Folger Tech 2020 i3 Printer Kit (Official Thread)

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animoose

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therippa
If anyone would like an easy way to mount the LCD smart controller to the frame, I made these - RepRapDiscount Smart Controller Mount for 2020 Frames.

I did one too! [www.thingiverse.com]. I like your built in T nuts.

Thanks for this design! i made one yesterday it's great! [www.thingiverse.com]

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wderoxas
By the way, should you go for auto bed levelling, you have to consider the additional wear that it woud impose on your m5 threaded rods and its nuts. Ive also read some feedback that an anti backlash mechanism for z is necessary, but i never really get the reason why. As for my kit, i had some acetal (delrin) plastic lying around so i tapped it and substituted it for the nut.

I don't really see how this is a problem? Just apply some lube to the threads every once in a while, and replace them if they get bad. I'ts not exactly a super expensive part? Though the rods are pretty critical for print quality, I just don't see them wearing as a major concern, certainly not with a lubricant. The only time wear is an issue that I could see would be under heavy use, in which case, what your doing/using wouldn't matter much because they would wear regaurdless with heavy use.

Also Markts still waiting on your feedback on those zip ties I have lubed the crap out of my x axis rods/bearings and now that the lube has worked its way into the bearings its gotten considerably quieter, but not exactly quiet, just better. I am using speed cream skateboard bearing oil as my lubricant on everything because it prevents corrosion, is safe on plastic, and is designed specifically for bearings. I was thinking about giving something heavier like lithium grease a try to see if that makes anything quieter. But I feel like a thicker lubricant would collect more dirt/dust.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/07/2015 11:14AM by mel0n.

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mel0n

Also Markts still waiting on your feedback on those zip ties I have lubed the crap out of my x axis rods/bearings and now that the lube has worked its way into the bearings its gotten considerably quieter, but not exactly quiet, just better. I am using speed cream skateboard bearing oil as my lubricant on everything because it prevents corrosion, is safe on plastic, and is designed specifically for bearings. I was thinking about giving something heavier like lithium grease a try to see if that makes anything quieter. But I feel like a thicker lubricant would collect more dirt/dust.

I know. Was away for a few days and haven't gotten the chance. I'll try to remember to just snip them tonight and let you know what happens! (and I'll try the lube-the-heck-out-of-them approach too)

For autoleveling, I'm not messing with that servo arm setup, I ordered an aluminum hot bed plate and will be using the inductor method - [www.youtube.com]

That was easy, mine had bond fee 0lane hier than ground brokerage fee... Internationnal sales of shipping did not include foren taxes, shipper paid an bingo EXTRA7o$. Dan's gone? Shipper acknowledges the fee could be waved because the location of pickup Foldgerteck us had old soft could not inform folgerteck the fee uppon ship.

No scam there, just an internet lookup to find taxes, and a www site thing from Folgers. Now calculating heat power on in motion motor consumption, ramps heat in full use ect, fluid mechanics, and last night thermal conductivity. Will be back here soon to tease smart ppl.

I'm bad with arfuino site 6oo pages of forrum no complete how to guide.
My 1o$ multimeter/tester measures o.35 no thousanth decimal, and for consumption of electricity in moovement a testor must provide an exxact volt amp rate.

We simply lack programming skills to compensate for a real ohm's law mechanical issue.
Open source is messages like this with few solutions to shelf in your own homw. Yeay let me download all the video's for a repram kossel 2020 model . How many megabytes?

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therippa
For autoleveling, I'm not messing with that servo arm setup, I ordered an aluminum hot bed plate and will be using the inductor method - [www.youtube.com]

I agree, I could be wrong, but I think using something solidly fixed (inductor) will be more consistent than the servo based bed leveling methods.

This one can be used with a glass bed, (and presumably an aluminum bed) and the price is not bad at $7 USD, plus the cost of a piece of 28ga (1.27mm) steel sheet metal cut to the size of your bed.
http://gyroe3dprinter.blogspot.com/2015/02/aluminum-3dprintmi-automatic-bed.html

I like this because no other wiring is necessary other than making the 3 connections for the the sensor (less parts means less stuff to troubleshoot when problems arise). For the servo methods there is the wiring for the servo and for the switch. For some inductors, proximity sensors, etc; one or more resistors or a voltage divider circuit are often necessary. And because I'm new to this, I like the flexibility of being able to switch between a aluminum bed and a glass bed.

