# Specific 3D Printers, Scanners, & Hardware > RepRap Format Printer Forum > MakerFarm Forum >  End User advice wanted! Makerfarm Pegasus 12 Build

## OVersliders

Hello all!

I recently purchased a Pegasus 12 kit with dual E3D V6s and I am about to start the build in the coming few days. 
I followed the list of items to get from Makerfarm and I got pretty much everything but the glass and fire blanket. 
Now I wanted to reach out to other makerfarm users to see what else could be needed that is not included in the manual. 
Did you guys find any tricks along the way that facilitated the build, etc... 
I look forward to read from you all.

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## Youngjedi

Just finished mine a couple weeks ago.  The fire blanket i had laying around from a forge shop I work at.   You can get them online.   it lays flat on the aluminum heat shield.
I found only two small issues during my build.   one of the hidden corner brackets was not tapped.   If you have a 4m tap,  that's easy enough.  i did not and Colin sent me a new one.   the other issue was the belt length.  I cut the first part to the correct length.  When it came to put the belt on the x carriage,  it was almost too short.  I had no room for error and it took me quite a while to get it on the screw post.
This is my second makerfarm printer.  I have a 10" that is awesome!.   Colin is great with the answers and quick to get back to you.

I also added an auto bed leveler to the printer.  The new Manual Bed leveling that is in the marlin software is great,  but i prefer my prints to get there own bed measurements for every print.  it only adds about 90 seconds to the print.

Take your time with the build,  make sure you have put in ALL the hidden nuts that the instruction say to.  I forgot one and had to disassemble the frame to add it back in.

Enjoy!

Youngjedi

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## OVersliders

I am finally done with it. 
I did take my time and I did run into the same issue as you with the hidden nut haha. I ended up buying a pack of 25 drop in T-nuts after that just in case.  :Embarrassment: 
Aside of that I made a few mods to it already before being done building it. I didn't want to have to take it appart to do any mods afterward. 
Here is the final result of the build.









I ended up buying some 12V COB LED daytime running lights I wired to the PSU alongside the fans($7). They are mounted on 3D printed adjustable brackets. 
Cable management was done with some medium home audio/video concealing tracks (not the cheapest way to do it).
I used 7x7 cable tracks for the Z stepper and limit switch and some 10x15 for everything on the Hot End carrier(about $14/17).
I 3D printed a mount for the cable track to attach to the Hot End carrier like so:









I am very curious at how the self leveling kit works?
I used the leveling function from the firmware and it did not seem to do the trick on my first test print. 
Lmk if you are interested in the cable track mounting piece, I will gladly share my STL for that.

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## Youngjedi

Cool Cable track.   I used the TechFlex Flexo F6 for mine.   It allows me to double up wires that are too long like the right hand side z motor. 
https://www.techflex.com/prod_f6n.asp

The self leveling that i incorporated was the one instructed by Zenmaster.   It involves a servo on an arm with a micro switch.  the servo extends before the print and touches off at 9 points (3X3 Grid) and records all the levels.    Then starts to print on the bed with those measurements.  as the print happens,  the Z motor rods will turn slightly back and forth to accommodate any UN-evenness of the bed.  my bed is on the wooden washers...no springs.

Here is the info for Zenmaster's auto level.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awsI9bMndJA

the video shows the bracket for the servo to be that of a Makerfarm Prusa I3.   I found the E3V6 lite bracket on thingiverse.  

I think i will incorporate lights too...That really looks nice!   Congrats!


One quick edit.   I used the manual bed leveling as well.  I tried it with a 0.015 shim,  and also with a gum foil wrapper.  I did not like the results either way do to the fact it was hard to tell if you are accurately reading all the points constantly.

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## BLKKROW

I finished building mine last week.

Right now the only upgrade I have is PID enabled on the heated bed using a SSR. I managed my wires using the cover STL's provided by Makerfarm. On my list to do is designing a way to mount a cooling fan, I have some ides but I need to sit down and get it done.

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## Youngjedi

First thing I did once done was to print all the spare parts if needing replacement...idler, DD mounts...ets.

