Newbie From San Antonio Texas - Rostock Max V3 Upgrade Suggestions

[MrWiggum]

Hello Everyone,

I want to start off by saying that i plan to use the stock Rostock Max V3 Printer until I've learned how to use the standards.

To begin my introduction, i am a newbie with a passion to create ideas and see them through, i don't like giving up, and i like to fix things. I am huge computer geek and build computers for my friends in my spare time.

I am a true newbie to 3d Printing. I have only seen face to face conventions where 3d printing was shown and Youtube videos. I have been interested in 3d printing ever since i saw it at a Microsoft store for the midnight release of the first Titanfall, but the printer they were showcasing was a $8,000 small printer. I don't remember what printer it was but things have changed since then and 3d printing has become more user friendly (some what).

I will be utilizing this forum and many different forums for helps because i've seen the community come together to help people with problem. That really is great to see and i know i will need some help some day.

I would like to know what type of upgrades should i be looking at for my Rostock Max V3. All suggestions are welcome because i want to learn about the best type of upgrades i can do.

Hope to talk to you all very soon

P.S. i bought the Kit because i wanted to learn the printer inside and out, hopefully it wont take me 50 hours

[Xenocrates]

Welcome to the forums. As far as upgrades go, I've got a few suggestions:
Duet Wifi/Ethernet controller. They are, bar none, the best 3D printer controller for precision, interfaces, and general usability. However, they mostly don't work with the HE280's acceloremeter. However, it has problems of it's own. Cost: ~175. Benefits: Quieter operation, more precision, a seamless web interface, ability to store G code both on the printer and on an external SD card that is removable, networking (dependent on flavor), and a very go-getting dev team.

Either FSR leveling, or an adapter for the accel probe. You want a system that allows arbitrary points, so not a conduction sensor like say, the TAZ 6 uses, without being an offset sensor (So not a BL touch, inductive limit switch, or regular limit switch), and is also preferably a contact sensor (As with different bed materials, states of cleaning, ETC, the non-contact trip distance fluctuates) Cost: 10-30$. Benefits: Ability to use the Duet height mapping, with FSR's you can probe at temperature

Chamber: These have a multitude of designs. Many enclose just the build area, leaving the electronics free to breath and vent. They protect a part from breezes, contamination (I run my printer in a wood-shop, and it keeps sawdust out of the final part), and keep people from burning themselves. It also lets you heat the chamber, and reduces the warping with ABS. However, for PLA, making the chamber either removable or ventable is a good idea. Cost: ~10$ (Cardboard or foamboard)-100$ (Polycarbonate and clear hinges to maximize visibility).

Solid state relay on the bed: It acts as a switch for power to the bed. This is instead of using the MOSFET on the controller for the power. Cost: 20$+s/h Benefits: No need for the bed current to go up, and then back down the printer, letting you use a smaller wire, reducing resistive losses, and letting more signal wires run in the same space, for say, the FSR system. Enables 24V's on the heated bed eventually, and keeps the controller board cooler. Use only the Auber Instruments 100A DC one. It's somehow quite cheap, and the best suited we've yet found.

25A contactor and thermal fuse on the bed: Especially if you intend to use a 24V power supply, adding a safety relay in case a MOSFET or the SSR fails on is only good sense. This brings it inline with the hotend, making this a very safe printer, as it should have no heating elements capable of thermal runaway without a cutoff for them. Cost: ~30$+2$ for a handful of the thermal fuses. Benefits: Piece of mind, fail-safe operation.

PEI print surface: This plastic, known as Ultem, is probably the best thing since slicers for 3D printing. When warm, it most all plastics stick great, when cooled, they usually detach. It's resilient to most tools you'd use (I've used razor blades on it to clear junk off with no damage), easy to work with (Sand with relatively high grit sand paper when you get it, wipe down with Iso between prints, and sand again when it stops working well), removable (If you keep 2 pieces of glass or whatever your bed material of choice is, you can have 1 with it, and one without it for things like ninjaflex, which sticks too well, and Nylon, which wants a glue on the bed that I prefer to keep off the PEI). Cost: ~15-30$ depending on thickness, adhesives, size, ETC.

Heatspreader for the bed: Chunk of aluminum or copper, or even aluminum foil, to take advantage of the higher thermal conductivity to keep bed temperatures even across the whole area. Cost: 1$ of tinfoil - 25$ for a machined Rostock specific one from Tricklaser.

Happy printing!
(Any time from the 50 hours of assembly you might have saved may be eaten reading my responses)

[3D-Print]

25A contactor and thermal fuse on the bed: Especially if you intend to use a 24V power supply, adding a safety relay in case a MOSFET or the SSR fails on is only good sense. This brings it inline with the hotend, making this a very safe printer, as it should have no heating elements capable of thermal runaway without a cutoff for them. Cost: ~30$+2$ for a handful of the thermal fuses.

Xenocrates do you have some detail on the thermal "runaway protection system". Would love to add this to my system.

Thanks.

[Xenocrates]

25A contactor and thermal fuse on the bed: Especially if you intend to use a 24V power supply, adding a safety relay in case a MOSFET or the SSR fails on is only good sense. This brings it inline with the hotend, making this a very safe printer, as it should have no heating elements capable of thermal runaway without a cutoff for them. Cost: ~30$+2$ for a handful of the thermal fuses.

Xenocrates do you have some detail on the thermal "runaway protection system". Would love to add this to my system.

Thanks.

I used parts like these thermal fuses
https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/ ... ND/1765480 Cheaper lower temp
https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/ ... ND/1014766 Holds at up to 146C, so well above normal bed temps
and a chunky Form 2A relay like this

[3D-Print]

Thank you!!

[3D-Print]

Just to make sure I got this correct.

Use a series of these thermal breakers which are placed in selected places in my printer (I.e. Bed, Meanwell, SSR, above the print head and etc). The current through the thermal breaks will engage the Form 2 relay with 12v from my 24V-to12V converter. The load side of the Form2 relay will be 110V power input to my Meanwell 24V supply.

Thus when any one thermal break is interrupted it will kill the whole printer.

Correct!?

If so I will scratch up a schematic to show this and double confirm.

[Xenocrates]

That's one way of doing it. I wired mine to disconnect the 24 and 12V from the bed, as I use an external 24V supply (As I use an ATX power supply, and make use of the 3.3 and 5 V power from it, and didn't want to change.)