My first 3D Printer is a Rostock Max -- Build Log From Maine

[AndThenSome09]

So the adventure begins, well not really yet, but I did just order my Rostock Max and paid for the 2 day shipping so I'll get it this week coming up!!!

Im so excited, I have wanted a Rostock Max FOREVER!!! In order to convince my wife I had to sell a bunch of my so called "junk" on eBay in order to get the funds. Much faster than I thought, a week and a half and ive got my Max ordered! This is like a dream come true!

Now my wife says I have to not forget about her and the kids when my kit gets here and I start the build, but how could that happen, seems like every time I sit down to a new project I hear "PAUL!!!!, I NEED (insert your favorite whatever here)!". So I wont forget them but I'm sure I will have a case of selective hearing loss if you know what I mean.

So here it is, the order:
[img]http://pkinsman.com/RostockMaxOrder.jpg[/img]

So this will serve as my build log location over the next few weeks probably while I wait for and build my brand new Black Rostock Max!!

Cant wait to get started!!!

[Eaglezsoar]

You sound a little excited. You will enjoy building your kit, maybe get your kids involved with the build they will learn a lot.
Don't forget to take pictures, we love pictures!

[AndThenSome09]

I am, very much so! Don't worry I'll include lots of pictures and probably a few videos as well.

I don't know if I could get my kids interested in helping me build it at all, at 11 and 14 Dad's projects just don't seem to be as cool to them anymore, who knows maybe this will be the one they are interested in, I hadn't even thought of getting them involved with it, thanks for the good advice!

[Eaglezsoar]

I am, very much so! Don't worry I'll include lots of pictures and probably a few videos as well.

I don't know if I could get my kids interested in helping me build it at all, at 11 and 14 Dad's projects just don't seem to be as cool to them anymore, who knows maybe this will be the one they are interested in, I hadn't even thought of getting them involved with it, thanks for the good advice!

Show them a YouTube video of it in action, if they are interested in Science at all they will say that's Cool and they will want to help.
Or they will shrug their shoulders, ask for $5 and disappear.

[AndThenSome09]

How do you know my kids???! lol

[AndThenSome09]

If I use CAT 5e cable to extend the wiring would that work? Doubling up the wires to ensure good flow? Just thought it may look neater with the blue wires. Let me know your thoughts, will it be able to withstand?

[bubbasnow]

If I use CAT 5e cable to extend the wiring would that work? Doubling up the wires to ensure good flow? Just thought it may look neater with the blue wires. Let me know your thoughts, will it be able to withstand?

which wires?

[Eaglezsoar]

If I use CAT 5e cable to extend the wiring would that work? Doubling up the wires to ensure good flow? Just thought it may look neater with the blue wires. Let me know your thoughts, will it be able to withstand?

Depends, which wires are you wanting to extend?

[AndThenSome09]

For the extruder wiring and also the hot end. Would the cat5e be enough doubled up, meaning using two of the little wires as one.

[AndThenSome09]

well if I can get away with it id like to use the cat5e wherever I need to provide my own wire just because I have 1000's of feet of it here and would like to use what I have around rather than spend more money seeing how I just spent a little over a grand on my Max and my wife is giving me those looks when I talk about things I need to complete assembly. Just trying to be cheap, will it work??

[doctorgonzo]

As far as neatness and wiring, you can run the included grey wire through the center holes in the aluminum extrusion and it cleans things up quite a bit. I think V\Cat5 cable is a bit bigger (in total diameter, not AWG) than what is included in the kit.

You only have to extend the wiring/make wiring for the heater bed power, main power switch, the extruder stepper, hot end heater and thermistor. Everything else is long enough and has the required plugs pre-installed.

Edit - forgot heated bed, shame shame

[lordbinky]

I cut the jacket off Cat5 since I have lots of un-repaired lengths of it (I had a corgi that enjoyed cords), and used the twisted pairs for alot of stuff. They work great for switches, thermistors, any of the low amperage stuff, and wouldn't hurt for the stepper motors as well. For the stepper motors with performance in mind I'd suggest a pair for each stepper motor wire, crosstalk reduction is very nice since the endstops are sensitive to noise.

