# Specific 3D Printers, Scanners, & Hardware > Other 3D Printers / Scanners / Hardware > Solidoodle Forum >  Solidoodle upgrade thread

## Mysli

Hi fellow solidoodlers.

I made this thread to get a place to group all the solidoodle upgrades that we may stumble upon.

I have a couple of things to show you as a threadstarter.
The following is improvements that i use myself:
*
Improvement for excellent adhesion on hotbed*
IMG_20131028_180114.jpg
This one is very easy, grab some grit 120 sandpaper and just sand the Kapton in circles. This will give a much larger area for the material to bind on. 
It will also leave your prints matte instead of shiny on the bottom.
Remember to clean off bed from kapton dust afterwards, here i used isopropyl/rubbing alcohol and some TP.

*Better insulation of heatbed*
IMG_20131028_180121.jpg
Here i added som aluminum foil (shiny side up) to better disperse the heat coming out the bottom of the heatpad, then a layer of cardboard followed by the original insulation.

*Z-antibacklash*
IMG_20131028_180316.jpg
After seeing people making different versions of antibacklash assemblies  for the Solidoodle 3, i thought that it was a very good idea And being  the metric kind of guy i made a nut on the lathe which has the UNC  thread but on a 14mm hex stock.

*Y-axis roller carriage*
IMG_20131028_180229.jpg
After a lot of failed prints due to skipping in the Y-axis. I decided to find out what was causing it... it turned out that the carriage on the right side of the printer can actually tilt around the 8mm bar. So i made this carriage addition that replaces the upper PTFE cube with 2 roller bearings.
I afterwards uploaded this here http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:171252

*Y-axis spindle slip limitation*
IMG_20131028_180338.jpg
I flipped the belt gears around so that the side with the screw points to the side of the machine and secured it so that the spindle can no longer slip sideways.

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## Mysli

*Machine heat insulation*
IMG_20131028_180404.jpgIMG_20131028_180418.jpg
I took pieces of the cardboard from the package that the printer came in  and fixed them to both sides, also made a door that fixes it self with a  magnet and a steel handle which the magnet draws. i also made a lid  that just lies loose on top of the machine.

*Adjustable Z-endstop*
IMG_20131028_180323.jpg
I made this adjustable endstop for the Z-axis, i know that there is more of these out there by now. i made this to accommodate the length of both my j-head and E3D head. http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:146437 
If you want me to upload my version i will.

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## Mysli

*Extruder improvements*... i'll let them speak for themselves
IMG_20131028_180242.jpg
They consist of: 
Lawsy's Mk4 extruder http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:47561
Some retainer for the hotend for MK4... *not this* http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:89216
E3D cooling fan http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:152853
My own extruder brush http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:172310

*Improved plugs*
IMG_20131028_180300.jpg
I have soldered the horrible plugs as they kept losing grip of the wires... they still unplug of course. 
Also i added a XT-60 plug for the fan (yeah overkill, but thats what i had laying around)

*Filament spool holder*
IMG_20131028_180308.jpg
After accidentally breaking the original spool holder, and of course making some improv *flymagnet* holder i found this http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:34284
i just drilled some 3mm holes and put 2 M3x10 screws thru the back of the machine.

Thats all for now, but feel free to add more  :Big Grin:

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## DrLuigi

Nice, Seems like Solidoodle is very adjustable with upgrades ^^
Already seen a few of those on youtube,
Tbh if i had seen Solidoodle sooner i would have maybe bought that instead of a Makerfarm,

Well i aint sure but i would have had doubts ^^

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## Mysli

It is very adjustable, but there is a lot of design issues... They advertise it as being ready to print when ordering it.... Its not, lemme just say that :P

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## MolecularConcept

i upgraded the motherboard to the Azteeg X3 i got lazy when wiring up the endstops lol got them done on the switch side didnt get them done on the board side.

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## Mysli

More upgrades, will be coming up soon. had to do it as my printer practically had a meltdown  :Frown:

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## QuiveringToad

Mysli, be sure to post photos!

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## Mysli

Sorry QuiveringToad, i didnt take pictures as i couldnt get fast enough out of my appartment as it was filled with smoke  :Frown:  
But i made a whole new case out of fiberwood with a gluegun and a stanley knife.
As you can see i also padded the inside with aluminum foil to reflect the heat, and that does wonders  :Big Grin: 
20140403204830_big_thumb.jpg20140403204816_big_thumb.jpg20140403204753_big_thumb.jpg

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## Mysli

Update: I recently made an emprovement to the heatbed and i made it this way:
First i cut out a piece of kapton 200x200.
Then i found some iron wire, which i tested with 12v on my psu, to see how much heat it would make and also if it would burn out. It turned out to be perfect.
I then put the end of the wire sticking out by 15mm of the kapton sheet, and soldered a wire to it (surprised to see how easy that was)
After that i made a pattern of straight wire followed by U-turns when reaching the sides of the kapton, until i reached the edge of the sheet.
Thereafter i again made about 15mm stick out and soldered another wire to the new end.
I then cut out a piece of kapton similar to the first one and stuck them together to insulate this newly made heatpad.
Then the old heatpad had to come off and to my big surprise the thermistor was not secured properly, so i fixed that with some thermal adhesive.
I fixed the new heatpad to the underside of the bed without glue, by just poking holes in the sheet for the adjustment screws.
Following i slapped the old heatpad onto the new one and just assembled the heatbed like usual. (so that would effectively double the heat)
I soldered both heatpads up to a 12v relay which would turn on when the pcb turned the bed on. I did this because i did not want to draw that much current thru the pcb itself.

This upgrade gives me above 105C stable  :Big Grin: 

I would take pictures but i cant be bothered to take it all apart again, now that it works so well  :Big Grin:  I hope you understand my description :P

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