Show your MODS

[sniffle]

Hi all

That is my first post here.

I finished my 12" last week. At the moment I am still adjusting und configuring it.

For my first mod I made a frame for the lcd screen. More look than usefullness.

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:718725



BR
PGX3S

very nice!, I have soem mods to show off in the near future but can't yet :-)

[sniffle]

I made something very quick today, and it's available on thingiverse

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:741218

A modification for the stock makerfarm spool holder to allow the use of Taulman spools.

[midnitmike]

Since this thread is about mods to the MakerFarm i3 I thought I'd share the ones I incorporated into my build. Besides using standoffs to mount the Rumba board instead the supplied bolts, I think the first one was to do away with the zip ties that hold the end stop switches. You gotta love zip ties, but when it comes to mounting these switches there had to be a better way. When rummaging through my parts bin I came up with a set of 2mm or 3mm bolts that fit perfectly, all I had to do was countersink the head into the plywood bracket.

Endstop.jpg
These new switches presented other problems as well, since the actuating arm is shorter than the old model I had to reverse the direction of the Y bed endstop so the "flag" is up, and add a piece of scrap plywood to the inside of the X carriage to actuate the switch .

After I began printing I noticed my build plate needed constant adjusting to stay calibrated, and the culprit was among other things loose bolts holding the concentric adjuster. According the build document you set the tension on these bolts like all the others, tighten the nyloc until you feel the bearing begin to bind and then back off a little. For me this didn't work all that well as the nyloc was barely engaged at this point and would eventually loosen up. This was remedied by swapping out the stock bolts for a longer versions and adding a nut between the bearing and concentric. This made several improvements possible at once because now the bearing rode on the shank of the bolt rather than the much smaller threaded portion, and I was able to adjust the two parts individually.
IMAG2529.jpg

Another modification to the Y-Bed was to do away with the spring loaded adjustments for the build plate and go with a solid mount. As before longer bolts were substituted and locked in place with nuts. A simple lock nut system was employed to both adjust and hold the heat bed in position, once set they do not move. I reused the springs since they provide just enough resistance to hold that lower nut in place.
Heatbed.jpg

I also added an inch of fiberglass insulation to this after my first Y-Bed warped beyond repair. This may be particular to the 12" model because of the larger heat bed and Y-Bed, in any case MakerFarm has already come out with a mod to help address the issue.

After untold hundreds of filament jam and weeks of frustration I was finally able to resolve the issue..it seems that not all Hexagons are created equal and I happen to get one of those. While I was clearing yet another jam I noticed that after I had reassembled the hot end the barrel and nozzle hole were slightly out of alignment. Chamfering the lead of the nozzle resolved the problem but not before I redesigned the extruder and hob bolt. I had tried using a small tube to take up the slack in the oversized hole of the extruder, and that helped to some degree. I wanted a more permanent solution so I modified the extruder stl file so that it fit the 1.75mm filament...I know this design is supposed to be a one size fits all, but I'm not convinced that's the right way to go. Here is a MakerFarm branded extruder designed for 1.75mm filament.

1.75mm Extruder mod(2).stl

I also made a hob bolt to fit this filament and I was surprised at how easy this was. I used a previously printed extruder block to hold the 5/16 bolt in place with bearings on both ends so that it turned freely. I then used a Dremel tool and large cut-off wheel to notch the bolt in exactly the right spot. To make the teeth I took a new hack saw blade and set it in the groove, and with lots of down pressure began to roll the bolt back and forth with the hacksaw blade. In just a few minutes the teeth began to take shape and once I was satisfied with the results installed my new hob bolt...it's been working flawlessly ever since.

And lastly I modified the fan shroud to keep the hot end hot...the stock one was too short in my opinion and made keeping the temperature of the hot end up during large prints almost impossible.
ExtendedShroud.stl

Those are my simple mods.. I hope some of you find them useful.

Mike

[DrMacZed]

Howdy all,

I was having horrible warping problems when printing ABS. From this great forum I learned that the root cause of my warping issues was cold, my printer lives in my workshop in the garage and tho heated was way too cold for things to print properly.
I decided to build an enclosure for my i3v 8 inch printer. I started with a simple cardboard box lined with aluminum foil as a test, and it worked wonders my prints improved by leaps and bounds.
I then decided I needed to build a prettier enclosure this is the result:

IMG_4123.jpg

It's made from 3/4" aluminum angle for the frame the side panels are 1/4" foam board with aluminum foil glued to the inside faces. The corner pieces and the hinges are 3d prints designed by me. I'm pretty happy with the result it holds heat well and though compact everything fits where i wanted.

IMG_4124.jpg

IMG_4127.jpg

IMG_4129.jpg

IMG_4131.jpg

Thanks for looking.

[kd7eir]

Very nice work.

[RobH2]

Very nice enclosure. Great touch to move the display to the door. Did it completely solve the warping on that same part, meaning, was all the nice hard work worth it?

[DrMacZed]

Very nice enclosure. Great touch to move the display to the door. Did it completely solve the warping on that same part, meaning, was all the nice hard work worth it?

Thank you. As for knowing if the enclosure will eliminate or at least greatly reduce warping, only time will tell. I haven't had a chance to calibrate my printer yet to test it properly. I did run a small test print after stuffing it in the enclosure however, and it didn't warp at all; print quality was pretty sub par though.

[RobH2]

No doubt it's going to help. ABS warps so badly that I've switched to PET, but, you give up smoothing with Acetone. As dangerous as that is, it's still less dangerous and the chemicals to smooth PET. Lately I've even had bad warping with PET and it really is warp friendly. So, I'm thinking about an enclosure too. That's the reason I ask. I don't want to go through all the work and still say, "crap, that warped." I'll be curious to hear more results from you. I'd like to see if you can print that same part in ABS exactly the way you did before you built the enclosure and see if the warp is mitigated.

[Mjolinor]

I closed my Wanhao and stuck a hair dryer in, removed the heated bed and connected the hair dryer to the conections (through a relay) ABS never warps at all now.

[AbuMaia]

I, too, am designing an enclosure for my printer, as it's getting relocated to the basement. I don't have any materials yet, just the plans. It'll be made out of 3/4 inch plywood, all the electronics mounted on the outside, with a RaspberryPi for printer control, camera and web access.printerbox4.jpgprinterbox2.jpg
The printer will be mounted to a square of plywood which can slide in and out of the box for maintenance. Lights and a webcam will be on the inside so prints can be monitored without needing to open the box. Internal dimensions will be 2ft cubed, plus a little extra in the Z to accommodate the printer shelf. I intend to have some flexible tubing connecting to the rear of the box and to the hotend fan to prevent overheat jams.