The Official 3d Printing thread

[4651feeder]

It's looking good 1911LY. Apparently this thread was enough motivation for me to finally install a bed upgrade I'd been setting on for 17 months. Unfortunately I'm also blaming it in part for the purchase of a second printer that wasn't needed, but apparently wanted?

All this talk about borosilicate glass got me to thinking about upgrade over painters tape for a heated bed, got a piece of Build Tak last week and am happily printing on it without any additional coatings.

Examples of my 3D printing over the past 24 mo can be found here: DDD

 

[1911ly]

Well, things did not go very well. It failed the smoke test. The regulator on the ramps board failed. I can replace in np but I am not sure what went wrong. I have double and quadruple checked my wiring and see no issues. I have the wiring hooked up just like the manual shows.

Edit: See this post for more info on the problem: https://www.indianagunowners.com/fo...official-3d-printer-thread-5.html#post6947175





Time to step back and regroup.

 

[4651feeder]

There could be many reasons for the board smoking; high among those could be overloading from the bed being wired directly to it rather than thru a relayed circuit. Is that possible on yours?

 

[1911ly]

There could be many reasons for the board smoking; high among those could be overloading from the bed being wired directly to it rather than thru a relayed circuit. Is that possible on yours?

Makerfarms instructions clearly state that the 8 inch bed doesn't need the relay. That it is optional for that size bed. I will add it though. The scary thing is it never displayed anything on the display. Not so much at a flicker. So what ever was the issue was a direct short failing to even attempt to boot.

I am sure, or would not be surprised I have done something wrong. Just not sure what. The wiring is correct. I have been over it so many times. I am going to get another Mega board and program it and hook up things one at a time.

I am doing to pull the regulator and measure for shorts one item at a time. I can add ramps board, motor, switch and item one at a time and see what happens. I "might" have some 5v regulators from a Software Defined Radio board project I built years ago. I have to dig the schematics out and see if it use a variable regulator. That is what the Mega board seems to use from the info I have found on line. I will tinker with it in a bit. i need to find some more info on the Mega board to be sure what I need.

I will figure it out. Just a bit bummed.

 

[1911ly]

Well... I think I know/figured what happened. I wish I had pictures of the last wire routing before I pulled the board out. I had to unplug a few things to get the board out to test it. But anyway, Last night when I was lacing things up I had to unplug a few things to get the wires where I wanted them to lay. When I was plugging things in I think I either plugged one of the switches in 180 degrees off or one pin over. Don't know. But hat would short the 5v line and take out that regulator according to the ramps and mega schematics.

I removed the regulator tacked a wire to the output of it and put it all back together and it has nothing shorted on the 5v line. But if I/you plug one of the end of limit switches in wrong ( verified it after the fact ) the 5v line grounds.

Future reference, the switches are wired normally closed. open when homed. Pin out on the board for limit switch is: Pin 1 switch input, Pin 2 ground, pin 3 is 5v out (not used). Or 180 out depending how you look at it. So with normally closed contacts it would be easy to have a short if none of the switches are homed. I am pretty sure that caused it. It was late I was tired and I f'd up. I will find out soon enough. I am ordering another ramps and mega board kit and some regulators. They are both cheap. Which ever comes in first I will use and test it out.

I'll post more when the new stuff comes in.

 

[Gabriel]

I'm not very tech savvy. I noticed the kits don't come with a powers supply. What did you use and where do you get them? It's probably a simple answer. I just didn't see them available on their site anywhere unless I just overlooked them.

I like the look of the Pegasus 12" kit (for some reason I feel the need to have a frame around it). It will be quite a while before I break down and buy a printer, though.

 

[Sailor]

I finally got one. It only took a year to figure out what I wanted I did go with a Prusa i3v. And not a plastic ebay clone. Although hear some of them are great. This one has a extruded Aluminum frame, more metal parts, auto bed leveling etc. It kind of seems sort of like a Cadillac of printers. It my boys Christmas and birthday gift. I should have it in the next few days.


Prusa 8" i3v Kit (V-Slot Extrusion) - 3D Printer Kits


I ordered the aluminum heat bed mounts and the .40mm e3d-v6 Hot end for 1.75mm Filament. I really like kit building so I will enjoy putting it together. My brother has a similar printer if I have questions. And I will have questions!

Does anyone have one of these? What do you think of it?

Nice printer. I have a Wanhao D6 that is crap. cheap components and horrible build, you really have to be a kit builder to run it. OTH I have a huge MakerFarm 12" printer kit dual extruder that is about 80% done being built. When that is done I will probably ditch the wanhao.

Prusa is good stuff.

 

[Sailor]

And the build tack surface on my Wanhao is great to work with. PLA and ABS no problems at all with warping and pretty easy to pop off the prints.

Always start with a perfectly level base before trying to get level your printer. Will make your life much easier. lol

MakerFarm support is really good just email any questions.

