# Specific 3D Printers, Scanners, & Hardware > RepRap Format Printer Forum > MakerFarm Forum >  MakerFarm 8" i3v Prusa build by Printbus

## printbus

Notes and observations from my i3v build are captured here.   My assembly goals included seeing what I could do to improve the appearance of the completed printer.  The i3v is expected to be my only 3D printer for a long time, and I want it to look good whether in use or on the shelf.  Primary areas of emphasis were in gluing some of the wood components, filling the post and slot wood joints, painting, and a major effort on cable dressing and routing. Various mechanical tweaks were incorporated as I saw a need for them during the assembly.  Whether these extra efforts were necessary or not is irrelevant.  It's just part of how I approach things and part of the reason why I bought a kit instead of an assembled printer. I admit that I'm unusually nitpicky about things, but some of my observations and suggestions may still be of value to others. 

Subassembly notes and pictures are provided in the same sequence of the MakerFarm i3v build guide. All notes here are with respect to the 8-inch i3v kit, build guide, and build videos as they were around May 2014.  Note that in my case I had glued various wood components together in an initial assembly pass prior to painting.  Info that follows is mostly derived from final assembly after painting. 

FOLLOWUP COMMENT: Readers need to note that the bulk of the build thread is based on the 8-inch printer, and based on the 8-inch printer as it was in early 2014.  While some concepts will apply to newer 8-inch kits and the newer, larger printers, MakerFarm has been making changes to the printer designs.  All mods and improvements discussed in this thread should be assessed for suitability on the updated kits before they are attempted. 

The thread includes a lot of detail on purpose. Feel free to skip it if you're expecting a quick read.

Also note that as of April 2015, 3DPrintBoard was having problems properly displaying images and dealing with other attachments. Printbus posts in the thread have been revised to now link to images and attachments stored offsite from 3DPrintBoard. 

*THREAD TABLE OF CONTENTS 
*GENERAL OBSERVATIONS
X MOTOR SUBASSEMBLY
X IDLER SUBASSEMBLY
Y IDLER SUBASSEMBLY
Y BED SUBASSEMBLY
X CARRIAGE SUBASSEMBLY
Y MOTOR SUBASSEMBLY
FRAME, X AXIS SUBASSEMBLY, and X AXIS INSTALLATION
X AXIS ALIGNMENT
Y AXIS
LCD INTERFACE AND LCD INSTALLATION
Z MOTOR
THERMISTOR BUILD
HEAT BED INSTALLATION
ENDSTOP INSTALLATION
EXTRUDER AND HEXAGON HOT END
POWER SUPPLY and RAMPS MOUNTING
WIRE ROUTING (Part One)
WIRE ROUTING (Part Two)
MOTOR TESTING and ENDSTOP ADJUSTMENT
BED LEVELING
GARBAGE DATA ON LCD DISPLAY
HEAT BED CLIPS
WRAPUP COMMENTS ON THE INITIAL BUILD
SIX WEEK STATUS UPDATE
Y MOTOR COOLING FAN
IMPROVED KILL SWITCH
NOISE AND VIBRATION REDUCTIONS
MINOR FIRMWARE PERSONALIZATION
EXTRUDER REBUILD AND NEW PRINT COOLER (Part 1 of 2)
EXTRUDER REBUILD AND NEW PRINT COOLER (Part 2 of 2)
DISABLING POWER FROM USB
TWEAKS TO THE COUPLERS ON THE Z-AXIS RODS
RAMPS STEPPER MOTOR DRIVER COOLING FAN
NOV 2014 BENCHMARKS USING MAKE: 2015 TEST MODELS
RUNNING SUMMARY OF CONFIGURATION SETTINGS
DISPLAY BEZEL
REPURPOSED SPOOL MOUNT
NEW MOTORS AND MORE
POWER MODIFICATIONS
NEW APPROACH FOR THE HEXAGON HOT END SHROUD
SMOOTHIEBOARD AND OTHER UPGRADES
DECEMBER 2016 STATUS UPDATE
PRINT BED REVAMP
FEBRUARY 2019 STATUS UPDATE
RASPBERRY PI AND OCTOPRINT
Z-AXIS LEAD SCREW UPGRADE
X-CARRIAGE AND EXTRUDER REPLACEMENT
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## printbus

*UPGRADES TO WOOD FRAME COMPONENTS
*Now that the i3v has been out for a while, upgrades and modifications for it are available on Thingiverse.  Those about to assemble the i3v are encouraged to search Thingiverse using search terms such as MakerFarm or i3v.  While it may not be possible for some to print parts until they get a printer working, it might be good to know ahead of time where later upgrades may be retrofitted. 

*BUILD GUIDE*
 The MakerFarm build guide and videos are OK, but not perfect.  I printed a copy of the build manual so I had a place to capture notes as I go. I suggest those building the printer skim through all the videos before doing anything. One video cuts off at the end but the missing effort is described in a subsequent video.  There are a couple of places where things are put together wrong and corrected in the next video.  The printed copy is good for noting things like this. I also archived copies of the build videos. 

There is one definite correction to the build guide as it was in April 2014. The page titled "Adjusting the Stepper Drivers" says you should select the DC Current mode on your multimeter. Doing so will short out the voltage points being probed here - a bad thing to do.  You need to select DC Voltage mode on the multimeter, as the multimeter picture on that page does show.  (NOTE: This error has been corrected this in updated versions of the build guide.)

*UNPACKING AND HARDWARE NOTES
*Extruder parts are conveniently packaged separately from the rest of the printer. Except for a few bolts in the extruder package, all screws in my kit were black. Washers and nuts were steel colored - not black. 

 Contrary to the videos, the delrin wheels now come with bearings preinstalled and each wheel wrapped in plastic. A proper shim washer is included between bearings in all of the wheels.  The shim will minimize issues in how tightly the wheels are bolted on. I had purchased 1mm shims to use for this since the videos only addressed using a washer as a shim on just a couple of the wheels; oh well.   

 For anyone interested in the detail, the aluminum v-rails in the 8-inch i3v are 375mm long. The 5mm threaded rods are 330mm long.  Motor shafts are 5mm diameter and include flats.  The shaft on the LCD rotary encoder is 6mm diameter and also is flatted on the end, although the lower part of the shaft is round.   

 At a minimum, tools required for the 3mm cap screws and 5mm button head screws will include 2.5mm and 3mm hex drivers or allen keys, as well as 5.5mm and 12mm sockets or wrenches. Having an assortment of good hex drivers would be handy.  A 3mm T-handle hex driver was later found to be very helpful for some of the M5 screw locations.  

 I feel the M3 x 4mm set screws included for the two motor pulleys are pretty short - they'll recess well into the gears when tightened. I purchased some 6mm long set screws off eBay.

 I'm adding flat washers to many screws, especially those on the motors.  I'm going to increase the length of the motor mount screws to 12mm to ensure maximum thread engagement in the motors.  I also obtained larger diameter fender washers to use with the eccentric spacers. 

 The left sidewall of the frame comes predrilled with two sets of power supply mounting holes. One set of holes fits the common Mean Well type 12V 24A and 12V 30A supplies. Those wanting to mount a Mean Well or knock-off power supply to the provided holes in the left sidewall will need to obtain some M4x8 or M4x10mm screws. 

 The laser cut edges of the veneered panels have a glazed finish.  Those wanting to paint or glue will likely want to sand the glazing for better adhesion.  

 My kit came with a 4GB SD card, a 1.8m/6 ft shielded USB cable, and an extra fan that could possibly be used as a print cooler.  The wire packet comes with a number of extra thermistor and motor wires with header connectors already installed on one end. 

*INITIAL ASSEMBLY OF THE WOOD COMPONENTS*
 The initial round of assembly efforts were focused on getting the wood parts painted so they could thoroughly dry while I was on travel for a while.  Where wood components are fastened without adjustment or obvious need for future disassembly, I glued the wood joints.  This should ensure long term rigidity to the frame. Screws and other hardware like idler bearings were installed for the glue-up. I just used normal wood glue. 

 I wasn't overly impressed with the fit of the belt mount brackets on the Y-bed, and added some shim stock to ensure a better fit. Clamps were used to ensure perpendicular joints here and on the front Y-idler bracket came out 90 degrees. I should also point out that the two pairs of stubs on the cross piece for the Y-bed mount aren't the same exact dimensions. I oriented the cross piece to provide the squarest overall fit with the holes of the Y-bed. 



 The post and slot joints were filled with Minwax epoxy wood filler and sanded so they won't be visible after painting. 



After the glue had set, screws and other temporarily installed hardware were removed prior to painting. The LCD assembly and spool holder were not glued before painting.  I opted for a satin dark gray color (RustOleum Granite) spray paint to complement the décor of my combination home office/workshop and as what seems like a good mix between the aluminum and black components on the printer. The expandable cable sleeving I'll be using throughout will also black.



 FOLLOWUP COMMENT #1: During final assembly, I opted to add some LED strip lighting to the underside of the X carriage. If I had known that when I was painting, I may have painted the underside white rather than gray just because white would have reflected light better than gray.

 FOLLOWUP COMMENT #2: If I could do it over again, I would not have glued up the x-carriage before painting. Keeping the parts separable may be helpful if future mods include replacements to bracket components, for example.

*GENERAL ASSEMBLY COMMENTS
*In fit checks and initial assembly efforts, I've noticed many of the M5x12mm bolts fastening things to the v-rails are cutting rings into the bottom of the extrusion channels when the bolts are tightened.  The screws should be pulling the nut plates against the top edge of the extrusion without bottoming out in the channels.  The fact that they're starting to engage with the bottom of the extrusion channel means the bolts may not be properly gripping whatever is being clamped to the v-rail.  Screws tend to have a raised rim on the end from the manufacturing process, and these bolts are no different.  While the bolts may work OK as is with the extrusion engagement, I opted to file away at least the raised rim on the bolt ends. 



FOLLOWUP COMMENT: There are several places where I mention shortening bolts with a file. In ALL cases this was done with the bolt removed from the printer so that filings were kept away from bearings, the aluminum rails, electronics, etc. I also had been planning to use threadlocker on all metal-to-metal fasteners where nyloc nuts aren't or can't be used.  I'm having to rethink this since a lot of the hardware is temporarily installed and readjusted later in the assembly.

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## printbus

*X MOTOR*
I added a fender washer to the nut on the bolt for the eccentric spacer. This will help keep the nut from tearing into the wood as the eccentric spacer is adjusted.  

When attaching the v-rail wheels, I suggest temporarily inserting the bracket that holds the nut for the Z-axis threaded rod.  This allows you to fit check the bracket; I found it necessary to orient the nut on the adjacent wheel bolt so a flat is up against the bracket. In my case, the two brackets were sized slightly different - likely just the tolerance on the laser cut.  I picked the preassembled bracket that fit the best on the X Motor subassembly and then kept it with the X Motor until permanently installed. 



For appearance, I experimented with reversing the wheel bolts so the bolt heads faced the front of the printer.  This is troublesome in that there isn't enough clearance for the lock nut and any bolt excess on the rear of the plate.  The standard nuts I experimented with would occasionally rub on the frame.  For this bolt reversal to have worked, thinner jam nuts would have to be used and the bolt would have to be shortened so the threaded end is flush with the jam nut. I decided this wasn't worth the added effort.

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## printbus

*X IDLER SUBASSEMBLY
*As on the X Motor subassembly, I added an M5 fender washer to the bolt for the eccentric spacer, and the bracket for the nut on the Z-axis threaded rod was temporarily installed for fit check and nut alignment.  The bracket used in the fit check was kept with the X Idler so it would be the one permanently installed later.



FOLLOWUP COMMENT: I later added a small block of scrap wood to the bottom of the X Idler to improve the mating surface with the Z endstop switch.  See the later ENDSTOP INSTALLATION post for a picture.

FOLLOWUP COMMENT #2: Even later I opted to change the Z endstop switch approach, so the small block of wood eventually became unnecessary.

FOLLOWUP COMMENT #3: During final adjustments, how the belt rides on the idler bearings can be adjusted by moving the idler bearing bracket slightly on the v-rail.  I later incorporated a  custom belt guide design. I installed it after using the printer a while simply because it's a better design approach that won't allow the belt to rub on the wood brackets. Although the thingi is intended for the i3v Y idler, it works for the X-idler too.

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## printbus

*Y IDLER SUBASSEMBLY*
When I glued the wood parts together, I made sure the brackets for the idler pulley were perpendicular to the forward plate.  This led to room for three washers with the bearings instead of the two used in the build video.  I initially put the extra washer between the bearings, but when the Y axis components were assembled I noticed the idler brackets here are offset a bit from the bracket on the Y bed.  I moved the extra washer to the side opposite of where the belt will ride.



Gluing the brackets in place and filling the joints before painting leads to a clean look on the front of the printer.  A disadvantage of this, however, is that I left no way here to adjust how the belt rides on the bearings. Normally, adjustment of the bolts holding the brackets in place could likely be used to slightly change the angle of the bolt with respect to the belt.  The belt will tend to ride towards one side or the other if the bolt isn't exactly 90 degrees from the belt.



FOLLOWUP COMMENT: After using the printer a while, I haven't been having problems with the belt rubbing on the wood brackets, but there's a custom belt guide design now available on Thingiverse that is worth considering. I installed it after using the printer a while simply because it's a better design approach.

FOLLOWUP COMMENT #2: An improved version of the belt guide pulley is available at http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:790138

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## printbus

*Y BED SUBASSEMBLY*
As with other subassemblies, M5 fender washers were used with the eccentric spacers.

To minimize protrusions on the top side of the Y bed, here I did reverse the wheel mounting bolts so the bolt button heads are on the top side of the bed. 



There isn't enough frame clearance on the bottom side for the standard length bolts and the lock nuts, so I used standard nuts and shortened the bolts by about 1.5mm so the threaded end of the bolts are flush with the nuts.  Threadlocker was used here in order to keep the nuts tight.



FOLLOWUP COMMENT: I later changed out the M3 bolt that is used with the Y end stop switch for a longer aluminum standoff. See the later ENDSTOP INSTALLATION post for info and a picture.

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## printbus

*X CARRIAGE SUBASSEMBLY*
Yeah, another eccentric spacer where I added a fender washer.  

Being nitpicky about things, I didn't like how the belt is attached in the build videos.  I don't like using multiple nuts on a bolt (can be hard to adjust and keep tight), and I wasn't sure wrapping the belt around an M3 bolt is consistent with the belt minimum bend radius spec.  I admit I didn't try to search out what the minimum bend radius is, but I opted to wrap the belt around a 1/4-inch long aluminum spacer.  The 1/4-inch length is close to the width of the belt.  The stackup of hardware on the bolts is a 1/8-inch spacer, an M3 flat washer, the 1/4-inch spacer, another M3 washer, and a nut.  I didn't have enough bolt length for a lock nut, so a standard nut with threadlocker was used instead.  For appearance, I reversed the belt mounting bolts so the heads are at the front side of the carriage.  

The build guide just says to use a 30 inch length of belt, with determination of the proper overall loop-to-loop length left to the user.  I changed mine a few times, and likely ended up with about 28-1/4 inches between the center holes of the spacers on both ends.  I doubled up the zip ties partially for appearance but also to help ensure several belt teeth are engaged on each end.  

The X carriage is designed so that the heads of the bolts attaching the extruder bracket to the carriage clear the front facing channel of the lower X-axis rail.  During my printer final assembly, I was seeing the bolt heads rub against the rail channel.  This interference may have went away with final adjustments, but as a precaution I replaced those two bolts with button head types that have a lower profile head.



FOLLOWUP COMMENT #1: After mounting the extruder to the X carriage, I noticed the bolts mounting the top wheels were rubbing against the large gear on the extruder. This may have been driven by having to increase the number of spacer washers inside the large gear so the gear would clear the heads of the motor mounting bolts (for the added strength, I used longer bolts with heads and large washers that rest on the far side of the motor mount rather than the typical recessed bolt heads). I ended up shortening those bolts with a file by about 2.5mm so that the ends of the bolts are flush with the locknuts when tightened. See the later EXTRUDER AND HEXAGON HOT END post for a picture showing the interference.

FOLLOWUP COMMENT #2: Limit how much excess belt you have on the side that loops through the X idler, or the excess belt may get drawn into the idler bearings or pulley.  Keep that side short, and put the excess belt on the other end.

FOLLOWUP COMMENT #3: During installation of the extruder onto the X carriage, the hot end tip couldn't get any closer than about 6mm inside the 200mm square marking on the heat bed.  Part of the solution was to elongate the extruder mounting holes and the large U channel in the bottom of the X carriage to the right so that the extruder can be mounted closer to the X idler side. Next time, I'd elongate them as part of the initial X carriage build.

FOLLOWUP COMMENT #4: There are a few options on Thingiverse for alternate methods of attaching the belt to the x-carriage.  My custom belt mount is available at http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:790207

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## printbus

*Y MOTOR SUBASSEMBLY*
I oriented the motor so that the wires come out of the motor towards the rear.  Since I plan to really work cable routing appearance, this should provide the cleanest routing option. 



I didn't like the way the set screws provided in the kit ended up being recessed in the pulley threads, so I obtained some M3 x 6mm set screws to use instead.  Note that the pulley isn't in the final position on the motor shaft in this picture.  M3 flat washers were added to the motor mounting bolts.  This takes away from thread engagement in the motor, so I swapped out the 10mm long bolts for 12mm long ones.  These are close to bottoming out in the motors, so they're providing as much thread engagement as possible.

FOLLOWUP COMMENT: The natural way to install the motor is to set the motor in the bracket and bolt it in place.  I believe one of the sources of vibration I had in the i3v is the bottom side of the Y-motor rattling on the bottom of the motor bracket during certain print moves. I later added some thin silicone sheet material there that helped. Even adding a few layers of high temperature electrical tape might help provide some cushion. The material needs to be very thin or the motor bolt holes won't line up with the holes in the bracket.

FOLLOWUP COMMENT #2: When I later replaced the original CW motors with Kysan motors, the 12 mm screws were too long and I reverted back to 10mm.  When the motors were replaced, I added a layer of fiberglass tape to the mounting face of each motor, mainly to keep the motor faces from sticking to the painted surfaces but also to provide at least some vibration isolation.

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## printbus

*FRAME, X-AXIS SUBASSEMBLY, and X-AXIS INSTALLATION
*Here I deviate from the sequence of the build guide a bit, deferring the Y Axis subassembly until after the X Axis installation.  Since I glued the top plate of the frame on prior to painting, my installation of the vertical rails on the frame has to wait until the completed X axis assembly is ready to install onto the printer. 

Be sure to start the X axis installation with the eccentric spacers on the X motor and X idler subassemblies set to provide maximum spacing between wheel rows (i.e., the "loose" orientation).  In the build videos, the X axis assembly is slid onto the open top ends of the rails.  In my case, I slipped the rails up through the bottom of the Z motor mounts, engaging the T-nuts and wheels in the completed X axis in the process.  An advantage of this approach is that the vertical rails can then be pulled flush up to the top frame plate with the bolts used on the extrusion ends. 

As with the Y motor, M3 flat washers were added to the M3x12mm bolts used on the X motor mount.  M3 x 6mm set screws used on the motor gear instead of the shorter ones included in the kit.  Thinking forward to how I plan to do cable and wire routing, I mounted the X motor so that the wires leave the motor on the bottom.  

(see the next post for picture)

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## printbus

*X AXIS ALIGNMENT*
While parts of it are, this overall procedure isn't in the build guide.  After installation of the X-axis, it occurred to me it would be easy for the X axis to be out of alignment when all the associated hardware was tightened.  While manipulating the Z-axis threaded rods can later provide some adjustment to this, I wanted to ensure things were aligned fairly well to start with.  Here's what I came up with for an alignment procedure.  This sounds complicated, but it really isn't when you're going through the process on the printer. 

Loosen the four bolts at the rear of the X motor and X idler.  Following the earlier post, the eccentric spacers for the X motor and X idler should already be in the "loose" position.  Now also make sure the eccentric spacer on the X carriage is also in the loose position.Verify that the distance between the upright aluminum rails is the same at the top and bottom of the rails.  My 6-inch calipers couldn't measure this, but they could measure the gap left after starting with a short metal bar used as a filler.  Mine were off a bit and I loosened the bolts on the rails, manipulated them some with a bar clamp, and then retightened the hardware.Adjust the eccentric spacer on the X motor (left side) so that all three wheels on the X motor grab the rails.  The X motor plate should have little or no play when it is rotated back and forth.Now repeat this with the eccentric spacer on the X idler (right side).Add a clamp to the left-side rail and rest the X motor assembly on it so that the four rear bolts on the X motor are accessible through the adjustment holes provided in the frame.Now hold a long straight edge (I used an 18-inch metal ruler) on the top edge of the X motor plate so that the straight edge extends to the X idler.  Position the X idler so that the top edge of the X idler is also flush with the straight edge.  Add a clamp to the right side rail for the X idler to rest on, keeping the X idler lined up with the straight edge.Now position the two horizontal rails the way you want them.  For appearance, at least line up the ends of the two rails.  The rails are a bit short; I positioned mine so there is an equal amount of T-nut exposed on both ends.  Then tighten the four rear bolts on both the X motor and X idler. Recheck with straight edge and readjust as necessary. It took me a few tries to get this right, since tightening the hardware will tend to torque the X idler upwards.  I ended up putting a bit of downward pressure on the X idler while I was tightening hardware.Install and/or tighten the brackets that hold the nuts for the Z axis threaded rods, making sure the X motor and X idler stay resting on the clamps.  The nuts and/or threaded rods should not be in place yet.With the X carriage at the center of the horizontal rails, adjust the eccentric spacer on the X carriage so that all three wheels on the carriage engage the rails and the X carriage has minimal or no play when it is manipulated.  Verify smooth operation of the X carriage across the length of the extrusions.  If there are issues in getting a consistent feel (tight on one side, loose on the other, etc.), check for inconsistent spacing between the horizontal rails.  Start over at step 1, using a clamp to slightly pull the rails together on the "loose" end.Install and/or tighten the X idler pulley bracket so it is vertical. Being exactly vertical isn't critical but why bolt it in place crooked?  Watch for any interference with the Z nut bracket on the X idler subassembly.  FOLLOWUP EDIT: I later trimmed off the corner edge of the pulley bracket so it doesn't catch on the Z nut bracket.Position the gear on the X motor so that the forward edge of the belt is at the forward edge of the horizontal rails. Adjust the belt tension by positioning the X motor in the X motor bracket. I positioned mine to take out any visible sag in the belt and then pulled it just a bit tighter.  Tighten the motor mounting screws.Tweak how the belt rides on the X idler bearings by adjusting the idler pulley bracket slightly to the left or right. The rear end of the pulley bolt is fixed in the X idler.  Moving the pulley bracket to the right (i.e., forward end of the bolt) will cause the belt to move to the rear of the bearings. Moving the bracket to the left will cause the belt to ride forward.  Readjust the belt tension if required.Remove the clamps from the rails.  Verify smooth and consistent Z axis travel.  Recheck eccentric spacer settings on the X motor and X idler, and recheck for consistent spacing between the upright rails as required. 

Note: Part of what we are hoping for here is perfect parallel alignment between the X carriage and the Y bed without the heater installed.  I validated the above straight edge approach using a digital level (RC Logger pitch gauge from my RC helicopter hobby). It shows the difference between the Y bed and the X carriage rails is now within 0.1 or 0.2 degrees.



FOLLOWUP COMMENT: When the four bolts are tightened on the X motor mount and the X idler, you're defining the "natural" position of the idler with respect to the motor.  Straightening this out later using the Z threaded rods will add a torque or torsion into the X carriage. It seems to me that if the torsion is high enough, it could help cause the Z motors to skip a step or double step.  This is why I wanted to square up the x-carriage before the hardware is tightened.

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## printbus

*Y AXIS*
Similar to what I did on the X axis belt, I wrapped the Y axis belt around some aluminum spacers and doubled up on the zip ties.  I used 3/8-inch long aluminum spacers, filling the remaining gap in the mounting brackets with two flat washers placed on the side opposite from where the two washers were put on the Y - idler. Washers were put on opposite sides because of the mysterious offset between the brackets on the Y-bed and the brackets on the Y-idler. I ended up with a belt approximately 26-1/4 inches between holes in the two aluminum spacers.



FOLLOWUP COMMENT #1: In adjusting the Y endstop switch, I determined that the uppermost zip tie in the picture had to be moved closer to the aluminum spacer belt mount. As shown here, that zip tie would catch on the bracket holding the Y idler at the front of the printer.  I also trimmed back the excess belt to make sure it didn't reach to the bearings in the Y idler. Until the printer was in final assembly, I didn't realize how far forward the Y bed travels.

FOLLOWUP COMMENT #2: The Y axis build video doesn't involve the Y idler in the belt alignment.   I suggest first sliding the Y bed forward and adjusting the end loops on the Y bed bracket so they line up with the belt centered on the Y idler.  The brackets on the Y bed don't line up well with the brackets on the Y idler, so you'll likely find the belt rides all the way to what will be the right side when the printer is upright.  Then slide the bed rearward and adjust the gear on the motor to align with the end loops on the Y bed as done in the video.  Slide the Y bed back and forth; try tweaking things if the belt tends to rub on the Y idler brackets.

FOLLOWUP COMMENT #3: Use of an idler pulley on the y-axis idler bearings would obviously help keep the y-belt from rubbing against the idler bracket.  My improved version of one is available at http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:790138.  My approach to an alternate method of attaching the belt to the y-bed is available at http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:796250.

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## printbus

*LCD INTERFACE and LCD INSTALLATION
*I didn't like the way the build videos clamp down on the display board and bend it.  To prevent this from happening, I used some 3/16-inch long spacers between the display board and the LCD bracket.  The spacers really can't be any longer than this or the LCD bracket end will start to interfere with the SD card slot.



FOLLOWUP COMMENT #1: I've had several cases where the display either blanks out or displays random garbage after I first touch the encoder shaft or the metal knob I had installed on the shaft.  There might be a static discharge issue here, so I replaced the metal knob with a printed knob to see whether the problem goes away with an insulated one. A better knob was later found on Thingiverse and used instead.



FOLLOWUP COMMENT #2: The buzzer on the LCD is quite loud. I tamed mine down by covering the hole in the front of the buzzer with a small piece of black electrical tape.

FOLLOWUP COMMENT #3: The display comes preassembled with one row of soldered pins fastening the two boards together.  At some print speeds, I've had the LCD board vibrate against the larger board and/or vibrate against the wood frame.  To fix this, I added a few dabs of hot glue between the two boards, opposite from the row of soldered pins.  Double-sided foam tape or something similar could also be used to improve how the two boards are fastened together.

FOLLOWUP COMMENT #4: There were additional rattles coming from the LCD vibrating in the wood frame. Narrow strips of electrical tape were added as a cushion to either the wood, the circuit boards, or the metal frame on the LCD so that no two hard surfaces can vibrate.

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## printbus

*Z MOTOR
*I don't want wires extending off the sides of the printer, so the Z motors were oriented with the wires exiting the motors to the rear.  The wires will likely eventually be routed through holes added to the frame beside the aluminum rails.

Consideration was given to using M5 coupler nuts at the threaded rod nut brackets. These would be long enough that they stick out of the brackets, allowing the nuts to be bonded to the brackets and/or aluminum rails with hot glue or other adhesive.  I opted to not do this, but I'll put in the coupler nuts if I see issues with the standard nuts being loose in the brackets. 

FOLLOWUP COMMENT: I'm sure the nuts are loosely held in the nut brackets as a safety measure.  If the X-axis is lowered too far and the extruder hits the print bed, having the nuts loose will simply cause them to pull out of the nut brackets instead of damaging the extruder, the print bed, or binding up the Z-motors.   That would be something to consider before bonding the nuts into the brackets. 

Flexible 5mm x 5mm shaft couplers purchased from MakerFarm were used to attach the threaded rods to the Z motors instead of the plastic tubing. Normal thread specifications allow some fit tolerance, so the threaded rods are a bit less than 5mm diameter.  To improve the coupler grip on the threaded rods, I added a single layer of metal adhesive tape to the rods. I used some copper shielding tape I had, but something like foil HVAC tape should work as well. Regular foil would work too, but the adhesive backing is handy during installation. Anything metal will likely hold up better to the rod threads than vinyl tape, etc.  In other threads, I've suggested wrapping the threads with the right gauge wire as a means to thicken up the rods. That sounded like a good idea at the time, but I didn't have much luck with that.  In another thread, Old Man Emu pointed out there's another coupler design that uses grub screws to hold the shafts.  They're probably the best way to go. Use of these couplers does require a ball-end 3mm driver to be used with the stock location of the Z endstop switch.  

FOLLOWUP COMMENT: After using the printer a few months, I definitely suggest looking for the flexible shaft couplers with a pair of set screws to hold the shafts instead of this clamping style.  While I didn't observe any issues in the printing quality, I did notice one of the threaded Z-rods was no longer tightly clamped in the coupler.  I ended up tapping both of my couplers for an additional set screw on each shaft.  It sort of boils down to "buy it right or buy it twice." More info on this is available in TWEAKS TO THE COUPLERS ON THE Z-AXIS RODS.



I added threaded knobs to the top of the Z rods.  I felt there's a bit of an eye safety issue in having the top ends of the rods exposed, and preferred the appearance of actual knobs over wing nuts.  The knobs I used are Grainger 3GFJ3.  The knob on the left might get in the way of the provided top-side spool mount if I use it. I'll deal with that when it becomes a problem.



FOLLOWUP COMMENT: After I could raise the X axis to the top and check for clearance using the Z motors, I lowered the knobs as far as I could both for appearance and for minimizing conflict with the stock spool mount.  I'm only losing usable height of about the thickness of the jam nuts under the knobs.

----------


## printbus

*THERMISTOR BUILD
*Cutting the small high temp sleeving tends to collapse the sleeving, making it hard to slip onto the thermistor wires.  I found opening the cut end of the sleeving with a stick pin was helpful.  

I ended up shortening the sleeving and thermistor leads for the hot end.

----------


## printbus

*HEAT BED INSTALLATION
*The MK1 heat bed has circuit pads for an LED and current limit resistor(s), and I opted to take advantage of that.  The LED will face the rear of the printer, but I like the idea of having a visual indicator that there is in fact power being applied to the heat bed.  I didn't have surface mount components on hand, so I tacked on a leaded-type T1 LED and 1K resistor.  I also replaced the power wires on the MK1 with 18 gauge flexible silicone wiring.  In addition to being very flexible, the high strand count of the wire will hold up better. Another trick from my RC helicopter hobby. 



As an insulator between the Y bed and the heat bed, I picked up an 8-inch (200mm) square silicone pot holder/trivet from eBay to try. It's a perfect fit for the heat bed. This has a mesh pattern on both sides, and I trimmed away some of the mesh ribbing on one side to clear the bolt heads on the top of the Y bed.  The silicone pad is thicker than what the typical piece of cardboard or cork sheet would be, so I had to increase the nylon spacer in the rear right corner to 3/8-inch. 3/8 of an inch might still be a bit short.  I'll convert over to cardboard or cork if I end up needing that printable height loss back at some point.



FOLLOWUP COMMENT #1: In the later post on BED LEVELING, I describe how I revamped the approach to mount the heat bed to the Y bed.  All four corners are now equipped with a spring. Longer and fully threaded M3 x 30mm bolts were used and a locknut is used to fix the bolt to the heat bed.  Thumbwheels used on the bolts extending through the Y bed to provide a fast, tool-free means of adjustment.

FOLLOWUP COMMENT #2: For a printing surface, I had the local Ace Hardware cut some 1/8-inch glass to 8-3/8 inches square, roughly the same size as the heat bed. They wouldn't cut the angled corners needed to clear the mounting bolts, so I used a wet tile saw with a diamond blade to carefully cut them. I figured if the tile saw can cut glass embedded in mosaic tile, it would likely cut the glass better than I could do with a scribe. A bit of effort  with a sanding block softened up the edges around the entire glass plate.

FOLLOWUP COMMENT #3: After using the printer a while, I realized the binder clips used to clamp the glass print surface to the heat bed rub on the heater traces on the bottom side of the heat bed.  While I've never heard of anyone reporting wearing through the protection on the heat bed and shorting trace loops with metal binder clips, next time I have the heat bed assembly apart I'm going to add some kapton tape along the bottom sides of the heat bed as an extra precaution.

----------


## printbus

*ENDSTOP INSTALLATION*
To provide a more permanent endstop setting, I wanted to use bolts and nuts to attach the switches to the endstop brackets instead of zip ties.  Holes in the switches are sized for M2.5 hardware. So that the bolt heads wouldn't interfere with the aluminum rails on the back side of the brackets, I used a 3/16-inch drill bit to countersink the M2.5 screw heads.  This allows the brackets to mount flush to the rails - another advantage over the zip ties.  M2.5 x 12mm screws worked well for mounting the switches.  As a good practice, heatshrink was used on the wire connections at the switches.  For now, I left the unused red wire in the end stop cables.  I assume the RAMPS board puts something like 5V on that wire, which isn't needed in the i3v.  Since I plan to sleeve wire bundles wherever I can, I wanted to retain this for future use should I want to upgrade to optical sensors, add lights, etc.  Heatshrink was added to cover the ends of the red wire and the wire will be folded over inside the sleeving when I get that far. 



 To improve how the Y bed hits the Y endstop switch, the M3 bolt on the Y bed was replaced with a 6-32 bolt and threaded aluminum spacer 1-inch long. 



Since I was already weakening the Z-stop bracket slightly by countersinking the bolt heads, I didn't want to shave material off the back side of the mounting bracket as done in the build video.  Instead, I glued a small piece of wood scrap from the kit's plywood sheets to the X idler.  This gives a good surface area for the Z endstop switch to hit - it's probably a better fix than shaving off the back of the endstop plate anyway. At some point, I may decide to add a similar wood piece to the X carriage for the X end stop.



NOTE: Switch locations in the photos are not final.  They'll be adjusted later.

FOLLOWUP COMMENT #1: The unused red wires got pulled out of the connectors for the endstop switches fairly quick. They were just getting in the way.

FOLLOWUP COMMENT #2: In the later WIRE ROUTING (PART 2) post, I relocate the X endstop switch to the bottom of the lower aluminum rail.  This requires the switch to mounted on the reverse side of the switch bracket from what is shown in the picture.  I also later increased the length of the notch in the switch bracket so that it could slide farther past the nut on the wheel bolt.  The small wood block added to the X idler extends farther towards the wheel bolt than it needed to.  I got very lucky here.  When I moved the X endstop switch to the bottom of the lower extrusion, that small block almost got in the way. I should have kept it shorter. 



FOLLOWUP COMMENT #3: Clough42 has several upgrades for the i3v available on Thingiverse, including endstop switch brackets designed to fit the V-groove of the aluminum rail.  I found the MakerFarm approach for the Z endstop especially lacking.  Clough42 has a great improvement that provides a screw-based Z endstop adjustment. This eliminates the reason for adding the small wood block or shaving off the back of the Z endstop bracket.

