Welcome to the SeeMeCNC Community

The new nozzle works great. Did my first money print with it, turned out awesome! I'm sure the customer will love it, I don't want to part with it tbh..
Took 11 hours. I slowed down the inner perimeter and infill speed to 45mm/sec and the temp was 250C. Probably could get away with a bit lower (one of the overhangs kinda sucks, but it looks good most everywhere else)

I thought I was having issues with under extrusion with the nozzle. Had some areas that looked kinda funny... Turns out the drive gear was loose on the axle. Not sure how I got any relatively good prints, but it explains why the print I did last night "failed by jamming". Could explain the nylon fail I had too. I changed back to the regular old EZ from that TPU design that someone made. It was increasing friction in the extruder body. When I switched is probably when it got loose

I ran out of ABS today. Completely out, Robotics wiped me clean. But I don't even care, I have PLA. I forgot how much I love printing PLA.

I got 4 inquiries in around 5 minutes today. 2 on MakeXYZ and 2 on 3D Hubs, I'm pretty sure 3 if not 4 of them were all college students needing stuff printed for some sort of engineering class. So far 2 people have actually followed up, one I'm printing stuff for now, and its a blast. I was having issues with one of my nozzles, but I took it off and found the issue. Turns out #1, I didn't have it near tight enough against the heat break (amateur hour over here), and #2, I completely messed up while drilling the 2mm hole.

I used a 1.5mm bit to drill a pilot hole and I followed it with my 80 degree 2mm bit. My instructor told me that this would give a better finish on the inside, since we didn't have any 2mm reams. Looks like when I drilled the second hole I didn't go the full depth, probably since the second bit was steeper so it bottomed out a bit faster than the first one.

I got the crap plastic out (there was a line around the nozzle of plastic when I took it off, I think it was some ABS that got blocked and narrowed the diameter of the hole to around 1mm, probably the cause of my under extrusion issues I posted about in the V2 section) and redid the bottom. I had a second nozzle that I did something similar to already, so I swapped that one in first before I investigated (I got the gap between the orfice and the bottom of the hole to be around 1mm). I redid it all and got that one to be around the same ball park (I think I ended with 1.02mm or so).

Currently I have done 3 prints on my newest nozzle, all in PLA with 4mm retraction. No problems what so ever. I printed the coolio recirculating acetal ball carriage for the Mini Kossel (I love that design so much) as a test print before I did anything really important. Turned out wonderful. I was able to remove the support I (accidentally) added in, besides it being inside the ball channel (thank you Ultimaker for adding the lines support option to Cura). It turned out real nice, so I proceeded to print the first print in the order, only one of which turned out (bed height and stuff is all calibrated for 95C, not 20C, which I was printing at, so one of them lifted a bit because of an uneven first layer). I just finished up with the 3rd print, which was a reprint of the failed one. It turned out very well too.

I'm working on an extruder design to fully constrain the filament from the drive gear to the hotend. I printed off a first prototype tonight and its working alright. Its going to use those BSPT fittings that everyone seems to have 15 of from all these E3d orders everyone makes (I have like 10 at least). Preliminary design allows the tube to come right up to the hobbed gear and the bearing. I'm designing it to use 608s, I have an excess of these, and I'd prefer to not repurpose the default SeeMe arm tensioner just to use it. I'll release the design on Repables or Youmagine when I gets it done. I'll include the 360 files for it too if someone wants to modify it to something.

Mike, in case we do not say it enough, your work is outstanding and we really appreciate all that you contribute to the community.

Your build thread is a valuable asset and I think many of us are inspired daily by your ingenuity and willingness to conquer a problem with a planned solution.

Many thanks for your contributions to this community rather than many of the other open-source printers you could have chosen to pursue!

lightninjay wrote:Mike, in case we do not say it enough, your work is outstanding and we really appreciate all that you contribute to the community.

Your build thread is a valuable asset and I think many of us are inspired daily by your ingenuity and willingness to conquer a problem with a planned solution.

Many thanks for your contributions to this community rather than many of the other open-source printers you could have chosen to pursue!

Boy, Mike's going to get a big head now!

Eaglezsoar wrote:

lightninjay wrote:Mike, in case we do not say it enough, your work is outstanding and we really appreciate all that you contribute to the community.

Your build thread is a valuable asset and I think many of us are inspired daily by your ingenuity and willingness to conquer a problem with a planned solution.

Many thanks for your contributions to this community rather than many of the other open-source printers you could have chosen to pursue!

Boy, Mike's going to get a big head now!

Says one of the OTHER amazingly valued members of the forum who contributes so much that his post count is already climbing its way toward 6,000 ;P

lightninjay wrote:

Eaglezsoar wrote:

lightninjay wrote:Mike, in case we do not say it enough, your work is outstanding and we really appreciate all that you contribute to the community.

Your build thread is a valuable asset and I think many of us are inspired daily by your ingenuity and willingness to conquer a problem with a planned solution.

Many thanks for your contributions to this community rather than many of the other open-source printers you could have chosen to pursue!

