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    A highly modified Anycubic Predator named Predator

    My Duet controlled machine
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    • GuruSMIundefined
      GuruSMI
      last edited by

      Hey there,

      i want to show you what i modified about my first 3D Printer.

      I'm a technician and IT-Specialist/Project manager out of germany. Because of a healing wound i'm at home since Dec 2019 and i'm sitting in a wheel chair. But that wasn't a reason to stop the project "Predator". Happily i have a feeling for technics in general.

      In October i bought an Anycubic Predator. It was my first 3D Printer ever. I first printed in PLA and researhed about the quality of that predator, I found out that this machine in general has some issues. So it was clear to me that i need to modify the machine. I made an Excel Sheet to know how much i hat to pay and how much i would have to. Also i got with that sheet a buyers list. and that one has grown rapidly. I work with Cura and with 3D Builder to remix models.

      I planned to exchange the original Trigorilla Pro Board by a Duet2Ethernet- The Effector should be exchanged by a SmartEffector because of the Z-Probe. I did want to reseat Filament Sensor and also change the Extruder. I changed the steppers towards three Nema17 with 65ncm. The thermistor was changed to a PT100. The Fans where substituted by SunOn's. The mechanics went over to linear rails with (additionally) MagBallArms by Haydb Huntley. The original Ultrabase was changed to a magnetic springsteel with Buildtak and also Buildtak PEI sheets applied. When i started i decided to substitute nearby all cables with ones with silicone insulation in the size of AWG20. I did want to rebuild it in logical groups step by step.But then the chaos started. The lackered V-Slots lost their color and so they got uneven. My starting point was the Blog of Jay_UK. Quite a good point for. But i did not copy at all. I also have an enclosure and new feet (Tennis ball ones) made. He's not finished yet.

      Till now the project did take over 4 months. As the Predator was my only 3D Printer i first did print all the parts in PLA+ by Sunlu. Now, in a last step i print all the parts in 3D Jake NiceABS and exchange the PLA-ones. Nearby finished (He's printing again since a few days) i already think about changing a few topics. I think about using a Duet3 Board instead of my Duet2Ethernet. Also i think about switching over to a direct drive extruder (Orbiter V1.5). Also i will have to remix a big amount of parts to get the changes into an integrated state. I.e. i have printed parts mounted on printed parts.

      There are a few more things to do especially on configuration (i.e. speed of printing) and macros. But he is working now. After he is finished up a bit more i want to build a kit like RatRig V-Core or a HEvoRT.

      At the starting point i did want to build two PC Case to hang them onto a wall. Additionally two water radiators for the cooling and soume cases for the cables etc. I did want to buy a small printer to get an own built. Now i'm still stucking at that "small printer"... 😉

      jay_s_ukundefined Pickettundefined 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 3
      • jay_s_ukundefined
        jay_s_uk @GuruSMI
        last edited by

        @gurusmi glad my blog was helpful

        Owns various duet boards and is the main wiki maintainer for the Teamgloomy LPC/STM32 port of RRF. Assume I'm running whatever the latest beta/stable build is

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
        • Pickettundefined
          Pickett @GuruSMI
          last edited by

          @gurusmi Im new to all of this and the Duet 2 WiFi was the first Duet board I got but it was a clone and could not connect it to save my life. I returned that and went onto the Duet 3 Mini 5+ after learning about it. Firstly you do not need the Duet 3 6HC unless you plan to use Nema 23's or 34's due to the 6HC standing for 6 High Current stepper drivers in this case TMC 5160's. The Duet 3 Mini 5+ is the best value and it has 5 TMC 2209's which are good up to 2amps I believe and is sufficient for the three 60mm Nema 17's and one 48mm Nema 17's I am running. Plus I could always add an expansion board and or daughterboard if I needed something more out of it but for a basic cartesian running 4 to 5 stepper motors the D3M5+ is the way to go IMHO but honestly also if I could afford it I would go with the 6HC granted I had some extra spending money. The feature I just figured out literally 30 minutes ago that helped me update my RRF from 3.2beta+1 to 3.3 was the fact that I could press the reset button twice really quickly which then would show the Status LED flash from bright to dim to indicate it is ready to flash the new firmware. A new drive will pop up on your PC (oh yeah the Duet 3 Mini needs to be connected to your PC via a Micro USB cable sorry lols) so after the new DUET drive pops up you can then use it to open it up and view what should be 3 files one of the files being named CURRENT.uf2 with the word CURRENT meaning the CURRENT RRF so anyways all I did was copy and paste the new RRF 3.3 onto the newly created DUET drive and then Status LED flashes really quickly indicating it is writing the new firmware onto the EEPROM I believe dont quote me on where it is writing to I just think it might be the EEPROM but anyways the new RRF 3.3 has been loaded and now I can finally connect my RPi 4b onto the Duet 3 Mini without issues now that the board is no longer running 3.2beta+1 wheeeewwwwwwww what a relief lols!!!!!!!!!

          Good Luck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

          GuruSMIundefined 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
          • GuruSMIundefined
            GuruSMI @Pickett
            last edited by

            @pickett
            Chance favors the prepared mind. - Louis Pasteur. 😉

            In the question of which board to use i think primarilly about the PWM-Fan Outputs. I will be in need of at least 4 PWM fan groups. For hotend, partfan, the chamber and also the electronics box. I already have a thermistor for the chamber temperature installed. I also started with a cloned Duet2 but then I ordered an original one and i saw the differences in quality (i.e. soldering). I will keep on the originals. This printer did cost me a hell. If i would be married my wife would have killed me about that.

            @jay_s_uk
            It was definitly a huge help. I got a real good overview about the printer and the work. After the lecture i was able to say that i was able to work on the planned modifications. I got an idea what i want to print and what i need for. I don't want to be limited by a machine. Getting told all the time that i cannot. I heard that so often that i cannot do it because of a minor reason. I can't hear it anymore. I planned my hotend to be able to print at 500°C. Possibly I will never use that temperature but I'm able to. In my plans i will use the Predator for ABS/ASA and PLA in all the different flavors, Btw. I forgot to say that I use a volcano hotend with a PT100 and a 60/70W heater cartridge. I want to print the Parts of my own built printer on the Predator. Also i produce some presents (figures,...) for christmas and eastern. It is a hobby for me with no intend to earn money with that machine.

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
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