FOLLOWUP COMMENT #4: Those clough42 switch brackets only work with the 8-inch printer.  There's a similar solution for the 10-inch printer from another user on Thingiverse.

----------


## printbus

*EXTRUDER AND HEXAGON HOT END*
Before I added the extruder assembly to the printer, I opted to add some lighting to the X Carriage.  There's a perfect area underneath it for mounting some adhesive strip LED lighting. I used two sections of 12V warm white LED strip lighting that I had leftover from a prior artwork project.  A two-pin header was added to the sidewall of the X carriage extruder bracket for use as a connector on the LED wires.  I thought about just tying the LEDs into the extruder fan power, but decided to run dedicated lighting wires in case I want to put the LEDs on a switch or dimmer circuit.  I plan to sleeve the bundle of wires leading to the extruder assembly, and having a connector on the LED wires will allow me to disconnect the LEDs when I remove the extruder and cable harness from the X carriage for repair or cleaning. 

FOLLOWUP COMMENT: A picture showing the heat bed illumination from these LEDs is here.



A locknut was used instead of the provided standard nut on the filament release pivot bolt. My printed parts seemed to have a looser fit than those in the build videos.  After assembling everything I was disappointed to find a lot of sloppy mechanical play in the extruder tip. Multiple things were done to fix this.  To improve how the bearings fit in the extruder, I added a layer or two of kapton tape around them. To minimize slop in how the hobbed bolt fits in the bearings, I added three or four turns of tape to the bolt where the bearings ride.  The hex hot end was also a very loose fit in the aluminum mounting plate, so I added a layer of kapton tape to the post of the hex hot end.  After final assembly, the extruder tip now has zero play. 





Envisioning how I plan to route wires, I oriented the extruder motor so the wires exit differently than shown in the build video. I found it necessary to lengthen the elongated motor mounting holes in order to obtain good gear mesh, at least with the gears in new and unused condition.  M3 x 16mm bolts and M3 fender washers were used on the extruder motor instead of the provided shorter ones that are intended to recess into the wall of the extruder.  The face-mounted fender washers should improve the hold as heat from the extruder motor starts to soak through the motor mount.  Watch for conflict between the left motor mounting screw and the large gear; use of a button head screw will help reduce the size of the screw head.   

The build video discusses the user printing a fan shroud for use with the hexagon hot end. A shroud was included with the hex hot end I ordered with my i3v.  I found it challenging to add the shroud and fan on the bench with the hot end and aluminum plate still loose. I ended up mounting the extruder and hot end to the printer and then installing the fan and shroud. I had to enlarge the holes in the shroud for M3 bolts to pass through it.



FOLLOWUP COMMENT #1 - I later realized that since I had added more washers than usual under the large gear to clear my face-tightened motor mounted screws, the large extruder gear was now rubbing against the ends of the bolts for the top two wheels on the X carriage.  I ended up fixing this by shortening the bolts with a file so they don't protrude from the lock nuts when they are installed.



FOLLOWUP COMMENT #2 - I applied it later in the assembly, but I followed the ZennmasterM recommendation of using Permatex Muffler & Tailpipe sealer to thermally bond the thermistor to the hexagon hot end. ZennmasterM's use of a syringe would be overkill for the hexagon front end; all I did is dab a bit of it into the dimple provided for the thermistor with a straightened paper clip.  After all my wire and cable routing was complete, I redid the kapton tape over the heater and thermistor wires. With wire movement now fairly over, this is when I applied the Permatex sealer.  

FOLLOWUP COMMENT #3 - In response to some suggestions I found elsewhere on the web, I've reversed the hot end fan so that it is pulling heat away from the hot end and exhausting it out the front of the printer. This reportedly works better than pushing cool air into the "boxed in" bottom part of the i3v X carriage.

FOLLOWUP COMMENT #4 - The stock shroud for the hex hot end is mounted with the two screws for the hot end cooling fan.  The shroud also sort of snaps onto the aluminum barrel of the hot end.  I'm not sure what the intent is since that causes the bottom of the shroud to melt where it touches the aluminum block of the hot end.   I've subsequently printed the shroud in ABS and cut away the bottom of shroud so it just barely clears the aluminum block of the hot end.  This has eliminated the problem with the shroud melting. Having the shroud only supported at the top led to an occasional vibration at some print speeds. This was fixed by adding a silicone isolator between the shroud and the fan. 

FOLLOWUP COMMENT #5 - The stock extruder comes with #6 Phillips head screws for mounting to the X-carriage, with nuts that are recessed into the printed extruder base.  I replaced the #6 hardware with M4 cap screws, long enough that fender washers and nyloc nuts can be used on the face of the extruder base.  I used M4 x 25mm.  Cap screws are easier to tighten than Phillips head.  Using fender washers on the face provides a lot more surface area that should hold up better to any heat making it's way up from the hot end.   Using nyloc nuts should help keep the hardware tight.  The screw on the left side can accept a very large washer; I used a 3/16-inch ID washer there that is about 20mm in diameter, just about the same width as the base of the extruder. It's tricky to get the nylock nuts in place, but my hope is that this improved mounting method leads to messing with the mounting hardware less often.

FOLLOWUP COMMENT #6 - Some have had issues with the adhesive backing not holding on similar LED strips.  Mine have held fine. I'm not sure if it is the fact that the LED strips I have used 3M branded adhesive or the nature of the painted surface. Adding the kapton tape to the aluminum u-channel has been tricky. In subsequent extruder rebuilds, I've been adding layers of kapton tape as required to the top, round end of the hot end, using the tape as a spacer to push the hot end down into the aluminum bracket.

----------


## old man emu

Every time I look at this build thread, I am impressed by the appearance of the printer. It really is competitive with those unbox, plug in, print ones in aesthetic appeal. If it prints like the original i3 it's a real winner.

OME

----------


## printbus

> Every time I look at this build thread, I am impressed by the appearance of the printer. It really is competitive with those unbox, plug in, print ones in aesthetic appeal. If it prints like the original i3 it's a real winner.


Thanks, OME! You're grasping where I'm trying to head with this build.  Yeah I've ran into a few minor things, but I'm still pretty happy with the i3v design - I see no reason why it shouldn't be a great printer.  I'm futzing around with the build more than I thought I would, but I'm in no hurry.  The way I study things tends to drive people around me nuts.  I think the kids are glad that they're old enough to have moved away from it. And in this case, the wife has long ago stopped asking if I'm ready to print yet.

----------


## old man emu

> . And in this case, the wife has long ago stopped asking if I'm ready to print yet.


Oh! She's completed Phase One of her campaign. Phase Two is when she starts asking why you have to keep spending money on that damned printer. "I thought you said it had everything in it that you needed!"

OME

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## printbus

> Oh! She's completed Phase One of her campaign. Phase Two is when she starts asking why you have to keep spending money on that damned printer. "I thought you said it had everything in it that you needed!"


Ha! Yeah, the "didn't it come with what you needed" has already came up.  She knows me, though, and all I had to do was say I found a way to improve it and needed to make a run to the local Ace Hardware. To that her response has been "oh, so you're not done Kevinizing it yet".  So far, working on the printer has been nothing like the ongoing investment I've had with RC helicopter repairs, but I can see the similarities the future may bring. 

No build progress today - too much time spent living life.

----------


## beerdart

Great build Kevin. In the end you will have a great printer that will improve with every Hey honey are you heading to the hardware store again..  :Wink:

----------


## old man emu

I don't like taking my missus to the hardware store - she spends more than I do, and then expects me to do things with what she's purchased.

I'm doing some maintenance and upgrades on my i3 at the moment and have been in the workshop for a couple of hours. I think I'm getting close to that 'one step too far' point.

OME

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## gmay3

printbus, good to see that you're taking you time and enjoying the build! I had a great time building mine, but it seems like you're having an ever greater time! haha  :Big Grin: 

I'm intrigued by your led strip lighting on the bottom of your x carriage. I have the same strip lighting on hand and I'm very interested in seeing how yours turns out when the lights are on during a print!

----------


## old man emu

> I'm intrigued by your led strip lighting on the bottom of your x carriage. I have the same strip lighting on hand and I'm very interested in seeing how yours turns out when the lights are on during a print!


I've fitted the same sort of thing to my printer. I'll post some pix tomorrow.

OME

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## gmay3

Awesome! Thanks OME!

----------


## printbus

> ...I'm very interested in seeing how yours turns out when the lights are on during a print!


I'm not printing yet, but here's a snapshot showing the illumination from the X carriage LEDs.  I wavered between installing three vs six LEDs, but I'm glad I went with six.  Three might have been a bit lacking.

----------


## printbus

*POWER SUPPLY AND RAMPS MOUNTING
*I ended up not using the holes MakerFarm provides on the left sidewall for a Mean Well type power supply.  I moved the power supply rearward a bit to open up the airflow slots on the forward edge of the power supply, and I moved the power supply upward in order to provide more wiring access room at the power supply terminal block.  This does mean, however, that the power supply is now only mounted at three points. 



I also used #8 x 1/4-inch aluminum spacers on the power supply in order to open up the airflow slots on the mounting side of the power supply. I'd rather the power supply fan run as little as possible, and I'm hoping these changes improve the cooling obtained just by convection. 



The RAMPS and heater relay were mounted in the provided holes. I threw spacers on these too, mainly so I could tuck wires under the boards. 



FOLLOWUP COMMENT #1: One of my tougher vibrations to track down turned out to be on the RAMPS board. The two large yellow square components (polyfuses) were touching, and at certain print speeds they'd rattle.  To fix that, I added a dab of hot glue between them to ensure the two components aren't touching.

FOLLOWUP COMMENT #2: If you're downloading the Marlin firmware at this point in your build, DO NOT follow the instructions in the build guide RAMPS firmware video on where to get it.  I learned the hard way that will get you the firmware intended for the i3, not the i3v.  There are some subtle differences in the firmware configuration files.  Obtain the files from the RAMPS download link provided in the i3v build guide.

----------


## old man emu

Just a suggestion:
Rotate your RAMPS board 180 degrees. That will give you easier access to the endstop, thermistor and extruder stepper connections. It will also make it easier to access the power and heater (both) connections. It does put the flat cable to the LCD in the way, but that is a small price to pay for better access. I actually attached a plywood plate to the top frame member and have my RAMPS board on top of the printer, to the left of the LCD screen. Really easy access.

Here's how mine looks:

Relocated RAMPS board.jpg

Old Man Emu

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## old man emu

Here are some pix to show how my 3 x LED light strips illuminate the print area.

Here is the print area with the lights off:

Lights Off.jpg

and with the lights on (no flash for photo)

Lights On.JPG

Here's how it looks in photos taken with a flash.

Lights off

Lights Off - flashlit.jpg

Lights on

Lights On - flashlit.jpg

Here's the link to how I did it:  http://3dprintboard.com/showthread.p...the-Print-Area

Old Man Emu

----------


## Roxy

I have a couple of LED's embedded into my extruder to do the same thing.  But they burned out.   They still light up but are not bright enough to serve any purpose now.   I like the light strip idea.  I think I'll go scrounge on eBay and see if I can find something suitable for my setup!

----------


## gmay3

Thanks very much for the pictures guys! They look great, I think I'm going to do that with mine now and will post pictures! No more flashlights for me haha

----------


## printbus

*WIRE ROUTING (PART ONE)
*Although there are a few things I'd likely do different, I'm pretty happy with how the wiring and cable routing turned out. 

FOLLOWUP COMMENT: In response to issues others have had in understanding how to wire the heat bed relay, I've tried to provide some detail in thread *Clarifying i3/i3v heat bed and heat bed relay wiring*

*Materials Used
*In addition to zip ties, I used (mostly 1/4-inch) expandable sleeving and a number of cable clamps to attach most of the wiring.  Anyone who has used the expandable sleeving knows how frustrating it can be since it tends to unravel as soon as you cut it and try to feed anything through it.  For this build I used "clean cut" sleeving I found on eBay that is a lot easier to work with.  I also had obtained some aluminum rail slot covers from Openbuildpartstore. In addition to possibly being used for decoration, the slot covers can be used to create a wire raceway in the aluminum rails. 

 Every wire was custom fit to length, cutting off the connector and splicing it back on as required. I could have crimped new connectors on instead of splicing, but that would have required a lot of new contacts that I didn't have. Besides, almost all the heatshrink covered splices are now hidden inside the sleeving. 



*AC Power Switch*
I added a push on/push off type power switch to the front of the printer. 


*
Power Supply Terminal Block
*The power supply had three 12V and three return screws, so I routed three pairs of wires from the power supply to the other side of the printer.  Heavy #14 wires were used for sourcing power to the heat bed relay.  A dedicated pair of #18 wires provides power to the RAMPS board. An additional #18 pair fans out to low current loads like cooling fans and the LED lighting. 

My power supply didn't come with any type of protective cover for the terminal block, so the AC connections are exposed. With time, I'll look into printing something to use. 



*LCD Ribbon*
I simply folded the excess ribbon from the LCD display and tied it to the upper member of the frame behind the LCD. 

FOLLOWUP COMMENT: In the later GARBAGE DATA ON LCD DISPLAY post, I add a zip tie loop to pull the ribbon cables tight to the frame, away from the noise-laden bundle of wires from the X carriage that gets looped over the top of the printer.  This helps reduce noise coupling into the LCD ribbon cables and messing up the screen.



*Y endstop switch wiring*
Here I took advantage of the side channel of the aluminum rail and routed the wires through it. Wires are held in place behind a section of the black slot cover that was cut to fit.  These wires get bundled with the wires from the Y motor at the back of the printer. 



More routing info to follow... I've used up the five-pictures-per-post limit.

----------


## printbus

*WIRE ROUTING (PART TWO)*

*Z endstop switch wiring*
Wires for the Z endstop switch were just dropped through the aluminum rail where they are bundled with the Z motor wires.



*X Motor wiring*
I fed the X motor wires to the other side of the printer through the top side channel in the lower X axis rail.  A cut-to-fit slot cover keeps the wires in place.  Sleeving extends from the motor to a few inches inside the rail. 



*X endstop switch wiring
*Other than adjustment access, there's nothing magic about the X endstop switch being on the top side of the X axis.  For the cleanest wire routing, I moved it to the bottom and fed the wires to the end of the rail using the lower side channel. The X endstop wires and the X motor wires combine into a single bundle that loops around to the back of the printer. Note that moving the endstop switch required the switch to move to the other side of the endstop block.

 FOLLOWUP COMMENT: After increasing the length of the notch in the endstop bracket, moving the X endstop switch underneath also allowed the switch to located a bit more to the right than would have been possible up on top.  This was helpful in working to achieve the full 200mm printable area in the X direction. 



*Extruder wiring*
I used 3/8-inch sleeving over all the wires that are attached to the X carriage since 1/4-inch would have been a tight fit.  The bundle is attached to the extruder motor using what I think is a spring contact from an old lamp assembly tore out of equipment eons ago.  I could have used a cable clamp here, but would have to find an M3 x 45mm bolt to replace the 40mm one from the motor.  The bundle of wires passes over the top of the printer. Immediately on the back side, the bundle passes through a Molex connector. The connector allows the extruder and cable harness to be removed from the printer. The current rating on the contacts should be more than adequate.  (I'm in the process of reapplying the kapton tape and zip tie around the heater and thermistor wires - that's why they're not in the picture)

FOLLOWUP COMMENT: I didn't put the cable connector(s) at the extruder end since that would have added more weight to the extruder.  More weight would mean more motor work is required to move the carriage around. 



*RAMPS Side View
*Sufficient service loops were ensured for the X axis, Y bed, and extruder cables.  Cable clamps used to ensure wire movements don't reach connector contacts, switch terminals, screw lugs, etc.  

For misc low current 12v needs, I wanted something that was expandable to more loads and provided a means to easily disconnect loads when I wanted to do so.  The 6x2 socket header is what I came up with using the parts I had on hand. In response to a later question, more info on this is here.

----------


## beerdart

Nice and neat great job. One thing I changed was the screw terminal connector on the Ramps(POS would cause power drop outs). I removed the connector and installed two weatherpak connectors with the wires directly soldered to the board.

----------


## printbus

> ...One thing I changed was the screw terminal connector on the Ramps(POS would cause power drop outs). I removed the connector and installed two weatherpak connectors with the wires directly soldered to the board.


Thanks for the insight.  I've stayed away from the pluggable screw terminals in my designs because of that possibility, but I figured I'd leave these on since the board came that way. Now I'm not so sure...

----------


## 1stage

This is the most ridiculously anal-retentive build of a Makerfarm Prusa 8" i3v I've ever seen...

...AND I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT!  :Big Grin:

----------


## printbus

> This is the most ridiculously anal-retentive build of a Makerfarm Prusa 8" i3v I've ever seen...
> 
> ...AND I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT!


Thanks. Admittedly, the ridiculously anal-retentive build required quite a time investment. While it's possible no one else will replicate the full effort, it should at least offer ideas that people can incorporate into their own i3v repairs or new builds. The build does show that with effort, you can get whatever level of product refinement you want out of the i3v.   

I'm still working through some issues that I want to resolve before I post my final build comments. I'm also waiting on a replacement stepper motor driver, and my spare time has to soon shift to preparing for a private July 4th fireworks show.  It may be a while before I give the printer a serious workout.

----------


## eghm

> While it's possible no one else will replicate the full effort, it should at least offer ideas that people can incorporate into their own i3v repairs or new builds.


I'll be making use of some of the things you've posted here on my build.  Thanks!

----------


## printbus

*MOTOR TESTING AND ENDSTOP ADJUSTMENT
*It was great to finally be controlling the motors from the LCD.  In my case, I had to reverse the plugs for both the X motor and the Y motor at the RAMPS board to get the proper movement directions.  No issues surfaced in adjusting a general placement of the Z endstop switch. 

Some may recall I put two zip ties on each of the belt ends.  On the leg of the Y belt that loops forward through the Y idler, I had to move the forward zip tie closer to the belt mounting bolt, since it was tending to catch on one of the idler pulley brackets when the bed was fully extended.  I also trimmed off some of the excess belt so it wouldn't encroach on the idler bearings.  After that, I could position the Y endstop switch so the home position of the hot end is at the rear marking of the square on the heat bed. 

Adjustment of the X home position wasn't as easy.  With the endstop switch as far right as it would go, the hot end tip was still about 6mm inside the marking on the heat bed.  I can't imagine ever printing anything that actually needs the full 200mm capability, but I took on achieving it as a challenge. Several tweaks were involved, with each providing just a portion of the correction.
Using a round needle file, I elongated the extruder mounting holes in the X carriage to allow the extruder to slide to the right maybe 1.5 or 2mm.  For good measure, I enlarged the large U-shaped channel for the hot end an equal amount. I probably could have elongated the holes a bit more, but at some point the head of the right-side extruder mounting bolt will be up against the carriage sidewall and limit how far the extruder can slide over.Having previously relocated the X endstop switch to the bottom X axis aluminum rail turned out to helpful.  On the upper location, the range of adjustment of the X endstop switch is limited by the Z nut bracket on the X idler.  The bottom side doesn't have that problem.  I cut out 1.5 or 2mm of additional wood from the notch in the X endstop bracket so it could pass farther over the nut for the lower X idler wheel bolt.Although the notch clears the locknut, now the wide button head screw mounting the X endstop was binding up on the bolt protruding from the wheel bolt locknut. Shortening the bolt would have required some serious disassembly, so I swapped the button head on the endstop bracket with a normal cap screw which has a slightly narrower head.Using a needlenose pliers, I "flattened" most of the U-hook out of the endstop switch lever so the X carriage travels farther before the switch activates.Finally, I angled the endstop bracket on the extrusion just a bit to rotate the end of the switch lever away from the X carriage.

I wanted to measure and record the baseline current limit settings for the stepper motor drivers.  That led me to realize the trimpot on the Z driver was broken and the entire top half with the wiper was gone.  I appeared to be driving the motors OK, but I'm not sure how the A4988 chip deals with the now unconnected current limit input signal.  I'm limiting what I do with the printer until I get the replacement driver.  The top part of the trimpot was later found in the bubble package from the RAMPS board.

FOLLOWUP COMMENT: The Pololu Black stepper driver I purchased got here before the MakerFarm replacement, so I've installed the Pololu.

----------


## printbus

*BED LEVELING
*The bed leveling concept for the i3v seemed pretty straightforward.  Adjust the Z endstop for the desired hot end clearance over the fixed-height home corner of the bed, and then adjust the other three corners to match the clearance.  Yeah, right. I found it impossible to adjust the Z endstop with any accuracy or repeatability, especially since even a slight change in the angle of the switch makes a big difference when you're adjusting to paper thickness clearance.  When I lucked into a Z endstop position that might work, adjusting the other three corners was tedious, having to repeatedly move the bed and then switch between adjusting the height and checking clearance.  

Rather than revamp the Z endstop design, here's what I implemented to provide an easier adjustment. The Z endstop will be left at a fixed height.  All four corners of the heatbed are now adjustable; I found a spring somewhat like the other three to use on the home corner and removed the spacer.  M3 x 30 bolts now used in each corner, with a locknut installed to fix the bolt to the heat bed so it won't rotate.  Springs between the locknuts and the Y bed. The springs Makerfarm provided in the kit slip perfectly over the round end of the M3 locknuts.  M3 wing nuts or thumbwheels under the Y bed for adjustment.  Z endstop switch set generally where it should be for the spacer height that used to be in the home corner, and will no longer be adjusted.  

Tired of spending money at the hardware store for this thing, I thought I'd try printing some M3 thumbwheels to use  under the Y bed.   I was surprised to no end when the first print I've ever done came out usable, especially with the Z axis stepper motor running with an indeterminate current limit setting because of the damaged driver board. 



After adopting this approach, adjusting the bed for proper clearance in all four corners is trivial, and requires no tools.  It took just a minute or two to tweak thumbwheels using a piece of paper for a gauge before subsequently printing my LCD knob.   The surface area between the Y bed and the thumbwheels seems very adequate for keeping the thumbwheels in position.

I'm sure the concept of the thumbwheels isn't new, but I have no idea who to give credit to.

FOLLOWUP COMMENT: BTW, my bed leveling process starts with using the long straightedge to check for proper adjustment between the X motor plate and the X idler plate like I did during the X axis alignment.  Z rods rotated as necessary to get them aligned with each other. I figure any mismatch from how I aligned them previously will lead to some torsion in the X axis, possibly increasing the chance of a Z motor skipping a step or doublestepping.

FOLLOWUP COMMENT #2: The design of the first M3 thumbwheels used includes a fine ridge for grip that didn't come out on my print.  When I wanted to reprint the thumbwheels in black, I went for a different design with more a pronounced finger grip although I did have to file down the ridges a bit on the left rear position to clear the frame.

FOLLOWUP COMMENT #3: The Z endstop switch implementation was later revamped to a screw-adjustable design.  That's a far better implementation.

FOLLOWUP COMMENT #4: The original post mentioned M3 x 30mm bolts being used in each corner.  I think they are actually M3 x 25mm. 

FOLLOWUP COMMENT #5: I later realized a significant advantage to the different design thumbwheels installed later. That design has 10 ridges around the circumference of the thumbwheel. With the 0.5mm pitch for the M3 hardware, this equates to 0.05mm in height adjustment for each ridge.  In switching between printing directly on glass and then printing on painters tape, I can get very close to an initial adjustment by just rotating each thumbwheel by two notches to adjust the bed 0.1mm in height.

FOLLOWUP COMMENT #6: For those with 10 and 12-inch printers, note that the thumbwheel approach here is implemented on an 8-inch printer.  For the larger printers to get the extruder to the front of the print bed, the rear of the Y-bed will need to extend beyond the rear frame brace that goes across the back of the printer.  That rear frame brace may need to be modified to provide the additional clearance needed for the thumbwheels and/or the bolts used in the two rear corners.

----------


## printbus

*GARBAGE DATA ON LCD DISPLAY*
The LCD screen has frequently been displaying garbled data.  Initially this was when I was trying to do something with the rotary encoder. I thought static was perhaps being passed through the metal knob I had on the encoder, but I still saw the display get messed up at random during prints after replacing the knob with a plastic one. 



I've written microcontroller software for similar displays before. For those that don't know, with these displays characters can be displayed from an ASCII character set, an alternate character set, or a number of user defined character bitmaps.  While the specifics of the alternate character set vary by manufacturer, some of the characters I see on my screen are typically found in the alternate character set.  I'm not sure how data from the alternate character set is being written to the LCD, but others with the Marlin-type display have reported the problem often is noise coupling into the LCD ribbon cables.  My ribbon cables were touching the X carriage cable harness passing over the top of the printer.  I drilled a few holes in the right side of the frame and added a zip tie to pull the ribbon cables away from the X carriage harness.  Looking good so far, although I've only ran one two hour print job since the mod.  Next time I'm ordering from the likes of Mouser or Digikey, I'll likely order new connectors for the ribbon cables and shorten them up, which others have also reported as an occasional fix.



FOLLOWUP COMMENT #1: Moving the ribbon cables has definitely helped. There still is a sensitivity, however, to fingers reaching over the top of the frame and touching the LCD circuit board when reaching for the knob.

FOLLOWUP COMMENT #2: After a few months, I got around to building new, shorter ribbon cables.  I'm not sure that made any difference. An explanation on what is happening that results in the garbled display is discussed in the Garbled LCD Screens thread in the Firmware Enhancements to Marlin area.

FOLLOWUP COMMENT #3: Looking into the firmware associated with the LCD panel, I grew to realize that the existing firmware base has a built-in provision for restoring the display once it gets into this garbled mode.  Assuming the printer isn't busy printing from the SD card, insertion or removal of the SD card will restore the display to proper operation.

FOLLOWUP COMMENT #4: Newer versions of Marlin have yet another built-in recovery scheme.  When the printer is at the top status screen, pressing in on the panel button will also restore the display.

FOLLOWUP COMMENT #5: I'm still getting the garbled display a lot.  While it does usually happen when I touch the display, I have seen the display garbled during a print when I haven't been close to touching the printer.

----------


## printbus

*HEAT BED CLIPS
*Binder clips in the SMALL size are the common method of clamping the print surface to the heat bed. I found the MINI size works out better.  Even installed all the way, they aren't as likely to protrude into the printable area.  The smaller wire wings also keeps them from getting in the way, so they're easier to just leave on. 



For a clip installed to the rear left side of the heat bed, bending the wings a bit allows the clip to clear the left sidewall of the frame. Leaving the wings in place makes it easier to remove the glass, so I'm likely to clean it more often. 



MICRO sized binder clips are also available, but I don't think they open wide enough to grab both the glass and heat bed when using 3mm glass.

FOLLOWUP COMMENT: Note that I am using glass that goes from one edge of the heat bed to the other edge, or about 8-3/8 inches in width.  This allows me to use clips that don't encroach into the print area, minimizing the chance that the hot end nozzle will hit a clip during homing, etc.

FOLLOWUP COMMENT #2: IIRC, I obtained the mini clips from the office supplies area at Walmart.  I think they came in a package of 70 for $4 USD.

----------


## printbus

*WRAPUP COMMENTS ON THE INITIAL BUILD*

After completing about a dozen items and calibration prints, I'm pretty content with my decision to build the i3v.  It appears to be very capable, yet obtained at the lower end of the price range for 3D printers without having to gamble on a crowdfunding effort. Yeah, I spent a lot of time building it, but I knew I would going in. Others have shown you can get an i3v functional without as much extra effort.  For the long haul, I know I've got good support available at MakerFarm, and the parts are mostly generic and available elsewhere.  

I found it extremely helpful for MakerFarm to have provided configuration files for Slic3r and for the electronics to arrive preconfigured with firmware for the i3v.  This allowed me to get the printer up and running without having to fret over  configuration and firmware download details that I wouldn't have understood at the time. I can now work through them as I learn more about printing and the i3v printer.

*KEY BUILD POINTS*
Expect to use the MarkerFarm build guide and build videos only as a guide. Don't assume they tell you everything. Think about what you're doing, and be ready to fill in the missing details yourself.  Post questions on the board here or contact Colin. I only asked him two questions, and got responses quickly.  

Watch for hardware fit conflicts.  Some things won't fit if adjacent nuts aren't rotated right.  I had some X carriage screw heads rubbing on the X axis extrusions, and had issues with the length of the bolts on several of the X carriage and X idler wheels. Several holes required elongating.  This may be more personal opinion than fact, but work to eliminate any mechanical slop in the hot end tip when you have the extruder done. It seems to me that you can't expect good prints if the hot end tip isn't fairly rigid.  

*DESIGN CONCERNS
*Here are my concerns with the i3v design, regardless of whether they're systemic to the Prusa i3 or specific to the MakerFarm i3v.  While I call them concerns, remember I'm still happy with the i3v.  Resolving these issues would make the thing pretty perfect as far as I'm concerned. 

Adjusting bed clearance with the Z endstop switch and a fixed spacer between the heatbed and Y bed at the home corner.  What a pain.  Leaving the endstop position alone and adjusting the heatbed height at all four corners is perhaps the best mod I did to the i3v. 

FOLLOWUP COMMENT: Clough42 has been posting great things for the i3v on Thingiverse, including parts for a screw-based Z-stop adjustment. 
Lost capacity in the X axis. The X motor mounting plate limits how far the X carriage can move to the left.   I had to get creative to find ways to allow the extruder to move farther to the right in order to achieve the specified 200mm range in the X axis.  Why couldn't the X axis aluminum rails  be a bit longer and the frame stretched a few mm to resolve this?Rinky dink approach to the Y idler that requires tinkering if you don't want the belt rubbing on the wood brackets.  Issues here are exaggerated by misalignment between the Y bed belt mount and the Y idler.  Why don't they line up better?  The X idler design is similar, but at least there it's easier to adjust the angle of the bolt holding the pulley bearings as a belt adjustment. 

FOLLOWUP COMMENT: A custom belt guide wheel has recently been added to Thingiverse, with an improved one at http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:790138. This would resolve the Y idler concern, and could also be used on the X idler.
There are worrisome places I can see the wood plates flex.  Pressing back on the Y idler front just a bit causes the Y belt to sag.  If I manipulate the Z motor cases by hand, I can see the frame sidewalls flex.  Maybe neither is significant, but reinforcements could have been readily added to prevent both.  I'll also be watching for warping in the Y bed since it's always under stress from the heat bed springs.

----------


## AbuMaia

> The RAMPS and heater relay were mounted in the provided holes. I threw spacers on these too, mainly so I could tuck wires under the boards.  
> 
> Attachment 1517


Huh, so that's what those holes are for. My heat bed relay melted when I was still using the i3, and I haven't fixed it yet. I've been using the relay mount holes as a place to zip-tie up the cables for the heat bed.

----------


## printbus

> Huh, so that's what those holes are for. My heat bed relay melted when I was still using the i3, and I haven't fixed it yet. I've been using the relay mount holes as a place to zip-tie up the cables for the heat bed.


Yep.  I can't speak to the i3, but the i3v build guide mentioned that's what the small hole pattern was for.  The frame could stand a few holes for adding zip ties at both the RAMPS and heater relay; I thought about drilling some but ended up using 1/4-inch cable clamps instead.

----------


## printbus

*SIX WEEK STATUS UPDATE
*After about five dozen prints, I'm still content with my decision to go with the i3v.  Primarily thanks to Thingiverse, I've pretty much got the hardware where I want it to be for now... 



*SLICER*
After futzing and researching, I've opted to focus on Cura as my slicer. Working with both v0.9.9 and v1.1.6 in Slic3r, I just grew increasingly frustrated with gcode conversion taking so long or not completing, with some prints having gaps left behind while on other prints excessive time seemed to be spent on gap/hole touchup, with nozzle moves that do not follow logic, with some prints coming out better in v0.9.9 while others did better in v1.1.6, and with support capability still being somewhat lacking.  Some of these issues may be user error in dealing with the 100+ settings in Slic3r, and at some point I may want that detail of control back, but for now I'm doing great with the subset of controls Cura provides. 

FOLLOWUP COMMENT: When Repetier baselined Cura as an integrated slicer, I migrated to that.  I'm liking it.  It provides a nice interface that integrates printer manual control, slicing, layer by layer review of the slicing result, printing, and layer-by-layer monitoring of what the printer is doing.   

*PRINT SURFACE*
With the hairspray-on-glass surface I had been using, I battled getting the first layer of PLA to stick with Cura. At all.  Research indicated others have also had first-layer problems when switching to Cura.  Changing pertinent settings and moving to printing on blue painter's tape with no heat applied helped, but not enough.  For me, the magic combination seemed to be the settings and blue tape, along with wiping the painter's tape down with isopropyl alcohol after installing it and then adjusting the nozzle clearance with the nozzle hot. I wasn't expecting to have to re-engineer the first layer approach just because I went to a different slicer. There's definitely a difference in how the first layer is handled.  

*LEVERAGING THINGIVERSE AND OTHER MODS*
So far, I'm not into designing my own stuff to print. I'm busy enough with just figuring out the printing side of things. Here are the things I've incorporated into the i3v...

I swapped out the original thumbwheels under the heat bed with ones that have more knurl - http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:29782.  The one at the rear left corner was filed down just a bit to clear the frame side wall.  To recap, on my printer all four corners of the heat bed are adjustable.  Screws are locked to the heat bed, and the thumbwheels go under the Y-bed.  It takes about a minute for me to check and adjust level around the bed.  I'm currently seeing no issues driving me to incorporate automatic bed leveling. 

FOLLOWUP COMMENT: A side benefit to these thumbwheels is that they have 10 ridges around the circumference.  At 0.5mm pitch on the M3 screw they are mounted on, each notch in rotation equates to a 0.05mm height adjustment in that corner.  

I swapped out the LCD knob with one that just looked better - http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:385882

For a spool mount, I migrated to brackets that hold the spool directly above the top plate on the i3/i3v - http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:192510. There are multiple bracket designs that hang the spool to the rear, but I didn't like the idea of that weight putting torque on the top plate.  The spool I have from MakerFarm with 1.5-inch spindle got a pair of these hubs with bearings - http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:7853. My other spools with dual-size spindles use prints derived from http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:28046.

FOLLOWUP COMMENT: I found there's a side benefit to the spool being on a wide rod.  I ended up with shaft collars on each side of the spool, and the shaft collars are tightened to the rod.  I can adjust the spacing of the shaft collars to put just a bit of drag on the spool. This has been really helpful in keeping the windings on the spool layered properly.  I found that if the spool spins too freely, the spool can start to unwind itself and loosen up several turns of filament.  This could eventually lead to feed issues.  

It's not Thingiversed, but I now print the cooling shroud for the hex hot end in ABS so I can easily cut out the bottom of it to clear the nozzle body of the hot end.  Whose idea was it to have the printed cooling shroud snap onto the hot end and rest on the aluminum block where, um, PLA and ABS gets melted?  I added some kapton tape to the top surface of the hot end block to help insulate the block from the hex cooling fan airflow. I also swapped out the noisy hot end fan MakerFarm with a quieter one. The first one was around 5 CFM but super quiet.  This was OK with PLA, but the extruder base started getting soft when I started working with the higher temperatures of ABS.  The current fan is only spec'd at about 6 CFM, but has a higher speed that can probably do better at pulling air through the shroud. 

