MakerFarm Prusa i3v 10" - And So It Begins!

First Thoughts:

Wow, this thing is off to a great start receiving it two days earlier than I had originally expected! Opening the box was exciting as always and the first thing I noticed and had not expected was a very organized placement of parts. The hardware, motors and electronics were all in separate containers, was accounted for, and labeled! The wood parts are solid and precisely cut. The wood is of way better quality then I had expected it to be. No cheap stuff here! So far this thing has me truly impressed. Unfortunately due to prior plans I was not able to work on it till later this evening.

So Far:

I have been off to a good start - I have completed the first 42 pages of the build guide (I opted out of painting the pieces and honestly I am digging the wood look anyhow). I have not gotten hung up so far because everything has been going perfectly per the instructions.

Here are some pics :)

Attachment 7435 Attachment 7436 Attachment 7437

Take your time :) - calibrate, calibrate calibrate :)

Yesterday:

I did not post my progress but I did make some I was able to work about 5 hours on the kit. I finished the frame, installed the heat bed, assembled the extruder and hot end (e3d v6 hopefully did it correctly), mounted the end stops, and spool holder. I also uploaded the firmware to the rumba board.

Feel like it is all coming together nicely. I am not happy with the glass though. I attempted to cut glass for my first time. You guys would laugh if you saw how horrendous it is.... I better just go to the glass shop when done. However it will have to do for now. I used tape to make it look half way decent for now.

Today:

Since I work a full time and have kids + a needy wife :P it is hard to find time to work on my projects during the week. I did get quite a bit of the wiring done this evening though. I can see the end of this build nearing and it makes me very eager to finish up. I need to purchase some spacers for my electronics and the proper size screws for my power supply tomorrow. I think within the next day or two I should have this build completed. And as adamfilip stated calibrate, calibrate, calibrate.

Issues:

-The belt on the Y idler bracket is rubbing not sure how to keep the belt centered. I am not sure if it matters?

- Cant figure out the best way to run the X end stop wires?

- I am not sure where the Y end stop needs to be placed along the Y Aluminum extrusion? Right now I have it so it will go the full distance of the aluminum extrusion right to where it will hit the bolt under the bed.

- The Glass is jagged and choppy on the edge I "attempted" to cut and all 4 corners

- I have a fan that I am not sure where or how it mounts. Possibly for a different hot end? The instructions do not say what its for and where to mount it. I will double check though.

- Although I haven't finished installing the electronics, it seems like I have a lot of wires and extra screws with the kit. (This never seems to be a good thing) :/

Here are updated pics:

Attachment 7445 Attachment 7446 Attachment 7447 Attachment 7448

-The belt on the Y idler bracket is rubbing not sure how to keep the belt centered. I am not sure if it matters?,
try and offset the gear on the stepper so it changes the angle of the belt slightly, hopefullly you can do it enough so it doesnt rub, rubbing is bad

- Cant figure out the best way to run the X end stop wires?
i ended up running mine on the left side by the stepper as i already had the stepper wires running, just had to reverse the direction on marlin firmware so it homes left instead of right

- I am not sure where the Y end stop needs to be placed along the Y Aluminum extrusion? Right now I have it so it will go the full distance of the aluminum extrusion right to where it will hit the bolt under the bed.
let the bed go as far as you can , until right before the wheels hit. plus leave a small gap.

- The Glass is jagged and choppy on the edge I "attempted" to cut and all 4 corners
I used a Dremel with Diamond Cut off saw blade. with some water and it worked great if you cut slowly

- I have a fan that I am not sure where or how it mounts. Possibly for a different hot end? The instructions do not say what its for and where to mount it. I will double check though.
E3D V6 has a fan with Blue clip that goes over the alum fins of the hotend.. look up the hotend it should be obvious. I would also recommend having a fan blowing on the board. as the stepper drivers can get warm and cause missed steps

- Although I haven't finished installing the electronics, it seems like I have a lot of wires and extra screws with the kit. (This never seems to be a good thing) :/
I had alot of spare motor wires in my set

Quote:

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Originally Posted by adamfilip

try and offset the gear on the stepper so it changes the angle of the belt slightly, hopefullly you can do it enough so it doesnt rub, rubbing is bad

i ended up running mine on the left side by the stepper as i already had the stepper wires running, just had to reverse the direction on marlin firmware so it homes left instead of right

let the bed go as far as you can , until right before the wheels hit. plus leave a small gap.

