In need of new electronics for my Techzone Huxley

Hi all.

I am trying to update my Techzone Huxley with new electronics. I am pretty much a novice, so I would like to hear if any of you guys have done this and how. For now I am looking at the printrboard: [makemendel.com]. I am not sure if it fits and if it contains all I need.

What I need is pretty much alle the electronics, including heat bed controlling, tip heater controller and extruder stepper motor controlling (and of course the main electronics controller). Do I need anything else? I was told, that I also need to change the heat sensor to a thermistor instead of what I have now (my current setup is the edition Tezhzone sold before the went bankrupt - the gen3 electronics).

Regards

Lasse Vestergaard

I'm not familiar with the printr board, but it seems to fit your needs. One nice point is this is a all in one solution like the monotronics : includes motor driver chips onboard - well that's nice for ease of use, only until one of the driver chip fails

The only point I'm not sure is if you'd be able to plug your existing techzone power supply as-is.


About the hothend temperature sensor - yes here too you'd need to change it. On the other hand, you might as well change to another hotend altogether - stock techzone hotend has the old design flaw about relying on the PTFE thermal barrier as a fixation mean, and will fail after a short time.

---

Most of my technical comments should be correct, but is THIS one ?
Anyway, as a rule of thumb, always double check what people write.

DeuxVis Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> The only point I'm not sure is if you'd be able to
> plug your existing techzone power supply as-is.

Talking to myself here
[reprap.org] says that you'd need some fiddling with the power cables, as this is not a jack plug like on the techzone monotronics. Or just use a computer atx supply instead.

---

Most of my technical comments should be correct, but is THIS one ?
Anyway, as a rule of thumb, always double check what people write.

Thanks again DeuxVis.

Can you tell me if I can use one of these hotends (and if they are the same):

[makemendel.com]

[makemendel.com]

Regards

Lasse

Ibbernik-

They seem similar, but one model has two (2) heat resistors. Both would likely fit in the hot-end clamp in use on the TechZone Huxley, but you should check the measurements. That is, the PTFE barrel supplied with the TZ Huxley is likely close enough in diameter so that the PEEK heat-shield of the J-head will fit in the hot-end clamp under the Bowden-tube receiver.

By the way, Sublime in his "Tantillus" reprap design is getting very high precision results using a J-head hot end. I'd research J-heads for the latest version (I did, in fact). The Tantillus design also uses wind/unwind cables instead of belts.

Personally, I plan to skip the Bowden-tube feed design, and replace it with a two-way (3.0mm and 1.75mm) "Steve's Extruder" from SeeMeCNC. I haven't started my build, so I don't know for certain if I made the right choice. It will require modifications. The J-head should just fit with less fuss.

-Phuzzy

Ibbernik-

In regards to your original question about controller electronics, I went with a Gen7 kit by Traumflug that must be soldered. It is inexpensive, Traumflaug is helpful, and instructions posted are clear.

-Phuzzy

I have a spare jhead hotend - although not from that vendor - at home, I will try and report how it could -or not - be mounted in my TZ huxley xcarriage/hotend clamp later this evening.


Edit : you'd probably need a mounting plate like this (and maybe to rework it, as it is designed for a bigger machine like mendel) :


Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/19/2012 04:44AM by DeuxVis.

---

Most of my technical comments should be correct, but is THIS one ?
Anyway, as a rule of thumb, always double check what people write.

The jhead I got (from hotends.com, I believe it's the original designer of that hotend) can probably be mounted in the TZ Huxley clamp/X carriage, but that will be tight. I'd stack it the way described in those pictures, or maybe without the mounting metal plate if you think the clamp will hold it enough.

It will be difficult to place a fan blowing on the upper part of the hotend as is recommended when printing PLA with those hotends then, but I'm not sure it's mandatory.

Never mind the green clamp part here, it's not the original but a tentative replacement I made once.

---

Most of my technical comments should be correct, but is THIS one ?
Anyway, as a rule of thumb, always double check what people write.

DeuxVis-

Did you publish your green adapter-mount on ThingiVerse? I don't remember seeing it.

It would allow conversion of the TZ Huxley to a J-head without requiring a change from the Bowden tube filament feed.


-Phuzzy

Phuzzy : Well I didn't because for the hotend I was trying to attach (mendel parts V5 I think) it needed two holes drilled in the X carriage, which is wrong as it weaken it too much - you can see the holes on my pics, and maybe you can also see that the carriage grew a fold along the line between those 2 holes.

Nevertheless, I will post it in my topic in the same subforum so you can see if it is useable.

Edit : link to topic.

Sorry for the little off-topic, Ibbernic.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/20/2012 04:16AM by DeuxVis.

---

Most of my technical comments should be correct, but is THIS one ?
Anyway, as a rule of thumb, always double check what people write.

Its perfect. This is exactly what I need. I think that I will order a jhead extruder and try to get the gen7 electronics. I am not sure about how to order the gen7 electronics. Should I just mail traumflug and ask for it (and pay of course ). Is it possible to buy the electronics fully assembled and do you know what the pricing is?

Regards

Lasse

Ibbernik-

E-mailing Traumflaug is the way. He appears to be hobby oriented, and not running a business. You can purchase his kit at roughly half the price of a completed RAMPS board, maybe less. I think that he sells completed boards that he assembles personally. Please ask him by e-mail. He sent me a quote promptly. It just takes communication.

The Gen7 electronics and the Steve's Extruder together cost me less than a RAMPS board at the list price you posted earlier. I will have to see about adapting my X-carriage to my choice of extruder.

A J-head can (theoretically) be adapted to the TZ Bowden-tube receiver using the TZ-supplied clamp for the original TZ PTFE hot-end barrel, if you use a "hotends.com" version 5-B J-head. I believe that the TZ hotend PTFE barrel and the J-head PEEK heat-shield are identical in diameter. Please do your own research. You may have to bore into the TZ-supplied Bowden receiver with a Forschner drill bit where it joins the J-head.

My laser-cut gear for the Bowden-tube assembly supplied by TechZone (TZ) was off-center as was documented by DeuxVis in his build log. For this reason, I chose to abandon the Bowden-tube mechanism.

Good Luck!

-Phuzzy

Note that (what might be) a drawback with Gen7 for you is the fact it's only available in kit form, you'd have to solder it yourself. The instructions are very good then, but it takes time.

---

Most of my technical comments should be correct, but is THIS one ?
Anyway, as a rule of thumb, always double check what people write.