What kind of updates have you made to your Folgertech Prusa I3?

Kinda got the upgrade bug now that I have this thing dialed in pretty well.

Any really big upgrade parts that add significantly to the print quality, speed, accuracy?

So far I have a heated enclosure, aluminum y axis sled, and insulated stock heat bed.

I'm going to pull the trigger on the E3D V6 hotend, just debating on waiting to see if they release anything new and better here soon.

Well I did a lot of necessary improvements :
- Rework Xends (for belt tensioning and endstops)
- Xcarriage redesigned to hold accessories (lights, fans, sensors...) and cable management
- Wade style extruder with E3D hotend (huge improvement !)
- Rework Y motor support
- Rework Y belt tensioning system
- Rework Y endsop support (and opical endstop)
- Redesigned Y bearing bushings
- New Y bed carriage (HQ 10mm particle board, still works fine)
I changed the extruder and X motors, and changed all the LM8UU bearings for Igus polymer bearings (a big step ehead for print quality improvement and it's so smooth and quiet !).

Actualy working on the enclosure : torsion box base on drawer slides for easy maintenance, inbox spool holder. I think about a touchscreen control thru Raspberry Pi and Octoprint + webcam.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/17/2015 08:32AM by Zavashier.

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Collective intelligence emerges when a group of people work together effectively. Prusa i3 Folger (A lot of the parts are wrong, boring !)

Quote
Zavashier
Well I did a lot of necessary improvements :
- Rework Xends (for belt tensioning and endstops)
- Xcarriage redesigned to hold accessories (lights, fans, sensors...) and cable management
- Wade style extruder with E3D hotend (huge improvement !)
- Rework Y motor support
- Rework Y belt tensioning system
- Rework Y endsop support (and opical endstop)
- Redesigned Y bearing bushings
- New Y bed carriage (HQ 10mm particle board, still works fine)
I changed the extruder and X motors, and changed all the LM8UU bearings for Igus polymer bearings (a big step ehead for print quality improvement and it's so smooth and quiet !).

Actualy working on the enclosure : torsion box base on drawer slides for easy maintenance, inbox spool holder. I think about a touchscreen control thru Raspberry Pi and Octoprint + webcam.

Awesome...Can you share the files to update these parts? Been looking for better parts for awhile, and haven't found very much.

Also a link to those bearings would be awesome as well, the bearings they sent are absolute rubbish.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/17/2015 09:41AM by Gannicus.

Actualy I'm on holidays, far away from home. So I won't be able to share my own designs. Anyway, bearings can be found directly on the Igus website (URL depends of the area where you live, google it) under the reference Drylin RJM-01-08. EmotionTech's Prusa I3 Rework files are on thingiverse.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/17/2015 04:58PM by Zavashier.

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Collective intelligence emerges when a group of people work together effectively. Prusa i3 Folger (A lot of the parts are wrong, boring !)

I haven't made any alterations to mine.

I am getting beautiful prints at 50 micron with a stock setup (yes, that's 0.05 layer height)

My advice:
Spend the time you would spend re-working parts that you "think" will make it print better on calibration instead. The printer in itself will perform great if calibrated properly. You can print and re-design every part on the printer, but if you don't set aside the time necessary to calibrate it, it's all a moot point.

Everything else you do to it is just "bling" in my opinion.

The only thing I may agree with is the linear bearings, they're a bit rattly, but they do function well on mine with no noticeable print defects (even at 50 micron)

May I also mention, I am a third party to FolgerTech, not affiliated besides writing their manuals and some firmware. I have built, tested and calibrated about 50 3d printers in the past year (15 of them from FolgerTech)

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/18/2015 03:03PM by MakerFront.

