My Replikeo Prusa i3 Rework Build

Das, as Allnei pointed out above this is a good place to start [reprap.org].

Also, if you're not familiar with the Arduino platform you can check out [arduino.cc].

Read through this thread, there's some good stuff there. Also any other threads about Prusa i3's in general would be good.

As with everyone else, bed leveling is a bitch. I have the slightest hump in the middle of the heat bed which seems to be exacerbated by the carbon fiber plate.

Also, I must have missed something in the config file because my extruder will not respond to commands from the LCD-controller. I swapped motors and stepkicks around and still nothing; all parts are functioning properly. If anyone would care to share their marlin.pde, configuration.h, and configuration_adv.h files I'd be much obliged!

Hi guys,

I received my kit yesterday.
I'm still in the process of putting it together.
Packaging was really nice, nothing was broken.

Some smaller issues:
* smooth rods are taped together. Needed to use break cleaner to clean them up
* There are no 10mm bolts, all are 15mm.

Another quick question and update:
I had one of my LM8UUs die so I ordered a new set from Amazon - also like everyone else, had to cut all the screws that mount the motors (and endstops). Otherwise things are progressing fairly well.

I have a question about wiring the Z axis motors (I don't have much experience with electronics) - did you guys cut the cables for each and re-solder? Or is there a relay board that you can just plug them into and plug that relay board into the RAMPS?
Or can you use something like this?
4 pin splitter

Thanks guys for the help!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/06/2014 11:01AM by RSA27.

On ramps 1.4 you have two connectors for Z motor.

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gadget_greg
As with everyone else, bed leveling is a bitch. I have the slightest hump in the middle of the heat bed which seems to be exacerbated by the carbon fiber plate.

Also, I must have missed something in the config file because my extruder will not respond to commands from the LCD-controller. I swapped motors and stepkicks around and still nothing; all parts are functioning properly. If anyone would care to share their marlin.pde, configuration.h, and configuration_adv.h files I'd be much obliged!

Does the extruder respond when you use Pronterface?

I agree leveling is a huge bitch......... Autobed level allowed me to get started. But getting the bed as mechanically level as possible would be a good idea. The z axis moves a lot to do the compensation. The best prints I got were from a really level bed, with the Autobed level on, the Z axis hardly moved. When I changed the wires on the heatbed, I wasn't able to get it as leveled again. I'm still trying.. I haven't used the printer in a week. been busy with other projects.

Welcome to the party!

2ndalpha, weird they sent you the wrong size. Fortunately it's something you can buy locally. So there's that.

I went to my local Fastenal (surprising we have one in my little town!) and for $2.80 he gave me hundreds of 3M black socket-head bolts in various lengths from 6mm to 12mm along with 100 washers and 100 nuts. Sadly the nuts and washers are silver while the bolts are black but still, $2.80, nice!

Allnei, any chance you would upload your marlin.pde, configuration.h, and configuration_adv.h files so I can compare them to mine? That is assuming you're using Marlin...

Greg

Thanks Trike. The idea of auto-leveling is interesting but the surface first has to be flat! I'm going to try spring-loading the heat bed to give it a little more height and then maybe the center will sag enough to be flat. Right now it humps in the middle, probably due to the thermistor wires. With the bed raised I won't have to modify my z-axis endstop holder either (which broke again BTW).

I haven't tried pronterface yet, I've been working straight from the LCD Controller. I don't have a computer where my printer is setup at the moment. I have a raspberry pi with monitor/mouse/keyboard that I want to setup with the arduino IDE and pronterface, but I've been procrastinating on that. :/

Any chance you could upload your marlin.pde, configuration.h, and configuration_adv.h files so I can compare them to mine?

Thanks again!

Greg

Sorry greg, I am using Repetier

Thanks anyway!