FOLLOWUP COMMENT: I later added wings to the rear of the shroud to ensure airflow is forced onto the hot end heatsink. See EXTRUDER REBUILD AND NEW PRINT COOLER (Part 1).

In the original build, I futzed with the X and Y idler alignment so that belts wouldn't drift to the side and rub against the wood of the mounting brackets.  I no longer had a problem to solve, but as a design improvement I printed and installed a pair of these belt guides - http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:359773. I installed them with three washers - one on each side and one used as a spacer between the two bearings that press into the belt guides. The belt lengths needed to be increased a few teeth, but I had left enough excess length before to cover this.  

Clough42 has a pretty slick cooling shroud for adding a 40mm cooling fan to the extruder motor - http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:343026.  I'm using a fan that doesn't put through the air that the one in his Thingiverse picture does, but I used what I could find locally and wanted to lean towards the quiet side as a starting point.   Rather than cover some of the motor metal with a zip tie to strap on the shroud, I used a loop of solid wire as an attachment in addition to the snug fit the shroud already has on the motor.  While the design is great, as a non-expert I found it to be one of my more challenging prints to date. Six or eight attempts ended up in the trash. One, the grid that faces the motor appears to not show up until the second layer (although I did get some gcode from Slic3r 0.9.9 that included it in the first layer), and many prints would start out bad because of this.  Two, one side of the shroud has a pretty good slope to it that I found challenging.  Three,  I'd typically end up grinding into the filament when the end was near and I'd only be adding small layers to the "uprights" in the print structure.  I'm sure the latter issues were my own doing - especially my retraction settings.   I printed another after getting Cura somewhat figured out and a print cooler installed - that print turned out far better, first shot.  

FOLLOWUP COMMENT: I have the motor type that runs hot.  A cooling fan for the extruder stepper motor may not be required by all MakerFarm kits. 

FOLLOWUP COMMENT #2: In EXTRUDER REBUILD AND NEW PRINT COOLER (Part 1), I ultimately replace the hot-running motor with a different one.  

Filament now passes through a Dremel "felt polishing wheel" added to the top of the extruder to wipe the filament clean.  This was added after I found the need to unroll quite a length of filament to remove some twists showing up towards the end of a spool of white filament.  Enough of the filament was unrolled that it ended up on the floor. My print area has black and dark grey commercial carpet, and we have two black cats and a small dog with short black hair that hang out in the same area.  Need I say more?

I've incorporated Clough42's print cooler - http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:351280. It fits best without the stock hex hot end cooling shroud and fan in place, but my glued-together X-carriage and undermounted LED lighting doesn't lend to incorporating his alternate hex hot end cooling system, and I'm not sure the alternate system will handle cooling for ABS.  I just mounted it in addition to the hot end shroud and fan, and I've been playing with extending the print cooling shroud with large heatshrink. My PLA prints are definitely coming out better with this.   I tried a couple different fans, and ended up sticking with an Adda fan with 10 CFM at 7800 RPM.  The lower RPM isn't too obnoxious at full speed, even though the speed can usually be dialed back either via the slicer setup, LCD, or Pronterface/Repetier Host type software. 

FOLLOWUP COMMENT: I've since removed the print cooler. Mounted on top of the hex hot end fan, it was likely blocking some of the hot end fan airflow. Combined with the low-flow fan I had on the hot end, this allowed the extruder base to soften up when I started printing at higher temps for ABS.  So, I removed the print cooler and also put a stronger fan on the hex hot end. 

FOLLOWUP COMMENT #2: The new print cooler approach is discussed in EXTRUDER REBUILD AND NEW PRINT COOLER (Part 2).



With a hefty pat on the back, Clough42 also has a replacement design for the irksome 8-inch i3v Z-endstop - http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:336665.  This includes a new v-rail bracket for mounting the endstop switch on the right-side vertical rail, and a screw-adjustment bracket that mounts to the lower X-axis rail.  Very cool and very functional. He also has printable brackets for the X/Y switches, but I've left mine wood for now.



 One of the attempts at the extruder motor cooling shroud completed just enough that I could use it on the X-motor. It was either use it there or throw it away. The full length print would interfere with the delrin wheel(s) on the X-motor plate. I think this one stopped extruding at about the 85% point. 

FOLLOWUP COMMENT: I have the motor type that runs hot.  The temperature of the X-motor may not be an issue on all MakerFarm kits. 

Finally, I swapped things around so that "home" is now in the forward-left corner of the print bed.  This makes it easier to clean off the nozzle just before a print starts, and the print bed orientation is now the same as it is in the slicer and in Pronterface.  There's firmware magic that could have done this, but for now I just moved the locations of the X and Y endstops and reversed the X/Y motor plugs on the RAMPS board.  The revised Y-endstop uses the same post sticking down from the heat bed - the switch was relocated to just in front of the Y-motor.  The X-endstop got moved to the left side of the printer. IIRC, both switches had to be moved to the other side of the mounting brackets. I've set up CURA to include endcode that brings the bed forward and moves the X carriage to the far right at the end of a print.  



*SPARE PRINTED PARTS*
Only now do I think I've learned enough about printing and managing print quality to consider printing spare parts for the extruder.  I've been on borrowed time with the extruder base that had started to split (note the large washer and nut that isn't supposed to on the extruder mounting bolt in the extruder picture).

*FIRMWARE*
I'm still running the firmware as supplied my MakerFarm.  I haven't even enabled making EEPROM changes from the LCD, so I have to manually set the extruder feed rate all the time. This has actually been intentional for my situation.  I've done a number of AVR-based microcontroller projects before, and I've seen a lot of forum-code and open-source stuff that really didn't have a lot of quality to it, especially in the Arduino world.  I'm not saying that's true of the Marlin/RAMPS stuff - I certainly hope it's not the case.  But by not even downloading the source code, I haven't been tempted to start "tweaking" it under the assumption that I thought I could do better.

----------


## TopJimmyCooks

Does your bed heat indicator LCD work?  I noticed the wiring seemed different than that shown on the reprap wiki photos.   Great looking build.

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## printbus

> Does your bed heat indicator LCD work?  I noticed the wiring seemed different than that shown on the reprap wiki photos.   Great looking build.


Thanks for the build comment!

I assume we're talking about the LED on the heat bed? Yes, it works.  I didn't think to look at the reprap wiki on how to wire it up. I assumed the two parallel pad sets were for resistors - Without crunching the math, I figured maybe there was a power dissipation issue with using just one small surface mount resistor to provide the current limiting, and the intent was to put two resistors in parallel. I now see the wiki says to put two LEDs there in opposing polarities so that you know one of the two will light up.  I just powered up the bed and when the LED didn't come on the first time, I unsoldered it and flipped it around. As long as the LED and resistor are both in series, it doesn't matter which one is "first".  

When I reversed the LED, I also changed it so that the legs of the LED bend up at the edge of the heat bed. That way the LED sticks up above the heat bed and is visible from the front of the printer.  All that said, there isn't much point to the LED.  I hear the heat bed relay clicking on and off, and it's obvious soon enough whether the bed is warming up. As mentioned in the build post, I just added the LED since the heat bed had provisions for it.

EDIT: Before someone points this out, yes, the LED body is shaped so you can tell the + (anode) and - (cathode) leads apart. For some reason (too late at night perhaps?), I ended up soldering the LED on backwards even though I knew which way things had to go.  Having probably wired up hundreds of LEDs before, it was embarrassing to see the LED not work right off the bat.  Also, if the LED doesn't come on since it is reversed, one could also just swap the wires for the heat bed at the heat bed relay or RAMPS board.  Polarity doesn't matter to the heat bed.

----------


## TopJimmyCooks

I put the positive LED lead to printer "left."  We'll see how it goes.  may need to flip it around.

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## AbuMaia

I got my heatbed with my MakerFarm i3. I didn't even know there should have been an LED there.

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## printbus

> I got my heatbed with my MakerFarm i3. I didn't even know there should have been an LED there.


I assume the i3 has the same heat bed as the i3v - a MK1?  "Should have been" is a bit strong.  MakerFarm simply opted to not bother having people install the LED parts on a standard heat bed designed to include them.  "Can be there" is more accurate.  I saw the pads for them on the heat bed I got, and went for it, using parts I had in my part bins.  Again, having the LED really isn't that important.

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## AbuMaia

> For misc low current 12v needs, I wanted something that was expandable to more loads and provided a means to easily disconnect loads when I wanted to do so.  The 6x2 socket header is what I came up with using the parts I had on hand. 
> Attachment 1572


Could you post more details about this?

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## printbus

> Could you post more details about this?


Here's an additional picture that didn't make the picture limit for the original post.  A pair of heavier gauge wires from the power supply is fanned out to individual pins in a 5x2 configuration socket header - like you would use to plug onto rows of pins on a circuit board.  Wire-wrap length header posts are broken into two pins each and used to provide connection between the 5x2 header and individual socket headers for each fan, etc.  Wire wrap length posts are used since they are long on both sides of the plastic block holding the pins.  A bit of CA glue can be used to attach the header post part to the connector going off to wherever. This isn't the most elegant, but I wanted something that was quick and easy to change connections at and had to be made from parts I had on hand.  I didn't want to wait another week for parts to arrive before I could power up.



I'm always short on the socket contacts for these connectors.  On a couple of things I've since added, I drilled out the holes in the 2-pin shrouds a bit so wires could pass through them, carefully soldered the wires directly to the short side of standard circuit board length header posts and then slipped the shroud down to cover the solder connections. A dab of glue keeps the shroud in place.

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## nefiwashere

is there in cura settings for the 10" i3v that i can jut load in?

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## printbus

> is there in cura settings for the 10" i3v that i can jut load in?


No, but I wouldn't let that scare you away from trying Cura.  IIRC, there's only four areas where settings are made.  *File | Machine Settings* is where you'd set the size of your print area, type of G-code (set it to RepRap), etc.  The *Basic* tab is where parameters are adjusted for almost every print - temperatures, print speed, etc.  The *Advanced* tab has more settings that you'll likely only adjust once-in-awhile, such as first layer details.  Settings under *Expert | Expert Config* allow you to tailor the support structure, raft, brim, etc. for when those options are enabled on the *Basic* tab.  

Other than Machine Settings, the only thing I remember really feeling the need to initially tweak was the retraction speed and distance under *Advanced*.  Mine is set to 10mm/sec speed and 1.0mm distance.  As clough42 has educated us, the MakerFarm extruder motor works better with a slower retraction speed, and we don't have a Bowden setup so the default of 4.5mm retraction distance is excessive for us.   

Ultimaker has an on-line manual for Cura that walks through what you need to do for your "first print" with it.  That'd be a good place to start.  The manual is focused on those with an Ultimaker printer, but they do have info on how to use Cura with non-Ultimaker printers.

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## AbuMaia

Thanks. I think I may emulate that setup, with two header sockets, though. I currently have two switches on my printer, one for fans and one for lights, and this header socket idea will make connecting fans and lights easier, as well as leaving an open, easily-accessible place to add more if needed, as you said.

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## printbus

> Thanks. I think I may emulate that setup, with two header sockets, though. I currently have two switches on my printer, one for fans and one for lights, and this header socket idea will make connecting fans and lights easier, as well as leaving an open, easily-accessible place to add more if needed, as you said.


Sounds like a plan. Another thing I liked about the header approach is that any extra, unused connections were well protected. No exposed screws on a terminal board, etc.

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## printbus

*Y-MOTOR COOLING FAN*

On the i3v, the Y-motor is pretty boxed in. I found it easy to add a small fan to provide some airflow to cool it down.  A strip of 1/4 x 1 inch hobby plywood was attached to the bottom of the Y-bed v-rails using M5x30 button-head bolts, M5 nut plates, and 5.5mm ID x 20mm spacers derived from http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5314. A 40mm fan was then hot-glued to the plywood.  A printed design could do the whole thing and have mounting holes for the fan, but this was quicker.  Using 20mm spacers, the top of the fan will be flush with the top of the Y-bed v-rails, so clearance is OK.    I'm using one of the 40mm fans from MakerFarm. It doesn't take much airflow to make a big difference in the motor temperature. 



You wouldn't want to bring the fan forward much more than I show it or you'd need to watch for conflict with the belt bracket on the bottom of the Y-bed as the bed slides rearward. The picture shows my relocated position for the Y endstop switch; that isn't the normal location.

FOLLOWUP COMMENT: I have the motor type that runs hot.  Cooling of the Y-motor and other stepper motors may not be required on all kits.

----------


## printbus

*IMPROVED KILL SWITCH
*I realize the RAMPS board has a reset button that can shut the printer down, but if some problem is underway I don't want to have to reach around the printer and find it. Cutting power seems to take a while.  One option would be to piggy-back a remote switch to the existing reset switch, but I figured I would see what I could do to improve access to the STOP button on the LCD panel. For the unaware, that's wired into RAMPS as the Marlin kill switch.  It's not very usable in the i3v frame since the button is recessed below the top of the wood holding the LCD panel. One option would be to glue some extension on the button stub. Another option would be to piggy-back wiring to another button added somewhere more accessible.



I also have some of the same 6mm square type pushbuttons in my parts bins that have taller buttons.  They're available in various heights - the ones I have are 13mm from base of the switch to the top of the button.  One of these could replace the existing switch.  



I opted to go for the clean switch replacement solution that doesn't require drilling holes, adding wiring that might pick up noise, etc.   Two of the switch pads are soldered to the ground plane on the board, making desoldering a bit tricky.  The button sticks up above the wood panel now by about 2.5mm. It's definitely accessible without sticking up so high that it's likely to get pressed accidently. I'm not a fan for the entire kill action Marlin takes when the button is pressed, but I'll deal with that later. I would prefer for the status screen to keep updating so I could monitor cool-down temperatures.

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## AbuMaia

I finally received all the parts needed for the header fan/light hookups. I decided to go for a more "modular" approach. I purchased these www.amazon.com/dp/B00FH6UYLW and these www.amazon.com/dp/B00KWA1RJ6 . I cut the jumper wires in half, and used some of them to connect negative through the switch and positive from the power supply to the pin headers, and spliced others to the fan and light wires, to plug them into the pin headers. This way the only soldering I had to do was wire-to-wire, everything else was "plug & play". I cut up a Command adhesive strip to mount the headers below the RAMPS board. Sorry for the poor lighting in the image.

IMG_20140829_203539.jpg

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## printbus

*NOISE AND VIBRATION REDUCTIONS*
Several changes have been made to reduce vibrations and other noise sources from the printer.  Almost every print can reveal new causes, depending on print sizes, travel speeds, etc. 

*OPERATIONAL CHANGES*
Although I've made some mods to reduce vibrations, some of the improvements are just in how I use the printer.  

Following clough42's recommendation of setting retraction speed to 10mm/sec had a side benefit of reducing noise considerably.  I'm not sure if the extruder motor was skipping before or what, but 10mm/sec causes retraction to be smooth and quiet now. 

FOLLOWUP COMMENT: After digging into motor capabilities and limitations, I've increased my retraction speed to 15mm/sec.  

When I was using slic3r as my slicer, I learned to orient prints that have a lot of infill on the bed so I could set linear/rectilinear infill orientation angle to 0 instead of the normal 45 degrees.  45 degrees causes the X and Y motors to be alternatively stepped to accomplish the diagonal movement. 0 degrees allows linear/rectilinear infill to be accomplished with single-motor movements in the X-axis or Y-axis direction across the entire print.  The first time I bumped into this with the long top-side spool mount brackets printed diagonally on the bed, I was very surprised in how much quieter the print went.  Unfortunately, Cura forces all infill to be at 45 degrees, so I don't have that option when I'm using it.  

*PRINTER MODS*
One of the more surprising vibrations I tracked down was on the RAMPS board.  It turned out to be the two square yellowish plates (polyfuses) by the power entry block.  They were touching, and would rattle under certain conditions.  A dab of hot glue added between the two yellow plates eliminated that vibration.  

The LCD has been pretty annoying. The mods thread and an earlier post here talk about reducing vibrations between the two boards in the LCD assembly. After that, I still found that under certain conditions the LCD assembly would vibrate within the rectangular hole of the wood frame.  I added narrow strips of electrical tape to either the wood frame or the LCD boards where ever the display and wood were touching.  No more vibrations there.  

The fan on the hex hot end would occasionally vibrate against the hot end fan shroud.  It's unfortunate that the provided fan shroud was designed with only two mounting holes for the fan. Rather than redesign the shroud, I added a thin silicone isolator for 40mm fans between the fan and the shroud.  

Another thing I noticed was that Y-axis travel was considerably noisier than X-axis travel. Maybe this should be expected to an extent since Y-axis noise can be potentially reverberated by the Y-bed, but I still wanted to see what I could to do to reduce it.  First, the natural way to go about installing the Y-motor is to set it in the bracket and tighten it in place.  I thought this could be leading to the motor vibrating against the bottom of the motor mount, so I added some silicone sheet material there as an isolator.  This has to be pretty thin. Since I've got the motors that run hot, I wanted to use some high temperature material, and trimmed a piece from a silicone jar opener sheet even though it is a bit too thick.  Fiberglass tape or silicone heatsink film would be good. In a pinch even electrical tape would likely be better than nothing.  I also added isolator material to the face of the motor, but I'm not convinced that really helps.  To minimize the possibility that the thin wood plates used to mount the Y-motor and Y-idler were reverberating with motor movements, I reinforced them with additional plates cut from 1/2-inch poplar, with holes drilled to match the ones in the original plates. I kept the plates as add-ons rather than replacements so that I could easily add or remove them. Besides, my glued-up frame components really didn't give me much choice. 



Longer bolts were then used to pass through both the reinforcement plate and the original plate.  The M5 bolts were 25mm, and the M3 bolts 30mm.  I used button head for appearance. The original front plate had definitely flexed, since I could see the center of the thin plate pull forward as I tightened the two bolts on the idler bracket. Front view - 



And rear view - 



Combined, this made substantial reductions in noise related to Y-axis travel. 

FOLLOWUP COMMENT: For those with 10 and 12-inch printers, note that the front and rear frame reinforcement approach was developed on an 8-inch printer.  For the larger printers, it may be necessary to replicate any notches in the top of the original rear brace onto the reinforcement so that corner hardware on the Y-bed can clear the rear frame. This wasn't necessary on the 8-inch printer.  

Ringing in the helical coil portion of the flexible Z-axis shaft couplers has been eliminated by the dampening effect of a few turns of clear tape added around the coiled part of the couplers.   

FOLLOWUP COMMENT: The most significant improvement in noise reduction came later when I adjusted the stepper motor drivers by motor performance, not measured voltage.  Set by voltage, I believe the motors are being driven harder than they have to be.  Readjusting the drivers so that the motors function without skipping reduces the noise considerably.  

*OTHER*
As of now, I haven't spent the money on the sorbothane feet.  I've printed and installed clough42's adapters for them, but just using other adhesive foam I have seems to be working OK with the other reductions I've made.  Note that the reinforcement plates added to the front and rear were notched on the bottom to accommodate the round adapters.  

FOLLOWUP COMMENT: Sorbothane feet have been purchased and installed. 

I've also seen the X belt flapping on the left-side of the X axis v-rails, but only on certain prints. It seems to take a pretty particular combination of carriage position and travel speed to lead to the flap, and it's a pretty low frequency noise. I've added one small piece of Velcro tape to the far-left inside of the v-rail.  I don't want to add more throughout the v-rail that might catch on the x-carriage belt mount.  In a future mod, I may try adding another of the printed belt guides to a longer bolt on the X-motor eccentric spacer wheel and go from there.

FOLLOWUP COMMENT: I later learned the frequent flapping of the left-side of the X-belt and occasional flapping at the rear of the y-belt could be managed as part of adjusting the stepper motor driver by operational use, not a fixed voltage.  I just know the flapping went away when I lowered the drive setting some.

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## printbus

*MINOR FIRMWARE PERSONALIZATION*
Normally, I'd refrain from making piecemeal firmware changes since it can lead to configuration control issues downstream when incorporating mainstream Marlin updates.  I caved, however, and adjusted some of the installed firmware to better suite my liking. Here's a summary in case others might be interested in these straightforward changes as well. 

I've enabled settings to be saved to the printer EEPROM IAW this thread - Makerfarm Calibration Thread of Grand Proportions 

Although the setting can be saved in EEPROM now, I also adjusted the esteps per mm value in the firmware to a value closer to a better average from the calibration measurements I've performed. In the configuration.h file, this is accomplished by editing the 841 value in the #define DEFAULT_AXIS_STEPS_PER_UNIT {80,80,4000,841} statement.  Mine changed to 900.

I opted to personalize the "MakerFarm I3 Ready." status message on the LCD.  That was changed by editing the language.h file "MakerFarm" text in the #define MACHINE_NAME "MakerFarm" statement and the " I3 Ready." text in the #define WELCOME_MSG " I3 Ready." statement.  My status line now defaults to "Printbus i3v ready". At the end of a print, I also have that restored to the printer by including an M117 Printbus i3v ready line as the last entry in my slicer end gcode.  FOLLOWUP COMMENT: The approach to setting the machine name has changed in newer versions of Marlin. 

I found the 15-second timeout on the LCD display to be too short. That was increased to 30 seconds by doubling the 15000 value in the ultralcd.h file #define LCD_TIMEOUT_TO_STATUS 15000 statement.  

Some of the print cooling fans I've been experimenting with have exhibited a whine from the frequency of the PWM power RAMPS applies to control speed.  I've eliminated this whine by uncommenting (removing the two // preface characters) the configuration.h #define FAST_PWM_FAN statement. 

On occasion, I still get garbled data displayed on the LCD.  I now reinitialize the LCD interface periodically following the simple firmware change described in thread Garbled LCD screens

I felt the Z axis speed when homing was slower than it had to be, especially if the X-carriage has a long ways to travel back to the bed.  In configuration.h, I ended up doubling all three homing axis speeds by changing the #define HOMING_FEEDRATE {50*60,50*60,50,0} values to {100*60,100*60,100,0}. I've observed no issues with these increased speeds affecting the accuracy of the home process.  

Finally, I thought X and Y axis movement was overly fast when commanding manual moves from the LCD or host software.  In configuration.h, I reduced the #define DEFAULT_MAX_FEEDRATE {250,250,2,22} values to {150,150,2,22}.

FOLLOWUP COMMENT: Reflecting what was learned in research for http://3dprintboard.com/showthread.p...rtables-h-data, I've also changed configuration.h to specify Type 1 thermistors on both the bed and the hot end.  

I'm still holding off on incorporating auto-leveling. As adjusted, the bed and the X/Y v-rails are true and stay that way.  Once I've taken a minute or two to adjust the bed thumbwheels for any change in bed covering, I find no need to adjust leveling on an ongoing basis.  Besides, I have something else in mind for the left side of the X-carriage and don't want to lose it to the leveling servo...

----------


## printbus

*EXTRUDER REBUILD AND NEW PRINT COOLER (Part 1 of 2)
*An unplanned softening of the extruder base gave me the opportunity to rebuild the extruder, rethinking some of it during the process. 

*EXTRUDER PRINTED PARTS*
I had previously printed my replacement parts at 75% infill.  That should provide a solid base that holds up to the stress of the motor bolts and the extruder mounting bolts.  I also use fender washers and nylon locknuts on the extruder mounting bolts instead of the nut captures in the base. 

For infill comparison, the base MakerFarm provided was likely printed at 25% infill based on Cura slicer weight estimates.   

The shaft hole in the small extruder gear was presized with a 5mm drill bit.  To ensure a true hole, a drill press was used.  

*EXTRUDER MOTOR*
My i3v kit included CW type 42BHH48-050-24A stepper motors that generally run hot.  In the rebuild, the extruder motor was replaced with a Kysan 1124090. Compared to the CW, it's nice having an extruder motor that doesn't even get warm.  No more shroud or cooling fan on this motor.  As a side benefit, I noticed the Kysan uses 22 AWG wiring.  The CW motor was only 26 AWG.  Less voltage drop in the motor wiring should maximize the power being applied to the Kysan motor.

*FILAMENT ALIGNMENT TUBE
*It seems like luck has always been required to successfully feed 1.75mm filament into the body of the hexagon hot end, likely because the feed hole at the bottom of the extruder base is large enough to also accommodate 3mm filament.  I'd often have to use a flashlight and futz around with aligning the filament with the top of the deeply recessed hot end.  To ease this, I've added a 25-mm length of 3mm OD aluminum tube to the extruder base feed hole below the hobbed bolt.  The tubing I used (K&S 9802 from a hobby store) has 0.45mm wall thickness, so the tubing ID should be more than adequate to handle any normal 1.75mm tolerances that still fit the hot end.  A small amount of flexible adhesive was used to ensure the tube remains in place during retractions and when swapping out filament.  To feed filament, now I only need to get it into the top of the alignment tube, and the end of the aluminum tube is visible from above without using a flashlight. 

FOLLOWUP COMMENT: I probably rate the filament guide tube mod as the second slickest mod I've incorporated into my printer, right behind the screw-adjustable Z-endstop approach.  It is so much easier to feed filament now.  

FOLLOWUP COMMENT #2: I don't remember who it was, but someone mentioned in another thread that a portion of an empty ink tube from a BIC-type pen also works as the alignment tube for 1.75mm filament. 



*HOBBED BOLT
*I used a thin nylon washer combined with several thin 8-mm ID shims under the head of the hobbed bolt as required to optimize alignment of the cut in the hobbed bolt with the filament channel in the extruder assembly.  The shims I used were from a Calandra Racing Concepts axle shim kit #4738.

Many people use the Gregg's Accessible Extruder without issues, but I just don't get part of the mechanical design.  To improve the fit and minimize radial play of the hobbed bolt in the bearings, I wrap the bearing areas of the hobbed bolt with some kapton tape. Seems like a good thing, right?  The problem is that the inner races of the hobbed bolt bearings rub against the plastic of the extruder base.  Leave the hobbed bolt too loose and you might have axial play in the bolt. Too tight and the inner bearing races will bind on the extruder base, and if the hobbed bolt isn't loose in the bearings (like if the bolt is wrapped with tape so it is snug in the bearings), there'll be drag on the hobbed bolt rotation.  Does the Greg's design assume the hobbed bolt will just spin inside the inner bearing race? If so, why were bearings even used?  I don't see an easy solution here, but the base design could at least have a bit of a recess to provide clearance for the inner races of the bearings.  

FOLLOWUP COMMENT: I believe the original design may have intended for large-id washers to be be used between the base and the bearings. Spacer rings are included in some Thingiverse versions of the Greg's Wades extruder such as this one - http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:18379.

*HEXAGON HOT END ASSEMBLY*
I thought I had previously misthreaded the aluminum block on my hex hot end, so I bought a 20-mm block and 20-mm heater to use in the rebuild.  During reassembly, I essentially applied part of Tom's E3D v6 assembly instructions, in that the tip is NOT tightened up against the aluminum block.  A benefit of this on the hex hot end is the hex heatsink can be oriented how you want it, and the tip is then tightened up against the barrel of the heat break.   I also wrapped the aluminum block in kapton to provide some insulation from airflow caused by the heatsink cooling fan and from the print cooler.  I don't like the idea of a thick insulator on the top of the block since it could restrict airflow below the important lowest fin on the heatsink.  Multiple layers of kapton were also added to the flat top end of the hot end to ensure a snug fit when the extruder is bolted onto the carriage.  These layers were trimmed to clear the filament feed hole. 

FOLLOWUP COMMENT: The tip was retightened when it was brought up to temperature the first time.  



*HEXAGON HOT END COOLING SHROUD*
In previous mods, I've already been cutting out the flat part of the shroud that sits above the aluminum block of the hexagon hot end, since it'll likely melt away anyway.  In the rebuild, I also added some "wings" to the rear of the shroud to help ensure airflow is forced onto the hot end heatsink rather than just bypassing around it.  I cut the wings from some thin printed PLA sheet and attached them using medium-CA.  



FOLLOWUP COMMENT: I later migrated to a custom design for the shroud discussed in post New Approach for the Hexagon Hot End Shroud.

FOLLOWUP COMMENT: Since I mention it in another thread, I'll add that there was another problem I was trying to solve in the extruder rebuild.  Since resolving or minimizing noise sources earlier, I was left with an annoying creak somewhere in the extruder.  Using a hose as a listening tube, it seemed like the noise was coming from the area of the hobbed bolt or the filament idler.  I actually had the extruder apart multiple times to try to eliminate it. I ultimately applied everything I could think of in a final build, including the use of new bearings on the hobbed bolt, new kapton tape on the hobbed bolt, lubricating where the bearing inner races can ride on the plastic of the extruder base, etc.  Somewhere in the final attempt when the new motor was also installed the creak has in fact been eliminated.

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## printbus

*EXTRUDER REBUILD AND NEW PRINT COOLER (Part 2 of 2)*

*PRINT COOLER*

FOLLOWUP COMMENT:  According to an end-of-life notice from DigiKey, the manufacturer has transitioned the specific fan suggested here to obsolete status.  I believe Mouser has already dropped it from their catalogue.  DigiKey still had stock the last time I checked.  It may not be available for future readers of the thread.  Unfortunately, the fan was used because of its very unique mounting provisions, and I am not aware of a suitable substitute. 

Since putting a focusing shroud on an axial fan creates backpressure that usually reduces fan airflow, this time I wanted to use a radial blower for the print cooler.  After considering several concepts, I opted to go with a Delta BFB0512VHD-SP01 blower mounted onto the left side of the X-carriage.  I added a grille to the blower intake by aborting a print of http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:401935 as the ring part was done, trimming off the part of the rings that didn't fit into the opening of the blower.



I fastened the blower to a 64-mm by 54-mm piece of 1/8-inch hobby plywood that attaches to the existing X-carriage, replacing the original bolt on the left side of the carriage with a longer one.  This specific blower is unique in that it has mounting provisions on the face with the blower opening, providing a straight shot from the blower to the print.  One advantage of having the blower on the separate bracket is that the connectorized print cooler assembly can be easily added to or removed from the printer. 



The blower is located forward enough so that the blower outlet clears the angled sidewall of the X-carriage, and located just high enough to provide binder clip clearance above the print bed glass.  A simple duct inserted into the outlet of the blower helps keep airflow off the hot end.  The adapted version of the final duct I'm using is http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:461014.  The duct is just press fit to provide some adjustment to the airflow angle, and to allow the duct to be swapped out without a lot of fuss. 



Especially combined with a straight-shot duct (no right angles or rotational vortex to worry about), this is a very effective blower.  Cooling is very adequate with the fan only running in the 10% range. At that speed, the audible whine from the low frequency Marlin uses on the fan PWM overpowered the low blower noise.  This was resolved by a minor firmware change to have Marlin use the higher frequency fan PWM (see MINOR FIRMWARE PERSONALIZATION). The airflow is also focused and linear.  At 100% blower speed, air from the blower can be felt several feet from the printer. 

Note that the blower used is a 4-wire type. The red and black wires are wired to RAMPS D9.  The other two wires aren't used. I cut them off and insulated the cut ends with small heatshrink tubing. 



FOLLOWUP COMMENT: On large, straightforward prints where cooling won't be an issue, I've been running the blower at 10%.  On more complex prints, I'll let Cura set the print speed between 10% and 25%.  On really complex things, I'm finding it best to not have Cura control the fan speed and I'll do it manually through Repetier-Host.  That way I can increase the speed to as much as 100% if I sense the need to for a bit, or I can back it down if I see the blower dropping the hot end temperature too much.  When cooling is enabled in the slicing, Cura apparently sets the fan speed on every layer, so trying to manually override the temperature with Repetier-Host only works for the balance of that layer before the fan speed is set again in the gcode.

----------


## printbus

*DISABLING POWER FROM USB*
I've been one of those annoyed with how RAMPS stays powered up when the printer power supply is turned off but the USB cable is plugged into a host computer. A review of the MEGA2560 card indicated there's no jumper or other built-in means to change this. The board is designed so that if there is power on the USB connector, it will be used. 

 There's still a pretty easy fix for this - use a narrow strip of kapton tape to cover the 5V contact in the USB Type B connector that plugs into the RAMPS board.



Some USB interface designs require the 5V from the USB for at least the initial connection. The testing with the Arduino-type Mega2560 board in my i3v went OK without 5V being applied to the USB at all. 

If you perform the mod, it might be a good idea to tag the cable as being modified in case the cable is reused for some other application later.

DISCLAIMER: The Arduino reference design for the Mega2560 board connects USB 5V to the UVCC pin on the ATMEGA16U2 USB interface chip. That pin no longer gets 5V with this mod, and the ATMEGA16U2 datasheet doesn't provide enough detail to understand what, if any, ramifications this may have. Also note that in a later post, a user observed erratic operation of his Auto Bed Leveling (ABL) servo with 5V removed from the USB cable, likely because the 12V-to-5V voltage regulator on the Mega2560 can't handle the extra 5V load from the servo.  Implement this mod at your own risk.

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## printbus

*TWEAKS TO THE COUPLERS ON THE Z-AXIS RODS*
During bed leveling after the recent extruder rebuild, I noticed one of the threaded rods was slipping inside the spiral shaft coupler. Things have been printing fine, and I'm not sure how long this has been loose.  Things were likely printing fine because of the way I had aligned the X-axis as part of the original build.

When I built the printer, I had already purchased the "split collar" type of couplers before I learned there is another type that uses two pairs of set screws to grab the shafts.  Now I wish I had purchased the set screw type instead.  Sticking with what I had, I made some improvements.  

I tapped both couplers for an M3 x 6mm set screw as a secondary grip on the shafts.I made sure the two couplers were oriented the same way.  I hadn't done this before, and one coupler was inadvertently upside down from the other. They'll work fine either way, but having them oriented the same way makes it easier to tell at a glance whether one is unintentionally rotated off from the other.This time I think I put more attention to how the clamping end is oriented over the flat of the motor shafts.  Now the open slit is right above the flat; tightening the clamping screw should provide the most grip on the motor shaft.Before tightening the threaded rods in the couplers, I made sure the two motors shafts were rotated so the shaft flats (and couplers) are rotated to the same position. Again, this will just make it easier to see if one motor is off from the other.After rechecking alignment between the X-motor and X-idler plates and tightening the couplers onto the threaded rods, I added narrow slivers of tape onto the threaded rods.  The slivers of tape are placed in line with one of the cuts in the coupler ends to also serve as a quick-glance indicator that the rods are slipping in the coupler. I left enough of the foil tape wrapped around the threaded rods to stick the tape sliver to, although this would mean I wouldn't notice the threaded rod slipping inside the tape.I've had a high frequency whine often present when lowering the X-carriage down to the print bed.  This was found to be coming from the spiral winding of the shaft couplers.  I added two turns of clear tape over the spiral part of the couplers to provide a dampening effect that has eliminated the whine.

