Kraken thread

[mhackney]

I thought it might be interesting to start a thread for the E3D Kraken 4 nozzle, water cooled head. I have one on order and will hopefully squeak in the January first shipment. I've already started work on the mounting system and looking into modyfying my firmware. I know I can do 2 extruder printing since I started down that path back in April. Not sure what's out there to support 3 or 4 nozzles in terms of hardware or firmware so let's use this thread to discuss.

Let's get 'kracken!

cheers,
Michael

[Flateric]

I'm supposed to be beta'ing this head as well. Can't wait.

Water cooling is an important improvement to progress here I believe.

[mhackney]

I agree, I'm looking forward to the water cooling and a very small hot zone! I've been thinking about a water cooling jacket for the SeeMeCNC and J-Head hot ends. Although they might benefit, they aren't really designed to maximize water cooling efficiency and minimizing the hot zone, but we'll see!

Cheers,
Michael

[Eaglezsoar]

I've been thinking about the Kraken but does anyone think that having the extra weight of the water filled hoses on the effector could be a detriment?
Also, what board is currently available that will accept 5 thermistors?

[mhackney]

Starting to do some research on controllers and software that supports 3 or more extruders. Came across theses:

Azteeg X3 - supports 4 extruders.

RUMBA - supports 3 extruders.

This is going to be the wild, wild west all over again!

cheers,
Michael

[Flateric]

I have both these boards, the Xteeg is a nicer product but the rumba is easier to connect the extra motors and hotends too.

[mhackney]

What firmware supports these boards and does the firmware support 3 - 4 extruders?

thanks,
Michael

[Eaglezsoar]

What firmware supports these boards and does the firmware support 3 - 4 extruders?

thanks,
Michael

Most of the flavors of Repetier support the Rumba and the Xteeq.
There is something called the smoothie board that is here: http://smoothieware.org/smoothieboard
The problems all of these boards have is the inability to accept 5 thermistors but the heatbed could
be controlled by an independent system with a thermocouple.

[mhackney]

Thanks Eaglezsoar. I've seen the Smoothieboard but it only supports 5 steppers so would be limited to 2 extruders. It has lots of break-outs so maybe additional drivers could be added. I'm trying to find the best platform now so I don't have to spend an inordinate amount of time on the electronics!

cheers,
Michael

[Eaglezsoar]

Thanks Eaglezsoar. I've seen the Smoothieboard but it only supports 5 steppers so would be limited to 2 extruders. It has lots of break-outs so maybe additional drivers could be added. I'm trying to find the best platform now so I don't have to spend an inordinate amount of time on the electronics!

cheers,
Michael

I still think the biggest problem is to find a board that supports the 4 extruders plus the heatbed. To find one that supports 5 thermistors will be nearly impossible and the heatbed
would have to be independently controlled.

[mhackney]

"and the heated would have to be independently controlled."

Like the good old days of the H-1!

cheers,
Michael

[Flateric]

The current version of repetier runs on both of those boards, the xteeg also supports thermocouples directly on its board giving you 4 thermistors + 2 thermocouples.

Current version of repetier also supports up to 6 hotends.

[Eaglezsoar]

The current version of repetier runs on both of those boards, the xteeg also supports thermocouples directly on its board giving you 4 thermistors + 2 thermocouples.

Current version of repetier also supports up to 6 hotends.

This looks like the best board for the Kraken so far.
But it looks like it does not support 4 hotends unless my old eyes don't see as good as they used too.

[mhackney]

The "header" board for the xteeg has expansion capabilities that look like it might be expandable to support the extruders and hot ends. Not sure if that is possible with off the shelf stuff yet though. Need to do more research.

Cheers,
Michael

[Eaglezsoar]

See this board: http://blog.think3dprint3d.com/2013/12/ ... oller.html

[bubbasnow]

See this board: http://blog.think3dprint3d.com/2013/12/ ... oller.html

that looks like it should do it except 2.5A max for those steppers but the RAMBo does 5A.

Arduino released a while ago the Intel Galileo, it has 400Mhz (vs 84Mhz of the due) but it only has 6pwm.

[mhackney]

Yeah, I came across that one. Very hot off the press. No delta support yet. I also did not see an available expansion board that adds support for the 4 extra extruders, hot ends and thermistors. But, the price for the board is not bad and it is loaded with goodies!

cheers,
Michael

[Eaglezsoar]

Yeah, I came across that one. Very hot off the press. No delta support yet. I also did not see an available expansion board that adds support for the 4 extra extruders, hot ends and thermistors. But, the price for the board is not bad and it is loaded with goodies!

cheers,
Michael

Someone would have to call them to see what the availability of the expansion board. As is the case of all boards hot off the presses firmware support will be the limiting factor.

