V2 in Minnesota - plenty of questions.

[JFettig]

Hello all, my Rostock Max V2 will arrive today and I'm excited to put it together.

I'm a Mechanical Engineer - I do contract work for medical device manufacturers, defense, automotive, etc. I primarily use SolidWorks. I have LOTS of experience with SW, I can try to answer questions people might have as I have time.

I'm just getting started, I bought the printer to do some fit-up prototyping of some cast parts before I get them cast but I will use it for so many other applications. I have built and retrofitted CNC's, done plenty of programming on that side so I have some experience, one of my customers has multiple SLA machines and multiple printers, I just can't use them for my projects but I design parts to print on a regular basis.

I'm hoping to have this thing wired for 2 extruders off the bat, I see lots of mixed reviews about going with dual extruders. I want it for support material mostly but I see printing support material in the main material isn't such a big issue but I might run into some parts where I want to dissolve some support.

Does anyone ever use multiple nozzle sizes? One for fill and one for the outer layers for detail? I'd imagine that you can build up .05mm layers with a tiny nozzle and .2mm layers with a large one(after the small has done its border) to speed up printing and keep detail?
Does anyone ever mess with smaller than .25mm nozzles? I imagine that force on the filament goes up at some point and causes other problems.
As far as slicing software goes, I spent about half hour looking at Cura and Slic3r, I wasn't too impressed with Slic3r. It actually crashed while slicing my part(13" tall, plenty of detail). Is Simplify 3D worth buying?

[Mac The Knife]

Your handle looks familiar,,,, CNC Zone?

[JFettig]

Its been a while

[jram]

Hello all, my Rostock Max V2 will arrive today and I'm excited to put it together.

I'm a Mechanical Engineer - I do contract work for medical device manufacturers, defense, automotive, etc. I primarily use SolidWorks. I have LOTS of experience with SW, I can try to answer questions people might have as I have time.

I'm just getting started, I bought the printer to do some fit-up prototyping of some cast parts before I get them cast but I will use it for so many other applications. I have built and retrofitted CNC's, done plenty of programming on that side so I have some experience, one of my customers has multiple SLA machines and multiple printers, I just can't use them for my projects but I design parts to print on a regular basis.

I'm hoping to have this thing wired for 2 extruders off the bat, I see lots of mixed reviews about going with dual extruders. I want it for support material mostly but I see printing support material in the main material isn't such a big issue but I might run into some parts where I want to dissolve some support.

Does anyone ever use multiple nozzle sizes? One for fill and one for the outer layers for detail? I'd imagine that you can build up .05mm layers with a tiny nozzle and .2mm layers with a large one(after the small has done its border) to speed up printing and keep detail?
Does anyone ever mess with smaller than .25mm nozzles? I imagine that force on the filament goes up at some point and causes other problems.
As far as slicing software goes, I spent about half hour looking at Cura and Slic3r, I wasn't too impressed with Slic3r. It actually crashed while slicing my part(13" tall, plenty of detail). Is Simplify 3D worth buying?

Welcome, I'm a noobie from MN as well. I'm in South Minneapolis. Great to see some MN people on here. I haven't made the purchase yet but will be in the next few weeks.

[bot]

Very nice to have you here! I'm new to solid works. I already have a question for you! A user on this forum is making an assembly of the Rostock max v2 in auto desk inventor. Is it easy to get the assembly he makes imported into solid works?

[bot]

Oh and as to some of your question, your idea of one small nozzle and one larger nozzle has crossed my mind as well before. It seems like a great idea. I just am not sure how willing I am to take the plunge. It might not be as useful as we all think, having dual extruders. In fact, that seems to be the consensus.

I'm waiting to hear more about the e3d cyclops. Suspected to have one filament output but two inputs... we shall see.

[JFettig]

Thanks for the welcome!

I have a friend in South Minneapolis, I make it down there from time to time.

From inventor you can export a IGS or Step file, actually SolidWorks should be able to import inventor files directly, it might not recognize any of the features but you shouldn't have an issue getting the geometry in.

The different sized extruders would be something that the slicers would have to know how to handle - I haven't experimented with it at all to know if they can even slice for different extruders. It would be simple enough if we create multiple bodies in a part and have one extruder fill the one, and the other fill the other - so shell out the part and offset the surfaces in so they fit together - I'm assuming this is how its done with multiple colors.

A few have built a cyclops type extruder on here, just a Y fitting above the hot end, looks simple enough. I'm guessing the e3d one is closer to the nozzle. Shouldn't be too hard to build something like that.

[beilmandesign]

Very nice to have you here! I'm new to solid works. I already have a question for you! A user on this forum is making an assembly of the Rostock max v2 in auto desk inventor. Is it easy to get the assembly he makes imported into solid works?

