Top Five Tips - Makerfarm 8" i3v Maintenance

[old man emu]

Curious: does anyone use petroleum jelly (Vaselene) on their ABS extruder gears? Good? Bad?

Bad!. This is too thick and adds to the work that the steppers have to do. Also, it catches and holds particles which can build up and jam thins, or act as abrasives to wear out threads.

You are better off using a spray silicone lubricant that will dry out, but still reduce friction.

OME

[KDog]

I've never used any lubricant on the extruder and haven't had any problems with. I'm pretty hesitant to get any lubricant on or close to the filament. I oil my lead screws and inside of my bearings. Spray lubricant generally isn't recommended as it is hard to keep off of surfaces you don't want it on. Are you having problems with your extruder that makes you wan't to put some lubricant on it?

[1stage]

No, just curious.

I'm using a Magma with Greg's Accessible Extruder and 3.0mm ABS. I've printed about a spool's worth of 3mm ABS so far with no significant problems, but I have noticed whitening of both the driver gear and the fly gear teeth. Also, as mentioned in the second post, the stepper has starter to deform the mount holes on the Greg's Accessible Extruder, so I'm anticipating the length of time I have before I'll need to reprint and replace. Naturally, that was the first complete, non-test print I did so that I'd have a spare.

OME did suggest that the mount holes are a bit tight on the Greg's Accessible Extruder base, and that he elongated them. I checked the voltage on the extruder stepper, and it's perfect, so the heat on it is appropriate.

I wouldn't mind having a proper, machined aluminum version of the Greg's Accesible Extruder components. Any idea where I could get one? Printing one in stainless steel from Shapeways would cost way too much.

[old man emu]

I wouldn't mind having a proper, machined aluminum version of the Greg's Accesible Extruder components. Any idea where I could get one? Printing one in stainless steel from Shapeways would cost way too much.

You've got the stl file for the Greg's. All you have to do is take it to a machine shop and they can use it to mill you one out of aluminium. (That's the end function of industrial design and manufacture - design the prototype, test the design by 3D printing it, then send the file on for mass production.)

OME