For the hotend, I'll say this: In respect to what Underwriters Lab/ Insurance Companies would likely require, you will need 3 pair tied together as a 1 wire equivalent* so 3 pair to each end of the heater. You just reduce your voltage drop by throwing more pairs in which is good for performance, so the only drawback is handling/running the twisted pairs.

For the heated bed it's better to just use the recommended wiring or better. Using twisted pair you're going to be doing something silly like 9 twisted pairs for each connection, keep in mind the important part for this suggestion is that the low ohms of the Onyx means the lower wire resistance/oversized wires do impact performance.

* I'm being lazy and super conservative, so using the 700 mills rule (700 mills per amp) and (here's the lazy part) the 12V 40 heater cartridges pull up to ~3.33 A, Cat5 wires are 24 awg each so 400 mills, Soooo...*inhales*
You need greater than 3.33*700= 2331 mills equivalent
6 24awg wires*400=2400 mills equivalent
6 wires = 3 twisted pairs

[AndThenSome09]

Gotcha, I wasn't aware wires were included. I did pick up a little bit of black and red 14 gauge stranded wire, for the heated bed should I use 2 wires per + and -? Will that be good enough for the hot end? Man I ordered some of those XT-60 connectors i think from Hobby King and I get an email saying it has been shipped but may take up to 45 days to receive it!! lol, im sure to be done with the build by then! Oh well, ill improvise untill they come i guess.

[Eaglezsoar]

Gotcha, I wasn't aware wires were included. I did pick up a little bit of black and red 14 gauge stranded wire, for the heated bed should I use 2 wires per + and -? Will that be good enough for the hot end? Man I ordered some of those XT-60 connectors i think from Hobby King and I get an email saying it has been shipped but may take up to 45 days to receive it!! lol, im sure to be done with the build by then! Oh well, ill improvise untill they come i guess.

Per the build manual, one 14 gauge to the heated bed + and one 14 gauge wire to the heated bed -. Two on each is overkill and I doubt that you would be able to solder that much
copper to the heated bed pads. As far as the hotend is concerned, 14 gauge is overkill. I think the manual recommends 16 gauge. There are two reasons not to use 14 gauge to the
hotend, it is not necessary and it is too stiff in that application. The hotend normal current draw is approximately 40 watts. If we include fans, etc we are looking at a current draw
of approximately 5 amps or less for the hotend. 14 gauge wire has an ampacity of 20 amps, overkill for a hotend. Follow the recommendations in the manual, many hours of work
were expended to create it and the person who created it has forgotten more than we will ever know about these printers. If you read, understand and implement what the manual
says you cannot go wrong. Happy Printing!

[AndThenSome09]

Alright then, 14gauge for the heated bed and that's it the rest ill use the supplied wiring. I cant believe I am actually getting myself a Rostock Max! Ive wanted one so long and it seemed like such an impossibility because I'll be honest I am not the richest guy around, I mean I provide a better than average lifestyle for my family but either way you look at it over a thousand dollars is a lot of money!

Gotta love eBay, that's how I convinced my wife by selling some of my networking equipment on eBay to get the money. Hey if anyone needs any DFC cards for a Cisco server I have a few on eBay right now for sale:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/111204374710
http://www.ebay.com/itm/111202377481
http://www.ebay.com/itm/111202994677

FYI: These cards came out of a working Cisco AS5400 Universal Gateway

GREAT NEWS TODAY!!!!! MY ROSTOCK MAX SHIPPED OUT AND I SHOULD HAVE IT BY THURSDAY!!!

I have one more question for you guys, you guys have been great so far BTW, I have a brand new 520 Watt ATX power supply, I know it is bigger than the one included with the kit, should I go ahead and use the bigger one for any possible gain? Thanks for the help so far guys, Ive learned a lot from your replies and from your build logs and am very much looking forward to putting it all to good use in a few days!