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## OVersliders

Well I'm actually just about to do that. 
For some reason the bearing carrier that pushes the filament against the extruder gear snap one of the tooth that guides the filament. 
So far I'm having a lot of trouble getting a succesful print. 
The bed leveling screws are too short making the heat bed relay touch the support frame and bulge the glass bed. It took me a while to realize the relay was the culprit. 
The second thing is that three time I had the extruder just stop extruding mid print. 
It almost seemed that it was a USB issue at first so I swtich to SD card, but I get the same crap. 
I loosened my filament spool for the printer to have to generate less effort to pull but it still does it. My next try is to make a custom bearing carrier and instead of doing two little teeth to guide the filament I'll make it a 2mm hole. 
I had quite the frustrating weekend lol.

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## jackal24

My bed relay doesn't get anywhere near the frame.

I also had issues with the stock direct extruders. I don't think they are strong enough. The slightest tension in the spool and the extruder skips. I ended up switching to Clough42's Itty Bitty Double Flex V2 and haven't had any skipping issues since. It also has the advantage that it has a built in part fan and ABL servo (which I found a lot easier than the manual leveling process).

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## jackal24

Also, the best upgrade I have done so far is to get a Raspberry Pi and install Octopi.

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## jackal24

> Lmk if you are interested in the cable track mounting piece, I will gladly share my STL for that.


Yes please. Also if you have the original CAD file, it would be great.

Thanks.

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## OVersliders

> Yes please. Also if you have the original CAD file, it would be great.
> 
> Thanks.


I will post that later today. 
I have to make a revision to it to allow the allen key to go through freely to tighten the screw on the bearing carrier. 

I had asked Collin originally if the extruder would be able to do all the filament I use and he assured me I wouldn't run into any issues. 
I'm not going to lie but I'm a bit frustrated with the printer so far. It's been built for two weeks and I still haven't been able to print something successfully. 
I ordered an induction proximity switch to do an auto bed leveling system. 
I am also considering ordering two Titan extruders and just custom make a mount for them. 
I really need this thing to be bulletproof so I can get rid of my Da Vinci 1.0

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## OVersliders

Sorry my reply was late. 
Here is my folder with the parts I created so far for my pegasus 12. 
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B-...C1rQmdEWkpLT28

the 20mm adjustable mount goes along with the COB led light mount. It's just a 20mm base with a 5mm hole in the middle to mount on the extrusion profile. 
the DD idler is a beefier version with an enclosed guide instead of the fork type which are easy to break off. 
the dual fan shroud has a prox switch mount integrated to it for auto bed leveling with 12mm prox switch. picture is attached.
the fused outlet housing is for outlet w/o switch. Just the fused outlet by itself for those wanting to get a separate switch. 
And lastly the filament guide is a guide for multiple filament to be mounted on the extrusion. I use it for spools that are held outside the printer frame and inserted 1/4" nylon line through the holes to limit filament friction. 

Enjoy.

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## uncle_bob

> I will post that later today. 
> 
> I had asked Collin originally if the extruder would be able to do all the filament I use and he assured me I wouldn't run into any issues. 
> I'm not going to lie but I'm a bit frustrated with the printer so far. It's been built for two weeks and I still haven't been able to print something successfully. 
> I ordered an induction proximity switch to do an auto bed leveling system. 
> I am also considering ordering two Titan extruders and just custom make a mount for them. 
> I really need this thing to be bulletproof so I can get rid of my Da Vinci 1.0


Hi

Are you still having trouble getting the printer to print? If so, what sort of issues are you having?

Bob

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## leadpan

Ordered my 12" Pegasus today.  Interested in your progress also.

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## Sailor

First post here.  Ordered my 12" Pegasus also with dual extruders.  Looking forward to jumping into this.

MODERATOR NOTE:  Post is late to appear due to unexpected delay in obtaining moderator approval

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## captainserial

> The bed leveling screws are too short making the heat bed relay touch the support frame and bulge the glass bed. It took me a while to realize the relay was the culprit.


Did you ever figure this out? I am having the same problem.

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## uncle_bob

Hi

My 12" has been printing for a couple of weeks now. It produces some really great prints. The normal "dial in the settings" stuff was every bit as frustrating as it is on any printer I've ever set up. You *always* go into it saying "it' will just work". That has never been the case on any printer I have had. I don't know if experience counts in this case or not. The Pegasus did set up a lot quicker than previous printers have. It could be luck as well. 