I used a Dremel with Diamond Cut off saw blade. with some water and it worked great if you cut slowly

E3D V6 has a fan with Blue clip that goes over the alum fins of the hotend.. look up the hotend it should be obvious. I would also recommend having a fan blowing on the board. as the stepper drivers can get warm and cause missed steps

I had alot of spare motor wires in my set

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Thanks for the wicked fast reply. This helps alot thanks!

Your X motor, will be moving up and down. You will need to leave some slack in the wiring.

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Originally Posted by tfast500

The belt on the Y idler bracket is rubbing not sure how to keep the belt centered. I am not sure if it matters?

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Like adamfilip pointed out, try to line everything up by sliding the bed forward to the idler and positioning the belts on the y-bed mount so the belts line up with the idler. Then slide the bed all the way to the motor and adjust the motor pulley so it lines up with the belt coming from the y-bed mount. If that doesn't fix it, the bolt holding the idler pulley might be a bit out of alignment. Experiment with loosening one of the idler bracket mounting screws and tightening the other. That'll make a small adjustment in how perpendicular the pulley bolt is with respect to the belt. At least a few have added a shim like a guitar pick under one side of the idler mounting bracket in order to adjust the bolt enough to keep the belt from rubbing against the wood side. Once you're printing, there are some idler pulley guides on Thingiverse that you can print and add to the pulleys to solve the problem.

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I am not sure where the Y end stop needs to be placed along the Y Aluminum extrusion? Right now I have it so it will go the full distance of the aluminum extrusion right to where it will hit the bolt under the bed.

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Remember that you're setting the y-axis home position with this switch. The 8-inch beds have a square silkscreened on them to "suggest" a printable area. You sort of have to guess on the larger beds.

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The Glass is jagged and choppy on the edge I "attempted" to cut and all 4 corners

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If it makes you feel better, I've never been able to do good at cutting glass either. For those that have the right tool, the right procedure, and the right touch, it's apparently easy. I had my local Ace cut pieces to the square shape I wanted, and then used my tile wet saw with a diamond blade to angle the corners.

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I have a fan that I am not sure where or how it mounts. Possibly for a different hot end? The instructions do not say what its for and where to mount it. I will double check though.

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Speaking from over a year ago, I know the kits used to include an extra fan. And yeah, the kits used to also include a lot of extra wiring.

Thanks guys I will give these tips and suggestions a go and report back.

Tonight I was able to mount the power supply and electronics. I routed my power wires around the back since I did not have enough room to go up through the channel in the bottom. Looks pretty good to me. I am happy with the cable management so far.

Tomorrow I should have everything hooked up and hopefully be able to test and calibrate the printer :) I am pretty excited to see this all come together and hopefully work!

I must admit this is taking way longer than I expected to put together. Partially do to taking my time with everything. Also breaking up the build into stages.

Pictures:

Attachment 7468 Attachment 7469

After a a quick scare thinking my rumba board was shot. For whatever reason after first power on 10 seconds in, my whole board and display turned off. Checked everything with multimeter and everything looked fine. So after freaking out I decided to see what happens after completly unplugging everything. Thankfully this did the trick and the board powered up again... Something must have shorted it or plugged in incorrectly? Maybe just a fluke I am not sure but luckily everything is working now. My next issue was the hot end was reading 739 degrees... I took off hot end and moved the thermo wires and I gotto read properly at 24degrees. It must have been shortening out. Ran the sample gcode then printed my first knob for the display :) took two attempts first time the filament didn't start extracting right away so I restarted it. After the knob I made the maker robot... I have some quality issues I want to get your guys opinions on. I'll post pics tomorrow and see what you guys think.

