Folger Tech 2020 i3 Printer Kit (Official Thread)

thanks for the feedback, just wanted to see if the info i was give was true or not. I hadn't see anyone talk about it so it leaves one wondering?

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Mopar99
thanks for the feedback, just wanted to see if the info i was give was true or not. I hadn't see anyone talk about it so it leaves one wondering?

I have a E3D v6 clone with an upgraded fully metal heat break. When I originally installed the Extruder I seasoned it with some PLA filament and some oil. I dipped the filament in the oil, pushed it through the hotend, and then pushed a clean piece of filament through. I repeated this a couple times. Since then I haven't seasoned it and I've been printing great for the past two months. I cant really say if it made that much of a difference or not but why not try it?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/12/2016 12:42PM by Keary123.

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Mopar99
question: does anyone season their Hotend's? like dab some olive oil on filament before they print?

I've put a few drops of light oil in the sponge of my filament filter, but honestly haven't noticed any difference....

After 6 months of printing EVERYTHING under the sun for the Grand kids and the 'boss', I finally got around to printing a Benchy. Used 0.3 layer height, 190 degrees, Hatchbox brown PLA, 0.85 extrusion multiplier to give me single wall of 0.48 mm as called for in the GCode. Looks pretty good!

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Folger Tech 2020 i3 and FT-5 as well as modified JGAurora A5 with direct drive E3D/Titan. All running the BLTOUCH.
Great kits. Having fun and running the heck out of them.
Running Marlin 1.1.0 RC8 on the i3 and FT5. Custom firmware on A5.
Folger Tech Wiki board >[folgertech.wikia.com]

Two questions for the community here. First I've had a wierd problem with my heated bed where sometimes it will work and sometimes it won't. On closer examination I found that one of the power wires going into the control board was screaming hot, had oxidized and melted both the power connector and the insulation on the wire. So I'm guessing my bed was turning on and off because the melted connection and oxidized wire were only making spotty and intermittent contact. Now on to the questions. . .

1) I discovered that I had cleverly hooked up the power cables for the heated bed backwards to the board, I don't know enough about the wiring of the bed to answer this but is it possible that having it hooked up backwards was causing it to pull too many amps and thus overload the tolerance of the powersupply connector and or wire (thus causing them to melt)?

2) I'd like to replace the little green power supply connector as with it being partially melted it doesn't really hold the wires very well. But I can't seem to figure out what the darn thing is called when I search for one to buy. Any advice would be much appreciated. I've attached a picture of the part to clarify.

Thanks in advance

1) It makes no difference which way you hook up the wires since DC current doesn't care which way it flows through a resistor. That's not the cause of your problem.

2) Do not use those charred connectors!! They are dangerous! You probably either tinned your wires before you inserted them, which is a no-no according to electrical safe practice (although many do it) or you didn't tighten down the screw enough and didn't go back and periodically retighten the screws.

What some are doing is taking the RAMPS board off and removing the connector completely. Then they solder the wires directly to the board and eliminate the underrated connector completely.

---

Folger Tech 2020 i3 and FT-5 as well as modified JGAurora A5 with direct drive E3D/Titan. All running the BLTOUCH.
Great kits. Having fun and running the heck out of them.
Running Marlin 1.1.0 RC8 on the i3 and FT5. Custom firmware on A5.
Folger Tech Wiki board >[folgertech.wikia.com]

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serks644
Two questions for the community here. First I've had a wierd problem with my heated bed where sometimes it will work and sometimes it won't. On closer examination I found that one of the power wires going into the control board was screaming hot, had oxidized and melted both the power connector and the insulation on the wire. So I'm guessing my bed was turning on and off because the melted connection and oxidized wire were only making spotty and intermittent contact. Now on to the questions. . .

1) I discovered that I had cleverly hooked up the power cables for the heated bed backwards to the board, I don't know enough about the wiring of the bed to answer this but is it possible that having it hooked up backwards was causing it to pull too many amps and thus overload the tolerance of the powersupply connector and or wire (thus causing them to melt)?

2) I'd like to replace the little green power supply connector as with it being partially melted it doesn't really hold the wires very well. But I can't seem to figure out what the darn thing is called when I search for one to buy. Any advice would be much appreciated. I've attached a picture of the part to clarify.

Thanks in advance

As far as I know, wiring the bed backwards does not draw more current. The green things are called terminal blocks. Searching "four pin terminal blocks" should work. There have been quite a few people that have had the same problem with the terminal blocks. Some people have said that these ramps boards do not come with terminal blocks that have the proper contacts to conduct the amount of current that the hotend or bed can draw without getting hot.

