The story of my 6ft tall printer

[EddyGara]

So I thought maybe it would be a better idea to move my original thread too here, since its still a build in progress.

let me tell you a bit about myself, Im Ed. DC native living in NYC now, Im a professional bike mechanic, who just fell in love with 3d printing. What brought me here was the idea of making my very own carbon bike frames. The biggest issues i always had was making prototypes of my frames efficiently and precise. I found that 3d printing could help with that ALOT.

Started with a stock Rostock Max V2 on February 1st and have almost upgraded very components since then. What I want to do with this thread is to document my build process as i perfect the entire build and hopefully start producing my frames. I want to hear everyone's input on what im doing wrong and how i could possibly make this project better.

any this is a re-post of another thread of mine i guess i just had it in the wrong section. Let me know what you guys think so far.

The idea of the full project is to have a fully working delta printer with at least a 4.5ft build height, as well as dual hotends. As of right now Up-graded the build height from its original 14.5in to 4.5 build height. It works really well so far, calibration is a pain but i plan to solve that very soon. I went the mistake with using a very long bowden tube thinking it would be plug and play and work correctly. Unfortunately I found out the hard way that longer tubes equal more issues with under exstruding and retraction. My fix to this is retrofitting the printer to work with a flying exsturder, though my plan is to make it work with 2 motors instead of one.

Here is the design
[img]http://s13.postimg.org/c2lnhre0z/efuydyjcv.jpg[/img]
Made to work with ezstruder from seemecnc.

I modeled it off of the flying exstuder used on the Delta Wasp, so lets see how it works out.

here is me printing it using Simplify3d to slice
[img]http://s17.postimg.org/87qmf4b3f/IMG_0518.jpg[/img]

After I have the flying exstruder working Im going to start installing my other upgrades.

Upgrade list:
24v power supply
cabron tricklaser arms
Trick trucks, and metal max platform
Bltouch sensor probe
begalbone black, and replicape controller
and a max metal frame retrofit-ed to work with the longer towers I have.
either Dual E3d hot ends, or the Chimera, with volcano upgrades, i have both so ill be experimenting with both options

I all ready own these upgrades they are just waiting for things to be printed to make them work.

Heres my printer now
[img]http://s30.postimg.org/5g0x5ic6l/IMG_0514.jpg[/img]
[img]http://s14.postimg.org/pt9q53r8t/IMG_0515.jpg[/img]

More to come very soon!!

[EddyGara]

Update 4/2/2016

I was told that the Max Metal frame from tricklaser could not be modded to accommodate taller towers. Well if you take in account that you will no longer be able to use the machined motor mounts and frame centering pins you can still use the 30 degree stabilizers to increase your build height to what ever you would like. Obviously you lose all the features of the max metal frame, but you get the added advantages of having a very rigid frame. I took a hit and bought the full kit for only the angle joints, but its a hit I was willing to take to have a fully stable and rigid frame. So basically for anybody wondering the max metal angle joints do fit with any standard 1x1 aluminum extrusion.

Here are the motor mounts I designed to fit with the upgraded frame. I lose about 5in of build height but with well over 4.5ft of z height I think ill be alright
[img]http://s28.postimg.org/6g9lk6d55/rtdrtdr.jpg[/img]

[EddyGara]

Update 4/2/2016

Next on the list is the max metal platform and carbon arms! Does anybody have any experience using both? There isn't a lot of info online about using both in unison. For example are there any spacing issues I should know about when installing these guys? I'm going from the new ball joint arms offered by seemecnc, so I never had to deal with the spacing and offset configuration people had to deal with using the previous model platform and arms.

Does mounting the arms straight too the platform with the m3 screws just work? Im just scratching my head because the kit came with some many washer that it cant just be this simple to install.
[img]http://s24.postimg.org/75mjp2ytd/IMG_0519.jpg[/img]

**Update** found out the arms bolt directly into the platform no need to space anything out.

Nest question i have is using the trick trucks, with the max metal platform kit.

It looks like the belts attach directly between the trick trucks and mounting platform, but with enough force i can pull them out so it doesn't seem secure enough. Am I a doing something wrong here?

This is with the belts installed
[img]http://s22.postimg.org/3xb1aobi5/IMG_0527.jpg[/img]
[img]http://s14.postimg.org/jqkmye759/IMG_0521.jpg[/img]

And without the belts
[img]http://s28.postimg.org/mq086g4qx/IMG_0529.jpg[/img]

**update** After adding tape around a section of the belts i was able to take up the space that i had between the trucks and the mounting brackets fixing the issue. Thanks ccavanaugh for that tip!

