Welcome to the SeeMeCNC Community

geneb wrote:Just make sure that the wires aren't lifting the bed up - it's just something to keep an eye on.

g.

Ah ok, thanks for the tip!

Chapter 6:

Bob was finally ready to put on the extruder. He's had a little experience with the bowden's style and wonders how well it will work on this style of printer.

[img]http://i.imgur.com/6DDolFS.jpg[/img]

Assembling the hot end platform was pretty straight forward, there is a mounting bracket that is held up by aluminum spacers, and the hot end is mounted onto the bracket.

[img]http://i.imgur.com/YyFaj5F.jpg[/img]

The instructions mention to only put the thermister wire through the mounting bracket holes, but Bob decided it couldn't hurt to also put the heat core power wire through another. Perhaps one of his readers could explain to him why this might not be a good idea? Anyhow, Bob continued on and attached the bowden tube. He added a little 'twist' to the tube so it would behave much like a spring does. The idea is the cable should not bind at any point no matter where the nozzle is moving, and this method worked nicely. The tube, Bob thought, might even be longer than needed, but he would leave it for now.

[img]http://i.imgur.com/YUkAKx1.jpg[/img]

Now came the massive mess of wires at the base, in the 'electronics bay'.

[img]http://i.imgur.com/AY4k0vo.jpg[/img]

Bob didn't have any fancy zip tie sticky brackets, like they recommended in the instructions, so he used scotch tape instead to line the path of the power switch wire along the door. This wire needed to mount a power switch to the door without actually obstructing the door from opening and closing.

[img]http://i.imgur.com/SvCegdG.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i.imgur.com/2ak3num.jpg[/img]

The power switch was aligned so the 'on' position was up.

[img]http://i.imgur.com/eYTeC7x.jpg[/img]

At this point, when Bob actually saw the terminals on the RAMBo board he was actually using, he had to change a few wire labels to match. A small inconvenience.

[img]http://i.imgur.com/OOYAFkm.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i.imgur.com/FuCsyYf.jpg[/img]

For the heat bed plug, Bob opted to use a Deans connector he had laying around from his RC toys.

[img]http://i.imgur.com/GATrzgS.jpg[/img]

This next part probably took Bob the longest to set up. Setting up the wiring for the hot end, thermister, and two fans to be routed from their devices all the way down to the electronics bay. In the end, Bob decided to use the 22 gauge four wire to control both of the fans, and another 16 gauge four wire to control the heat core and thermister even though the instructions call for a slightly different configuration.

[img]http://i.imgur.com/TR2xfMl.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i.imgur.com/x8cZjcC.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i.imgur.com/EpmKdP8.jpg[/img]

The cables were then routed along with the bowden tube, up to the top center hole of the printer, and then around and down near the Z axis tower.

[img]http://i.imgur.com/iOWv3xb.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i.imgur.com/wY2AFY7.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i.imgur.com/wd3ol8n.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i.imgur.com/UqNA1NE.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i.imgur.com/8YyYDfp.jpg[/img]

Wading through the mess of wires, Bob got all of them connected to the board, hopefully correctly.

[img]http://i.imgur.com/TPFnD1D.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i.imgur.com/eDxxyxo.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i.imgur.com/PJViOEh.jpg[/img]

So close, but the build was not complete just yet! The last thing that needed assembling was the LCD screen and mount! This is something new to Bob, his other printer never used an LCD screen so he is very interested to see how this might improve things. Preparing the parts necessary, Bob began putting together the mounting.

[img]http://i.imgur.com/zfu2RhE.jpg[/img]

This mount was a little different than the rest of the build, as it required drilling and inserting screws on the edge of the melamine parts.

[img]http://i.imgur.com/uogsP3J.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i.imgur.com/Lrnc45v.jpg[/img]

However, as the instructions mentioned, it was very easy to split the melamine this way. Bob could have opted to use glue to hold these parts together, but Bob always liked to avoid anything that caused anything permanent.

[img]http://i.imgur.com/CzLMRxR.jpg[/img]

The ribbon wiring from the LCD panel needed to be routed through the opening in the electronics bay door.

[img]http://i.imgur.com/BMkfxTU.jpg[/img]

The ribbon had to be connected to an adapter board that allows you to connect the LCD to the RAMBo.

[img]http://i.imgur.com/rtGD6HW.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i.imgur.com/YZyhHL1.jpg[/img]

Once the LCD mount was attached to the door, things looked pretty impressive!

[img]http://i.imgur.com/wcEhAXi.jpg[/img]

Finally, the physical part of the build was finished! Bobs next step is to setup the software and learn how to calibrate the thing. Stay tuned for chapter 7, Software! And possibly calibration, depending on how long it is.