I use Solidworks 5-10 hours each day. I have found that when I am trying to import a native Inventor file Solidworks attempts to find an actual installation of Inventor on my pc before it can open the file. If you can find the same issue, ask to have the Inventor file converted to a step file (easily done). You can then can bring it into Solidworks with no issues.

[bot]

I just noticed the open inventor assembly option... I guess I should get the free educational version of inventor then...

[JFettig]

Regarding the large and small nozzles, I was checking out Simplify 3d and watched this video, it looks like we could easily make this happen! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D968RL1Z6l4

[JFettig]

So I ran the PID auto tune the first time with default settings, before it got to 200C I heard a pop and some smoke, then it kept going up to about 220c and the PID auto tune stopped, temp too high(I probably should have shut it off), smoke came out of the one resistor, not the other. Did a quick read, worked up enough courage to run it again but change the max PID value to 128, PID ran just fine, a little slow maybe. Think I popped a resistor? I started the 2nd one at 90c, probably should have let it cool down?

Any thoughts?

[BenTheRighteous]

Some smoke is normal, but I believe a popping sound is not. If you have a multimeter, measure your resistor value. 3-4 ohms is okay, 6+ is not.

I don't think running PID to only 128 will get you useful values.

[nitewatchman]

As Ben says check the resistance or if you can't get over 200C or so you likely got a problem. Either replace the resistor or move to a heater cartridge.

On the other hand, sometimes when a new machine is first heated, the pop that is heard is an air pocket in the RTV being over pressured and breaking out.

Think of it as heater flatulence.

[JFettig]

I'm going to guess it was a RTV fart It was smokey! I read about 3.8ohms. I'll let my hot end cool down now that I have everything calibrated perfectly. I found the 2nd edition manual confusing and found that its way more work than required!

Here is how I ended up doing it after fighting it.

Set center at 0.00
Use macros, start 5mm above, then lower the Z value in the macro until you can set it to .1mm and adjust with the knob from there
Measure each tower and compare, bring them all to the same number, not necessarily 0. If negative values, turn CCW to bring up to zero, if positive, turn CW to bring down to zero
Adjust horizontal radius to bring the towers to 0. If towers are high, increase horizontal radius, if towers are low, decrease horizontal radius.
Check towers again.

[JFettig]

What are these surface imperfections? Is it related to the material or slicer? I used Simplify3D with mostly stock settings for the Rostock. I hear popping from time to time during extrusion, I'm guessing it might be a moisture issue?
[img]http://i.imgur.com/OEcizoe.jpg[/img]

[Mac The Knife]

The popping is more likely from air bubbles in the filament.

[JFettig]

[img]http://i.imgur.com/sUTB5Hs.jpg[/img]

Another print, I am using 4mm retractions, 0 extra restart distance, I have slight indents at the starts of extrudes, mostly on the outsides. Some of it sticks out, I am printing 2 more, 1 just with 0 extra restart distance, one with .05 extra restart distance(S3D), any other hints to make it turn out better?

Bottom was printed on a raft, it doesn't fill in very well on the 1st layer. Other layers fill in nicely, any hints to get the first layers to fill nicely? I am printing directly on the plate with glue now.

Should the retraction vertical lift be more than .1mm?

[Tonkabot]

I live down in Chaska. I have had my V2 for about a year now. It sat idle much of the summer, but I am back to printing with it again.

Not sure what your artifacts are, I haven't had much like those. a few other things, but it generally prints pretty well. I am contemplating dual extrusion now.

I have been playing with spaceclaim (I mean designSpark). I had training on inventor once a long time ago, and I do find the spaceclaim easier to pick up. Have no experience with solid works.

[JFettig]

I have most of those issues figured out. It required wiping and coasting settings in S3D.

I have never heard of spaceclaim, I will have to take a look at it.

I have a Chimera E3D ordered and mount designed, just waiting for it to ship. Also have another ezstruder on the way. I'm looking forward to some big abs prints with proper support!

[Eaglezsoar]

I have most of those issues figured out. It required wiping and coasting settings in S3D.

I have never heard of spaceclaim, I will have to take a look at it.

I have a Chimera E3D ordered and mount designed, just waiting for it to ship. Also have another ezstruder on the way. I'm looking forward to some big abs prints with proper support!

Would you be willing to share your Chimera mount?

[JFettig]

Yes, would you prefer it before or after I work out any bugs? I have a few design changes to make still.

[Eaglezsoar]

Yes, would you prefer it before or after I work out any bugs? I have a few design changes to make still.

I would prefer it afterwards, there is no rush, I just appreciate your willingness to share your work. Thanks!

[JFettig]

Designed this layer fan duct for 360 degree cooling
[img]http://i.imgur.com/oWO4vvW.jpg?1[/img]

files: http://repables.com/r/436

[BenTheRighteous]

That is insane! I love it! Why didn't you post the STL with it, you naughty boy...

[Jimustanguitar]

Yeah... what he said!

Throw it up on Repables, if you're willing to share.