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Folger Tech I3 2020 Wikia page: [folgertech.wikia.com]

Custom Folger Tech I3 2020 custom search

Wow that is pretty nice. I've been trying to get a good 3d benchy out of natural ABS, but so far they're pretty rough. I'm still tweaking my parameters. Went to a printer meet-up not long ago and watched someone's Lulzbot Mini print out a beautiful one with almost no adjustment. OTOH, that machine costs about 4X the Folgertech kit and you don't get the entertainment of making it work.

Did you manage to get the name on the back of the hull visible?

-- CHS

Thanks for the info, I'll probably just try soldering the wires to the board and avoid the problem altogether. Also searching 4 pin terminal block did the trick on Amazon, thanks.

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lemgandi
Wow that is pretty nice. I've been trying to get a good 3d benchy out of natural ABS, but so far they're pretty rough. I'm still tweaking my parameters. Went to a printer meet-up not long ago and watched someone's Lulzbot Mini print out a beautiful one with almost no adjustment. OTOH, that machine costs about 4X the Folgertech kit and you don't get the entertainment of making it work.

Did you manage to get the name on the back of the hull visible?

-- CHS

Thanks. Yep, the name is there along with the border around it. Unfortunately, my layer start is right in the middle of it! I should have set random start. Since I used 0.3 mm layer height, you really can't read the letters. I can make out the 'Y'.

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Folger Tech 2020 i3 and FT-5 as well as modified JGAurora A5 with direct drive E3D/Titan. All running the BLTOUCH.
Great kits. Having fun and running the heck out of them.
Running Marlin 1.1.0 RC8 on the i3 and FT5. Custom firmware on A5.
Folger Tech Wiki board >[folgertech.wikia.com]

What printing speed did you use? I recently found that knob to tweak.

Hello,
I bought the Folger Tech 2020 i3 a few weeks ago.
I got it running and made a few very good prints, but the thermistor had been acting faulty from the beginning, sending MAX and MIN temp errors once in a while.
I was able to fix this each time by wiggling the wire around. Then in the middle of a print, it suddenly started saying the temp was only 130, because of this it overheated and ruined my extruder. I figured this was a problem with my thermistor, and contacted Folger Tech for replacement parts, which they sent right away. The parts came, and I installed them, but it didn't fix the problem. I tried unplugging the thermistor wires, and restarting the printer, but nothing helps.
Also, I don't know if this is relevant, but it displays the temp 125 for a half of a second when I start the printer up, then changes to 130.
Thanks,
Sam

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markts
What printing speed did you use? I recently found that knob to tweak.

40 mm/sec for all speeds. I have no fan blowing on the part either, which might help.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/14/2016 05:21PM by tjnamtiw.

---

Folger Tech 2020 i3 and FT-5 as well as modified JGAurora A5 with direct drive E3D/Titan. All running the BLTOUCH.
Great kits. Having fun and running the heck out of them.
Running Marlin 1.1.0 RC8 on the i3 and FT5. Custom firmware on A5.
Folger Tech Wiki board >[folgertech.wikia.com]

Quote
samuelmennega
Hello,
I bought the Folger Tech 2020 i3 a few weeks ago.
I got it running and made a few very good prints, but the thermistor had been acting faulty from the beginning, sending MAX and MIN temp errors once in a while.
I was able to fix this each time by wiggling the wire around. Then in the middle of a print, it suddenly started saying the temp was only 130, because of this it overheated and ruined my extruder. I figured this was a problem with my thermistor, and contacted Folger Tech for replacement parts, which they sent right away. The parts came, and I installed them, but it didn't fix the problem. I tried unplugging the thermistor wires, and restarting the printer, but nothing helps.
Also, I don't know if this is relevant, but it displays the temp 125 for a half of a second when I start the printer up, then changes to 130.
Thanks,
Sam

Are your MOSFET's touching? That would be Q1, Q2, Q3 from here:
[reprap.org]

It sounds like you have tried the easy stuff. It seems less like thermoistor, and more like a Ramps board problem. Look for bad solder joints or bridging. All of this, assuming that the firmware is correct.

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Mach

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serks644
Two questions for the community here. First I've had a wierd problem with my heated bed where sometimes it will work and sometimes it won't. On closer examination I found that one of the power wires going into the control board was screaming hot, had oxidized and melted both the power connector and the insulation on the wire. So I'm guessing my bed was turning on and off because the melted connection and oxidized wire were only making spotty and intermittent contact. Now on to the questions. . .

