My earlier hotend experiments used aluminum foil, but I used it only to help with thermal conductivity in an effort to just make it work better. Later versions I found I did not actually need it for a working hotend and stopped using it. What I was missing was the long term benefit of increasing the thermal conductivity.. To protect the resistor from over-heating damage over time! Thanks.by billyzelsnack - General
This happened with my previous hotend as well. It seems like the constant abuse degrades the enamel coating over time. The resistor has a cap on it under the coating, similar looking to a fuse, and I think that's what is touching the hotend. I'd like to do some sort of preventative measure the next time I build a hotend. I could wrap the resistor in kapton, but I dunno if I want to do that. Or..by billyzelsnack - General
My hotend uses axial vitreous enamel resistors and I'm having issues with electrical insulation between the resistors and the heater block. These particular resistors (I use two in series) have about 150 hours or so of print time on them and still perform well. I finally got around to mounting my electronics and if I ground the electronics to my metal frame the electronics are not happy while theby billyzelsnack - General
Here's a video I made the other week. I just mounted a pen on my dial indicator. To generate gcode I use a slightly hacked version of this to do z moves instead the unicorn servo movements. It's actually more than a gimmick. I plot out a grid and calibrate my printer's squareness with it.by billyzelsnack - General
I don't have a single 12V power supply large enough to handle current requirements of steppers + hotend + heatbed. I ended up using a 19V laptop supply for my Sanguinololu which powers the steppers and hotend and the xbox supply for the heated bed. Unfortunately the heated bed ended up getting too hot without any temperature control and I was getting waviness in the lower layers of my prints. Myby billyzelsnack - General
My assumption was that the entire PCB would be able to maintain at minimum of 105C. I think I'm going to get a thin copper sheet and see if I can spread at least 105C to to the edges.by billyzelsnack - General
I am getting a quite dramatic temperature dropoff on one side of my MK1 PCB. Here's a video showing the dropoff after it's been on for about an hour. I've managed to reduce the dropoff with some insulation and a strip of space blanket, but it is still pretty dramatic. I'm a bit baffled to why it is happening. Maybe the PCB copper for the section of the board is not the same thickness as the reby billyzelsnack - General
I did another print, but this time I let it cool down and the part popped off on its own. That didn't happen when I tried it with the aluminum plate.by billyzelsnack - General
I've started to experiment with Monokote on glass. After the initial test it looks like the temperatures needs to be lower for glass than aluminum. I'll report back once I figure out what I find as the best temperature. More info and a video here:by billyzelsnack - General
So I've made another 20 or 30 prints using the build surface from the above post. All is going well with the regular Monokote on the thicker aluminum platform. It actually seems like the surface is becoming "seasoned" over time making it sticker better and not worse over time. My current routine is to warm up to 105C and then just before I print I set to 115C. Seems like I get the best first layeby billyzelsnack - General
It could be easily confused that these models were printed using EsunPLA filament. I think Sublime has a valid complaint.by billyzelsnack - General
I spent the time to do a good job sticking the Monokote roll material to my .05" aluminum platform. Instead of wrapping it around the edges I just trimmed it to the top and wrapped the corners with kapton to deter corner pealing. The Monokote roll material stuck well enough, but my prints were not sticking as well. I tried cleaning with dish soap, but still no luck. I then tried the same with myby billyzelsnack - General
Hmm. This rcgroups post claims that Monokote trim sheets are actually vinyl.by billyzelsnack - General
I bought a roll of the Monokote yesterday. I've made two attempts at covering a platform and I am not having a lot of luck with the Monokote staying stuck to the aluminum. I get large wrinkles and when the extruder drives over it it'll bubble up in places. Seems like Monokote trim sheet and Monokote roll might be different in some way. The Monokote trim sheet has a paper backing and the roll hasby billyzelsnack - General
