Warning to New Old Stock Builds of RepRapPro Kits

Hello,

I was fortunate enough to come across a cheap 528.2 kit on ebay that was surplus stock in Australia. I'm guessing this kit was originally printed in 2015 ish, but has stayed boxed since.

My issue was the part were extremely tight on some components mainly the metal x-arm kit, the smooth rods, and around the lower z axis/motor mount. I didn't really want to drill out the holes as I don't have a flat based drill bit and I thought it was likely to make it too loose so pushed on. The kit assembled ok with a bit of brute force in places but when I looked at the machine the following morning a number of components had fractured, one corner of the lower z-axis mount completely breaking off.

I'm not sure if this is an ageing/water absorption issue with the PLA prints or the original printer that made the parts was overdue a tune.

Long story short when using old printed parts I'd say it would be wise to engage in more fettling of the parts rather than the sort of force you'd subject freshly printed parts to.

Built an ormerod 2 for work back in 2014 - the first itteration. While that printer has since been stripped I did save the printed parts that survived the strip down.

Trying to sort the bed level was a trial of patience! The four point G32 now reports an error or around 25 microns so I'm happy with that. It did highlight a few more bits that had broken since assembly. X bar smooth rod / idler holder, y axis motor mount (electronis staying off the machine! :-D ), and other y axis end plate (rebuilt as with adjustable version). After a an hours faf trying to level with the standard parts I did have a moment of weakness and ordered the metal bed kit (ormerod 2 version).

Now onto the machine improvements! I've printed the part cooling fan duct that comes with the later kits and intend to redesign the machine to accept a lead screw for the z-axis with a belt drive to increase the resolution. Doubt the backlash will be s bad as the current setup, but to be fair z axis wobble looks better than my first machine.

Also got a second hand differential IR sensor that I'll build in to the z axis rebuild. May swap to a microswitch limit at the same time.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/06/2018 02:08AM by WesBrooks.