The Death Star. A 3D printer newb story.

This all started with me wanting to have the ability to make parts for ship production and accessories.
I quickly found that, yes I am a smart and self sufficient guy, however......
Not having any prior knowledge or background in software testing or development I found out a few things.
1) If you plan to use a high end expensive printer then ok your all good just skip to learning slicer settings and go on with your day. But....
2) If you have a limited budget you will need to either build from scratch or buy a cheap kit and make lots of upgrades to get the kind of print quality I required for my endeavor .
3) While as stated earlier I am pretty smart, I quickly found that since I chose the latter of the routes to printin nervana I had a lot to learn on a very steep curve.

 

I started with a box stock Anet A8. I was able to get pretty good results with it but it was loud, and it was not as accurate as I needed it to be. So I started reading and printing upgrades.
I started out by attempting to improve the frame stiffness and belt tensioners. Did frame braces, electronics cases, external mosfets, cable chains, fiberglass belts, and a few other things.
In the process of all this somehow the thermistor came loose from the hotend and well......
Now I have all Bigtreetech stuff. Lol.
Got their SKR PRO V 1.1 Mainboard and TMC 2209 stepper driver's, as well as the TFT 35 V 3.0 and the wifi module. I had issues figuring out sensorless homing and endstop status but finally got it working with an endstop on z and sensorless homing on x and y. It's pretty dang cool.
Now it is miles quieter. You really only hear it on travel moves as I have it set to 150mm/s . Print quality is better but not there yet. So now I am waiting on the ups ups man. Getting ready to go to IGUS bearings and build an enclosure so I can print the parts for the am8 frame upgrade in ABS. The IGUS bearings are going to replace the gacked stock lm8u grinders er I'm bearings. Just long enough to print the new parts as my am8 rebuild will include mgn 12 linear rails.

 

There's a really cool A8 corexy rebuild project I saw, not sure if that's the Am8 you're talking about. The skr boards are pretty solid from what I hear.

Take some pics as you go with your rebuild

 

Will do. No this one is a remix of Pheneens am8 bear style frame from thingiverse. However I am planning a core xy as my next build based on the a8 using my other SKR PRO card. This one
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2567757
Still need to order the rails from m misumi. Not going to be cheap but it will work. About $80 for the MGN12 rails needed. Still need some 20/20 extrusion also. But I have like two weeks of parts to print first so....... Not like I need them today haha.

 

Tho one I linked is the current build. The core xy will be the next one.

 

Check out Zyltech. They're a US based company in Texas who sells mgn rails. They're not official misumis, but they're cheaper ($25 each?) And it's a us company so there's some quality control.

 

Will do. I just want to be sure they last a long time. I maintain my stuff pretty regularly but I don't like messing about with stuff every time I turn around. I don't mind spending a bit more and taking a bit longer to get there if the end result is preferable lol. Any idea on wear life?

 

Unfortunately no :-( all rails will require similar maintenance, the biggest thing between Misumis or Hiwin and the cheaper ones is the cheaper ones will definitely require cleaning and oiling before assembly. I'm planning a linear rail build myself and have been seriously considering Zyltech. It's what is OEM for the Railcore II kit so I figure they can't be terrible.

 

I just didn't see taking the risk and time to save like $30 I make almost $20 an hour and starting Monday that will go up. So in essence if it cost less to buy than the time per hour required to make it work I spend the money. My time is very valuable to me as I have a finite amount of it. Problem is the timer broke the day I was born so no idea when it will run out.

 

Then definitely check out Hiwin or Misumi. They're the go to for nice reasonably priced rails. I'm hoping to start my core XY build soon but I want to wait until after Midwest RepRap Fest so I can see in person the industries latest and greatest.

 

I have a CR-10 mini, upgraded with a TH3d dual-extruder 32-bit board with A4988 stepper drivers, and an E3D Chimera hotend. I've been pretty happy with it, but I want to improve the rigidity to try and eliminate some ringing I get, and work on the precision. I have a box of Zyltech linear rails I plan on installing on it, just haven't got to it yet. I like the Zyltech rails, they are very smooth and clean, and about a quarter the cost of Misumi . I bought ones longer than I currently need, with the plan to use them on my next printer - Core XY, of course.

 

Just finished installing the new IGUS bushings and OH MY GORSH! This is by far the smoothest and quietest this thing has EVER run. Testing it by printing a power supply mount my enclosure mod. Will be very interested to see if this fixed any of my ringing issues or the other weird artifacts I have been getting ever since the Mainboard and screen upgrade. If not then it is definitely a software issue. I think I may need to go into my TFT build and tweak the settings to match the printer. Just found out that you need to do that this afternoon. However I want to stop making multiple changes without a test print.

 

So far the best upgrades have been the IGUS bushings, glass belts with tensioners, 24v silicone heater for bed with Gulf coast robotics one piece y carriage and 3 point leveling. I am absolutely loving the SKR PRO and all the best stuff it can do. Plan to add a BLTouch soon.
Also all of the stock frame parts and printed upgrades for the stock frame are going to be discarded after I print the parts for the new frame upgrade. If anyone needs any of it let me know.

 

I really think my ringing issues are coming from my not having fully tuned the acceleration and jerk settings yet. Need to find a suitable test print for that.

 

You might try replacing the z axis leadscrew connectors with solid ones. The spiral ones have been known to cause banding in the z axis.

 

It is mostly around holes and corners. I will look into some better couplers soon. Any suggestions? Thanks.

 

I lowered my acceleration to 350 mm/s^2 and my jerk to 5 mm/s - that helped quality overall, and little with the ringing, but didn't slow down the print too much. I need to anchor my printer table down solid to really improve ringing - that and replace the belts. Where did you get your belts?

 

I don't remember what vendor I got them from. Pretty sure it was on Amazon.

 

First print after installing the IGUS bushings. I am quite happy to see that about 50% of the observed artifacts have disappeared. Now I just have some light ghosting to figure out. Dimensions look really good. This was printed with Hatchbox PLA at 193c nozzle temp and a 50c bed temp. Used Auqanet on the PEI sheet. Almost perfect. .2 layer height. 10% infill as it is not structural. 1.2 mm too and bottom.

 

Got the basic box built out of insulation foam left over from my Bass tracker refit. Lol. Never toss stuff out. Finally got that full sheet out of my way in the shop. Haha. Used aluminum ducting tape to seal it up really well.

Then took a couple of these $1 acrylic picture holders from Dollar tree.
A little score and snap action netted me two "windows" hehe.

Going to add a bit of cheap plywood between the Walmart Mainstays side table and it's legs to increase the overall size at the base of the top to be large enough to support the box. Still need to cut out a door. The table is almost identical to the Ikea Lack side table except is only 20"x20". This makes the printer stick out past the sides or be mounted at a 45° angle. Will be doing that later once the new frame is done. Can't afford the plexiglass at the moment. Same with the MGN12 rails. Will be wearing out these new drylins for now. Currently printing a filament pass through for the box.