Posts made by snoozer

@grizewald, about the glue spray. I always apply that in the shower. I usually wash the glass in the kitchen sink with hot water and dry it. Then apply the glue in the shower to prevent glue mist on all the surroundings. The fact float glass is super cheap and can be got in any size combined with the ease of printing so far I don't think I go back to anything else to be honest. Have not yet tried ABS and PA. I did PC, PLA, PETG. Carbon filled XT-CF20 all work great.

Sorry I keep going on about this glass printing, I don't even bother sometime to wash the surface. I can see exactly where I printed before and just position the next part different in the Slicer, it is really so easy. For fun I just print one of my bearing blocks in ABS to give that a shot. I don't want to open my PA just now cause I have no dry box and its wet season here now......

Jan P.

Thanks @Phaedrux and @grizewald for your comments. Re z drive, I will use a single NEMA 23. I have received the V-Core 3 screw upgrade. They originally use it with 3 NEMA 17 and also suggest to drive them independent for bed levelling. I have decided against that. I have received my trust bearings now as well and have started to make up bearing blocks that mount instead of the steppers on the metal mounts. See pic.

So the lead screw goes through the bottom of that prototype black block, next radial bearing and on top of the outer ring rests the thrust bearing which again takes the load from the clamp on belt pulley. So I will have two on the forward side and one centered in the back. All three lead screws then joined by a loop belt plus one idler for tensioning.. I am not yet sure if a triangular belt drive has enough engagement on the teeth of they pulleys, if not I have to add a few idlers that wrap the belt around the pulleys more for better engagement of teeth. I intend to drive the rear single lead screw from a top mounted NEMA 23 or if that is not practical use a very short belt loop to drive the lead screw from a separate pulley and the motor in the base of the printer, not yet sure which I do. When I bought the pulleys I assumed its easy to get 3mm pitch belt but turns out that is not really the case, I have to make a mock up 1st now to see what length I need. Also forgot to order the NEMA 23 and motor mount (silly me).

Re piezo, guess that was kind of clear just I did not cop on to that, it needs a sharp impulse. Now with the glass bed it has never missed. Works very reliable now and wile bed levelling never probes on point more than 2 times, before it could take 4-6 times cause of the flexing nature of the flimsy light aluminium bed with the spring steel sheet. So for now I am all happy with the precision of the piezo. I will try again the other hotend mount with the build in Andromeda piezo.

Oh that sounds bad with the Mosquito, are you working in hot environment ? What you write re cooling issues would suggest issues will come up in an enclosed printer. I would not mind a 40 or 50mm fan as long as they can run silent. Or even a blower could them be a compacter, less noisy option. For an enclosed printer it may even make sense to have some sort of light weight duct with external fan to get cool air from outside the enclosure. Just thinking out loud, not there yet. The Linear Rail version will get the BMG M and Mosquito.

Have Fun.
Jan

PS: Re the termistor on top, that would not to control the heater but to delay the print start till the heat has gone through the materials. I find some way to implement that in the "Start G-code" section of the Slicer. IDK yet how I best implement that practically with a pocket cut in glass or whet ever, I probably have to experiment a bit.

My 2 NEMA 17 can drive Z WELL fast enough to trigger the z-probe. I just don't want to have huge inertia behind it with high speed if I can avoid it and go slower.

I have that RatRig upgrade ordered along with longer lead screws and bearings, 3GT pulleys, idlers etc..... Have to find thrust bearings now and closed loop belts of suitable length.

Also just noticed as a very nice side effect of having a 230V AC bed heater now I can use a fanless 24V PSU. But I have to find a way to attach as thermistor to the glass surface. It does take a lot of time for the heat to come trhough the 10mm aluminium plate and the 5mm glass. Maybe just a "puck" style thing with the termistor embedded that I wire up to another termistor input to wait till its warm enough before starting the print. Was considering a small embedded termistor in the aluminium plate but that would still be way off.

