MakerFarm 10" i3v build

[dacb]

Received my 10" i3v last Wed. Used Wed. night and Thu. night to spray lacquer it in black using $5 cans from a big-box home store. This stuff dries really hard and yielded a robust and attractive surface over the birch ply.

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The kit was very impressive (with one exception, see below). It is very easy to build (image for proof) and includes EVERYTHING like tools (e.g. 5.5mm wrench), extras (M3 bolts, M5 T-nuts which are handy for building new endstops), and most of the wiring ready to go (thermistor already had heat sleeves and tubing). The only real gripe I had was with the printed parts. These were printed in low quality and required an hour or two of tweaking with files, knives and sandpaper before the bolts, bearings, and everything fit together properly and operated smoothly. This was particularly disappointing when I printed my own parts for Greg's Accessible Extruder within my first few prints and they turned out perfect.

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I let assembly go at a comfortable pace and including letting lacquer dry and doing all the wiring / sleeving and many hours of alignment of all the axes with micrometers, clamps, mechanics straight edges, etc. it was ready and nearly perfect in five evenings. Admittedly, I took it very slow and tried to include my kids and other family in the process so that we will all have a memory of building one of the "early 3D printers" together, similar to my memories of "building early home computers" in the late 70s. Anyway...

The assembled unit printing the hollow cube.

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Second print was the adjustable Z-stop for the 10":

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I was very happy with the first prints and began experimenting with various Slic3r versions and settings to produce the usual upgrades for the base i3v...

Knob:

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[dacb]

Idler:

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Feet (though I haven't bothered to install them as I have no vibration issues):

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And replacement extruder parts.

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Now, I have switched over the ABS (the glow in the dark green above) and started using Cura for everything. I don't like ABS nearly as much as the PLA. PLA just worked and didn't curl, etc. With the ABS, it sticks well to the blue painters tape, but on large prints (e.g. the Tie Fighter for the boys), the edges would warp and pull the painters tape off the glass.

[dacb]

I have also printed all of clough42's terrific pieces for the Z-probe servo mount and improved hexagon cooler, but have not installed them. With the adjustable Z-stop in place and some small m3 thumbscrews (that didn't require trimming to clear the frame), I've got bed leveling nailed. I think putting in a lot of time doing alignment during assembly helped with this immensely.

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The Makerfarm fan shroud for the hexagon head (1.75mm w/ .4 nozzle) melted within the first 48 hours. A replacement was easily printed, but I'm disappointed by the design. I don't have a fan in hand for clough42's improved design so it will have to wait on that for now. See below for where it melted against the hot end. Note, the printer was printing clough42's fan shroud for the extruder.

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[MiniMadRyan]

Glad you liked the adjustable end-stop. it took me about half an hour to throw that together from start to finish....wish I still had the original CAD files, but lost them when my Surface Pro 3 died. Awesome job on the i3v! It looks really well done!

[dacb]

Glad you liked the adjustable end-stop. it took me about half an hour to throw that together from start to finish....wish I still had the original CAD files, but lost them when my Surface Pro 3 died. Awesome job on the i3v! It looks really well done!

Thank you. And thank you very much for your end stop design. It was a huge step up. I opted to install the aluminum spiral couplers which made adjusting the stock stop impossible.

[RaySuave]

Be sure to monitor the temperature of the extruder motor because it can warp the extruder block making it useless. Its good you already printed a spare, I wasn't so lucky.

Glad you liked the adjustable end-stop. it took me about half an hour to throw that together from start to finish....wish I still had the original CAD files, but lost them when my Surface Pro 3 died. Awesome job on the i3v! It looks really well done!

Your endstop worked just fine for me too...thanks for the contribution.

[printbus]

Yeah, that shroud design is pretty poor. It certainly wasn't tested much by whoever came up with it. I think more than one user here has thought their hot end was leaking when it was likely only the shroud melting. I now trim out the bottom, flat part of the shroud to clear the aluminum block.

[dacb]

Yeah, that shroud design is pretty poor. It certainly wasn't tested much by whoever came up with it. I think more than one user here has thought their hot end was leaking when it was likely only the shroud melting. I now trim out the bottom, flat part of the shroud to clear the aluminum block.

That is a great idea. For some reason, I thought you had also switched to clough42's extruder fan setup.

I need to figure out how to remove the melted plastic from the extruder. Maybe soak it in acetone overnight.

[printbus]

That is a great idea. For some reason, I thought you had also switched to clough42's extruder fan setup.

I need to figure out how to remove the melted plastic from the extruder. Maybe soak it in acetone overnight.

Nope. I have LEDs mounted under the carriage and had glued-up the X-carriage prior to painting so for now I'm stuck. To clean mine up, I just turned on the heater and wiped it off carefully as the block got hot.

[dacb]

Nope. I have LEDs mounted under the carriage and had glued-up the X-carriage prior to painting so for now I'm stuck. To clean mine up, I just turned on the heater and wiped it off carefully as the block got hot.

Again, this is great information. I actually copied your approach for the LED strips under the X-carriage, but haven't wired them up yet. I'm thinking of putting them on D9 (IIRC) of the RAMPS board so they only run during the print process.