Folger Tech 2020 i3 Printer Kit (Official Thread)

Quote
therippa

Quote
markts

Quote
therippa
Well, I got my new E3D V6 Bowden setup up and running today, and just printed a test cube. I can't believe how much better the print quality is compared to the stock hotend. The difference is like using sidewalk chalk vs a fine tip mechanical pencil.

I'm going to ask a dumb question here. What did you buy for this, vs what did you print? How much work was it to convert?

I reused the motor from the Folgertech extruder for the Bowden setup. I bought the E3D and various screws, bearings, and hobbed gears (they mostly detailed in the instructions on the bowden extruder's thingiverse page). It wasn't that hard to do, I'd say the hardest part was getting everything calibrated well enough that I felt I could print the parts and have them fit, since there are some tight tolerances. Once everything was printed and I had all the necessary hardware, I'd say it took about two hours to put it all together.

Quote
markts

Quote
therippa

Quote
markts

Quote
therippa
Well, I got my new E3D V6 Bowden setup up and running today, and just printed a test cube. I can't believe how much better the print quality is compared to the stock hotend. The difference is like using sidewalk chalk vs a fine tip mechanical pencil.

I'm going to ask a dumb question here. What did you buy for this, vs what did you print? How much work was it to convert?

I reused the motor from the Folgertech extruder for the Bowden setup. I bought the E3D and various screws, bearings, and hobbed gears (they mostly detailed in the instructions on the bowden extruder's thingiverse page). It wasn't that hard to do, I'd say the hardest part was getting everything calibrated well enough that I felt I could print the parts and have them fit, since there are some tight tolerances. Once everything was printed and I had all the necessary hardware, I'd say it took about two hours to put it all together.

Yeah, I would think if I got it printing well enough to print those parts, I wouldn't need to switch! lol. Did you pick up the various parts (PTFE, gears, etc) separately, or does someone package all that stuff?

Quote
therippa

Quote
[email protected]
So the things I learned tonight:
That odd problem with my x-carriage was due to the fact when I was looking for the firmware I ASSUMED the copy on the google drive link was the current tuned one WRONG I grabbed the copy that therippa linked on the github moved my end stop back to the right flipped my extruder back and tried the "tuned" version. Well first thing is my X would not move again then I remembered I did not flip the wires back around so for some insane reason I went into the firmware and changed the X direction instead of moving the wires. And now my X-home works!!!!!! Maybe it's a good thing though I'm learning my way around the firmware instead of flipping wires it's safer!!!

My bed takes FOREVER to heat I thought I saw a suggestion to slide cardboard between the aluminum plate and the heater. Is that safe? By the way my bed keeps climbing and stops at 130 I have it set for 100 in repetier maybe another dive into the firmware is in order.

Also I have some strings when printing most noticeable when it it printing open holes. Maybe 220 is to hot for ABS?

I turned my stepper drivers down even lower tonight cooler and still no skipping. Also notice my lower X-carriage rod slides a little side to side since my endstop is on this rod I can not see this being a good thing though I have not seen X-home change..

For the X carriage issue, I would recommend changing the X direction in the firmware back to what it was, moving your X-endstop connection on the RAMP board one set of pins over (the folger manual has you hooking it up to X-min for some reason), and in Repetier printer settings -> behavior -> dimension setting your Home X to max. That is how everything should really be configured without any hacks.

Bed heating - my setup takes about 10 minutes to get to 100 degrees. What do you have on top of your heatbed?

220 is probably too cold for ABS, I think most people hover around 230.

Quote
samaral
Have any of you calibrated your folgertech using the thin wall test (e.g., [www.thingiverse.com])? If so how well did it come out and may I see pictures?

Thanks,

Quote
mel0n

Quote
[email protected]

Quote
therippa
Well, I got my new E3D V6 Bowden setup up and running today, and just printed a test cube. I can't believe how much better the print quality is compared to the stock hotend. The difference is like using sidewalk chalk vs a fine tip mechanical pencil.

Pictures (and if you would STL files for the mount, bowden setup etc.). Would like to replace my hotend with a better one. Have heard of short life and other issues with the stock one. wish to as someone put it "walk away" from those problems.

I have said this like 5x already, but glad your seeing the same results as me. I stayed direct drive as Bowden has too many disadvantages over direct and not enough pros to make it worth the switch. I am interested to see a pic of your printer with the Bowden setup. Their direct drive version of the v6 comes with a short Bowden tube that extends up the direct drive extruder all the way to the gear/tensioner. So its like a super short Bowden and keeps the filament completely straight the whole way into the hotend. So since it has the coupling, I could just buy a bowden tube and switch between bowden/direct as I please. Same for the bowden version.

