My Rostock Max v2 to magnetic arm conversion thread.

[Boundless]

Hi Guys,

I have been doing a lot of reading about the pros and cons of using the magnetic arms vs the stock Rostock arms. First, let me say that I know the MAX v2 has great arms already and those arms are leaps and bounds better than the v1 arms, and for the most part, I am pretty happy with the prints.

That having been said, I like many on this forum are always in the pursuit for prefect prints. I believe that there IS more accuracy to be achieved from the magnetic arms simply from a mechanical perspective. Any moving connections, u-joints, axle, or otherwise that can be simplified, should and I believe this will translate to be more accurate prints.

My other reason for wanting to make this mod on my machine is simply the ease of switching hot ends. I would like to be able to switch entire effector platforms based on what i'd like to print. I think it will be much easier to experiment with new effector platforms, fan mods, lights, and specialty hot ends like the E3d v6.

For that reason, I am thinking quick-connections on everything. For the past few weeks, I have been slowly accumulating parts to to make the magnetic mod and some fun effector mods. Here is a quick picture of my parts bin. I am using JST connections for the PEEK, Layer, Lights. I even have a 4 to one connection (3rd bin up on the right). I purchased 2 more 30mm blower fans for a total of 3. There is also a 4 pin fan extension pictured far left which I will cut and wire to be the hot-end wires. I think the gauge wire is large enough to work.

Those ball bearings, I probably wont be using since I ordered some pre-threaded 10mm balls. The magnets are 3/8 and pretty darn strong. I think N45 but if they dont work, i'll switch to N52.

[img]http://s17.postimg.org/n4upi7lpr/download.jpg[/img]

Does anyone have any advice for me before I start down this road? Stay tuned.... more to come.

[Eaglezsoar]

Hi Guys,

I have been doing a lot of reading about the pros and cons of using the magnetic arms vs the stock Rostock arms. First, let me say that I know the MAX v2 has great arms already and those arms are leaps and bounds better than the v1 arms, and for the most part, I am pretty happy with the prints.

That having been said, I like many on this forum are always in the pursuit for prefect prints. I believe that there IS more accuracy to be achieved from the magnetic arms simply from a mechanical perspective. Any moving connections, u-joints, axle, or otherwise that can be simplified, should and I believe this will translate to be more accurate prints.

My other reason for wanting to make this mod on my machine is simply the ease of switching hot ends. I would like to be able to switch entire effector platforms based on what i'd like to print. I think it will be much easier to experiment with new effector platforms, fan mods, lights, and specialty hot ends like the E3d v6.

For that reason, I am thinking quick-connections on everything. For the past few weeks, I have been slowly accumulating parts to to make the magnetic mod and some fun effector mods. Here is a quick picture of my parts bin. I am using JST connections for the PEEK, Layer, Lights. I even have a 4 to one connection (3rd bin up on the right). I purchased 2 more 30mm blower fans for a total of 3. There is also a 4 pin fan extension pictured far left which I will cut and wire to be the hot-end wires. I think the gauge wire is large enough to work.

Those ball bearings, I probably wont be using since I ordered some pre-threaded 10mm balls. The magnets are 3/8 and pretty darn strong. I think N45 but if they dont work, i'll switch to N52.

[img]http://s17.postimg.org/n4upi7lpr/download.jpg[/img]

Does anyone have any advice for me before I start down this road? Stay tuned.... more to come.

Can you say where you picked up the pre-threaded 10mm balls?
And did you stay with the rodends that are listed in the Xnaron topic? I pickup up some Traxxas balls with the stems already in them but I would like to find a good source for the threaded balls.
Will the 10mm ball work with the Xnaron rod ends without modifications? Thanks for sharing with us!

[Boundless]

Actually it was Cambo that found them. Here's a link

http://deltaprintr.com/shop/hardware/10 ... eel-balls/

I think 10mm will work just fine. I may have to scale up the rod-ends a tiny amount but I don't think so. It is really close to the 3/8 already.

[Tinyhead]

I like all that. Very clean. It's good to have parts.

What are you planning on using for the arms? Carbon fibre? Aluminum?

I've got my balls where they're not falling off now, but had those pre-tapped balls been around when I was doing mine, it would have been awesome. Just remember that if you're using the xnaron setup that there was always a gap between the balls and the effector/cheapskate mounts that was taken up by the head of the socket head screws. You'll have do either make or find some collars to mimic the same thing or extend your adjust your rod length. I guess you could always just change the rod length in the firmware too, but if you did that, your physical print radius is going to be slightly smaller.

[Boundless]

Man!

Thank you for mentioning that. I will keep that gap in mind since mine wont be using socket head screws. One thing that does puzzle me is the cheapskate mount. Xnaron's design is for the v1 cheapskates correct? My V2 cheapskate appears to have a different design.

Right off the bat, the mount on the v2 is at the top of the cheapskate instead of closer to the center on the v1. Also, the hole spacing. Did a quick measure and it looks like the v1 is 65mm apart and the v2 is 50mm apart. Also, the end stop screw hole is on the opposite side as well.

I may have to fab up some new mounts. Unless.... maybe someone has already done this?

[Boundless]

tinyhead,

Forgot to answer your question about the arms. I think I will use some carbon fiber arms. Then again, I have aluminum already. Both are arrows. I am big into bowhunting and I will cringe a little using good arrows for arms.

[bdjohns1]

Man!

Thank you for mentioning that. I will keep that gap in mind since mine wont be using socket head screws. One thing that does puzzle me is the cheapskate mount. Xnaron's design is for the v1 cheapskates correct? My V2 cheapskate appears to have a different design.

Right off the bat, the mount on the v2 is at the top of the cheapskate instead of closer to the center on the v1. Also, the hole spacing. Did a quick measure and it looks like the v1 is 65mm apart and the v2 is 50mm apart. Also, the end stop screw hole is on the opposite side as well.

I may have to fab up some new mounts. Unless.... maybe someone has already done this?

Late to reply on this one, sorry!

The v1 mounting holes are set wider to use another set of holes that are on the v1 cheapskates. The arms are set for 50mm spacing, so the ball studs need to be there. Unlike the stock arms, you don't have a U to bury the connection.

Xnaron did an updated verson of the cheapskate mount that had holes on both sides - my guess is he had his on the other side. I followed geneb's build guide, which has them on the right. The STL file is somewhere buried in xnaron's thread near the end.

My parts have the holes on both sides as well.

[Generic Default]

Don't worry so much about the length of the arms and the geometry, as long as it's symmetrical you're good to go. I just did my 3rd major magnetic arm upgrade a few days ago and I'll start a thread in this section.

Since this is my third upgrade (the first two had a few problems that I've since worked out) I consider myself to be a SENIOR DELTA ROBOT MAGNETIC ARM UPGRADE OFFICER.

It's an official title you know...

[Eaglezsoar]

Don't worry so much about the length of the arms and the geometry, as long as it's symmetrical you're good to go. I just did my 3rd major magnetic arm upgrade a few days ago and I'll start a thread in this section.

Since this is my third upgrade (the first two had a few problems that I've since worked out) I consider myself to be a SENIOR DELTA ROBOT MAGNETIC ARM UPGRADE OFFICER.

It's an official title you know...

A very nice title. It certainly sounds official.

[noishi]

Hey Boundless how did the upgrade go? Interested to hear, along with how the pretapped steel balls worked. I'm getting ready to order myself a set as well.