Software:
Alibre (Design)
VisualMill (CAM)

Equipment:
Haas VF-2SS (Machining)

Clean dry air, the supposed cure for all mechanical ailment. Sticking Tools? Try clean dry air. Rusting solenoid valves? Try clean dry air. Not having enough time to do what needs to be done? . . . . probably have to look else where, but at least there's clean dry air.

Another old friend comes to life with a newly added air dryer.

Not prettiest copper soldering, but it will do the job of distributing clean dry compressed air to all the cnc machines

Haas HFO van showed up. . .

After a few hours, SR-100 powers up. . .

A few hours more and TL-2 powers up. . .

Another small step toward manufacturing. It took almost a year or delays and detours but nevertheless, the machines are finally up and running.

Documentation on the Reprap firmware is a bit confusing with multiple unreferenced version. Following the installation instruction, the Sanguino Master Firmware was uploaded into Reprap Motherboard V1.2 via a Atmel STK500v2 through serial port. ReplicatorG was then installed and interfaces with the RepRap Motherboard through a Sparkfun USB-TTL board via a usb port.

It should be a fairly simple process, but there are a few versions of the firmware upload instruction each using a different version of the firmware. Before compiling and uploading each firmware, the bootloader must be burned through the Arduino IDE. . . . so it took a couple hours of trial and error to figure it out. I think the file reprap-mendel-20100702.zip contains the latest motherboard firmware and also the latest reprap interface, ie ReplicatorG. . . I think.

The X, Y and Z axis stepper motor tests okay with the Reprap interface.

At long last the reprap electronics components are completed. The last stepper motor driver 2.3 has been reflow soldered along with the assembly of the 4 remaining OptoEndstops.

Using the stepper motor test program it seems that all the servo motors and optoendstops are running.

The cost of the mechanical parts are as follows. The actual cost is probably a little less. The parts where ordered from McMaster back in January so I don't remember how many "extra" parts I ordered that may have inflated the overall order. Anyway, the pulleys and the rods are a bit pricy.

I got a bit rusty after 6 month of inactivity. I started with the stepper motor driver. Sorting out the .22uf and the 1nf capacity took a while and I had forgotten to place the red and green led until the hotplate was already at ~202C and I saw the missing leds. . . Hastily, I turn the hotplace back on, placed the leds and added a dab of soldering paste onto each pad. Hopefully, I didn't overcook the whole assembly by tripling the soldering time. . . .

I was able to complete one motor driver board assembly plus two Optoendstops.

Wow!!! Yippee!!!

Using a temporary reciprocating air composers and hooked up to subpanel D, Haas VF-2SS awokes from its long hibernation. It was last powered up at its old location 9 month ago. I thought, surely by the end of 09' it will be up and running again. . or definitely by early this year. . . .well, at least it's finally up and running. I went through the electrical setup and next step is to level of the machine, then wiping it down, set up the coolant tank, putting on the accessory shelves. . . . Wow, good to see an old friend back to its former healthy state again.

One up and two more to go. . .

bypassing the indefinite postponement. . . .

Given the slow pace of building up the physical space, Tux-Lab as a "traditional" hackerspace will most likely not materialize in the near future. However, it is possible to have a "project based" hackerspace where we meet to build a specific project. The current project is to finish building the RepRap/RepStrap.

Finally, after 6 month of frequent stops and periodic works, the supposedly weekend project has been completed. We now have power to the machines and we are starting on the next weekend project, setting up the air compressor. Let's see, we will need to pour the concrete pad, pull a water tight electrical conduit and then bring the compress air ~65' back to the machining area. Using the progress on Subpanel D as a guide. . . let's see. . . yup. . .got it. Check back with us in a year and we will be ready to test run the cnc machine. . . .