---

Making it better for Makers!
[makerfront.com]

Updates:
- Added a white CCFL light from a scanner to the front of the printer to illuminate the printed part. Held up by custom printed brackets
- Added a part cooling fan
- Printed a small piece that goes right in between the fan and heatsink of the extruder, because when tightening the screws, the fan was bending
- Printed two clamps that go around the 8mm Z axis rods to prevent the extruder from going to deep into my build platform. I know the endstop should prevent this but I once had an accident, and I'm not willing to let that happen again!
- Created a custom X carriage because the stock one had incorrect hole sizes (motor screws are 31mm apart, and the part was printed with 30mm in between the two holes) The belt position on the stock X carriage was also too high; lowered this.
- Added capacitive sensor to the print head which acts as a Z endstop

Upcoming updates:
- Will put thermal isolation material below heated printbed to allow faster heating
- Will try to put thermal isolation in between the aluminium block and the extruder's stepper motor because a lot of heat is going towards the motor! It really gets too hot right now
- Will add thermal isolation around the aluminium heater block because my part cooling fan is blowing onto that block as well, making it cool off too much
- I'm going to replace all moving cables by flat cables with header connectors so I can easily replace a cable if it wears out. For high currents like the heaters I will put several wires in parallel
- Will add a nut to fasten extruder tube because the whole part (along with the aluminum heater block) is rotating every once and now
- I'll probably get a E3D V6 hot end soon because I want to be able to print at higher speeds
- Still trying to fix off-center M5 z rods.. They are fastened with those inbus screws but when you do that they get pushed to one side, leaving them to wobble!
- Will repace the 12V 0.4A X axis stepper motor by a 3.75V 1.5A motor because it skips steps way too easily. Also, this motor is getting really hot, so that problem will also be fixed when replacing it with a larger one
- Will add LED ring lights around the hot end to also illuminate the top of the printed part

Strange thoughts on the Prusa I3:
- Is the whole weight from the Z (and X) axis really resting on the Z motor bearings? This can't be good right?
- Z rods are resting on a springy connector.. ? why? This can only lead to inaccurate Z heights?
- The power supply fan is so noisy
- Extruder cooling fan broke, the axis inside is spinning really fast while the blades don't move; this actually happened on day 1 after receiving the printer

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/18/2015 03:40PM by FalloutBe.

Quote
MakerFront
I haven't made any alterations to mine.

I am getting beautiful prints at 50 micron with a stock setup (yes, that's 0.05 layer height)

My advice:
Spend the time you would spend re-working parts that you "think" will make it print better on calibration instead. The printer in itself will perform great if calibrated properly. You can print and re-design every part on the printer, but if you don't set aside the time necessary to calibrate it, it's all a moot point.

Everything else you do to it is just "bling" in my opinion.

The only thing I may agree with is the linear bearings, they're a bit rattly, but they do function well on mine with no noticeable print defects (even at 50 micron)

May I also mention, I am a third party to FolgerTech, not affiliated besides writing their manuals and some firmware. I have built, tested and calibrated about 50 3d printers in the past year (15 of them from FolgerTech)

Way ahead of you. I've spent the last month doing nothing but dialing in the printers calibration.

I think I've got it pretty spot on. Which is why I'm now looking to increase the speed, and at the same time, increase the quality that little bit more.

Here's a pic of my recently printed piece for my lightsaber prop, printed at .1 layer height. Took 12 hours to print, while I'd love to print it at .05, that would mean 24 hour print job with what I currently have. So I need to look at upgrades that will increase speed without losing accuracy etc.

[i.imgur.com]

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/18/2015 05:46PM by Gannicus.

Quote
MakerFront
I haven't made any alterations to mine.

I am getting beautiful prints at 50 micron with a stock setup (yes, that's 0.05 layer height)

My advice:
Spend the time you would spend re-working parts that you "think" will make it print better on calibration instead. The printer in itself will perform great if calibrated properly. You can print and re-design every part on the printer, but if you don't set aside the time necessary to calibrate it, it's all a moot point.

Everything else you do to it is just "bling" in my opinion.

The only thing I may agree with is the linear bearings, they're a bit rattly, but they do function well on mine with no noticeable print defects (even at 50 micron)

May I also mention, I am a third party to FolgerTech, not affiliated besides writing their manuals and some firmware. I have built, tested and calibrated about 50 3d printers in the past year (15 of them from FolgerTech)

I want to be sure to get you right. Do you pretend the Folger's prusa I3 is the top of the top of 3D printers, or do you pretend people are so stupid they can't see if something's wrong with their printer ?

