Kraken thread

[mhackney]

Yup, I do take the printed reels to these events. The X3 Pro was delivered today. Nice little board, not big at all. I'm looking forward to hooking it up. I installed a cooling fan in the bay for the RAMBo so that should keep things nice and cool on this board too.

[mhackney]

Just FYI for anyone getting the X3 Pro - the board/stepper drivers support up to 32 micro steps. However, there are 3 jumpers that are empty from the factory, meaning "1" micro stepping. You need to get your own jumpers to enable 16 or 32 micro steps. These are standard .1" (.254mm) jumpers. I just bought 100 of them that should arrive on Tuesday.

It also is not clear which direction to install the stepper drivers so I've emailed Panucatt. The X3 wiki page gives a hint on how these should be oriented but "better safe than blow yet another board"!

[Eaglezsoar]

Just FYI for anyone getting the X3 Pro - the board/stepper drivers support up to 32 micro steps. However, there are 3 jumpers that are empty from the factory, meaning "1" micro stepping. You need to get your own jumpers to enable 16 or 32 micro steps. These are standard .1" (.254mm) jumpers. I just bought 100 of them that should arrive on Tuesday.

It also is not clear which direction to install the stepper drivers so I've emailed Panucatt. The X3 wiki page gives a hint on how these should be oriented but "better safe than blow yet another board"!

Thanks on that tip. You would think the jumpers would have been included but now that I know they were not, I will also have to buy them.

[mhackney]

If you want, I'd be happy to send you a bunch of jumpers when mine arrive on Wed. A lot would fit in a normal envelope! Let me know.

[mhackney]

My reelsmithing workshop went great today and now I have a few hours to play! First up is mounting the threaded thermistors in the hot ends. Here's some information and photos.

[img]http://mhackney.zenfolio.com/img/s2/v59 ... 6419-3.jpg[/img]

A couple of tips. First, mark and center punch the location to drill to keep the bit from wandering. I choose the lower corner. Even if you drill a bit too deep, you will just graze the threads and these will be completely covered when the nozzle is installed. Drill 8mm deep with a 2.5mm bit then tap with an M3-.5 tap.

[img]http://mhackney.zenfolio.com/img/s10/v1 ... 6229-3.jpg[/img]

A bottom tap will allow you to drill a shallower hole (6mm or so) and tap to the bottom but a standard tapered tap will be fine in an 8mm hole. Go slow and back out every couple of turns. There is nowhere for the cut aluminum to go, so remove the tap, clean, lubricate and continue. These small taps are easily broken, the trick is to not use excess force, frequently back off, remove clean and lubricate. (notice I said that THREE times!)

[img]http://mhackney.zenfolio.com/img/s3/v25 ... 6732-3.jpg[/img]

Put a little thermal grease on the brass nipple's threads and screw it in with a 5mm wrench. In loping at these closely, the thermistor is mounted in a blind hole in the brass nipple. Also note that I placed my thermistors so I have mirror images on each side with the heat cartridge placed to the outside, this was just personal preference. I don't think it makes any difference how things are oriented since each hot end is pretty well isolated from the others.

[img]http://mhackney.zenfolio.com/img/s3/v44 ... 6251-3.jpg[/img]

[img]http://mhackney.zenfolio.com/img/s4/v12 ... 7838-3.jpg[/img]

Now I can get the cartridges installed, wire in the connectors and mount it on the Rostock. Also need to plumb in the water cooling system. Should be ready to test 1 and then 2 hot ends soon!

[Eaglezsoar]

Those were great tips on the threaded thermistors, thanks for the pictures and the comments.
You do know that these are a great help to me!

[mhackney]

I hadn't really looked a the brass nipples closely until today, they are actually closed - the thermistor sits in a blind hole. That's great since that maximizes contact area with the thermal epoxy and thermistor. I am really happy with these. I've tested one in my heat oven and taken it to 500°C and it worked fine (of course I removed the plastic connector and PTFE sleeving first!)

cheers,
Michael

[Eaglezsoar]

If you want, I'd be happy to send you a bunch of jumpers when mine arrive on Wed. A lot would fit in a normal envelope! Let me know.

Thanks for the offer but I ordered a hundred of my own right after you advised that there weren't any included, very kind of you to offer.

[mhackney]

I meant to offer them when I posted yesterday but senility got in my way!

[Eaglezsoar]

I meant to offer them when I posted yesterday but senility got in my way!

That's okay, in case you forget your name is Michael.

[DavidF]

I meant to offer them when I posted yesterday but senility got in my way!

That's okay, in case you forget your name is Michael.

Rotflmao..

[mhackney]

Rotflmao..

Me too!

[larsk103]

Hi,

Just wanted to pop in and say hi, as I see there are Kraken fans here. My Kraken is on it's way from the UK as we speak, and the pile of other parts are starting to look promising. Oh yeah, this will be my second 3D printer (and I'm still waiting on the first to arrive). Probably a but ambitious, but I hope there are shoulders to lean on here

I have planned a custom delta build, picking the best ideas from around the net (doesn't everyone do that ;D). I want to go large - 40-50cm build area, 25x25x2 square extrusions (or maybe 30x30x4 - I haven't decided yet), magnetic arms, using fishing line, simple and beautiful (that's the plan anyway).

