay above and printed off the svg file of the thick sheet bits using Inkscape. I used that as a guide and cut the MDF as necessary using an Xacto knife with a thick blade taking measurements from the schematic and marking the appropriate bits on the board using a soft pencil. 4mm MDF is pretty easy to cut with a good sharp knife!
This isn't exactly the most accurate way of doing it but its good enough, and allowed me to cut out all the right bits without attempting to snap bits of MDF out - which ends up messing up the board. Following that I drilled the holes on a drill press - this is the bit that's essential to get right/accurate!
Belts
I made a belt splitter a bit like the one documented here in this wiki, except not having a printer already I used two small bits of MDF spare from the cutting above with an Xacto blade through it. Worked great, and took about 5 mins to make with the knife and a hand drill.
The belts listed on the Huxley BOM are OK for X and Y but the Z axis one was a bit small in my case, so I ordered a 10T5/590mm belt which does fit. This left me with a complete set of spare belts which is always handy.
