Welcome to the SeeMeCNC Community

ccavanaugh wrote:Gen 2 spool holder...

It uses 2 of the 608 Bearings. 5/16" or 8mm threaded rod will work.

Spool Holder Gen 2 - Back.JPG

Spool Holder Gen 2 - Side.JPG

Now that is what I'm talkin' about! Nice work!

Seems to me that the spool should face the inside of the frame?
and turn the ezstruder mount 180

bvandiepenbos wrote:Seems to me that the spool should face the inside of the frame?
and turn the ezstruder mount 180

Both can be flipped to the the inside. I'm not certain yet if the spool holder will sag or not, but it could be modified later if needed.

My long term intent is to have a heated enclosure with the extruder outside. And, I want to shake out the printer before I take those next steps.

ccavanaugh wrote:

bvandiepenbos wrote:Seems to me that the spool should face the inside of the frame?
and turn the ezstruder mount 180

Both can be flipped to the the inside. I'm not certain yet if the spool holder will sag or not, but it could be modified later if needed.

My long term intent is to have a heated enclosure with the extruder outside. And, I want to shake out the printer before I take those next steps.

Oh, I see. that makes sense.


Are you going to laser cut some of these parts from 1/4" wood or print everything?
I was thinking about the flat parts, if they are printed instead of laser cut it would look cleaner to eliminate the nut traps and bolt slots and print holes that screws would thread into the plastic. If you re-used the screws from the MAX they are 6-32 threads which would be a.107" dia. hole for tapping. just a thought.
your designs are very nice. I appreciate all the work you are putting into this.

bvandiepenbos wrote:

ccavanaugh wrote:

bvandiepenbos wrote:Seems to me that the spool should face the inside of the frame?
and turn the ezstruder mount 180

Both can be flipped to the the inside. I'm not certain yet if the spool holder will sag or not, but it could be modified later if needed.

My long term intent is to have a heated enclosure with the extruder outside. And, I want to shake out the printer before I take those next steps.

Oh, I see. that makes sense.


Are you going to laser cut some of these parts from 1/4" wood or print everything?
I was thinking about the flat parts, if they are printed instead of laser cut it would look cleaner to eliminate the nut traps and bolt slots and print holes that screws would thread into the plastic. If you re-used the screws from the MAX they are 6-32 threads which would be a.107" dia. hole for tapping. just a thought.
your designs are very nice. I appreciate all the work you are putting into this.

Thanks Brian.

I don't have access to a laser, but was designing so that someone could laser from the 1/4" wood as much as possible or print and reuse the 6-32 screws. Long term, the next project is a CNC router to set on top of my table saw.

I agree it would be cleaner to eliminate the nut traps and tweak the design if it was print only. I will probably go back and revisit at a later date, and I'm curious to see what others will cook up. I'm hoping this will spawn other ideas and improvements.

Once parts settle down, I will make the STEP and Parasolids files available also for those with more CAD capability.

The physical build begins.....

I wanted an easy way to locate the drilled holes to run the end stop wires through the extrusion without making an ugly mess. Better put the 3D printer to use and print a drill jig!

I simply clamped it in place making sure it was registered on all surfaces and used the drill press to poke .201 holes through the extrusion. The jig has two hole locations for the motor end and the idler end of the extrusion.

The drill guide has been added to GitHub.

Before I routed the wires, I pressed the locating dowels in place. I don't have an arbor press, so I closed the chuck on my drill press and used it to press the dowels.

Be very-very careful you do not press the dowel in too deep where they will interfere with the belts or you will not be happy.... I would avoid use of a hammer at all costs. Just go slow and careful.

After the dowels were installed, I routed the end stop wires. The drilled hole size was small enough the pinned ends on the end-stop wires would not make the bend. I elected to cut the spade terminals off and feed that end starting at the motor end of the extrusion. There is a fair amount of excess wire, so I will "end" of shortening those anyway. I avoid messing with the little pins which is why I cut at that end, but you could cut the other end as well. If you use Brian's suggestion of the packing strap or use the external wire conduit, you can avoid cutting and drilling altogether.

I'm a bit sensitive to EMI issues as it's part of the day job, so I prefer to use twisted pairs and distance it from everything else if possible.
I placed the reclaimed t-nuts and screws into the frame and snugged them up so they would not slide out during assembly. Disassembling the frame will take a persuader, so don't forget your nuts! You can get the drop in style at a cost if you need to add some later.

When assembling, work your way around and tighten enough to hold the frame together, but not enough to draw it tight. Get everything together first to allow it all to seat squarily and then snug it all up. Bottom horizontals and verticals together, but not snugged up tight. I should receive the idler brackets today if the post-lady does not deliver my parts to the next street over again and will resume the build.