For the basic version is there anything tricky about installing the firmware? Is there a bootloader or anything on it already or do I would I need to use an ISP AVR programmer?by billyzelsnack - For Sale
Isn't the zaxis constrained in XY? How does using a flexible rod have any significant impact on XY precision. Isn't the real issue poor Z precision caused by cheaply manufactured threaded rod?by billyzelsnack - General
I had some intentions to modify a fisher tape spool, but have just been using it unmodified. I hang the spool above the printer and unroll some slack. The printer will remind me to feed more slack with a clack sound as the filament pulls the spool to fall into the next finger hold. This works out for me because my prints are almost always between 45 minutes and an hour and my printer is never uby billyzelsnack - General
I finally got around to switching to a thinner aluminum plate so I dissected my previous one. I was interested in how well the monokote sticks after usage. Wow. It really does not want to come off. I can get it started and it'll tear away a square centimeter or so at a time. It would take quite awhile to remove it from my 100x100 plate. So if you try monokote make sure you put some kapton under aby billyzelsnack - General
jamesdanielv Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > some of the issues you run into with running > higher voltages are the extruder heater needs to > have higher resistance, the steppers require > constant cooling, and current is too much for an > external regulator. The 5 volt regulator also will > get hot with more than 12v going in. I was under theby billyzelsnack - General
Just about all the parts I print are large flat parts. My typical problem with kapton is the tape edges peeling up slightly and then the extruder comes along and pumps plastic under the seams. Eventually I'll get a tear from my spatula or the part when it is pulled up. I'll usually replace just the problem area, but it is annoying. If I doled out the big bucks for a roll of the super wide kaptonby billyzelsnack - General
I'm at at least 30 prints now which is more than I would typically get out of kapton before I end up destroying it for one reason or another. Other than some wrinkling it's still going strong. About 10 prints ago I took off my build platform to make some adjustments and grubbed up the surface with my hands. I decided to use some acetone to clean it off. Bad idea. Parts no longer stuck. I was inby billyzelsnack - General
I'm not sure that current extruders are even designed for PLA. More that they were designed for ABS and happen to mostly work with PLA.by billyzelsnack - Plastic Extruder Working Group
Sticky trim. I was actually hoping the shrink would help eliminate the bubbles and wrinkles, but apparently not. The one where I wrapped around the edges still shows no wrinkles, just bubbles. I think the Windex trick will get rid of the bubbles.by billyzelsnack - General
If you're ok with a dim display the battery self-charges enough that it very rarely needs to be replaced. If not.. 10 pack. $2.15 shipped. 50 pack. $3.80 shipped. The 50 pack is quite useful when your kids have a collection of Hexbugs!by billyzelsnack - General
Looks like it sticks just fine to aluminum. This time I cut it larger than the surface and wrapped it around the edges of the plate and the HBP. Next time I'll try the Windex trick and see if I can get rid of all the air bubbles. This is a 2mm plate. My HBP took longer to warm up than the hotend! I set it at 130C and I got impatient and started the build at 107C. When I checked at the end of tby billyzelsnack - General
I am at about 10 prints now. Not any damage to the surface. I just tried 130C and it sticks even more. I think I might go down to 120 to ease removal. For one print I let the platform cool off to 30C, but the part didn't pop off on its own. It did pop off easy with one scoop of the spatula.by billyzelsnack - General
That looks to be the same as you'd find at a Harbor Freight in the US. I love mine and would be very sad if I had to go without it because I use it all the time.by billyzelsnack - General
After several more prints the Monokote is holding up just fine. Lowering the temp to 110C noticeably reduced adhesion and upping to 120C and then 125C noticeably increased adhesion. I'm happy with adhesion at 125C, but I'll probably experiment a bit more. My next print I'll try letting it cool off after the build and see if the part pops off on its own.by billyzelsnack - General
Ah ok makes sense. Thanks for the fast reply. I remember seeing something about that somewhere, but I didn't know the "why" and just thought it as a preference rather than a requirement so I dumbly just ignored it.by billyzelsnack - Sanguino(lolu)