Makerfarm i3 8" Prusa Printer Tweaks

[RobH2]

I tried the ABS juice and it worked very well. I'll keep trying it. So, you don't have any issues with treating both sides and having the down side stick to the hot bed? I've had issues with just a bit of Aquanet on the bottom of the glass sticking to the hot bed. I'm afraid to try coating both sides with juice. Is it really OK?

[beerdart]

Yes it works great zero melt on the bottom side. ABS melts @ 220c ish and our bed is never over 110c we now print with bed temp 90c as we had our glass crack due to the heat and bed warp in the middle.

[phr0ze]

The MakerFarm provided Slic3r setting files start at 90 for first layer, then heat to 110 for each additional layer. This is quite opposite from Slic3rs suggested hot then cold.

Did you try the makerfarm settings?

[phr0ze]

I ordered a cheap space blanket (you know, that really thin mylar silver sheet stuff that folds to the size of a small bar of soap?) from Amazon and spray glued that to some thin cardboard that I also crushed to make thinner. I cut strips up and inserted them inbetween my wood carriage and heated bed. I have 4 strips that cover I'd say about 80% of the open space in there, and the silver points up. .

I had thin crushed cardboard under my bed. I didn't notice much improvement but I did notice it caused my bed to bow, which is the worst thing to deal with! So be careful putting anything under the bed which can even put slight pressure.

[DrLuigi]

I had thin crushed cardboard under my bed. I didn't notice much improvement but I did notice it caused my bed to bow, which is the worst thing to deal with! So be careful putting anything under the bed which can even put slight pressure.

I used a piece of sponge, To put under the middle of the heated bed, So the heated bed gets a slight pressure upwards to get less vibirations during slow movements wich are quiet noisy.

But ye it does bend very easily.

[old man emu]

When I pull my extruder mount down to fit the auto-leveling servo, I am going to fit a string of LED lights on the underneath of the mount so that the print area will be lit. I'm sick of having to light the area with a torch while things are printing.

OME

[RobH2]

I'd like to see that when you are finished. Are you going to use DC or AC lights. I'm not sure, is Australia 120V or 220V?

[old man emu]

Quite simply just use a strip of 12V LEDs:

LED.jpg
and wire them into the extruder fan power supply so they are always illuminated. They cost me $AU3.00 per 5cm strip and have an adhesive backing so they just stick to the frame. I can get them from my local electrical shop similar to Radio Shack. {Edit: Found a strip of these lights in my junk box. I had them on my motorcycle as daytime running lights, so not they can go onto the printer.}

Australia is 240V AC


OME

[RobH2]

That sounds like a great mod. I think I'll copy you on this idea.

[diro]

Can you power them straight from the 12V power supply? *just saw you're using the fan powersupply