Another Howdy from South Dakota!

[Harblar]

Hello all!

Another newbie joining the ranks, here! Just purchased a black V2 and it should be here on Monday. This will be my first 3d printer and I'm really looking forward to getting started. That being said, I'm also a little nervous about putting it together, but not too. I'm a tinkerer by nature. I've been building, overclocking, and modding my own Pc's for almost 15 years. I also enjoy modding my truck and numerous other diy projects. Looking to get into 3d printing for lots of different reasons. I've already got a few dozen projects floating around in my head. Everything from custom truck parts, to models, and even movie prop replicas. (Custom printed lightsaber parts will probably be one of my first projects!) hahaha.

Anyway, just wanted to say hi and give a little background about myself, as I'll probably be poking around and asking lots of questions in the next few weeks as I start getting things put together.

[Eaglezsoar]

Hi Harblar!
Welcome to the forum!
I bet you are excited about receiving your printer. It's always a pain to have to wait for it to arrive.
We will be here to answer all your questions and you can help others when you gain the knowledge.
You will have fun printing the parts for you truck and others but you will need to design the parts
with a Cad program.
Happy building and printing!

[Harblar]

It was suppose to be here yesterday, but UPS Ground is being slow! Lol Not a big deal. It gives me time this weekend to get my shop cleaned up, tools and other supplies lined up and organized, and a work center/stand for the printer built.

I'm not a complete stranger to CAD/3D modeling. I've been trying to teach myself various programs off and on for the last 20 years. I've dabbled with 3ds max, rhino cad, blender, sketchup, pro/engineer (very briefly), and a few other very basic programs. I wouldn't classify myself as more than a beginner in any of them, but with a 3d printer in hand I've got a lot more motivation to learn it fully. Currently I have Creo Direct Elements 6.0 downloaded. Since my main goal is mainly part design and what not, a CAD program that allows me to quickly draw a rough shape and then apply specific dimensions would be best. I'll probably get back into Blender for any organic models or features I need.

As far as the printer goes I'm planning on building an enclosure for it and eventually adding a heated acetone part cleaning station to the printer stand. Other mods besides that... Guess I'll figure it out as I go! Hahaha

[Hans]

Not TOO far away. Halfway between Watertown and Brookings here.

-Hans

[Harblar]

Right on! I've been following your build thread. Decided to go red with mine as well. Looks mean as hell!

Just started putting mine together this weekend. About all I have left is wiring up the Rambo and LCD and then loading the software.

Was going to follow your lead with the power supply as well, but I had a brand new 700 watt OCZ modular power supply sitting in the closet, so I went with that instead. My only mod (aside from painting) so far. I've been taking pictures throughout the process. Was planning on doing a build thread, but I'll probably have it done before I get the thread started! Hahaha

Can't wait to start printing some things out this week!

[Hans]

Right on! I've been following your build thread. Decided to go red with mine as well. Looks mean as hell!

Just started putting mine together this weekend. About all I have left is wiring up the Rambo and LCD and then loading the software.

Was going to follow your lead with the power supply as well, but I had a brand new 700 watt OCZ modular power supply sitting in the closet, so I went with that instead. My only mod (aside from painting) so far. I've been taking pictures throughout the process. Was planning on doing a build thread, but I'll probably have it done before I get the thread started! Hahaha

Can't wait to start printing some things out this week!

If you've already got a good modular, no sense in ripping it apart. I just figured since the Viotek came with the machine.... why not? I've already converted a few for bench use in the past.

If all you have left is connecting the Rambo, and loading the software, you're in the home stretch. Just don't rush it, take your time and follow the calibration instructions. You'll be printing in no time!

[Harblar]

Well... The rambo wiring went quicker and easier than I anticipated (except for the damn pin crimping! could of used another two or three set of hands for that. shoulda just soldered them in... hahaha)

Got everything hooked up and sealed up and started in on the software and calibration. Didn't take long tofigure out that the hotend wasn't working... :-\ Didn't take long to figureout that when I put the rambo in the support in the base it pulled the wires for the hotend out... perhaps I cut those a little short. No major problem. It only pulled the blackwire loose. I had that bundle zip tied, but it wasn't too hard to pull the black wire out and that gave me another 3-4 inches. I wired it back in and put everything back together. Working Hotend!

Only problem I have at the moment is the Heat bed LED won't light up... not a big deal as it's pretty dang easy to look at the LCD screen and see that, yes, the bed is above room temp. Still, this slightly annoys my OCD. hahaha I've got the rev6 Onyx. it's slightly different than the Rev5 in the manual, but I don't think I soldered or wired anything wrong... so maybe it's just a bad LED? Now that I've got it calibrated I'm hesitant to remove the bed in order to troubleshoot it. Oh well.