Boy, Mike's going to get a big head now!

Says one of the OTHER amazingly valued members of the forum who contributes so much that his post count is already climbing its way toward 6,000 ;P

Thanks!

Thanks lightning

I was looking through thingiverse trying to find a good bowden extruder that even partially constricts the filament path up to the drive gear, and there wasn't really anything that I was impressed with, so I decided I should make my own. I'm on V3 of the body and V2 of the arm. They are printing right now, hoping that I get close enough with this version to actually use it, but I think I've got the spring compressed a bit too much still.

My main goals for the design are working out though. #1, the set screw on the drive gear is accessible even with the extruder on. #2, the filament is fully constrained up to the drive gear, and it is a straight shot of teflon from there to the hotend. #3, It uses the E3d couplings that they give you for any hotend order, so no need to buy anything too fancy (also helps with the tube passing through).

I have mine set up to use a 608 bearing, I have several of these from another printer I disassembled, and I'm mainly developing this for a Mini Kossel I'm making for my schools tech department (thats why I was searching thingiverse in the first place). The end design goal is to have 2 versions, one useable with a custom printed arm and 608 bearings, and one useable with the default stock arm with the stock bearing.

The version I have right now (V2 body V1 arm) has a really nice smooth filament path, but the arm is too weak and it broke when I tried to add the spring. I beefed up the arm a bit, changed the angle that the spring comes in, and made a few other minor tweaks for V3 and V2. When I first started work on the arm I accidentally made it inverted. I extruded something out one side instead of the another because I was too lazy to redraw everything, so currently the source file for the arm is inverted, and I doubt I'll get to fixing it since its so easy to change that in Cura.
Mini "rant" on Thingiverse. Should I be worried about who owns the site? What they did with their company, not like they can steal all the ideas or anything, but just the integrity of the site? I've been meaning to switch over to Youmagine or something, I've just been using Thingiverse for so long. I like these sites because they make it way easier to search for things and find the latest version of things (Tracking down the latest and greatest Kossel parts is kinda difficult, considering I'm trying to use the recirculating carriages with Delrin balls and for some reason Johann hasn't decided to include these in the github?), but its hard to decide which one I should use.

You should check out repables. http://www.repables.com

g.

I did know about Repables. The interface is a bit more clunky feeling than Youmagine from my experience but the content is pretty good. I know SeeMe is pretty close with the host/creator person/people, does SeeMe actually help host it or is it separate?

Back to the extruder, I'm thinking of naming it the EZFlexstruder, since it is inspired by the EZstruder. I'm going to go with the title V3 since V3 body and V2 arm is a bit confusing. V3 just printed, I still need to adjust the spring positioning and angle (I angled it out instead of in so I loose some tension) but it works! I have it set up on my second extruder, V4 (or 5 or 6 or whichever one I like the best) will go on my primary extruder and then work its way down the line. I may need to completely redesign the arm, I'm a bit worried about it holding up over time, but it should work for now.

I'll upload an stl of both files in the correct orientation if anyone want to give it a try. Its pretty easy to set up, you will have to do what I call a "high school student ream" or a "poor man's ream" with a 3/8" drill bit in reverse at the highest speed for your drill for the E3d coupler to not crack the part. Also the 4mm hole for the bowden tube that goes up to the drive gear and bearing should also be reamed. Thread the E3d coupling on straight (make sure its straight or it will break your part) and get it most of the way in. If it start getting to the end with only a mm or 2 left and you start to hear cracking of the part then its probably good enough. It likely won't wiggle itself loose over time. Then you'll need to shove the teflon tube up a bit past the end of the hole (the end that the drive gear is on) and use a razor or exacto blade to trim the tube at an angle, flush with the curves of the extruder body. I trimmed a tiny bit off of the top so I wouldn't run into any issues with the tube buckling against the drive gear or bearing, and also to make feeding filament into the extruder easier.
Feeding filament into the extruder is actually really easy. You simply slide it through the hole in the arm and it goes pretty well right in between the drive gear and bearing. I powered the stepper and both hand spun the motor and ran it via software and it runs the filament pretty nicely through. If I correct the spring angle and positioning it should be able to apply more force, but even as is it doesn't slip very easy. Keep in mind there is basically zero testing with this so if you do use it use it at your own risk.

I have the bearing attach to the arm via a 10mm M4 bolt. A washer goes over it and it keeps things nice and tidy. The whole thing is designed as a drop in replacement for the EZstruder, so it does fit the same profile. I only have the body attached via 2 M3 bolts. One is a 10mm with a washer, since the body is just to small for the 10mm bolt to work by itself. The other 2 mount holes need something like a 6-8mm M3 bolt, which I don't have. The arm (and other corner) are held on with a 20 or 25mm M3 bolt, I'm not exactly sure on size. There are 2 washers, one in-between the bolt head and the arm, and one in-between the arm and body. When attaching the arm to the body, you'll want to make sure you're putting the spring at the same time or else you will break it trying to put in on after. This does lead to some funky positioning to try to get it on, but it will work eventually, and you'll end up with a nice looking extruder like shown.
Post pictures here if you end up making one. When I get it all finalized it will go on Youmagine and Repables.