Overall very happy with how and what it printed considering being its very first prints. It is only going to get easier and perfected from here once I get more experience.

I have pictures of my first prints please let me know what you guys think. Where should I begin on tweaking things?

Attachment 7477

My knobs to try out for the display. Overall these turned out fine.

Attachment 7475

The base of the prints seem off. The bottom of the knobs and the feet of the robot have gaps not sure why this is or what is causing it.

Maker Robot - elbows drooping and feet bottoms are not good

Attachment 7476

Have you guys experienced these issues? I assume some supports under the elbows will fix the drooping, but let me know if you think it could be a temperature or speed or any other issue as I do not know what things can help at this point.

Currently its printing a vase and I see alot of spud on the edges any ideas on this?

Attachment 7478

Yes I know I am currently print happy right now! Lol I just cant stop printing stuff this is too cool!

Not bad for first prints. Are these with Simplify3D or some other slicer? What are you using for the source of your settings?

First, I assume you're printing with a skirt. Does the skirt always have the zig zag shown in the vase picture? If so, that's a problem. One similar case was due to the x-carriage wheel mounting bolts rubbing on the large gear. The last picture in this post of my build thread highlights what to look for. If the zig zag is unique to the vase, it's just a replication of the bottom layer outer edge of the vase.

After that, I'd suggest posting a picture of how your first layer looks before paying much attention to the rest of the prints. Without seeing the bottom of a print, it looks like there are issues to work through regarding either the amount of nozzle-to-bed clearance or nozzle temperature.

Have you calibrated your extruder? That's just another thing you want to do before spending much time scrutinizing print results.

The rough sides on the vase could be any combination of slightly high on extrusion, not enough retraction, or too high of a hot end temperature.

The small robot can be tough as an initial print. The "underarms" are especially tough since the design leaves them supported. At some point you can add a print cooling system that'll help, but expecting unsupported loops like that to remain perpendicular is always going to be tough without adding support. I personally don't like trying to add support under the arms since it will have to rest on the feet in order to be where the support needs to be. When I'm printing the robot as a test or as a giveaway, I try to be nearby when the underarm starts to print, and slip a putty knife under loose strands to simultaneously prop them up and harden the soft filament.

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Originally Posted by printbus

Not bad for first prints. Are these with Simplify3D or some other slicer? What are you using for the source of your settings?

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I used simplify3d and as for the settings go I left everything default except the build area.

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Originally Posted by printbus

First, I assume you're printing with a skirt. Does the skirt always have the zig zag shown in the vase picture? If so, that's a problem. One similar case was due to the x-carriage wheel mounting bolts rubbing on the large gear. The last picture in this post of my build thread highlights what to look for. If the zig zag is unique to the vase, it's just a replication of the bottom layer outer edge of the vase.

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I will check this maybe that's what is going on. Ill report back

Edit: checked my bolts face the opposite direction they are clear.

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Originally Posted by printbus

After that, I'd suggest posting a picture of how your first layer looks before paying much attention to the rest of the prints. Without seeing the bottom of a print, it looks like there are issues to work through regarding either the amount of nozzle-to-bed clearance or nozzle temperature.

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I will post a picture during my next print for the first layers. I also need to find out what the proper distance is. I am using the default temperatures so this may very well need to be adjusted.

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Originally Posted by printbus

Have you calibrated your extruder? That's just another thing you want to do before spending much time scrutinizing print results.

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No I have not is there a good guide to this somewhere?

Thanks for the feedback Ill look into these!

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Originally Posted by tfast500

I used simplify3d and as for the settings go I left everything default except the build area.

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That's pretty gutsy. You probably have a variation of version 3. I'm still on version 2 for lack of time and motivation to get around to the upgrade. I seem to remember that the default settings on my install were really high on retraction speed. MakerFarm gurus have generally recommended limiting that to 10mm/sec or 15mm/sec. Any higher and the extruder motor skips during retractions.

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I will post a picture during my next print for the first layers. I also need to find out what the proper distance is. I am using the default temperatures so this may very well need to be adjusted.