 

[1911ly]

I'm not very tech savvy. I noticed the kits don't come with a powers supply. What did you use and where do you get them? It's probably a simple answer. I just didn't see them available on their site anywhere unless I just overlooked them.

I like the look of the Pegasus 12" kit (for some reason I feel the need to have a frame around it). It will be quite a while before I break down and buy a printer, though.

This power supply is what I bought: Zyltech 12V 30A 360W power supply PSU for 3D Printer CNC Arduino Reprap etc. | eBay

You can even use a computer power supply. You have to put a load on the 5v line so the power supply will turn on. If youvgo that route let me know and I will give you the info. But the above supply fits the frame and is pretty cheap.

Nice printer. I have a Wanhao D6 that is crap. cheap components and horrible build, you really have to be a kit builder to run it. OTH I have a huge MakerFarm 12" printer kit dual extruder that is about 80% done being built. When that is done I will probably ditch the wanhao.

Prusa is good stuff.

And the build tack surface on my Wanhao is great to work with. PLA and ABS no problems at all with warping and pretty easy to pop off the prints.

Always start with a perfectly level base before trying to get level your printer. Will make your life much easier. lol

MakerFarm support is really good just email any questions.

The Makerfarm stuff is very highly rated. i think it is Quality for the price. It went together well. Lots of hardware! It wasn't very intimidating to build. The instructions are good. I enjoyed building it. I am kicking myself in the ass over my oops. I know better. I have build kits way more complicated then this one. It's only a 20 dollar oops but I am left hanging for a few days when I really just want to print something! The guy i bought the Mega/ramps board spare from also sells the borosilicate glass for 10 bucks to it's not a total loss and I will have spare electronics when I am done.

Let me know what you think of the Pegasus. I almost bought that one. It looks easier to assemble. It should be a hell of a printer!

 

[1911ly]

I could not leave it just set. I dug threw the parts drawers and found a voltage regulator. The original was a LDO (low drop out). Geeks will know what that means but I will explain it a bit. A LDO will run/regulate with less voltage present. This one is not. I will never use this board at any voltage less then 12v's. So it will be fine. Eventually I will replace it. I will add a few to my next parts order.

Good news is it now works!! Yeah!! Awesome! Not only can I F it up and I can fix it up!

I adjusted the end stops and tested the bed and nozzle temp controls. I ran the bed up to 110 and the head up to 210 and it all worked perfect. I told it to home it's self and it did just find. I roughly leveled the bed. I am happy. I will play with it some more in the afternoon. But everything is looking like it will print. I am sure it needs a little more tuning though.



The regulator I use has a different pin out. I temporarily mount this one to the USB jack shield. It does make for a nice heat sink. I added a resistor for current limiting. That should save the regulator in the future. I will add this mod to the board when I out the new regulator in. I know why they don't put one on. They have know ideal what kind of things people are going to use on it. But I know this things job so i will "purpose" modify it.



I am tempted to just cut the 5v pins off the end of limit header strip. If there is a need for them I have tons of these plugs and pins. I use them a lot on various projects. I can put them back on if I need too later.

I am going to etch a circuit board for a bed heater control. I have plenty of relays. I will do that one day this week.

I will post more when I get it printing something.

Thanks for following the project. It has been a fun one so far and I have learned a lot. Having issues along the way isn't always bad. it does give you a chance to learn something.

Larry

 

[Sailor]

Defcad.......GO!

 

[Sailor]

There were 5-6 mistakes so far in the Pegasus instructions. BUT they would not have been mistakes for an engineer/builder when you follow directions from the perspective of a non engineer type (I am sales lol) there are some mistakes. I would ask questions and he would tell me how he did the steps, and I was like oh that makes perfect sense. He is updating the pdf's

 

[1911ly]

There were 5-6 mistakes so far in the Pegasus instructions. BUT they would not have been mistakes for an engineer/builder when you follow directions from the perspective of a non engineer type (I am sales lol) there are some mistakes. I would ask questions and he would tell me how he did the steps, and I was like oh that makes perfect sense. He is updating the pdf's

I just ordered a Pegasus for my buddy. It should be here next week. I am looking forward to building it next. I would be interested in knowing what the mistakes were!

I did my first print this afternoon. It went well. No hickups.

I can't seem to embed a video tonite.. Here is a link of it printing a bit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZBofauuk58

Some pictures.








I printed a half dozen things my son design with Tinkercad. It ran for about 6 hours. straight. I have a few changes I want to make. The Z axis adjustment moved a bit. I do not like the bracket they are using. I don't like the mounting. Big change coming!

I am having fun. And boy is so happy to have it to tinker with,

 

[Sailor]

Going from memory.