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## TopJimmyCooks

Kevin - I tried the usb 5V isolation thing and got erratic operation of my ABL servo.  the failure went away after removing the kapton from the connector.  Does it make sense that removing that source of 5V might interfere with somethign in the RC servo section of the board?

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## printbus

> Kevin - I tried the usb 5V isolation thing and got erratic operation of my ABL servo.  the failure went away after removing the kapton from the connector.  Does it make sense that removing that source of 5V might interfere with somethign in the RC servo section of the board?


Interesting. It could be that there IS a connection.  Here's my theory - 

5V power for the MEGA2560 board, RAMPS (mainly any servos connected to it) and the LCD panel can normally come from either the USB port or a fixed voltage linear regulator on the MEGA2560 board.  With no 5v in the USB cable, 5v power will have to come from the fixed regulator on the MEGA2560 board.  To provide maximum torque throughout the desired movement, RC servos typically operate through application of a series of short pulses of power to the servo motor.  Each one of these pulses is going to draw a surge of current from the regulator, with the amount of surge dependent on the actual servo being used and the amount of mechanical load on the servo.  It could be that these surges are more than the fixed regulator can handle.  The other possibility is that there's a power dissipation issue with the voltage regulator supplying 5V for the servo(s) connected to the RAMPS board.  Either could cause dropouts in the 5V output that could lead to erratic operation of the MEGA2560, the servos, or the LCD panel.  

It could be that there are multiple factors involved. For example, perhaps there's only a small drop in the regulator voltage, but that is combined with voltage drop in the lengthy wiring required to get 5V to the ABL servo. 

I'm not sure having a servo that moves too far as mentioned in your original thread would be a symptom I would expect, but who knows.  I'll add a cautionary note regarding ABL to the post suggesting the USB cable mod.

FOLLOWUP COMMENT: The Power Supply section of http://reprap.org/wiki/RAMPS_1.4 does imply that there are concerns powering servos from the Arduino (MEGA2560) unless you're running the Arduino directly from a 5V supply or USB power. This would mean you have to also be wary about using a printer with ABL standalone, when no computer is connected to provide the additional 5V power needed for the ABL servo:"The 5V pin in that connector on RAMPS only supplies the 5V to the auxiliary servo connectors. It is designed so that you can jumper it to the VCC pin and use the Arduino's power supply to supply 5V for extra servos if you are only powered from USB or 5V. Since there is not a lot of extra power from the Arduino's power supply you can connect it directly to your 5V power supply if you have one."


FOLLOWUP COMMENT #2: For the technically curious... The vague "...not a lot of extra power from the Arduino's power supply" statement in the wiki caused me to look at that some more.  Per the Arduino baseline, the fixed regulator on the MEGA2560 is an ON Semi NCP1117ST50T3 part.  Calculating the maximum power dissipation allowed in a linear regulator is always tricky, since you're having to estimate the design's ability to dissipate heat away from the part.  For the SOT-223 regulator package being used here, the datasheet does have Figure 21 that shows how much power dissipation is acceptable for a given square of 2-ounce copper plane around the part.  The graph tops out at just over 1.4 watts; let's take that as a maximum amount of power we would want to see in the printer application even though the copper on the board isn't exactly a square, we don't know the copper thickness, the RAMPS board is going to limit airflow, etc.   With the printer not doing anything, I measure 140mA of 12V current going into the MEGA2560 board, and this should equate to the current flowing through the 5V regulator.  So, without an ABL servo the power dissipation in the 5V regulator is already just about a watt.  The math is P=V*I or (12-5)*0.14=0.98 watts. This is already well into our maximum.  Using our notional 1.4W limit on the power dissipation, the maximum amount of current we could draw is I=P/V, or 1.4/(12-5)= 0.2 amps. This is only 60 mA above what I've already measured.  Whatever margin the MEGA2560 board had in 5V regulator capacity is likely considered used up by the LCD smartpanel.  This again emphasizes that those with an ABL servo may not want to operate the printer, or at least may not want to do a lot of bed leveling servo movement, without power being applied by USB or they risk overheating the 5V regulator. The saving grace is that bed leveling isn't a forever thing. The trick would be to get extra load from moving the ABL servo over quick enough.

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## AbuMaia

Sounds like a good argument for engaging the probe servo only once at the beginning of ABL, and again at the end, instead of at every probe point.

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## TopJimmyCooks

I have a 12V only power supply but I'm going to add 5V power, possibly using a cell phone car charger or similar, to be able to run ABL without USB connection. might try a $5 UBEC instead.  I'm also interested in doing the raspberry/wifi octopi setup and will need 5V for that.

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## AbuMaia

I would have thought a need for a secondary power supply would have been mentioned somewhere, or do all the kit makers assume we'd be using PC power supplies?

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## TopJimmyCooks

PC supplies seem to be recommended by Makerfarm and other kit companies.  However, right out of the box there's nothing to connect 5V to.  I went with a 12V power supply so it could be mounted on the printer.  Now, as I'm printing more stuff, and print longer prints with the SD card, the onboard 5V starts to be more important.

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## printbus

If I wanted to add 5v for a Pi or ABL servo, I'd do like TopJimmyCooks and use a BEC or other regulator running off of 12V so I don't need to add another AC plug. 

AbuMaia, by kit makers are you referring to people like MakerFarm?  The printer kit as delivered works fine on just a single 12V supply.  It's adding stuff onto their printer that is driving the possible need for an additional power supply or regulator, and there's no way they can predict what people are going to try to add.

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## printbus

Also, let's not panic here.  I think I'm the first raising the possible theoretical issue of running an ABL servo on a standalone printer, and I don't even have ABL implemented.  We need feedback from people with ABL experience on whether they've seen ABL (or the entire Arduino electronics suite) ever acting up when standalone. 

The symptom of the MEGA2560 voltage regulator going into thermal protection is that the 5V gets shut off until the regulator cools off, and then the regulator will turn back on. That should be a pretty noticeable symptom, and I don't recall hearing anyone describing their printer going dead momentarily.

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## AbuMaia

I run my printer entirely standalone, printing off of SD, except when I need to adjust something or update the firmware. I am yet to have any problems with the ABL servo, apart from it moving seemingly randomly when I had a LM7805C attached to it per some people's advice. Once I removed the regulator, I had no more problems.

http://forums.reprap.org/read.php?15...979#msg-286979

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## printbus

> http://forums.reprap.org/read.php?15...979#msg-286979


OK, at least now we know I'm NOT the first to raise concerns regarding power for a bed leveling servo.

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## AbuMaia

I do find it odd that my experience seems to be the opposite of many others. My servo works just fine plugged into RAMPS, but when I add a 7805 to give it separate 5v, it goes crazy.

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## printbus

> I do find it odd that my experience seems to be the opposite of many others. My servo works just fine plugged into RAMPS, but when I add a 7805 to give it separate 5v, it goes crazy.


Well, the reprap thread you linked to talks about the same thing I've been saying - not all servos are the same. You could basically just be lucky with the servo you have not drawing a lot, or you don't put much of a mechanical load on it, never stall it (ie, servo is not put into a situation where it mechanically can't move), and the MEGA2560 regulator has a chance to cool off in between servo moves.  

On the 7805, did you include any capacitors on the input and output pins?  If not, that could be part of why it didn't work out.  A larger capacitor on the input would help sustain the input voltage to the regulator during current surges, and a smaller capacitor on the output helps keep the regulator stable with the inductance of wiring connected to it. What I remember from reading countless datasheets and application guides over the years is that the input capacitor is generally required if you're more than a couple of inches from the power source, and the output capacitor is generally viewed as always required.

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## AbuMaia

> On the 7805, did you include any capacitors on the input and output pins?


No. I had the Input leg inside the + connection on RAMPS, clamped together with the + wire from the power supply. Same with the ground leg and - wire. Output was sent off to some pins I've forgotten, connected by a wire with a jumper on the end.

Is something like this what you were talking about? http://www.amazon.com/LM7805-Termina.../dp/B00NCKUWE4

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## printbus

> Is something like this what you were talking about? http://www.amazon.com/LM7805-Termina.../dp/B00NCKUWE4


Yes, that's an example of a fixed regulator that could be connected to the existing 12V power supply.  This is still a linear regulator and will dissipate heat.  There's at least a small heatsink on the 7805 part to help with that.

The BEC/UBEC mentioned by TopJimmyCooks is a common thing in the RC hobby.  BEC stands for Battery Eliminator Circuit. They are a switching type of regulator more efficient in taking just about any voltage input and providing a fixed output.  FWIW, our printer application would use a BEC that can accept 3S voltage input. In RC, each "S" is nominally 4.2volts, since that's the full-charge of a LiPo cell most often used in modern RC batteries. Motors can run on up to 12S (48V) batteries, and a BEC is commonly used to power electronics that require a lower fixed voltage off that same battery, eliminating what used to be a separate battery for just the electronics.   

Did you ever notice your 7805 getting hot? It could be that it was having thermal issues running without a heatsink.  Linear regulators can overheat very easily. I won't bog this with the math details, but at 12V input a typical TO-220 package 7805 regulator without a heatsink will be going into thermal shutdown with just over 300mA of constant load connected to it.

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## AbuMaia

> YDid you ever notice your 7805 getting hot?


  No, I didn't notice. I don't think I had it installed more than 10 minutes before I removed it after the servo went nuts.

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## usarmyaircav

Putting together the extruder, it looks like I stripped out one of the m3 x 25 and a m3 nut.  Will I be able to find those at my local Lowes, or do I need to get it from Makerfarm or the internet?

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## printbus

> Putting together the extruder, it looks like I stripped out one of the m3 x 25 and a m3 nut.  Will I be able to find those at my local Lowes, or do I need to get it from Makerfarm or the internet?


Bummer!  I have found Lowes and HD to be very spotty as far as metric hardware.  They have some, but not much - especially as you get smaller in size like an M3.  A lot of RC Hobby stuff is metric, so if you have a pretty good RC shop in the area I'd try that. The newer Ace Hardware stores have an extensive hardware section as a way of drawing customers in; that's where I usually go when I need something.  I can't speak to the 25mm length though - that's getting pretty long as far as M3 hardware.  Going on-line is always an option - I've done that when I need a quantity of something and the single piece price at Ace would make the cost outrageous.  There are some sellers on eBay that have pretty good prices on say quantity of 50.  Just be sure you're buying from a state-side seller.  A possible advantage of MakerFarm is that they might just send you the hardware as a courtesy.  

Between RC and the printer, I've also bought from multiple online companies like Bolt Depot.  Shipping tends to be a killer compared to the hardware cost (most seem to all charge priority mail as a minimum rate).  I do usually have a list of hardware spares I could use, and when I need something I dig out the list and see what else I can order.  That helps make me feel better about having to pay a lot for shipping.  

Good luck!

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## printbus

Wait. On the extruder? Are you talking about the long screws used with the guidler plate that pivots? They're longer than 25mm and I believe can be hard to find.  Just not sure where else there's an M3 with a nut on it.

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## jtice

> Putting together the extruder, it looks like I stripped out one of the m3 x 25 and a m3 nut.  Will I be able to find those at my local Lowes, or do I need to get it from Makerfarm or the internet?


ACE HARDWARE !
They are great for these odd metric bolts, nuts, etc.
WAY better than Lowes and HD.

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## TopJimmyCooks

Lowes and HD use the same hardware suppliers and they bottom out hard at 4mm.  might be able to get a 3mm nut there.  Ace is a little better but can be inconsistent as well.  I think they restock their metric bins bi-annually whether they need it or not.  Also, longer sizes are rare everywhere.  I ordered a bunch from mrmetric.com.  No minimum order of any sizes, just a $6 flat rate shipping fee.

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## printbus

Yeah, mrmetric is good. I've bought a lot of stuff from them as well.  My pool of hardware suppliers also includes jrhobbyhardware, microfasteners, rtlfasteners, and rcscrewz.  When I'm looking for the miniature RC stuff, I rarely find everything I need at one place.

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## usarmyaircav

Hi,  yeah the two bolts that have the springs for the extruder.  I  thought I had measured them but will take a look again.  I will check both Ace and Lowe's,  however I  am in a small  town  so not sure of there stock.  Tulsa might have a  hobby  shop,  or I will order  from mrmetric.  I  am so frustrated to be sooo close.  I will move on to everyone every thing else I can do.

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## printbus

> Hi,  yeah the two bolts that have the springs for the extruder.  I  thought I had measured them but will take a look again.  I will check both Ace and Lowe's,  however I  am in a small  town  so not sure of there stock.  Tulsa might have a  hobby  shop,  or I will order  from mrmetric.  I  am so frustrated to be sooo close.  I will move on to everyone every thing else I can do.


Those guidler spring bolts are 50mm long, probably the worst bolts on the i3v you want to have to look for.  My guess is you'll be having to get those online somewhere. Another option would be to look at swapping out the M3 for #4 x 2-inches. Even that can be tough to find.  #6 might require drilling out the screw holes, and you'd likely have to look for small-size #6 nuts to have them fit in the nut traps.

FOLLOWUP COMMENT: Glancing at eBay, I see a number of RC and hobby-type sellers offering M3x50mm cap screws.  That's a sign that they might be easier to find than I initially thought.

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## usarmyaircav

Thanks Printbus,  I will check out ebay.

On another note, I went and got cork shelf liner tiles, got some glass from Lowes for like $2.35 cut,  I scored and snapped the corners off, not pretty but ok.  But the binder clips Colin sent with the kit are too small so I have to look for larger ones.  The little ones don't open wide enough to  cover the glass, heat bed, and the wood.

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## gmay3

Hey usarmyaircav, just wanted to mention that the clips only need grip the glass and the heatbed. These two are held in just fine without needing to grip the wood bottom.

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## usarmyaircav

> Hey usarmyaircav, just wanted to mention that the clips only need grip the glass and the heatbed. These two are held in just fine without needing to grip the wood bottom.


I probably should have noticed that in the video.  :Smile:   That would mean I would have to trim the cork, as there is no room to get the clip in there as the cork goes all the way to the edge of the heat bed.  I will take a look tonight when I get home though.  Thank you!!!!!

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## gmay3

No problem at all!

I also used cork underneath the heat bed, right now I just pushed the cork out of the way with the clips but if yours is thicker you might want to just cut some small notches for the clips to go in to!

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## printbus

Once you have the clips on just the glass and the heat bed, you may find like I did that the clips are actually pretty large.  In the HEAT BED CLIPS post, I show how much better the next smaller size of clip fits. They barely encroach on the print area marking on the heat bed, and wouldn't conflict with the cork or any other insulation as much.

----------


## usarmyaircav

> Once you have the clips on just the glass and the heat bed, you may find like I did that the clips are actually pretty large.  In the HEAT BED CLIPS post, I show how much better the next smaller size of clip fits. They barely encroach on the print area marking on the heat bed, and wouldn't conflict with the cork or any other insulation as much.


I haven't seen that post, so I will go check it out thanks printbus and gmay3 also!

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## AbuMaia

> *X CARRIAGE SUBASSEMBLY*  I opted to wrap the belt around a 1/4-inch long aluminum spacer.  The 1/4-inch length is close to the width of the belt.  The stackup of hardware on the bolts is a 1/8-inch spacer, an M3 flat washer, the 1/4-inch spacer, another M3 washer, and a nut.


  Did you wrap and zip tie the belt around the spacer before or after you mounted the spacers on the bolts in the X carriage?

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## printbus

> Did you wrap and zip tie the belt around the spacer before or after you mounted the spacers on the bolts in the X carriage?


IIRC, I've done both. Sort of. The initial install was done with the X-carriage on the bench and the hardware stackup on the X-carriage.  Once I had the X-carriage installed and all the v-rails aligned, I didn't want to take more things apart than I had to in order to adjust the belt length, and I wanted the first zip-tie as snug to the spacer as I could get it.  So, to adjust the belt length I loosened the X-motor, marked where the end of the belt flap lined up, took one set of the belt hardware off the X-carriage, re-tied the belt around just the spacer with whatever change in teeth overlap I wanted, reinstalled the hardware on the X-carriage, and repositioned the X-motor.  

I don't recall adjusting the belt length after I had the extruder installed. If I had, I would have probably done as best I could working the belt around the spacer with it still on the X-carriage so I wouldn't have to remove the extruder.

----------


## AbuMaia

I've done the same, putting spacers in. I only had nylon spacers, which was lucky as I had no 1/8" spacers. I just cut one spacer in half instead. This has had the bonus effect of really tightening up my X belt, tighter than I could have gotten it by just pulling on the motor. Perhaps now my circles will come out circular.

I wrapped the belt around the spacer by itself, zip tied it in place, then put it on the bolt on the carriage. I was initially worried about the spacer falling out, but the belt held it tightly enough this was no problem. I did remove the extruder to be able to get the bolts in, however.

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## usarmyaircav

> When I built the printer, I had already purchased the "split collar" type of couplers before I learned there is another type that uses two pairs of set screws to grab the shafts. Now I wish I had purchased the set screw type instead. Sticking with what I had, I made some improvements.



Looking for advice.  I bought 5mm couplers like you did printbus, and on their own they don't seem to be holding.  I don't have the setup to tap them for set screws, and it looks like a tap and die set would cost more than new couplers.
So to me the options are:
Look for some metallic tape.  Did that work ok printbus?use the little rubber tubes from makerfarm until I can find couplers with set screwssome other choice someone suggests.

I am getting so close to getting this darn thing finished.  I have the hotend mounted,  (mine came with a shroud to focus the fan for the hotend), and am going to start the electronics.

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## dacb

I used some foil ducting tape, e.g. http://www.homedepot.com/p/Nashua-Ta...7792/100030120 
to cover the threads and the couplers hold fine after tightening them.

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## printbus

When I was in the build, I had read that just plain foil works too. I jumped to the foil tape, figuring it would be easier to work with. The plastic tubing would likely also get you by - just with more work to install and later remove.

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## AbuMaia

I've been using the split couplers from MakerFarm for a few months now with no problem, and no tape. I did find out that they have to be tightened down VERY tightly. When tightening the screw to clamp the split around the shaft, when you feel the screw bottom out, keep tightening it. Get it as tight as you can get it.

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## usarmyaircav

> I've been using the split couplers from MakerFarm for a few months now with no problem, and no tape. I did find out that they have to be tightened down VERY tightly. When tightening the screw to clamp the split around the shaft, when you feel the screw bottom out, keep tightening it. Get it as tight as you can get it.


I will try that, than plain foil, and if that doesn't work,  will get some of the foil tape.  Anyone have a link to the 5mm couplers with set screws?

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## usarmyaircav

So I cranked down on the set screws as hard as possible.  Will see how that works.  Started running the wires to mount the ramps, and see that Colin made some changes to the frame design for the cable routing.  Doesn't have the same cut outs as in the videos.

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## AbuMaia

Here's a link to some set-screw couplers. www.amazon.com/dp/B00M4VNAPA How did tightening your couplers work for you?

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## usarmyaircav

> Here's a link to some set-screw couplers. www.amazon.com/dp/B00M4VNAPA How did tightening your couplers work for you?


I have not gotten to test it yet.  I used the couplers I have and cranked them down as hard as I could.  I got all the wiring done except for the power cord, which I picked up yesterday.  I ended up going with what seems to be standard lamp cord, 16gage 2 wire.  I will try that and if there is issue, I will get some 14x2.  The only thing that I wasn't sure of, is that the 16x2 and the 14x2 are both rated for 15 amps, not sure if that makes any difference or not.  Hoping I can run the power wires tonight and do some basic power on and move stuff.  Soo excited,  It has been a really long journey to get this far.

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## printbus

> ... I ended up going with what seems to be standard lamp cord, 16gage 2 wire.  I will try that and if there is issue, I will get some 14x2.  The only thing that I wasn't sure of, is that the 16x2 and the 14x2 are both rated for 15 amps, not sure if that makes any difference or not.


The difference in the 15-amp capacity of the 14 and 16 gauge wires is likely how they are rated. The 16-gauge is probably rated for a 90-degree C temperature, and the 14-gauge a lower temperature.

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## usarmyaircav

So I didn't buy enough wire to power everything up, but I had enough for the 11v and the 5v, and will need to get more for the heatbed.  I hooked up my laptop and fired up pronterface and it seems like everything is working except the z access.  Facing the printer the left side moves, but the right doesn't want to do anything.  it looks to be trying but I am thinking something is binding so will look at that tonight.

In Pronterface if I click on the right side of the X axis, it should go right correct?  If so I have the plug reversed.  :Smile: 

The other question I have is that I noticed that I mounted the fan for the hexagon, so that it is pulling air, rather than pushing.  Will that be ok, or do I need to flip it?

So encouraged to actually get this far!!!!!  My time has been really limited to work on this so happy to finally get some movement!

----------


## gmay3

> In Pronterface if I click on the right side of the X axis, it should go right correct?  If so I have the plug reversed.


Mine has also done this for the entire time I've owned the printer and I have always had to press the opposite button to get it to go the right way. The important thing is to make sure that the X axis moves from right to left (towards the x endstop) when you press the home button in pronterface. 

I'm guessing there might be a way to flip the X axis button direction in the pronterface options but I haven't tried this personally.




> The other question I have is that I noticed that I mounted the fan for the hexagon, so that it is pulling air, rather than pushing.  Will that be ok, or do I need to flip it?


Mine pushes air but I believe I have heard other folks on here say they flipped theirs and had it working.

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## printbus

For me, both the X and Y axis movements were reversed in Pronterface and Repetier-Host.  I eventually got annoyed by it and swapped the motor directions (by rotating the motor plugs on RAMPS by 180 degrees) and by moving the endstop switch locations to the opposite ends of the travel. I'm pretty sure you can deal with all this in firmware changes, but I wasn't ready to jump into modifying the firmware at the time.   

I've had the hex hot end fan pulling air from day one.  It helps with ABS prints by reducing airflow pushing down on the print below the extruder.

----------


## usarmyaircav

> For me, both the X and Y axis movements were reversed in Pronterface and Repetier-Host.  I eventually got annoyed by it and swapped the motor directions (by rotating the motor plugs on RAMPS by 180 degrees) and by moving the endstop switch locations to the opposite ends of the travel. I'm pretty sure you can deal with all this in firmware changes, but I wasn't ready to jump into modifying the firmware at the time.   
> 
> I've had the hex hot end fan pulling air from day one.  It helps with ABS prints by reducing airflow pushing down on the print below the extruder.


Thanks Printbus and Gmay3.  I will leave it as it is for now until it annoys me.  I am pretty much planning on only doing ABS, so sounds like it should be fine.

I just need to figure out what is binding on the right side, get some more wire for the heat bed and I will be about ready to do a test print!!!!

----------


## gmay3

> I've had the hex hot end fan pulling air from day one.  It helps with ABS prints by reducing airflow pushing down on the print below the extruder.


This is good to know! I will be switching mine ASAP.

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## printbus

> This is good to know! I will be switching mine ASAP.


Well, it is sort of a mixed bag.  I noticed more airflow on the forward side of the heat bed with the fan reversed. On the few large ABS prints I've done, I added a piece of tape to the bottom of the fan, shaping it upwards a bit to help keep the draft off the bed.

----------


## TopJimmyCooks

printbus, by relocating your endstops your home position is in the front left of the bed.  any downsides to this that you can think of?  I would like to have the X and Y directions make more sense in pronterface, if there's no other downsides.

----------


## printbus

> printbus, by relocating your endstops your home position is in the front left of the bed.  any downsides to this that you can think of?  I would like to have the X and Y directions make more sense in pronterface, if there's no other downsides.


Personally, I think the front left of the bed is the natural place for home. If there are issues with it, I don't know of them.  Having home in the front left makes it easy to clean off the nozzle as it is heating, and to grab the pre-flush of extrusion that I do before starting to print.  At the end of the print, I have my slicer end code lift the nozzle and then send the extruder to the right rear, getting it out of the way for print inspection and removal.

FOLLOWUP COMMENT: By moving the X-endstop to the left bottom side of the lower v-rail, it was also easier to achieve the full 100mm travel that the 8-inch printer is supposed to have.  As a smaller benefit, the wiring is a bit more logical.  Z enstop switch wires are bundled with the Z-motor wires, X endstop switch wires are bundled with the X-motor wires, and Y-endstop switch wires are bundled with the Y-motor wires. My engineering background suggested the co-bundling of motor wires and endstop wires could lead to crosstalk from the high current motor spikes causing incorrect endstop readings, but no problem with this has been observed.  

FOLLOWUP COMMENT #2: When changing the home position to the front left corner, those using a fixed spacer on one corner of the heat bed may want to move it to the front left corner of the heat bed so it stays with the home position.  In my printer, I ditched the fixed spacer and have all four corners adjustable.

----------


## AbuMaia

I, too, have my X endstop on the bottom left of the bottom rail, and my Y endstop moved back near the Y motor, putting my Home position left-front. I like this better, as prints now come out facing forwards, instead of towards the wall. The only downside I can think of is the Y endstop is now just a tiny bit harder to get at to adjust, but you likely won't be adjusting it much once it's set.

----------


## usarmyaircav

So I found out that my z axis is ok,  it was just stuck. I need to get some oil. 2 questions. 
1. How do I adjust the  z end stop far enough down  with the couplers being in the way.  It looks like I have about an inch down from the hot end to the bed.  I do need to do the initial bed leveling yet.
The end stops seem to be testing ok, but doing the m119 command,  is shows the X max and y max as triggered, yet the mins work fine?

----------


## printbus

> So I found out that my z axis is ok,  it was just stuck. I need to get some oil. 2 questions. 
> 1. How do I adjust the  z end stop far enough down  with the couplers being in the way.  It looks like I have about an inch down from the hot end to the bed.  I do need to do the initial bed leveling yet.
> The end stops seem to be testing ok, but doing the m119 command,  is shows the X max and y max as triggered, yet the mins work fine?


1. I mention in my Z MOTOR post that a ball end driver helps with the Z endstop bolt if you are using the large couplers.  You'll soon be realizing how crude the i3v approach to the Z endstop is - it is very tough to adjust it with any repeatability or accuracy.  The large coupler being in the way just aggravates this.  Luck will be an important part of getting a good adjustment.  Before I could print a new mount for the Z endstop, I swapped the fixed spacer on the bed with another spring so I can just adjust all four corners. 

2. At the home position I show the mins as triggered and the maxs as open with M119.  Away from home, all show open.  Are you sure you have the endstop connectors on the right places on the RAMPS board?  There are -Z, -Y, and -X labels next to three rows of pins on RAMPS. Your connectors should be on those rows of pins.

----------


## usarmyaircav

> 1. I mention in my Z MOTOR post that a ball end driver helps with the Z endstop bolt if you are using the large couplers.  You'll soon be realizing how crude the i3v approach to the Z endstop is - it is very tough to adjust it with any repeatability or accuracy.  The large coupler being in the way just aggravates this.  Luck will be an important part of getting a good adjustment.  Before I could print a new mount for the Z endstop, I swapped the fixed spacer on the bed with another spring so I can just adjust all four corners. 
> 
> 2. At the home position I show the mins as triggered and the maxs as open with M119.  Away from home, all show open.  Are you sure you have the endstop connectors on the right places on the RAMPS board?  There are -Z, -Y, and -X labels next to three rows of pins on RAMPS. Your connectors should be on those rows of pins.


Hi Printbus, I totally forgot about your comment about needing the ball driver, I will pick one of those up tonight.  do you think having 4 springs is better than 3 and a spacer?  As to the end stops, I put them where Colin said to without really looking at the board itself.  could my less than stellar sodering jobs be related?

----------


## printbus

> Hi Printbus, I totally forgot about your comment about needing the ball driver, I will pick one of those up tonight.  do you think having 4 springs is better than 3 and a spacer?  As to the end stops, I put them where Colin said to without really looking at the board itself.  could my less than stellar sodering jobs be related?


If you have the endstop connectors where Colin shows them, and the mins work OK, maybe the right answer is to not worry about the maxs. The configuration.h file has the #defines for the pullups on the input pins for the max endstops commented out; this likely prevents the internal pullup being activated for those pins on the MEGA2560 processor.  That would lead to the input being randomly read in as high or low depending on how the unconnected pin tends to float.  With the #defines for the max inputs commented out, firmware likely doesn't do anything with the inputs for the max switches. Your soldering is likely fine, since the min and max endstop switches would be on separate connectors on the RAMPS board. 

I prefer the four springs approach. It allows me to just get the Z endstop anywhere close, and then all fine adjustments are done in the four corners of the bed.  Of course, I have thumbwheels on the corners now too.  Leveling the bed takes me about two or three minutes.  The stock makerfarm approach can easily take 20-30 minutes because of the crude approach for mounting the Z endstop switch, the complexity caused by the fixed corner that requires a near-impossible fine adjustment of the Z endstop,  and the multitude of tools required to adjust the other corners.

----------


## usarmyaircav

> If you have the endstop connectors where Colin shows them, and the mins work OK, maybe the right answer is to not worry about the maxs.  configuration.h as the #defines for the pullups on the input pins for the max endstops commented out; this likely prevents the internal pullup being activated for those pins on the MEGA2560 processor.  That would lead to the input being randomly read in as high or low.  With the #defines for the max inputs commented out, firmware likely doesn't do anything with the inputs for the max switches. Your soldering is likely fine, since the min and max endstop switches would be on separate connectors on the RAMPS board. 
> 
> I prefer the four springs approach. It allows me just get the Z endstop anywhere close, and then all fine adjustments are done in the four corners of the bed.  Of course, I have thumbwheels on the corners now too.  Leveling the bed takes me about two or three minutes.  The stock makerfarm approach can easily take 20-30 minutes because of the complexity caused by the fixed corner and the multitude of tools required to adjust the other corners.


Trying to remember all your changes, did you print those thumb wheels out?

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## printbus

> Trying to remember all your changes, did you print those thumb wheels out?


Yes. The ones I have now are http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:29782. On the 8-inch printer, I did have to file the diameter down a bit for the one at the left rear to clear the frame.  Other thumbwheels may not have that problem. 

The BED LEVELING post describes how the screws are locked to the heat bed, leading to a tool-less approach to the bed leveling. Note that I did replace the corner bolts with longer ones too, mainly since the silicone trivet I use for bed insulator is pretty thick.  The thumbwheels originally used in that post didn't have much knurl, so they were later replaced.

EDIT: Of course, if you plan to implement ABL pretty quickly on your printer, the concerns on how hard it is to level the bed won't be as important to you.

----------


## usarmyaircav

My current status:
On a Lets try it and see note, I moved the z end stop to the side of the extrusion, and then tilted it forward to make sure that the endstop switch would hit the frame of the x idler, which it did!!!!!  YES!!!!!  So I was able to adjust it to get it down maybe 1 or 2 mm, and then attempt to level the bed.  I did it fairly quickly and I think it is level.  I need to get it down to the paper thickness level, and I agree moving that whole end stop is not accurate.  So I will get it adjusted closer.
Do I then attempt to print the test cube, or calibrate the e-steps?  So looking forward to actually printing something!!!

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## usarmyaircav

Somewhere I thought I had seen printbus say that the hot end should be tightened again while hot, but I can't find that.  My i3v10 came with a shroud for the fan like that looks like the current E3d6 shroud (but in ABS), so access to all except the nozzle is blocked.  Do I take the shroud off and just have the fan there to have access to tighten the hotend? 

Could someone recommend starting hotend and bed temps for ABS?

What screw sizes are used to mount the haswell type power supply,  the M3's are too loose so I am suspecting they are not metric.

----------


## printbus

> 1. Somewhere I thought I had seen printbus say that the hot end should be tightened again while hot, but I can't find that.  My i3v10 came with a shroud for the fan like that looks like the current E3d6 shroud (but in ABS), so access to all except the nozzle is blocked.  Do I take the shroud off and just have the fan there to have access to tighten the hotend? 
> 
> 2. Could someone recommend starting hotend and bed temps for ABS?
> 
> 3.  What screw sizes are used to mount the haswell type power supply,  the M3's are too loose so I am suspecting they are not metric.


1. Yes, any all metal hot end should be tightened up while hot.  This will help ensure that joints remain tight (and leak free) as the different metals (brass nozzle, aluminum block and stainless steel barrel) heat up. So yes, take off the shroud for the bit of time needed. On my latest rebuild, I tightened things with the hot end loose on the heat bed.  

2. The few things I've done in ABS have been at around 235 degrees.  

3. I'm not familiar with Haswell, but most of these supplies are clones of Mean Well, which use M4 mounting screws.

----------


## usarmyaircav

Thanks Printbus, I meant Mean Well.  LOL 

What about bed temp?

----------


## printbus

> ...What about bed temp?


For ABS, I have varied between 90 and 110, but I didn't spend enough time with ABS to figure out the magic settings for the filament I have.  What you're battling is figuring out what works best to hold the print to the print bed. Since ABS shrinks quite a bit when it cools, larger flat things will have a tendency for the corners to curl up and lift off the bed.  The more airflow you have flowing around the print and the cooler your room temperature is, the more of a challenge you'll have with this.  What you're using to cover the print surface (kapton tape, ABS slurry, etc.) is also a factor in how well the print holds.  I think everyone has to figure these details out for their particular situation.

----------


## usarmyaircav

how long should it take the bed to get up to 110 temp using the relay, seems really slow. so far 27 minutes to heat the hotend and then get the bed to 78 degrees.

----------


## printbus

> how long should it take the bed to get up to 110 temp using the relay, seems really slow. so far 27 minutes to heat the hotend and then get the bed to 78 degrees.


That's a long time. For comparison, my hex hot end goes from room temp to 215 degrees in about 90 seconds and the 8-inch heat bed goes from room temp to 110 degrees in about eight minutes.  Some suggestions on things to check -

Make sure the power supply output stays at 12V when the heat bed turns onMake sure any screw terminals at the power supply and heat bed relay are tightMake sure the heat bed thermistor is secured well to the bottom of the heat bed (no gap)I'd try to make sure cardboard or other insulator you're using between the Y-bed and heat bed isn't pressing against the heat bed thermistor.  If the insulator is touching the thermistor, the thermistor won't be properly reading the heat bed temperature. Cut a clearance hole in the insulator if required.

Beyond that, I'd suspect the gauge of the wiring used with the heat bed is on the small side, and you're not applying the power you could be to the heat bed.  You could verify this by measuring what voltage is actually applied at the heat bed itself.  Do you feel any of the heat bed wiring getting warm? That would be another sign of power being lost in the wiring. As I understand it, the 10-inch heat bed can draw as much as 18 amps.  As heavy as 12-gauge wiring might be appropriate for that much current.  Can you read the markings on the wires that came pre-attached to the heat bed?  One thought would be to use at least the next larger size for the fixed wiring between the power supply and the heat bed relay where flexibility isn't important.

EDIT: I should probably note that my hex hot end is not running the original cartridge heater, aluminum block or thermistor.  I use silicone heatsink compound on the cartridge, and my hot end aluminum block is insulated on all sides with kapton tape.  My hot end warm up time may not be comparable to the usual config.