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To clarify, what I meant by showing the first layer is to photograph the bottom of the print after it is completed and removed from the print bed. That will show how much the first layer is being "squished", which in turn suggests whether the nozzle to bed spacing is right. With hot end and bed at printing temperature, I adjust the gap to the thickness of an adhesive label/sticker that measures 0.20mm thick.

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No I have not is there a good guide to this somewhere?

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Check for the calibration thread in the MakerFarm stickies.[/QUOTE]

Currently I am jammed up I cant get any filament to come out of the hot end and even if I push it by hand nothing budges. I have the hot end turned to 230 to get it to melt but nothing :/

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Originally Posted by tfast500

Currently I am jammed up I cant get any filament to come out of the hot end and even if I push it by hand nothing budges. I have the hot end turned to 230 to get it to melt but nothing :/

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Can you pull the filament out by hand when you have it heated up? One thing you need to make sure of is that your hotend cooling fan is running all the time when the hotend is up to temp. Otherwise you will melt your extruder base and your hotend will become plugged up because the filament melts way to far up in the heat break area.

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... One thing you need to make sure of is that your hotend cooling fan is running all the time when the hotend is up to temp. Otherwise you will melt your extruder base and your hotend will become plugged up because the filament melts way to far up in the heat break area.

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tfast, note that this also applies to shutting the printer off. Don't turn it off while the hot end is still hot. After the heater is shut off, leave the hot end fan running until the hot end temperature is somewhat near ambient temperature before shutting off the printer.

Also note that the e3dv6 hot end is sensitive to the amount of retraction. Multiple people have had similar jamming issues with initial uses of the e3dv6 until they back off on the retraction. IIRC, e3d suggest no more than 1mm retraction length. More than that and you risk pulling too much melted filament out of the hot end heat chamber and into the heat break or hot end heatsink. It'll expand when it cools and can form a plug that jams everything up.

Remember how I warned you that there's a lot of figure out and learn?;)

This was exactly my issue between not powering down properly and not running the cooling fan constantly. I ended up wiring the fan directly to the 12v coming straight from the power supply instead of my Rumba board. I had to disassemble the whole hot end to unclog it and drilled it out of the heat break to free it all out. :/ pain in the arse

Also I am having issues with my prints now that I "actually" am running directly off simplify 3d.

I misinformed you, printbus. I was using the gcode from slic3r that I created awhile back not the gcode from simplify3d like I had said.
I am not sure why but It was using high temps of 230 / 70 and working alot better then what its set now to by default for the pla when printing from simplify3d
Now that I am actually using simplify3d my prints wont even stick to the board its acting weird and cloging... also its set by default to 190 / 60 which sounds correct for pla, but like i said not working at all for my prints

I encourage any lurkers to jump in with their thoughts as well. There's almost always more than one "correct" answer to everything...

Temperatures can vary from machine to machine - the readings aren't very good in an absolute sense. You need to figure out what works well in your combination of variables. For what it is worth, I personally prefer the better surface shine and layer adhesion I get with PLA in the 205 to 215 range. Can't remember when I've printed below that. I have one roll the manufacture recommends printing at 235 I believe. There are blogs, reprap wiki posts and likely threads here that guide you through determining your best temperature for a given filament roll by getting a feel for how the filament manually extrudes as you rotate the extruder gear with motors disabled.

There likely may have been other things to try instead of attacking the hot end with a drill. For example, you could try letting the extruder soak at temperature for some time before trying to extrude. Or, I know I've had a few cases where I get the hot end off the extruder, and warm components up with a hot air gun to help picking material out of the tube with fresh filament, or pushing through the tube with a piece of wire. It'll take less heat to soften up the filament than you think. FWIW, when the filament feels "stuck" in the hot end, I have found I can rarely if ever move the filament by hand. As long as I haven't chewed a notch into the filament, what often works for me is commanding the extruder to move 1mm, maybe another 1mm, maybe 1 more mm. At some point in there it often breaks free.