My kit finally arrive, only took 2 weeks! No damage, it was nicely packed in styrofoam.
I encountered 3 issues so far. First one, 14mm M3 screws are too long to mount motors. Nobody encountered this issue?
Second problem is according to official Rework built manual, Z axes rods must go thru top Z mounts. Holes in those mounts are too small however, I cannot get rods thru
And finally smooth rods for X assembly are not held with anything, they just slide out on the right side when head moves?
Any help would be appreciated!

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/06/2014 10:01PM by Bratan.

Greg,

I've attached my files from my as yet properly calibrated Replikeo (still trying to get rid of the upward bowing in the middle of the heated bed). I haven't touched the Configuration_adv.h as of yet, but made a few changes to the configuration.h file.

My configuration is using the RepRap Discount Full Graphic Smart Controller. You'll need to comment out this line if you're not using one:
#define REPRAP_DISCOUNT_FULL_GRAPHIC_SMART_CONTROLLER

This is also for the very latest version of Marlin from the git repository. If you use an older version, you will need to copy/paste the bits out of this file accordingly.

The configuration I have is based on [www.replikeo.com] however I believe that there's an error after finding my Y-axis wasn't stopping once hitting the end stop:

#define Y_HOME_DIR 1
#define INVERT_Y_DIR true

Should actually be:
#define Y_HOME_DIR -1
#define INVERT_Y_DIR false

This won't be sufficient to get it fully operational as I believe you'll need to have a look at modifying (see [calculator.josefprusa.cz])
#define DEFAULT_AXIS_STEPS_PER_UNIT {80,80,4000,600}

Hope this helps!

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Bratan
First one, 14mm M3 screws are too long to mount motors. Nobody encountered this issue?

Yes, everyone had problem with this

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Bratan
Second problem is according to official Rework built manual, Z axes rods must go thru top Z mounts. Holes in those mounts are too small however, I cannot get rods thru

Hammer (or 8mm drill, but i like hammer )

Quote
Bratan
And finally smooth rods for X assembly are not held with anything, they just slide out on the right side when head moves?

They don´t

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/06/2014 10:23PM by Allnei.

Thanks so much for the info! I guess I have to cut those screws by about 2 mm. Oh and x axis rods do slide out Maybe I need epoxy to prevent them from sliding out..

Rather than cut the screws shorter, just buy a pack of spring washers. They're dirt cheap, absorbs length, plus reduces the chance of the screws rattling lose overtime.

Well things are just getting much better. NOT! My printer that I returned to get a refund was refused for delivery by Replikeo. Looks like the true colors are coming out from this seller! I'll be calling paypal again in the morning.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/06/2014 11:53PM by jprochnow.

Thanks JonT! I have the same graphics controller, so that's easy.

I have the same upward bowing in the heat bed. It's very slight but it's there. Have you tried spring-loading the bed? That's what I was going to try next. I think the thermistor is pushing the plate up in the middle.

I never saw that info on replikeo's site, nice! I guess I should check out their site a little. I was wondering if there was a scaling factor for the differing axes, looks like DEFAULT_AXIS_STEPS_PER_UNIT is it.

My home position is lower, front, right. That's right, right? That's looking down the y-axis with the motor away from you.

Oh, and I'm pretty sure I've got the latest Marlin. I only DL'd it a few days ago.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/07/2014 12:01AM by gadget_greg.

Just got off the phone with paypal. They found in my favor. I'm glad this BS is over with this seller.... Good luck to those that order from them. Worst experience I have ever had.

That sucks man. But I'm glad you at least got your $$ back.

Quote
Allnei

Quote
Bratan
Second problem is according to official Rework built manual, Z axes rods must go thru top Z mounts. Holes in those mounts are too small however, I cannot get rods thru

Hammer (or 8mm drill, but i like hammer )

Hammer is a bad bad idea I cracked plastic support a little, it was really tight. Used drill (5/16" since I don't have 8mm) and then a little hammer on second support and worked beautifully
I also filled X axis idler holes with epoxy (after smooth rods were in) and it holds it great. There really should be some kind of stops there in the design, but I understand that rod lengths are not always exact so it would be difficult.
As for long M3 motor mount screws, lock washers were not enough... I bought some 10mm screws in local hardware store and the are a bit too short so you really need 12mm, or multiple washers.

