dpmacri's Rostock Build

[dpmacri]

The pulley will eventually come loose and you will spend hours trying to find out what's causing your printer to suddenly not print right.
I am the type that when something is built that is designed for two screws, that is how many it should have. Do it right the first time
will save hours later. Would you drive your car with one of its lug nuts missing? One is a safety factor, one is not - point being the parts are
designed by engineers who do not waste time drilling and tapping holes that are not necessary. While we are on the subject, your motors should
have flats on the shafts doubly ensuring that the screws will hold the pulley tightly. You can find dozens of threads on this Forum where users talk
about the importance of flats on the shafts. There are also dozens of threads on how to put a flat on a shaft if it doesn't have one. The easiest way is
to use a gentle touch with an angle grinder. I know I talk to much but the subject of the pulleys is important and you should not half ass this area of assembly.

I totally appreciate the feedback! I'm new to 3D printing and have lots to learn

Regarding the flat on the shaft, my motors have ONE flat spot. Should I have a flat spot under *both* set screws? The screw holes are 90 degrees apart.

[Eaglezsoar]

You need only one flat per shaft, not two. You should be fine the way you are if as you say, you have the flat.

[dpmacri]

Today I experienced the awesomeness that is the guys at SeeMeCNC! I had e-mail John to ask about ordering a replacement pulley like the one I damaged and he said they were just sending me one, Free of Charge! I'm sure the damage is my fault, but they weren't willing to accept any payment. Just asked that I help someone else in the future, perhaps here on the forums. I'm not sure I have much to offer yet, but when I do, I'll be glad to help!

Regarding my build, I won't get a chance to work on it again until Friday But I'll post more pictures after more progress is made.

[Eaglezsoar]

Today I experienced the awesomeness that is the guys at SeeMeCNC! I had e-mail John to ask about ordering a replacement pulley like the one I damaged and he said they were just sending me one, Free of Charge! I'm sure the damage is my fault, but they weren't willing to accept any payment. Just asked that I help someone else in the future, perhaps here on the forums. I'm not sure I have much to offer yet, but when I do, I'll be glad to help!

Regarding my build, I won't get a chance to work on it again until Friday But I'll post more pictures after more progress is made.

Awesome is a good word. Those guys are great!
We'll be looking forward to your new pictures. I have probably seen dozens of new builds posted on this forum but each new one is still exciting
to see. I also seem to learn something from each one. Thanks for posting the build.

[dpmacri]

Finally got a chance to do some more building today! My son and I got the cheapskates installed. Fortunately for me, as I was scratching my head trying to figure out why we only had one 1.75" #6 screw left for the axel supports, he put it through one of the supports and realized that 1.75" was too short. So typo in the instruction manual (Gene B, if you're reading this, it's on page 66 -- the screw for the axels should be 2").

Cheapskates installed

Once we got those on and were pretty comfortable that they were moving smoothly, my son had to go to bed

So I installed the belts:

Belt's installed

And then I installed the arms and the effector platform. Yes, I cheated from having to do all that sanding by using the Trick Laser arms I ordered I was actually planning on using the SeeMeCNC arms initially and then upgrading at a later date. I had even sanded the U-joints on the Cheapskates to have the universal joints spin freely. But when it was time to do the effector platform and I realized how much sanding I'd have to do (plus it was already late ), I just decided to go straight to the Trick Laser arms. Man, they're nice! Installation was a breeze (I had bought the pre-assembled arms).

Here's where I'm at today:

Arms and effector platform installed

One more note on the assembly manual (I'll write these up for Gene separately when I'm finished in case he's not reading here): the manual on pages 79 and 80 refer to the sheet metal screws for assembling the platform as being 1/2". I'm 99% certain they're 1/4" -- at least that's what came in my kit and what I used

Hopefully we'll get the extruder (and more!) assembled tomorrow!

[dpmacri]

Well, after some on-and-off building over the long weekend, I got everything put together and wired up. Here's a picture of the finished product:

Dean' Rostock MAX - Finished!

I'm using a Mac for the host side, so I had to veer a little from the documentation on setup (some things aren't labeled the same as the Windows version in the Repetier Host SW). I spent almost an hour trying to get the latest firmware to upload -- although it was entirely my fault. It WAS uploading, except in the Repetier HOST software, when I "connected" to the printer, I had somehow chosen the "Virtual Printer" -- so I wasn't actually talking to my printer

Once I figured that out, I issued a G28 and the print head drove all the way to the bottom -- I panic'd! Wasn't sure what to do! So I manually hit each of the limit switches by hand as the thing was jittering in one of the corners. Of course, you have to hit each of them "twice" because of the bounce mechanism. In hindsight, I should have thrown the power switch

Anyway, after that, I inverted all of the axis in the firmware and re-uploaded. Then I was able to get G28 to work and move the carriage around -- fun! I turn on the heat for the print head and the heated bed and they both appeared to be responding. So I shut them down. Interesting how much the heat continues to rise on the print head after the power to it was turned off!

