New with a pile of parts

[Wawful]

Hi all, Figured i'd introduce myself. I have what appears to be an indie go go version of the rostock max that was given to me as part payment for a job i did. It came in a pile of parts and I've been assessing my possession for the last few days. it appears to have been put together by an ape and stored in a volatile war zone. The build quality is shoddy, the wiring is held together with gobs of liquid electrical tape and the wire management was terrible. it's missing a few parts and some appear to be broken. However, i'm a stubborn individual and want to get this machine running since it's current cost to me is < $50. the arms that are currently on it are bent and made of thin all-thread so they likely will have to be replaced. I also don't have the hardware and parts to attach the arms to the things that go up and down on the posts. the top plate is cracked but not too badly, and the tabs on the feed/ roll holder have broken off so it no longer can attach to the side of the machine. As far as the physical work is concerned I plan on re-wiring the whole deal, and going through the physical components to check for strength and construction quality etc.. Beyond that i have very little experience with slicer software/ 3d printer specific controls and software so i will have a lot to learn in that dept., I do have a decent bit of 3d modelling experience from high-school using google sketch up and CAD. here are some pictures of my pile of parts covered in dust. I have a video but dont know how to upload the Mp4

[Dale Eason]

Welcome, I'm glad for your enthusiasm to make something but it looks to me like you don't have enough of a machine there to do that easily or cheaply. From what I can see you are missing some very important parts like towers and belts and things to hold them together correctly. The parts you do have are quite obsolete compared to what a current SeeMeCNC Delta is made out of. For instance they no longer use that kind of power supply, hot end, extruder, arms, heated bed, or horizontal structures you have. Can't tell if you have the LCD display and control knob. The rambo board maybe current enough but that is about it. There have been a few V2's and parts for sale on this forum and may still be if you want a more reasonable challenge.

Others may have a more positive opinion than mine. But my smart aleck response is to say with those parts and $1000 you can make a pretty nice printer. OF course in that case you really would not need any of that pile of parts. Not saying you could not make a printer out of those parts but it is a long road I think and I would doubt you would be happy with it compared to what a modern system can do.

Dale

[Wawful]

I have the tower and belts and all the drive motors which are already put together, i forgot to include a picture of the whole machine which wold have helped. it looks like an onyx heating bed PN 58742 R2, I thought it might still be useable. the power supply i figured i would need to replace and was already looking at a the cheapskate carriage set and new rmax delta arm ball cup kit to get it looking better.

[Wawful]

this is how it sits currently after messing with it, I also checked most/ all of the wiring. i saw a post in the marketplace of a v2 parts setup that i might snag if i can get some decent progress/ upgrades out of it.

[Glacian22]

If the arms are bent, then replacing them is your primary issue. I'd probably just upgrade to the new carriage/ball arms/effector set if it were me.

[Wawful]

Thats what i was thinking in the marketplace there is a v2 parts setup that has several sets of arms, psu, more rambos, and maybe carriage stuff for 175 before shipping the carriage set and arms kit on the smcnc site is 78 before shipping

[Dale Eason]

Ok sorry I will take back what I said. You do have a better running start than the first pics showed.
Dale

[geneb]

Just FYI, those arms were NEVER shipped with that printer.
This assembly manual is the one that matches that machine the closest: http://download.seemecnc.com/rostockmax ... -Guide.pdf

There's a couple of things you need to be aware of with a machine that old - it's actually PRE v1!

First, the RAMBo controller may be a v1.0. This is important to verify as the v1.1 and higher versions had 16th stepping controllers whereas the v1.0 board only had 8th.

Second, the current firmware will likely work with the configuration you have if you set it to be for a v2, but one ore more axes may be reversed. Keep your hand on the power switch when you home it so you can stop it if it starts moving the wrong way.

Throw those janky arms out - they're very poorly done DIY and will make you madder than a box of frogs if you try to calibrate with those on. I would /highly/ recommend that you get the new injection molded carriages and the new ball/cup arms.

When you're putting the frame back together, take special care to not over-tighten the screws. That acrylic will split at a harsh look. (Which is why there's VERY few of those in the wild.)

Good luck and welcome to the zoo!

g.

[626Pilot]

I got an acrylic MAX v1 in December 2012, and I can confirm that the acrylic likes to split! SeeMeCNC was kind enough to send me some replacement parts when this happened. Unfortunately, even if carefully assembled, the top plate can develop cracks after awhile, and it looks like yours has already done that.