How are you finding your new extruder? Thinking about printing it for myself to try out.

Thanks for the files.
I feel that the purpose is to get the files to the 3ders that may use it, sending it to Repables, Youmagine and Thingiverse is what I would do.
If Makerbot really wanted to use your files it is not that difficult for them to download it from Repables.

I'm going to swap it over to my other extruder and try it out today. So far it seems promising. Ive got a 10 hour print in ABS that would be a good test for it.

Its not really about Makerbot using my files, its more about its a Makerbot site, and I try to keep myself unassociated with them. If Makerbot really thought that some high school students extruder was so good that they needed to take it for their own I've got logs here showing development of it Not really worried about any sort of thing like that.

2 hours into the 10 hour print and things are going A-Okay. Its 6 objects spaced out so there are plenty of retracts. Its feeding pretty smooth. When I get done with this print and another I'll get to V4, changing the angle of the spring and beefing up the arm yet again (not that its weak or anything, just figured I have more space so why not)

Very good work! I'm waiting with impatience for final version to print&use it!

Nylocke wrote:2 hours into the 10 hour print and things are going A-Okay. Its 6 objects spaced out so there are plenty of retracts. Its feeding pretty smooth. When I get done with this print and another I'll get to V4, changing the angle of the spring and beefing up the arm yet again (not that its weak or anything, just figured I have more space so why not)

Good attitude! Happy Holidays to you!

I went back to thinking about my nozzles, and I remembered that V4 E3d thread where MHackney was talking about the bore length of the two different holes. I realized "oh, mine is greater than 1mm, and he was talking about how the J-head was around .5mm" so I drilled mine out a bit more. It was sitting around .9mm after I drilled a bit twice (as in it didn't budge from .9). I did it again, and when I remeasured it was .23mm. Pretty short bore length. Hopefully it doesn't break when I use it. I'll aim for .5 when I fix the other one..

Really the extruder is working flawlessly. Just did 17 hours of prints for a customer, and even printed a new extruder set. Everything it turning out real nice. I'm starting 13 hour print now, confident it will turn out fine. I think I might re angle a the spring hole on the arm and beef it up a tiny bit more but its working pretty great. Sometime this weekend I'll get to making a version that works with the EZstruder arm.

Mike, you are a friggin' machine mah man! Just when you think you'll slow down after one cool thing, you're on to the next, like helping redesign a tighter-toleranced extruder!

Props to you for contributing so much of your work and time to the community and of course the time it takes to actually construct these posts themselves; no small task in itself!

Keep on truckin' Mike, do your thang mang.

Thanks Lightning, I love helping the community. Finally getting a break from school, I'll be able to finish the CAD assembly and pay a bit more attention to my printer. Hopefully I get some flexibles for Christmas to test out the extruder.

I also need to put a diaper on my printer. This is my wording for tidying up wiring and internalizing the water reservoir. My wiring started out clean, ish, until I started adding all these extra things. I also want to get my LEDs working again. On my Ultimaker I had heater status LEDs on the internal frame, similar to the Makerbutts. I wrote some code to switch between the 3 colors and it was pretty cool. I tried implanting it again, but I need a diode somewhere in my circuit I have, one of my inputs gets stuck open without it.

I'd also like to get the old extruder #2 running again, and perhaps #3 too. Been too busy keeping the printer chugging out parts for customers and robotics that I haven't had time to do cool things. I really want to make one of those 2 color cats, and I have a cool idea for an Eagle Scout woggle I can print for my troops Eagles. Need 3+extruders for the design.

So my nozzles crashed and burned. I'm pretty sure since I couldn't ream them to 2mm they don't have a very smooth bore. This causes the plastic to build up on the sides and make the nozzle bore smaller. One of the nozzles works better than the other, but neither work amazingly well, so I'm just swapping back to the regular E3d nozzles. They worked sorta nice while they did, but that will have to wait for another time..

The extruder is still working great. Ive had almost 40 hours of prints on it and no issues. It actually takes quite a bit of torque for it to slip. I really am liking it quite a bit. Going to put it up on Youmagine and Repables.

Nylocke wrote:So my nozzles crashed and burned. I'm pretty sure since I couldn't ream them to 2mm they don't have a very smooth bore. This causes the plastic to build up on the sides and make the nozzle bore smaller. One of the nozzles works better than the other, but neither work amazingly well, so I'm just swapping back to the regular E3d nozzles. They worked sorta nice while they did, but that will have to wait for another time..

The extruder is still working great. Ive had almost 40 hours of prints on it and no issues. It actually takes quite a bit of torque for it to slip. I really am liking it quite a bit. Going to put it up on Youmagine and Repables.

Please let us know when you put the files up on Repables!
Pretty please?

They're up there. Gotta add the F3D files still but the STLs are there.

Nylocke wrote:They're up there. Gotta add the F3D files still but the STLs are there.

We must be the night birds of the forum! Thanks!