When I saw the blue tape, I figured you'd be printing on a cold bed. I get phenomenal stick with a cold bed and 3M blue tape swabbed clean with 91% rubbing alcohol. Cleaning it with alcohol seems critical for removing any kind of production wax or finger oils from the tape. After that it should just be a matter of the gap you have between the nozzle and the bed. Most people end up adjusting for the same as the thickness of a piece of paper. You sort of have to develop a feel for how the paper drags when pulling it between the nozzle and the glass. "Some resistance" would be how I usually set mine. Look for the bed leveling wizard built into Simplify3D if you haven't seen it. It takes care of moving the nozzle around your bed for measuring the gap in each corner. Sort of speeds up the process. You'll likely soon be looking for better ways to do the corner height adjustments, or be looking into automatic bed compensation/leveling.

There are a few different threads where people have shared or discussed Simplify3D settings, at least for version 2. I cannot say the settings are the perfect answer to anything, but I do walk through all the version 2 settings I found work well for me as part of this post in my build thread - just scroll down to the section on Simplify3d. I no longer run Marlin, but the Simplfy 3D settings have remained pretty much the same with my new electronics setup. RUNNING SUMMARY OF CONFIGURATION SETTINGS

Awesome thanks for the config settings I will give this a go!

I run PLA at 225° nozzle and 70° bed temps and I use purple glue sick on the glass. I have a Hexagon hotend but I am sure the temps would be similar.

One of the biggest battles I fought early on with my 12" printer was inconsistent Z axis homing, I would have to mess with it sometimes 4 or 5 times before I could get a good first layer on a print. Looking back on it now the Z homing issues I experienced were due to the print bed physically moving during the heat cycle. This was caused by the wooden Y bed itself warping and by the heat bed surface warping up and down as the heat relay turned on and off.

As has been mentioned your first layer needs to be flat and stuck down well, without that good first layer the rest of your print will suffer.

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Originally Posted by Chadd

I run PLA at 225° nozzle and 70° bed temps and I use purple glue sick on the glass. I have a Hexagon hotend but I am sure the temps would be similar.

One of the biggest battles I fought early on with my 12" printer was inconsistent Z axis homing, I would have to mess with it sometimes 4 or 5 times before I could get a good first layer on a print. Looking back on it now the Z homing issues I experienced were due to the print bed physically moving during the heat cycle. This was caused by the wooden Y bed itself warping and by the heat bed surface warping up and down as the heat relay turned on and off.

As has been mentioned your first layer needs to be flat and stuck down well, without that good first layer the rest of your print will suffer.

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Been awhile since I posted. I have printed so many cool things. I love this thing, however I am fighting a few issues but the main one is the z axis homing as mentioned above. It's driving me nuts every time I go to print its at a different hight. I would like to upgrade to an automatic leveling or figure a way to fix. I am pretty sure its a number of things. The end stop probably the main issue being it has some play in it. I need to put a new zip tie or redesign it altogether.

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Originally Posted by tfast500

...The end stop probably the main issue being it has some play in it. I need to put a new zip tie or redesign it altogether.

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Yeah, you really need to ditch that zip tie if the current build guides are still suggesting that as the mounting method. A better method is to use bolts and nuts to mount the switches to the wood brackets. Switches can vary, but mine were sized for M2.5 screws. Others have drilled out the holes in the switch a bit to fit what hardware they had. Countersink the back side of the bracket so the screw head recesses into the wood. Put the nuts on the exposed side of the switch.

Pics from my install are in this post - Enstop Installation

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Originally Posted by printbus

Yeah, you really need to ditch that zip tie if the current build guides are still suggesting that as the mounting method. A better method is to use bolts and nuts to mount the switches to the wood brackets. Switches can vary, but mine were sized for M2.5 screws. Others have drilled out the holes in the switch a bit to fit what hardware they had. Countersink the back side of the bracket so the screw head recesses into the wood. Put the nuts on the exposed side of the switch.

Pics from my install are in this post - Enstop Installation

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This is precisely what i am looking for thanks!