Here is what I recommend from the SeeMeCNC store:

• Rostock MAX v2 plywood kit
• EZRStruder (FAR superior to the monstrosity that came with the V1s)
• Injection-molded carriages
• New ball-cup arms
• HE280 hot end (kit, don't get the assembled one or you'll wind up with extra parts)
• HE280 wire harness
• Onyx v7 heated bed (heats far more evenly than what you have now - don't get version 8, it won't fit)
• Borosilicate glass plate (the one you have now is comically small)
• 20-tooth GT2 pullies

I also recommend the following:

• Steel and Rubber Vibration Dampers (MY17RMDAMP) - Order 4 of these. You only need 3, but sometimes one will have a too-tight fit. These dampers are a MUST! They will take your axis motors from "murder my ears" to "whisper quiet."
• 0.9-degree steppers - Order 3 of these. They replace the existing axis motors, and have TWICE the resolution.

If you go with the 0.9-degree steppers and/or 20-tooth pullies, you will have to change firmware settings to match. Repetier Host has a built-in belt calculator you can use to figure out the steps/mm to put into the firmware. Your RAMBo probably has Marlin or something flashed on it. I would recommend upgrading that to Repetier Firmware. It's easier to configure, and in my opinion it runs the motors more smoothly.

The EZRStruder will need a mounting plate. It bolts to the top plate of the printer. I don't think the kit comes with one. You should email SeeMeCNC's support and ask about that.

If you really want to go nuts, instead of getting the Rostock MAX v2 plywood kit, you can get a MAX Metal frame from Trick Laser. The owner of that company (bvandiepenbos) posts here a lot. I've bought two of these frames, and I can tell you they're excellent. Lower part count, less construction time, self-aligning, and designed to reuse parts from the Rostock MAX you have now. If you go that route, you'll also need to get the Brackets for the Onyx (get two of these - they double as endstop mounts!)

If you want to upgrade your controller, you can get a Smoothieboard or a Duet. They both have 32-bit controllers and run MUCH faster than the RAMBo. I'm partial to the Smoothieboard because I developed an auto-calibration system for it, but the Duet has a better web interface and direct support for the PanelDue display. If you get a Smoothieboard, a Raspberry Pi running OctoPrint is the way to go.

Your existing power supply is probably OK. I'm still using the same one they shipped me in 2012. However, if yours hasn't been powered on for a long time, who knows. Might want to do a "smoke test" before you wire it up to your controller.

[Wawful]

would you guys suggest buying this parts pile? http://forum.seemecnc.com/viewtopic.php?f=100&t=11590 i think i will even if you dont, looks like it would be a decent start at what i need. i'm trying to keep it under 400ish bones to get it back in operating order.

[Wawful]

Also, before i forget to mention it.... Thanks everyone for your responses, i'm already making leaps and bounds in my knowledge of these machines and am even more transfixed now than i was just a few days ago!

[geneb]

The parts set is a great deal. It'll get you a new chassis and away from the Acrylic. Use the RAMBo with that set instead of yours - guarantees you've got a current version.

g.

[Xenocrates]

Not to mention that new, the power supply in that is worth almost the whole price, and the same with the Rambo. I was honestly tempted, however I wouldn't have a spot to put it (and I already own two of those power supplies for my printer, since they're easier to swap out and warranty that way). It's not a perfect deal, but very few are. (And if you get curious, I have a pinout for the connectors on the AX760 at the PSU side, since I couldn't find a good one that included the sense wiring (Which is a bitch if you accidentally remove it, by the way)).

[Wawful]

Got the parts ordered from that marketplace post. more updates soon

[Wawful]

Got my package, lot of good stuff to be had. I still need Delta arms. Is there a part need to get for the R-max ball cup delta arm kit to work with trick trucks? I have the trucks but they don't have the plastic mounts for the arms to attach to. I will also need to purchase a new Onyx Heat-bed. i'll post pictures soon, i'm gonna need some help identifying some things i'm sure. Also might move on over to a build thread since it seems more appropriate at this point.

[KAS]

I'm testing these with the trick trucks/effector set. https://www.ultibots.com/magball-ends-set-of-12/

The studs might be a bit to long, I cut off about 1/8" off each one. ( I snapped two studs trying to install them, just be careful)

These are the Arms I'm using http://www.tricklaser.com/Carbon-Fiber- ... -BC300.htm