I just ordered my kit over the weekend, after I get it, build it and get a few decent prints out of it, a mount for this sensor will be the first usable part I plan to make. I'm planning to wait until I get my kit built before I design a mount for it.

Heat control working on that now fluid mechanics for hot end, and most fun (missing fan RPM and CFM)
Fourier's law/newton's law of cooling for extruder jam's and heat conductivity to parts and /PLA/ABS, lastly Ohm's law for all electronics heat distribution

Ideally, a transparent garbage bag filled with CO2 isolate heats sources to where they should be applied (pla/abs bond after extrusion.

I SHORTENED an allen key with a rotary cutting disk. The fit of parts was less worrysome as ABS parts on kossel 2020 full...solidity.

Anyone have trouble getting the reprapdiscount smart controller to work? mine only lights up when the computer is connected via USB. the point of the controller is to be able to use the machine when the USB is NOT connected. what the heck.

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ejnelson
Anyone have trouble getting the reprapdiscount smart controller to work? mine only lights up when the computer is connected via USB. the point of the controller is to be able to use the machine when the USB is NOT connected. what the heck.

I had the same trouble, but apparently others got it to work out of the box. Check my post on page 5. I had to upgrade to the latest version of the firmware (Marlin) to get it to work.

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markts

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ejnelson
Anyone have trouble getting the reprapdiscount smart controller to work? mine only lights up when the computer is connected via USB. the point of the controller is to be able to use the machine when the USB is NOT connected. what the heck.

I had the same trouble, but apparently others got it to work out of the box. Check my post on page 5. I had to upgrade to the latest version of the firmware (Marlin) to get it to work.

Hey thanks for the quick response. I actually just flashed the marlin fork from therippa because i plan on doing inductive sensing too. I also, just tried using "#define KILL_PIN -1", no change. It seems that my LCD panel works, I can use it to control things on the machine, but it only lights up when I have a USB connection to my computer. As soon as i disconnect, the LCD shuts down.

I have the full graphics controller and i saw the same behavior when i had switched the connection of the two ribbon cables. 1 went to 2 and vice versa.

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wderoxas
I have the full graphics controller and i saw the same behavior when i had switched the connection of the two ribbon cables. 1 went to 2 and vice versa.

Tried switching the ribbon connectors... no luck. thanks though.

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ejnelson

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markts

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ejnelson
Anyone have trouble getting the reprapdiscount smart controller to work? mine only lights up when the computer is connected via USB. the point of the controller is to be able to use the machine when the USB is NOT connected. what the heck.

I had the same trouble, but apparently others got it to work out of the box. Check my post on page 5. I had to upgrade to the latest version of the firmware (Marlin) to get it to work.

Hey thanks for the quick response. I actually just flashed the marlin fork from therippa because i plan on doing inductive sensing too. I also, just tried using "#define KILL_PIN -1", no change. It seems that my LCD panel works, I can use it to control things on the machine, but it only lights up when I have a USB connection to my computer. As soon as i disconnect, the LCD shuts down.

That's weird, it works me fine when not plugged in to USB power.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/07/2015 07:34PM by therippa.

I found cilicon lubricant works well for those slider bearings ( the propellant in can dissolves what seem's to have beeen oil from manufacturer that dried.

I suggest strap conditionner for squeeky straps in cars. It will (by brush to backside be little sticky byt prevent strap slipping. Not recommended on toothed side (more gunk for motor to tread through)

Cilicon, as your oil must be vegetal nature and not a petroleum distillate like most oils. I've even tried degreasser in wolnut oil to get right viscosity, again beware of add up oil, it's dries after time, so wd40 degrease, run dry if you think the plastic parts will fail first. )

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rollinns

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therippa
For autoleveling, I'm not messing with that servo arm setup, I ordered an aluminum hot bed plate and will be using the inductor method - [www.youtube.com]

I agree, I could be wrong, but I think using something solidly fixed (inductor) will be more consistent than the servo based bed leveling methods.