[EddyGara]

Update 4/3/2016

Just finished printing out the new dual exsturder mount as well as install one of the ezstruders into the mount. ill update again when ive installed everything on the printer itself!

[img]http://s15.postimg.org/4u95d7q6v/IMG_0535.jpg[/img]
[img]http://s28.postimg.org/qu9qkfmzd/IMG_0537.jpg[/img]
[img]http://s8.postimg.org/vn0bj2g1d/IMG_0539.jpg[/img]

Update 4/4/2016

So after some sanding I got both nema 17 motors to fit snugly into the mount. I'm very pleased with the results so far. As of right now the dual exstruders are installed on the Rostock max.

I'm having a issue with weight though. It seems like two motors are a little too much when the printer isn't active. But as soon as the belts start to move they seem to handle the weight just fine, at least from what I can tell. Do you guys think I'll have any issues? Is there a way to possibly solve this, maybe upgrade to nema 23s?

The worry I have is possibly having my glass shield shatter from the hotting end coming down after it's finished homing the arms, or having hot end melting my prints after its finished that as well. Either or I'll post results of finished test prints, once I get a chance.

[img]http://s14.postimg.org/md2zz3byl/image.jpg[/img]

I have it install on the printer now, i had to get a bit creative with how i would mount the tubing but in the end i made it work.
[img]http://s15.postimg.org/9pwpgrdtz/IMG_0551.jpg[/img]
[img]http://s8.postimg.org/ap68jcd7l/IMG_0553.jpg[/img]

Next up will be the E3d hotend with volcano upgrade. Printing with a .8 nozzle should be fun!

[barry99705]

1. Aren't your extruder motors going to get hot like that?
2. Counter weights. I'm using an old hard drive as a counter weight for my flying extruder.

[Captain Starfish]

I dunno about counterweights - they increase the mass and therefore the force required for acceleration. How about setting up a landing pad of some sort for the effector platform, and setting up the G-code to drive to that position at the end of the print?

[EddyGara]

1. Aren't your extruder motors going to get hot like that?
2. Counter weights. I'm using an old hard drive as a counter weight for my flying extruder.

I thought that would be a problem as well, but so far the motor temps have been fine. Im going to redesign the motor mounts as soon as I have the dual extrusion working with the chimera hotend. That way i can run pva/pla and devolve my supports for a better finish, as well as to open up the sides . I wanted a very ridged design that's why I went with closed sides but after testing this thing out i can get away with a lot less material next time.

[EddyGara]

I dunno about counterweights - they increase the mass and therefore the force required for acceleration. How about setting up a landing pad of some sort for the effector platform, and setting up the G-code to drive to that position at the end of the print?

That definitely could work. I could rig up two arms that protrude out the side of the printer near the top, have the machine run and "land" itself into the arms after every print!

[EddyGara]

Update 4/6/2016

[img]http://s16.postimg.org/spyyjfd5d/IMG_0569.jpg[/img]

So I went ahead and installed the e3d hotend with volcano adapter, running a .8mm nozzle. I started calibration, but im having issues with the prints coming out bigger then they need to be. Maybe it has too do with my slicer but since this is my 1st time printing with a nozzle this size, im not sure where to start. a 25mm cube seems to print out at about 25.6-25.7mm on each size with only the z axis coming out perfectly at 25mm.


Ive been printing with these settings:
layer height 0.6mm
1st layer height 0.5
outer perimeter count 2
infill overlap 0.4
extrusion multiplier running at 120
bed temp 60
hotend 215
printing with pla and slicing with matercontrol

[img]http://s28.postimg.org/lwrdzi28p/IMG_0555.jpg[/img]

The other issues im having with the volcano is the not so straight edges, on the stock hotends corner would be tight and sharp, with the upgrade im getting more rounded edges. Again not sure whats going on, anybody have any input?

[img]http://s21.postimg.org/xz0bphuc3/IMG_0558.jpg[/img]

On the plus side, this print would take my printer 35 minutes to print before the upgrade, this only took 10! this thing really is fast!

[DGBK]

You should check out 626Pilot's post on dimensional accuracy. It may very well be your nozzle size changing.

http://forum.seemecnc.com/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=10081" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;