Is there a need to upgrade my stepper drivers?

[izeman]

@KenW I see. Good to know that the board is fine.
I don't know if the TMC2130 are more prone to overheating than any others. Hence my question. If there are some that can handle more amps at lower heat than they may be a better choice. But we'll see how they perform.

TBH the enclosure may only be installed every now and then. There is no need for it when printing PLA. But I want to be able to print ABS/ASA/PC. And if I print those I may print at reduced speed. That should bring heat down as well?

[A Former User]

@izeman I enclosed the printer in coroplast twinwall. If you have the tent type enclosure it is larger so you will not get as hot inside. But will also be heating the electronics since the whole inside is warm. On mine the electronics bay is underneath and separate from the heated area. The heating plate on yours is on top so it should not heat the electronics to high if you zip the flap closed.

I started on mine because my heating plate was basically a potato chip. Decided I also wanted faster heating and while looking found the zerog hydra mod. So mod one was done and now I have a thick cast aluminum bed with a line powered heater and 3 point leveling.

Probably did not really need mod two but what the heck why not. So the Mercury one.1 conversion was also installed. And after it was done it became obvious it would be easy to enclose so mod three.

In other words, warning, you are about to redo your whole printer. It can't be helped, it just happens.

Resistance is futile.

[A Former User]

@izeman Also, is yours the plus or Ender 5? If it is the plus I printed all the ASA and ABS parts without an enclosure.Printed in a area with no air current and over 75 degrees F and used the draft shield option in Cura . Kept the print area 2 inches inside the bed all the way around and printed ASA at 255c with the bed set to 110c. Worked fine , no lifting, all parts were strong. So did not even need the giant plastic bag trick some use.

Might be partially due to the goop used to adhere parts to the bed. It is 5 grams of VP/VA copolymer mixed into 1 pint of 50% rubbing alcohol. Sprayed 3 coats on the PEI bed and they stuck so well I had to use the freezer trick to release them.

[A Former User]

@izeman For example, here are two ASA prints done on an unenclosed Ender 3 It does have a PEI bed and the hotend has a titanium heatbreak so it can reach higher temperatures.

The part is to solve a problem with the Mercury one printer. I had to remove the parts used to lower the front bar on it to install the 2 front Z assemblies. As a result I can't easily watch the hotend anymore.

So these are combination bar lowerer/belt tensioners so I can lower the font bar again. Could not print them on the larger enclosed printer due to the extruder problem.

Do I get an award for the messiest workshop?

[droftarts]

@KenW said in Is there a need to upgrade my stepper drivers?:

Do I get an award for the messiest workshop?

Yes, yes you do!
Ian

[dc42]

@droftarts you haven't seen mine yet

[izeman]

@dc42 said in Is there a need to upgrade my stepper drivers?:

@droftarts you haven't seen mine yet

@dc42 @KenW You all got NO idea. Mine EASILY tops your's !! But I'm to frightened to post a picture of it

@KenW This is an Ender5 non plus. I heard of printing with draft shield. I may try that. And I also have used ABS slurry before. Sticks like hell, especially when using raft, but gives a bad surface quality. When I printed PC this sticked sooo good that when the piece was contracting the magnetic bed lifted !! (but the piece was still attached).

EDIT: Diving a little more into this juice/glue/slurry stuff it seems I made some slurry, but should have used juice instead. It was just too thick - but sticked well

[A Former User]

@izeman I tried using the ABS juice but it tends to leave a messy finish to the print surface. Plus you have to match colors. The super hairspray goop does not do either of those but is a bit harder to apply as it wants to bead up if you are not careful when applying it. I have two version, the one normally used is the VA/VP copolymer mix. I also use another that cannot be used on glass beds as it will pull chunks out of them. It does work well on PEI so I use it for large ASA prints.

[izeman]

@KenW exactly what I experienced. It leaved a bad surface. But maybe be juice was a bit too thick and it was applied unevenly. I will try to make some new one and apply with a pump spray bottle. We'll see how this goes. This together with a new roll of ASA and an enclosure should hopefully give the results I need.

And btw: THIS is the bench of HORROR:

[droftarts]

@izeman said in Is there a need to upgrade my stepper drivers?:

THIS is the bench of HORROR

Nah, I can still see bench space!

Ian