The only other issue I have is Repetier Host crashing every other time I try to access the EEPROM settings (also, sometimes it only shows part of the settings requiring me to cancel out and access it again, which, 50% of the time, causes a program crash). Argh, frustrating! Anyway, finally got the temps and endstops calibrated with everything showing nice and level. Loaded up the filament and the PEEK fan shroud model into SLIC3R, Loaded the ABS config and sliced the model, and went to start the job only to realize... no disappearing purple glue sticks for sticking it to the glass!!! GYAR!!! 11pm by this point so... I put down a layer of masking tape and spray it with a little bit of loctite spray adhesive (not overly optimistic that stuff is going to work.) I start the print and... nothing happens. I wait 5 minutes and the bed and nozzle temps refuse to come up. I kill the job and start it again. nothing. I try to send some manual commands. nothing. I try to disconnect the printer. "Your heating elements are still on. Want to to turn those off?" Yes. "nope." Obviously another software issue with repetier host. I finally had to kill it from the task manager. I then disconnected the usb and cycled the power on the printer. I reconnected everything and reloaded and sliced the model. This time it rehomed and started heating things up. Everything hit the correct temp and the print finally started... and instantly failed. the tape made the build platform just a hair (literally) too high and the loctite didn't stick anything. I'm sure there is an offset in the program somewhere to compensate for the added height of the tape but it was 11:30 by this point and I just said to hell with it. Pulled the tape and just tried printing on the glass. Amazingly, it stuck! for 7 layers... lmao. I didn't expect it to hold for the whole print, I just basically wanted to make sure it was actually going to lay the bead and whatnot.

Anyway, end result... It prints!!! I'll go out and get some glue today and by tonight I should have at least a couple of finished prints!

[Eaglezsoar]

Well... The rambo wiring went quicker and easier than I anticipated (except for the damn pin crimping! could of used another two or three set of hands for that. shoulda just soldered them in... hahaha)

Got everything hooked up and sealed up and started in on the software and calibration. Didn't take long tofigure out that the hotend wasn't working... :-\ Didn't take long to figureout that when I put the rambo in the support in the base it pulled the wires for the hotend out... perhaps I cut those a little short. No major problem. It only pulled the blackwire loose. I had that bundle zip tied, but it wasn't too hard to pull the black wire out and that gave me another 3-4 inches. I wired it back in and put everything back together. Working Hotend!

Only problem I have at the moment is the Heat bed LED won't light up... not a big deal as it's pretty dang easy to look at the LCD screen and see that, yes, the bed is above room temp. Still, this slightly annoys my OCD. hahaha I've got the rev6 Onyx. it's slightly different than the Rev5 in the manual, but I don't think I soldered or wired anything wrong... so maybe it's just a bad LED? Now that I've got it calibrated I'm hesitant to remove the bed in order to troubleshoot it. Oh well.

The only other issue I have is Repetier Host crashing every other time I try to access the EEPROM settings (also, sometimes it only shows part of the settings requiring me to cancel out and access it again, which, 50% of the time, causes a program crash). Argh, frustrating! Anyway, finally got the temps and endstops calibrated with everything showing nice and level. Loaded up the filament and the PEEK fan shroud model into SLIC3R, Loaded the ABS config and sliced the model, and went to start the job only to realize... no disappearing purple glue sticks for sticking it to the glass!!! GYAR!!! 11pm by this point so... I put down a layer of masking tape and spray it with a little bit of loctite spray adhesive (not overly optimistic that stuff is going to work.) I start the print and... nothing happens. I wait 5 minutes and the bed and nozzle temps refuse to come up. I kill the job and start it again. nothing. I try to send some manual commands. nothing. I try to disconnect the printer. "Your heating elements are still on. Want to to turn those off?" Yes. "nope." Obviously another software issue with repetier host. I finally had to kill it from the task manager. I then disconnected the usb and cycled the power on the printer. I reconnected everything and reloaded and sliced the model. This time it rehomed and started heating things up. Everything hit the correct temp and the print finally started... and instantly failed. the tape made the build platform just a hair (literally) too high and the loctite didn't stick anything. I'm sure there is an offset in the program somewhere to compensate for the added height of the tape but it was 11:30 by this point and I just said to hell with it. Pulled the tape and just tried printing on the glass. Amazingly, it stuck! for 7 layers... lmao. I didn't expect it to hold for the whole print, I just basically wanted to make sure it was actually going to lay the bead and whatnot.

Anyway, end result... It prints!!! I'll go out and get some glue today and by tonight I should have at least a couple of finished prints!

The most likely cause of the led not working is that it was soldered on backwards.

[Harblar]

Could be. I could have sworn I had the long lead on the positive pad for both of them when I soldered. Oh well... Like I said before, not a huge deal for me.

Bought a whole bunch of Glue sticks today and got the shroud printed. Turned out great!! First layer is going down perfect!!! Completely flat and even. The whole print went smooth and the finished product looked good!

Next up I designed a replacement oven knob (been using a pair of pliers to turn them on for the last two years) I was able to print two in about an hour and a half, though I had few problems... accidentally got the infill set at 0. Doh! So naturally the top of the knob didn't come out so good. Problem two: abs shrinkage! The hole in the knob for the post on the oven has to fit tight in order to turn the oven on and set temperature. I designed the model with specific dimensions, but once printed they were smaller than they were suppose to be. The outer dimensions were close, but there was no way the center hole would fit on the post. I scaled it up by 1.06 and printed the first few layers (just to test fit it). About perfect for the hole, but the out dimensions are going to be too big. (I can live with that) Anyway, so I'm sure there's further calibrating and software/firmware settings that need to be tweaked. At least I'm starting to get a feel for the process.