[mhackney]

Turns out the Azteeg X3 with the included 1.1 top cover does support 4 extruders, hot ends, thermistors as well as mosfets and thermistor for a heated bed and fans. Check out this data sheet.

The main board has 3 thermistor inputs and the top cover has two thermistor inputs and two optional thermocouple inputs.

Given that the Azteeg X3 has a bit of following and is supported in Repetier firmware (as well as Marlin and Sprinter), it looks like the best (only?) off-the-shelf available option for running a 4 extruder Rostock. I'm going to order one tomorrow.

cheers,
Michael

[Eaglezsoar]

I would like to order one also but I am not to happy about that shipping charge from England. The thing ways 2 pounds or less I am going to spend over $50 to ship it?
I do have one question, I am not very good at the software side of things and I wonder if one of you guys would help me to get the Kraken working on my Max?
I will also have problems figuring out where and how to mound 4 extruders up on top and a way to fit 4 spools up there also. I have no idea how 4 spools would fit on top
and would like to see someone's ideas on an image to see how they propose to do that. I guess what I am saying is that if I invest this kind of money on the Kraken and a new
board will you guys help me make sure it works. For me that is a lot of money because I am on a fixed income. I have the money and I want to do this but I don't want to waste
it because I can't get it to work.

On the card is the screw terminal option the best to buy or the vertical headers? Also don't forget you have to order all the driver modules if I'm not mistaken. Thats another thing
how do the driver modules connect to the cover shield? I await an answer to these questions.

[mhackney]

It's a US company based in CA. I just checked out shipping to MA and it is $8.40 via USPS Priority. What are you looking at?

Like always, I'm happy to write up and share my info. I'm not sure yet if my Kraken will ship in January or the second batch in March.

I was planning to mount 3 EZStruders under the top plate and the fourth hanging off the edge of the top plate or using the original Rostock "arm". As for spools, as long as they have a clear path to the extruder and can rotate freely, they don't have to be up top. I might suspend mine from the ceiling like I used to do with my H-1. Or, I could put 3 up top and the other on the arm. I actually have two arms so I could do 2 and 2. Lot's of options. You could even respool to smaller spools.

No promises on "making sure it works". No one has even seen a Kraken yet so there are no guarantees. If money is a consideration, I would recommend waiting until at least one person has been successful! There are no guarantees on the cutting edge. Have you got two extruders working yet? Might be a good place to start if not.

I am planning to go with the vertical headers on mine. I like to be able to disconnect quickly if needed. The vertical headers look like they would be easier to route the wiring with.

And yes, you do have to order the drivers. They are $11.50 each and seven of them will be needed. Another option to get started and figure out logistics incrementally would be to get the Kraken installed and only use two of the hot ends and two extruders. You could do this with RAMBo. Then, once you have the Kraken mounted and understand the software for 2 hot ends/extruders, you can then move over to the Azteeg and even go incremental with that - start with two extruders, then three and then four. Frankly, I haven't seen any slicers that can handle four extruders yet. I intended to do some hand coding on some of the simple 2-1/2D parts I plan to make.

[Eaglezsoar]

Thank you for the reply, I never thought of using the ceiling to support filament.
Do you have any understanding how the two drivers connect to the top cover shield?
I was talking about shipping on the Kraken.

[mhackney]

The PDF that I linked to a couple of posts up has the pin outs for the driver interface on the top cover. This is very similar to the way we interfaced the extruder drover to the old parallel interface on the H-1. Basically, you connect the step/dir lines and power and ground and enable to the driver. There is a PDF for the driver on their site as well. This part should be relatively straight forward. The top cover also has support for current setting in firmware. Not a bad setup.

cheers,
Michael

[Eaglezsoar]

The PDF that I linked to a couple of posts up has the pin outs for the driver interface on the top cover. This is very similar to the way we interfaced the extruder drover to the old parallel interface on the H-1. Basically, you connect the step/dir lines and power and ground and enable to the driver. There is a PDF for the driver on their site as well. This part should be relatively straight forward. The top cover also has support for current setting in firmware. Not a bad setup.

cheers,
Michael

Thanks, Michael. I will look at the PDF's a little closer. Did I tell you that it's good to have you back?

[Flateric]

Do yourself a favor however and order the Viki LCD as well when you place your order.

It's a really nice LCD and the only one that easily connects to the xteeg. It also has a few other features that no other LCD panel offers.