Nice looking South Bend in the background.

Mac The Knife wrote:Nice looking South Bend in the background.

Thanks! It's a 1973 10K. Best I can tell, I'm the 3rd owner. My dad had it for about 10 years before Parkinson's took him, so it's mine now. It's hardly had any use and the scrapings on the ways look near perfect. My dad taught me the basics in Middle School on an old Sears Atlas lathe. I use for odd and ends and working on 3D printing.

Idler brackets showed today.... Thanks Brian!

Frame is together and tight. I've checked square using my Wixey digital gauge as well as drafting triangles. Top and bottom horizontals are all parallel to each other. With the glass plate set across the horizontals and used as a reference, everything is square.

The distance across all corners is within .0025".

I am ecstatic with the build and accuracy of this frame!

Assembly tips.

• Make sure the horizontals are firmly seated against the dowels before tightening
• Use some anti-seize on the stainless bolts when they thread directly into aluminum. Aluminum and stainless can gall on rare occasions.
• Slowly work your way around the frame and snug a turn or two at a time. Keep circling and alternative top to bottom until tight.

ccavanaugh wrote:Idler brackets showed today.... Thanks Brian!

Frame is together and tight. I've checked square using my Wixey digital gauge as well as drafting triangles. Top and bottom horizontals are all parallel to each other. With the glass plate set across the horizontals and used as a reference, everything is square.

The distance across all corners is within .0025".

I am ecstatic with the build and accuracy of this frame!

Assembly tips.

• Make sure the horizontals are firmly seated against the dowels before tightening
• Use some anti-seize on the stainless bolts when they thread directly into aluminum. Aluminum and stainless can gall on rare occasions.
• Slowly work your way around the frame and snug a turn or two at a time. Keep circling and alternative top to bottom until tight.

20150404_183754.jpg

Thank you posting all you have and thank you for the files you posted in your github. Just waiting to receive my Max Metal Kit!

A bit more work. The Trick Trucks are assembled to the frame along with the belt spacer to ensure parallelism of the system. I sniped off a fair amount of old belt to get rid of the crushed ends from the v1 assembly clamps and still have quite a bit left over because this frame uses so much less.

I had to shorten the height of the belt spacer by .5 mm to bring everything into parallel.
I've decided I need more clearance to vent the power supply. I've designed up some risers and will print those and what I believe will be the final brackets for the stock v1 heated bed insulator.

Heated bed brackets tested and completed.

The stock insulator needs to be drilled for a 6.0" dia hole pattern as shown. I had filled the hole some time ago to keep drafts off the heated bed with a couple layers of cardboard and was able to use it to stick a compass point.
1. Find center by drawing 2 lines between heated bed holes.
2. Draw a 6" dia circle with your compass.
3. Use a protractor or 30 degree triangle to construct the intersection of the circle.
4. Punch and drill close fitting holes for #6 screws.
The latest bracket on Github will look a bit different, but will print much easier. The brackets use some of the 6-32 nyloc nuts from the v1 and some 6-32 x 5/8 or 3/4 screws. And... the insulator assembled onto the brackets. Everything fit the first time! If you printed the first version, it won't work with the 6" dia. spacing. Last but not least, some risers for the feet. I wanted extra clearance to ventilate the power supply. I will be tweaking the power supply bracket so the 4th screw is accessible to easily remove the power supply if it needs to be removed. Otherwise, you will have to pull the heated bed to access the bracket from the top. Final check prints of the limit switch brackets are in process and then onto the electrical enclosure.

Looking good!! (as I patiently wait for mine to show).

I think I would like the kit more if it came with three sets of crossmembers instead of two, like the Mini Kossel and some other Rostocks. The electronics hanging down from the lower set of crossmembers isn't my favorite.

If you want ideas for how to make the spool holder prettier, have a look at mine: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:367448" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The top surface (where the spool rides) is curved, and I put Kapton tape on it to make it even smoother. I don't get any of the loud clunks I used to with the SeeMe spool holder arms.

[img]http://thingiverse-production.s3.amazon ... atured.jpg[/img]

I am thinking you must have the rev 1 Onyx heated bed with solder pads at the back on top, correct? If so the orientation of your wood bed spacer "snowflake" is correct, but the newer onyx has 12 mounting holes, the solder pads are underneath near center and led heat indicator in the front. For those the snowflake needs rotated 30° to position led to front. Another benefit to rotating bed is the binder clips are not in line with towers making them easier to access.

