V2 Upgrades

[jckrieger]

My first non-build related print:

[img]http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa44/jckrieger/20141210_071918_zpse5a8db90.jpg[/img]

It's a vented back cover for behind the power supply. The print lifted a little in one corner, but overall I think it turned out pretty well. Each octagon is 5 mm in diameter! There are over 1,100 octagons in this print.

Next I will be working on brackets to make a plexiglass enclosure to keep the cats out of the machine.

[Print_This]

very cool, and lol @ the "keeping the cats out o the machine"

[jckrieger]

Upper brackets and multi-model print test:

[img]http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa44/jckrieger/20141215_221215_zps9c6b2e27.jpg[/img]

I printed 12 wedges and 3 brackets on this print. I already removed the wedges in the picture. The brackets are about 2/3rds done. They will slip over the very tops of the towers below the top plate and will be held by press-fit wedges. This design was inspired by some other brackets here that were made for a V1. I'll be sure to take a picture when it's all done. Next I'll be printing some belt tension wedges to make getting consistent belt tension not require 3 hands to achieve.

[jram]

Nice work!

[jckrieger]

Everything installed:

[img]http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa44/jckrieger/20141216_212246_zps45ef944d.jpg[/img]

I'm doing some temp testing to make sure my various components aren't going to overheat. I'd like to tune the airflow to achieve around a 50C ambient temp near the top of the enclosure. This will likely mean I'm going to need to add a fan to the stepper motor. I'll let you guys know what kind of temps I can achieve with only the bed and hot end heating up the enclosure.

[bot]

I'm very excited to hear about what temps you're getting. Do you plan on sealing the top any more or do you want some ventilation?

[jckrieger]

I'm very excited to hear about what temps you're getting. Do you plan on sealing the top any more or do you want some ventilation?

The plan is to seal the bottom very well and create some interface to help seal the plexi panels together. This will allow some air flow around the top of the unit where the extruder is but should help reduce natural convection by sealing the base. The goal is to not burn up the extruder while keeping things down low nice and hot. I should have some results this weekend. I'm re-doing my lower mounts to provide better sealing and also provide more clearance to the skates (I need as much build platform as I can get!).

[BenTheRighteous]

Have you considered relocating the extruder? I'm going to build an enclosure (someday) but before I do, I'm going to move the extruder in between the two top plates. I believe the filament hole is large enough to pass the bowden straight through. That would eliminate any heat concerns for the stepper.

[BenTheRighteous]

Also curious, you have the printer right next to your computer - did you damp the axis steppers?

[drwho]

Amazing how great minds think alike! This is nearly identical to the case that I'm working on. I have been test fitting with cardboard to get the dimensions correct. Would you mind sharing the .stl/gcode that you used for the brackets?

This enclosure is two fold. One it will maintain heat so that I can start utilizing the huge build area on this beast of a machine. Two I plan on integrating a particulate filtration system to eliminate the gases (carbon monoxide and hydrogen cyanide primarily) that is released during ABS extrusion. The cardboard is holding the temperatures up and prevents a majority of the warping. It doesn't do this beautiful machine justice though. I would like to trade progress and knowledge gained on this project with you.

[jckrieger]

I'm changing the design of the enclosure brackets to provide more clearance for the skates. I didn't realize they got so close to the build platform when printing near the edge of the platform between the towers. I will definitely share the .stl files once I get this back together. The new bottom brackets only overlap the top of the bottom plate by 2 mm and have the correct radius of curvature to seal around the corner.

I've been trying to print a 307 mm tall bottle that my wife modeled. Half way through the print I noticed my harness was getting snagged on top of the X tower cheap skate causing some printing errors. I modeled up some clips to protect the cheap skate and prevent the harness from getting hung up on the end of the axle.

[img]http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa44/jckrieger/20141221_144524_zpsa7f5a927.jpg[/img]

[jckrieger]

I forgot to mention, I didn't install the motor dampers. I had PM'd Astroboy before my build but didn't get a response. I actually don't mind the sound and my wife says it sounds like a Nintendo video game!

[shapeshifter]

Looks great, will be interesting to see how you go with the enclosure. The cheapskate clips are a cool idea, I can't see though, do they replace the original clips or just sit over the top of them to stop snagging?

[jckrieger]

They just sit on top. I didn't want to spend too much time thinking about them. I might come up with a new design once I'm printing in nylon.

[0110-m-p]

I actually don't mind the sound and my wife says it sounds like a Nintendo video game!

I bet your wife's opinion changes eventually .

[jckrieger]

I actually don't mind the sound and my wife says it sounds like a Nintendo video game!

I bet your wife's opinion changes eventually .

It looks like somehow my PM to Astroboy never went through. Looks like I haven't figured out how to use internet forums yet. We'll see how long it takes for the sound of the printer to get old. So far it has been printing pretty much non-stop for the last week. Good thing it's not in our living room!

[RichardMac]

Nice looking enclosure. Have you had any problems with large prints ? I have a simular designed enclosure, and the panels come close to the heated plate. I was printing a piece of my halloween costume, and kept hearing a thump. Inspecting the item that was being printed I noticed some digits in the front of the item. After watching for a few min I realized that as the hot end was moving towards the front of the machine, the layer fan was hitting the door. Had to leave the door open slightly to avoid the bumping when printing large diameter parts.

[jckrieger]

I noticed the same thing on my first big print. I've re-designed the brackets to space the large panels about another inch away from the heated bed to provide more clearance. I'm not sure if the stock layer fan mount will still work, but I plan to design a new one in case I ever decide to print PLA (which I doubt). I'll post my models once I've ensured all the parts work up to my expectations.

[jckrieger]

I've uploaded the .stl for the clip I made to eliminate harness snags while printing large objects. If anyone is interested in the original file, let me know and I can upload the .prt file. I will also upload my larger enclosure brackets that prove enough clearance allow full build volume prints. The only thing that needs to be done is the layer fan needs to be moved in to provide a little more clearance between the X and Y towers.

[jckrieger]

Attached here is the lower enclosure bracket I created. It's quite long so you'll need good control of your build area. I printed the enclosure brackets two at a time. The lower brackets are an interference fit with the melamine and also require the bottom covers to be notched.

[jckrieger]

Attached here is the upper enclosure bracket. These require small wedges to be printed in order to hold them in place. They will be included in my next post. I will update this thread to include a picture of what the finished enclosure looks like.

[jckrieger]

Attached here is the small locking wedge that is required to secure the upper brackets to the top of the tower.

[jckrieger]

Here's a picture of everything assembled. I still need to come up with something to seal the rest of the plexi to the bottom sheet of melamine. I also need to cut the last piece of plexiglass so I can get some temperature readings with everything assembled.