1) I discovered that I had cleverly hooked up the power cables for the heated bed backwards to the board, I don't know enough about the wiring of the bed to answer this but is it possible that having it hooked up backwards was causing it to pull too many amps and thus overload the tolerance of the powersupply connector and or wire (thus causing them to melt)?

2) I'd like to replace the little green power supply connector as with it being partially melted it doesn't really hold the wires very well. But I can't seem to figure out what the darn thing is called when I search for one to buy. Any advice would be much appreciated. I've attached a picture of the part to clarify.

Thanks in advance

As far as I know, wiring the bed backwards does not draw more current. The green things are called terminal blocks. Searching "four pin terminal blocks" should work. There have been quite a few people that have had the same problem with the terminal blocks. Some people have said that these ramps boards do not come with terminal blocks that have the proper contacts to conduct the amount of current that the hotend or bed can draw without getting hot.

Yep, the stock blade connectors seem to corrode vary easily leading to catastrophic failure; heat-resistance ramp-up. I wonder if Noalox would be helpful. I should take an eraser to the connectors and add some dielectric grease . Your direct solder should do it, you could put an inline resister on there too.

I have most of the parts to get the heat bed power off the ramps board I just need a 24V supply...someday.

Thanks Flatlander,
I looked at my MOSFETS, and they are not touching. I wiggled them around a bit, in case of a bad connection, but it did not help.
Should I try reloading Folger's ardoino files to the board?
Thanks,
Sam

Quote
flatlander

Yep, the stock blade connectors seem to corrode vary easily leading to catastrophic failure; heat-resistance ramp-up. I wonder if Noalox would be helpful. I should take an eraser to the connectors and add some dielectric grease . Your direct solder should do it, you could put an inline resister on there too.

I have most of the parts to get the heat bed power off the ramps board I just need a 24V supply...someday.

Do you mean an in-line fuse? It wouldn't hurt but that's what the two orange things are on the board. They reset themselves. Some people are replacing them with fuses.

---

Folger Tech 2020 i3 and FT-5 as well as modified JGAurora A5 with direct drive E3D/Titan. All running the BLTOUCH.
Great kits. Having fun and running the heck out of them.
Running Marlin 1.1.0 RC8 on the i3 and FT5. Custom firmware on A5.
Folger Tech Wiki board >[folgertech.wikia.com]

finally printed some things!

Did the 40x10 print cube, measured thh walls, set the extrusion multiplier to .94, printed again, it came out right, so then I printed a Benchy. Wasn't thinking ahead, and was still using the sample filament sent by Folgertech, and started the print. So, I just stuck some Hatchbox black in the hole when the sample ran out.

Using Pronterface/Slic3r, 220° hot end, 65° bed, 0.3mm layer height, nothing on the glass... It turned out ok; I wouldn't call it a failure, but it definitely shows that there are some adjustments needed. The fun part is learning what they are...

The biggest thing is this wierd gap on the lower sides, (I think maybe something mechanical), and the front end slight deformation might be something to do with heat or extrusion of the different filament than I started with (the sample measured out at an average 1.77mm, while the hatchbox measured 1.74).

The 40x10 cube:


The benchy:
. . . . . .

. . . . . .



after looking at the photos on the PC instead of my phone, the front end of that thing looks like it got attacked by a flying spaghetti monster, yikes!!

good news, the straight 8mm y-axis rod came in from Folgertech, and I ordered a couple from VXB as well as some bearings, so I can make a filament spool holder right away.

Critique away, hints/tricks/tips are welcome. It's been a fun road building this so far, I can only see it getting more fun, as long as my wife keeps enjoying watching it print stuff out..

Quote
SgtRauksauff
finally printed some things!

Did the 40x10 print cube, measured thh walls, set the extrusion multiplier to .94, printed again, it came out right, so then I printed a Benchy. Wasn't thinking ahead, and was still using the sample filament sent by Folgertech, and started the print. So, I just stuck some Hatchbox black in the hole when the sample ran out.

Using Pronterface/Slic3r, 220° hot end, 65° bed, 0.3mm layer height, nothing on the glass... It turned out ok; I wouldn't call it a failure, but it definitely shows that there are some adjustments needed. The fun part is learning what they are...

The biggest thing is this wierd gap on the lower sides, (I think maybe something mechanical), and the front end slight deformation might be something to do with heat or extrusion of the different filament than I started with (the sample measured out at an average 1.77mm, while the hatchbox measured 1.74).


after looking at the photos on the PC instead of my phone, the front end of that thing looks like it got attacked by a flying spaghetti monster, yikes!!

good news, the straight 8mm y-axis rod came in from Folgertech, and I ordered a couple from VXB as well as some bearings, so I can make a filament spool holder right away.

