3d printed Peristaltic Pump

[rylangrayston]

So we have been using a peristaltic pumps on one of our printers for quite some time now.
Its controlled via serial connection to an arduino.

here is what iv learned

- altho the pump pulses are abrupt they are also so very small that it doesn't affect the printing in a peachy printer with a large print tank ( over 20 cm x 20 cm aria ), as long as preconditions are taken to make sure that vibrations from the hose don't physically shake the printer head.

- using pwm we can get variable pump speeds

- putting a magnet in the pump and using a haul effect sensor could create a moving magnetic field, that could in turn cause the mirrors to move with the pump ( something to watch for)

- We use an optical encoder directly attached to the motor shaft, and doing this allows us 5-30 times more resolution( depending on the gear ratio to the pump)

-its tough to find inexpensive, peristaltic pumps that work reliably at lower than max rpm, they stall really easily.

- if the pump lifts water more than a 2 feet then the suction required to lift the water seems to be enough to cause oxygen dissolved in the water to bubble out. This could be a big problem because there we don't know much of the volume were pumping is oxygen and how much is water.
Placing the pump at the lowest point posible and pumping between tanks sitting at the same level are two things that help.

As for 3d printing one with the peachy printer, Well I love the idea peachy printers printing upgrades for them selves!
Ill definitely join the effort the get a 3d printed one working, but I may work untill we have more calibration maths implemented.

Laser cutting one is also very likely, James Townley was white boarding all the layers for one just 2 days ago
He seemed pretty pumped about it.

[Yarharhar]

He seemed pretty pumped about it.

Oh, you