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

[geneb]

It may work long term, it may not. I really do recommend covering those leads with the stuff I link to at McMaster-Carr.

g.

[AndThenSome09]

I think it will work fine, it is the same material, when formed to a tube I believe it will perform pretty much the same. I would have gone with your recommendation in the manual however I am tapped out as far as extra money so this will have to do. We will see how well it works. Thanks for the great manual BTW, without it I don't know if I would be able to make this happen! Great Job!!

[AndThenSome09]

When I align my top plate and my bottom plate I can pretty much get them to match up exactly but one ends up being just a hair off, will I be alright, should I sand or file untill they are level? It seems to me that it would be ok but I want to make sure.

[AndThenSome09]

I'm slowly getting stuff done. I got everything peeled and countersinks where it was needed, the lettering painted and got the base all put together and tightened up. Now I'm putting the connectors I got in the mail on the hot end. Not much time to work on it during the week!

[AndThenSome09]

Got the XT 60 connector on the hot end, tomorrow ill install the thermistor with wires and the little red 2 prong connectors (can't remember what they were called). I have to go to the hardware store and grab a large square to erect the towers! I'm excited it is actually looking like something now! Tomorrow well today (its past midnight here) is my birthday and I was thinking of getting the Trick Laser carbon fiber arms or the ones on ebay that look like a long threaded rod from China, they have big kinda eye hook things on the ends. Are the ebay ones good or should I go all out and get the Trick Laser arms with my b day money?

[bubbasnow]

didnt you get the new arms in your kit? no sanding required?

[Eaglezsoar]

If you do decide to get the arms from China you must specify a length of 269mm for the center of the balls.
I have used both the Chinese version and the Trick Laser arms, they both work equally well but I did not like
the look of using the threaded rod so I prefer the ones from Trick Laser because they look so much better.
Happy Birthday!

[AndThenSome09]

Thank you eaglezsoar. Yes I did get the new arms but u still have to sand or file the u joints as far as I know so that just leaves a lot of room for human error in my opinion, that's why I am wanting the other arms.

[Eaglezsoar]

Thank you eaglezsoar. Yes I did get the new arms but u still have to sand or file the u joints as far as I know so that just leaves a lot of room for human error in my opinion, that's why I am wanting the other arms.

I agree. The new arms save a lot of time but they did nothing to eliminate the tedious sanding required for the u-joints and it is dang near impossible to sand these
without introducing slop / too much play in the joints.

[AndThenSome09]

So I just bought the Trick Laser Carbon Fiber Tube Arms with Metal Ball Rod Ends! Hopefully I will get them fairly soon! Im excited about those, they will make my machine look so slick! Well I'm moving along with the build, I've got one of the extrusions up on the base.

[AndThenSome09]

Just got th top on my Rostock!! Wow, it's starting to look like something now!! YEAH! I'm excited!

[Eaglezsoar]

It looks good with a hat on. Good job. I would wait until the Trick Laser arms arrive before
you do the calibrations, you'll have to do them again after you put the new arms on.

[AndThenSome09]

That's the plan, I might do the whole u-joint sanding just to see how well I can do it while I wait for those awesome arms! Got the end stops all wired up and installed last night before before I called it a night at like one in the morning, funny how the time just flies when I'm working on my Rostock!

[Eaglezsoar]

There are some calibrations you can do like the filament extruder cal, the hotend and heatbed autotune, etc.

[AndThenSome09]

Yeah I gotta get it built first! Lol. During the week I don't have a lot of time, I work from home as an IT consultant for call centers in the Philippines so it doesn't leave much time to work on it which is worse cause I have to sit here looking at it in the same room with me just begging me to work on it!

[AndThenSome09]

Once I had the extrusions up and the top on I ensured both the top and table were square to the to extrusions, they were so I did that part correctly!

Next I started running the wires through the middle of the extrusions for the end stops, wasnt that fun! I ended up running a length of fishing line through the middle, tied a slip knot and tightened it around the ends of the end stop wires then proceeded to pull them through. Once I got all the wires through and routed to the electronics bay I took the end stops cut th middle pin off then plugged Em in and installed them in their location with the included hardware. Those little nuts were a pain in the @**!

