Greetings from Maryland

[rehabmax]

Hello to everyone and Happy New Year.
After looking around for a 3D printer for over a year i have decided on the Rostock max v2. I am just about ready to order the kit. Any tips on the soldering would be appreciated. I will buy a new soldering iron for the project. is it best to use thin solder like 0.3 or 0.6 mm for the connections? i am not a computer engineer but I think i can tackle the kit since the instructions appear very clear. The build time will not be anywhere close to 20 hours for me, likely much longer since i will be very careful at each step. The Delta design, large build volume, heated bed are all attributes that i want in a printer.

Should i order a spool of ABS and PLA at the same time with the printer? Does all the calibrating need to be done with a Windows computer?

Any suggestions from people who have built the Rostock Max v2 would be most welcome.

i hope this will be a great experience and result in a very useful and functional 3D printer for me in 2015.

[jdurand]

We're a professional electronics company and my current favorite soldering iron is a Hakko FX-888. The analog version we have is discontinued and it's now the FX-888D with digital readout. Personally I like the analog one better.

We also have a MetCal high-end station but that's hardly used now, the Hakko is our go-to iron.

As for solder, we have a couple of sizes. My wife prefers really fine stuff, I use 22 gauge solder.

You'll need to print some parts in ABS, so you'll want at least a small spool.

[KAS]

I have a Hakko FX951, but honestly with the very little soldering that is needed for assembly you can get away with a cheapo radio-shack iron and any size solder.

"unless" you need a reason to justify a spiffy new station to the wife that is


Mattercontrol will work on windows/mac/linux
http://www.matterhackers.com/articles/m ... ng-started

[BenTheRighteous]

I promise that you will not be able to solder the leads to the heated bed with a cheapo soldering iron.

[jdurand]

If all you have is a low power soldering iron, you can pre-heat the board (WITHOUT LED) to solder on the heater wires. I have a board heater here that's essentially an expensive hair blow dryer mounted in a box to aim up at the bottom of the board. It also has a temperature controller in it.

But, anything you can do will help but don't burn your hand when soldering by leaning on the board!

Preheat temperature for a pc board would normally be 300F or so, a blow dryer doesn't get that hot but would help.

Don't heat the board any longer than you need to solder it, then let it cool. Don't FAST cool it, just let it sit there with the heat off.

[jram]

Hi rehabmax, great choice on the Max v2, you'll love this printer! I got some great input on here before making my order. A few of the things that really helped me..
Many on the forum recommended upgrading the PEEK fan immediately, they also recommend upgrading the Rambo fan, I did both and haven't had any problems as of yet. I ordered both of mine from Jamesco, I also ordered a few squirrel cage fans for PLA layer cooling.I think the total was under 15.00. You may already know to order some Kapton tape but wanted to mention just to be sure.
One more thing I found out a bit later, When you're prepping your hot end at the beginning of the build, don't be light on the application of the tape, the better you wrap, the better your hot end will maintain it's target temp.

And yes, you'll need ABS for the PEEK fan shroud.You may also find that you'll want a layer fan shroud if you're going to print PLA.. so it's nice to have some ABS around for that purpose.

[jdurand]

Depending on where you're going to have the printer and how much it's going to be running, you may want to invest in a set of motor dampers. These are easiest to put on during the first assembly (put mine on today). AstroBoy here sells them in sets of 3.

Also, look at the brand of motors in the kit. If you have Kysan motors, you WILL need to reset the current levels in the firmware so the motors don't get hot enough to fry eggs.

[beilmandesign]

I will buy a new soldering iron for the project. is it best to use thin solder like 0.3 or 0.6 mm for the connections?

I used a 40 watt soldering iron and 22ga solder successfully for all connections with my recent build. Good luck & keep the questions coming. The guys here were a fantastic asset; helping me through all of mine.

[KAS]

This would work perfectly and what I consider a cheapo. Maybe I took my hakko for granted on the heating plate, but I really didn't notice anything different.

http://www.amazon.com/Aoyue-Variable-So ... ng+station

[BenTheRighteous]

Yup, that would probably do the job. I tried to use a 30 or 40w (can't remember exactly) soldering iron (a standalone wand, not the station variety) and the thermal mass of the plate completely overwhelmed the tool. That was pretty frustrating, but I got around it by adding heat with a windproof lighter. It worked, but I would've rather had the right tool for the job to start with!

[rehabmax]

Wow, I really appreciate all the great suggestions. Fan upgrades and don't use a cheapo soldering iron. Good point on being generous with the Kapton tape wrapping on the hot end assembly. Being generous with the Permatex silicone application would seem to be good also.

Amazon sells the Kapton tape and the temperature Permatex silicone. The Hakko soldering iron FX888 is on Amazon as well. I will check out the fan upgrades and motor dampers.

i am sure I will have many more questions once the kit arrives. I'm going for the Black style. A roll of PLA and a roll of ABS.

I am already getting requests for items to make. A friend wants a pool filter part that is no longer made. Possibilities are so vast.