The Shop > Tools
Another 3D Printer
Joules:
Oh well, I hate been right.... The extruder mechanism is pants. The lower bearing is a rattle fit on the end of the 3mm bolt holding this all together, it should have been longer to at least take a lock nut, that would have stopped the extruder wheel grinding a helix and jacking itself out of the printed body. So another part for redesign and thinking through a better solution. Now I need to make two, as another Mini Kossel is on it's way. Despite the hiccups, I really like what this printer can do, and the above mods will be done before I even assemble the next one.
nrml:
The difference the Duet board and the DC42 firmware have made is amazing. It is nice to see a direct comparison. I never thought it would be such a big improvement.
I appreciate your stand on supporting local businesses whenever possible, but it might be worth a look at these for your next mini kossel. Some of them might save you a bit of hassle and possibly improve the end product.
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/3D-Printer-Accessories-Aluminum-Alloy-Full-Metal-M3-Delta-Kossel-Fisheye-Effector-Hammock-3MM/32437620404.html
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/4Pcs-Lot-3D-Printer-Accessories-Hot-end-Round-Fixed-Aluminum-plate-Sandblasting-Oxidation-Reprap-Kossel-E3D/32314904596.html?spm=2114.10010108.0.124.C1oOhW
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/New-Black-Color-Reprap-Kossel-All-metal-Aluminum-Corner-Piece-Frame-Vertical-Base-Delta-Top-Bottom/32473624719.html?spm=2114.01010208.3.47.P7Uyy2&ws_ab_test=searchweb201556_2,searchweb201644_3_505_506_503_504_502_10001_10002_10017_10010_10005_10011_10006_10003_10004_10009_10008,searchweb201560_1,searchweb1451318400_-1,searchweb1451318411_6449&btsid=0ea26ee5-c1d1-4a60-b03b-063b6a8c0376
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/3D-Printer-Accessories-Full-Metal-M4-Delta-Pulley-Tackle-Moving-Block-Hammock-Effector-20MMx20MM/32434034394.html
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/5Pcs-Lot-3D-Printer-Accessories-Reprap-Kossel-Prusa-Bowden-Step-42-Stepper-Full-Metal-Remote-Extruder/32426938444.html?spm=2114.10010108.100007.18.0UhbRQ
There are a lot of other very interesting products in the 3D printer parts category.
Jorkki:
I found myself using a head torch constantly to see how a print is coming along.
I decided this is a good opportunity to start learning a little bit of the openSCAD software and decided to design a small clip to put on the hot end fan where a short strip of LEDs could be mounted to shine some light on the work in progress.
This is what I came up with.
I have also changed the hot end heater cartridge to enter from the front side as the leads were pressing against the cooling fan hood and that tended to unscrew the hot end loose.
At the same time I replaced the original 3mm machine screws that hold the hot end carriage to the effector plate with 3.5mm deep threaded universal screws (as I could not easily find the special screws made for thermoplastics). Not as good as Joules's threaded inserts, but a huge improvement anyway.
Might be a good idea to try and get some of these http://www.tappex.co.uk/trisert-inserts or something similar for future projects.
Jorkki:
I have done some further improvements to my Think3DPrint3D Kossel Mini.
I noticed that to get better retraction performance, it is essential to lock the Bowden tube better in place.
At the extruder end the pneumatic connector seems to be solid, but at the hotend the connector collar will move back and forth with the tube no matter how hard I tried to push the tube in.
The solution is to lock the collar in place with a C-shaped spacer under it.
I printed some in PLA with the ID of 5.1-5.2mm, OD 7.8mm, thickness 1.3-1.6 and 270 degree coverage.
Seemed to fix the issue.
My hotend cooling fan quit, so I used the opportunity to upgrade it with a better one.
I chose the Sunon HA40101V4, which seems to be a very nice one with magnetic bearings.
http://www.tme.eu/en/details/ha40101v4/dc12v-fans/sunon/ha40101v4-000u-999/
Very quiet and practically no vibration.
At the same time I replaced the print cooling fan with a bit beefier Sunon, but I think there is a bit too much back pressure from the small airway opening in the guiding tube to be able the realise the full potential.
http://www.tme.eu/en/details/mb40101v2-a99/dc12v-fans/sunon/mb40101v2-000u-a99/
An axial blower type fan might be better here.
I have also soldered a 220nF capacitor across the print cooling fan terminals because the fans do not like the PWM signal. The Fan used to start at 100% only, now it starts at around 10-12% and has a quite nice adjustment range.
I have also gone back using springs to pull the carbon fibre rods together to reduce the effect of play in the Traxxas joints. Seems to make the print quality a bit better, but for sure joints with no play would be better.
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