Next it was time to file those u-joints. (I ordered the Trick Laser carbon fiber arms but they aren't here yet and I wanted to see how difficult it was) So filing those down wasn't necessarily hard but it was very tedious and time consuming! Once they were done screwed in and installed on the face of the cheapskates I ensured that they would pass the flick test it was now time to assemble the cheapskates!

The cheapskates went together pretty easily, no difficulties there, I adjusted the e-cams so they had the perfect grip on the extrusions. No play when I would try to move and twist them from side to side or up and down, only smooth motion going up and down the extrusions, no catching or anything, all 4 bearings rolling as it should.

Now it was time to route the timing belts! Routing them along their path was pretty easy, it was getting them through the little slot in the cheapskates and securing them with the included belt clips was the part I imagined to be very difficult! I decided to go with the little strip of plastic method in the manual since I wasn't able to get any forceps. Believe it or not all I had to do was route the plastic strip so it was running through the slot and along the middle of the extrusions and then just slide the belt along the plastic strip and the belt just followed that path and through the slot it went! So that ended up being simple as heck! at first I didn't pay close enough attention to the manual and wasn't judging the size of the slots in the belt clips and didn't place a washer on the screw, not noticing until I was on the second cheapskate I ended up having to go back and add the washers and re tighten the belt clips! Needless to say I felt pretty stupid at this point! But no matter, I continued until all the belts were in place and tension bearings were pulled tight.

[AndThenSome09]

Got the extruder together, installed, and extension wire all done. Then the spool holder.

Then came the power supply, cut and grouped all my wires, extended the switch wires, mounted the PSU.

Got the Rambo power plug all setup.

Finally soldered up the LCD Rambo adapter and then installed the Rambo!

[AndThenSome09]

Got my Trick Laser Carbon Fiber arms from UPS today! I'm in the proccess of installing them now, will post pics of them installed when I'm done.

[AndThenSome09]

Trick Laser carbon fiber arms have been installed, that was pretty simple in my opinion!

Last night I had put together the thermistor for the heated bed and placed in the center of the be bottom, left overnight to cure. One it had fully cured I soldered the thermistor leads to their respective pads and continued to also solder the thermistor wires to the Rambo, power leads, resistor, and LED to finally finish with the heated bed! Now it was time to install it onto the Rostock Max! I figured a little trick for myself when it came time to get everything lined up with the spacers and proceeded to use some super glue and stuck those spacers on the bottom side of the little snowflake in order to make lining things up a bit easier! As I lined up a hole I dropped a screw down thru and started the threads just enough so it would stay put but leaving plenty of room to line the rest up. I think it went wonderfully and I had no trouble with this part of my build.

[AndThenSome09]

Got the hot end all done and installed! Now all that's left is to finish with the wiring and install the LCD controller and ill be ready to start my calibration!!! I'm almost kinda sad that the build is about over, for me building the Rostock Max was half the fun! Sure I'm not alone there!

[Eaglezsoar]

Looking good! Still lots to do with the calibration. The fun is not over yet.

[Batteau62]

The fun is just beginning Don't forget to put strain relief(zip ties)on the hotend wiring or you will get an unpleasant surprise when the thermistor gets tugged out

[AndThenSome09]

Yes, I am running all the wires for my hot end, thermistor, and peek fan along the bowden tube and they are zip tied every 5 or 6 inches or so, that way it looks clean following the same line and now I know it is providing strain relief as well. Learn something new every day!

[AndThenSome09]

My hot end is not heating up. everything else has passed the testing but that Could it be the wires I used are too small? I used the included wire but it did seem to be smaller than what I used for the extruder extension.

[dpmacri]

My hot end is not heating up. everything else has passed the testing but that Could it be the wires I used are too small? I used the included wire but it did seem to be smaller than what I used for the extruder extension.

I'm not sure what the exact gauge of the wire on mine is. By "not heating up", is it just not reaching temp or is it not changing temp at all? Just to be clear, you're not seeing "def" on the LCD, are you? That would mean the thermistor isn't hooked up correctly.