Starting my Wilson TS build

How is your build coming Michaelj?

Been holding off, I want to pick up some t-slot corner supports to make the frame sturdier, and also I'll use them to anchor it to a piece of plywood.
Also want to put in a 45 degree support to the right side to further support the upright frame. Otherwise all the parts have pretty much been put together and waiting for the electronics to be installed.

Biggest problem is the corner supports and corner braces are from Folger Technologies, and the do not respond to emails.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/28/2015 08:49PM by Michaelj.

What is a t-slot corner support exactly?

Screw all that! I would just get it built and working and then add your upgrades later. You're missing out on too much fun waiting around . I have a scrap piece of thick MDF board that I'm going to use to bolt my printer to. Should work nicely. I thought about using an extra brace to support the frame, but in one of Marty's videos he has one installed and mentions that he doesn't think it's necessary and that he doesn't notice any difference in print quality.

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klundry
What is a t-slot corner support exactly?

Corner Bracket

I feel the corner brackets will help true the whole frame and keep it even sturdier. I should be receiving the parts on Monday or Tuesday, and hopefully find some time to finish my build.

I have waited this long another few days doesn't bother me, and I have been so busy otherwise that I really have not had time to dedicate to building the printer lately anyhow.

Hopefully life will slow down just a tad and I'll get some time to myself again soon.

I will keep you informed.

Know the feeling. It was almost a month before I found the time to finally finish mine after I received it.

I'm interested to see how your experience goes. I'm very happy with mine so far.

What are the the buying points for the TS? I've so far only looked at the Folger, GeeTech, and Wanhou.

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RRuser
What are the the buying points for the TS? I've so far only looked at the Folger, GeeTech, and Wanhou.

Take a look at this past posting:
[forums.reprap.org]

Just finished rebuilding (less electronics! But with motors) my Wilson TS - Stretch.
However before I add the electronics, I would like to mount it to a board.
Has anyone mounted their Wilsin TS. If so, how did you bolt down the Y-axis ends?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/07/2015 09:00PM by Michaelj.

Well the TS seems to have some good pointers:
[i.ebayimg.com]

Filament on top
LCD on top
Power supply below bed (making use of the heat).
Marlin pre-configured (seems to be a problem for other kits)

Can the aluminum be painted without it interfering with the motion?

And where is the SD card?... on the LCD or on the main board?

do you mean the extruded aluminum? it should be fine to paint. although some of your t-slot nuts may be harder to get in.

Yes the aluminum frame. By making it black, and with black parts, it will look almost as good as the acrylic ones.

Hi Klundry,

I have built a Wilson TS kit purchased from MJ Rice. It is a nice kit that was packed and identified amazingly well when it arrived.
I now have it mechanically complete and powered it up only to find I have some issues with the stepper motions. My particular printer is not performing as Marty’s does in the video and I assume there is a simple solution. My printer axis seems to move exactly opposite to Marty’s when I jog them with the knob on the LCD controller. For example when I turn the knob clockwise in the x axis jog it moves to the left when viewed from the LCD side of the machine. Marty’s moves to the right. The XYand Z axis all behave in this manner, opposite of Marty’s. At first I thought I had the wiring to the steppers reversed, but I noticed something else for the first time today. In the videos when Marty turns the knob on the LCD display his cursor is moving in exactly the opposite direction that mine does also. In other words when in a menu and Marty turns the knob clockwise his cursor moves down and mine goes up. When he turns the knob counter clockwise his cursor goes up and mine goes down. Someone thought I maybe had the cables switched around on the LCD. I don’t think that is possible because of the way the connectors are keyed. I have a attached three pictures of my wiring.

(Unfortunately I can't put the pics in here because I have no idea how.)



I have a few other issues also. In the video the extruder drive cannot be operated until the hot end is preheated. Mine can be jogged without preheat and once again runs in an opposite direction. For example I turn the knob clock wise, the display value increments to a negative value, and the extruder runs in a manner that would pull filament in. If I turn it counter clockwise the value goes to the positive direction and the extruder runs in a way that would pull filament out of the hot end.
Also I am concerned that the main fan that is supposed to blow across the Mega board and Ramps board never comes on.
Finally there are no LEDs wired into the hot bed to indicate power is on to the board. I am wondering how these are to be wired and what type to use. I attached a picture of my hot bed.


I have taken quite a while to build the Wilson TS and I had contacted Marty initially with a few minor problems and he was great about helping me out. He seems to be extremely knowledgeable and a super nice guy. Unfortunately I am not sure anymore how to get in contact with him since when I try to contact him through the email on EBay I’m getting bounced back by EBay and do not seem to be able to find a work around.

Any help or direction you could provide would be greatly appreciated. I'm against a brick wall here.

Thanks

Don't worry about which the knob turns, what you should care about is that when you increase the number on the LCD that the x-axis moves right the y-axis moves towards you and the Z axis moves up. If this isn't the case just turn everything off and plug the cables into the board the other way. I know that not all of my wiring it's exactly the same for all the motors.

I'm sure that not all of your parts are exactly the same as the ones he uses the video. I know that he sources parts from different places for different times. For example, the Arduino board that he sent me was not an official build, And I replaced it with an official one because I was having problems with the drivers the cheap knockoff working with Mac OS. It's possible that you just have a LCD Display that has a weird knob on it. It may be annoying that the knob doesn't turn the right way, But that's not really what's important, what's important is the number and then how the motors behave relative to the number.

For the hotbed you will actually want to just wire two LEDs to the board in different directions, LEDs are directional but on the hotbed there are two sets of holes so that you can put two LEDs and at least one of them will work. You could try to measure the current, and wire one the correct way. There should be plenty of documentation about the hotbed online.

How do you have the fan wire that blows across the ramps? The one that cools the ramps should always be on when you plug in the power supply to the wall. If you wired it directly to the ramps more than maybe you wired it improperly.

As for being able to extrude when the hot and is not hot, I don't actually think mine worked the same way as Marty's did. It's possible the software that is on your version is older then what is currently available and provides that feature. I know I had to figure out the configuration stuff with Marlon when I replaced my Arduino.There're a lot of features in the new Marlins that were in the version I received with my Wilson.

I would look on Marty's github page just try to find his contact info. But if you have other problems you are more than welcome to post here and I can hopefully help you through them.