----------


## RaySuave

> how long should it take the bed to get up to 110 temp using the relay, seems really slow. so far 27 minutes to heat the hotend and then get the bed to 78 degrees.


I got the 10" i3v with the relay and it only takes about 4 minutes for the hotend and between 10 - 15 (110) minutes for the bed.  I take the hotbed to about 106 because the bed struggles to keep a 110 temp.  If you have any air blowing over these parts, they will take a lot longer to heat up.

----------


## Roxy

> EDIT: I should probably note that my hex hot end is not running the original cartridge heater, aluminum block or thermistor.  I use silicone heatsink compound on the cartridge, and my hot end aluminum block is insulated on all sides with kapton tape.  My hot end warm up time may not be comparable to the usual config.


I tried this and the heat sink grease I used ended up drying out and getting crumbly.   Did I just use the wrong grease?

----------


## usarmyaircav

> That's a long time. For comparison, my hex hot end goes from room temp to 215 degrees in about 90 seconds and the 8-inch heat bed goes from room temp to 110 degrees in about eight minutes.  Some suggestions on things to check -
> 
> Make sure the power supply output stays at 12V when the heat bed turns onMake sure any screw terminals at the power supply and heat bed relay are tightMake sure the heat bed thermistor is secured well to the bottom of the heat bed (no gap)I'd try to make sure cardboard or other insulator you're using between the Y-bed and heat bed isn't pressing against the heat bed thermistor.  If the insulator is touching the thermistor, the thermistor won't be properly reading the heat bed temperature. Cut a clearance hole in the insulator if required.
> 
> Beyond that, I'd suspect the gauge of the wiring used with the heat bed is on the small side, and you're not applying the power you could be to the heat bed.  You could verify this by measuring what voltage is actually applied at the heat bed itself.  Do you feel any of the heat bed wiring getting warm? That would be another sign of power being lost in the wiring. As I understand it, the 10-inch heat bed can draw as much as 18 amps.  As heavy as 12-gauge wiring might be appropriate for that much current.  Can you read the markings on the wires that came pre-attached to the heat bed?  One thought would be to use at least the next larger size for the fixed wiring between the power supply and the heat bed relay where flexibility isn't important.
> 
> EDIT: I should probably note that my hex hot end is not running the original cartridge heater, aluminum block or thermistor.  I use silicone heatsink compound on the cartridge, and my hot end aluminum block is insulated on all sides with kapton tape.  My hot end warm up time may not be comparable to the usual config.


What I found out is that the wire I used from the PS to the relay is not the right gage.  It was way hot, so I shut it down.  I will make a run to Lowes tonight to get some 12gage wire.  It was after I had posted this that I decided to check for loose wires and when I grab the wires coming in to the relay it was like "wow is that hot" Thankful nothing seems to have melted down.

----------


## printbus

> I tried this and the heat sink grease I used ended up drying out and getting crumbly.   Did I just use the wrong grease?


It's hard to say.  If the compound was metallic in color, I believe drying out is what is intended - improving the bond of the remaining silver-laden part.  The problem with that is any mechanical movement breaks the bond and the compound has to be cleaned off and reapplied.  I used the old school white grease that seems to never dry out.  Just a bit along the edge that the set screw will push against the block.

----------


## printbus

> What I found out is that the wire I used from the PS to the relay is not the right gage.  It was way hot, so I shut it down.  I will make a run to Lowes tonight to get some 12gage wire.  It was after I had posted this that I decided to check for loose wires and when I grab the wires coming in to the relay it was like "wow is that hot" Thankful nothing seems to have melted down.


Another option for you would be to double up on smaller gauge wires.

----------


## usarmyaircav

Another question I have is it seems like the spool holder rubs on the makerfarm filament roll, enough that I am pretty sure it isn't going to turn by being pulled from the extruder.  Thoughts?

----------


## gmay3

It should be fine as is. If you want to reduce the friction slightly try this: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:326641

----------


## usarmyaircav

> It should be fine as is. If you want to reduce the friction slightly try this: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:326641


I should have clarified, that it seems to be rubbing on the sides at the bottom of the spool, because mine seems to be narrower at the bottom than the top, and there really isn't a way that I could have put it together wrong. (or so I think.  :Big Grin:  )

On a side note, I have that thingi liked and saved in a collection.  :Big Grin:

----------


## printbus

> Another question I have is it seems like the spool holder rubs on the makerfarm filament roll, enough that I am pretty sure it isn't going to turn by being pulled from the extruder.  Thoughts?


I have three rolls of filament from MakerFarm - all three have different types of spools.  Someone else reported that the filament they got from MakerFarm had a spool too wide to fit the spool holder. Is that what you mean?  That would be a problem. Otherwise, something like gmay3's suggestion would help. At least one person is sure his extrusion jams/stoppages were due at least in part to the spool hanging up on the stock mount. Ray Suave has a thread showing use of a wood stick and bearings instead of the wood cross piece.  I moved away from the stock mount when I was having stoppages, but I think my problem was ultimately repetitive retractions in the particular print I was working with.

EDIT: Posted before seeing the reply to gmay3

----------


## usarmyaircav

Printbus, you have it correct the spool is too wide for the spool holder.  I will have to figure out how I can do this.  My current location gives me no where to put the spool.  I will have to consider where I can move the printer to, or another way I can mount it above the printer.

----------


## gmay3

> I have three rolls of filament from MakerFarm - all three have different types of spools.


That's pretty disappointing, I have 4 spools and they have all been the same so far and have fit in the stock holder, which is very lucky I guess! They were all products with this style picture as an example:

http://www.makerfarm.com/index.php/a...-filament.html

----------


## printbus

Digging the MakerFarm filament out for measurements, I may only have two spool styles.  Two rolls are on spools about 245mm x 56mm.  One (1.75mm black PLA) is 205mm x 73mm.  The latter is advertised as such on MakerFarm (well, they say it is 200mm x 73mm - close enough), and I remember Colin confirming via email that I'd be OK with that spool before he shipped it.  I don't believe that would fit the stock filament mount.

----------


## CalifDan

I am the one with concerns about friction within the spool feed.  I am on vacation and can't send photos of my solution, but I used a threaded rod and bearings along with some printed parts to make it work with the spool.  I now have a feed that is so smooth it takes almost no effort to turn the spool.  I tried the suggested Thingverse part suggested earlier first and found that was not enough.

To be fair, I think that some of my jams were also exacerbated by small parts with frequent retractions.  It has become clear to me that it is best to reduce friction in the feed as much as possible.  Then consider retraction if there are still jams.  Some parts might require alternative settings if retraction will be a problem (no retraction, a little cooler print temp, etc.).

----------


## AbuMaia

I've seen a modified i3v spool holder on thingiverse that is wider, I think to accomodate the wider spools.

----------


## usarmyaircav

> I've seen a modified i3v spool holder on thingiverse that is wider, I think to accomodate the wider spools.


I will have to to print this one out once I am printing, thanks AbuMaia!

On another note, since I hot my heat bed heating issues fixed (see the heatbed heating thread), I attempted to print the test cube.  I found that the extruder is not feeding into the hotend.  I am going to take it apart, but from the looks of this picture, it might just be an alignment issue.  As the extrude wanted to push the filiment down, and the retract would pull it out just fine.  Any other thoughts?  It is hard to tell but could I just tighten the hobbed bolt more to get it to move in further?extruder.jpg

----------


## gmay3

Without having my own printer in front of me for reference, it seems like the bearing in the front is seated correctly, meaning it appears to be tightened all the way. Could the guidler somehow be misaligned?

----------


## printbus

> ...it might just be an alignment issue.  As the extrude wanted to push the filiment down, and the retract would pull it out just fine.  Any other thoughts?  It is hard to tell but could I just tighten the hobbed bolt more to get it to move in further?


Something's not right there. Duh.  Comparing to my printer, your bearing does appear to be fully seated, and the left side of my guidler rides against the extruder body just like yours is.  If you take things apart, you could see if the hole for the bearing needs to be cleaned out some, and you could try a thinner washer under the head of the hobbed bolt.  I doubt that'd fix the misalignment you have though.  Have you tried talking to Colin about it, perhaps sending him the picture or linking to here?  Maybe they end up with a bad hobbed bolt every now and then.

EDIT: And looking at my printer for this I now see the kapton tape I had wrapped around the hobbed bolt to improve the fit in the bearings has crept into the cut area of the hobbed bolt for some reason. I wonder how long ago that happened.

----------


## usarmyaircav

> Something's not right there. Duh.  Comparing to my printer, your bearing does appear to be fully seated, and the left side of my guidler rides against the extruder body just like yours is.  If you take things apart, you could see if the hole for the bearing needs to be cleaned out some, and you could try a thinner washer under the head of the hobbed bolt.  I doubt that'd fix the misalignment you have though.  Have you tried talking to Colin about it, perhaps sending him the picture or linking to here?  Maybe they end up with a bad hobbed bolt every now and then.


Thanks Kevin, I will send that to him.  Great idea.  I just sent him pictures of my spool holder, as I asked him about it since the spool won't rotate without me manually rotating it.

----------


## printbus

Wow. Over 10,000 thread views.  I'm tickled to know people have found the thread informative or at least entertaining.  Of course, it does seem like about half of those views might have been myself going back for edits!   :Smile:

----------


## AbuMaia

I know I benefited from your ideas about extrusion slot covers and routing the wires through the extrusion slots. And relocating the X and Y endstop switches.

----------


## printbus

*RAMPS STEPPER MOTOR DRIVER COOLING FAN
*I had printed a pair of these RAMPS 40mm fan brackets a while ago, and finally got around to installing the fan. There are various similar brackets on thingiverse, but I liked how the thinner legs on this one had less of a chance at interfering with something on the RAMPS board. 

I hadn't noticed any issue with the stepper motor drivers running hot, so this is just a preventive measure.  The fan I used is a Silenx 40mm fan I had from experimenting with various print cooling schemes. At 14 dBa for 5 CFM airflow, it is extremely quiet.  The fan was installed so that the airflow direction is down onto the board.  A fan guard was installed simply because I had one available.  

Since I have a heat bed relay, there isn't much heat being dissipated in the MOSFET for the RAMPS D8 output. So, I positioned the fan assembly above the center of the four stepper driver boards.

----------


## printbus

*NOV 2014 BENCHMARKS USING MAKE:2015 TEST MODELS
*
Here are details related to my attempts at printing the test models used in the MAKE: 2015 Shoot Out of several 3D printers. Make: has provided the test models and a partial explanation on the performance grading process at  http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:533472. Note that the scoring criteria currently provided on the instructions page at Thingiverse totals differently than the scores in the Make: Shoot Out comparisons. 

The intent of the Make: Shoot Out was to evaluate the results of experts running standardized prints using the default software and recommended settings suggested by the respective printer manufacturers.  My intent was different. I wanted to evaluate how well I could print with the dialed-in MakerFarm printer I have, my software suite, and the tweaking of print settings that my level of experience would know to do.  I also wanted to use printing these test models as a way to learn. So, when I had an idea on how to improve on print results, I ran another with different settings.  For example, I took great liberty in deciding when to apply print cooling airflow, often manually adjusting the airflow throughout a print. After all, that is how I go about printing.        

All test prints were performed through Repetier-Host v1.0.6 using the integrated Cura Engine slicer. The final prints used MakerFarm black 1.75mm PLA filament. The extruder steps per unit was calibrated prior to the tests, and Cura was adjusted for the measured diameter of the filament.  Elmer's Washable School Glue Stick (disappearing purple) and a 70-degree C bed were used for adhesion. Due to the low bed contact area of the bridging performance test, a brim was added to that print as a precaution.   All prints started with a 220-degree nozzle temp. That may seem high for PLA, but this PLA seems to prefer it. I've seen this filament stop extruding when I've dropped to "normal" PLA temperatures.  On test prints where I knew I would have print temperature issues, I manually decreased the nozzle temp to 215 degrees after initial layers were down.

NOTE: After initial completion of the prints in yellow ABS, I realized that the Combine Everything (Type A) option was enabled in the Repetier-Host Cura settings.  I believe this is a default setting, likely invoked when I recently upgraded Repetier-Host.  Unfortunately, that setting seemed to have a bad effect on print quality. So, the prints have all been redone. Information here and in the subsequent post has been revamped to reflect the final prints. 

For my future reference as much as anything, here's a summary of key configuration aspects in place as of these updated prints. Note that this is simple text with comments; it is NOT code or an ini file that can be used as is.  I'm sure there'll be a point where I look back at these settings and have a good laugh.  They're just where I'm at today.    



```
Printbus configuration summary
3 Dec 2014

*** MARLIN DETAILS  ***
dacb fork for MakerFarm as of Sept 28 2014; my personal motion related changes:
HOMING_FEEDRATE {100*60, 100*60, 100, 0} mm per minute
DEFAULT_AXIS_STEPS_PER_UNIT   {80, 80, 4000, 900}
DEFAULT_MAX_FEEDRATE          {150, 150, 2, 22} mm per second (Z motors observed to skip at Z much more than 2)

*** REPETIER-HOST v1.0.6 CONFIG PRINTER SETTINGS - Printer dialogue ***
Travel Feed Rate: 6000 mm/min  (100mm/sec)
Z-axis Feed Rate: 100 mm/min  (1.67mm/sec)
Manual Extrusion Speed: 2 to 5 mm/sec  (120 to 300 mm/min)
Manual Retraction Speed: 2 mm/sec  (120 mm/min)

*** REPETIER-HOST v1.0.6 CONFIG PRINTER SETTINGS - Extruder dialogue ***
Number of Extruder: 1
Extruder 1 diameter: 0.4 mm 

*** REPETIER-HOST v1.0.6 CURA ENGINE - Print Speed & Quality dialogue
Print speed: 40 to 100 mm/sec (this is available range; actual print speed set by slider in print settings)
Travel speed: 100 to 150 mm/sec
First layer speed: 30 to 50 mm/sec
Outer perimeter speed: 30 to 80 mm/sec
Inner perimeter speed: 40 to 80 mm/sec
Infill speed: 60 to 80 mm/sec
Layer height: 0.2 mm (only a 0.2mm quality has been defined)
First layer height: 0.35 mm
First Layer Extrusion Width: 100%

*** REPETIER-HOST v1.0.6 CURA ENGINE - Print Structures dialogue
Infill shell thickness: 0.8 mm
Infill Top/Bottom Thickness: 0.95 mm
Infill overlap: 10%
Infill pattern: Automatic
Infill Solid Top and Solid Bottom: both checked
Skirt Line Count: 2
Brim Width: 3
Skirt Distance: 3 mm
Minimum Skirt Length: 150 mm
Raft settings (undetermined; raft never used)
G-code Flavor: RepRap (Repetier/Marlin/Sprinter)

*** REPETIER-HOST v1.0.6 CURA ENGINE - Print Extrusion dialogue
Spiralize Contour: unchecked (have not seen good results with this)
Minimize Crossing Perimeters: checked
Enable Retraction: checked
Retraction speed: 10 mm/sec
Retraction distance: 1.5 mm (but still seeing very fine strands remaining)
Minimum travel before retract: 4 mm (depends on print)
Minimum Extrusion Before Retract: 0.02 mm (depends on print)
Z Hop: 0 mm (Z hop adds considerable print time on a lead screw system)
Cut Off Object Bottom: 0 mm
Nozzle Diameter: 0 mm (0 means use value from printer settings)
Multi Extruder Settings: (undetermined; multiple extruders not present)
Cooling fan full at height: 0.5 mm (applies only when print settings has cooling enabled)
Minimum speed: 0 mm/sec (print dependent, varies with layer size and cooling approach)
Cool head lift : unchecked (print dependent; often used on very small prints to help maintain a minimum print speed)

*** REPETIER-HOST v1.0.6 CURA ENGINE - Print Advanced dialogue
Mesh Errors: All unchecked (Combine Everything type A observed to have bad effects)

*** REPETIER-HOST v1.0.6 CURA ENGINE - Filament dialogue
Filament diameter: 1.74 mm (filament dependent)
Filament flow: 100%
Print emperature: 220 degrees C (filament dependent)
Bed temperature: 70 degrees C (filament dependent)
Cooling Min Fan Speed: 5 %
Cooling Max Fan Speed: 25 %
Minimum Layer Time: 2 sec (print dependent; varies with layer size and cooling approach)

*** REPETIER-HOST v1.0.6 CURA ENGINE - Print Settings
Adhesion type: none (print dependent; Brim used on prints with low bed surface area)
Quality: 0.2 mm (only a 0.2 mm quality has been defined)
Support type: none (print dependent)
Speed: Slider usually set for 75mm print speed; this results in outer perimeter speed 59 mm/sec and infill speed 71 mm/sec
Infill density: 25% (print dependent after gcode evaluation in gcode.ws viewer)
Enable cooling: unchecked (manual controls normally used for varying print cooling speed)
Filament settings: Extruder 1 (set to whatever filament definition is to be used)
```

*DIMENSIONAL ACCURACY*
I found it easy to get good results from this one.  Airflow from the print cooling blower was applied throughout the print, even though it would mostly only be required to ensure a clean uppermost post.  Dimensional accuracy and X-Y difference lead to a score of 5 out of a possible 5. 



*OVERHANG PERFORMANCE*
I ended up printing this multiple times, with no dropped filament on any print.  The Make: scoring criteria is vague on whether the variances on the top face or the underside face are what is important.  All my prints had fairly consistent appearance across all angles viewed from the top. I took on improving the underside appearance as a challenge.  The underside appearance varied significantly with print cooling airflow. The best results were obtained with the print oriented so that airflow is applied on-edge to the arch, with the amount of airflow manually incremented at each angle until the blower was running at 100% for the 70-degree slope. My rationale for the airflow orientation is that the air coming out of the cooling blower is very focused, and orienting the print so that airflow hits the wider print face or underside was actually leaving much of the print outside the airflow as the nozzle moved around the layer being printed. With no dropped filament and no discernible difference across the angles on both the top and underside faces, I score this a 5 out of 5. 





*FINE POSITIVE SPACE FEATURES*
A lot of factors came into play on this model. The spires are 15mm apart, so my typical setting of 4mm for minimum travel before retraction was fine. The tips of the spires narrow to 0.4mm, so I ended up tweaking the minimum extrusion before retraction down to the 0.02mm default Cura setting (I've been printing with this at about 1.2mm).  Then, the retraction distance was tweaked to minimize remaining stranding between spires - I ended up at 1.5mm.  Print cooling airflow was used to help maintain the shape of the spires.  Quality of the very tips of the spires was also improved by effectively removing the minimum layer print time constraint, something only possible with the use of the print cooling airflow.  The final print had only a few extremely fine strands between some spires that might have been removed with an additional reduction in retraction distance.  Presence of the strands lead to a score of 4 out of a possible 5. 



*MECHANICAL RESONANCE IN X-Y*
The step and notch on the front wall was troublesome in my initial round of prints. Multiple attempts at the print all led to more of smoothed over bump than a step and a notch. Unchecking the Cura Combine Everything Type A mesh correction that I didn't realize was enabled seemed to be what fixed that.  The step on the inside of the print is now pretty clean, as is the notch on the upper half of the outside. Without a perfect print to compare to, I don't think I see any ripple on print corners or at the notch, so I give the final print a 2 out of 2.  Printing again with infill percentage set to 0 would eliminate a very slight amount of a repetitive vertically oriented pattern showing under the right light on the top half of one wall.  



Results for the Mechanical Resonance in Z, Negative Space Tolerances,  and Bridging Performance tests are in the next post.

----------


## printbus

*NOV 2014 BENCHMARKS USING MAKE:2015 TEST MODELS - continued

*Results for the Dimensional Accuracy, Overhang Performance, Fine Positive Space Features Performance, and Mechanical Resonance in XY were discussed in the prior post. 
*
MECHANICAL RESONANCE IN Z
*My initial round in ABS didn't fare well, possibly because as the column got taller, I could see the print moving as the nozzle moved around each layer.  The final PLA print didn't have that problem and came out very clean throughout the entire column, with no discernible difference between the bottom and top of the column.  This was also printed without a minimum layer time constraint, with cooling airflow applied, and zero infill to eliminate bits of infill that analysis in gcode.ws indicated would appear between the inner and outer walls. Scores a 2 out of 2.   



*NEGATIVE SPACE TOLERANCES
* On the initial ABS print, I could remove three of the pins. On the subsequent PLA print, I could only remove two.  Work remains to figure out whether this can be improved through Cura settings.  This only scores 2 out of 5. 

FOLLOWUP COMMENT: With Slic3r, I obtained a print with one additional peg loose.  With Simplify3D, the print had four of the five pins removable. 


*
BRIDGING PERFORMANCE
*This model surprised me in both the ABS and PLA prints. I expected very poor results since Cura provides no settings specific to bridging.  While there a couple of droopy ones, all spans are intact.  The drooping exceeds 2mm, so this gets a 4 out of 5.  Not bad for a slicer that most view as incapable of bridging. This model was printed with a brim to ensure bed adhesion. A hefty amount of print cooling airflow was applied, with the print oriented so that the airflow was in-line with the spans.   



*RESULTS SUMMARY*
My assessment of the final prints totals to 24 points out of a possible 29.  The biggest hit is the loss of three points since only two pins could be removed in the Negative Space Tolerance test.  Not messing around with eliminating the fine strands left on the Fine Positive Space Features Performance test cost a point.  And I'm very happy with only losing one point in the Bridging Performance test. 

Note that you can't directly compare these totals to the results in the Make: Shoot Out article.  Inexplicably, the article uses a different scoring structure than provided in the Thingiverse instructions for the test models.  I also wish that Make: would have provided photographs of some of the scoring results in order to improve consistency in the assessment results.

----------


## RobH2

This is really good. I hadn't seen these tests. Since I'm at the tail end of finalizing my dual Hexagon rig (thanks...clough42) and still tweaking it's a perfect time for me to do these test. I'll do so over the next few weeks and report back.

I have the older Makerfarm i3 8" with rods. It will be interesting to compare it to the v-slot version.

----------


## AbuMaia

> I also had obtained some aluminum rail slot covers from Openbuildpartstore. In addition to possibly being used for decoration, the slot covers can be used to create a wire raceway in the aluminum rails.


I liked this idea, and incorporated it in my own printer. I've got the covers on the top slots of the Y rails, the front slots, bottom slot of the top rail and top slot of the bottom rail of the X rails, and the front slots of the Z rails.

I did have some trouble with the Z covers and the lower X cover moving. The Z covers slid down due to gravity, but the lower front X cover was moved by the bolt heads holding the X carriage extruder shelf rubbing against it. The Y covers are held in place by the wood pieces front and back, plus nothing rubs them.

For the bottom of the Z rails, and the ends of the X rails, I put a washer on an M5 bolt and screwed it into the threaded center hole of the rails. The washer is just large enough to hold the covers in place, since the M5 bolt head is not. I did try to superglue the covers in place, but that just left a white film on the covers, and didn't hold long anyway. The bolts are unobtrusive and do the job well.

----------


## printbus

Here's a link to the slot covers AbuMaia is referring to - http://openbuildspartstore.com/slot-cover-panel-holder/. I used some to form wiring channels in the v-rails, but never got around to installing the decorative ones facing forward.

They do fit in the slots fairly loose and tend to slide around. Use of the M5 bolts and washers on the end of the rails is a good idea - especially for the Z rails.  Bending the legs apart on part of the plastic cover may help.  I think I pondered using a bit of double sided tape on one end to help hold them in place.  The segments I installed with wires and expandable cable wrap are held in place fine by the wiring.  

For the bolt heads on the back side of the X carriage shelf, mine were rubbing into the aluminum v-rail so those bolts were replaced with button head type.  I had made the problem worse by trying to use flat washers under all the bolt heads, but even without the washers there isn't much clearance there.

FOLLOWUP COMMENT: I haven't verified this, but for those wondering, I don't think you can install the channel cover over slots where the wheels will ride.

----------


## AbuMaia

I've verified it. You cannot put the covers on the slots where the wheels run. I've tried it, and I emailed OPBS asking about it before I bought the covers.

IMG_20141202_181035.jpg
My printer with slot covers.

IMG_20141202_181248.jpg
Bolt and washer holding the covers in place.

----------


## printbus

*RUNNING SUMMARY OF CONFIGURATION SETTINGS*
I dug into and adjusted several of the Marlin and slicer configuration settings after completion of the Make: benchmark prints. Some of the changes are a result of thread Marlin Motion Related Configuration.h Settings for MakerFarm i3v.  The following summarizes either the current settings or the settings I last used with particular software.  Note that information that follows in code dialogue boxes is simple text with comments, organized to follow the user interface structure for the applicable software. It is not an INI or other data file that can be used as is. 

Anyone with suggested adjustments are welcome to post about them or send me a PM.

REPETIER-HOST/CURA ENGINE
I'd been using Repetier-Host with Cura Engine for several months, so I naturally started refining settings with this combination.  As I was trying to optimize print settings, Cura became a limiting factor since it doesn't allow setting different speeds for internal infill (ideally printed fast) and solid layers like the top (ideally printed slower for quality).


```
Printbus Repetier-Host & Cura Engine configuration summary
11 Jan 2015

*** MARLIN DETAILS  ***
dacb fork for MakerFarm as of Sept 28 2014; personalized motion related changes:
HOMING_FEEDRATE {100*60, 100*60, 2*60, 0}
marlin_main.cpp homeaxis() feedrate in 3rd phase of homing reduced from /2 to /4 to negate faster HOMING_FEEDRATE
DEFAULT_AXIS_STEPS_PER_UNIT   {80, 80, 4000, 900}
DEFAULT_MAX_FEEDRATE {250, 250, 2, 15} (see Marlin settings thread)
DEFAULT_MAX_ACCELERATION {750,750,500,500} (see Marlin settings thread)
DEFAULT_ACCELERATION 750 (see Marlin settings thread)
DEFAULT_ZJERK 10 (see Marlin settings thread)
DEFAULT_EJERK 10 (see Marlin settings thread)
MANUAL_FEEDRATE {100, 100, 2, 5} (want less than or equal to DEFAULT_MAX_FEEDRATE; 5 is about the limit on 1.75mm, 3mm requires lower)

*** REPETIER-HOST v1.0.6 CONFIG PRINTER SETTINGS - Printer dialogue ***
Travel Feed Rate: 15000 mm/min  (to match 250mm/sec Marlin setting)
Z-axis Feed Rate: 120 mm/min  (to match 2mm/sec Marlin setting)
Manual Extrusion Speed: 5, 5 mm/sec  (300 mm/min, not sure why there are two values; 5 is about the limit on 1.75mm, 3mm requires lower)
Manual Retraction Speed: 5 mm/sec  (to match 300 mm/min extrusion speed)

*** REPETIER-HOST v1.0.6 CONFIG PRINTER SETTINGS - Extruder dialogue ***
Number of Extruder: 1
Max Volume per second: 10mm3/sec following recommendation suggesting between 8 and 10 for 0.4mm tip
Extruder 1 diameter: 0.4 mm 

*** REPETIER-HOST v1.0.6 CURA ENGINE - Print Speed & Quality dialogue
Print speed: 50 to 100 mm/sec (unclear where this speed is applied)
Travel speed: 250 to 250 mm/sec (DEFAULT_MAX_FEEDRATE for XY)
First layer speed: 30 to 50 mm/sec
Outer perimeter speed: 30 to 60 mm/sec (kept low for print quality)
Inner perimeter speed: 40 to 80 mm/sec
Infill speed: 50 to 80 mm/sec (note Cura applies this to bridging and top layers)
Layer height: 0.2 mm (only a 0.2mm quality has been defined)
First layer height: 0.35 mm (just seems to work with nozzle adjusted to snug paper clearance)
First Layer Extrusion Width: 125%

*** REPETIER-HOST v1.0.6 CURA ENGINE - Print Structures dialogue
Infill shell thickness: 1.2 mm (value leads to 3 shells with 0.4mm nozzle)
Infill Top/Bottom Thickness: 0.55 mm (value leads to 3 top and bottom fill layers)
Infill overlap: 5% (reduced until infill didn't ripple through outer wall)
Infill pattern: Automatic
Infill Solid Top and Solid Bottom both checked
Support Pattern: Grid
Support overhang angle: 60 degrees
Support fill amount: 15%
Support distance XY: 0.7 mm (only minimally tested)
Support distance Z: 0.15 mm (only minimally tested)
Skirt Line Count: 2
Skirt distance: 3 mm
Skirt minimum length: 150 mm
Brim Width: 3
Skirt Distance: 3 mm
Minimum Skirt Length: 150 mm
Raft settings (undetermined; raft has never been used)
G-code Flavor: RepRap (Repetier/Marlin/Sprinter)

*** REPETIER-HOST v1.0.6 CURA ENGINE - Print Extrusion dialogue
Spiralize Contour: unchecked (have not had good results with this enabled)
Minimize Crossing Perimeters: checked
Enable Retraction: checked
Retraction speed: 15 mm/sec (consistent with E feedrate in Marlin settings thread)
Retraction distance: 1.5 mm (but still seeing very fine strands remaining)
Minimum travel before retract: 4 mm (depends on print)
Minimum Extrusion Before Retract: 0.02 mm (depends on print)
Z Hop: 0 mm (Z hop adds considerable print time on screw-based Z axis)
Cut Off Object Bottom: 0 mm
Nozzle Diameter: 0 mm (0 value says to use printer settings)
Multi Extruder Settings: (undetermined; multiple extruders not present)
Cooling fan full at height 0.5 mm
Minimum speed: 0 mm/sec (print dependent, varies with layer size and cooling approach)
Cool head lift : unchecked (print dependent; often used on very small prints)

*** REPETIER-HOST v1.0.6 CURA ENGINE - Print Advanced dialogue
Mesh Errors: All unchecked (Combine Everything type A observed to have bad effects)

*** REPETIER-HOST v1.0.6 CURA ENGINE - Filament dialogue
Filament diameter: 1.74 mm (filament dependent)
Filament flow: 100%
Print emperature: 220 degrees C (filament dependent)
Bed temperature: 70 degrees C (filament dependent)
Cooling Min Fan Speed: 5 % (usually manually controlled)
Cooling Max Fan Speed: 25 % (usually manually controlled)
Minimum Layer Time: 2 sec (print dependent; varies with layer size and cooling approach)

*** REPETIER-HOST v1.0.6 CURA ENGINE - Print Settings
Adhesion type: none (print dependent; Brim used on prints with low bed surface area)
Quality: 0.2 mm (only a 0.2 mm quality has been defined)
Support type: none (print dependent)
Speed: Slider set for 75mm print speed results in outer perimeter speed 45 mm/sec and infill speed 65 mm/sec
Infill density: 20% (print dependent after gcode evaluation in gcode.ws viewer)
Enable cooling: unchecked (manual controls normally used for varying print cooling speed)
Filament settings: Extruder 1 (set to whatever filament definition is to be used)
```

Jan 11 2015: DEFAULT_STEPS_PER_UNIT back to 4000 for Z since stepper driver is reconfigured back to 1/16 microstepping
Jan 3 2015: Updated to final RH/CE settings before switching to Simplify3D software
Dec 25 2014: Added note that 5mm/sec manual extrusion feed rate is about the limit for 1.75mm filament
Dec 15 2014: Added DEFAULT_XYJERK tweak to the Marlin category (missing in original list)

------------------------------
REPETIER-HOST/SLIC3R
 I briefly gave SLIC3R another try before moving on to Simplify3D software.  I saw no improvement in Slic3r's tendency to hang or take far too long on slicing complex objects, and Slic3r also still seemed to require more moves and retractions per layer than Cura did.  I used Slic3r 1.1.7 that was included with the Repetier-Host v1.0.6 distribution. 



```
Printbus Repetier-Host & Slic3r configuration summary
11 Jan 2015

*** MARLIN DETAILS  ***
dacb fork for MakerFarm as of Sept 28 2014; personalized motion related changes:
HOMING_FEEDRATE {100*60, 100*60, 2*60, 0}
marlin_main.cpp homeaxis() feedrate in 3rd phase of homing reduced from /2 to /4 to negate faster HOMING_FEEDRATE
DEFAULT_AXIS_STEPS_PER_UNIT   {80, 80, 4000, 900} 
DEFAULT_MAX_FEEDRATE {250, 250, 2, 15} (see Marlin settings thread)
DEFAULT_MAX_ACCELERATION {750,750,500,500} (see Marlin settings thread)
DEFAULT_ACCELERATION 750 (see Marlin settings thread)
DEFAULT_ZJERK 10 (see Marlin settings thread)
DEFAULT_EJERK 10 (see Marlin settings thread)
MANUAL_FEEDRATE {100, 100, 2, 5} (want less than or equal to DEFAULT_MAX_FEEDRATE; 5 is about the limit on 1.75mm, 3mm requires lower)

*** SLIC3r v1.1.7 Print Settings - Layers and Perimeters
Layer height: 0.2mm
First layer height: 0.35mm
Vertical shells on perimeters: 3
Spiral vase: unchecked (did not try this)
Horizontal shells top: 3
Horizontal shells bottom: 3
Extra perimeters: checked
Avoid crossing perimeters: checked
Detect thin walls: checked
Detect bridging perimeters: checked
Seam position: random
External perimeters first: checked

*** SLIC3r v1.1.7 Print Settings - Infill
Infill fill density: 15% (print dependent) 
Infill fill pattern: rectilinear
Infill top/bottom fill pattern: rectilinear
Combine infill every 1 layer
Only infill where needed: unchecked
Solid infill every 0 layers
Fill angle 45 degrees (can be considered print dependent)
Solid infill threshold area: 70 mm^2
Only retract when crossing perimeters: unchecked
Infill before perimeters: unchecked

*** SLIC3r v1.1.7 Print Settings - Speed
Print speed on perimeters: 50 mm/sec
Print speed on small perimeters: 50 mm/sec (IDK - just be consistent on perimeters?)
Print speed on external perimeters: 50 mm/sec (IDK - just be consistent on perimeters?)
Print speed on infill: 100mm/sec (fast since most time is spent printing this)
Print speed on solid infill: 80 mm/sec
Print speed on top solid infill: 70 mm/sec
Print speed on support material: 100 mm/sec (did not test)
Print speed on support material interface: 100% (did not test)
Print speed on bridges: 100 mm/sec (did not test)
Print speed on gap fill: 0 (a 0 disables gap filling - something I found annoying with slic3r previously)
Non-printing travel speed: 250 mm/sec (to match Marlin DEFAULT_MAX_FEEDRATE settings)
First layer speed: 40 mm/sec
Advanced acceleration control: all 0 (a 0 leaves acceleration control to Marlin)

*** SLIC3r v1.1.7 Print Settings - Skirt and Brim
Skirt loops: 2
Skirt distance from object: 6mm
Skirt height: 1 layer
Minimum extrusion length: 0mm (2 skirt loops should provide enough priming extrusion even on small objects)
Brim width: 0 mm (did not test use of a brim)

*** SLIC3r v1.1.7 Print Settings - Support Material
Generate support material: unchecked 
(did not determine any preferred settings for support)

*** SLIC3r v1.1.7 Print Settings - Output options
Sequential printing complete individual objects: unchecked 
Output file verbose g-code: unchecked

*** SLIC3r v1.1.7 Print Settings - Multiple Extruders
Perimeter extruder: 1 (I only have one extruder)
Infill extruder: 1 (I only have one extruder)
Support material extruder: 1 (I only have one extruder)
Support material interface extruder: 1 (I only have one extruder)
Ooze prevention enable: unchecked
Interface shells: unchecked

*** SLIC3r v1.1.7 Print Settings - Advanced
Default extrusion width: 0 (set default width automatically)
First layer extrusion width: 200%
Perimeter extrusion width: 0 (use default width)
Infill extrusion width: 0 (use default width)
Solid infill extrusion width: 0 (use default width)
Top solid infill extrusion width: 0 (use default width)
Support material extrusion width: 0 (use default width)
Bridge flow ratio: 1 (did not test bridging)
Threads: 2
Resolution: 0 (use full resolution)

*** SLIC3r v1.1.7 Filament Settings - Filament
Filament diameter: 1.68mm (filament dependent)
Filament extrusion multiplier: 1 (did not test other settings)
Extruder temperature first layer: 215 (filament & print dependent)
Extruder temperature other layers: 210 (filament & print dependent)
Bed temperature first layer: 0 (filament dependent)
Bed temperature other layers: 0 (filament dependent)

*** SLIC3r v1.1.7 Filament Settings - Cooling
Keep fan always on: unchecked (print cooler doesn't have to be on all the time)
Enable auto cooling: unchecked (I normally adjust print cooling fan manually)

*** SLIC3r v1.1.7 Printer Settings - General
Bed size: 200mm x 200mm (printer dependent)
Print center: 100mm, 100mm (printer dependent)
Z offset: 0mm (no, I'm not equipped for auto bed correction)
Firmware: RepRap
Use relative E distances: unchecked (gcode will use absolute positioning)
Extruders: 1
Use firmware retraction: unchecked (retraction is handled in gcode)
Vibration limit: 0 (did not experiment with this)

*** SLIC3r v1.1.7 Printer Settings - Extruder 1
Nozzle diameter: 0.4mm (hot end dependent)
Retraction length: 1.5mm (seems to provide generally good retraction results)
Retraction lift Z: 0 mm (i3v use of threaded Z-rods would slow down prints if lift Z is used)
Retraction speed: 15mm/sec (to match Marlin DEFAULT_MAX_FEEDRATE setting)
Retraction extra length on restart: 0mm
Minimum travel after retraction: 1mm (print dependent)
Retract on layer change: checked (retract while waiting for threaded rods to raise carriage to next layer)
Wipe while retracting: unchecked (did not experiment with this; would take more time)

REPETIER-HOST/Slic3r Slicer Settings
Override Slic3r settings: unchecked (use settings from Slic3r configuration files)
```

