Folger Tech 2020 i3 Printer Kit (Official Thread)

The box of parts has arrived and it looks like everything it's there!!!


The Ramps, stepper controls and the arduino board are already put together and pack on their own bag, somewhere on other pack it's the LCD display...


End stops and the extra stepper control (I will use it later to add a second extruder!)


The extruder assembly, looks like all the cables are fine and nothing it's busted, but we can not be for sure until all is assembled

The bad it's that I leave work a little late today and totally forget to get a small parts organizer, so the hardware bag will have to wait until tomorrow to get sorted....

Now the fun starts!!!!

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Mr.Fus
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Green M3D (Running v.1.3.6.3Beta)
FolgerTech Prusa i3 (2020 Frame)
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You can test the extruder thermister with an ohmmeter. A couple of us had bad ones lately. It's a great machine and prints great.

Lcd is in a unmarked white bubble wrap bag. Make sure yuo take the ramp and Mage apart to check the solder connection. Try to peal the label off the hardware bag and stick it to piece of paper so you can check off parts and make notes. Happy build and remember to take your time to double check everything.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/05/2015 08:58PM by Mopar99.

Interesting - looks like Folger have redesigned the extruder since the earlier version (I mean when the 2020 first came out). Originally, they didn't have a spring mechanism.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/05/2015 09:07PM by animoose.

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

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animoose
Interesting - looks like Folger have redesigned the extruder since the earlier version (I mean when the 2020 first came out). Originally, they didn't have a spring mechanism.

Yours doesn't have a spring? I thought I just couldn't see it in the pictures. How do they keep pressure between the idle pulley and drive gear?

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Newbie with Folgertech 2020 i3.

I wish I can start today with the frame but it's 9:15 pm and for sure if I start right now will be 2 am before make it to bed and tomorrow I need to be at work by 8 am...

I should have put my vacation request for this week, hahahaha!!!

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Mr.Fus
<------------------------------------------------->
Green M3D (Running v.1.3.6.3Beta)
FolgerTech Prusa i3 (2020 Frame)
<------------------------------------------------>

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msaeger

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animoose
Interesting - looks like Folger have redesigned the extruder since the earlier version (I mean when the 2020 first came out). Originally, they didn't have a spring mechanism.

Yours doesn't have a spring? I thought I just couldn't see it in the pictures. How do they keep pressure between the idle pulley and drive gear?

It's a different design altogether, something like this [www.thingiverse.com] or this [www.thingiverse.com]. It just relies on the relative position of the MK7 gear and the grooved bearing to hold the filament firmly. In practise, it has worked fine for everything I've tried in it except Ninjaflex. I made a new extruder which looks similar to your from this [www.thingiverse.com], but was not able to get it to feed at all. I think the spring I was using might have been too strong. I know some people say the spring maes it easier to change the filament, but I've never had any problems doing so. One person on this forum also said that the plastic hub that the grooved bearing mounts can break - again, I have not made any problem with this.

This would explain why my E3D block design didn't work for you :-)

I am thinking about having another go with a sprung one with a weaker spring, and also maybe about a redesign of the one I have so that I can run a PTFE liner all the way from the MK7 gear down into the E3D. This might give a smoother path for Ninjaflex or other flexible filaments.

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

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Mopar99
Lcd is in a unmarked white bubble wrap bag. Make sure yuo take the ramp and Mage apart to check the solder connection. Try to peal the label off the hardware bag and stick it to piece of paper so you can check off parts and make notes. Happy build and remember to take your time to double check everything.

Also carefully pull the servo motor drivers off and check to be sure all the jumpers are actually across both pins. My extruder driver only had two jumpers making the connections so my microsteps were way off and drove me nuts (which is a short drive!).

And while you are having fun, I suggest taking that new extruder drive front end apart and see if the brass grooved drive wheel is turning freely inside of the endbell of the motor. Mine was dragging badly on the frame and caused jerky motion and clicking as the motor jumped steps. I couldn't get consistent feed to calibrate the extruder.

I would love to see some pictures of the new extruder drive front end, if someone could take a few and post them.