Jan

@grizewald , yes, quick change hotend was on my list as well but its for now way to complex to get done nice with 3d printed parts. If I ever get a little milling machine maybe but not for now. I agree re the Mosquito, the nozzle is only one aspect, the mechanical build just seems much better quality and I am totally off the titan extruder, BMG M and Mosquito is my next bigger plan (Probably for the linear rail RatRig coming in December)

Anyway, I have finally my nice and heavy (maybe to heavy) aluminium bed mounted. I am still running on 2 steppers and it does work quiet OK but I had to increase the motor current to 2A and cant let it drop below 50% in idle to maintain position reliable. The glass plates are a dream to work with, SO easy to have a few of them, let cool down, print off, clean and ready to go while the next print is already on the way. I do have to tweak a few things by the looks of it. In compare to the Prusa PEI plate the lines of filament don't seen to blend into each other that well. I am at the very beginning now on glass, so I am sure I get there. Mesh bed levelling is MUCH better now, the piezo seems to respond very well to the hard glass on the solid mounted aluminium plate, much better than the spring loaded thin old bed with the Prusa surface. With the weight of this bed now I really need to have the lead screws linked. The bed drops when I switch of the printer and its does not drop quiet equal on both sides. For now I have a mechanical support where I drive the bed to before I power down so it rests on that instead of uncontrolled dropping.

I have done a few more iterations of a new hotend mount for piezo use. Also includes the Andromeda piezo in one of the designs but all of them have in common that they dont react to gradual pressure application. Sudden pressure yes but not if I drive Z to slow. I am not sure yet how to overcome that.

So the next on the list is:

• 3rd lead screw RatRig upgrade
• Belt drive for Z axix
• Improvements to bed insulation and glass hold down clamps
• learn printing on glass

Have Fun !
Jan P.

I have just put all parts for the print bed on my bench here. I can't remember what I have read re isolation now. Looking from top down what would be the best order of layers:

1. Aluminium plate (bed)
2. Heater
3. Glass fiber reinforced aluminium foil
4. mineral wool
5. Cork
6. Mechanical layer to keep it all in place.

I am not clear about the aluminium, would that be 1st after the heater or last before the mechanical layer ? I would use the original old RatRig print bed as mechanical layer to close of the bottom I think.

Thanks
Jan P.

PS: I would use the aluminium 1st after the heater to reflect heat back rather than absorb in the other materials. Just my logic which may be wrong ofc.

@grizewald , thanks for the suggestion. The reason I don't use independent motor drives is that I am convinced once the belts are in place on the lead screws like in @deckingman's printer there is simply no need to drive them separate. I am using a (or will be once I have it machined) 10mm aluminium plate as heated bed and 5mm float glass. I think it will be very rigid. The maximum height difference would come from the pitch of the lead screw over one notch of the belt. I am very confident that can be dealt with with the mesh bed levelling. Also now that I have seen they will have a linear rail version of the RatRig soon (November / December apparently) I don't want to spend any money on the extension board, I rather build the new version once I have this one done.

Re piezos, I am not using a E3D V6, I have a Titan Aero, my mount would be very different. The reasons behind that choice have been mainly the gain in build height and less leverage on the nozzle due to the shorter compacter design. My next build will NOT have a Titan Aero again, in fact I probably go away from E3D and look at the BMG-M with the Mosquito hotend. I had issues with clogging (had the fan speed to low) and the extruder is often missing steps at higher speeds (not a pancake motor). So for now I am OK with the piezo cowboy style mount cause it works. I will revisit that once I have the print bed finished. I am not happy with my hotend mount anyway, its very hard to service. I would love a modular (possibly magnetic) mount.

Anyway, optical end stops 1st, proper bed next.

Regards
Jan P.

Hello after a long time,

summer is over and social life is returning to a lower level of intensity. I have not touched the printer all summer, was just to much RL stuff going on. Back at it now since a few days.

So the state of play right now:

• Precision Piezo is set up and working
• Still original print bed
• Optical end stops in progress as we speak.

The piezo probe took me some time to get working. The issue I had mostly was it would not trigger at low speed but super sensitive on acceleration and even walk by. For now I ended up wedging the piezo between the V-Core metal carrier and the printed hotend mount. My attempts with a "pocket" for the piezo failed every time and location. I have a bit faster moves now for probing on the Z axis but slowed the X and Y right down between probe points for mesh levelling. Probing the entire bed now can take approx 10 min but thats OK cause it works SUPER good and I don't need to do it every time anyway. The microswitch based end stops for X and Y click, even that click sets off the piezo, so I finally have to get on with my optical end stops. Printing holders now and wipers to pass through.

A more serious mechanical issue with the RatRig design is the fact that I have 2 independent yet from the same driver driven steppers. During my probing fails that caused the entire bed to go out of level alignment. For now to quick fix that issue I print sleeves that go over the Z lead screws to have a fixed level point at the bottom to align this. For a permanent solution I will upgrade to the 3x lead screws and also join the motors with a drive belt, the 3rd lead screw having the belt drive only from the other 2 motors. I may have issued with weight in the end. the aluminium plate with the glass print surface is over 5kg (weighing scales max), so I might have to upgrade the motors or use one big motor to drive the 3 lead screws, not sure yet.