I bought the Folger's kit because there were people here, absolutely delighted by that kit, and I trusted them. As a newbie I wanted a kit : something simple to understand what FDM is all about. As a living, I'm engineer in mecanical studies. When I recieved the kit, I was a bit upset : 6mm acrylic frame became 5mm something, 8mm rods became 7.78mm, bended rods, bearings loosing balls, delaminating/braking parts, bad packaging, broken frame, and so on. The build was easy within 4 hours, but setting the machine square was a real problem. The structure is not stiff enough, and it twisted in all dimensions each time you try to set something. My kit definitely can't reach a precision of 50µ. In layer eight maybe, but as that chinese rods are not straight (I measured +-0.3mm) it's even impossible to get a .3mm flat layer. Try to measure acurately your parts, if you own machinist measuring tools. But the worst of all was the extruder. I waisted weeks on temperature calibration with non acceptable results to my eyes, and only on small parts, because long prints always ended by filament jams. That hotend is rubbish, even if I used the lowest possible temperature for my filament. Reasons ? A undersize heatsink with a lazy cheap fan, overheat difuses deeply in the mounting block and in the motor (which ended definitely jammed too). No tensioning at all on the extruder. To me, the Folger's kit is made out of the cheapest parts money can buy. Now I've seen a lot of prusa I3 working, from standard v1.0 to rework versions, and I can compare. Folger's is the worst I've ever seen.

Even if I was stupid to "think" improvements could make things better, each improvement I did cured problems instantly (a piece of chance maybe). Especialy the Extruder/hotend improvement : best results first fime any time, whatever the temperature I use, even very high ones. No more jams. That's what I call a good extruder. No need to waste time on epic calibrations. Using better motors makes fast prints possible too without loosing steps. And I could argue point by point with the same results. From bearings to motor mount, passing by Z wobble suppression.

---

Collective intelligence emerges when a group of people work together effectively. Prusa i3 Folger (A lot of the parts are wrong, boring !)

Quote
Zavashier
Actualy I'm on holidays, far away from home. So I won't be able to share my own designs. Anyway, bearings can be found directly on the Igus website (URL depends of the area where you live, google it) under the reference Drylin RJM-01-08. EmotionTech's Prusa I3 Rework files are on thingiverse.

Zav, did you end up getting the 8mm Drylin RJM-01-08?

Quote
Zavashier

Quote
MakerFront
I haven't made any alterations to mine.

I am getting beautiful prints at 50 micron with a stock setup (yes, that's 0.05 layer height)

My advice:
Spend the time you would spend re-working parts that you "think" will make it print better on calibration instead. The printer in itself will perform great if calibrated properly. You can print and re-design every part on the printer, but if you don't set aside the time necessary to calibrate it, it's all a moot point.

Everything else you do to it is just "bling" in my opinion.

The only thing I may agree with is the linear bearings, they're a bit rattly, but they do function well on mine with no noticeable print defects (even at 50 micron)

May I also mention, I am a third party to FolgerTech, not affiliated besides writing their manuals and some firmware. I have built, tested and calibrated about 50 3d printers in the past year (15 of them from FolgerTech)

I want to be sure to get you right. Do you pretend the Folger's prusa I3 is the top of the top of 3D printers, or do you pretend people are so stupid they can't see if something's wrong with their printer ?

I bought the Folger's kit because there were people here, absolutely delighted by that kit, and I trusted them. As a newbie I wanted a kit : something simple to understand what FDM is all about. As a living, I'm engineer in mecanical studies. When I recieved the kit, I was a bit upset : 6mm acrylic frame became 5mm something, 8mm rods became 7.78mm, bended rods, bearings loosing balls, delaminating/braking parts, bad packaging, broken frame, and so on. The build was easy within 4 hours, but setting the machine square was a real problem. The structure is not stiff enough, and it twisted in all dimensions each time you try to set something. My kit definitely can't reach a precision of 50µ. In layer eight maybe, but as that chinese rods are not straight (I measured +-0.3mm) it's even impossible to get a .3mm flat layer. Try to measure acurately your parts, if you own machinist measuring tools. But the worst of all was the extruder. I waisted weeks on temperature calibration with non acceptable results to my eyes, and only on small parts, because long prints always ended by filament jams. That hotend is rubbish, even if I used the lowest possible temperature for my filament. Reasons ? A undersize heatsink with a lazy cheap fan, overheat difuses deeply in the mounting block and in the motor (which ended definitely jammed too). No tensioning at all on the extruder. To me, the Folger's kit is made out of the cheapest parts money can buy. Now I've seen a lot of prusa I3 working, from standard v1.0 to rework versions, and I can compare. Folger's is the worst I've ever seen.

