MakerFarm 8" i3v build

[gmay3]

So I think I am officially in the RepRap club now that I had my first printer jam/extruder melt. First I want to mention that this was completely my fault and was not the result of any Makerfarm parts or filament! I am running a hexagon hot end and just like Colin from Makerfarm says, it needs a fan running at all times.

I came back after 30 minutes into a print and the extruder was floating in the air and was wrapped in a coil of filament. I put my hot end cooling fan on a switch so that I could silence it when I'm not printing and perform maintenance more easily. Unfortunately I forgot to switch the fan back on. The hotend and the hotend mounting plate heated up to 250C and melted the base of the extruder so the whole thing melted and leaned forward and somehow the filament got jammed. The hot end fan duct and main body of the extruder melted badly, luckily I had printed replacements.

Moral of the story, keep that hexagon hot end fan on at all times, and print out extra extruder parts before you need them.

[1stage]

Moral of the story, keep that hexagon hot end fan on at all times, and print out extra extruder parts before you need them.

Let me know if you need a set of parts printed. I'd be happy to assist, as you and I both went through the i3v build at the same time. Private message me if you're interested.

- Sean

[old man emu]

Let me know if you need a set of parts printed. I'd be happy to assist, as you and I both went through the i3v build at the same time. Private message me if you're interested.

- Sean

That's the sort of cooperation I like to see. Good on you!

OME

[gmay3]

That's the sort of cooperation I like to see. Good on you!

OME

1stage, thank you very much for having my back! I really appreciate it!

Luckily, I had a set of extruder spares printed already so I'm up and running again. If you ever need me to print you the same to get you back up and running in the future, I'd be more than happy to!

[1stage]

And that goes for anyone in the forum. The offer's always there.

[diro]

Hi all - in your i3v kit did your bearings come with the Delrin idlers already on them?

The parts list shows them disassembled but I'm cautious to pull them off to check.

EDIT: Yes. It looks like they are assembled already

[gmay3]

diro, good to hear you figured out the delrin idlers. I guess Colin is assembling them for you already, what a guy! As long as you can see that there is a washer installed between the two bearings on the inside of the delrin idler, you're all set!

Happy Building!
Gmay3

[diro]

Thanks gmay. All set up now.

Couple of questions:(and now answers for anyone else who runs into them)
- I've got 1 fan left over. Where's it go?? It was a spare
- My X stepper was going the wrong way so I turned the plug over in the RAMPS board. Now it's going the right way but the orientation of the plug (i.e. the red wire is opposite side) is different to all the other stepper motors. Will this be an issue? Not an issue feel free to swap any stepper plugs that need swapping
- My X and Y steppers are get really hot within 1 min of the printer being on. Is this normal? That's fine as long as the extruder motor stays cool. Turning the voltage down on the stepper motor cools it down but can also lead to issues.
- The Z axis seems to bind sometimes when it gets close to the end stop. This results in the homing going off and the printer thinking it's higher than it actually is and then pushing the nose of the hotend down into the glass. Seems like the Z steppers slip within the motor - it's not the rubber connector that's slipping. There was an issue with the stepper driver on the RAMPS board. Swapped the Y and Z axis steppers and the issue went away. Organising a replacement for the problematic driver.

[gmay3]

I'd like to make a suggestion about cooling the extruder motor. I've set all my vref's for the steppers to be a .39 VDC and my extruder motor was still the hottest by far. I ripped out a 1.5 inch by 1.5 inch heatsink from a broken computer and ziptied it along the top right side of the extruder motor. I was amazed to feel the heat drop very significantly without needing a fan at all!

Mine is about half this size, so you could cut this in half and have two heatsinks! http://www.amazon.com/130mm-Heatsink...words=heatsink

[RobH2]

Mine when set to spec were so hot I could not hold a finger on them for more than an instantaneous touch. I turned the POT back just about 1/16th of a turn and the motors cooled down and run at about 140-150F with no head sink and no other apparent issues. They've run for about 6-months like this so I don't think it's damaged them to be "under" the spec voltage just a hair.