Critique away, hints/tricks/tips are welcome. It's been a fun road building this so far, I can only see it getting more fun, as long as my wife keeps enjoying watching it print stuff out..

Did you do an Extrusion Calibration Test before doing the cube to set your multiplier? Did you run your Benchy at the same speed as you ran the test cube? 220 is awfully high for PLA. Try it again at 190 and keep the speed down to around 40.

---

Folger Tech 2020 i3 and FT-5 as well as modified JGAurora A5 with direct drive E3D/Titan. All running the BLTOUCH.
Great kits. Having fun and running the heck out of them.
Running Marlin 1.1.0 RC8 on the i3 and FT5. Custom firmware on A5.
Folger Tech Wiki board >[folgertech.wikia.com]

Quote
tjnamtiw
Did you do an Extrusion Calibration Test before doing the cube to set your multiplier? Did you run your Benchy at the same speed as you ran the test cube? 220 is awfully high for PLA. Try it again at 190 and keep the speed down to around 40.

My extrusion stepper calibration was similar to Triffid Hunter's, but instead of measuring from the body up, I measured the actual filament extruded from the tube:
I took off the nozzle, made sure the filament was flush, sent an M302 to allow cold extrudes, fed 100mm with Pronterface, marked it with a sharpie, removed and measured from the end of the filament to the mark, changed the E-step/mm in configuration.h (#define DEFAULT_AXIS_STEPS_PER_UNIT {80,80,4000,90} ) to 95.8, re-ran the test, changed the value to 94.7.

Then I printed the first cube, got an average of (.50/(.54+.54+.52)/3)= .50/.53333333333333=.9375 ), so changed the extrusion multiplier to .94. printed the second one, and got .50 for average, so i tried the Benchy. I knew the temp was a little high, but at this point I was getting over-eager, so just went with it.

I skipped over the tempereature-per-filament test, and jumped right to printing something. Mostly because of gung-ho, but partly because I'll have to redo calibrations when I put in the 'straight' y-axis rods, and move the printer to where it will normally sit, and this will give me a head start on fine tuning it when I finally get there.

Quote
SgtRauksauff

Quote
tjnamtiw
Did you do an Extrusion Calibration Test before doing the cube to set your multiplier? Did you run your Benchy at the same speed as you ran the test cube? 220 is awfully high for PLA. Try it again at 190 and keep the speed down to around 40.

My extrusion stepper calibration was similar to Triffid Hunter's, but instead of measuring from the body up, I measured the actual filament extruded from the tube:
I took off the nozzle, made sure the filament was flush, sent an M302 to allow cold extrudes, fed 100mm with Pronterface, marked it with a sharpie, removed and measured from the end of the filament to the mark, changed the E-step/mm in configuration.h (#define DEFAULT_AXIS_STEPS_PER_UNIT {80,80,4000,90} ) to 95.8, re-ran the test, changed the value to 94.7.

Then I printed the first cube, got an average of (.50/(.54+.54+.52)/3)= .50/.53333333333333=.9375 ), so changed the extrusion multiplier to .94. printed the second one, and got .50 for average, so i tried the Benchy. I knew the temp was a little high, but at this point I was getting over-eager, so just went with it.

I skipped over the tempereature-per-filament test, and jumped right to printing something. Mostly because of gung-ho, but partly because I'll have to redo calibrations when I put in the 'straight' y-axis rods, and move the printer to where it will normally sit, and this will give me a head start on fine tuning it when I finally get there.

If you look at the beginning of the GCode for the test cube, you should see that the desired thickness should be 0.48 so you are pretty close. Sounds like you are in the middle of a move/mod so I understand.

---

Folger Tech 2020 i3 and FT-5 as well as modified JGAurora A5 with direct drive E3D/Titan. All running the BLTOUCH.
Great kits. Having fun and running the heck out of them.
Running Marlin 1.1.0 RC8 on the i3 and FT5. Custom firmware on A5.
Folger Tech Wiki board >[folgertech.wikia.com]

Almost done with my Folger Tech 2020 i3. I also ordered the display controller with the printer. Where can I find information on wiring and mounting the display? Sorry for the double post I think I'm in the right place now.

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WilberMaker
Almost done with my Folger Tech 2020 i3. I also ordered the display controller with the printer. Where can I find information on wiring and mounting the display? Sorry for the double post I think I'm in the right place now.