Even if I was stupid to "think" improvements could make things better, each improvement I did cured problems instantly (a piece of chance maybe). Especialy the Extruder/hotend improvement : best results first fime any time, whatever the temperature I use, even very high ones. No more jams. That's what I call a good extruder. No need to waste time on epic calibrations. Using better motors makes fast prints possible too without loosing steps. And I could argue point by point with the same results. From bearings to motor mount, passing by Z wobble suppression.

I'm not going to get into an all-out mud slinging contest on here, being a business owner that sells, builds and services 3d printers, I thought I'd offer my professional opinion.

Maybe your parts came out of a bad batch somewhere along the line. That is inevitable with every company like this. At the quantities these guys have to buy to get the price that low, in-house QC is near impossible.

All I'm saying is that it is a functioning 3d printer kit for $319, it's not a Stratasys or 3DS machine (which we own one of each) and it's not intended to be one either. I wouldn't expect a machine like that for that price and I'm not pretending that it is. I am amazed at what this sub-$400 machine can do compared to our $180K Fortus. We use them in the office for less expensive prototyping before we print it out on the big boy.

Cheers!

---

Making it better for Makers!
[makerfront.com]

Quote
MakerFront

Quote
Zavashier

Quote
MakerFront
I haven't made any alterations to mine.

I am getting beautiful prints at 50 micron with a stock setup (yes, that's 0.05 layer height)

My advice:
Spend the time you would spend re-working parts that you "think" will make it print better on calibration instead. The printer in itself will perform great if calibrated properly. You can print and re-design every part on the printer, but if you don't set aside the time necessary to calibrate it, it's all a moot point.

Everything else you do to it is just "bling" in my opinion.

The only thing I may agree with is the linear bearings, they're a bit rattly, but they do function well on mine with no noticeable print defects (even at 50 micron)

May I also mention, I am a third party to FolgerTech, not affiliated besides writing their manuals and some firmware. I have built, tested and calibrated about 50 3d printers in the past year (15 of them from FolgerTech)

I want to be sure to get you right. Do you pretend the Folger's prusa I3 is the top of the top of 3D printers, or do you pretend people are so stupid they can't see if something's wrong with their printer ?

I bought the Folger's kit because there were people here, absolutely delighted by that kit, and I trusted them. As a newbie I wanted a kit : something simple to understand what FDM is all about. As a living, I'm engineer in mecanical studies. When I recieved the kit, I was a bit upset : 6mm acrylic frame became 5mm something, 8mm rods became 7.78mm, bended rods, bearings loosing balls, delaminating/braking parts, bad packaging, broken frame, and so on. The build was easy within 4 hours, but setting the machine square was a real problem. The structure is not stiff enough, and it twisted in all dimensions each time you try to set something. My kit definitely can't reach a precision of 50µ. In layer eight maybe, but as that chinese rods are not straight (I measured +-0.3mm) it's even impossible to get a .3mm flat layer. Try to measure acurately your parts, if you own machinist measuring tools. But the worst of all was the extruder. I waisted weeks on temperature calibration with non acceptable results to my eyes, and only on small parts, because long prints always ended by filament jams. That hotend is rubbish, even if I used the lowest possible temperature for my filament. Reasons ? A undersize heatsink with a lazy cheap fan, overheat difuses deeply in the mounting block and in the motor (which ended definitely jammed too). No tensioning at all on the extruder. To me, the Folger's kit is made out of the cheapest parts money can buy. Now I've seen a lot of prusa I3 working, from standard v1.0 to rework versions, and I can compare. Folger's is the worst I've ever seen.

Even if I was stupid to "think" improvements could make things better, each improvement I did cured problems instantly (a piece of chance maybe). Especialy the Extruder/hotend improvement : best results first fime any time, whatever the temperature I use, even very high ones. No more jams. That's what I call a good extruder. No need to waste time on epic calibrations. Using better motors makes fast prints possible too without loosing steps. And I could argue point by point with the same results. From bearings to motor mount, passing by Z wobble suppression.