The loop I'm talking about is this one:

1) Is the bed still level or is there a screw not tight enough?
2) Is a screw to tight? 
3) Is the manual bed leveling delivering consistent results? Is that my fault or the printer's?
4) Is the glass positioned properly or is it up on a washer? (yes that happened)
5) Is the Z offset to much or to little? Bump it another 0.05 mm and try again. 
6) Is there to much (or to little) hair spray on the glass? 
7) Are each of the axis's square to each other? Get the 12" calipers out and check the measurements again. 
8) Are you sure? Get the 98-6 level out again and check? Is the table flat .. oopss ... ? Is the table level ...oopss ? 
9) Do the extrusion settings in *this* slicer version work correctly? Fiddle them and try again.
10) Is there play in any axis? Are the belts tight? 
11) Is the Nomex pushing on the heated bed? Pull out a sheet ... 
12) Is anything binding / dragging?
13) Print another test object and check it. 
14) Go back and loop again.

Yes, it's a fine and wonderful day's worth of fiddling. It's also why I didn't pay 3 to 5X the price and *still* have to do almost all of the same stuff. All of the settings in terms of temperatures and speeds are still "stock". I'm using eSun filament so that's not a big surprise. 

The kit I got does not have a relay on the bed heater PC board. The relay comes as a little board that attaches to the frame. That eliminates a lot of weird issues with the relay. It also made it easier to simply toss. I went with a dirt cheap 100A SSR in it's place....

Bob

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## Sailor

Started my build last night with my 16 yr old daughter.  Dual extruder.  Question, are you guys using the wooden spool holders or fabbing a different better one?  I am trying to minimize taking this frame apart once its all put together if that is even possible lol.

MODERATOR NOTE: Post late to appear due to delay in obtaining moderator approval

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## uncle_bob

Hi

There was a question here about bed leveling and then it went away ... hmmm ... 

Manual bed leveling seems to work very well on this machine. Servo bed leveling has issues with servos and temperature. Inductive bed leveling zeros to the pc board under the glass. Either way, the automatic approach has issues on a "stock" machine. I suppose you could glue tin foil to the back of the glass ... sounds like a pain ...

Bob

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## microjedi

Hi Bob,

That was my question.  I deleted it because I realized that the video answered my question.  Thanks for your input though.  I have a lot of things to learn before I venture into modding a machine like that.  

Paul

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## uncle_bob

Hi

On a lot of the early machines, holding a "zero bed" was a real pain. Some of that was related to the materials being used in the printers themselves. Some of it was process induced. The "old way" to run a glass plate machine was to swap plates with each print. You let the part cool down on the plate while you printed on a new one. Turns out that the thickness and flatness of cheap glass isn't all that terrific. The "new way" is to just leave the same piece of glass in place all the time. Let the part cool down on the printer. Pop it off the glass and move on. It might add a couple of minutes to a print that takes a half hour to do. If you go back a couple of years, you will find a bunch of posts from a guy named Bob talking about the need for auto bed leveling. Obviously my view has changed as printers have gotten better and we've learned things. 

Bob

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## longjohn119

> Hi
> 
> There was a question here about bed leveling and then it went away ... hmmm ... 
> 
> Manual bed leveling seems to work very well on this machine. Servo bed leveling has issues with servos and temperature. Inductive bed leveling zeros to the pc board under the glass. Either way, the automatic approach has issues on a "stock" machine. I suppose you could glue tin foil to the back of the glass ... sounds like a pain ...
> 
> Bob


I'm using an 8mm inductive probe on a Pegasus 10 and it works great. It senses the PSB at about 5mm which leaves me about 3mm clearance between the probe and the print surface. Once I got the offset tweaked it
s been spot on ever since (about 3 weeks) A 4mm probe isn't going to work without some more metal below it.

Has anyone seen Prusa's new ABL setup that also measures and compensates for any skew in the x/y axises?

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## uncle_bob

If you are using an inductive system the results are totally dependent on how well the glass follows the PCB. SInce this is totally random it's not generally a good way to go.

Bed sensing / compensation for X and Y is not normally done on a machine like this. A one or two mm offset is lost in the > 300 mm travel available. All an X or Y error does is to bump the start point of the print by the (minor) error.

