Hi all… newbie here. Got my first printer a couple weeks back and have been hooked on modifying it ever since. Talked the wife into letting me buy the Maker Select Plus and i dont think she knew I would start tearing into it like I have been. Hoping to get some validation on some ideas from the great folks here as well to make sure I am not going down the wrong path.
Original printer: Maker Select Plus 3D
Thoughts: Good printer but not great. After lots of non stop printing the print bed became warped with a wicked frown. This led me to try and figure out ways of leveling it. I also felt like the extruder was lacking so I replaced it with a Flexion. In my extended research I came across lots of praise of the Duet products and my brain started going crazy. I saw they also worked with a BLTouch and I just had to have one.
Path going forward:
I am stripping the electronics out of the 3P and replacing the controller with the DuetWifi. I also ordered and will be using the PanelDue 7i since I couldnt find much in the way of keeping the existing touch LCD without writing firmware, which felt like more work than it was worth. I will be adding some drag chain guides as well for cable management and as mentioned the BLTouch for the Z.
Eventually I would like to build a CoreXY box with a bigger print area and some better motors, but for the time being this is what I have.
So.. question 1 should be easy. Will these steppers work ok? Ive seen documentation about the steppers being a minimum of 1.2a and these seem shy of that.
E/X/Y - C17HD40102-01N - 1.02a?
Z - C17HD6039-06N - .39a? (seems really low)
Also I came up with the vref (using the duet's .051 resistors) as:
E/X/Y - .41616
Z - .15912
Now with the DuetWifi its recommended to run the Z in series with the plugs which I plan to do. Other systems they double the voltage to Z so i am guessing that with them being in serial I can just leave it at the 90% of .15912.
As for the BLTouch I have seen a couple threads on hooking them up so I should be OK there. I will run the wire ahead of time and just not connect them till I have the mount printed. The mount I have chosen will be mounted to the back side of the extruder bearing guide. Id rather have it as close as possible to the nozzle but with the fans and motor, this seems best. Otherwise I have to build a mount for the second blower to mount to the back of the bearing guide and do the BLTouch to the front but that may push it too far forward on the Y.
Second question is about the speed of the motors after this upgrade. With stock they claimed 150mms which was way too fast for their controller it seemed. I had run normally at:
Print: 40
Infill: 50
Travel: 80
Initial: 20
Would the upgraded controller and drivers allow a faster yet still quality print?
Any other suggestions? I am hoping to start wiring it all up starting next week. I need to get some wire connectors still.
Oh and I am going to start also designing a "case" for the LCD and DuetWifi. I am thinking I can build it to fit the front of the 3P and mount to the two screws in the faceplate. It will have 2x25mm fans to blow down the back of the Duet for cooling and hopefully it should be only about 70-80mm thick in total, depending on clearance for the LCD so not terrible.