Though the only reason I can find to switch to bowden is to take weight off of the x-carriage, which if I am going to be honest, with this design [www.thingiverse.com] I am having no weight related issues/artifacts. The weight distribution seems perfect in the design and way it rides on the rods. The stock hotend had terrible weight distribution and it was all hanging horizontally. This stacks everything vertically, and gets the extruder motor much closer to the x rods. I will post a pic of my printer in its current form later today to compare with your bowden setup.

(Oh, and since the weight distribution is so much better, my x-axis motor barely has to work at all and barely heats a few degrees above ambient temps. With the stock extruder setup it was unbelievably hot at the lowest current I could run it at without skipping)

Quote
zarnold16
Hi everyone my printer is working now with the new Ramps and Arduino. I have a question about my printer during the prints. In the video I attached, should my printer be that loud when printing, as in when my x axis moves. Also, How can I get rid of the ripples on the single side that is parallel with the x-axis.

[drive.google.com] (Video and Pics of First Print)

Quote
msaeger

Quote
zarnold16
Hi everyone my printer is working now with the new Ramps and Arduino. I have a question about my printer during the prints. In the video I attached, should my printer be that loud when printing, as in when my x axis moves. Also, How can I get rid of the ripples on the single side that is parallel with the x-axis.

[drive.google.com] (Video and Pics of First Print)

What are you using for material and what settings in the slicer?

Quote
zarnold16

Quote
msaeger

Quote
zarnold16
Hi everyone my printer is working now with the new Ramps and Arduino. I have a question about my printer during the prints. In the video I attached, should my printer be that loud when printing, as in when my x axis moves. Also, How can I get rid of the ripples on the single side that is parallel with the x-axis.

[drive.google.com] (Video and Pics of First Print)

What are you using for material and what settings in the slicer?

I'm Printing PLA at 220c. heated bed 70c

Quote
zarnold16
I'm Printing PLA at 220c. heated bed 70c

Quote
zarnold16
Hi everyone my printer is working now with the new Ramps and Arduino. I have a question about my printer during the prints. In the video I attached, should my printer be that loud when printing, as in when my x axis moves. Also, How can I get rid of the ripples on the single side that is parallel with the x-axis.

[drive.google.com] (Video and Pics of First Print)

Quote
animoose

Quote
samaral
Have any of you calibrated your folgertech using the thin wall test (e.g., [www.thingiverse.com])? If so how well did it come out and may I see pictures?

Thanks,

Early attempts: [goo.gl]. This was before I had done much calibration and tuning of parameters in Silc3r. A later attempt while I was still working out some first layer issues [goo.gl]. Here's a related test from the Makezine test set [goo.gl].

Quote
mike3

Quote
zarnold16
Hi everyone my printer is working now with the new Ramps and Arduino. I have a question about my printer during the prints. In the video I attached, should my printer be that loud when printing, as in when my x axis moves. Also, How can I get rid of the ripples on the single side that is parallel with the x-axis.

[drive.google.com] (Video and Pics of First Print)

Great glad to hear its working now.. try lowering your temp and see how that works and make sure the bed is as level as you can get it.. worked for me...

Quote
zarnold16

Quote
mike3

Quote
zarnold16
Hi everyone my printer is working now with the new Ramps and Arduino. I have a question about my printer during the prints. In the video I attached, should my printer be that loud when printing, as in when my x axis moves. Also, How can I get rid of the ripples on the single side that is parallel with the x-axis.

[drive.google.com] (Video and Pics of First Print)

Great glad to hear its working now.. try lowering your temp and see how that works and make sure the bed is as level as you can get it.. worked for me...

Is that the reason my x-axis is so loud? Also my x-axis stepper motor is running hot. To fix that on the stepper driver turn the pot to the left, correct?

Quote
therippa

Quote
RedneckGeek

Quote
therippa

Quote
Mach
What has to be changed to the up-to-date marlin version in order to make it work with this printer. when I transfer the config.h setting and the pins.h settings from the version that FT provided to a newer version, the printer does not function properly. Could someone post a link to a newer version that works with the printer, or maybe attach a newer version that is known to work. Thanks.