If you cracked 2-3layers bridge, that hold both sides of "rod clip" it does not matter.

I noticed on one set of build instructions that your y-axis smooth rods can be strapped down with zip ties. Just under the ends of the rods there's a little hole for a zip tie.

Yes, Y-axis rods must be secured with zip ties.

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gadget_greg
I noticed on one set of build instructions that your y-axis smooth rods can be strapped down with zip ties. Just under the ends of the rods there's a little hole for a zip tie.

Yeah, but I was talking about X-axes
Anyway just finished hardware build, so tired Thanks for everyone's help! Hot head will be an issue as it seems to be different from "official" version.
also my axes smooth rood appear to be slightly bent, so x carriage gets slightly stuck in the middle. I hope steppers will be able to move it tho

Hi again,

I managed to assemble my printer during the weekend.
I hold my breath when connecting it to the wall. Fortunately it did not burn down

I still have few concerns.
There is a play between X smooth rods and its bearings. Its possible to rotate the extruder few mm.
On Z and Y axis smooth rods fit more tightly. Should it be like that?

Second issue is with large extruder gear. It's not 100% parallel to the extruder body. Spacers between gear and the bearing are little askew.
Is it ok? Do I need to address the issue?

I also need to replace carbon fiber bed with glass, carbon fiber seems to bend too much and the middle of the bed is higher than corners.

My desk is filled with those cubes [www.dropbox.com]
Any hints how I could improve the quality. It's too wide on X and Y (evenly too wide) and too narrow on Z.
I'm using E3Dv6 hotend.

Has anyone figured out how to eliminate the high spot in the middle of the heat bed? That's my final hurdle I believe.

2ndalpha, I'm surprised you have play in those linear bearing, mine are tight as hell and a couple have lost a bearing or two while inserting the rods.

I, too, may end up switching to glass (and hairspray)...

Quote
gadget_greg
2ndalpha, I'm surprised you have play in those linear bearing, mine are tight as hell and a couple have lost a bearing or two while inserting the rods.

Those rods are 7.91mm, all others are 8mm.
Damn, need to find new rods

I'm ready to start on heated bed and electronics and have couple of questions.

1. Reprap instructions mention high temperature silicone for thermistor. It didn't come with replikeo kit, do I really need it? Also I only got single thermistor, did everyone get 2?
2. As for mounting heated bed someone mentioned using cork. Cork washers or big square piece of cork to go between metal plate and PCB?
3. What AWG wires recommended for heated bed?
And here are some pictures of my build
Hardware assembled.


Here's where I used epoxy. My linear bearings were really tight on X carriage, so when I moved it, smooth rodes will move with it completely falling out.


Infamous bow in the heated bed. I'm thinking that thicker PCB might have fixed the issue...


Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/10/2014 10:48AM by Bratan.

Cork plate (at least 6mm thick) between mount and PCB

I've finally gotten my Raspberry Pi stable; turns out the power supply I was using didn't supply enough current (700mA=no good, 1A=good!). It's now talking to the printer and Pronterface can control all of the axes including the extruder but the hotend HAS to be hot, the software won't allow cold extrusion.

The big hurdle now is the bow in the center of the heatbed.

Did anyone else have to change the z-axis endstop? I'm at the very limit of its adjustment and if I add cork to the heatbed standoffs I'll definitely bottom out. My temperatures appear to be stable for PLA so far, I haven't tried to go hotter. I'd be pissed if I fried the MOSFET before I got this thing printing. I DID add two small heatsinks but I don't want to take any chances.

@Bratan I didn't use silicone either, just klapton tape. I am currently using the wires that came with the heatbed but I bought some 12ga thermally insulated wire as a replacement at a local electrical supply store. I'll swap 'em out sometime down the road, maybe when I start printing ABS and require higher temps.