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## microjedi

I am so close to ordering one of these but I keep chickening out.  I go from wanting a simple, smaller, pre-built one, back to this one.  I guess my inexperience is to blame.  Mono price has there mini and the Wanhao clone for $199 and $349 respectively.  But then I think that this 12" Pegasus is all I would ever need.  Maybe I should just bite the bullet and jump right in with this one.  Any other news out there who bought this one?

MODERATOR NOTE: Post late in appearing due to delay in obtaining moderator approval

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## longjohn119

> If you are using an inductive system the results are totally dependent on how well the glass follows the PCB. SInce this is totally random it's not generally a good way to go.
> 
> Bed sensing / compensation for X and Y is not normally done on a machine like this. A one or two mm offset is lost in the > 300 mm travel available. All an X or Y error does is to bump the start point of the print by the (minor) error.


I've been using an 8mm inductive probe for over 3 weeks without a single bad first layer (other than some minor ABS warp unrelated to layer height)  ... That's about a spool of ABS and two spools or more of PLA. A 4mm won't cut it but an 8mm leaves me about 3mm above the top of a print with a -0.65 offset. It senses at roughly 5-5.5 mm from the top of the PCB (Hardware store glass about 2.3 mm thick) I'm also using the bed extenders (Pegasus 10) that I modified for 10mm clearance below the PCB with 2 pieces of 5mm cork with a channel cut out for the thermistor and wires and the PCB heater sits right on top so it doesn't sag in the middle. That stabilizes the pcb and keeps it flat and (gently) pushed up against the glass (10" x 11 1/4"). I also have 0,0 in the front left corner of the bed like my other 2 printers which necessitates the use of Safe Homing. As soon as I put the X gantry on I knew I wasn't going to like it set up that way so I flipped the gantry which was easy as pie since the metal ends are symmetrical. It would have been too counterintuitive (for me) for troubleshooting and set up which I did from scratch with a fresh copy of Marlin (stable) from Github and the latest version of Slic3r rather than the technologically outdated version provided. For me there was no way to have a 2 fan print cooling assembly and a servo type mount for ABL

The bottom line really is you need to support the PCB heater to keep it flat anyway if you want it to heat the glass bed properly and you don't want to give up bed space to side clips which still doesn't work as well as support in the center. Of course doing it the way I did necessitates ABL since the bed is no longer adjustable. My other printer with ABL has an MK3 aluminum heater and the 4mm probe works fine there

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## uncle_bob

Hi

As soon as you try to put the pcb on something firm enough to keep it flat, you either bow it upwards or you suck enough heat out of it to mess up the thermal performance. The real answer is to go to an aluminum heat bed with a silicone heater if you want to use inductive bed leveling. 

Bob

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## longjohn119

> Hi
> 
> As soon as you try to put the pcb on something firm enough to keep it flat, you either bow it upwards or you suck enough heat out of it to mess up the thermal performance. The real answer is to go to an aluminum heat bed with a silicone heater if you want to use inductive bed leveling. 
> 
> Bob


Gee I guess someone forgot to tell my unit that because it's been working flawlessly for 3 straight weeks and I print constantly. I also have no problem running the bed at 115 C which is as high as I've needed it to go. I also ditched the relay for a SSR and went back to PID regulation because bang-bang sucks for anything with a short (less than several minutes) on/off cycle. I could really notice it during the first 2-3 layers using a translucent red PLA (Ingeo 4048D based) and you could see from the color changes from dark to lighter and back to dark synchronized to the clicking of the relay leaving a 45 degree 'zebra stripes' pattern on the print. It wasn't noticeable that much in the finished print but it was definitely a clue heat regulation sucked and there was constant expansion and contraction going on but the SSR and PID control cleared that up. I kind of figured going in that I wasn't going to like the bang-bang controlled bed 

An aluminum bed and a good silicon heater are a better solution whether you use ABL or not ...... but it also adds costs and weight. This works for me, I'm happy with it for now. Granted what works on a 10 may not work on a 12", I opted for the 10 because 12" bed at only 12v is really pushing the limits

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## uncle_bob

Well my printer works perfectly with no ABL and no PWM ( it is PID all the time). 

It it is not very hard to get one of these working....

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