12" I3V Build

[printbus]

Dustin - For a lot of 2014, MakerFarm shipped kits with a different motor that tended to run very hot, and some people were using heatsinks or fan shrouds to help cool them. For about the last year, kits have been shipped with motors that are better suited for the 3D printer application. The new motors don't run any where near as hot and shouldn't require anything as far as cooling.

[Dustin B]

Sounds good. One less thing to worry about tweaking is good.

What slicer should I start with?

[tsteever]

I found the I get better Z results by cranking up the voltage on the driver a bit. The downside is that it runs very hot. I added a fan to the control board to keep it cool. The only other time I worried about my stepper motors is with my modified extruder. I went with am Itty Bitty belted design and found the motor got quite hot. I ended up redesigning the gears to gain some mechanical advantage and not the motor hovers around 40 degrees. The fan shroud can be found here from thingiverse.

As far as slicers, I started with slicer but could never get the results I was after. I love how many options you have control over however. The mid print performance seemed to be messy and not done well. The movements are very efficient. I just couldn't get the extrusion to look the way I want. I have found that I get very good top layer performance from it...but it took a lot of tweaking. I have to tweak a lot per roll to get it acceptable.

I have been using Mattercontrol and I really like it. I get awesome prints time and time again vs. Slic3r. The top layer isn't as tweak able but it is acceptable. What I like is that I can just enter the specific diameter of the filament I am using and I get an awesome print. I highly recommend it.

I want to try simplify3d but can't get myself to pay for it. I'd really like a demo but they do not offer one. I haven't found a direct comparison between Mattercontrol and simplify3d yet.

[Dustin B]

What do you mean by mid print and top layer and what controls do slicers give you that can affect them?

So easy to get swept up into the hardware but I'm starting to realize more that the slicing software and it's configuration is going to be equally if not more important than the hardware.

[tsteever]

In slic3r, you can control the top layer extrusion width and speed. You cannot control them separately in Mattercontrol. I had the top layer extrusion set slower and narrower than my other layers. It resulted in a very smooth and uniform top layer. The mid layers however use the same settings as other layers. I felt that slic3r over extruded in the middle. When I adjusted the flow rates for those layers, my top layer would suffer. I could never find the balance.

I don't have that issue with Mattercontrol. I have been told that S3D is amazing and worth the price. I find I get great results with MC. Here are a few pics... The first pic was sliced with Slic3r. Take a look at the overhangs. Yuk! The second kind shows the overhangs. Same print, same settings. I know it is different material but both were PLA from the same manufacturer. Trust me, it is the slicer. I have printed this design multiple times. The MC slicer wins ever time. IMG_3276.jpgIMG_3400.jpg

[BLKKROW]

I currently use Simplify 3D and I love it. You can customize everything you ever wanted and the support options are incredible.

I used Slic3r for over a year and couldn't get consistent prints. I would highly recommend S3D.

[Dustin B]

Just to make sure I understand since I've never done any significant electronics work. The relay has 5 pins. The two small wires are going to the pins that control the electromagnetic switch. The pin between those two is the common pin. Then with the two left, the one on the wide trace is the normally open pin and the one not connected to a trace is the normally closed. So then when current is applied to the small wires it closes the switch which disconnects the normally closed path and connects the normally open path.

Would it be possible to jumper the common and normally open pins with some sort of temperature fuse so if the the heat bed ended up getting too hot the fuse would blow?

I've got an Aoyue 9378 60 Watt soldering station with a 10 piece set of tips. But my usage of it so far has been splicing wires, doing EC3 and EC5 and motor/esc connections for my RC stuff. And that hasn't been a lot. So I have the right tools, just not a lot of technique with it yet :P

[printbus]

Just to make sure I understand since I've never done any significant electronics work. The relay has 5 pins. The two small wires are going to the pins that control the electromagnetic switch. The pin between those two is the common pin. Then with the two left, the one on the wide trace is the normally open pin and the one not connected to a trace is the normally closed. So then when current is applied to the small wires it closes the switch which disconnects the normally closed path and connects the normally open path.

Correct.

Would it be possible to jumper the common and normally open pins with some sort of temperature fuse so if the the heat bed ended up getting too hot the fuse would blow?

In theory, yes. The challenge would be to find a suitable temperature fuse that can handle the high current of the heat bed, while also adding as little resistance in the path as possible.

I've got an Aoyue 9378 60 Watt soldering station with a 10 piece set of tips. But my usage of it so far has been splicing wires, doing EC3 and EC5 and motor/esc connections for my RC stuff. And that hasn't been a lot. So I have the right tools, just not a lot of technique with it yet :P

A 60-watt tool and the experience with the heavy EC3 and EC5 would likely make the pins on the wide traces easy to deal with. If removing the relay, you'd need a solder sucker or solder wick to remove solder from individual pins or a hot air rework tool to soften the solder on all pins at once.

[Dustin B]

Finally started building the printer

IMG_20160217_082001.jpg

What do I set "#define POWER_SUPPLY" to in the configuration.h file using this power supply?

[printbus]

What do I set "#define POWER_SUPPLY" to in the configuration.h file using this power supply?

The short answer is the POWER_SUPPLY definition likely won't make a difference to you. Unless you've added some power control mechanism onto the printer, that power supply and your printer will be on whenever there's AC on the power cord, and there's nothing firmware can do about it.

In at least older versions of Marlin... Firmware control of the power supply needs to start by having the printer electronics core always powered up, even when the printer power supply is off. The 12V supply on the printer is then used for just heaters, fans, and motors. ATX power supplies have a standby 5V output that often gets used for keeping power on the electronics. For non-ATX power supplies, you need to provide some other dedicated 5V source for the printer electronics. Power from USB is one way, at least until more 5V load like an ABL servo gets added. With that problem solved, then you have to identify an Arduino pin that can be allocated as the output used to control the power supply. This is done through the PS_ON_PIN definition in the pins.h file. If the pin definition is -1 (the default), there's no firmware control over the power supply and the POWER_SUPPLY definition isn't used.

When a pin has been allocated for the power control function, the POWER_SUPPLY value defines whether the control will be active low or active high. A POWER_SUPPLY value of 1 means a low logic level output will turn the power supply on, which is what you'd use if you're wanting to turn an ATX-type power supply on and off. A POWER_SUPPLY value of 2 means a high logic level will turn the power supply on, which would typically be used if you're using a relay to switch the AC power input to the power supply on and off. If using a relay, people are then often surprised to learn that they have to add a MOSFET or some other driver that can interface between the Arduino processor pin and the high current draw of the relay.

Only a few people bother with firmware control over the power supply. Some have wanted to turn the power supply on and off from the printer LCD panel. A menu item will appear for this once a pin is allocated for power control in the pins.h file. Some others have added remote print capability (typically with a Raspberry Pi) and want to be able to turn the printer on and off remotely as well.

Marlin has been undergoing some major overhaul over the last several months. I have no idea how much this changes in the newer versions.