This one can be used with a glass bed, (and presumably an aluminum bed) and the price is not bad at $7 USD, plus the cost of a piece of 28ga (1.27mm) steel sheet metal cut to the size of your bed.
http://gyroe3dprinter.blogspot.com/2015/02/aluminum-3dprintmi-automatic-bed.html

I like this because no other wiring is necessary other than making the 3 connections for the the sensor (less parts means less stuff to troubleshoot when problems arise). For the servo methods there is the wiring for the servo and for the switch. For some inductors, proximity sensors, etc; one or more resistors or a voltage divider circuit are often necessary. And because I'm new to this, I like the flexibility of being able to switch between a aluminum bed and a glass bed.

I just ordered my kit over the weekend, after I get it, build it and get a few decent prints out of it, a mount for this sensor will be the first usable part I plan to make. I'm planning to wait until I get my kit built before I design a mount for it.

True, something that is solidly fixed, and not having a physical contact with the bed is more reliable and consistent. But from what i have observed, deviation on height measurement for servo arm approach is in 10 to 30 microns, which in my opinion is acceptable.
So in my case, its a matter of what's available to me. If i had an easy source for metal/aluminum plates, i would have gone for the inductor/proximity sensor.
As for the connections needed, all you really need is a jumper on ramps for the servo power and the servo connection. The switch is the same switch your using for the z endstop, just relocated.
So, yeah, proximity sensor is better but it doesn't mean servo approach is less accurate/reliable. It all comes down to your preference and whatever's available.

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therippa

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ejnelson

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markts

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ejnelson
Anyone have trouble getting the reprapdiscount smart controller to work? mine only lights up when the computer is connected via USB. the point of the controller is to be able to use the machine when the USB is NOT connected. what the heck.

I had the same trouble, but apparently others got it to work out of the box. Check my post on page 5. I had to upgrade to the latest version of the firmware (Marlin) to get it to work.

Hey thanks for the quick response. I actually just flashed the marlin fork from therippa because i plan on doing inductive sensing too. I also, just tried using "#define KILL_PIN -1", no change. It seems that my LCD panel works, I can use it to control things on the machine, but it only lights up when I have a USB connection to my computer. As soon as i disconnect, the LCD shuts down.

That's weird, it works me fine when not plugged in to USB power.

Yeah, it should work as long as the psu is on. How about manually triggering any endstop while your not connected to usb and psu is on. Does the led on the endstop lits up?

Whatever works yeah after rp+yrs of microchip printing life would be easy by now in printing with extruders.
Why am I in wrong forrum?? I enjoy not finding my specific model

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[email protected]
Cilicon, as your oil must be vegetal nature and not a petroleum distillate like most oils. I've even tried degreasser in wolnut oil to get right viscosity, again beware of add up oil, it's dries after time, so wd40 degrease, run dry if you think the plastic parts will fail first. )

Silicon lubricant is good stuff. not to worried about vegetable oil or petroleum in silicon lubricant haha. WD40 is horrible because it acts as a solvent and a lubricant. You should not use WD40 on anything that has rubber or plastic parts, it dries them out.

Yeah me to. In 1993-94 I studied electronics watchmaking; prestigious watch testors power the part from the multimeter, so the exact consumption per h/sec was allowing to see battery use predisctions.
In my Kossel/arduino/ramps (discontinued) it was odd how precision was to be obtained. First see pic need a microscrew driver , during power on adjust the step motor feed to 0.350mili volt with a testor (any hardware store (for precise equipment test in store 0.02 resistance from touching red/black lead)MAX

Now tester in hand, power on, positive to pin (I stuck mine to potentiometre) and turn adjustment of potentiometre.test mV again, turn screw (little at time less 1/4 way. The smal .3gp file shows potentiometre adjustment emplacement.

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wderoxas

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therippa

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ejnelson

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markts

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ejnelson
Anyone have trouble getting the reprapdiscount smart controller to work? mine only lights up when the computer is connected via USB. the point of the controller is to be able to use the machine when the USB is NOT connected. what the heck.

I had the same trouble, but apparently others got it to work out of the box. Check my post on page 5. I had to upgrade to the latest version of the firmware (Marlin) to get it to work.