And on to the third note... for the life of me, I can't get the peek fan to run. I've got it wired to the rambo exactly as it shows in the manual. the fan seems to spin freely if I move it by hand (even in the shroud, which is a little tight). I'm pretty sure I've got power to the fan leads since I managed to accidently short the connection when testing it with my ammeter, which blew one of those rice grain fuses. Doh! (what size do I need to have on hand for replacing those and where would I be able to find them locally? Radio Shack?) any way, I'd happened to see a temporary fix for this issue earlier today before this happened, so I soldered a blade fuse onto the burned out rice grain ends and reinstalled it. Back up and running! Still no Peek fan, though. Even tried pluggin it into the layer fan line and still couldn't get it to spin. Tomorrow I'll take the spare power supply I've got and see if that'll spin the fan... maybe it's just a bad fan. if it is it might be a good excuse to print a 40mm shroud and by another Scythe Mini Kaze (like I got for the rambo). hahaha

[Eaglezsoar]

Could be. I could have sworn I had the long lead on the positive pad for both of them when I soldered. Oh well... Like I said before, not a huge deal for me.

Bought a whole bunch of Glue sticks today and got the shroud printed. Turned out great!! First layer is going down perfect!!! Completely flat and even. The whole print went smooth and the finished product looked good!

Next up I designed a replacement oven knob (been using a pair of pliers to turn them on for the last two years) I was able to print two in about an hour and a half, though I had few problems... accidentally got the infill set at 0. Doh! So naturally the top of the knob didn't come out so good. Problem two: abs shrinkage! The hole in the knob for the post on the oven has to fit tight in order to turn the oven on and set temperature. I designed the model with specific dimensions, but once printed they were smaller than they were suppose to be. The outer dimensions were close, but there was no way the center hole would fit on the post. I scaled it up by 1.06 and printed the first few layers (just to test fit it). About perfect for the hole, but the out dimensions are going to be too big. (I can live with that) Anyway, so I'm sure there's further calibrating and software/firmware settings that need to be tweaked. At least I'm starting to get a feel for the process.

And on to the third note... for the life of me, I can't get the peek fan to run. I've got it wired to the rambo exactly as it shows in the manual. the fan seems to spin freely if I move it by hand (even in the shroud, which is a little tight). I'm pretty sure I've got power to the fan leads since I managed to accidently short the connection when testing it with my ammeter, which blew one of those rice grain fuses. Doh! (what size do I need to have on hand for replacing those and where would I be able to find them locally? Radio Shack?) any way, I'd happened to see a temporary fix for this issue earlier today before this happened, so I soldered a blade fuse onto the burned out rice grain ends and reinstalled it. Back up and running! Still no Peek fan, though. Even tried pluggin it into the layer fan line and still couldn't get it to spin. Tomorrow I'll take the spare power supply I've got and see if that'll spin the fan... maybe it's just a bad fan. if it is it might be a good excuse to print a 40mm shroud and by another Scythe Mini Kaze (like I got for the rambo). hahaha

You normally cannot buy the fuses locally, most of us have to order them.
The specs on the Rambo board say that 5 or 10 amp fuses can be used and I prefer the 10 amp.
I will give a link to the proper part on Mouser.com but be sure to buy a few of these, it is nice to have spares. The link: Part # 576-0448010.MR which are 10 amp fuses from Mouser.com
Ebay has some 7AMP that should fit for a great price:http://www.ebay.com/itm/LittleFuse-7A-1 ... 5d49103198

[Harblar]

Thanks for the link! I went with the 7 amp ones on ebay. 20 for $9. Cant go wrong with that seeing as it was going to be over $40 shipped for 10 on amazon! Yikes! Mouser wasn't bad, but still $15 shipped for 10. If I really need the 10 amp ones I'll go there, I guess. Thanks a lot!

[Eaglezsoar]

Thanks for the link! I went with the 7 amp ones on ebay. 20 for $9. Cant go wrong with that seeing as it was going to be over $40 shipped for 10 on amazon! Yikes! Mouser wasn't bad, but still $15 shipped for 10. If I really need the 10 amp ones I'll go there, I guess. Thanks a lot!

Yep, Ebay is my go to source for many items, I always click on the USA button and buy now buttons while searching. Can find some great deals.

[lightninjay]

If Repetier-host crashes on you regularly while trying to read/write EEPROM settings, you might try lowering your Baud Rate. It worked for me on my Windows 7 x64 machine. Something about the default baud rates were freaking my computer out and once I lowered them to 230400, it worked fine. 57600 is for if you're really desperate and need things to work; it's what I run on both my Arch linux x32 and Windows 7 x64 to get my V2 to connect. On my linux box, it only crashes after trying to WRITE the EEPROM more than once without closing and reopening Repetier-host, but reading it always displays the correct information. I did indeed encounter the skewed EEPROM info if the Baud Rate was too high for my computer to handle.