I'm not going to get into an all-out mud slinging contest on here, being a business owner that sells, builds and services 3d printers, I thought I'd offer my professional opinion.

Maybe your parts came out of a bad batch somewhere along the line. That is inevitable with every company like this. At the quantities these guys have to buy to get the price that low, in-house QC is near impossible.

All I'm saying is that it is a functioning 3d printer kit for $319, it's not a Stratasys or 3DS machine (which we own one of each) and it's not intended to be one either. I wouldn't expect a machine like that for that price and I'm not pretending that it is. I am amazed at what this sub-$400 machine can do compared to our $180K Fortus. We use them in the office for less expensive prototyping before we print it out on the big boy.

Cheers!

I've just ordered my E3DV6, and just got my IGUS bearings in the mail today...but that being said, this "sub-$400" kit CAN print better than $2,500 home printers I've seen.

You just have to put the time in to tweak them up, which these out of the box printers just don't allow you to do.

A few minor things.

- Cheap Enclosure
- Replaced extruder with Dual MK8 extruders.
- Added 12v strip lights to the frame for better bed lighting.
- For awhile I was using this spool holder I made with this filament guide.
- Modified the bearing holders to this version. I will soon be replacing the entire y carriage with an aluminum version I have on order.
- Replaced all of the PLA parts in the kit with ABS parts as I found the PLA parts deformed when using an enclosure.
- Added cork board under the heat bed.
- I will be adding a filtering and air re-circulation system to the enclosure as soon as the parts arrive.

I think that is it so far.

Nice job Morris. I'm going to build that.

-Upgraded to larger nema 17 motors
-Aluminum Y carriage
-Two print fans
-New X carriage
-B3 Innovations Pico 1.75mm All metal Hotend
-LCD Display
-MK7 Driver Gear

Quote
HairLikeFrodo
-Upgraded to larger nema 17 motors
-Aluminum Y carriage
-Two print fans
-New X carriage
-B3 Innovations Pico 1.75mm All metal Hotend
-LCD Display
-MK7 Driver Gear

Do you have any pics of your B3 attached? I'm thinking about getting one tomorrow while I'm out.

When I built mine I straightened the rods using a dial indicator and got them to +/-.002 inches. I also straightened the threaded rods and I have one that has no wobble and one that does wobble and doesn't touch the side of the hole. The 2 X axis rods were right on diameter, 8 mm, according to my 30 year old micrometer, and the bearings were notchy in their movement. I changed the rods for some I had which were .0005 inches smaller and bearings were smooth. I got what I expected when I spent the least money possible to get a printer and am happy with my purchase. I am looking forward to calibrating it and printing. An then I will buy a Kossel as I am fascinated by the way these things move.

Now to get the LCD working.

I too switched the rods with a fresh set from McMaster. I was reading somewhere today about switching to delrin-like lined bearings for the x and y carriages. The guy said it was much quieter and much smoother movement. Considering the ones we got with the kit were par for the course, I think I'll give the composite bearings a shot! The Kossel just keeps dropping in price! I am so torn, and really should just pull the trigger. You can't beat it for $345!


What's wrong with the LCD?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/17/2015 07:49PM by enzo1027.

Quote
enzo1027
I too switched the rods with a fresh set from McMaster. I was reading somewhere today about switching to delrin-like lined bearings for the x and y carriages. The guy said it was much quieter and much smoother movement. Considering the ones we got with the kit were par for the course, I think I'll give the composite bearings a shot! The Kossel just keeps dropping in price! I am so torn, and really should just pull the trigger. You can't beat it for $345!


What's wrong with the LCD?

It kind of sounds like the Folger kit is a placeholder. That is, you build it and then, while the Folger components hold it together for you, immediately start replacing all the parts bit by. Lol

I guess as long as it's good enough to print some replacement parts for itself you're ahead. But I hadn't heard that the rods might be an issue before. Is it common that they're not straight? How does one straighten them? Vice?

Quote
Vanbot

Quote
enzo1027
I too switched the rods with a fresh set from McMaster. I was reading somewhere today about switching to delrin-like lined bearings for the x and y carriages. The guy said it was much quieter and much smoother movement. Considering the ones we got with the kit were par for the course, I think I'll give the composite bearings a shot! The Kossel just keeps dropping in price! I am so torn, and really should just pull the trigger. You can't beat it for $345!