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

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animoose
I would love to see some pictures of the new extruder drive front end, if someone could take a few and post them.

What part do you mean by the front end?

I have been printing out this mount. [www.thingiverse.com] I don't know if it's worth it or not it's probably going to hang over the front side just as much as the setup I have not using your mounting block I modified.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/06/2015 12:14AM by msaeger.

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Newbie with Folgertech 2020 i3.

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msaeger

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animoose
I would love to see some pictures of the new extruder drive front end, if someone could take a few and post them.

What part do you mean by the front end?

I meant the part with the spring, the MK7 and the grooved bearing. But then I just realized that the photos you linked to in a comment on my blog show it pretty well.

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

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I am thinking about having another go with a sprung one with a weaker spring

I did that, on my similar i3 with wades. With 2 springs the PETG filament would flatten and get stuck in the PTFE. With 1 spring, it works great.

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msaeger

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animoose
I would love to see some pictures of the new extruder drive front end, if someone could take a few and post them.

What part do you mean by the front end?

I have been printing out this mount. [www.thingiverse.com] I don't know if it's worth it or not it's probably going to hang over the front side just as much as the setup I have not using your mounting block I modified.

Can i ask what you might gain by that extruder mount? I was thinking about changing too but mine is running pretty good now. Also The one you are doing is direct drive. From what i've read(I could be wrong) a geared driven extruder is faster then a direct drive. So really your just putting the same thing on that you already have. Now if you put on a ed3 with an external motor drive (something thats not hanging off the x carriage that is gear driven) then I see an advantage. Less stuff hanging way off the x carriage = less weight and vibration. Plus a gear driven extruder for faster prints. Then I see an advantage.

Can you guys give me a quick refresher on how to fix over extrusion? Printer has ben fine and I changed filament and now on the outer and inner shell it over extrudes if it is a tight corner. Guess I am going to have to have settings for each color filament.

did you extrude a certain amount and measure to see if it is extruding that amount or not?

Just did, it was off a bit so I tweaked the config file and am going to try the print again. Any good test prints for this?

This is what is happening, the ends are curling up

what are your using PLA or ABS. I have not played with ABS so I can't help you if its ABS. But if its PLA make sure your bed is at least 60c and play with the heat settings for the filament. Make sure your first layer gets put down slow and a fan cooling it helps a lot!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/06/2015 01:25PM by woodknack.

Yeah it is PLA. I have been printing with ABS with very little issues.

Print at 190c with a 65c bed

Fan is on all the time.

I just printed a cube and it has raised at each corner. The first layer is going down great but it does it after that.

Gonna try slowing the printer down this time was printing at 100mm/s

try raising the heat. so if that makes a difference? or lower the heat. every machine is different. I print my black PLA at 180c and bed at 60c. your bed maybe to hot. lower that to 60c

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/06/2015 01:33PM by woodknack.

After looking around I've decided to go with this printer. Ordered one last night and I'm looking forward to putting it together.

I cant go any lower than 190c or it clogs.

I thought bed temp only affected the first layer. This is starting after it puts the first solid layer down and starts the walls.

Anyone have the default CURA settings? Maybe it is something I changed.

What are you printing on? Glass or blue painters tape? If it's just bare glass try a little spritz of hairspray to keep those prints held down.

Using glass and hairspray. Its not the edges net to the glass that are messing up it is later in the print.

Went to put some lithium grease in the bearings on the Y carriage last night.

I just loosened the rods and backed them out enough to get inside the bearings.

Getting a bit of bearing noise now, hope I didn't bend the rods . Will try to see if I can get them aligned and quiet it down

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srcga
Went to put some lithium grease in the bearings on the Y carriage last night.

I just loosened the rods and backed them out enough to get inside the bearings.

Getting a bit of bearing noise now, hope I didn't bend the rods . Will try to see if I can get them aligned and quiet it down

These LM8UU bearings are starting to get on my nerves. When replacing the y-carriage this weekend, I noticed one of them had worn out a gasket and started chewing into the chrome rod. Replace all of them, ordered a new rod. I have maybe 6 hours on the new set and one of them is already so bad the grinding noise made me kill a print in progress. I think I finally may get around to installing the igus bushings I have (should have just done that this weekend, but wanted to save them for the x-carriage).