Here links that should get you on the right track. I know it is not much, but I never quite got mine to quite work properly, this is the best I can do.

RepRapDiscount Full Graphic Smart Controller
RepRapDiscount Smart Controller
Tom's video

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Folger Tech I3 2020 Wikia page: [folgertech.wikia.com]

Custom Folger Tech I3 2020 custom search

Has anyone used the 'change filament' option via the LCD? (Needs to be enabled in Marlin first)

It moves the print head out of the way correctly and retracts the filament, but after I've swapped filaments and clicked the LCD button to continue it does another retract after moving back to the correct position.
This results in several empty layers printing before the new filament reaches the nozzle again.

I've had a look in configuration_adv.h (FILAMENTCHANGEENABLE) but there's nothing in there to change for after the button is pressed....

Quote
Boffster
Has anyone used the 'change filament' option via the LCD? (Needs to be enabled in Marlin first)

It moves the print head out of the way correctly and retracts the filament, but after I've swapped filaments and clicked the LCD button to continue it does another retract after moving back to the correct position.
This results in several empty layers printing before the new filament reaches the nozzle again.

I've had a look in configuration_adv.h (FILAMENTCHANGEENABLE) but there's nothing in there to change for after the button is pressed....

I fixed this in my version of the code by changing the code to eliminate the extra retract. it is actually a bug, and not an intentional retract. I'll open a pull request to see if I can get it merged into the next release.. If you are interested in modifying your code, I can provide the code change.

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In Marlin_main.cpp, find the following code in the function: gcode_M600()

find the following block and comment out the lines indicated below, near the end the function. (In my version lines 5434 and 5435)

    #if ENABLED(DELTA)
      // Move XYZ to starting position, then E
      calculate_delta(lastpos);
      plan_buffer_line(delta[X_AXIS], delta[Y_AXIS], delta[Z_AXIS], destination[E_AXIS], fr60, active_extruder);
      plan_buffer_line(delta[X_AXIS], delta[Y_AXIS], delta[Z_AXIS], lastpos[E_AXIS], fr60, active_extruder);
    #else
      // Move XY to starting position, then Z, then E
      destination[X_AXIS] = lastpos[X_AXIS];
      destination[Y_AXIS] = lastpos[Y_AXIS];
      line_to_destination();
      destination[Z_AXIS] = lastpos[Z_AXIS];
      line_to_destination();
      // Don't try to put E back - this can only cause problems, and isn't necessary

//      destination[E_AXIS] = lastpos[E_AXIS];  // Line 5434
//      line_to_destination();  // Line 5435

    #endif

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/18/2016 12:34PM by Bert3D.

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Folger Tech 2020 i3 Wiki

Custom google search for the Folger Tech 2020 i3 forum topic by Animoose

My Thingiverse Designs

Thanks Bert3D! Exactly what I was looking for. Guess I didn't go digging enough, knew the retract had be coded somewhere!

Thanks again for the code change!

It's time for the fun to begin and off to a good start - I ordered the printer, lcd, fan's, and filament on Sunday night. It was shipped on Monday and delivered today (Tuesday) so I guess there is no backlog of orders. I am about to go and open the boxes and get things started. I expect to do a lot of reading for the next few day.

Bill

BLTouch Users:

Has anyone else had an issue where the pin will remain retracted after a print is finished and the printer is turned off over night? I've had this happen several times and if I forget about pulling down on the pin the next G28 will crash the nozzle into the glass. I've cleaned the pin several times but I really assume the issue is inside the touch. Once I pull the pin down first thing in the morning it seems OK for the rest of the day so I can't make it happen on demand. Does the hex adjust on the top have any relation to this issue?

Hello, wondering if anyone has experienced this problem and can offer a suggestion or 20. Have been printing on my 2020 for quite awhile, and been getting reasonably good prints. Now, suddenly, I'm not. Seems, despite not changing any settings from what has been working, I am now seriously underextruding. When I ask for 50mm, I'm getting 11mm. Thoughts?

Check in case the gear on the extruder is slipping. Sometimes the grub screws can work loose.
Check whether the V-grooved bearing in the extruder is rotating freely. These are quite cheap bearings and can wear out.
Check whether the nozzle is blocked (partly in your case as some filament is getting through). This is a bit harder to see directly, but maybe you can drive some filament through by hand. If you have some fine stiff wire such as welding wire or a guitar string, you may be able to run it through, but be careful to avoid damaging the liner.

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