What's wrong with the LCD?

It kind of sounds like the Folger kit is a placeholder. That is, you build it and then, while the Folger components hold it together for you, immediately start replacing all the parts bit by. Lol

I guess as long as it's good enough to print some replacement parts for itself you're ahead. But I hadn't heard that the rods might be an issue before. Is it common that they're not straight? How does one straighten them? Vice?

Lol, it sure seems as it was a placeholder! I mean don't get me wrong, I knew full well going into this what I'd get. I spent a ton of time being as precise as I could building this thing, measuring, setting up, etc. It printed absolutely perfect out of the box. I couldn't be happier with it! That being said, there sure is a lot to improve upon from a quality/reliability aspect; but that's what tinkering is all about!

I've seen a few people's comments regarding the rods. It's to be expected with inexpensively sourced parts though. Two of my shafts were out about +.006-.009. You can absolutely attempt to straighten them, but I'd recommend against a vice. Take a look at this guy's video, it'll give you an idea of how to construct a jig / do it. Straighten a bent rod The rods were about $20 each if I remember from McMaster. For $40, I couldn't go wrong.

ENZO:

LCD: I can't get a display from it using marlin. I got the display working using a sample file in the U8glib library. It isn't the most important thing at the moment so I am not too stressed about it. I am in Canada so my big project tomorrow is changing to summer wheels & tires on my truck and getting a piece of glass for the printer.

Straightening the rods: I made a setup something like in the video above. I would use a piece of aluminium between the crowbar and the rod to avoid marking the rod. Cardboard is what I used.

Have a great weekend.

Quote
Ecky
ENZO:

LCD: I can't get a display from it using marlin. I got the display working using a sample file in the U8glib library. It isn't the most important thing at the moment so I am not too stressed about it. I am in Canada so my big project tomorrow is changing to summer wheels & tires on my truck and getting a piece of glass for the printer.

Straightening the rods: I made a setup something like in the video above. I would use a piece of aluminium between the crowbar and the rod to avoid marking the rod. Cardboard is what I used.

Have a great weekend.

Smart LCD or Full Graphics?

Quote
enzo1027

Quote
Vanbot

Quote
enzo1027
I too switched the rods with a fresh set from McMaster. I was reading somewhere today about switching to delrin-like lined bearings for the x and y carriages. The guy said it was much quieter and much smoother movement. Considering the ones we got with the kit were par for the course, I think I'll give the composite bearings a shot! The Kossel just keeps dropping in price! I am so torn, and really should just pull the trigger. You can't beat it for $345!


What's wrong with the LCD?

It kind of sounds like the Folger kit is a placeholder. That is, you build it and then, while the Folger components hold it together for you, immediately start replacing all the parts bit by. Lol

I guess as long as it's good enough to print some replacement parts for itself you're ahead. But I hadn't heard that the rods might be an issue before. Is it common that they're not straight? How does one straighten them? Vice?

Lol, it sure seems as it was a placeholder! I mean don't get me wrong, I knew full well going into this what I'd get. I spent a ton of time being as precise as I could building this thing, measuring, setting up, etc. It printed absolutely perfect out of the box. I couldn't be happier with it! That being said, there sure is a lot to improve upon from a quality/reliability aspect; but that's what tinkering is all about!

I've seen a few people's comments regarding the rods. It's to be expected with inexpensively sourced parts though. Two of my shafts were out about +.006-.009. You can absolutely attempt to straighten them, but I'd recommend against a vice. Take a look at this guy's video, it'll give you an idea of how to construct a jig / do it. Straighten a bent rod The rods were about $20 each if I remember from McMaster. For $40, I couldn't go wrong.

You're my hero tonight Enzo! Lol That's a sweet little jig to straighten the rods and I'm sure I have some skate bearings kicking around.

I am just now getting some decent prints. Still some tweaking to do and I could have done without the incorrect info in the manual leading me down a few dead ends but all in all I'm surprised it's as precise as it is at laying down plastic.I started printing that Thingiverse elephant and before I ran out of ABS filament it was looking quite good.

Enzo:

Full graphics.