Edit: Nevermind, I'm an idiot, one of the nuts fell of one of the corner screws on the heatbed, and the screw was making the noise

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/06/2015 05:35PM by therippa.

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therippa

Quote
srcga
Went to put some lithium grease in the bearings on the Y carriage last night.

I just loosened the rods and backed them out enough to get inside the bearings.

Getting a bit of bearing noise now, hope I didn't bend the rods . Will try to see if I can get them aligned and quiet it down

These LM8UU bearings are starting to get on my nerves. When replacing the y-carriage this weekend, I noticed one of them had worn out a gasket and started chewing into the chrome rod. Replace all of them, ordered a new rod. I have maybe 6 hours on the new set and one of them is already so bad the grinding noise made me kill a print in progress. I think I finally may get around to installing the igus bushings I have (should have just done that this weekend, but wanted to save them for the x-carriage).

Edit: Nevermind, I'm an idiot, one of the nuts fell of one of the corner screws on the heatbed, and the screw was making the noise

how much are igus bushing? do you have a link to them?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/06/2015 05:37PM by Mopar99.

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therippa

Quote
srcga
Went to put some lithium grease in the bearings on the Y carriage last night.

I just loosened the rods and backed them out enough to get inside the bearings.

Getting a bit of bearing noise now, hope I didn't bend the rods . Will try to see if I can get them aligned and quiet it down

These LM8UU bearings are starting to get on my nerves. When replacing the y-carriage this weekend, I noticed one of them had worn out a gasket and started chewing into the chrome rod. Replace all of them, ordered a new rod. I have maybe 6 hours on the new set and one of them is already so bad the grinding noise made me kill a print in progress. I think I finally may get around to installing the igus bushings I have (should have just done that this weekend, but wanted to save them for the x-carriage).

Edit: Nevermind, I'm an idiot, one of the nuts fell of one of the corner screws on the heatbed, and the screw was making the noise

I've had exactly the same thing happen, and also got vibration from the clips that I use to hold the glass down to the heated bed. And I think the aluminium bed acts like a big sounding board so things sound worse than they really are. That said, I'd like to hear how it works out with igus bushings, as I've considered doing that as well.

---

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

Quote
animoose

Quote
therippa

Quote
srcga
Went to put some lithium grease in the bearings on the Y carriage last night.

I just loosened the rods and backed them out enough to get inside the bearings.

Getting a bit of bearing noise now, hope I didn't bend the rods . Will try to see if I can get them aligned and quiet it down

These LM8UU bearings are starting to get on my nerves. When replacing the y-carriage this weekend, I noticed one of them had worn out a gasket and started chewing into the chrome rod. Replace all of them, ordered a new rod. I have maybe 6 hours on the new set and one of them is already so bad the grinding noise made me kill a print in progress. I think I finally may get around to installing the igus bushings I have (should have just done that this weekend, but wanted to save them for the x-carriage).

Edit: Nevermind, I'm an idiot, one of the nuts fell of one of the corner screws on the heatbed, and the screw was making the noise

I've had exactly the same thing happen, and also got vibration from the clips that I use to hold the glass down to the heated bed. And I think the aluminium bed acts like a big sounding board so things sound worse than they really are. That said, I'd like to hear how it works out with igus bushings, as I've considered doing that as well.

I have 4 RJZM-02-08, purchased here while they were still $5, and just ordered 4 RJ4JP-01-08 from here, but they won't be delivered until mid-November. It's really hard finding the right size, as most of their bushings that have an 8mm hole are 1mm too long and too thick, so you'd have to remix anything that takes an LM8UU to fit.

If these end up having backlash problems like a few people describe, I'm going to suck it up and buy proper LM8UU's at $5-6/piece.

Also, I found a better x-endstop holder - [www.thingiverse.com]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/06/2015 06:36PM by therippa.

Very impressed. I have everything calibrated and tweaked. This is my largest and most complicated print yet. The detail is fantastic.