MakerFarm Prusa i3 and i3v 66 oz. in. Stepper Motor Specifications

[clough42]

Looks like the wrong link, or I don't understand how that thing is used with motors


How is that extruder really different from Greg's? Except for the belt general construction looks very close, motor is stinductanceed directly to plastic. I have a great heat problem with extruder, it melted original small gear that came with the kit, and now it melted mount I printed with PLA. I gets so hot I can't really touch it, and it's set to 0.37v.

Sorry. The link was missing a character. I fixed it.

You can, of course, use any extruder you like. The heat problem you're experiencing is because of the motor that Colin chose and the current he recommends. You can turn down the current or use a fan to avoid the heat, but that won't solve the inductance problem, so your retract speed will still be limited. Replacing the motor will fix both.

If you choose to replace the motor, you may wish to buy a NEMA 14 instead and try the Itty Bitty Belted Extruder. It has a number of features I like, but not everyone may agree. It's about half the weight of the one that comes with the kit because of the smaller motor. This reduces the torque needed to move the X axis and may help with skipping or allow higher speeds. The belt drive doesn't make clicking noises and has no backlash. It does require more vitamins, though, so that's something to consider.

The motor being mounted directly to the plastic isn't a problem if it doesn't get hot. The NEMA 14 motor (and current setting) I list with the extruder reaches about 45C when printing, which doesn't threaten the ABS.

[clough42]

Oh...I see you're using PLA. I don't think 45C would hurt PLA, but I don't know for sure.

[DanSilov]

If you choose to replace the motor, you may wish to buy a NEMA 14 instead and try the Itty Bitty Belted Extruder.

Is it possible to use NEMA 14 with Greg's extruder? There's quite a lot of vitamins for the Itty Bitty Belted Extruder which I can't get ahold of easily, so I think I have to stick with Greg's for now. But it would be good to replace the motor, it's really scarily hot during printing.

[clough42]

I have not seen a NEMA 14 variant, but it may be out there.

The belt and pulley can be had on eBay for $5 total, including shipping. The rest of the vitamins, save the motor, are the same as the Greg's.

[printbus]

...it would be good to replace the motor, it's really scarily hot during printing.

Although you could do it, replacing the motor or going with a different extruder should not be a prerequisite for you to get your i3v up and running. Continue the dialogue in your print problems thread so we can help figure out what is going on in your case. Does the extruder motor get hot? Yes, as they all do with the driver setup suggested by MakerFarm. So hot that you can't keep fingers on it or hot enough to melt/soften the small gear? IMO, they shouldn't be getting that hot unless something is wrong. Make sure your power supply is set for 12V and not something else common like 13.8V. Lower the driver some. Unnecessary load on the motor will also cause it to get hotter than it should. Too low of a nozzle temp, motor and small gear pushed into large gear too tight, poor lateral alignment between small gear and large gear, dragging at the guidler bearing, large gear cranked onto hobbed bolt too far, and bolts rubbing on the large gear come to mind as some things that would put undue load on the extruder motor. I've since adopted Clough42's extruder motor shroud, but until I did that I ran long prints with a small table fan set next to the printer on extruder motor side. Fan airflow was angled upwards to not affect the bed and nozzle much, but the extruder motor would pass into the airflow when it was on the right-hand side of the prints. That kept the extruder motor noticeably cooler.

[DanSilov]

Although you could do it, replacing the motor or going with a different extruder should not be a prerequisite for you to get your i3v up and running. Continue the dialogue in your print problems thread so we can help figure out what is going on in your case.

Yep, planning to post some latest findings and results there, just a bit busy with work lately. I'm determined to make it work with all the current hardware, before moving on with new motor and/or extruder.