Anyway, I am back on track and I see a linear rail version of this on the horizon. RatRig have that in the pipe.

Have FuN!
Jan P.

Right, I am back to my 1st design (Orange PLA further up in a pic), all I am gaining on the Y axis would be 7mm with the new design or so, cant be bothered. The underslung mount and some others similar lose significant Z height, I prefer not to follow down that road. On top of those issues I have not yet received my machined cast Aluminium plate. The supplier in the UK did not want to send to IRL so I used Parcel Wizard in NI with a UK Address. The supplier had all the details correct as confirmed by mail BUT left some details out on the shipment so now DPD can not associate the delivery to my Parcel Wizard Account....... emails back and forth now for a week...... I nothing happens I order a new plate from IRL this time.

I have been looking a lot more into the Mosquito Magnum and the BMG M, I see a lot of advantages mechanically with that entire idea, The heat-break no longer has to deal with any mechanical load and no more frustration on nozzle changes with spinning heatblock. The nozzle change drama is what stops me from using bigger nozzles on big prints, I hardly ever need fine detail, just strong and fast is what I need most times. The downside is the price, the lot with extruder, hotend, heater etc comes to approx 380 Euro. Have to sleep a few nights over that.

So all in all a bunch of delays by choice and inflicted from outside.
Jan

@Phaedrux

I would find that a waste of build height to be honest, That vertical compactness of the Titan Aero was THE main reason why I got it. The BMG./Mosquito design could be placed mostly above the gantry to maintain build height. I think that I have to accept the limitations at this point. What annoys me the most is that the belt fastening/tensioning is part of the hotend/extruder mount. In any future design I would make sure mechanics are independent of hotend and other components.

Have FuN!
Jan

Hi,

I really took some time off the printer and started from scratch with the Titan Aero mount including the piezo and having a detachable extruder from the base plate. Some preliminary work is shown below. Base plate and bolted on extruder mount with a flat part for the piezo, it can be seen slightly visible. A couple of guides for the PTFE tube and wiring. A bit of a support for a wire guide will bolt on to the back that's what the M3 nuts are for. On the side is also the mount for my (still) mechanical end stop. Playing with it in hand pushing down on a surface it is VERY sensitive but wont know for sure until its mounted.

After all that I have to say I am not sure I would use a Titan Aero next time. I find the mount requires just to much asymmetric shapes and it is not easy to get the nozzle centered. Also what I have notices is yes, it is very compact vertically but its not ideal horizontally. Have been looking at the BMG M extruder now with Mosquito hotend, that looks way easier due to the symmetry of everything and yes its way more expensive...... next printer

I have to take a step back for a few days. I was spending way to many hours getting nowhere on Fusion 360 for my Titan Aero mount with piezo. Turns out to difficult to print or to bulky. Having the flue as well in the moment. I leave it rest for a few days. Still waiting for final deliveries for optical endstops, tooling plate, 230V AC heater etc......

Be back soon
Jan

@deckingman, You mentioned 3DLAC as printing aid you use on your glass surface, I have been looking at it seems there are 2 versions, an aerosol can called 3DLAC and a pump spray called 3DLAC Plus. Which is the one you use successful ? I have ordered 4 float glass surfaces now 320x320x6mm at 27 Euro. I find that is dead cheap, really no point if wrecking my head over flex plates. With the machined aluminium its the first time I try my virtual UK shipping address provided by DPD. I hope that works out.

Have FuN!
Jan

PS: The glass comes from a local supplier, If I get a ride tomorrow I can pick it up. At that price I assume its measured with a measuring tape and hand cut. Probably have to find a way to make the edges less dangerous

To have a workshop would be the only ever reason why could think of buying a place...... happy for you to be able to get those machines and run them at home.