Hey thanks for the quick response. I actually just flashed the marlin fork from therippa because i plan on doing inductive sensing too. I also, just tried using "#define KILL_PIN -1", no change. It seems that my LCD panel works, I can use it to control things on the machine, but it only lights up when I have a USB connection to my computer. As soon as i disconnect, the LCD shuts down.

That's weird, it works me fine when not plugged in to USB power.

Yeah, it should work as long as the psu is on. How about manually triggering any endstop while your not connected to usb and psu is on. Does the led on the endstop lits up?

All vcc which powers up the 5V components on the ramps shield (endstops, lcd, i2c, etc...) came from the mega board's voltage regulator or from usb power. However, this regulator's input voltage came from ramps 12v input via a diode on ramps (it's D1). So these are what you can do:
Check if D1 is ok,
Check if your regulator is ok - theres a jack on the mega board so you can use an external supply to power it on then see if you can get 5v from the regulator on the mega board.
If both are fine, then you probably had bad connections along these lines.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/07/2015 08:58PM by wderoxas.

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markts

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mel0n

Also Markts still waiting on your feedback on those zip ties I have lubed the crap out of my x axis rods/bearings and now that the lube has worked its way into the bearings its gotten considerably quieter, but not exactly quiet, just better. I am using speed cream skateboard bearing oil as my lubricant on everything because it prevents corrosion, is safe on plastic, and is designed specifically for bearings. I was thinking about giving something heavier like lithium grease a try to see if that makes anything quieter. But I feel like a thicker lubricant would collect more dirt/dust.

I know. Was away for a few days and haven't gotten the chance. I'll try to remember to just snip them tonight and let you know what happens! (and I'll try the lube-the-heck-out-of-them approach too)

So I sliced one zip tie from each of the three bearings and it didn't make much of a difference. I put one back on the bottom bearing and yanked it tight and it seems a little better. Go figure.

I was having an ok time printing ABS when I broke the glass plate I was using. I grabbed another, slightly thinner one, but apparently the additional thickness was a better insulator. The bed can't maintain the temperature sufficient to hold the part in place. I heat it initially with a piece of cardboard over it, but once I remove it it cools down too much. Back to PLA until I get a new piece of glass I guess.

that's unfortunate. I have been contemplating a borosillicate glass plate. But I am not sure if I want to go with inductive auto leveling, or capacitive. Capacitive seems so much better because it works with glass, and I have a really good time printing PLA on glass. ABS however, I just put on my first roll last night. Printed a couple small things directly on glass no problems, so I set up a 6 hour print today and when I got home I had a birds nest of plastic on my 3d printer lol. Came off the plate probably 30 layers in. I went and got a glue stick and it seems to be working good, though I am not sure when to apply more glue stick, or if I need to clean it off between prints, or if just the dried glue stick is enough. It holds my prints on super tight and they are actually hard to remove, but that means its working good. I am just using a big purple glue stick. My printer seems to have rattled itself into place, its not that loud anymore for no apparent reason haha.

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markts

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markts

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mel0n

Also Markts still waiting on your feedback on those zip ties I have lubed the crap out of my x axis rods/bearings and now that the lube has worked its way into the bearings its gotten considerably quieter, but not exactly quiet, just better. I am using speed cream skateboard bearing oil as my lubricant on everything because it prevents corrosion, is safe on plastic, and is designed specifically for bearings. I was thinking about giving something heavier like lithium grease a try to see if that makes anything quieter. But I feel like a thicker lubricant would collect more dirt/dust.

I know. Was away for a few days and haven't gotten the chance. I'll try to remember to just snip them tonight and let you know what happens! (and I'll try the lube-the-heck-out-of-them approach too)

So I sliced one zip tie from each of the three bearings and it didn't make much of a difference. I put one back on the bottom bearing and yanked it tight and it seems a little better. Go figure.

Thanks, good to know. I'm also thinking about some other options like printed bushings or metal bushings rather than linear bearings. Also adding a bit of rubber between the bearing mounts and the aluminium plate. I know the plate rattles, as it's quieter if it touch it gently during the print. Possibly it because I slightly slackened off the mounting screws when I was putting it together as that made it move better. For now, both my X and Y are functionally fine, and I only want to fix these to reduce the noise and because of general perfectionism. So I plan to let the ideas pile up and then do a whole bunch of work on the Y in one go.

