Goodbye Orion

[briankb]

Seriously considering, what do you mean by a clunky Z-Axis end stop adjustment? What is clunky about it is what I guess I am asking.

The Z-Axis end stop is behind the left z-axis coupler and you can't quite get a straight or even bent allen wrench to it. It also has two M3 screws, and they are only fitted in the slot loosely. Any movement can make the switch go up or down and throw off your carefully made adjustments, which also make it hard to do very fine adjustments. It also may not go down far enough and you may have to expand the slot that is cut into the acrylic down about 2-3mm.

So what I finally did that makes it better, not great, just better -- I located the spot on the X-axis mount where the Z-axis switch was making contact and added a M3 screw/nut. I heated up a nut and pushed it directly into the ABS printed part. Let it dry and now i have an adjustable z-axis via a single screw. It allows fine adjustments too and gives you better repeatability.

The wire for the thermocoupler for the hotend is about 6" too short so go ahead and extend it by splicing in a section of wire between the connection and temp thermocoupler. I had to do this after it was all setup and ziptied... And last the part of the filmanet guide on the extruder doesn't have much to guide the filament into the hotend itself. What I did was take a small pc of 1.75mm filament and tacked it onto the edge to help me guide the filament. It will make sense once you have it assembled and keep seeing the filament poke out towards the back instead of into the hot end. I've been looking for a better extruder design but for now my little quick fix is working well.

Over all I think it's a good little machine for the parts included. The board is good and has a extension ports specificaly for the LCD which has a SD card reader on back.

I'll do another thread when I get a chance to go over the pro's, con's and tweaks I've made so far. At $255 I can't see how it's a bad deal unless the parts just die within a few months. I like the prusa i3 design and I want to make another one with a solid metal frame.

[Eaglezsoar]

Seriously considering, what do you mean by a clunky Z-Axis end stop adjustment? What is clunky about it is what I guess I am asking.

The Z-Axis end stop is behind the left z-axis coupler and you can't quite get a straight or even bent allen wrench to it. It also has two M3 screws, and they are only fitted in the slot loosely. Any movement can make the switch go up or down and throw off your carefully made adjustments, which also make it hard to do very fine adjustments. It also may not go down far enough and you may have to expand the slot that is cut into the acrylic down about 2-3mm.

So what I finally did that makes it better, not great, just better -- I located the spot on the X-axis mount where the Z-axis switch was making contact and added a M3 screw/nut. I heated up a nut and pushed it directly into the ABS printed part. Let it dry and now i have an adjustable z-axis via a single screw. It allows fine adjustments too and gives you better repeatability.

The wire for the thermocoupler for the hotend is about 6" too short so go ahead and extend it by splicing in a section of wire between the connection and temp thermocoupler. I had to do this after it was all setup and ziptied... And last the part of the filmanet guide on the extruder doesn't have much to guide the filament into the hotend itself. What I did was take a small pc of 1.75mm filament and tacked it onto the edge to help me guide the filament. It will make sense once you have it assembled and keep seeing the filament poke out towards the back instead of into the hot end. I've been looking for a better extruder design but for now my little quick fix is working well.

Over all I think it's a good little machine for the parts included. The board is good and has a extension ports specificaly for the LCD which has a SD card reader on back.

I'll do another thread when I get a chance to go over the pro's, con's and tweaks I've made so far. At $255 I can't see how it's a bad deal unless the parts just die within a few months. I like the prusa i3 design and I want to make another one with a solid metal frame.

Thanks for the detailed response. After what you have written, it does sound like a good printer for the money. I have a friend that does not have much money and this would be great for him as a starter machine and I can get him to save his money and
buy a Rostock V3 which should be out by then. By the time he can save the money for a Rostock he will already have a great deal of printer knowledge, gcode. slicers, etc. Thanks again for the link and I did see them on sale for $255.
Again, thank you!

[ramai]

A fine printer you've built there. Some good work it seems. Are you willing to share your 3d printed files or are they available somewhere?
Your video seems to have silenced the critics. Well done!

[Eaglezsoar]

Holy1, after reading all of this thread and seeing the video, It is my belief that you built a great printer there.
Simple yet very effective. Good luck with your new printer!

[Holy1]

Holy1, after reading all of this thread and seeing the video, It is my belief that you built a great printer there.
Simple yet very effective. Good luck with your new printer!

. Thanks Eaglezsoar

A fine printer you've built there. Some good work it seems. Are you willing to share your 3d printed files or are they available somewhere?
Your video seems to have silenced the critics. Well done!

Thanks Ramai, it has been working great. I do not have a list of 3D files posted anywhere. I have made running changes so the files have been changing too. I was planning on putting a list together later this winter and posting them on the openbuilds website.

Happy printing!!