Rostock or Kossel?

[JohnA136]

Anyone here build a Rostock to Kossel Printer?

[atoff]

Yes, I built a Rostock Max V2. Very happy with it.

[Egon van Engelen]

I got a Kossel Clear from Blue Eagle Labs kickstarter project and except for the noise I like it a lot.

[JohnA136]

Thanks for the replies. Egon, would you say it is a lot noisier than a more conventional 3D printer like a Replicator or Ulitimaker?

[Egon van Engelen]

I have it next to me on a desk that amplifies the sound so I'm not really objective. I did put dampers between the steppers and the frame but the main parts of the machine are made out of acrylic plates and everything is open, I don't think that is helping to reduce the noise. Most conventional printers have these boxes so I guess they are more quiet, but I'd have to pay more attention next time when I see one to tell you for sure.

[atoff]

I know you asked Egon, but I wanted to chime in. The noise is relative to where you place your printer (as in, wooden table = vibrations), and how you've built the printer. One of the upgrades I went with right off the bat was installing Astrosyn dampers (http://www.ebay.com/itm/331158026166...84.m1497.l2649) to the stepper motors... you can get an idea of how dramatic the difference is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3Xn7b7tcxY

[atoff]

I have it next to me on a desk that amplifies the sound so I'm not really objective. I did put dampers between the steppers and the frame but the main parts of the machine are made out of acrylic plates and everything is open, I don't think that is helping to reduce the noise. Most conventional printers have these boxes so I guess they are more quiet, but I'd have to pay more attention next time when I see one to tell you for sure.

What type of dampers did you install? I wonder how the acrylic plates compare to the melamine of the Rostock Max. I think the melamine is one of the contributors of noise for me. Mine is also right next to me on my desk, and it does become pretty annoying. I notice that most of the noise comes from the vibrations from the desk, but that the printer itself (with dampers) is very quiet. I also noticed that once I assembled the top enclosure the noise increased a bit. The enclosure (asthetics) acts as an acoustic chamber.

[JohnA136]

Thanks again. We used those cork dampeners on our Cupcakes to quiet them. We do not use any on our Prusas and they are extremely quiet. This build will be on PLA printed parts that we did so maybe it will be quiet. Parts are all printed, extrusions and build plate are in, as are the carbon rods and build plate. Steppers on the way next week.

[Egon van Engelen]

I cut some inner tubing of a tire into stepper shape, to dampen the sound a bit. I couldn't find the right dampeners at the time. Thanks for the link atoff, I might have to give those a try.
Your printed parts look real nice JohnA136, are those made to fit Open Beam? I'm thinking about replacing the acrylic parts with printed ones, also the roller cages.
Here are some pics of my build, maybe it helps you understand why:

2014-05-03-12.03.54.jpg 2014-05-03-12.04.09.jpg

I'm also planning to replace the acrylic arms with aluminium or carbon rods with magnetic ball joints on both sides, this will make it much easier to disassemble.

JohnA136, I designed a extruder for delta printers because I couldn't find one that had all the options that I wanted. It's made to hang from the top of the printer and has a filament holder to go with it, feel free to try it out:
Kis Bowden Extruder
Kis Filament Holder

[JohnA136]

Thanks for the pictures, they look great. We had some laser cut plastic pieces in our old Cupcakes but they always developed stress cracks? My son is assembling the frame this weekend, it is open frame with no HBP so it will be a PLA printer. Honestly, this is an experimental printer since we have not built a Delta yet so we are going low budget. It will be an interesting piece for our collections, I hope to have it at Maker Faire NY this September.