 Jan 11 2015: DEFAULT_STEPS_PER_UNIT back to 4000 for Z since stepper driver is reconfigured back to 1/16 microstepping
Jan 4 2015: Initial population of settings info

------------------------------
SIMPLIFY 3D
It wasn't free, but Simplify3D is currently providing my best combination of print quality, setting flexibility, and professional user interface.  I think that as a slicer, Simplify3D is giving me better results than Slic3r or Cura/Cura Engine.  I do think, however, that the Machine Control Panel is weak. It is missing several features I grew used to with Repetier-Host. 



```
Printbus Simplify3D configuration summary
21 Feb 2015

 *** MARLIN DETAILS  ***
dacb fork for MakerFarm as of Sept 28 2014 built for non-ABL; personalized motion related changes:
HOMING_FEEDRATE {100*60, 100*60, 2.5*60, 0}
marlin_main.cpp homeaxis() feedrate in 3rd phase of homing reduced from /2 to /4 to negate faster HOMING_FEEDRATE
DEFAULT_AXIS_STEPS_PER_UNIT   {80, 80, 1000, 900}  (Z motor driver configured for 1/4 microstepping)
DEFAULT_MAX_FEEDRATE {250, 250, 3, 15} (see Marlin settings thread; 3 on Z works with Kysan motors and 1/4 microstepping)
DEFAULT_MAX_ACCELERATION {750,750,500,500} (see Marlin settings thread)
DEFAULT_ACCELERATION 750 (see Marlin settings thread)
DEFAULT_ZJERK 10 (see Marlin settings thread)
DEFAULT_EJERK 10 (see Marlin settings thread)
MANUAL_FEEDRATE {100, 100, 2.5, 5} (want less than or equal to DEFAULT_MAX_FEEDRATE; 5 is about the limit on 1.75mm, 3mm requires lower)

*** Simplify3D v2.2.1 Process Settings - Extruder
Nozzle diameter: 0.40mm
Extrusion multiplier: 1.00 (have not tried other values; I'd normally adjust flow at the printer)
Extrusion width: Auto (print dependent; using manual on many thin wall parts to reduce thin zigzag infill)
Retraction box: checked
Retraction distance: 2.0mm (filament and print dependent)
Extra restart distance: 0mm
Retraction vertical lift: 0mm (threaded rods on Z would lead this to be slow)
Retraction speed: 15mm/sec (to match 15mm/sec setting in Marlin DEFAULT_MAX_FEEDRATE)
Coast at end: checked and set to 1.6mm (under evaluation) 
Wipe at end: checked and set to 5mm (sometimes causes artifacts on external perimeters at the wipe distance)

*** Simplify3D v2.2.1 Process Settings - Layer
Primary layer height: 0.20mm (nozzle physically adjusted for 0.20mm gap with bed and hot end at printing temperature)
Top solid layers: 3
Bottom solid layers: 3
Outline/perimeter shells: 2
Outline direction: Outside-in (print dependent)
Print islands sequentially: unchecked (have not tried this)
Corkscrew printing mode: unchecked (have not tried this)
First layer height: 90% (note bed is adjusted for 0.20mm nozzle gap using S3D leveling tool)
First layer width: 125%
First layer speed: 75%
Start points: use random start points for all perimeters

*** Simplify3D v2.2.1 Process Settings - Additions
Include skirt brim: checked (print dependent)
Skirt layers: 1
Skirt offset: 4mm (set to 0mm for brim)
Skirt outlines: 3 (2 was a bit lacking on some small prints)
Include raft: unchecked (I've never tried a raft)

*** Simplify3D v2.2.1 Process Settings - Infill
External fill pattern: rectilinear
Interior fill percentage: 20% (print dependent but 20% seems to provide adequate top layer support)
Outline overlap: 15% (been experimenting with different values but back to this currently)
Infill extrusion width: 100% (have not experimented with other values)
Minimum infill length: 5mm (have not experimented with other values)
Print sparse infill every 1 layer
Include solid diaphragm: unchecked
Random infill placement: unchecked (not sure where one would want this)
Infill angles: 45, -45 degrees

*** Simplify3D v2.2.1 Process Settings - Support
Generate support material: unchecked (print dependent)
Support extruder: Primary (only have one)
Support infill percentage: 20% (print dependent)
Extra inflation distance: 0 (have not experimented with other values)
Dense support layers: 0 (have not experimented with other values)
Dense infill percentage: 70% (have not experimented with other values)
Print support every 1 layer (print dependent?)
Horizontal offset from part: 0.80mm (easier to remove than the 0.3mm default)
Upper vertical separation layers: 1 (have not experimented with other values)
Lower vertical separation layers: 1 (have not experimented with other values)

*** Simplify3D v2.2.1 Process Settings - Temperature
Extruder temperature identifier: T0
Extruder temperature controller type: Extruder
Extruder relay temperature between each: (neither layer or loop selected)
Extruder wait for temperature controller to stabilize: checked
Extruder layer 1 temperature: 215 degrees (filament dependent)
Extruder layer 4 temperature: 210 degrees (filament dependent)
Heated bed temperature identifier: T2
Heated bed temperature controller type: heated build platform
Heated bed relay temperature between each: (neither layer or loop selected)
Heated bed wait for temperature controller to stabilize: checked
Heated bed layer 1 temperature: 0 (this and subsequent layer temps print filament dependent)

*** Simplify3D v2.2.1 Process Settings - Cooling
Layer 1 fan speed: 0
Layer 4 fan speed: 2% (print and blower dependent)
Blip fan to full power when increasing from idle: unchecked (leads to undesired pause with nozzle sitting on print)
Adjust print speed for layers below set duration: unchecked (print cooler used instead)
Increase fan speed for layers below set duration: unchecked (print dependent)
Bridging fan speed override: unchecked (have not experimented with bridging)

*** Simplify3D v2.2.1 Process Settings - G-code
Option for 5D firmware: checked
Option for relative extrusion distances: unchecked
Option to allow zeroing of extrusion distances: checked
Option to use independent extruder axes: unchecked
Option to include M101/M102/M103 commands: unchecked
Option for firmware supporting sticky parameters: checked
G-Code axis offsets all set to 0
Update machine definition using settings: checked
Machine type: Cartesian
Build volume: 200mm x 200mm x 200mm (printer dependent)
Origin offset: 0, 0, 0
Homing direction: all set to min
Flip build table axis: Y checked

*** Simplify3D v2.2.1 Process Settings - Other
Default printing speed: 100 mm/sec (6000mm/min)
Outline underspeed: 50% (seems to be optimal value)
Solid fill underspeed: 50% (seems to optimal value)
Support structure underspeed: 80% (have not tested)
X/Y axis movement speed: 250 mm/sec (to match setting in DEFAULT_MAX_FEEDRATE)
Z axis movement speed: 2.5 mm/sec (to match setting in DEFAULT_MAX_FEEDRATE)
Filament diameter: 1.68mm (filament dependent)
Bridging unsupported area threshold: 50 sq mm (untested)
Bridging extrusion multiplier: 100% (untested)
Bridging speed multiplier: 100% (untested)

*** Simplify3D v2.2.1 Process Settings - Advanced
Start printing at set height: unchecked
Stop printing at set height: unchecked
Non-manifold segments: heal
Merge all outlines into solid model: unchecked
Thin wall behavior: Allow gap fill when necessary
Allowed perimeter overlap: 10% (have not tried other values)
Only retract when crossing open spaces: checked 
Force retraction between layers: checked (retract while we wait on slow Z movement)
Minimum travel for retraction: 2mm (print dependent)
Extruder ooze rate: unchecked
Only wipe extruder for outer-most perimeters: checked (need to better understand this)
Tool change retraction: settings ignored since I only have one extruder

*** Simplify3D v2.2.1 Machine Control Panel Settings
X/Y axis jog speed: 100 mm/sec
Z axis jog speed: 2.5 mm/sec (OK with Kysan motors and 1/4 microstepping)
Extruder jog speed: 4 mm/sec (5 is about the limit for 1.75mm filament and 0.40mm nozzle)
```

Feb 21 2015: Numerous settings revised per lessons learned
Feb 15 2015: Infill percentage to 15%, outline underspeed to 80%
Jan 21 2015: updated misc to reflect baseline for ripple test prints
Jan 21 2015: unchecked the wipe option due to external perimeter artifacts noticed at the end of the wipe distance
Jan 17 2015: increased Z in MANUAL_FEEDRATE to 2.5 mm/sec as well
Jan 15 2015: retuned Z motion settings again; added support detail; added machine control panel settings
Jan 14 2015: checked coast at end and wipe nozzle options in extruder settings
 Jan 12 2015: checked Y axis in flip build table axis
Jan 11 2015: DEFAULT_STEPS_PER_UNIT back to 4000 for Z since stepper driver is reconfigured back to 1/16 microstepping; updated to Simplify3D version 2.2.1
Jan 5 2015: unchecked blip print cooling fan to full when coming up from idle
 Jan 4 2015: Initial population of current settings

----------


## printbus

*DISPLAY BEZEL*
I had to replace the LCD on my i3v due to an inadvertent static discharge that damaged the driver for a column of pixels. It wasn't easy to unsolder the 16 pins between the LCD and the reprapdiscount board, so I wanted to minimize the need to replace the LCD again.  I've learned on other projects that using a bezel over one of these LCD modules is helpful in protecting them from static, and obtained another Electronic Assembly EA017-9UKE bezel to use on the printer.  

The bezels are meant to mount on a panel, with the display module recessed behind the panel.  The design of the i3v printers, however, has the LCD module protruding from the face of the LCD mounting bracket.  To provide a mount for the bezel, I used hobby basswood to form a small frame that sits on the LCD module.  The bezel frame was fashioned from wood since it was quick and easy to do, and could be painted to have a wood finish like the rest of the printer.  I used narrow strips of double-sided tape to attach the bezel to the wood frame, and small dabs of glue to attach the bezel frame to the printer.  

This provides a gap between the anti-glare acrylic glass and the LCD module that should help minimize static being discharged into the LCD.

----------


## adamfilip

Your attention to detail is incredible. Im about to start my build, and I hope I can get it atleast half as clean as your build is, well done

----------


## printbus

> Your attention to detail is incredible. Im about to start my build, and I hope I can get it atleast half as clean as your build is, well done


Thanks. Yeah, the detail in the build thread sort of got out of control.  My original intent was just to provide some pay back to the 3D PrintBoard community for the few i3v build threads before mine that sold me on the i3v.  I seriously believe I couldn't have made a better choice for getting a start in 3D printing. Of course, YMMV.  

If you haven't read me harp about it before, I'm all about sharing.  The more we all share, the easier it can be for people to pick up on ideas that fit their situation and the better the i3v community becomes.  Here and elsewhere, my posts also tend to be verbose so that people have enough background information to make their own decisions.

A challenge in starting a build is in guessing where you want things nice and tidy vs. really want to keep things flexible.  While my printer looks quite nice, I admit that can be a hindrance.  For example, right now I've got new stepper motors that will require a major effort to install due to the neatly sleeved and tightly routed wire bundles...

----------


## adamfilip

perhaps its best to get it running and tuned, once your happy then do a wiring overhaul to make it all tidy?

----------


## printbus

> perhaps its best to get it running and tuned, once your happy then do a wiring overhaul to make it all tidy?


That's worth considering. I know a few people have cleaned up the wiring (mostly by shortening the wire lengths) after they had the printer working.

----------


## printbus

*REPURPOSED FILAMENT SPOOL MOUNT*
Although I've had no problem with the filament spool mounted above the printer, I opted to move the filament spool to the table surface behind the printer.  The spool holders I looked at on Thingiverse all seemed to be limiting in what size spools they would hold, or required dealing with nuts on threaded rods when exchanging spools.  To get by until I find a better option, I decided to repurpose the upright supports and the horizontal rod from the spool holder I've been using.  This allows me to keep using the three or four different types of spool hub adapters that cover the different styles of spools that I have.  

The upright brackets designed to slip onto the top plate of the i3v were screwed onto some wood scraps.  This provides about 7-3/4 inches of clearance below the 5/16-inch rod used as a cross member, more than enough clearance for the 10-inch diameter spools.  If I upgrade to a dual extruder, there's enough space between the uprights to hold two of the 3-inch wide spools.  Printed shaft collars are used to clamp the cross member into the uprights, and to keep the hub adapters in place. Pressure from springs and nylon washers on the cross bar provides just enough drag to keep the spool from unwinding by itself and loosening the filament, especially as the filament nears the end of the spool. 



The filament guide was designed to clip behind the i3v LCD, but I opted to locate it to the left of the LCD.  It's far enough to the rear to not hinder access to the SD card slot.

----------


## printbus

*NEW MOTORS AND MORE*
Based on testing in Marlin Motion Related Configuration.h Settings for MakerFarm i3v that suggested the CW 42BHH48-050-24A motors from my older i3v kit were limiting my max Z feed rate, I opted to replace all the CW motors in my 8-inch i3v with more Kysan 1124090 motors.  A Kysan has worked out well on the extruder for the last couple of months. Replacement of the motors was no easy feat since I had dressed and bundled all the printer wiring.  The Kysan's have heavier gauge wires than the CW motors, so I didn't want to just cut off the wiring at the CW motors and splice on the Kysans. 

The Kysans run cooler, so I took out all the motor fans and related wiring that had been added for the hot-running CW motors.  Good riddance. 

By leveraging additional torque provided by using 1/4 microstepping (1000 steps per unit for Z) instead of the MakerFarm default of 1/16 microstepping, the Kysans seem to be able to reliably drive the Z axis at over 3mm/sec feed rate.  As an incremental increase, I'm now testing 2.5mm/sec for a while.  This provides a worst-case Z home duration of about 90 seconds on my 8-inch printer.  

Taking advantage of the disassembly required to swap out the motors, additional preventive maintenance was completed.  The X and Y belts are now tighter than before, and I replaced both Z threaded rods and the Z nuts in the X-carriage.  I worked to straighten the replacement threaded rods as best I could.  To prevent accidents like the granddaughter grabbing one of the Z rods and bending it over, I've added support brackets at the top of the Z rods to protect them - http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:636381.



I've also been pretty aggressive in cleaning out the hexagon hot end nozzle a few times.  Thinking I might have enlarged the nozzle tip in this cleaning, I wanted to replace the tip. Unfortunately, 0.40mm tips for the hexagon never seem to be available individually.  I've installed a 0.40mm tip intended for use on the E3Dv6 hot end.

----------


## gmay3

> *NEW MOTORS AND MORE*
> Based on testing in Marlin Motion Related Configuration.h Settings for MakerFarm i3v that suggested the CW 42BHH48-050-24A motors from my older i3v kit were limiting my max Z feed rate, I opted to replace all the CW motors in my 8-inch i3v with more Kysan 1124090 motors.  A Kysan has worked out well on the extruder for the last couple of months. Replacement of the motors was no easy feat since I had dressed and bundled all the printer wiring.  The Kysan's have heavier gauge wires than the CW motors, so I didn't want to just cut off the wiring at the CW motors and splice on the Kysans. 
> 
> The Kysans run cooler, so I took out all the motor fans and related wiring that had been added for the hot-running CW motors.  Good riddance.


I hear you on this process! I totally redid my wiring and fixed some of the safety issues (soldering screw down power wires). It took forever but was definitely worth it to swap out our old hot motors for the Kysans .




> I replaced both Z threaded rods and the Z nuts in the X-carriage.  I worked to straighten the replacement threaded rods as best I could.  To prevent accidents like the granddaughter grabbing one of the Z rods and bending it over, I've added support brackets at the top of the Z rods to protect them - http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:636381.


Looks fantastic! Any chance you may be able to provide links to the replacement rods and nuts you ordered? I bent the tops of mine trying to get them into the clear plastic tubing the first time around and would like to swap em.




> Unfortunately, 0.40mm tips for the hexagon never seem to be available individually.  I've installed a 0.40mm tip intended for use on the E3Dv6 hot end.


I ordered the 0.3mm hexagon tip from makerfarm and really like it. Could be worth a future try  :Wink:

----------


## usarmyaircav

With having a newer printer, with the motors that don't get hot, are the Kysan motors something to consider later on?

----------


## printbus

> With having a newer printer, with the motors that don't get hot, are the Kysan motors something to consider later on?


Probably not, unless perhaps if one of your motors dies. If that be a Z-motor, I'd replace both to keep them the same.  An advantage of using the Kysan is you'd at least have the full specs for the motor available to you.   




> Any chance you may be able to provide links to the replacement rods and nuts you ordered? I bent the tops of mine trying to get them into the clear plastic tubing the first time around and would like to swap em.


I cut them myself from 1-meter stainless steel rods obtained through Grainger - their P/N 25DM77.  I use Grainger for as much hardware as I can since stuff gets shipped for no charge to the local Grainger store.  Can't imagine what the shipping cost would have been on the four-foot tube my $2.60 USD threaded rod came in.  SS nuts from the local Ace Hardware were used. I see the rods are now $2.70 USD. Must have been a price increase at the beginning of the year.

----------


## sniffle

Printbus, I know you have been focusing on speed and understanding how speed works lately. 

Generally speaking what is considered "fast" or "normal" for the Prusa i3 styles?

----------


## printbus

> Printbus, I know you have been focusing on speed and understanding how speed works lately. Generally speaking what is considered "fast" or "normal" for the Prusa i3 styles?


I don't have a broad enough experience with other printers to answer that with any confidence.  That said, IMO the MakerFarm i3v printers should likely do better than any standard Prusa i3 using rod stock and linear bearings, as well as any printer where the frame is formed with printed corners that can deform or loosen with time.  

I've seen a lot of reprap related info where people talk about printing in the 30 to 50 mm/sec range.  Is that the "normal" then?  IDK.  These printers can definitely do better than that.

----------


## sniffle

Yeah, I'm printing at 50mm/s right now, without issues.  It makes me want to try and push it a little further.  I don't have much experience myself only being in this for around a month :-)

----------


## gmay3

> I cut them myself from 1-meter stainless steel rods obtained through Grainger - their P/N 25DM77.  I use Grainger for as much hardware as I can since stuff gets shipped for no charge to the local Grainger store.  Can't imagine what the shipping cost would have been on the four-foot tube my $2.60 USD threaded rod came in.  SS nuts from the local Ace Hardware were used. I see the rods are now $2.70 USD. Must have been a price increase at the beginning of the year.


Many thanks! I made a cart for a threaded rod (P/N 25DM77) and M5 SS nuts (P/N 22YK31) with shipping for $16.57. Very surprisingly, the shipping is only $10 so I might just go for it  :Wink:

----------


## printbus

> Yeah, I'm printing at 50mm/s right now, without issues.  It makes me want to try and push it a little further.  I don't have much experience myself only being in this for around a month :-)


Printing speeds are also pretty tough to compare.  A set speed can't be met unless both Marlin and the slicer are configured for it or the slowest setting will dominate.  Set speeds may not be realized if the slicer is configured for print thermal management that slows things down to maintain a minimum layer time. Even when high print speeds are observed in a viewer like gcode.ws, they may not be realized if a lot of the printed movement is spent in acceleration and deceleration.  So, without knowing the overall context, hearing about someone's print speed may not mean much. 

Being a month in, you're likely still fascinated by the printing process.  Nothing wrong with that. I got to the point where printing started to get kind of boring, and I began wondering whether prints had to be going as slow as they were.

----------


## sniffle

> Printing speeds are also pretty tough to compare.  A set speed can't be met unless both Marlin and the slicer are configured for it or the slowest setting will dominate.  Set speeds may not be realized if the slicer is configured for print thermal management that slows things down to maintain a minimum layer time. Even when high print speeds are observed in a viewer like gcode.ws, they may not be realized if a lot of the printed movement is spent in acceleration and deceleration.  So, without knowing the overall context, hearing about someone's print speed may not mean much. 
> 
> Being a month in, you're likely still fascinated by the printing process.  Nothing wrong with that. I got to the point where printing started to get kind of boring, and I began wondering whether prints had to be going as slow as they were.



yeah i'm still in the honeymoon stage :-P

but as an example i just printed the kossel platterx3.stl in 6hrs 15 min.  which is pretty decent

----------


## AbuMaia

I have to replace my Z threaded rods too. The one on the RAMPS side is worn out from ABL raising and lowering over the same area repeatedly. It's so bad I can't print anymore, that Z nut keeps slipping down over the worn area. Thanks guys for the Grainger part numbers, that made it easier to find replacements. 

 edit: Though it occurs to me now after I've placed the order, that I could just flip the rods over so that the worn area is higher up, where it won't interfere with shorter prints. >_

----------


## printbus

*POWER MODIFICATIONS*
These changes wouldn't be for everyone, but I wanted to modify how power is handled on my i3v printer:

Provide capacity for 5V loads beyond what USB and the MEGA2560 on-board regulator can supportAdd a distribution scheme for 5V power other than connecting loads to RAMPSBe able to power up logic (MEGA2560 and LCD) without any fan noise being presentTake advantage of Marlin provisions of power on/power off via LCD control or gcodeTake advantage of Marlin provision for turning on extruder fan above a set extruder temperatureTake advantage of Marlin provision for turning on RAMPS cooling fan when motors are being used 

Use of an ATX power supply with a 5V standby output would have solved some of these expectations, but I didn't have a spare one that I wanted to use. I also preferred to keep the integrated feel of the MeanWell mounted on the i3v frame, so I came up with ways to adapt the MeanWell power supply to what I wanted.   To provide a 5V source, I used a 5V 3A wall adapter that I had available. Yes, this will now require two power cords plugged into an AC outlet.  I left the +5 connection disabled in my USB cable so that the MEGA2560 and LCD aren't powered by the USB connection.  

I added a Tinkerkit T010010 Relay Module inline with the AC source for the MeanWell power supply. This relay is controlled by the PS_ON signal on RAMPS.  The custom case I created for the Tinkerkit Relay Module is available at http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:643351



A MOSFET breakout board module switch relay (15A, 60V) 3-outputs for  Arduino/PIC module from eBay was added to expand the 12V switching capacity of RAMPS.  Inputs to the switch board are currently connected to D4, D5 and D6 on the RAMPS Servos connector, but I can repin connectors as needed in the future for AUX-1 or AUX-2 connections instead.  The custom spacer developed for the MOSFET module is available at http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1872958.

A custom breadboard was made to provide the necessary 12V and 5V connections and fanout.  White SMD LEDs were used as power indicators, and I added a USB Type A connector for possible future use.   I took advantage of building a custom breadboard and added both low frequency and high frequency decoupling capacitors to the board.  



Marlin firmware changes associated with the wiring modifications include:
Verified file pins.h has PS_ON defined as Arduino pin 12In file configuration.h, changed the definition of POWER_SUPPLY from type 1 to type 2 for an active-high power-on control and uncommented PS_DEFAULT_OFF so the 12V power supply starts in the off stateIn file configuration_adv.h, defined EXTRUDER_AUTO_FAN_PIN to Arduino pin 4 and set EXTRUDER_AUTO_FAN_TEMPERATURE to 35 so extruder fan is on any time the extruder reads over 35 degrees CIn file configuration_adv.h, defined CONTROLLERFAN_PIN to Arduino pin 5In file ultralcd.cpp, rearranged the prepare menu so power control is at the top of the menu 

I already don't like how the 12V power supply is shut off when host software connects to the printer and resets the MEGA2560.  If I continue to find that unacceptably annoying, I'll add a diode-OR means of using another panel switch to force the 12V supply to stay on when I want it to. It would help if the folks at Simplify3D would have included a power control button in their machine control interface. I can consider migrating to a fabricated circuit board after resolving this and any other changes I want to make. The circuit board would likely include the MOSFET switches.

Marlin provides a speed setting for both the extruder fan and the RAMPS cooling fan. I was hoping to use those speed settings as a way to reduce fan noise, but found the PWM whine from anything other than full speed to be unacceptable.  I'll have to look into how the high frequency PWM on the print cooling fan output is set up to see if I can replicate that on these fan outputs. 

Here's an informally drawn schematic of the wiring changes -

----------


## RobH2

Nice work. Hmmm, now you have me thinking about modding again.

----------


## Msmnick

This is a wonderful read for me, I've looked at a number of printers, and I'm intrigued by the prusa I3v line, I'm pretty well set on a 10/12" model.  At this point, I haven't ruled out more expensive printers, but like the idea of building it myself to get a feel for the printer, as well as its community base.

I've been considering adding a few components to the assembly out of the box so I can do it on first assembly rather than later, though indubitably I will have to do this in the future, anyway.  I was considering the kysan motors as one such addition.  Do you have any recommendations on parts to add to the initial build either due to increased quality, or difficulty in adding them at a later time?

I've already got an area set aside, and plan on making an enclosure and filament storage container for the printer.

----------


## usarmyaircav

Msmnick, check out this thread, some of the same questions about upgrades have been posted and answered .  http://3dprintboard.com/showthread.p...rinter-Ordered.

Where in MN are you?  I just moved to OK this summer from the cites.

----------


## RobH2

> Do you have any recommendations on parts to add to the initial build either due to increased quality, or difficulty in adding them at a later time?
> 
> I've already got an area set aside, and plan on making an enclosure and filament storage container for the printer.


Glad these threads are helping. You might also want to have a look at this thread I started a few months ago:

http://3dprintboard.com/showthread.p...Show-your-MODS

----------


## printbus

> Msmnick, check out this thread, some of the same questions about upgrades have been posted and answered .  http://3dprintboard.com/showthread.p...rinter-Ordered.


Thanks for jumping in, Todd.  Thanks to Rob as well for the response that came in while I was editing. 




> This is a wonderful read for me, I've looked at a number of printers, and I'm intrigued by the prusa I3v line, I'm pretty well set on a 10/12" model.  At this point, I haven't ruled out more expensive printers, but like the idea of building it myself to get a feel for the printer, as well as its community base.


Thanks for the feedback.  I don't regret my MakerFarm choice a bit.  It's a great way to go, especially as a learning experience. The community here is top notch. Along with superb customer support from MakerFarm, the level of support is hard to beat. 




> I've been considering adding a few components to the assembly out of the box so I can do it on first assembly rather than later, though indubitably I will have to do this in the future, anyway.  I was considering the kysan motors as one such addition.  Do you have any recommendations on parts to add to the initial build either due to increased quality, or difficulty in adding them at a later time?


 Msmnick, I tend to avoid that question. Not everyone has the  same expectations for their printer or print results.  Everyone has a  different level of fortitude, time and budget they're willing to throw at their 3D  printer.  I also think it can be beneficial to start with the basics and  enhance the printer as experience grows or as issues come up.   If you were building the 8-inch, I'd highly suggest doing something different for the lacking Z-endstop switch mount - I'll offer that much.  Feel free to PM me or visit with whoever is around on the Makerfarm IRC chat if you want to discuss thoughts on specific mods.  

On the Kysans, I can't say that they are a value added benefit on the newer kits.  Older kits shipped with a different motor that didn't really fit the 12V printer application very well, with an issue that they ran extremely hot.  That's the main reason why mine were replaced.  Newer kits ship with more appropriate motors that don't run hot.

----------


## Msmnick

Well, that's info worth knowing.  Thank you.  I didn't know they changed the motor offering, though one can see why if they were having heat issues.  I'll find out if the Z-endstop is built similar to yours on the model I select.  Noted the addition of a screw adjustable endstop as a mentioned solution, seems like an easy way to avoid that hassle.  I will look at the kysans again with what comes with my model and likely scratch them off the list.  Like most people here, I have some fabrication/mechanics/electronics/engineering background, I was an electronics tech in the Navy, go to school for Mechanical Engineering, and work as a mechanic.  The 3d print/cad stuff is a hobby currently, so budget is mediocre.  I was considering a few nice models 2-3x the cost of this, fully assembled/fully enclosed, but the experience of these models has me intrigued, and I don't see the others offering better specs, better support, more/cheaper filament, etc.  

I'm in the Moorhead area, I venture out the the Twin cities from time to time.  Currently traveling south to avoid February in Minnesota.

----------


## printbus

> Well, that's info worth knowing.  Thank you.  I didn't know they changed the motor offering, though one can see why if they were having heat issues.  I'll find out if the Z-endstop is built similar to yours on the model I select.  Noted the addition of a screw adjustable endstop as a mentioned solution, seems like an easy way to avoid that hassle.  I will look at the kysans again with what comes with my model and likely scratch them off the list.  Like most people here, I have some fabrication/mechanics/electronics/engineering background, I was an electronics tech in the Navy, go to school for Mechanical Engineering, and work as a mechanic.  The 3d print/cad stuff is a hobby currently, so budget is mediocre.  I was considering a few nice models 2-3x the cost of this, fully assembled/fully enclosed, but the experience of these models has me intrigued, and I don't see the others offering better specs, better support, more/cheaper filament, etc.


With a budget constraint, I'd definitely hold off on the Kysans.  The concern on the Z endstop bracket should only be on the 8-inch kits.  MakerFarm migrated to an improved Z-endstop bracket that uses a screw adjustment for the 12-inch printers, and I've heard they're now shipping the 10-inch printer with that improved bracket as well.

----------


## RobH2

I'm working on a modification for the VSlot version but don't own that printer. I need to know a measurement and if one of you get a chance I'd like to know the head diameter of the 1) round head hex on the left. And 2) the diameter of the hex nut (the long dimension, not the short one) and the diameter of the flat washer. Also, I'd like to know how far each sticks out off of the surface.

----------


## printbus

> I'm working on a modification for the VSlot version but don't own that printer. I need to know a measurement and if one of you get a chance I'd like to know the head diameter of the 1) round head hex on the left. And 2) the diameter of the hex nut (the long dimension, not the short one) and the diameter of the flat washer. Also, I'd like to know how far each sticks out off of the surface.


Dimensions for standard M5 hardware would apply.  The round hex head are called button head; the nut is a nylon locknut.  The washer is a fender washer that I added on my own.  I would recommend looking up specifications for M5 hardware, but I measure as follows (based on sample of one piece only):

Button head: 9.23mm diameter, 2.75mm head height
Nyloc nut: 7.88mm flat-to-flat, 8.75mm diagonal point-to-point, 4.78mm height
Fender washer: 14.72mm diameter, 1.09mm thickness

----------


## beerdart

McMaster provides 2d and 3d drawings of almost all there fasteners. 
http://www.mcmaster.com/#94500a231/=vrolwa

----------


## RobH2

Thanks guys. I really appreciate it. 

Yes, McMaster is good for that but if you don't know what size they are to start with those tables don't help much. I was going to try to interpolate the sizes because I know how thick the wood is. But, I thought it might be faster to ask one of you guys and see if anyone minded measuring for me. Thanks a lot for the fast measurements. Exactly what I need...

----------


## aaaa

Hey I just wanted to mention the i3v printers are being shipped with updated micro adjustable z endstops now. The build guides have been updated as well to reflect it.

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## printbus

> Hey I just wanted to mention the i3v printers are being shipped with updated micro adjustable z endstops now. The build guides have been updated as well to reflect it.


That's good news. The 8-inch printer must have been the last to get the update.  There's at least one person who built his i3v-8 within the last couple of weeks and it still had the original style.

----------


## aaaa

> That's good news. The 8-inch printer must have been the last to get the update.  There's at least one person who built his i3v-8 within the last couple of weeks and it still had the original style.


My 8" was shipped in late November early December and it had the updated endstop/X-idler. My frame doesn't have all the fancy writing on it though. Would have been great of Colin to update the build guide before I sliced my Z-endstop bracket!!!! Oh well.

----------


## printbus

*NEW APPROACH FOR THE HEXAGON HOT END SHROUD
*Finally came up with my own shroud design for the hexagon hot end that should do a better cooling job than the stock shroud, and shouldn't have a tendency to melt and drip onto the print bed or a print.  See http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:693913  for STL files.  Two styles are provided - both use a 25mm fan like the 3CFM Sunon MAGlev MC25101V2-000U-A99 fan.  One style mounts the fan flush to the shroud, and the other style angles the fan exhaust upwards by 10 degrees to clear the heated bed area.

----------


## Cameron

This looks very interesting. I am going to take a look at how this could work with my current setup. (wanting to add a PLA cooling fan as well so will see how that can integrate with my plans for that.)

Thanks!

