ZX Printer Belt

Any discussions related to the creation of new hardware or software for the ZX80 or ZX81
MaFli
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Re: ZX Printer Belt

Post by MaFli »

Hi Mike,

No worries! I do understand your dilemma. And $15,- is absolutely a very reasonable price.
Since I already have my reel of nGen Flex I have drawn my own experimental belt. Not sure how you connect the styli, but I think I have found a rigid way to connect those. I can share my design (offline) with you if you want. I don't intend to sell them anyway.

Cheers, Marcel
McKlaud
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Re: ZX Printer Belt

Post by McKlaud »

$15 for the belt with styli is very good price. I would be interested in 2-3 units.
Claudius
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mhudson52
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Re: ZX Printer Belt

Post by mhudson52 »

That's good to hear, guys. What I have decided to do should make everybody happy. The belt with the styli will be sold on SMR as previously mentioned.

I will repost on this forum the files for the belt with the do-it-yourself mounting posts as well as helpful tips for successful printing. These I hope to have up this afternoon.

Sounds OK to everyone?

Regards,
Mike
TS 1000 bought in 1982 and brought back to life by Sir Ian
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1024MAK
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Re: ZX Printer Belt

Post by 1024MAK »

mhudson52 wrote: Wed Nov 28, 2018 12:48 pm That's good to hear, guys. What I have decided to do should make everybody happy. The belt with the styli will be sold on SMR as previously mentioned.

I will repost on this forum the files for the belt with the do-it-yourself mounting posts as well as helpful tips for successful printing. These I hope to have up this afternoon.

Sounds OK to everyone?

Regards,
Mike
Mike, one other option is to post up an attachment with the files in a password protected zip archive. Then you can send the password to forum members via PM.

Mark
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MaFli
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Re: ZX Printer Belt

Post by MaFli »

mhudson52 wrote: Wed Nov 28, 2018 12:48 pm Sounds OK to everyone?

Regards,
Mike
Sounds good to me! Thanks for sharing. As Mark said, you might want to password protect the ZIP file.
MaFli
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Re: ZX Printer Belt

Post by MaFli »

In the mean time, I'm just playing around with nGen Flex. This is my attempt at the belt. Tough to print with a 0.4mm nozzle. But it is spinning!
ZXbelt.jpg
And instead of using the plastic to hold the styli, I am trying use a thin metal pin (needle... music wire...?) to hold the stylus. With a tiny 3D printed cap op top. Are you doing a similar thing? This is what I am trying to achieve.
ZXprinterbelt.png
Not sure if it is going to work, but hey, you got to do something with your free time. Fortunately my original belt is sort of ok. Hasn't pulverised yet and it looks and feels a lot better after a thorough wipe.<br/>
FrancoisLanciault
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Re: ZX Printer Belt

Post by FrancoisLanciault »

mhudson52 wrote: Wed Nov 28, 2018 12:48 pm That's good to hear, guys. What I have decided to do should make everybody happy. The belt with the styli will be sold on SMR as previously mentioned.

I will repost on this forum the files for the belt with the do-it-yourself mounting posts as well as helpful tips for successful printing. These I hope to have up this afternoon.

Sounds OK to everyone?

Regards,
Mike
Looking forward to buy my first belt from you Mike. Let me know if you want me to test anything. (I have your stylus prototype, but the belt sample you sent me had no post. Waiting for instructions)

François
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mhudson52
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Re: ZX Printer Belt

Post by mhudson52 »

Mark,

That is an excellent suggestion I hadn't considered as a means of controlling access. I want to share among you guys who have been so incredibly helpful while being selective at the same time. This solves that problem nicely.

MaFli,

Apparently great minds must think alike! You are doing something very much like me, but I am working from the top side. Also, I am using a .2mm nozzle running 30mm/s at 235C and 50C on temps. I can send you my gcode file I generated on S3D if you like. PM me for further details on stylus attachment if needed.

François,

Good to see you on here! I sent a belt to Will Woodvine for testing, but he's done flown the coop and is in the Netherlands galavanting around. The belt arrived yesterday, but now I don't know his timeline for testing and reporting. Since I still have your address, I will get one off you to for testing as well if that is OK.

My watering eyes tell me it's time to close for now. I'll get the passworded .STL Zip file up tomorrow.

Later, my good friends,

Mike
TS 1000 bought in 1982 and brought back to life by Sir Ian
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mhudson52
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Re: ZX Printer Belt

Post by mhudson52 »

Finally re-posting the .STL file in ZIP form for the ZX printer belt with the stylus mounting posts. It is passworded, so those wanting to use will need to PM me for the password. I am doing this to restrict access to those who have been of such great help in the development of this project, so please don't get your feelings hurt if access is not granted.

The belt with the attached stylus will, as mentioned before, be available on the SMR site very soon at a modest cost of $15.

For those of you wishing to download the file and print your own, I will be more than happy to assist as it can be a little tricky to get it "just right". I designed the post dimensions as small as I could, but feel free to modify the file if you can improve on that detail.

Regards,

Mike
Printer belt posts.zip
(22.75 KiB) Downloaded 424 times
TS 1000 bought in 1982 and brought back to life by Sir Ian
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mhudson52
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Re: ZX Printer Belt

Post by mhudson52 »

For the truly adventurous, here are the .STL and .gcode files for the belt with no posts. It is up to the user to implement a method to attach the styli. I will be happy to assist in any way.

Like the previously posted file for the belt with the integrated stylus mounting posts, these files are also passworded to control access.

Regards,
Mike
Printer belt no posts gcode.zip
(107.39 KiB) Downloaded 355 times
Printer belt no posts STL.zip
(25.86 KiB) Downloaded 378 times
TS 1000 bought in 1982 and brought back to life by Sir Ian
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