[Eaglezsoar]

I have one more question for you guys, you guys have been great so far BTW, I have a brand new 520 Watt ATX power supply, I know it is bigger than the one included with the kit, should I go ahead and use the bigger one for any possible gain? Thanks for the help so far guys, Ive learned a lot from your replies and from your build logs and am very much looking forward to putting it all to good use in a few days! [/quote]

IMHO I would build the printer with its included power supply and keep the one you have as a spare. My logic is that it is easier to troubleshoot because you have a warranty on the one with the kit, using a different one at the beginning
will make you suspect the power supply every time something went wrong with the printer and if the power supply malfunctioned in someway that destroyed the Rambo board it could possibly invalidate the warranty on the board because
it was not the supply that shipped with the kit.

[AndThenSome09]

Very good point, I'll stick with what's in the kit to start off. Does anyone know if so much sanding is needed with the currently shipping kits?

[Eaglezsoar]

Very good point, I'll stick with what's in the kit to start off. Does anyone know if so much sanding is needed with the currently shipping kits?

Most of the sanding has been eliminated because they developed new arms that don't need sanding.
Take a look at some of the newer build logs.

[AndThenSome09]

Just got my kit in the mail! Shucks though that I paid for 2 day shipping but got I in 4 days but it's not seemecnc's fault but it still sucks!

[bubbasnow]

Just got my kit in the mail! Shucks though that I paid for 2 day shipping but got I in 4 days but it's not seemecnc's fault but it still sucks!

If you paid for 2 day shipping and it was UPS's fault it didnt make it in 2 days, they will refund the shipping costs.

[AndThenSome09]

It was USPS 2 day priority and they tell me they don't guarantee 2 days, the only thin they guarantee is their express shipping. So yeah I would have been better off doing UPS ground and getting another spool of filament. I hate the fact that I paid so much for shipping and still got it in 4 days! That really sucks I mean these kits aren't cheap, you get a lot for your money but it's still a lot of money! Anyway, nothing can be done about that but the kit arrived safe and intact, all parts are there so I'm so very stoked about the whole thing! I've wanted this day forever!

[AndThenSome09]

I picked up some PTFE thread seal tape, would that be good wrapped arount a couple times for the resistors on the hot end so the leads dont short out? I dont have any tiny PTFE tubing for it so I figured since it was PTFE it would work fine. Am I OK to use this?? Im about to start putting together the hot end after I paint the lettering a nice blue to match my wire sleeving I got.

[AndThenSome09]

So I got my kit finally, promptly opened it layed it all out and went through it to make sure everything was there.

Now I had an idea, I wanted to paint the lettering on the top of the base, so I carefully pulled the masking already there for me

and then I painted it a nice color blue to match with the wire harness sleeve I got from VIP, so when done it will match nicely.

The blue little circles are just the countersink holes I hadn't done yet, those will not remain blue.

So I think the lettering came out nice, I'm excited to get started building but it hard, I cant devote hours at a time without interruption as I have 3 kids and a wife to love at the same time so its a juggling act to say the least but I'm down to the last sheet to pull tape off and countersink the holes, once im done there I will start on the base!

[AndThenSome09]

Here's a close-up of the lettering.

I started on the hot end last night so the RTV would have time to cure by time I got to that point in the build.

I didnt have any PTFE tubing to put over the leads of the resistor so I improvised and picked up some PTFE Plummers Tape or Thread Tape and just cut off about an inch and 3/4 lengths and then wrapped em around the leads making my own little PTFE tubing. It wasnt hard and once you have it on there and give it a few good rolls between your fingers it makes a nice little tube, it is still rated up to 260c so it should do fine. Just thought id share that since that tape can be picked up at your local hardware store for like a buck making it a little easier to source than the tubing unless you already have some.

Alright I'm off the remove more tape and countersink some holes and hopefully start the base tonight! Have a good day guys!! - Keep Smiling!

[AndThenSome09]

Here's a little video of the inventory for my Rostock Max.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QBOL6wll1M