Finally, I checked the PEEK fan -- but it doesn't work I know the connection down to the RAMBO is fully connected, and a red LED turns on on the RAMBO when I turn the fan on. But it's not spinning I'll do some more debugging later today. I can surely proceed without it, but I'd really like to know why it's not working

I can't wait to calibrate and start printing...something

[lordbinky]

It doesn't take much to stall those little DC fan motors so make sure you don't have it screwed in/attached too firmly, it can slightly bend the shell of the fan prevent movement, and you need to double check your polarity on their connection.

[Eaglezsoar]

Finally, I checked the PEEK fan -- but it doesn't work I know the connection down to the RAMBO is fully connected, and a red LED turns on on the RAMBO when I turn the fan on. But it's not spinning I'll do some more debugging later today. I can surely proceed without it, but I'd really like to know why it's not working

NO, you cannot proceed without the PEEK fan. It is one of the most important fans on the machine. It keeps the PEEK from melting, the filament from jamming, etc.
DO NOT PROCEED without that fan operational.

[dpmacri]

Thanks, LordBinky. I actually verified that the fan works as installed by hooking up a 12V DC adapter to it (and seeing it spin). So I looked at the RAMBO schematic and realized that the LED that illuminates when I click the "Fan On" button in Repetier HOST (again, this is the Mac version) is actually LED3. Which is for Fan 0.

So my question is this: should I be moving the Fan wires to Fan 0 on the RAMBO? The diagram from the manual shows to have it on FAN1.

[dpmacri]

Thanks, Eaglezsoar. I'm thinking that perhaps the problem is with the Repetier HOST SW. Or at least when using the Manual stuff to send g-code. The Mac UI has a button to turn on the fan and that appears to be powering the wrong pins for the way things are wired.

Any Mac users out there that know if what I'm seeing is a Mac specific issue?

[Eaglezsoar]

Thanks, LordBinky. I actually verified that the fan works as installed by hooking up a 12V DC adapter to it (and seeing it spin). So I looked at the RAMBO schematic and realized that the LED that illuminates when I click the "Fan On" button in Repetier HOST (again, this is the Mac version) is actually LED3. Which is for Fan 0.

So my question is this: should I be moving the Fan wires to Fan 0 on the RAMBO? The diagram from the manual shows to have it on FAN1.

I don't know much about the Mac version of Host but if Fan 0 becomes active when you push the Fan On button, then I would change the fan to fan 0.
The only complication would be if you do dual extruders in the future. Then you may have to do some remapping of the Pins in the Firmware but at this
point connect to Fan 0 and make darn sure it works before trying to print. That fan should always be on when the Hot End is on.

[dpmacri]

Thanks, Eaglezsoar. I'm going to make sure I get the fan working before I try to print anything (or even attempt bring the hot-end up to temperature ).

I'll move the wires to Fan 0 and see if that works. I do want to have dual extruders at some point, but will obviously need to the basics working first. I'm curious if you (or anyone else reading knows) why the manual has the fan hooked up to Fan 1 anyway. Seems logical to have the Heat & Fan for a given extruder paired in the first place

[dpmacri]

I moved the fan connection to Fan 0 and I can now control it from Repetier Host -- Yay

Now I can move on to calibrating this thing...if I didn't actually have to do work

[dpmacri]

Boy, I feel like an idiot for having rammed by print-head into the bed when I first issued the G28. It was late and I was pretty tired, but really wanted to get things going. I just went back to the manual now to see what to do next and realized that Gene had an explicit warning about having one hand on the power switch before issuing the G28 command!

Anyway, lesson learned. I don't think anything is really damaged (I looked over the belts and didn't see anything obviously wrong), but am still frustrated that I didn't pay attention to the manual. Anyway, just venting my own frustration at myself. Thanks for listening

[Eaglezsoar]

I don't know about the manual and the fan, but it is more logical to have them both on the same number. If it works go with it.
You are experiencing the growing pains that we all go through, it's called learning through making mistakes. I'm glad that your
head crash didn't damage anything. Probably 90% of us have crashed in the same way.

[lordbinky]

The only other problem with you print head hitting the bed is that it might make the nozzle's tip less than perfectly flat. Because of that you might see little variations in the plastic that change dependent on the direction for the first layer and small layer heights. Luckily it is fixable, and besides that it is one of the cheaper and easier parts to swap out. I have something like 4 nozzles for my hotend and none of them have gotten away with out battle damage (glass bed has won all but once so far). I agree though it is frustrating and a little sad to watch something go from like-new to very used condition in a split second.