No pictures of the 8mm M5 bolts are listed on the hardware page. Same for the set screws for the hidden corner brackets, big deal when you have a kit with a ton of hardware and are following along pic by pic. Some of the T slot nuts are rectangles some are football shaped. Confusing.

Page 16 of 90 last step, Putting the vertical side beams on it says repeat for the left side with the last extrusion, If I do that I will need 5 M2 12mm bolts for this step not the 4 that the instructions said to have laid out. You only need the 4 not the fifth.

And yes the Z axis looks like the only real thing that will need an upgrade. Their is an upgrade kit for the Pegasus for it, or you can buy them separately.

 

[Gabriel]

Going from memory.

No pictures of the 8mm M5 bolts are listed on the hardware page. Same for the set screws for the hidden corner brackets, big deal when you have a kit with a ton of hardware and are following along pic by pic. Some of the T slot nuts are rectangles some are football shaped. Confusing.

Page 16 of 90 last step, Putting the vertical side beams on it says repeat for the left side with the last extrusion, If I do that I will need 5 M2 12mm bolts for this step not the 4 that the instructions said to have laid out. You only need the 4 not the fifth.

And yes the Z axis looks like the only real thing that will need an upgrade. Their is an upgrade kit for the Pegasus for it, or you can buy them separately.

Hardware screw ups like that I can handle (although, they shouldn't exist to begin with). Wiring mistakes could be a disaster since I wouldn't know the first thing about fixing something like that.

 

[Gabriel]

This power supply is what I bought: Zyltech 12V 30A 360W power supply PSU for 3D Printer CNC Arduino Reprap etc. | eBay

You can even use a computer power supply. You have to put a load on the 5v line so the power supply will turn on. If youvgo that route let me know and I will give you the info. But the above supply fits the frame and is pretty cheap.

Thanks. I wasn't exactly sure what exactly I would be looking for.

 

[4651feeder]

If you go with that power supply, it's only natural to print this front panel for it. Scalar - Power supply set by 3DModularSystems - Thingiverse

 

[Gabriel]

That's the one I found extremely interesting about the 3D printers from looking through Thingiverse... there are a lot of printer upgrades that you can print on your printer. Something about that is just kind of cool.

 

[1911ly]

Sorry it took so long to get back to this...

Going from memory.

No pictures of the 8mm M5 bolts are listed on the hardware page. Same for the set screws for the hidden corner brackets, big deal when you have a kit with a ton of hardware and are following along pic by pic. Some of the T slot nuts are rectangles some are football shaped. Confusing.

Page 16 of 90 last step, Putting the vertical side beams on it says repeat for the left side with the last extrusion, If I do that I will need 5 M2 12mm bolts for this step not the 4 that the instructions said to have laid out. You only need the 4 not the fifth.

And yes the Z axis looks like the only real thing that will need an upgrade. Their is an upgrade kit for the Pegasus for it, or you can buy them separately.

Thanks for the Tips on the Pegasus build. I will post a about the build when it gets rolling.

That's the one I found extremely interesting about the 3D printers from looking through Thingiverse... there are a lot of printer upgrades that you can print on your printer. Something about that is just kind of cool.

Thingiverse is awesome! I have been printing upgrades the last few days to play with that came from there. The end stop mods are a must! Especially the Z stop. I found a design on Thingiverse that is the bomb. So much easier to setup now. The original moved on me several times. i don't know who came up with the ideal of mounting a micro switch with a zip tie!! But it was a bad ideal. That's really the only thing I did not like about the kit. And it was an easy fix to make. And a good excuse to print something!

We have printed a lot of stuff. We are having a really good time with it. My spare boards came in today. I need to program them and test the board. I have spare parts now. My borosilicate glass came in today. I will be printing on that shortly. Since I changed the end of limits switch brackets the printer has ran flawless. I am still learning the what can I and what can't do stuff.

I need to shorten a lot of wiring. I hate bunched up wiring! I started doing some of that today. I be doing that as time goes along. I thing I am going to mount the Ramps/Mega board in an enclosure. I am allowing for that with the wiring. I will post some pictures of the changes in the next few days.

I want to thank those that have gave me tips and advice as I have progressed with the build. It's really turning out to be a nice machine. I have had a lot of fun and learns a lot. on of the nested mods with be the auto bed level. I ordered the servo and downloaded the newest Marlin firmware. The Makerfarm version doesn't have support for it. I have to figure out the changes I need to make to the Marlin firmware to support the i3v. I am in uncharted waters lol. But I need to learn it.

Larry

 

[Sailor]

It powers up without smoke! Thats a win. I have a hot mess of wires, and I can not get my firmware to compile but will get there.

1911, I broke one of the wood attachment supports for the extruder, and the stl files to print are the printed parts section of the software download.

And I just noticed my cooling fan is blowing out not into the heat sink lol. I am using a 12 inch mirror tiles from Menards. There were cheap and seem to work people say.