Tired of Mod, tweak, tune, repair, rinse, repeat...

[macguyver]

It's been a while since I've updated this, but figured I would update it with what I've learned so far.

The speed is absolutely amazing. Most filaments now print at 250-300mm/s with a direct drive titan aero. I think there is more speed to be milked, but I'll need to do to a dual drive extruder and the apocalypse is slowing E3d down.

It has only skipped steps twice in the entire year. Both times the acceleration was at 8,000. 6,000 she would shake a bit, even in her weight class. It can handle 3-4,000 fine, but with ghosting on every edge. Currently it is at 1,800. I'm currently using 6mm belts and the next printer will have 8-12mm. I would/will probably make the next one 1-200lbs/100kg heavier too.

Reliability. This is after all the main reason I built the thing. I went through the other day and started checking fasteners. Not a single one has come loose. Neither has any of the brackets, connectors, etc. I have found myself leaning on the bed while oiling a rails a few times, and when I check the level it's still perfect. I would say this category has been a success.

Temperature. I had always theorized that corexy would heatup the chamber above the build plate before the rest of the chamber. What I didn't suspect was that these 2 zones would never balance out. Above the build plate will always be 10-20 degrees warmer than below. This could also be a side effect of the electronics chamber sharing a common wall. That said, I have seen chamber temperatures of up to 58C with a build plate temp of 110. Most times however it bounces between 45-50. This is with polycarbonate side panels. I will eventually insulate the build chamber and get that up higher, though I have yet to see any prints crack.

Dialing in filaments. I've found most slicers dial in settings like retraction in 0.2mm increments by default. I have found that with many filaments I need to dial that in at 0.01mm increments. I had an ASA that would leave blobs with a negative restart distance of 0.04, and holes at 0.09.

Electronics. This is often the most neglected part of builds. First off, DIN rails. They are amazing. Mounting all my electronics to the side panel makes them wonderful to work on, add things, troubleshoot, etc. Since it is cooled by fans and sharing a wall with the printer however, it is pulling heat away from the build chamber. I will eventually move them to a drawer at the bottom of the printer.

The biggest thing I learned is it is going to take longer than you think. There is a lot of information out there for what I would classify as hobbyist grade printers. While a lot of that wisdom will carry over, a lot of it won't and you need to figure out what does or doesn't. You often pay more for this when you buy a machine, than the machine it's self.

[Phaedrux]

Let's see it print!

For the chamber temps a fan would help even out the temp differential.

For retraction, try using firmware retraction. Makes setting and tuning retraction on the fly much easier.

[macguyver]

Made a few more changes. Added a Chamber heater. Didn't have room for the relay for said heater with my previous setup, so I moved all the electronics to a drawer. with plenty of din rails, and room for more in the future...

I upgraded the stepper wires to 20 gauge. This was a challenge. The jst connectors that nema 1.7's use are for 24 gauge max. It was difficult and took some time to get the connectors over the insulation.

I upgraded my part cooling fan to a 5020 and this thing is blowing more than the 4 pack of 5015s I had before it combined!

I've moved over to Prusaslicer from Simplify3d. S3d was giving me issues with at the start of extrusions on some parts. PS seems to have fixed those, though I will find out for sure this week when I print one of the parts that was giving me a lot of problems. Imo PS seems to handle higher speeds better than S3d, and the time estimates are closer to reality.

[lael]

Very neat! I'd be interested in seeing a list of all the things you 'fortified' or considered and made adjustments to in order to get the rigidity you now like.

A much easier request though - which 5020 fan are you using?

[deckingman]

@macguyver I like Din rails - did something similar when I fitted a DC UPS

[MikeS]

@macguyver that machine is awesome but i think you underestimated the weight of the moving gantry. Looking at the prints there are a lot of problems caused by too much speed/acceleration value. Considering that a normal core xy is printing at 150mm/s without that it would be a limitation for that build size. However, also at lower speed, i'm sure that this machine is going to be a really reliable workhorse! Keep up the great work.

[o_lampe]

@macguyver
Do you have any problems with heat-expansion on your gantry?
I've just heated up my chamber to 50C and noticed the gantry moved much easier by hand, than I was used to.
I've fixed the crossbeam of my gantry only on one side and let the other side float in one direction because I was afraid of heat-expansion when I built it. But still it runs tighter, when cold.
IMHO, the belts are now your weakest link. My philosophy " Sturdy frame, but lightweight gantry"

[mrehorstdmd]

@o_lampe As the frame expands, the pulleys and motors move father apart, increasing tension on the belts (assuming the belts don't expand much when warmed). That may be what causes the increased effort to move the mechanism when it's warm.