What do you guys think, should I add holes for the wiring (maybe a slot would be better) or should I leave that up to your wire routing preference.

I think whatever requires drilling through metal is better done by someone who knows what they're doing, which is not me.

I want one of these and I'll probably get it in a month or two. Too much production going on right now to even consider tearing down the MAX.

bvandiepenbos wrote:What do you guys think, should I add holes for the wiring (maybe a slot would be better) or should I leave that up to your wire routing preference.

I agree with Pilot. Feel free to add a hole/slot on mine...will save me from destroying the frame trying to do it myself....lol

bvandiepenbos wrote:What do you guys think, should I add holes for the wiring (maybe a slot would be better) or should I leave that up to your wire routing preference.

A slot would be needed if you want to avoid cutting the stock limit switch wires. And, your machining process yields almost no burrs vs. a slightly dull drill bit. I think it would be best to add them.

bvandiepenbos wrote:I am thinking you must have the rev 1 Onyx heated bed with solder pads at the back on top, correct? If so the orientation of your wood bed spacer "snowflake" is correct, but the newer onyx has 12 mounting holes, the solder pads are underneath near center and led heat indicator in the front. For those the snowflake needs rotated 30° to position led to front. Another benefit to rotating bed is the binder clips are not in line with towers making them easier to access.

Thanks, good to know! So, if I was to upgrade later to a new Onyx, I would need to find or fabricate a new snow flake.

Brian, would you consider making a small wood kit with a triangular snow flake with a larger envelope to make supporting a heated build chamber easier as well?

ccavanaugh wrote:

bvandiepenbos wrote:I am thinking you must have the rev 1 Onyx heated bed with solder pads at the back on top, correct? If so the orientation of your wood bed spacer "snowflake" is correct, but the newer onyx has 12 mounting holes, the solder pads are underneath near center and led heat indicator in the front. For those the snowflake needs rotated 30° to position led to front. Another benefit to rotating bed is the binder clips are not in line with towers making them easier to access.

Thanks, good to know! So, if I was to upgrade later to a new Onyx, I would need to find or fabricate a new snow flake.

Brian, would you consider making a small wood kit with a triangular snow flake with a larger envelope to make supporting a heated build chamber easier as well?

The newer snowflake still has 6 holes and is the same shape except for a small notch at front for LED leads. It is not much, it would be easy to file the notch and still use the original snowflake. The snowflake shape is on SeeMe's github. https://github.com/seemecnc/RostockMAXv ... /CAD_FILES" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


Send me a .dxf of your larger snowflake design I will take a look. Keep in mind the melamine sheets are 18"x32", largest part we can cut is 17.5" x 31.5".
I already have several new products in process (besides machining current batch of MAX METAL frames) so I won't be able to get to cutting the enclosure piece any time soon. sorry.

bvandiepenbos wrote:

ccavanaugh wrote:

bvandiepenbos wrote:I am thinking you must have the rev 1 Onyx heated bed with solder pads at the back on top, correct? If so the orientation of your wood bed spacer "snowflake" is correct, but the newer onyx has 12 mounting holes, the solder pads are underneath near center and led heat indicator in the front. For those the snowflake needs rotated 30° to position led to front. Another benefit to rotating bed is the binder clips are not in line with towers making them easier to access.

Thanks, good to know! So, if I was to upgrade later to a new Onyx, I would need to find or fabricate a new snow flake.

Brian, would you consider making a small wood kit with a triangular snow flake with a larger envelope to make supporting a heated build chamber easier as well?

The newer snowflake still has 6 holes and is the same shape except for a small notch at front for LED leads. It is not much, it would be easy to file the notch and still use the original snowflake. The snowflake shape is on SeeMe's github. https://github.com/seemecnc/RostockMAXv ... /CAD_FILES" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


Send me a .dxf of your larger snowflake design I will take a look. Keep in mind the melamine sheets are 18"x32", largest part we can cut is 17.5" x 31.5".
I already have several new products in process (besides machining current batch of MAX METAL frames) so I won't be able to get to cutting the enclosure piece any time soon. sorry.

Thanks for the clarification and I understand the work load. According to the description of the r7 Onyx, it does include a new insulator which solves the bulk of the concern.

bvandiepenbos wrote:What do you guys think, should I add holes for the wiring (maybe a slot would be better) or should I leave that up to your wire routing preference.

Add my vote for a hole/slot for wiring... As other have said I would rather have it done by a machinist than having to work it out myself. Hopefully, it's integrated into the design before my frame ships .

I have a Dec '12 Max. The endstop wires are shorter than in later kits. Will I need to splice in some more wire for them if I get your kit?