----------


## printbus

> This looks very interesting. I am going to take a look at how this could work with my current setup. (wanting to add a PLA cooling fan as well so will see how that can integrate with my plans for that.)


Like the stock 40mm fan, this won't work with the clough42 print cooler system, if that's what you're thinking of using.  With the stock fan, you couldn't really even try to use the clough42 cooler since the cooler would block the top of the hot end fan.  That's not a negative for the clough42 cooler - it wasn't intended to be used with the stock hot end fan.  With this hot end shroud and fan, the clough42 print cooler could at least be adapted to mount on top of the flat plate for this shroud.  As a minimum, you'd have to modify the mount for the clough42 cooler so that the hinge joint is farther away from the extruder base.  It may also be desirable to extend the print cooling shroud the same amount to maintain the same distance from the nozzle.  

In my case, I didn't track down one of the fans clough42 recommended for use with his print cooling shroud, and found the backpressure from the narrow outlet shroud resulted in little cooling airflow with the fans I had on hand.  I then migrated to the side-mounted blower, which IMO is a more effective and also lighter approach to a print cooler.  I have a few other ideas related to the print cooler that I haven't gotten around to yet.

----------


## Cameron

Yeah I am not sure what way I want to go.... I need to see what fans I have lying around.....
I don't have a clough42 sized fan either.
I also want to have some lights installed to see the hot end better. Might have to come up with my own weird design.
I do like your side print cooler.

----------


## pgx3s

Hi all

A few weeks ago I made a word doc with the infos of Printbus.

Saddly I deleted the digital file. But here is a rough scan of it:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/h55wdbg6gx...Build.pdf?dl=0

I hope that is ok for you Printbus?!?

BR
PGX3S

----------


## printbus

> A few weeks ago I made a word doc with the infos of Printbus. Saddly I deleted the digital file. But here is a rough scan of it:
> 
> https://www.dropbox.com/s/h55wdbg6gx...Build.pdf?dl=0
> 
> I hope that is ok for you Printbus?!?


Too bad you deleted the Word file.  This is actually a good thing, since 3DPrintBoard is currently having technical issues and many of the images are no longer viewable in the thread.

----------


## AbuMaia

> 3DPrintBoard is currently having technical issues and many of the images are no longer viewable in the thread.


  Do you not have the images still on your computer?

----------


## printbus

> Do you not have the images still on your computer?


I do, but I'm waiting on responses from 3dprintboard regarding their plans to correct the issue before I try to restore the images or salvage what I can from 3dprintboard and move it somewhere more reliable. (hint, hint, 3dprintboard)

----------


## voodoo28

I've noticed that the regulars around here have not been as active in the posts as in the past...

----------


## AbuMaia

As an owner of an 8 inch i3v, I pass by the posts regarding the larger printers, which more and more people are using these days. They're outside my experience, as are the RAMBO and RUMBA board posts.

----------


## printbus

> As an owner of an 8 inch i3v, I pass by the posts regarding the larger printers, which more and more people are using these days. They're outside my experience, as are the RAMBO and RUMBA board posts.


Yeah, I've raised that point before.  Add to the list variations in LCD screen and the fact that MakerFarm has (rightfully so) incorporated some design improvements along the way, and it's definitely tougher to help out these days.  It used to be that we had a fairly close-knit group of people with identical printers, solving identical issues, incorporating identical mods, etc.  Now we have all sorts of variations in the mix, and many OPs don't seem to realize the need to provide basic configuration insight in their question or issue thread.    




> I've noticed that the regulars around here have not been as active in the posts as in the past...


Speaking for me personally, I simply grew weary of days entirely spent helping others via PM, IRC, and forum threads while my own printer sat with the power off and my 3D design skills remained lacking.  I'm now more selective in where I apply my time.

----------


## voodoo28

Printbus, I hear you....but let me be the first to tell you that even though we have different setups... Your build log is the holy grail for these machines, And for that i thank you! The machines may differ in hardware but the building techniques and mods that you incorporated follow through to most of our setups.

----------


## sniffle

I've been neck deep in designing things myself... I am still waiting to see a rendering of that one thing you are working on....

----------


## pgx3s

> Printbus, I hear you....but let me be the first to tell you that even though we have different setups... Your build log is the holy grail for these machines, And for that i thank you! The machines may differ in hardware but the building techniques and mods that you incorporated follow through to most of our setups.



I scond that!!!

----------


## printbus

> I am still waiting to see a rendering of that one thing you are working on....


Keep an eye on my Thingiverse designs page.  Just yesterday I started publishing some of the lesser efforts.  I'm finally close to revamping the i3v with everything I've been throwing into the mods box for the last several months, and the more significant Thingiverse designs will be published after that.   I haven't decided whether I'll document the revamp efforts here.

----------


## printbus

pgx3s, thanks for providing the PDF capture of the build thread. It was instrumental in figuring out how to restore missing images throughout the thread.  All images should now be viewable again. 

---------------------
*SMOOTHIEBOARD AND OTHER UPGRADES*

I don't plan to provide my usual level of detail, but I've subjected my i3v to a pretty substantial revamp.  Here's a summary, with links to the applicable Thingiverse components.


Improved X/Y belt idler pulley:http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:790138New approach for attaching X-belt to the X-carriage: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:790207New approach for attaching Y-belt to the Y-bed: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:796250Cover with power switch for the MeanWell power supply: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:798560Revamped suite of Greg's Wade extruder and 9/47 herringbone gears: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:812899Migrated to Smoothieboard electronics and Smoothieware firmware: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:816676Migrated to Full Graphic LCD: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:817274.   Unbelievably, I had saved all the wood scraps from the original build, so I had the punch-out piece to stick in the top frame plate hole where the 20x4 LCD used to mount. 

I also simultaneously migrated to the e3dv6 hot end and the new adjustable hobbed bolt from e3d.  The above Greg's Wade extruder has been tailored for the nature of the shallow cut in the e3d hobbed bolt and for the PTFE liner on the 1.75mm filament feed in the e3dv6 1.75mm universal hot end.  An additional thermistor hole was added on the opposite side of the e3dv6 aluminum block to keep all wiring on the right-hand side of the hot end.  Since it worked well on my original build, Permatex Muffler Sealer was used again to bond the thermistor to the aluminum block. Instead of the provided thermistor, I'm using a US Sensor part number GP104L8F as what I think will be a better thermistor, although I've found it is extremely small and delicate.  I broke one, so I'm running the thermistor that came with the e3d hot end on the heat bed.  I'm using a 16mm heater cartridge instead of the 20mm one received with the e3dv6 so that I can continue to insulate the aluminum block with a couple layers of kapton tape.

The printer was basically rewired during the revamp, with all-new silicone wiring used for anything carrying much current. To minimize any noise issues, thermistors are connected with subminiature RG178 coax, endstops are connected with twisted pair wires, and motor winding pairs were also twisted before the motor wiring was rerouted. I equipped the Smoothieboard with screw terminals for everything but the thermistor and endstop connections.  To minimize issues with stranded wire in the screw terminals, all stranded wires are terminated in a crimp pin or ferrule of some sort, giving the screw terminal something solid to bite into rather than the loose strands.  

Unpublished at this time, I'm also using a custom fan shroud on the e3dv6. I reverse the airflow from that recommended by e3d so that the shroud fan pulls hot air off the e3dv6 heatsink and exhausts it with an upward angle that helps keep it of the print bed.

----------


## voodoo28

Looks good printbus...can you share your lcd mount?

----------


## BLKKROW

Thank you for the update! I may update my printer with some of your updates.

----------


## printbus

> Looks good printbus...can you share your lcd mount?


The LCD mount is part of the GLCD frame, the last item in the bullet list.  http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:817274

----------


## TopJimmyCooks

Really like what you've done.  I copied a lot of your wire management moves a while back.  I'm curious about what drove the desire to upgrade from ramps to smoothieboard?

----------


## printbus

> Really like what you've done.  I copied a lot of your wire management moves a while back.  I'm curious about what drove the desire to upgrade from ramps to smoothieboard?


One, I started looking at the mess I had on the electronics side of the printer and figured there had to be a simpler way.  The Arduino/RAMPS/stepper driver stackup, the heat bed relay, a triple MOSFET switch board added to provide more switch controls than RAMPS offers, a 5v/12v fanout board to deal with the extra power distribution, and all the wiring in-between.  Two, I spent several days putting together a cross reference showing the mapping flow from MEGA2560 processor pins to the Arduino 2560 schematic, the Arduino 2560 board (which is marked different in some ways than the schematic), the RAMPs schematic, and the RAMPS board (which is also labeled different from the schematic), and simply concluded the almost incoherent mapping was nuts.   Three, then there's the nibble data transfers with the LCD that would get out of sync and garble up my display data far too often... 

Four, in general, I think Marlin has seen it's day.  I've never had much of anything good to say about Arduino base Marlin is built on except it's great for kids building simple school projects.  Having been around a long time, Marlin has underwent countless mods.  Some of these have been made by people who understand programming microcontrollers, but many were not.  The lack of consistent coding style is frustrating in trying to review Marlin code.  Marlin is just getting more and more complex as far as  processing needs, and if the MEGA2560 processor isn't up against it's  bandwidth limit, it will be soon.  The latter drove me to a 32-bit  processor solution, not just an integrated board solution like RAMBO or  RUMBA, and I wanted to jump to a fresh start of a firmware baseline, perhaps better designed from the ground up for what it is doing.  And perhaps a firmware baseline subjected to more revision scrutiny than Marlin.  

So why Smoothieboard and not some other 32-bit solution?  I admit I could have or should have probably done more research on that.  Sure there are other 32-bit options either in the pipeline or already on the table.  I guess I'd say with Smoothieboard I'm using a product with around two years of legacy behind it now.  I'm not sure how many other 32-bit solutions can say that.  Firmware is still arguably a bit weak, but the basic functionality for our type of 3D printer is there.  I've seen a few reliability quirks, but I'm still early in the game with it.  It's also too soon to say whether I see any substantial difference in the printing process or in print quality from the tweaked Marlin baseline I was running, but those weren't significant factors in wanting to switch.

----------


## printbus

For any thread followers that have contemplated using the edge-mounted Delta BFB0512VHD-SP01 blower for a print cooler as I did in post *EXTRUDER REBUILD AND NEW PRINT COOLER (Part 2 of 2)*, note that the blower is now obsolete.  If a blower is needed, order one soon from available stock currently remaining at Digikey.  I am not aware of a suitable replacement once that supply is gone.

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## David Carter

printbus - thanks for posting all of the great information. I'm finishing building a 10" i3v, and have included a smoothieboard from the start. Can you share your smoothieware config settings? I have the basic machine config items (pins, steps, etc.) worked out, but would appreciate your experience with speeds, accelerations, etc. I have also reviewed your detailed thread on marlin configuration, so I'm aware of what you've learned & documented there. I'm not 100% clear on mapping that over to the smoothie config. 

Thanks again, this is such a great resource you have provided.

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## printbus

> Can you share your smoothieware config settings?


This is the config file I'm currently using with the April 27 2015 Smoothieware build - https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/...525_config.txt

Changes I've made from the distribution config.txt file are annotated with comments that include initials KJB and a date code consisting of YYMMDD.  IIRC, I started with the same feedrates I had been using in Marlin, and left jerk/acceleration at the Smoothieware defaults.  I've been pretty happy with things as they are, and have been busy on a lot of stuff unrelated to 3D printing.  So,  I haven't undertaken the effort to push the Smoothieware settings much. 

I like the Smoothieboard solution, but I do have to watch out for two problems that occur fairly randomly.  I have the hot end fan controlled so that it runs only when the hot end is above room temperature.  For some reason the fan isn't turned on about one out of every 4th or 5th print and I'll have to reset the printer and try again.  I've also had issues with the printer locking up mid-print.   The latter may be a USB communication error with Simplify3D, but it occurs infrequent enough that I haven't done anything about it other than log when it occurs. After a year with Marlin I had no qualms letting it run for hours unattended.  Due to the occasional lock up, I try to stick in the area now when the printer is running.

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## David Carter

Thanks! This is very helpful. 

I have my hotend fan wired directly to the power supply, so the temp-controlled fan issue you mention should not be a problem for me. 

Interesting to see that we both chose the same route to connect the second z motor, slaving epsilon to gamma. At some point I'm planning to add a second extruder, so will need to add an external stepper driver at that time.

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## printbus

Yeah, that was my idea too. Use the fifth driver for the second z motor, and if I ever migrate to a second extruder, I'll find a way to gang the two z motors in parallel.

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## tfast500

Hello and thank you for this very detailed build thread! Will be very useful to me for my new MakersFarm prusa i3v 10" kit. I am curious how much this will pertain to the newer and bigger kit. I'm not sure if there is any difference other than size? I am debating to paint mine I'm wondering if I should mess with it I usually feel like a kid on Christmas day when I receive something new and rush to put everything together... Going to refrain from that as much as possible as this is my first printer and I'm a complete newb. I am curious how you like simplify3d I see you have it listed in your sig. I am debating to just get this and use it right out of the gate with this new printer. Also I'm from Fort Morgan CO glad to see a fellow Colorado member right off the bat!

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## RobH2

Glad you are diving in tfast500. First of all the MakerFarm is a great printer. I'm able to print some amazing parts and assemblies with mine. I've had it almost two years and it is as stable and sound as ever.

I started out using all of the free slicers I could find. They all have unique capabilities here and there that give each one of them merit. Kisslicer gave me one of the cleanest prints I've ever gotten. Meshmixer has an interesting support system. Pronterface has a nice interface and has lots of good control settings. Skeinforge it the worst god awful interface you'll ever see but is one of the most complete set of controls you'll find. It's very, very confusing and difficult to wrap your head around at first but if you are dedicated, it can do almost anything. Cura became my favorite for a long time but it lacked a number of controls that I liked in other slicers.

I just kept wishing I could get all of those slicers and combine them. Well, someone did. Simplify 3d. Yes, it costs something but usually things that "cost" outperform things that are free. That's common sense. Sure, you can print all day long using free slicers and be happy. But, if you print all day long, that means you are probably trying to make some money with your printer. And if you are trying to make money with your printer, a small investment (about the cost of 4 rolls of filament) S3D will make your like much more pleasant. It's worth every penny. Sure, they don't have a demo, but the developers are really nice people. If you buy it and have issues they will work with you to figure it out. I've talked to them a couple of times and they quickly ironed out my "user error" issues. They also told me that if they worked with me and could not get it to perform the way I needed it to or expected it to, they'd refund my money for the purchase. I never came close to asking for a refund. You can't get any better support than that. Next to Colin at Makerfarm, I've rarely seen as good of a support team. 

There are a lot of people here who will agree with me that if you go with S3D you'll be so glad and you'll never look back. But don't just take my word for it. Sometimes the best way to appreciate something is to have experienced something else for a bit so you are able to compare. I might suggest that you play with and use the free programs for a few months, test them, get used to them, be frustrated by them. Then, get S3D and you'll see why it's so good. You'll see how it outshines the free slicers. If you never use the free slicers you'll have no way to make that comparison. But, be assured, if you skip the free slicer experience and go for S3D, you can rest assured you did the right thing and eliminated a whole lot of initial frustration. 

Good to see you here as a newbie. Soon you won't be a newbie. There are some really, really talented people here who range from students printing phone cases at home to commercial printing houses, all who weigh in with fantastic advice and expertise. I'd encourage you to search this forum to solve your issues. Many of the newbie questions have been thoroughly answered. The "search" algorithm in this forum is pretty bad and it's sometimes hard to find things, but if you can't find answers, ask. Someone will help you.

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## tfast500

BobH2, thank you for great response. Although I normally would go the open source and free route, I think on this one I am going to jump the gun and go all out. After reading your response, I am convinced that it would better suit me. I would rather spend more money and make my first 3d experience as smooth as possible. Also would rather tinker with the printer and not worry as to what slicer works. All in all you pretty much convinced me to take the plunge and I think it is going to be worth it.after watching YouTube videos I definitely like seeing the model and the preview of it doing the prints. Pretty excited for my printer haha I can barely wait!

----------


## printbus

> Hello and thank you for this very detailed build thread! Will be very useful to me for my new MakersFarm prusa i3v 10" kit.


Thanks.  There certainly are other build threads.  At the time of my build, person after person seemed to raise the same questions and issues regarding their printer. There only was one i3v model at the time, so all of us had the same size printer with the same display and the same electronics.  The only option was with the hot end.  This left it easier than it is today to understand issues and share lessons learned.  The main reason I started putting together the build thread was to have a reference to point to when someone had a question on their (identical) printer.  With today's range of printer sizes and options, I'm not sure I'd do it again.  




> ... I am curious how much this will pertain to the newer and bigger  kit. I'm not sure if there is any difference other than size?


The degree of applicability will vary. First, note that MakerFarm has improved the detail and quality of the build guides considerably from that of the 8-inch i3v as of April 2014 when I started the thread.  That alone eliminates the need for some of the detail included in my build thread.  Some of the gripes we had about the i3v in 2014 (like the frustrating approach to setting Z-axis bed clearance) have been resolved through changes MakerFarm has made to the design.  This eliminates the need for more of the build thread detail.  To a major extent, the 8, 10, and 12 inch printers are just scaled versions of each other, so when something applies to one size printer it generally applies to the others as well.  Printer differences mostly surface in the options for electronics and display.    Even with those options, the printer will function the same but will need to be built/wired a bit differently.  

What reading any build thread will show you is that there likely WILL be things you'll have to figure out.  There likely WILL be things about your prints that you won't understand.  You likely WILL realize there's a lot more to 3D printing than you thought, and that there WILL be a lot you'll have to learn.  




> ...I am  debating to paint mine I'm wondering if I should mess with it I usually  feel like a kid on Christmas day when I receive something new and rush  to put everything together... Going to refrain from that as much as  possible as this is my first printer and I'm a complete newb.


There have been multiple discussions over these points.  First, note that in the warranty, I believe MakerFarm now excludes coverage if the printer has been painted.  I'd probably still paint mine and risk the warranty coverage since I prefer the painted look.  Especially for the larger printers, the wood plate for the Y-bed has a history of warping problems; I have suggested a few users leave that plate unpainted in case warpage replacement is needed under warranty.  The y-bed plate is mostly hidden from view anyway.  

Some prefer to rush through a build and get the printer working, perhaps backtracking to dress up the build later.  I was in the other extreme that did a very drawn out build, trying to optimize things as I went.  There are advantages and disadvantages to both extremes, and nothing wrong with striving for something in-between.  For what it is worth, there's a lot of wiring involved in the printer.  Deciding on how much time and effort you put into dressing up the wiring is a big driver in how "finished" the printer will look when you are done.  Again, there have been some that just get the printer working with haphazard wiring, and then go back and clean things up later.  




> ...I am  curious how you like simplify3d I see you have it listed in your sig. I  am debating to just get this and use it right out of the gate with this  new printer...


I only have a few points to add beyond what RobH2 already said.  I transitioned through slic3r, Cura, the Repetier Host & Cura combination, and then Simplify3D.  I moved away from Slic3r mainly because I grew frustrated with having to try figuring out what worked and what didn't work in each new release, often reverting back to an older version after a while.  Standalone Cura provided great printing results, but I found the structure of the user interface frustrating.  For the longest while, the combination of Repetier Host using Cura Engine as the integrated slicer was superb.  I especially liked how I could do EVERYTHING I wanted to from within Repetier Host, with the same print quality results from Cura, in a user interface structure I found made sense.  As most people do, I eventually grew to the point where I wanted more slicing control than possible with Cura.  For example, I wanted to print infill as fast as I could where quality was hidden, while striving for good top/bottom solid layer quality by printing them slower.  Cura doesn't (or at least didn't at the time) have speed settings that differentiated infill vs. exposed solid layers.  I like the print results I get with Simplify3D, but I have to admit that I do miss a number of printer control features I grew used to in Repetier Host.  Yes, I could slice in Simplify3D and print from Repetier Host, but come on...

Do understand that the slicing process includes somewhere over 100 settings regarding your printer, your filament, and what you are trying to accomplish in a print.  Whether starting from the MakerFarm suggestion of slic3r or a slicer like Simplify3D, try to find existing configuration files or setup details that will hopefully give you a chance at reasonable results on initial attempts without the frustration of learning or guessing at every one of those settings up front. Expect to to research and experiment with the settings as you work to improve your prints.  With time, you'll learn which of those are set-once-and-forget vs the few that have to be tweaked nearly every print.




> Pretty excited for my printer haha I can barely wait!


3D printing turns out to be too frustrating for some and fascinating for others.  If you're expecting injection-molded print quality from a plug-and-play printer, leave the box closed when you receive it and resell it.  If your degree of handiness involves only a pair of pliers and you're not sure where even those are, also leave the box closed and resell it.  I was and continue to be in the other extreme.  For me, it provides a fascinating combination of electronics, mechanics, materials science, microcontrollers, and firmware programming that can be hard to beat, at a fairly reasonable cost compared to what some other hobbies or interests could run.  

-------

Welcome to the MakerFarm community, and enjoy your build. The thread traffic in the MakerFarm subforum is a fraction of what it used to be. When you get your kit, start a build thread and let us know how you're doing, posting any questions you run into there.

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## tfast500

> MakerFarm has improved the detail and quality of the build guides considerably from that of the 8-inch i3v as of April 2014 when I started the thread.  That alone eliminates the need for some of the detail included in my build thread.  Some of the gripes we had about the i3v in 2014 (like the frustrating approach to setting Z-axis bed clearance) have been resolved through changes MakerFarm has made to the design.  This eliminates some more of the need for build thread detail..


I am happy to hear that some of these things  wont be an issue for me with this new build.




> What reading any build thread will show you is that there likely WILL be things you'll have to figure out.  There likely WILL be things about your prints that you won't understand.  You likely WILL realize there's a lot more to 3D printing than you thought, and that there WILL be a lot you'll have to learn.


I totally get that. I am sure I will have so much to learn maybe even more then some newbies, but I am both eager and excited to do so. I am confident this will be a challenge I can take on and defeat.




> Some prefer to rush through a build and see the printer working, perhaps backtracking to dress up the build later.


I am thinking ill probably be one of those people haha




> Do understand that the slicing process includes somewhere over 100 settings regarding your printer, your filament, and what you are trying to accomplish in a print.  Whether starting from the MakerFarm suggestion of slic3r or a slicer like Simplify3D, try to find existing configuration files or setup details that will hopefully give you a chance at reasonable results on initial attempts without the frustration of learning or guessing at all those settings up front.  Plan to research and experiment with the settings.  With time, you'll learn which of those are set-once-and-forget vs the few that have to be tweaked nearly every print.


This seems tedious hopefully its not too bad. I went ahead and purchased the Simplify3d software. I hope this eliminates wasted time trying to learn the many other slicers. It was a bit steep for me to spend that much on something I was ultimately clueless about but from what I have seen and read about it. It is truly the way to go. I have played with it and it seems great so far.




> 3D printing turns out to be too frustrating for some and fascinating for others.  If you're expecting injection-molded print quality from a plug-and-play printer, leave the box closed when you receive it and resell it.  If your degree of handiness involves only a pair of pliers and you're not sure where even those are, leave the box closed and resell it.  I was and continue to be in the other extreme.  For me, it provides a fascinating combination of electronics, mechanics, materials science, microcontrollers, and firmware programming that can be hard to beat, at a comparably effective cost as opposed to some other hobbies or interests.


I am very confident I have the skills to complete and enjoy this printer. I do come in to this understanding this will not be something to just plug in and use. I understand this takes a whole lot of tinkering. How much of that is required I do not know, but if you knew my life style and hobbies you would know I love to tinker!

IMG_20150923_191705125_1.jpg

I do worry that I may be let down by the quality of prints that this and all other consumer grade 3d printers are capable of. I have looked online and have seen some pretty horrible stuff produced but have also seen some pretty great stuff which leaves me at some pretty high expectations. I am not sure how great these prints are in person as I have not actually seen anything in person that has been printed from a 3dprinter. I am pretty sheltered when it comes to this technology. You can imagine the small town I am from that I am very new to the 3d printing world.


-------



> Welcome to the MakerFarm community, and enjoy your build. The thread traffic in the MakerFarm subforum is a fraction of what it used to be. When you get your kit, start a build thread and let us know how you're doing, posting any questions you run into there.


Thanks for the warm welcome I do plan to use this forum as a huge resource. I hope I don't ask to many newbish questions but i do know how to use the search function so i should be ok for the most part  :Smile:

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## uncle_bob

Hi

Just to tag this into the "encyclopedia" ..... it's a great thread for anybody playing with an i3v. 

The issue with the "old hot motors" was aggravated by the recommended settings being to high current. I pointed that out 3 years ago, it's still true today. 

These printers slave two Z motors to one controller. That limits you to 1/2 the current rating of the controller on the Z axis. Most of the standard controller plugins max out at 2A. If you buy 2A motors you will only be able to run them at "half power" on the Z axis. With 1.5A motors you will get to 2/3 power. All that assumes you carefully adjust the trim pots on the controllers when you swap out the motors. My *guess* is that roughly 99% of the i3's out there (with slaved Z motors) are running half current on the Z relative to the X and Y. 

All that said, yes, the old motors do get hot. Having plywood all around them or a heated bed over them ... they get warm.  

Some Z axis math (not in my older post):

Most of time the Z does not move. It's just a load resistor. P = I^2 * R. Cut the current equally between two steppers and you cut the heat going into them by a factor of 4. Yes, they still get a bit warm. If you take a look at torque curves ... that drops off by quite a bit as current drops. 

So why the "old recommendation for current" ? 

If you set the current limits all the same and to ~ 0.2V, the X and Y work. The Z fails horribly. If you set it high with those motors, the 12V limits the current as a bit over max ... it all works, but gets hot. They *are* 0.5A steppers, the right setting on the controller is the 0.5A setting. 

Yes, this is 3d printer archeology. It is mainly interesting to those with i3's that they might be upgrading to say an i3v. Unfortunately some *idiot* pointed out that the $50 rebate was still in place on the i3 -> i3v kit. It seems to now be history .... SORRY !!!!! That may make this information a bit less useful. 

Bob

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## printbus

Not much point to responding, but since the thread was reactivated...

It hasn't helped that MakerFarm typically isn't open with specifications for motors they use, or very helpful in explaining how the suggested 0.39 to 0.5V Vref stepper motor driver setting correlated to a motor current value.  People were left to figure that out for themselves. Colin's position on the old motors was that users shouldn't worry about how hot the motors got, since stepper motors are designed to run hot (typically 100 degrees C).  Unfortunately, the extruder motor in particular was troublesome since it was just a matter of print duration before the printed motor mount or the shaft-mounted small Greg's Wade extruder gear would start to soften. 

For the MakerFarm subforum here, the first news I remember regarding the 9V 0.5A specifications for the old motors was from clough42 in thread MakerFarm Prusa i3 and i3v 66 oz. in. Stepper Motor Specifications

For those older 0.5A motors, the theoretical optimal Vref adjustment on a stepper motor driver based on the Allegro A4988 chip with the typical 0.05 ohm current sense resistors is I * 0.4 or 0.2V.  So, one *might* argue that the build guides (at least older ones; I don't know of current ones still suggest the 0.39v to 0.5v setting) do have the proper value for dual Z motors on one driver, but are overdriving the single motors on X, Y and the extruder. 

However, it's arguably almost impossible to over drive those old motors with too much current. The 18 ohm (I measure about 18.5 ohms on one of my old motors) coil resistance will itself limit the current to 0.66 amps for a 12V source (12V / 18 ohms). Factor in any voltage drop in the wiring from the power supply to the electronics, voltage drop in the 5A polyfuse (RAMPS assumed), and voltage drop in the stepper motor drivers themselves and you're going to be running even closer to that 0.5A motor spec, even though the driver may actually be set to a higher current than that. 

Then there's another major limiting factor with those old motors that applies when you're actually trying to step them, not just letting them sit in holding mode.  The unusually high inductance of those motors meant they were slow to respond.  Inductance in a circuit limits the rate that current can change; a high motor inductance hinders the ability to instantaneously step the motor current to the set value.  I never attempted cranking through the math or monitoring the motor drive with an oscilloscope, but I always figured we had a real bad combination on the Z-motors, with high inductance motors and a high step frequency driven by wanting to adjust Z as fast as we could while being burdened with a ridiculously high 4000 steps per mm for the M5 threaded Z-rods and level 16 microstepping.  Here, that inductance is probably kicking in as a limitation even more than the coil DC resistance.  For all I know, the stepper driver turned off the step pulse or moved to the next step before the motor current had actually reached what it was intended to.

Until I put together gcode scripts to specifically test motor movements for the brain-busting thread Marlin Motion Related Configuration.h Settings for MakerFarm i3v, I never felt the stepper motor driver adjustments really did much.  Perhaps the adjustment was being overcome by the limitations of either the motor coil resistance or inductance.  It took those test scripts to reveal what my motor limitations were.  

I'm aware of at least three different methods for adjusting the motor current limit setting.  So far, we've been talking about setting the voltage adjustment for the motor current specification. Some argue that gives you the most torque and the best positional accuracy, especially if you run without microstepping.  But I've also seen a position from Pololu (originator of the stepper driver concept) that the voltage adjustment isn't very accurate, and a better way is to actually measure the motor current and set the trimpot as needed to obtain the desired motor current, ignoring the actual voltage.  Then there's the camp that suggests ingoring the value and just adjusting the motor currents empirically by how the printer actually works. 

While I was running Marlin and MEGA2560/RAMPS, I ended up in that latter camp. I found that adjusting the motor currents for what were actually quite low values still kept the motors from skipping, would still give me good prints, and coincidentally eliminate resonances and belt flutter that made the printer sound like a crappy toy.  I don't remember what the voltage values were on the settings, but I do remember they were quite a bit lower than what they would have normally been set to for a theoretical limit.  

When I migrated to running Smoothieware on Smoothieboard , I don't recall having the issues with resonances and belt flutter like I had with Marlin/Ramps, even with my Kysan motors driven to their limit of 1.5 amps.  None the less, I did back off the digital motor current settings to 1.0A as part of some initial futzing and I've just left them set to that for over a year now.  I also have my Smoothieboard configured to dedicate a driver for each Z motor, so I don't need to worry about the issue of shared driver current for the dual Z-motors.  As mentioned in a prior post, I can always revisit that should I want to use that 5th motor driver for another extruder.

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## uncle_bob

Hi

The practical answer is that you can indeed run with much less than maximum torque out of the motors. You can fairly quickly calculate the step rate that inductance becomes more of an issue than resistance. At that point you may be off to 24V stepper supply land. I have never seen a need to run the steppers anywhere near that fast (24V supplies) on the Makerfarm designs. Dropping to a lower voltage stepper like the ones you switched to would make it even less of an issue. 

Turns out that micro stepping really does not get you as insane with inductance as you might think. You *are* doing things faster. You are doing them at much lower current levels. Put another way, it's still a sine wave at the same base frequency. You just are defining it's phase it a bit more often. 

Bob

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## printbus

*DECEMBER 2016 STATUS UPDATE*

For those still interested in this ancient thread, I'm evaluating a mod that I'll summarize later in another post.  To keep that future post focused on the mod, here's an interim status update.  

Since May 2015, my modified MakerFarm printer has simply been there when I needed or wanted to print something. The *only* hardware mod or repair I've made since then is the installation of the new silicone insulator boot for the e3dv6 hot end.  I'm even still running the same gears on my refined version of the Greg's Wade extruder.  From a firmware perspective, I'm still running the version of Smoothieware that I first installed in April 2015.  I just haven't had a reason to search out a newer version. Every now and then I log the traffic on the Smoothie IRC channel to see what's up, but right now I lean towards leaving things alone and predictably usable as opposed to migrating to something new and possibly spending time battling new issues.  

Am I still happy with the migration to Smoothieboard?  Yeah, probably.  At the time, I wanted a hardware solution that was simpler than the RAMPS stackup and wanted to get away from the Arduino core.  Smoothieboard running smoothieware met those objectives.  I haven't had a need to tweak my Smoothieware baseline since the original migration, but having Smoothieware configuration parameters in a text file that can be updated without needing to recompile was pretty slick. Would I migrate to Smoothieboard today if I was doing it again?  That's a tough question.  There are options out there that didn't exist in early 2015, and through the work of Roxy and others, Marlin is perhaps currently reaching the tested baseline that I was looking for in 2015. 

Looking at my gcode archives, the printer has sat unused for as long as two months between uses, mainly in the summer days when I've got a lot of other time distractions.  At the other extreme I've printed several items back to back in the same day.  Prints have mostly been for things that I needed around the house or needed for one electronics project or another.  Most have been pretty small items that print in less than a couple of hours.  openSCAD is still my design tool of choice, mainly since it is the only tool I've ever used.  In a nutshell, the script language fits well with the engineering approach I tend to apply to everything I do.  That likely doesn't make openSCAD the fastest design approach.  While I've cranked out the design for some simple things I've needed in perhaps a few minutes, I've spent countless hours working through the parametric details of some complicated designs.  Only a portion of my openSCAD designs make their way to Thingiverse.  

I'm happy with purchasing Simplify3D.  I think it's been an important part of having a solid baseline that simply works when I expect it to.  Really the only issue I've had with Smoothieware on Simlify3D gcode files is an occasional freeze-up of the printer, supposedly due to infinitesimally short line segments Simplify3D was requesting of the printer that other firmware like Marlin would filter out.  Updating Simplify3D a while back seems to have fixed that problem.  It took a while, but experience has got me to the point where I can do a fair job of looking at a design and tweaking number of perimeters, infill, supports, etc. with fairly predictable print results.    

 Everything I print now is done with PLA. I futzed with ABS in my early days, but grew weary of making it stick with my open-frame i3v.  PLA fills my needs - it's as simple as that. I print hot - I can't remember the last time I printed anything with the  hot end set to less than 210 degrees C. But, I like glossy print  results, which comes with the high temp.   In my current setup, I'd say the most important factor to my print quality is the filament.  It's easy to make good filament print like crap, but tough to make poor filament print well.  Second to that it's adjusting the slicer for the actual filament diameter and applying just the right amount of print cooling airflow. 

There's only two options to my choice of a print surface.  If I'm striving for a smooth or glossy bottom finish, I'll print on a heated bed with glass sprayed with Garnier Fructis Style #5 hair spray.  If I want a matte bottom finish or have a print with a lot of bottom layer detail that could be affected by overzealous first layer squish, I'll print on a cold bed and 3M painter's tape swabbed with alcohol.   That's it.  

Still no bed leveling or bed compensation here. Having it might have saved a few minutes when switching between hairspray and painter's tape print surfaces a few times, but I simply haven't wanted to hassle with implementing a bed compensation scheme and getting it to work.  The thumbwheel screws on the four corners of my Y-bed and the bed leveling wizard in Simplify3D that moves the print head around the print bed in a square for checking the nozzle gap works fine enough for me.  It probably helps having a printer with the smaller 8-inch print bed, and I think it's arguably important that I spent a lot of time squaring/truing up the printer during my initial build and then glued most of the wood joints into a fixed alignment.  Little can likely change or drift at this point. 