Have FuN!
Jan

Hello,

I am finally getting somewhere. After resolving some of the issues with the Titan Clone Mount I spend some time getting Slic3rPE set-up. My approach to that was basically a mix of the Prusa settings and some input from the a Railcore II300 profile I found online. I can not claim that I would know all the details what each parameter actually does but so far I have a working printer setup and print setup for 0.2mm and 0.1mm layer height. One of the things I struggled with most was priming of the nozzle prior to the actual print. The way Prusa does it did not really work so I have taken that from a Railcore profile. I can run both print profiles at 100% with very nice looks and at 200% for a very fast print. I have speeds set to 60mm/s for perimeters 30mm/s for external perimeters and 80mm/s for infill and support, 20mm/s for the 1st layer. Some distortions are noticeable after sharp corners for example printing a cube. Printing it at 200% speed that obviously gets worse. It is in no way so bad that it would worry me for now but something that shows there is some unwanted vibration. I will look into that once I have my final bed finally on the printer.

Another issue I ran into was heat in the wrong place of the hotend. I had the Titan Aero fan set to 70% to reduce noise. That was not a good idea, on an longer print I started missing steps on the extruder and it finally ground through the filament. The problem was the fan was to slow to provide enough cooling. So my heatbreak was clogged and I had to disassemble the Titan Aero to remove the blockage. This has not happen since I run at 100% fan speed.

I have no good light here to take pictures of prints, I take them with me to the office and post pictures later today or tomorrow.

Have FuN!
Jan

Very frustrating day today...... the design above was evidently made around a clone Titan Aero, the original has issues fitting on the mount. I needed longer bolts for the stepper mount and the hotend is shorter apparently, I had to trim some of the part cooling duct off. The belt attachment is for ppl with a LOT of patience but I did get it done in the end. A nice baseline design but I will do that again from scratch and fix the issues I found. So far I can not recommend it for an original E3D Titan Aero. On the positive side, its very compact and gives a few mm more print area.

Jan

I have thought of redesigning my hotend/extruder mount to use less space and also to include a piezo probe. Someone else has done a pretty good looking design already.

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3600079

I have exported the design from OnShape to be able to work on it in Fusion 360. This should resolve my desire for a more compact mount including piezo probe. I share it once I am done.

Jan

PS: I have abandoned the idea of a quick release tool holder for this printer. Maybe I look into that idea again on my next build.

@deckingman I know what you mean, in my original design I had a small slot and hole designed in my CAD model for the thermistor. So for my current plan I thought of either having a hole in the center from below or as you do from the side.

Jan

@deckingman and WOW again re the "floating" hotend. Just looked through the blog. Have you chosen the mechanical precision approach over lets say a piezo cause that's what you can do best or is there other considerations that stopped you from using a piezo probe ?

Jan

@bearer the bed of the Prusa mk3 is a PCB heater, no solid aluminium. The magnets are embedded in that, It feels like a pretty strong pull from the magnets, I doubt you get the same result easy through an aluminium plate unless you leave a very thin thickness of material where the magnets are. But I guess testing would not be that hard if you had a piece of aluminium cut off or so.

Jan

@deckingman wow, that's well build and thanks for the detailed explanation. Having three lead screws is probably the 100% solution to have straight movement. I have as per the V-Core kit 2x 2020 v-slot extrusions where the bed in hooked in on the back. Two lead screws a bit off center towards the back. This WILL flex along the way on the 2020 v-slot from Z-min to Z-max. I am not sure how much ofc but its designed that way. I was always skeptical using belts to connect lead screws to transfer drive torque, I would have considered it to keep the drives in sync. Given your aim for perfection I assume possible flex in the belt drive with the load of the bed and print is not a real issue ? I particularly like the way you have the bed guide "rails" flexible connection to your bed, nothing can get bend or stuck that way. The play in those "ball joints" is small enough to not matter or did you put some pre-tension on ? Your concept with the three lead screws could be implemented on my V-Core as well. I think for this build I stay with the way the V-Core is designed and instead of leveling the entire bed frame structure to precision I maintain the precision adjustment between the aluminium bed and frame with three pre-tensioned springs, bolts and knurled nuts. In the process of the build and the ongoing addition of parts I have already settled for the fact this is only a start for me on the Core XY track. I will stick with the machined aluminium plate and glass surface idea and get that ready to rock. Its really the only thing left now, Piezo probe, aluminium bed and part cooling. Then tuning everything and setting up slicer profiles for different layers heights etc is the big job in my mind. The goal is obviously to make the Prusa as my go-to printer obsolete.

I almost forgot, do you have some aluminium spacers between your aluminium plate and the 2020 v-slot or is the insulation as such the spacer ? Re drilling, I have the use of the bench drill in a friends workshop, Simply drilling holes in the right place and proper angle wont be a problem. Making slots and precise holes for magnets would have been but I am not taking that route, Glass it is.....

Thanks !!!
Jan