12" I3V Build

[Dustin B]

Didn't get as much time as I would have liked yesterday but made some progress. Got a 3/4" mdf base cut for it and made 2 braces to prevent any flex around the y-axis belt attachment points. Paid close attention to the diagonal measurement of the y rails making sure they were perfectly square before screwing the front brace down. Also cut two small blocks and screwed them down to force the two parts of the frame to be square to each other. Also pushing down on the z motor mounts before screwing the fame into these blocks pulled the rest of the frame flat to the MDF pulling the z-axis rails into being perpendicular to the MDF. Without being pulled down flat they were leaning a bit towards the back of the printer. Once I'm up and running I might print some nicer braces to replace these crude plywood ones.

Tensioned the y belt with it off the base which flexed the frame in a bit, then putting it back over these braces added that extra little bit of tension to the y belt making it nice and tight. Belt doesn't track well on the y idler though so I'll definitely be printing a new idler that has a lip to keep it in place. After it was tensioned I also cut a small block that wedges in between the back of the y motor and frame so the mount doesn't have to take all the torsional force from the belt being tensioned.

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[Dustin B]

Here's my solution to the x belt connections until I have it working and can make printbus's replacement. Just a small piece of roof flashing cut to act as a washer that spans the two screws. Replaced the 16mm m3 screws with 20mm m3 screws I had from my RC stuff to.
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I ordered two of these z-couplers from Colin. Drilled and tapped them to have 3mm set screws as well as the pinch screws they came with. So I filed some flat spots on the bottom of my threaded rod. No worries about the tubing letting go now.

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Only issue is the way I have them connected to the lead screws right now the lead screws are tall enough they'll interfere with the spool holder. So I either have to adjust them or cut them down a bit. Not sure if it's better to have them nearly touching inside these couplers or to cut them down. Guess I could also just leave them as the spool hold doesn't have to turn and I'll likely make a different lower profile one relatively soon.

[Dustin B]

So ya, read the instructions more carefully when assembling the Greg's extruder. When I was tightening the second locking nut wasn't thinking and put a wrench on the bolt head instead of holding the spur gear (end result I turned the nut inside the capture in the spur). Nothing some epoxy couldn't fix though :P I also had to clean a bunch of globs out of the teeth in the spur as they were causing it to bind. Sure hope after I'm done tweaking and tuning my I3V 12 prints better than the supplied extruder was printed.

[printbus]

Printing better quality parts than what you received shouldn't be an issue. Multiple people have chimed in with how they were quickly able to print better looking parts. I'm sure Colin prints his parts as fast as he dare, which doesn't help with print quality.

On the z-rods, I have mine touching the tops of the motor shafts. I wanted to minimize the possibility of the helical coil of the couplers acting as a vertical spring. Clough42 suggests adding a small ball bearing or BB between the motor shaft and the Z-rods, so that's another option to consider.

EDIT: BTW, many people have decided to move away from the OEM spool mount for a couple of reasons, so bear that in mind before you trim off the z-rods to clear it.

[Dustin B]

Ya I'm leaving the rods alone for now as I tightened the spool holder down so it won't turn easily. I'll replace it eventually.

I'd read about the ball bearing thing between the motor and lead screw, thought that was just for the tubing. I'll pick a couple up and add them into mine.

[Dustin B]

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Wife cut and sewed two layers of 1/8" Meta-Aramid Felt for the insulation on the build plate. I had bought a fire blanket as I'd seen recommended else where, as this felt was bought to make some LIPO charging bags. The fire blanket was useless and a waste of money. Frayed very badly and was impossible to sew into something that would last. This felt on the other hand was awesome. Cut the bottom layer to fit around the end stop bolt and the belt connector parts sticking through. Top layer isn't cut up except for around the wheel mount bolts. Bottom layer just has holes cut out for those. Will insulate very well and I don't have to worry about it starting on fire. The wood will burn before this stuff will.

Discovered last night that I'm missing the e3d v6 plate for mounting to the greg's extruder. Colin will ship one out but I think I'll end up making my own out of some 1/4" ply before it will get here.

I noticed the recess in the extruder is a little deeper than the flange on the v6. Should I sand the extruder down until the flange is flush with the bottom, or will the slight gap between the top of the v6 and the bottom of the recess in the extruder not matter at all?

[printbus]

Interesting approach for the insulator. You could probably market that... I'd make up another one, without any of the holes and maybe oversized a bit, for use as a cover insulator over the glass. Placing the additional one above the glass when heating should help the bed heat up faster and reach a more uniform temperature. Placing it above the glass when the printer isn't in use would help protect the glass from dust, finger oil if you have nosy people around, and damage should something fall onto the glass.

How the hot end fits into the extruder has came up before, at least with the hexagon hot end. IMO, the need to do something may depend on how well your mounting plate fits the U-channel in the hot end. If the plate grabs the channel pretty well, there's likely no issue. Instead of sanding down the extruder for a better fit, a more common solution is to shim up the hot end. I used to add multiple layers of kapton tape with a small hole for the filament cut into the kapton. Once you're printing, there's at least one printable shim design out there somewhere specifically for use in that space between the hot end and the extruder.

I resolved that gap, along with numerous other nuances I saw with the extruder parts, in my Greg's Wade suite redux available on Thingiverse.

[Dustin B]

The birch markerfarm supplies seems to be a very snug fit (will have to be pressed in won't slide easily) and the G1S fir plywood I have is 5 thousands thicker then the birch.

That's an interesting thought for a top cover. 5 weeks till kid number 2 so not sure if I'll manage to talk her into doing a bit more work :P

Picked up some M2.5 screws and nuts to modify the end stops with at noon today. I also picked up something similar to fun tack I plan to use to hold the wires in the V grooves for wire management until I print something or buy some channel inserts. Hopefully I'll get a mounting plate and the last of the mechanical assembly done tonight. Then on to wiring and software/calibration. Hopefully I'll have my first benchy printed sometime this weekend.

[Dustin B]

Mounting plate was pretty trivial to make. 1/2" router bit cuts a slot that nicely fits the e3d v6. Made the slot too deep on first attempt, but using that to make the adjustments I had a perfect fit on the second attempt. Too bad I wasted a bunch of time trying to shim with kapton tape before I decided making the slot shorter would work better. Hopefully I'll have it all wired up by the end of tonight.

[Dustin B]

Question on the wiring.

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The hot bed 12V 11a input. Is that even needed when I'm using a SSR or does the hotbed output from the board not have any power without power to the hot bed input?

Colin's wiring examples show two completely separate wires run from the power supply to logic board stepper input and the hot bed input. Is that necessary or can I just add a y to the wire from the power supply just before the board (I'm using 14 gauge)?