--

To view the full image album of the build process for this chapter, you can find it here: http://imgur.com/a/thOHg

Lochemage wrote: [img]http://i.imgur.com/YyFaj5F.jpg[/img]

The instructions mention to only put the thermister wire through the mounting bracket holes, but Bob decided it couldn't hurt to also put the heat core power wire through another. Perhaps one of his readers could explain to him why this might not be a good idea?

On my build, I used XT60 connectors for the heating connection and they don't fit through the holes in the mounting bracket

dpmacri wrote:On my build, I used XT60 connectors for the heating connection and they don't fit through the holes in the mounting bracket

But is that really the reason they recommended not putting it through the bracket? I thought it might have been something along the lines of wires that get really hot and potentially could start the melamine on fire, etc.

If you route the wire through the hole and then solder the connector on, that melamine ring is part of that hot end for life. If you route the power wire outside the ring, you can change hot ends more easily. (unless you cut multiple mounting rings, which I've seen some people do)

g.

This has to be the most entertaining build thread ever! Live it "bob" and keep up the good work.

barry99705 wrote:This has got to be one of the best build logs I've ever read!

johnoly99 wrote:This has to be the most entertaining build thread ever! Live it "bob" and keep up the good work.

Thanks guys xD I was hoping to make this build as entertaining as I could while logging every step I took to build it. I read some of the other build logs here and most of them don't actually seem to go through all the build steps, theirs are more like a build 'summary', and I didn't want that.

I've got all my physical calibrations done, now I am just trying to determine the best slicing settings to use. I'll be putting all of this in my (possibly last) chapter here once I am satisfied with my settings. Stay tuned!

Chapter 7:

Bob's new printer needed a place to live, fortunately, there was enough space on his printer station to place both his printers side by side. Unfortunately, that meant his PC that controlled the printers had to move over to the 'guest house', which is a simple chair for now.

[img]http://i.imgur.com/a0bRlNh.jpg[/img]

A well working machine always requires some amount of calibration. Bob had no idea what to expect, as he has never worked with this printer configuration before. To control his printers, Bob uses an old dedicated Macbook. After downloading and installing Repetier Host, he followed the instructions to setup all the printer properties and get his printer connected. This was a little complicated since the instructions were either out of date, or the mac version was a little different, but Bob figured things out.

The first calibration was the end stops, these are little switches that are triggered when the printer has reached what is called "home" position. The instructions tell Bob to type a command into the "G-Code" box, so Bob did that... but nothing happened. He tried again... nothing! It took a few minutes before Bob found there was another "G-Code" box inside the "Print Panel" tab that he should have been using instead of the edit box inside the "G-Code" tab. Once he sent the command, it told him the status of the three axis switches, which were correct. When he clicked one of the switches, the corresponding switch was toggled as far as the firmware was concerned.

[img]http://i.imgur.com/hnPN9MA.png[/img]
[img]http://i.imgur.com/WsO8DYG.png[/img]

Now was time to actually home the printer, he needed to make sure that the axes moved in the correct direction towards the switches. Activating the homing control, Bob watched in HORROR as each of the three axes moved in the WRONG direction! Oh noooo, Bob panicked and flipped the kill switch. Whew. According to the instructions, there were two ways to fix this, either flip the plugs or flip the settings in the firmware and re-upload it to the printer. Bob opted for the latter, since flipping the plugs would require moving wires around on the plug connectors. Downloading the recommended Repetier for Rostock firmware, Bob flipped the option and uploaded it. However, trying the second time had the same result. The axes went backward again! Bob figured it may be because the firmware that was installed by default had already flipped them, and Bob just re-flipped them. Once Bob un-flipped them back to their defaults in the firmware, the home direction was corrected.

While Bob was digging around in the firmware settings, he also changed the thermister type to the type he was actually using in his hot end.

Calibrating the Z height and each of the three axes was a lot simpler than Bob had imagined. The instructions were very clear and easy to follow. Bob had set up each of the four recommended scripts used to calibrate each axes as well as the printer radius and that went very well.

Further in the instructions there were these really BIG letters trying to explain something important or something like that, but Bob wasn't a very good listener. His girlfriend may have said that before, he wasn't sure.

[img]http://i.imgur.com/tMvjqHq.png[/img]

The heater calibration was pretty automated, Bob sent a command to the printer and it automagically heated up the nozzle, did some calculations, and then output new results that Bob just had to average out and assign to the firmware. This calibration was meant to give his printer the fastest and most stable temperature change possible. He did the same with the heated build platform and moved on to the next step.

[img]http://i.imgur.com/gyF3y4W.png[/img]

For the first print, Bob decided to just use the same settings as he did with his other printer. Unfortunately, the print did not complete as the extruder jammed towards the end.

[img]http://i.imgur.com/nmWP20u.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i.imgur.com/pmZ7mxi.jpg[/img]

Apparently, it is a bad idea to just yank the filament out after a jam, there is a large bulb on the tip that was inside the hotend that can get stuck in the extruder assembly.