Someone mentioned wiring for the Kraken - try looking on ebay for "22AWG 4PIN Stranded Extension RGB Wire Cable Cord For 3528 5050 RGB LED Strip" - I got 20 meters shipped for £8,-


Lars

[Eaglezsoar]

Hi,

Just wanted to pop in and say hi, as I see there are Kraken fans here. My Kraken is on it's way from the UK as we speak, and the pile of other parts are starting to look promising. Oh yeah, this will be my second 3D printer (and I'm still waiting on the first to arrive). Probably a but ambitious, but I hope there are shoulders to lean on here

I have planned a custom delta build, picking the best ideas from around the net (doesn't everyone do that ;D). I want to go large - 40-50cm build area, 25x25x2 square extrusions (or maybe 30x30x4 - I haven't decided yet), magnetic arms, using fishing line, simple and beautiful (that's the plan anyway).

Someone mentioned wiring for the Kraken - try looking on ebay for "22AWG 4PIN Stranded Extension RGB Wire Cable Cord For 3528 5050 RGB LED Strip" - I got 20 meters shipped for £8,-


Lars

It's good to have another Kraken fan. As time goes on perhaps we can all share ideas and we get these up and running like they should be.
Your plans for the Delta sounds ambitious, I hope it all works out for you.

[ayouden]

Hello,

I have been in the 3D printing area for about 6months now, and I am LOVING it!

My RepRap i2 can only do so much so I am thinking of building my own, larger 3D Printer. We are talking 300mm-400mm-500mm build area with heated bed.

My aim is to construct is during the summer after my college exams have finished and before I go to Uni.

I saw the Kraken a few months ago, but at the time the only controller which had enough driver slots to drive it cost £200!

Now i have found the Azteeg X3 Pro, which is well under the £100 mark, and with the Kraken being £135, it should come to about £200.

The only images of prints I have seen of the Kraken are very bad to be honest, or not the quality I was expecting.

Hopefully, within the next couple of months more and more should come to light!

My plan is to get all the parts, and design all sorted out before I start construction.

I am really excited about the Kraken and what seems endless possibilities!

Thanks

[mhackney]

Welcome and where are you from?

Yes, the Kraken is still very new and no one has really reported having dialed it in yet. That said, the hot end is almost identical to their E3D hot end which is quite nice indeed, so I am very optimistic that print quality - at least for a single end - will be great. Multi extruder printing gets into all sorts of possible issues with oozing, dragging etc. We'll just have to knock these off as they come.

BTW, a fellow posted a nice video on the private Kraken beta group the other day so some are making progress.

[ayouden]

I am from the UK.

Do you know the whereabouts of this video? I would like to see it.

I currently use a V5 E3D hot-end and it is much better than my JHead I had before!

[Eaglezsoar]

Welcome and where are you from?

Yes, the Kraken is still very new and no one has really reported having dialed it in yet. That said, the hot end is almost identical to their E3D hot end which is quite nice indeed, so I am very optimistic that print quality - at least for a single end - will be great. Multi extruder printing gets into all sorts of possible issues with oozing, dragging etc. We'll just have to knock these off as they come.

BTW, a fellow posted a nice video on the private Kraken beta group the other day so some are making progress.

They are coming up with a lot of different mounts for it also. Each Kraken seems to be on a different mount, hopefully we can all get together
and vote on the best.

[mhackney]

ayouden, the video is on a private forum for Kraken beta customers and not public (yet). I just looked to see if it is available publicly but it isn't.

[bubbasnow]

https://plus.google.com/116889746506579 ... Tcx5dXn5P6
here is some kracken activity

[Eaglezsoar]

That Video was good for one reason, you get to see how he routed the tubes he
did a good job.

[enggmaug]

how are you guys doing with the kraken ?

Any success ?

Does it print nicely ?

Is it worth buying the Kraken, and using just one or 2 nozzles untill I have more money to change the controller and buy more motors / extruders ?

[mhackney]

I don't know that any of us have completed the conversion yet. I am very close though. Will report here as I progress.

[mhackney]

Well, at least on one tentacle! I finally got ambitious and pushed some other projects aside to get the Kraken installed and working. I'm starting with a single extruder and then I'll add the second using RAMBo. Then I'll swap out electronics for the Azteeg X3 Pro that can handle 5 extruders and hot ends and add extruders 3 and 4. A picture is worth a 1000 words, so here's a million word video:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wI11RKB28po[/youtube]

I was very impressed with how quite and effective the water cooling is. Frankly, the hoses could be a lot smaller, there is a lot of water flowing through there. The water jacket is dead cold, that's got to be good! No questions about whether the cold end is cold. Wiring is going to be the challenge for this beast but doable. A special "Tri-Kraken" for the Rostock with 3 hot ends would be perfect! But I'll live with 4.

This might be the first Rostock Kraken print, anyone else got there's going?

[mhackney]

and here it is, the completed first part (actually 2 printed parts snapped together):

[img]http://mhackney.zenfolio.com/img/s10/v1 ... 5118-3.jpg[/img]

I literally did nothing different - used the same gcode I used with my E3D v5 and simply printed it. I think this print is noticeably nicer. It just flowed out of the nozzle and formed perfection!