---

See my blog at [moosteria.blogspot.com].

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msaeger

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msaeger
I watched that video too but I figured it wouldn't hurt to try changing the value.

I think I will take the sections apart and check it out mechanically wise some more. The way the infill is diagonal to the shell makes me think maybe Y axis isn't perpendicular to the X.

I got it working much, much better. I did two things to the Y axis.

First I took the bed off and mad sure the rods were at the right spacing and parallel using a calipers. When I assembled it the first time I just was counting on the bed to line it all up.

Second the holes on the bearing blocks the bed is mounted to were too far apart and didn't line up with the holes in the bed. When I assembled it the first time I just made the screws go in because I was afraid to mess up the blocks by drilling holes. This time I put one screw in each block then drilled through the existing hole in the bed and the block for the second screw then put the second screw in.

After doing these two things the bed moved much more freely.

I had a similar experience with the X axis so I plan to take that apart next and make sure it moves freely.

Here's the cube I printed now. [goo.gl] It's far from perfect but is a huge improvement. This was with no effort to level the bed and I still haven't verified the Z axis is the same on both sides.

I now have it working pretty good I think anyway I was getting gaps between the shells and the infill and the top and bottom would never be filled in even when setting it to 6 shells. I discovered in Slic3r the filament diameter was set to 3mm. After changing that to 1.75 and setting the layer height to .32 I think it's working pretty good. My 20x20 cube now reads about 20.04 to 20.08 on all sides (depending on how hard I squeeze the caliper (not sure how close it should be?)

Next I need to route all the wires and try to get that screen working.

Also are there any for dummies guides for what all the settings in Slic3r do / should be set to?

Thanks again animoose.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/07/2015 11:17PM by msaeger.

@therippa - what settings did you use to design/print the LCD holder? I tried a couple with different infill settings and percentages, but I never know what to pick. One turned out ok (honeycomb, 70%? 80%?), the other crumbled when I tried to install it (recitilinear, 70%) Should they be 100%?

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mel0n
that's unfortunate. I have been contemplating a borosillicate glass plate. But I am not sure if I want to go with inductive auto leveling, or capacitive. Capacitive seems so much better because it works with glass, and I have a really good time printing PLA on glass. ABS however, I just put on my first roll last night. Printed a couple small things directly on glass no problems, so I set up a 6 hour print today and when I got home I had a birds nest of plastic on my 3d printer lol. Came off the plate probably 30 layers in. I went and got a glue stick and it seems to be working good, though I am not sure when to apply more glue stick, or if I need to clean it off between prints, or if just the dried glue stick is enough. It holds my prints on super tight and they are actually hard to remove, but that means its working good. I am just using a big purple glue stick. My printer seems to have rattled itself into place, its not that loud anymore for no apparent reason haha.

I'm going to try the borosilicate. I need a new plate anyway and while I can get the 8x10 from Home Depot, I may as well get one that won't break like the old one.

What glass did you use? I find it very interesting my bed can't stay heated with a slightly thinner glass. Makes me think something might be wrong with the bed.

Hey guys, I sketched up a quick piece to mount my lcd on top of my z-axis motor. I'll just leave it here in case it's helpful to anyone.
[www.thingiverse.com]

So I fixed my X axis problem by moving the endstop pins to Xmax on the RAMPS board. Only to run into another strange problem that didn't happen before.

I'm having a problem with the extruder.It worked fine before. The temperature display on Repetier is behaving strangely. I don't know what the heck is going on.

It starts off at 12degC , which is strange, because that's not the room temperature. Then after I turn it on, nothing happens for almost 10 seconds. it just stays at same temperature. I touched the extruder with a piece of paper to see if it was heating and apparently it was , as the paper started to blacken. Then I check the temperature on the screen again and by now, it shows 88 deg C. but rising very slowly, even going back sometimes. Then it kind of tops out at 105 - 106 , sometime 110degC and stays there fluctuating up and down . Command still shows heating extruder. I checked the thermistor and heater wires, no loose contact or anything.

What is going on??? And how do I diagnose and fix this?

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/08/2015 12:33AM by go_gn.