Latest Marlin with Folgertech settings merged in: [www.github.com]

I downloaded this version and loaded it on my printer and the bed won't heat beyond 87C. Weird. I put the old one back on and I can get to 101 again no problem.

Trying going through the PID autotune with your bed?

Quote
RedneckGeek

Quote
therippa

Quote
RedneckGeek

Quote
therippa

Quote
Mach
What has to be changed to the up-to-date marlin version in order to make it work with this printer. when I transfer the config.h setting and the pins.h settings from the version that FT provided to a newer version, the printer does not function properly. Could someone post a link to a newer version that works with the printer, or maybe attach a newer version that is known to work. Thanks.

Latest Marlin with Folgertech settings merged in: [www.github.com]

I downloaded this version and loaded it on my printer and the bed won't heat beyond 87C. Weird. I put the old one back on and I can get to 101 again no problem.

Trying going through the PID autotune with your bed?

Yep. Works fine for the extruder but times out when trying to tune the bed. Using M303 E-1 C3 S100

Quote
samaral

Quote
animoose

Quote
samaral
Have any of you calibrated your folgertech using the thin wall test (e.g., [www.thingiverse.com])? If so how well did it come out and may I see pictures?

Thanks,

Early attempts: [goo.gl]. This was before I had done much calibration and tuning of parameters in Silc3r. A later attempt while I was still working out some first layer issues [goo.gl]. Here's a related test from the Makezine test set [goo.gl].

@animoose: Thanks for the pictures. Your later attempt came out very nice. I also noticed you don't have any oozing (e.g., even the Makezine has some oozing in the center front frace) from the hot end. May I ask what parameters you are using for your slic3r extruder (e.g., [manual.slic3r.org]). Or are you doing something else to combat this?

Thanks,

Quote
[email protected]

Quote
zarnold16

Quote
mike3

Quote
zarnold16
Hi everyone my printer is working now with the new Ramps and Arduino. I have a question about my printer during the prints. In the video I attached, should my printer be that loud when printing, as in when my x axis moves. Also, How can I get rid of the ripples on the single side that is parallel with the x-axis.

[drive.google.com] (Video and Pics of First Print)

Great glad to hear its working now.. try lowering your temp and see how that works and make sure the bed is as level as you can get it.. worked for me...

Is that the reason my x-axis is so loud? Also my x-axis stepper motor is running hot. To fix that on the stepper driver turn the pot to the left, correct?

With the printer unplugged and USB unplugged try half turn counter clockwise

Quote
therippa
Well, I solved a bunch of my issues tonight by splurging on Simplify3D. My calibration cubes no longer have the bad corner, my x-axis motor is somehow quieter, I no longer have sagging bridges, printed x and y dimensions are uniform down to the first decimal place, and my print time estimates are way more accurate. I really wish there was a trial version of the software for people to try, I imagine it would boost their sales quite a bit. Pics to follow after I'm done dialing things in...

Quote
CheopisIV

Quote
therippa
Well, I solved a bunch of my issues tonight by splurging on Simplify3D. My calibration cubes no longer have the bad corner, my x-axis motor is somehow quieter, I no longer have sagging bridges, printed x and y dimensions are uniform down to the first decimal place, and my print time estimates are way more accurate. I really wish there was a trial version of the software for people to try, I imagine it would boost their sales quite a bit. Pics to follow after I'm done dialing things in...

Haha, we're going to sound like ads... I ended up buying Simplify3D as well (mostly for the custom supports!!) and have been having great prints on this machine. I was using Cura/Repetier Host on my Makibox and it was fine, but for some reason I can't get good prints on the Folger Tech... most likely it's just setup issues but the all in one of S3D is very nice and it works.

Quote
animoose
I'm about to start rebuilding the X/Z axes using wderoxas's parts ( [www.thingiverse.com] and [www.thingiverse.com], with one small change). If you don't hear me say any more about this, it means it all went wrong and I took up a different hobby, like knitting brightly colored socks for small dogs.

Quote
CheopisIV

Quote
animoose
I'm about to start rebuilding the X/Z axes using wderoxas's parts ( [www.thingiverse.com] and [www.thingiverse.com], with one small change). If you don't hear me say any more about this, it means it all went wrong and I took up a different hobby, like knitting brightly colored socks for small dogs.

The motor standoffs are awesome! I'm waiting on some 8mm screws and other parts from Folger Tech before I tear down the X/Z axis again but I have those parts (with one small mod) and a dual E3D assembly printed and ready to go! I may join you in the knitting if my own venture goes south... dibs on the red wool.