[img]http://i.imgur.com/wlAw56K.jpg[/img]

To fix this, Bob had to take the whole assembly apart and drill the jammed piece of filament out.

[img]http://i.imgur.com/UHyeT0j.jpg[/img]

It is important to make sure you remove the swollen tip from the filament before you pull it out (that's what she said?).

[img]http://i.imgur.com/fdkEgEn.jpg[/img]

After fixing the jam, and learning what not to do, Bob decided to perform a little experimentation. For fun, Bob likes browsing the 'inter-webz', jumping on the bed, and cranking up the print speed to 'ridiculous'!

[img]http://i.imgur.com/dYjGNcr.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i.imgur.com/end1MC9.jpg[/img]

Coming back to reality, Bob then started messing with the print settings in earnest.

[img]http://i.imgur.com/98RiOLU.png[/img]
[img]http://i.imgur.com/vWNwGbr.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i.imgur.com/GGUhO3c.jpg[/img]

After a few test prints, Bob came across a problem! Suddenly, every time he started printing something, the nozzle temperature would drop. No matter what he tried, he could not get the temperature to return unless he cancelled the print completely! Fortunately, Bob has seen this problem before and it was easily fixed, tightening up a loose wire connection on the nozzle brought things back to normal operational status.

A few more test prints later, and many software changes, Bob came across his first HUGE problem. This was very strange, whenever he set the printer to printing, it would draw out one single perimeter and then suddenly freeze. Repetier Host stopped giving temperature updates, the printer stopped moving, the only thing he could do was turn the printer off and on again. Every time, the same result! It took quite a while before Bob found the problem. At one point, Bob messed with the EEPROM setting "OPS operation mode" and changed it to 2 (fast). This was a mistake, when Bob changed it back to 0, his printer worked properly. Perhaps Bob should not be messing with options he knows nothing about.

A few more test prints and the results were a little more bearable.

[img]http://i.imgur.com/teaXou1.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i.imgur.com/bQIHm05.jpg[/img]

But one problem remained. Bob was unable to print parts very fast, 30mm/s seemed to be the fastest he could go before the extruder motor would 'skip' and 'bounce'. A skipping extruder caused the teeth to grind into the filament, making it very weak and very susceptible to jamming. Bob tried changing the amount of current supplied to the extruder motor. Too high of a current and the motor really skipped hard. Bob also tried increasing the nozzle temperature to 240 C, which helped only a little but still caused a lot of skipping. This was just not working.

Bob eventually decided to go ahead and and use the PEEK fan even though it was recommended only for PLA, but he didn't know how! After some searching on the 'inter-webz' he discovered that the answer is actually written in the last part of the instructions, where it talks about using "Slic3r". Since Bob didn't use Slic3r, he skipped this part and therefore skipped the important little bit about how to toggle the PEEK fan on and off. This bit of information really should be included in an earlier part, maybe when the PEEK fan was installed. For some mysterious reason, once Bob started using the PEEK fan (for ABS) coupled with a higher 240 C extrusion temperature, he was suddenly able to print really fast with almost no skipping at all. Not only that, the print started to come out extremely nice in comparison to his previous attempts. If anyone can make any sense of this, please let Bob know!

One last bit of configuring that Bob did was to write some helpful scripts to manage various commonly used operations. The first is a priming script that positions the extruder front and center of the build platform and begins heating up the machine. From here, Bob can do some free extruding to remove any air pockets inside the nozzle, and since the nozzle is right up front, it is easy to clean up.
[img]http://i.imgur.com/zy7TLQw.jpg[/img]

The second script is for installing a new roll of filament. All Bob has to do is clamp the start of the filament into the extruder at the beginning of the bowden tube. Running this script will feed the filament all the way down the length of the bowden tube.
The final script is still in the works, Bob would like to automate the unclog process instead of this, but currently it extracts the filament almost to the length of the bowden tube. Once done, you have to manually detach the tube and cut off the bulb at the end before removing the filament completely.
[img]http://i.imgur.com/fdkEgEn.jpg[/img]

Overall, Bob is rather satisfied with his new printer. It still needs a little TLC, and possibly a little customization, but that will come all in due course.

This concludes the calibration and possibly last chapter of Bob's super cool build story! He hopes you have enjoyed the read and will say Hi next time you pass him in the hallways...

--

To view the full image album of the build process for this chapter, you can find it here: http://imgur.com/a/yXPM3

Probably the best build log created.
Good photos and a good story line.
I hope that Bob learned that the Peek Fan should ALWAYS be on when the HotEnd is on.
Also Bob should know that the Peek starts to disintegrate (melt) at 240 degrees and it
is bad to run the hotend at that temperature. Bob should also stick a thermocouple down
inside the hotend until it reaches the nozzle and verify that the hotend temperature is
actually what it is supposed to be. Please tell Bob he did a great job, and the same to
the author of this story.