What I haven't cared for is what seems like a hodge-podge approach of the bed heater that is upside down, the bed heater mount screws with heads sticking up that force use of a glass plate with the corners cut off, and some random arrangement of binder clips used to hold the print surface together.  That is the focus of my mod to be discussed after some time running with it.

----------


## printbus

*E3Dv6 SILICONE BOOT CLARIFICATIONS*

I better clarify my use of the e3d silicone boot before someone points out the boots don't fit older e3dv6 hot ends like I had installed.   

In the original e3dv6 design, wires from the hot end thermistor were held against the aluminum block with the head of a lightly tightened screw.  e3d has modified the e3dv6 to use a cartridge type thermistor that is held in place with a set screw.  The silicone boots don't fit over the screw used with the thermistor wires in the original design.  

Fortunately, I hadn't used the thermistor wire screw in my e3dv6 installation.  I wanted the thermistor wiring to exit the right side of the aluminum block, not the left side as intended by e3d. The 1% thermistor rated for 300 degrees that I opted to use instead of the 3% one supplied by e3d also turned out to be microscopic compared to most thermistors, and I didn't feel the e3d installation approach would work well with it.  So, I drilled a small thermistor hole on the right side of the block and permanently bonded the thermistor in the hole using the same muffler cement that I had used with the original hexagon hot end.  

It turns out that the thermistor hole I had added on the right side was pretty close to where the cartridge hole is in the new block design.  To use the new silicone boot, all I had to do was add a short slit in the side of the notch in the boot intended for the cartridge wires.



Fit of the silicone boot on my aluminum block is less than perfect, perhaps due to the fact that I installed it over existing layers of kapton tape already insulating the block.  I added a loop of wire around the boot to ensure it stays in place.

----------


## printbus

*PRINT BED REVAMP - OVERVIEW*

My intent here was to rethink the approach to the print surface. I had never cared for the standard Prusa approach of having screw heads sticking up at each corner of the heat bed, since they prevented use of a square piece of glass. The glass either needed to be rectangular to fit within the screw heads or needed to have corners cut/rounded to clear the screws.  Finally, the use of binder clips to attach the glass could leave to inconsistencies as binder clip locations are varied.  My low hanging print blower, if not adjusted just right, would sometimes catch on a binder clip and, well, that usually wasn't a good thing.  

The holy grail solution I wanted to implement would have used the Panucatt Helios heat bed, which is twice as thick as a regular heat bed, provides for 3-point bed mounting/leveling, and has countersunk holes for use with flat head screws.  People seemed to really like the Helios boards when they were available a few years ago.  Unfortunately, watching out-of-stock status on the item for over a year and lack of any form of communication response from Panucatt leads me to question whether it will ever be available for order again. 

The alternative solution I've implemented flips the original MK1 heater over so the heat bed traces face the print surface, combine it with an RP One Labs/reprapchampion aluminum plate, and use PrintBite as a print surface that should require no additional prep for printing. I shouldn't have to use glass again, but if I need to I can add something like the Vellemen GP8200 glass plate that is 215mm square, although I'm not sure what attachment scheme would work with the tall stackup of the heat bed, the aluminum plate, the PrintBite, and the glass. Even small binder clips can't grab all that, and medium clips might extend too far to the left and catch on the printer frame.  

I'm flipping the MK1 heater over so that heat can be more directly applied to the aluminum plate.  As I understand it, the original concept of the MK1 was to orient the heat traces down to protect them and use the opposite side of the circuit board directly as the print surface.  Tricks like adding a glass plate came later when people struggled with the thin heater circuit board flexing. As I see it, once you add something like glass or an aluminum plate over the heater, there's no reason *not* to flip the MK1 over and allow it to do a better job heating whatever is above it.  

I didn't migrate to one of the MK2 heaters since there's a post on the reprap wiki that cautions against  heater boards that are plated, since the boards can't be plated very exactly or evenly.  If true, that's not good for obtaining even heat distribution from the heater.  All the MK2 boards I looked at were plated boards, driven by the plated through holes that accommodate wiring to either side of the board.    The MK2 boards also have a small center hole to allow a thermistor to pass through it and touch the print surface. This sounds good, but it seems to me the disruption to trace routing caused by the thermistor hole would also impact even heat distribution from the heater.  I didn't migrate to a MK3 aluminum heat bed since Flex3d says one should not install PrintBite directly on an aluminum heater.  I'm not sure why, and I've effectively done the same thing, but at least in my approach I can swap out a failed heater board at minimal cost, retaining the aluminum plate and PrintBite for reuse with a new heater.

The RP One Labs aluminum plate design is specified to a flatness of 0.1mm.  One side is notched to accommodate the exposed wiring pads on an MK2 heater, but the notch also works with the flipped-over MK1.  The aluminum plate provides countersunk mounting screw holes (albeit 4-point instead of 3-point mounting), and provides a machined channel for installation of a thermistor directly onto the aluminum plate.  

I opted for PrintBite as the print surface since you pretty much can find only good comments about it. There's more info on it in the Anyone used Printbite surface? thread. So far, I concur with everything positive Curious Aardvark has had to say about it.  I wasn't expecting PrintBite to turn out to just be a thin sheet of FR4 fiberglass, but supposedly it has some characteristics not found in all FR4.  That better be the case, since I already had sheets of FR4 that I could have at least tried instead of ordering from overseas to get PrintBite.  

Unfortunately, the solution I've implemented may be pretty specific to the 8-inch version of the i3v. I'm not aware of a similar aluminum plate for the other sizes of i3v. 

Installation insight and photos to follow.

----------


## printbus

*PRINT BED REVAMP - INSTALLATION INSIGHT*

I reused the heat bed thermistor.  I opted to splice short lengths of high temperature aerospace wire that I had on hand so the thermistor wires would extend off the aluminum plate.  The wiring channel in the plate was cleaned of bits of loose metal and any oil from CNC machining.  Dabs of Artic Alumina thermal epoxy from Artic Silver were used to bond the thermistor to the provided cutout in the back of the plate and to fix the wires into the routing channel.  To ensure the thermistor was pressed against the plate as the adhesive cured, a short length of stick from a cotton swab was placed over the wire channel and temporarily held in place with a piece of tape. Not shown in the picture, a section of kapton tape was added over the larger thermistor cutout to act as a bit of insulator from the heater when it is installed.  



The MK1 heater was prepped by adding self-adhesive teflon and fiberglass tape to the non-heating side of the board.  This was done just to provide some additional insulation on what is now the exposed side of the heater.  I'll continue using the 8-inch square silicone trivet as the primary insulation between the heater and the wood y-bed.  



For inexplicable reasons, the strain relief attachment point on the y-bed for the 8-inch printer is *not* in the x-axis center of the y-bed.  It's offset by 5 or 6mm, messing up a perfect view of what the wire routing should be from the wire attachment points to the strainrelief.  To improve the wire routing, I scratched off the solder resist as required to provide new wire attachment points that meshed well with the thermistor wire channel (also offset from the center of the aluminum plate) and the surface mount LED I use as an informal monitor of what the heater circuit is up to.  A special "high rise" strain relief bracket was created that moves the strain relief point off the far end of the y-bed.  

I reused the MakerFarm y-bed springs rather than the thick silicone tubing that came with the aluminum plate.  All four corner screws are locked in place with locknuts installed on the backside of the heater.  From top to bottom the hardware stack-up consists of the M3 flat head screw, the aluminum plate, the heater, a nylon insert lock nut, the spring (which fits nicely onto the round part of the M3 lock nut), a custom printed (and currently unpublished) M3 shoulder washer, the wood y-bed, and thin M3 thumwheels.  Like before, there are 10 notches around the thumbwheel, providing a somewhat calibrated 0.05mm height adjustment for each notch in thumbwheel rotation.  



The PrintBite sheet was installed per Flex3D instructions, which includes two heated soak periods for setting the adhesive.  I brought the forward edge of the PrintBite sheet as far forward as the y-bed travel would allow, and centered the sheet on the x-axis.  I had ordered the PrintBite before I had finalized the rest of the revamp, and had opted to order the 200mm square sheet.  To ensure a bit of margin on all sides, I've modified smoothieware and Simplify 3D to think I now have a 195mm limit in x and y. In a nutshell, my usable print area now follows the outer black line on the PrintBite markings.  



This provides a nice, flush surface to work with.  I had smoothieware recalculate PID values for the heater control circuit, and updated the configuration text file accordingly.  When I'd print with hair spray coated glass, I'd set the bed for 50 degrees C.  Flex3d suggests increasing your bed temp by 10 degrees with PrintBite, so my recent prints on PrintBite have all been at 60 degrees.  I've been getting great PLA adhesion with the bed set to 60 degrees, with most parts removable with some encouragement when the bed has cooled to maybe 45 degrees or so. I'm still tweaking, but have definitely been able to adjust for less first-layer squish than I used to.  That's great for parts with a lot of first layer detail or something dimensionally important like a nut trap.  

Yes, the picture reveals some binder clips.  I've observed a bit of sagging between the aluminum plate and the heat bed on the sides, and mini binder clips are being used to eliminate the gaps.  Whether the clips are there permanently is yet to be determined. Due to the additional height of the PrintBite print surface, I'm not as worried about anything catching on these binder clips, especially with the wings removed.

----------


## 1911ly

I am new to the forum as well as 3d printing. A real rookie. But I do have a few things in my favor. I am truly a electronics geek. And am a very advanced kit builder of electronics and mechanical things. I have a touch of OCD that usually serves me well when assembling things. 

I ordered my Makerfair i3v 8" Prusa last week and should have it in a few more days. I have been going over your incredible build thread/log. You have gave the community an awesome resource. I wanted to thank you for the time and effort you have put in to it. 

Larry

I will be referring back to this thread along the way. I know my kit is newer so some info may not apply. I will figure it out as I go. Thanks again for putting this info all in one place!

----------


## printbus

Larry, thanks for the feedback on the build thread.  Welcome to the MakerFarm community, and enjoy your build.

----------


## printbus

*FEBRUARY 2019 STATUS UPDATE*

As a courtesy to anyone still subscribed to this build thread, I thought I'd summarize where I'm at with the 8-inch i3v.  As suggested by the opening paragraph in the thread, the i3v is still the only 3D printer in the house.  Much of the status update from December 2016 still applies.  I pretty much only use the printer when I need some functional widget, and I still only print PLA.  The wife and I have been through two moves and some health issues since the last update, so it's easy to say the printer can still sit unused for months at a time.   Quiet times and winter weather have allowed some focus on the i3v recently, and I've taken advantage of it with some upgrades I'll summarize over the next few days.  

I'm still pretty content with the mods I made to the i3v.  All maybe weren't necessary, but I'm into 3D printing for the tinker-pit aspect as much as anything.  The most recent mods with the aluminum bed and PrintBite print surface has worked out great - at least for the PLA printing that I do.  I can't recall complete loss of adhesion on anything I've printed on it.  Once in a while I'll see first layer artifacts suggesting I was starting to lose adhesion, and I use that as a reminder that it may be time to wipe the PrintBite down with acetone.  The aluminum bed is pretty flat. Some custom g-code routines accessible from the printer LCD makes it a quick exercise to walk around the bed and check/adjust for my preferred nozzle clearance.  Yep, I still manually level the bed. Updates to follow won't change that.

----------


## RobH2

Thanks for this update. I still have the 8-inch rail version that I bought just prior to the release of the i3v. It's still working great and I use mine pretty much the same as you, now and then, and often big lapses of time goes by. It still prints very clean and beautiful parts. I've made a few upgrades as well. One is a "leveler" that I posted on this site and get 4 or 5 downloads a month. The other was a dial head design called the Itty Bitty (designed by @Clough42). Like you, I print only one material, but I use PET. 

I'm glad to see your iv3 is still going strong.

----------


## printbus

RobH2 - great to hear from you after so long.   4 or 5 downloads a month, huh? Yeah, I typically glance at my stuff on Thingiverse just about every day to see what the traffic has been. I used to get real excited when something hit a couple of hundred total downloads.  That bubble recently burst, though. Whatever time I spend these days helping people with 3D printers seems to be with Ender 3 discussions.  Looked at some Creality widget the other day that had something like 45,000 downloads.  

Always wondered how many machines Colin sent out. Had to be a pretty small number compared to machines like that.

----------


## RobH2

Yea, I too wonder how many machines Colin has shipped. He's the best Customer Service on the planet. I wish my cable company was as nice...  

45,000 downloads is a lot. Wow. Anything I've ever posted was pretty specific and had little attention. The simple leveler I mentioned was pretty handy. People download it but I never hear if they liked it. I guess if not I'd be getting mean emails and I've never had one. 

Good to see you again too. I originally got into 3d printing to build drones. Then I bought an Inspire 2, and then a Mavic 2 Pro. All of a sudden, I didn't need my 3d printer for making drones and I've gotten less visibly active here. I'm still here helping out but I spend most of my time deleting spam and answering direct questions.  

I did print some parts recently for my Inspire 2. The good old Makerfarm made perfect parts for me and never skipped a beat. 

Carry on...

----------


## 1911ly

Hello Printbus. Your thread was my first and only post up till this moment. I did get my sons I3v up and running flawlessly. It has given me very little trouble. I've read your thread form end to end several times.  I ditched the stock end of limits switches and have added ABL. 2 years and very happy with it.

The only issue we really have had was just having one printer. We print a lot. About a month after the first printer I got the wild and crazy idea to build a homebrew. It evolved in to a fully enclosed printer 300x300x 400mm print size. It is the most used printer in the house. We usually print 3-4 rolls a month on that one. The boy uses his I3v a lot too. 

I also picked up a 12in Pegasus that was someones failed build. I have that up and running too. It is a spare but we do use it from time to time. I should probably post up some pics and info on the 3 printers we have. 

So, I have you to blame for the 3 I have now.  :Wink:   lol. It is a fun hobby. I am doing things in CAD I never dreamed I could ever do. Zero regrets. Thanks for the inspiration! I will pull some pictures together and do a thread soon. I also have some designs on Thingiverse, same screen name. Thanks for the inspiration! And all the great tips and I deals I got from this thread!

Larry

PS  I have been collecting the stuff to do a SLA as the next project.

----------


## RobH2

Larry, I'd like to welcome you to this forum. It's populated with some very, very gifted people. Do take advantage of them and you'll enjoy the journey.

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## 1911ly

> Larry, I'd like to welcome you to this forum. It's populated with some very, very gifted people. Do take advantage of them and you'll enjoy the journey.


Thanks Rob!  Will do.

----------


## printbus

Thanks for the feedback, Larry.  Glad to know the build thread was helpful, and that it helped sink the hook as far as your interest in 3D printing.  

I'm sure that if our kids were still home, we'd be printing a lot more.  I haven't used any of them, but the range of filaments (silk, wood, marble, etc. ) out there is pretty amazing. Based on what I see in the various reddit and discord channels that I follow, the fine detail models that are available for cosplay, gaming, etc.  is also incredible.

----------


## printbus

*RASPBERRY PI AND OCTOPRINT
*
I've relegated the i3v to our unfinished basement, and opted to install a Raspberry Pi with Octoprint so I could control & monitor the printer from upstairs.  The pi was mounted to the area I specifically left for it when I mounted the Smoothiboard case high-up on the right sidewall of the printer. 




The Raspberry Pi 3B+ is loaded with Octopi and controlled either through the Octoprint web interface or through the Printoid app.  In addition to controlling or monitoring the printer remotely, this also seems to have resolved the periodic issue I've always had with prints locking up when printing from Simplify3D connected to the printer via USB.  Simplify3D continues to be declared incompatible by the smoothie developers because it isn't an open source product, so they could care less about the people reporting the lockup issues. 

I wanted a small and basic camera to use with Octoprint, so I went with the Raspberry Pi camera module mounted to an IKEA Jansjo gooseneck LED lamp.  The pivot clamp and the cable clips are available on Thingiverse at Raspberry Pi Camera System for IKEA Jansjo LED Lamp.  



Adding the Raspberry Pi opened up questions on how I'd power the Raspberry Pi and the overall printer. After evaluating various options, I opted to power the Raspberry Pi from the 5V regulator I populated on the Smoothieboard for use with the LCD panel.  With only the camera as a peripheral on the Pi, that 5V regulator should be able to handle the Pi 5V load as well. I added the original MakerFarm 30A relay in the dedicated wiring the Smoothieboard gets for the larger MOSFETs used for heater control. The relay is controlled through M80/M81 gcodes that I now add to my slicer output, and Smoothieware is configured to turn off the relay if it detects a temperature runaway condition or other fault.  

AC power is controlled through Wink and a compatible smart plug that I already had.  I realize there is a TP-Link compatible Octoprint plug-in that can be used for this, but for now I'm just using our existing Wink system.  

In a nutshell, when AC power is turned on, the Smoothieboard logic, the Raspberry Pi, and the printer motors and fans all have power available to them.  The heaters won't work until the additional relay is turned on.

----------


## 1911ly

> Thanks for the feedback, Larry.  Glad to know the  build thread was helpful, and that it helped sink the hook as far as  your interest in 3D printing.  
> 
> I'm sure that if our kids were still home, we'd be printing a lot more.   I haven't used any of them, but the range of filaments (silk, wood,  marble, etc. ) out there is pretty amazing. Based on what I see in the  various reddit and discord channels that I follow, the fine detail  models that are available for cosplay, gaming, etc.  is also  incredible.


My son got us in to 3d printing. He really wanted one. That is what  got us started. We print with mostly PLA. i have PETG and ABS I use for  some projects. I bought some Ninja Flex to try but haven't used it yet. 

I have a RPi project box I designed on the plater at the moment. I'm having a lot of fun with this stuff.

I have a couple Orange Pi Lites I use for cameras on homebrew. I am using a program called motion. I am using the GPIO pins to control canceling prints if I see a issues and turn cabinet lights on and off. I am using Python to control the GPIO. It works good. I don't print over WiFi. I have used Octoprint. It does work good. I used the OPi's because they were dirt cheap. 

I am putting another RPi setup to replace the OPi's. I am having as much fun with the harderware/software stuff as I am with printing.

----------


## printbus

> 45,000 downloads is a lot. Wow.


It isn't the part I saw that was unique to the Ender 3, but here's a Thingiverse cooling duct with downloads in the hundreds of thousands.  That kind of traffic has to almost be annoying in one's Thingiverse dashboard.  




> ...I originally got into 3d printing to build drones.


It's sort of funny that you mention that.  RC helicopters was a major reason for my interest in 3D printing. I was new to the hobby, and another user in the Helifreak 130x forum promised to start cranking out designs for 130x parts.  I remember describing to the wife all the money I'd save by printing my own replacement parts.  Unfortunately, he, I, and the rest of the 130x community grew to realize that the strength-to-weight ratio just wasn't going to be there for 130x parts.  I migrated to a larger 300x for a while, but never gave printing parts for it a thought for the same reason.  

I did delve into drones a bit before I pretty much gave up on my old eyes ever doing well with keeping the orientation straight.  I do have a 105mm quad FPV frame on Thingiverse.  Turned out a bit heavier than I was hoping for, but it made for a pretty good back-yard basher.

----------


## printbus

Dialogue with RobH2 has made me wonder and go look at my Thingiverse data.  Across the 33 or 34 designs I've bothered to post there, the most "popular" as far as downloads is my take on a parametric shaft collar, with a thousand or so downloads.  

A close second is my hinged Graphic LCD mount for the i3v.

Now that Thingiverse has a way for users to tip designers, the money has been flowing in. To date, I've earned a grand total, after significant PayPal fees of course, of $1.34 USD.  

Most of my Thingiverse pool is stuff where I started with someone else's Thingiverse design and refined it or adapted it, reposting the update back to Thingiverse due to attribution or other requirements of the license assigned to the design by the originator.  I do have other designs that aren't on Thingiverse, as more posts here will soon show.

----------


## printbus

*Z-AXIS LEAD SCREW UPGRADE*

I was never thrilled with the 5mm threaded rods MakerFarm used for the Z-axis. They worked, but were so  S-L-O-W.  As a result of testing for an upper limit, I ran a z-axis feed rate of 2.5mm/Sec.  A full 200mm of z-axis travel would mean 80 seconds of travel time.  

From what I recall back in the i3v heyday, lead-screw upgrades always involved new Z-axis motor mounts that moved the motors farther from the frame. Since I overachieved and glued together all the fixed joints in the i3v wood frame during my initial assembly, swapping out the Z-axis motor mounts would not have been an easy thing to do.  So, I just put up with the slow feed rate of the 5mm rods.  

In a recent scan of i3v stuff on Thingiverse, I realized there were options for lead screw upgrades that retained the original motor mounts. With the right style of nut on the lead screws, new Z-axis nut plates is all that would be required.  The i3v Lead Screw Nut Plate by cperiod even provided openSCAD source, so I went for it.  I used 8mm diameter, 400mm long 4-start (8mm travel per turn) lead screws and brass nuts from ZYLTECH, along with their 5mm to 8mm shaft adapters.  I debated whether single-start (2mm travel per turn) would be a safer bet than the 4-starts, but figured if 4-starts work on the latest Prusa MK3, they ought to work for me, especially knowing my Smoothieboard has a dedicated stepper driver for both Z-axis motors.  



 I haven't tested for a higher upper feedrate limit, but the i3v is currently configured and running fine with a Z-axis feed rate of 25mm/sec.  That's quite swift compared to the original 5mm threaded rods.  While the higher rate might help reduce time spent on layer shifts and lead to some marginal print quality improvement, the major benefit will likely just be in homing.  

One brass nut in particular took a lot of shimming under one side for it to mount flush in the nut plate, and I had issues with the right-side screw being off-kilter from the vertical rail on that side when I mated the Z nut plate on that side to the x-idler plate.  It appeared like the square hole on the x-axis idler plate for the Z-nut plate wasn't properly centered over the rail.  Filing the hole wider and the tab on the nut plate narrower achieved the proper alignment.  Until I can better understand what caused the misalignment, I'm holding off on posting the refinements I made to the Z nut plate to Thingiverse.

----------


## printbus

*X-CARRIAGE AND EXTRUDER REPLACEMENT
*
I've had the same Greg's Wade extruder components on my MakerFarm's wood X-carriage since early 2015, and they were continuing to hold up well.  The Greg's Wade components used are my refined versions mentioned in the Smoothieboard and Other Upgrades post.  Even though my printing has been somewhat infrequent since then, I think it's significant that I've been able to keep the same printed 9-tooth and 47-tooth gears on the printer all this time.  Seems like the small gear in particular was always wearing out and needing replacement before.  I offer the following reasons for the gears lasting this long: 1) Correcting what appeared to be motor-to-large gear spacing based on an older gear configuration such as 11/45 instead of 9/47, 2) Reducing the amount of edge chamfer on the gear teeth, which essentially made all the teeth wider, and possibly most significant, 3) Reversing the direction of the herringbone pattern so the smaller gear would "dig into" the larger gear during normal extrusion rather than push away from it in the original herringbone gear design.   

All that said, I wanted to do something different.  I could see my wood x-carriage had a warp or deflection along the upright edge, so it was begging to be replaced.  When I would run some thin-wall extrusion tests, I'd see different wall thicknesses on X vs. Y, perhaps caused by the warped carriage tipping the hot end off-kilter a bit.  The x-carriage just had an overall clunky look to it, with the large gear, the large stepper motor, the end of the hobbed bolt sticking out, and my hefty part-cooling blower hanging off to the left of the carriage. Finally, I wanted to take apart the e3dv6 for nozzle replacement and some major inspection/cleaning, but doing that on the Greg's Wade installed on the box-style MakerFarm x-carriage is quite an undertaking.  

I've migrated to a custom x-carriage plate that holds a Bondtech BMG extruder and an e3d MT-1701 short-body stepper motor.  This certainly leads to a cleaner, neater, and likely substantially lighter solution than what I had before.  The e3dv6 remains as the hot end, but I've reverted to using the original e3d snap-on cooler instead of my earlier (unpublished) carriage mounted cooling shroud.  I liked the concept of a carriage mounted shroud and wanted to retain it, but accommodating something like it was going to complicate the carriage design.  For now, I'll just use the e3d cooler.  I have, however, retained my preference for flipping the hot end fan so airflow is pulled through the hot end and exhausted to the front of the printer.  I've also retained the use of a 10-degree wedge to angle the exhaust airflow up off the bed a bit, should I decide to once again give ABS or some other filament a shot that is sensitive to drafts across the print surface.  



As time permits, I'm still working through adjustments and calibrations, but initial prints suggest I've gotten rid of a lot of the ringing or ghosting that I've seen on my prints since day 1.  That's a bonus.  On the bad side, I hadn't realized how much I always glanced at the large herringbone gear to see what the printer was doing.  There's nothing to see on this new setup, and I can't even hear the stepper motor over the hot end fan noise.

The part-cooling blower I had been using with the Greg's Wade configuration is more powerful than the thinner, more common 5015 style, but I opted to shelve it since I believe it is no longer available.   Migrating to a new part cooling scheme is another reason why I wanted to redo my x-carriage configuration.  Can you see where I mounted a 5015 blower?  Hopefully not, since I printed a cover for it in some special stealth-mode filament that I'm testing.  

Seriously though, I put the 5015 blower where I always felt the part cooling fan/blower should be on the i3v - behind the carriage, with the blower mounted so the exhaust duct is below the carriage and facing the heater block & nozzle.  Glancing at the above images again, you'll see I've changed the wheel configuration of the carriage around so the single adjustment wheel is on top and the two fixed wheels are on the bottom.  The duct from the blower will pass from rear to front in the space between the two lower wheels, with mounting holes on the bottom of the carriage to keep it in place.  

I haven't finished design work on the duct. Perhaps in a month or so I'll have another update with a completed duct and results from additional printing experience.  

I haven't decided whether I'll publish the new x-carriage.  I'm not sure how much interest there is in it, especially since it is specific to the i3v (and possibly Pegasus) v-rails, the Bondtech BMG, a short body stepper motor, and the e3dv6 hot end.  Many may not like the idea of the rear-mounted part cooler, or the use of e3d's snap-on hot-end cooler.  The carriage also requires the right side to be clear of anything, something I already had achieved by relocating my x-endstop to the left side of the printer and my Z-endstop to one of Cloug42's endstops on the far right end of the x-rails.  This new carriage also requires use of a specific x-axis cable mount that I'd also have to release.  So, we'll see. 

Oh - one more thing. It doesn't stand out in the photo, but there is an additional mounting provision on the left side of the carriage, beside the Bondtech.  I haven't bought one, but the carriage is also designed for a BLTouch bed sensor.  You never know - one of these days I may end up finally jumping on the auto-leveling bandwagon.

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## 1911ly

> *X-CARRIAGE AND EXTRUDER REPLACEMENT
> *
> I've had the same Greg's Wade extruder components on my MakerFarm's wood X-carriage since early 2015, and they were continuing to hold up well.  The Greg's Wade components used are my refined versions mentioned in the Smoothieboard and Other Upgrades post.  Even though my printing has been somewhat infrequent since then, I think it's significant that I've been able to keep the same printed 9-tooth and 47-tooth gears on the printer all this time.  Seems like the small gear in particular was always wearing out and needing replacement before.  I offer the following reasons for the gears lasting this long: 1) Correcting what appeared to be motor-to-large gear spacing based on an older gear configuration such as 11/45 instead of 9/47, 2) Reducing the amount of edge chamfer on the gear teeth, which essentially made all the teeth wider, and possibly most significant, 3) Reversing the direction of the herringbone pattern so the smaller gear would "dig into" the larger gear during normal extrusion rather than push away from it in the original herringbone gear design.   
> 
> All that said, I wanted to do something different.  I could see my wood x-carriage had a warp or deflection along the upright edge, so it was begging to be replaced.  When I would run some thin-wall extrusion tests, I'd see different wall thicknesses on X vs. Y, perhaps caused by the warped carriage tipping the hot end off-kilter a bit.  The x-carriage just had an overall clunky look to it, with the large gear, the large stepper motor, the end of the hobbed bolt sticking out, and my hefty part-cooling blower hanging off to the left of the carriage. Finally, I wanted to take apart the e3dv6 for nozzle replacement and some major inspection/cleaning, but doing that on the Greg's Wade installed on the box-style MakerFarm x-carriage is quite an undertaking.  
> 
> I've migrated to a custom x-carriage plate that holds a Bondtech BMG extruder and an e3d MT-1701 short-body stepper motor.  This certainly leads to a cleaner, neater, and likely substantially lighter solution than what I had before.  The e3dv6 remains as the hot end, but I've reverted to using the original e3d snap-on cooler instead of my earlier (unpublished) carriage mounted cooling shroud.  I liked the concept of a carriage mounted shroud and wanted to retain it, but accommodating something like it was going to complicate the carriage design.  For now, I'll just use the e3d cooler.  I have, however, retained my preference for flipping the hot end fan so airflow is pulled through the hot end and exhausted to the front of the printer.  I've also retained the use of a 10-degree wedge to angle the exhaust airflow up off the bed a bit, should I decide to once again give ABS or some other filament a shot that is sensitive to drafts across the print surface.  
> 
> 
> ...


Awesome. I have been looking at the Bondtech Extruder as an upgrade. . I am still running the stock Wades on the i3v. There will be a change to it in the future. 

Your new carriage would be a direct bolt on for the Pegasus.  NP. I would find it useful. 

I love the BLtouch probes. I have them on all 3 printers. No more dinking around with adjustments. I think you will like it. I have a hell of a lot fewer issues with prints not sticking these days. The printers are pretty much no touch now.

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## printbus

> Awesome. I have been looking at the Bondtech Extruder as an upgrade. . I am still running the stock Wades on the i3v. There will be a change to it in the future. 
> 
> Your new carriage would be a direct bolt on for the Pegasus.  NP. I would find it useful. 
> 
> I love the BLtouch probes. I have them on all 3 printers. No more dinking around with adjustments. I think you will like it. I have a hell of a lot fewer issues with prints not sticking these days. The printers are pretty much no touch now.


Thanks for the feedback.   I'm pretty much out of pocket the next couple of weeks, so give me some time to work out the cooling duct. If nothing else, I'll share the openSCAD source privately since you expressed interest.

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## 1911ly

NP, and no hurry. I have a bunch of current projects keeping me busy at the moment.

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## printbus

The X-carriage design has been published.  See the "MakerFarm i3v/Pegasus X-Carriage for Bondtech BMG and e3dv6" item on Thingiverse at https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3453439.

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## CoffeeCup

> The X-carriage design has been published.  See the "MakerFarm i3v/Pegasus X-Carriage for Bondtech BMG and e3dv6" item on Thingiverse at https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3453439.


Hell Printbus,

It's great to see you still have your 8" MF i3v running. This is the same model I have which I just dusted off last week and got her running again after almost four years. She still functions well. After becoming re-acquainted with it I immediately became a bit tired of Greg's accessible extruder. While the printer serves my purpose for now making small ABS parts, I started searching to see if anybody upgraded their MF with a newer extruder. Can you comment on your experience with your Bondtech BMG?

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## RobH2

Speaking of dusting off, I still have my Maker Farm 8" wood with rods printer still running. It has a dual IttyBitty print head but the printer still works great. I don't use it very often but dusted it off last month after a year of non-use and it worked perfectly straight away. I even used the PETG filament that's been hanging over it for two years, out in the humid open. I had no printing issues and the parts were perfect. Go Maker Farm and PETG.

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## CoffeeCup

RobH2 that’s great to hear! Im curious if the rod version before the v-rails lends more stability. This week as I’ve been looking at newer printers to see what has been going on in the industry I couldn’t help but notice the highly praised Original Prusa MK3 uses rods. 
While I have only adjusted my x-carriage rollers, they do give some play if they loosen.

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## RobH2

I always assumed the rail version was more stable but I have no way to compare. I'm guessing the rail version is better though. I was planning to upgrade with the rail kit but never did. I bought this printer to do quick prototypes of items for clients. I soon found that I could order much, much better parts online as prices dropped and quality got better so I began using my printer less and less and never bought the rail upgrade kit. Now I just make parts for friends boats or cars now and then. It's still a great printer. 

I would be curious to see what the current top rated do-it-yourself printer is. Maybe it's still the Maker Farm. I just haven't researched it.

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## printbus

> ...Can you comment on your experience with your Bondtech BMG?


Similar to RobH2, I only rarely use the printer these days - my time seems to continually get tied up in other things.  With one exception, I've been pretty happy with the BMG.  The big advantages are it's small, compact, and light.  I do seem to have to level the print surface every time I print something, but only using the printer every few months could have more to do with that than the BMG and/or the associated carriage plate & hot end mount.  

The one thing I miss from the Greg's Wade extruder is that the BMG has no easy way to release a filament.  With the Greg's Wade, I'd heat up the hot end, reverse the extruder a few mm, and then release the grip on the filament so I could pull the soft filament out without the hobbed bolt pressing against the filament. With the BMG, you essentially have no choice but to keep reversing the extruder until the filament can be pulled from the gearing.  There's a access lever you can unscrew that removes one of the gears, but the filament continues to press against the rear gear.  I only rarely change filaments, so it isn't that big of a deal but it is something I don't care for. 

If you opt to stick with the Greg's Wade, I'd definitely check out my remix of it. My research concluded the parts MF was shipping with the printer really weren't very optimal.  The last Greg's Wade I printed was on my printer a couple of years before I swapped it out for the BMG approach. 

On the rails vs. rods, yeah I don't know which provides a more rigid approach.  I opted for the MF rail approach since what I read made me want to avoid linear bearings, and one of my goals was also to minimize the use of zip ties as mechanical fasteners on my printer.  Seems that most printers using rods use zip ties to hold the linear bearings in place, and I didn't care for that.

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## CoffeeCup

I did see your revision to Greg Wade’s Extruder and thank you for the comments. Has there been a noticeable increase in print quality with the BMG? With the lighter weight I would assume there would be less lash/play but maybe it only comes into play at higher speeds.

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## printbus

> I did see your revision to Greg Wade’s Extruder and thank you for the comments. Has there been a noticeable increase in print quality with the BMG? With the lighter weight I would assume there would be less lash/play but maybe it only comes into play at higher speeds.


I don't think it would be fair for me to try to address that, based on the limited printing that I've done.  I also know that the filament I have now prints crappier than the filament I used to have, so there's that significant factor as well. 

As you suggest, I think the BMG approach has a lot of potential over the Greg's Wade.  No gear backlash. Better grip on the filament - perhaps especially beneficial in precise retraction & recovery control.  Yes, the lighter extruder, especially along with the smaller/lighter stepper motor I used should lead to a lighter carriage that is quicker to accelerate/decelerate.  I remember running some mechanical tests to determine what settings I'd use, but I don't recall how the settings compare to what I used to run.  

Improving cooling airflow was a driver in the carriage redesign and migration to the BMG.  I'm pretty sure the new approach provides better print cooling airflow, so that has potential for improved print results if the cooling is applied properly.

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