Anyone else still rocking the original Rostock Max?

[Captain Starfish]

Back from a bit of a break and doing some upgrades, and the original Rostock Max forum is looking very quiet. Has everyone upgraded away or are the machines just steadily getting on with their unremarkably consistent performance?

I've added an enclosure, switched out to an E3D v6 head and have a PEI coated bed for PLA/ABS and a garolite bed for nylon. Otherwise it's pretty standard.

Switching between those beds was a pain so I've just made a new E3D mount that supports a piezo element on one of the three bolts, with a Precision Piezo board sending back to the 0.92 Repetier firmware's Z probe. Having some fun getting it not to run out of memory on the old RAMBo board but it's looking quite promising so far.

I also want to be able to print easier support. I threw a knockoff Chimera dual hotend in there but, with the heated build chamber it couldn't maintain a sufficiently sharp temp profile on the heat break and so it kept jamming. I'm now waiting for a shiny new genuine water cooled E3D Chimera to arrive, should be a bit of fun.

One day I might lash out and get new carriages and ball arms but, honestly, even with the original uni joint style setup she's playing pretty nicely. And so much quicker than mates' cartesian machines.

Still a brilliant bit of kit years on, SeeMe should be proud of themselves.

[DeltaCon]

Has everyone upgraded away or are the machines just steadily getting on with their unremarkably consistent performance

I don't think many have been upgrading away from SeeMeCNC printers (how would that be possible?) But I think Facebook is the deathpenalty to many thriving forum-communities. No progress in my view... Although the SeeMe printer Ownergroup on facebook is a very friendly one, I still prefer to go to a forum for indepth help or searching back other people's solutions.

[geneb]

I actually started the retirement process for Orange Menace on Wednesday. It had been updated to a Hotends.com j-head and a Duet Wifi. That controller is now destined for my v3 to make it a v3.2.

g.

[Captain Starfish]

@DeltaCon - Naturally, I meant upgrading away from the original RMax to the 2.0, 3.0, artemis etc

Agreed on Facebook. I got off it a few months ago, the signal to noise ratio was horrendous, but when I start digging through forums again it's a little depressing how most of them now resemble ghost towns.

@geneb - end of an era! Although, given how much room they take, if I had a 3 or 3.2 my old girl would be long gone either for parts or sold to help pay for the new one. Impressive you've kept yours together for so long given your alternatives.

[DeltaCon]

Agreed on Facebook. I got off it a few months ago, the signal to noise ratio was horrendous, but when I start digging through forums again it's a little depressing how most of them now resemble ghost towns.

Yeah... looks like most people are turning to facebook so they can pretend they don't now about the fora and have less risc to be slapped with the words "try a search on the forum". In a while there will not be much of relevance left to be searched for...

[geneb]

@geneb - end of an era! Although, given how much room they take, if I had a 3 or 3.2 my old girl would be long gone either for parts or sold to help pay for the new one. Impressive you've kept yours together for so long given your alternatives.

I need to set up a print farm or something.

g.

[DavidF]

Mine is still kicking. And is still my go to printer.
Only mods are the trick laser carbon fiber arms and a folgertek hot end.
Hi Gene!! Did ya miss me lol

[geneb]

\o/

g.

[emsoll]

I still have my Rostock Max V2 from 2014 cranking away. I did upgrade to a E3D V6 first with a printed bracket and then later upgraded to a fancy aluminum / carbon fiber mount that just looks cooler. I just replaced the original E3D head as it was fairly gunked up and I screwed it up trying to get it back in shape.

I am thinking about changing over to PEI print surface after many years of using hairspray and trying Flablam last year with mixed results. Do you feel PEI is the way to go?

Thanks

[geneb]

I use PEI on my Artemis and it's been an amazing performer.

g.