I keep one end of the X axis fixed on the Y axis pulley block and the other end is mounted using a second bearing block on the X axis rail. That allows the Y axis rails and pulley blocks to move apart as the mechanism heats up while preventing motion in any direction but X.

I've never paid attention to the force required to move the mechanism over temperature changes. It works fine at all temperatures.

[macguyver]

@lael said in Tired of Mod, tweak, tune, repair, rinse, repeat...:

Very neat! I'd be interested in seeing a list of all the things you 'fortified' or considered and made adjustments to in order to get the rigidity you now like.

A much easier request though - which 5020 fan are you using?

There are 2 main sources of flex in most frames. The attachment points, and the frame material itself. Gussets and brackets tend to be a bandaid for both of these.

The main goal was to get away from gussets, brackets, and the slop of extrusions for the motion system. The second goal was to make the frame and everything that attaches to it as constrained as possible. Parts like the Z upright, Z steppper/ballscrew mount, and even the belt idlers are aligned and kept rigid and aligned with pins through reamed holes and the entire frame is assembled with M8 bolts.

That makes all the attachment points solid. From there the weak link would be the material of the frame itself, and that's easily solved with bulk. A 4mm plate may flex, if an 18mm plate does, you have bigger problems.

As for the fan. Amazon sent me this one by mistake, and I'm glad they did.
adda ab05012ub200b00 I had ordered a adda ab05012dx200600. The second one they sent me was correct, and does not compare in performance.

[macguyver]

@o_lampe said in Tired of Mod, tweak, tune, repair, rinse, repeat...:

@macguyver
Do you have any problems with heat-expansion on your gantry?
I've just heated up my chamber to 50C and noticed the gantry moved much easier by hand, than I was used to.
I've fixed the crossbeam of my gantry only on one side and let the other side float in one direction because I was afraid of heat-expansion when I built it. But still it runs tighter, when cold.
IMHO, the belts are now your weakest link. My philosophy " Sturdy frame, but lightweight gantry"

no problems with expansion. I used Mic6 for the whole motion system though, so any expansion should happen fairly evenly without any warping.

And yes, belts are weakest link. Next one gets 10-12mm, or rapid traverse ballscrews...

[o_lampe]

@mrehorstdmd said in Tired of Mod, tweak, tune, repair, rinse, repeat...:

I keep one end of the X axis fixed on the Y axis pulley block and the other end is mounted using a second bearing block on the X axis rail.

That's quite elegant!

@macguyver said in Tired of Mod, tweak, tune, repair, rinse, repeat...:

There are 2 main sources of flex in most frames. The attachment points, and the frame material itself.

Right, but there is another thing: moving mass
Keep it low, and the frame can be much lighter with the same result. Or in your case, print much faster with less ringing.

[macguyver]

@o_lampe It turns out that it wasn't a ringing issue. It was the acceleration on the Z axis iirc. I solved that a while ago. I'm now printing at 350mm/s all day long. I have the firmware set to 6000 acceleration for x&y.

[hayseed_byte]

Nice machine! Makes me want to start planning my next build.

[macguyver]

@hayseed_byte

Yeah, I've been planning the next one for a while now. So far the changes on the next one are.

• 12mm belts or I might go real crazy with rapid traverse ball screws...

• Bigger steppers, have to do some research to see if they're worth it.

• A modified E3d tool changer. Going to try to make it double sided. 8-10 tools.

• PEI coat the bed. The Germans call it Dauerdruckplatte. I'll probably see if i can find a local plating company that can do it.

• And a part of me wants to make a robotic arm, though I doubt I'd actually ever use it. That's never stopped me from doing stupid things in the past though...

[gtj0]

Great work!

@macguyver said in Tired of Mod, tweak, tune, repair, rinse, repeat...:

...with plenty of din rails

I always forget about DIN rails, maybe because they're not so common in the US. If I re-arrange Black Beauty's guts, I'll have to remember.

@macguyver said in Tired of Mod, tweak, tune, repair, rinse, repeat...:

I've moved over to Prusaslicer from Simplify3d.

Same here. Simplify3D was just getting on my nerves.

[macguyver]

Made some good changes this weekend! Finally had a few days to myself with no distractions and took the time to learn node red. So now I have a couple more safety features in there. I have temperature monitors that should turn off the printer if it goes over or under certain temperatures. More importantly I have telegram notifications running directly from the raspberry pi, no more open browser needed!! Thanks @MintyTrebor 's for his nodered plugins for that! All I got left to do is get the webcam screenshot figured out and set up a few telegram commands so I can do things remotely.

Then I did some upgrades and modifications in my electrical drawer. New top o the line Pi, WITH rgb heatsink, of course, and a breakout board to access the unused gpio's neatly. New 12&24v power supplies. And I tidied up the wiring, a little.