[dpmacri]

Thanks for that info, LordBinky. I wish there was a way to mark each *tip* that I've encountered while reading through these forums as I'm sure I'll forget things as I get further along in the process

I took a look at the nozzle under a magnifying glass and didn't notice anything particularly bad, but I'm not 100% certain what to look for anyway. I'll order a spare nozzle or two once I get things working.

[Eaglezsoar]

Thanks for that info, LordBinky. I wish there was a way to mark each *tip* that I've encountered while reading through these forums as I'm sure I'll forget things as I get further along in the process

I took a look at the nozzle under a magnifying glass and didn't notice anything particularly bad, but I'm not 100% certain what to look for anyway. I'll order a spare nozzle or two once I get things working.

You can create bookmarks by going to the bottom of the page and select to bookmark topic. I use Firefox as my browser and use a bookmark toolbar to keep track of what I
feel are important topics. The advantage of the bookmark toolbar is you can create folders and sub-folders and organize things much easier. I have more than a hundred of
bookmarks to this forum on my Firefox bookmark toolbar.

[geneb]

The fan control in RH is NOT the control that handles the PEEK fan. The fan control in RH is for the _layer_ fan. The M command listed in the manual should start and stop the PEEK fan.

g.

[dpmacri]

The fan control in RH is NOT the control that handles the PEEK fan. The fan control in RH is for the _layer_ fan. The M command listed in the manual should start and stop the PEEK fan.

g.

Ahh, thanks, GeneB! I obviously haven't read far enough ahead in the manual to see that or I skipped over it like the emergency abort instructions . And here I keep telling my son, "You have to read the instructions, not just look at the pictures like Legos"

I'll move the wires back for the peek fan, then. Thanks for pointing out my mistake!

[dpmacri]

The fan control in RH is NOT the control that handles the PEEK fan. The fan control in RH is for the _layer_ fan. The M command listed in the manual should start and stop the PEEK fan.

g.

Ahh, thanks, GeneB! I obviously haven't read far enough ahead in the manual to see that or I skipped over it like the emergency abort instructions . And here I keep telling my son, "You have to read the instructions, not just look at the pictures like Legos"

I'll move the wires back for the peek fan, then. Thanks for pointing out my mistake!

Well, RTFM is certainly good advice here! I moved the wires back to the Fan 1 location and searched the manual to find the "M42 P6 S255" command and lo and behold it works

[dpmacri]

Now that the fan thing is sorted out (which, FYI, when I started looking at it I realized that I had the fan in backwards -- it was blowing out instead of in ), I moved on to calibration.

Calibration of the hot-end and Heated bed seemed to go smoothly. I'm still not 100% certain how to use a Digital meter with a thermocouple (i.e. should the temperature I read from the thermocouple match what the LCD/RH reports that the hot-end temperature really is? Right now the meter is 10 C or more lower depending on where I end up getting the thermocouple probe to sit. Using an infrared thermometer on the heated bed reports pretty much the same temperature as the LCD/RH, give or take 1C.

So, per the manual, I heated the hot-end and bed up to temp (190C and 55C, respectively) and began the Z calibration. Once I got a number (360.1mm), I did G28 and then G0 Z5 F3500, and then G0 Z0 F3500. And the end hit the bed hard! So I did the calibration again and ended up taking another 0.4mm off the height (final height of 359.7mm).

For anyone reading, here's my question: Do I have some slop somewhere that would cause this variation (e.g. are my belts not tight enough)?

[lordbinky]

If you made no other changes, then depending where your endstop screw makes contact with your microswitch at the top, you can get inconsistant zero positioning.

[dpmacri]

If you made no other changes, then depending where your endstop screw makes contact with your microswitch at the top, you can get inconsistant zero positioning.

What should they look like? Here are pictures (sorry the Z is blurry -- hard to take these closeups ).

X-axis end stop

X-axis end stop, side view

Y-axis end stop

Y-axis end stop, side view

Z-axis end stop

Z-axis end stop, side view

[dpmacri]

I went ahead and moved my end stop switches to the middle 2 screws where they mount. Now the end stop screws hit the switches right where the actual button is rather than out on the end of the lever. Now my height calibration seems to have stayed correct even after a cooling/reheating cycle.

I think I may have also made a mistake the first time around. Last time, I had issued G28 *before* I changed the EEPROM/Printer Settings values. I think that may have caused the printer to think it was at a different height.

Anyway, I'll report back if I still have height problems, but thanks for the help!