Welcome to the SeeMeCNC Community

This is the led strip that I ended up buying but I'd also seen a few on eBay.

http://amzn.com/B002QQ48TK

Thanks. Did you just run straight to 12v on the PSU, or do you have it setup so you can turn them on/off via a switch?

I installed one of those circular push-to-kill switches next to the LCD panel and just use that to turn the printer on and off instead of the on/off switch that came with the kit. I mounted the kit's on/off switch in the hole to the left of the LCD that is labeled "light" and use that for the LED lights. But they stay on most of the time.

I discovered that I broke my extruder head. The (ceramic?) tube in the middle of it cracked and I suspect it was from one of the time the head was grinding into the platform.

When I went to put together my new extruder head, I decided not to use the RTV silicone this time. I just used silicone tape for everything and it came out great. One benefit is that you don't have to wait for it to cure and can put it straight into use. I even wrapped the resistors in a little bit of the silicone instead of using Aluminum foil. The tape seems to also deflect the 25mm fan's output away from the end of the head and onto the part that needs to be cooled. I should have taken pictures of it as I was putting it together but here is the final product.

I got the EZstruder today and installed it. I ended up putting it together 3 or 4 times trying to get the recessed holes in the melamine to lineup right but it doesn't look like it's possible. It runs very quietly compared to Steve's Extruder. Feeding in new filament is very easy and you don't really have to see into the hole to feed it correctly. Just stick it in the hole and it'll find it's way to the right spot. From the initial tests, it looks like I'm getting my best prints yet.

The updated EEProm "Extr.1 Steps per mm" setting that I came up with for it was 91.0 mm. I'd be interested in finding out what other's have found for that setting.

Yea! Now I'm now able to use retraction without worrying that the extruder would self destruct.

jetpad wrote:I got the EZstruder today and installed it. I ended up putting it together 3 or 4 times trying to get the recessed holes in the melamine to lineup right but it doesn't look like it's possible. It runs very quietly compared to Steve's Extruder. Feeding in new filament is very easy and you don't really have to see into the hole to feed it correctly. Just stick it in the hole and it'll find it's way to the right spot. From the initial tests, it looks like I'm getting my best prints yet.

The updated EEProm "Extr.1 Steps per mm" setting that I came up with for it was 91.0 mm. I'd be interested in finding out what other's have found for that setting.

Yea! Now I'm now able to use retraction without worrying that the extruder would self destruct.

IMG_2178.jpg

Yay! We mounted it the same way!! My steps per are at 92.68. Damn close.

Edit: Got the exact s/mm.

Is it possible to reuse the stepper motor from Steve's extruder in the EZstruder?

jesse wrote:Is it possible to reuse the stepper motor from Steve's extruder in the EZstruder?

Yeah, as long as you didn't have to alter the shaft in some way.

Does the EZstruder come with mounting bracket? And do you all feel this is the extruder to use, rather than the Steve's?

It did come with a bracket printed in the black melamine. I reused the mounting screws and nuts from Steve's along with the stepper motor. It took a little effort to get the friction fit gear off the stepper motor. EZStruder is definitely much better than Steve's. But I do still seem to have a problem with the EZstruder at the moment. I'm printing in PLA and every-so-often it acts like it is slipping (maybe from the pressure of pushing the filament being to great?). There doesn't seem to be anything to adjust on it so I'm not sure how to fix the problem.

Well, I had an extra stepper motor (actually) three of them of the same model number from a Shapeoko kit that I haven't put together yet. I replaced the stepper with the Shapeoko motor and I'm no longer getting the slipping. So.... that also explains why I was getting "slipping" with Steve's Extruder for about a week that I couldn't get rid of no matter how much I tightened or adjusted things.

I took the bad stepper apart and this one doesn't seem to be the kind with any gears in it. I didn't see anything that looked obviously wrong with it and no grinded parts came out.

Edit: Unfortunately I'm still getting some occasional slipping with the new stepper motor. I guess they'd slip if there wasn't enough torque in some cases. Is that an EEProm setting I should change?

jetpad wrote:Well, I had an extra stepper motor (actually) three of them of the same model number from a Shapeoko kit that I haven't put together yet. I replaced the stepper with the Shapeoko motor and I'm no longer getting the slipping. So.... that also explains why I was getting "slipping" with Steve's Extruder for about a week that I couldn't get rid of no matter how much I tightened or adjusted things.

I took the bad stepper apart and this one doesn't seem to be the kind with any gears in it. I didn't see anything that looked obviously wrong with it and no grinded parts came out.

Edit: Unfortunately I'm still getting some occasional slipping with the new stepper motor. I guess they'd slip if there wasn't enough torque in some cases. Is that an EEProm setting I should change?

You could try to increase or decrease the digipot setting for the extruder motor. IIRC motors will slip/lose steps becuase there is not enough current going to them, or becuase the driver is getting hot and momentarily dropping out. Do you have heatsinks on your Rambo, or a fan blowing on it?

No, I don't have heat sinks or a fan blowing on the board. Does it matter if the actual stepper motor gets hot? Would it ever need a heat sink?

Edit: I ordered some heat sinks and stuck a fan in the case blowing on the Rambo board and the "slipping" has disappeared! I haven't touched the Digipot settings.

jetpad wrote:No, I don't have heat sinks or a fan blowing on the board. Does it matter if the actual stepper motor gets hot? Would it ever need a heat sink?

Edit: I ordered some heat sinks and stuck a fan in the case blowing on the Rambo board and the "slipping" has disappeared! I haven't touched the Digipot settings.

Yeah, heat destroys most things electronic eventually. In the case of motors, I believe it leads to premature failure of the windings. Possibly the varnish coating the wires, just a guess. There are several nema 17 fan mounts available on thingiverse.

Personal experience tells me they have to get awfully hot before things go south with any speed. I had a motor on my MM that got so hot after a 7 hour print I couldn't touch it for long. I discovered that my pot (physical) was turned up. I also realized that I never really tuned any of them. That motor is still chugging along just fine.

Most Nema 17 motors are rated for continuous operation at 80C, I'd bet yours is much less than that, my direct drive extruder motor runs around 50C.

I got sick of the bed taking forever to heat up. This morning, it was a little cooler in the house and I couldn't get the bed up to 80C no matter how long I waited. So I scavenged another part from my Shapeoko CNC kit that I haven't put together yet. I took its 24 volt power supply and I'm now using it to power the bed. It really made a dramatic difference in the prints. The bed stays hot the whole time while I'm printing and there is much less of a problem with the ABS not sticking to the platform or curling up on the edges. Before, I couldn't get it to heat up to 80C and now the bed will heat up to 90C faster than the hot-end gets to its temperature. Also, I think the quality of the prints is much better but I may just be deceiving myself. I think that the bed was using up so much power that it was taking it away from the stepper motors and causing some of the imperfections in the prints. I've got the bed power supply plugged into a Kill-a-watt meter and it is using about 430 watts just by itself when the bed cranks up to 100%.