exxos blog - random goings on

[Badwolf]

How much can you half-inch off the i3?

Don't get what you mean ?

Sorry, I mean how much of the extruder/hotend can you take from the i3 and fit to the new printer?

Forgot about those tubes in the nozzle...

The insights look fine the outside is a bit third book to the expected I guess.. I might just get some new ones while messing about anyway..

I'm seeing teeth marks in the filament. I don't think your extruder is under-gripping. I bet it is something to do with the throat and the nozzle. Are the i3's throat/nozzle compatible with the new machine?

The other thing it *could* be, although I doubt it, is the temperature measurement is wildly off. Either because of the thermocouple being broken or the heat distribution on the hotend being extremely irregular.

Are you running with a print cooling fan (ie. one that blows on the nozzle, rather than the one blowing on the cold end)? Could be worth unplugging it if so.

BW

[exxos]

Sorry, I mean how much of the extruder/hotend can you take from the i3 and fit to the new printer?

oh i'm trying not to have 2 printers in bits

The other thing it *could* be, although I doubt it, is the temperature measurement is wildly off. Either because of the thermocouple being broken or the heat distribution on the hotend being extremely irregular.

I have wondered that as well. But the PLA does start to melt around 200c anyway (i've printed at lower before) and i've had it cranked to 265c. makes no odds.

Are you running with a print cooling fan (ie. one that blows on the nozzle, rather than the one blowing on the cold end)? Could be worth unplugging it if so.

I've tried on and off, makes no odds really.

The only thing which seems to have helped more than anything is removing the heatsink of the extruder assembly.

One thing which does look a bit odd is the pink filament right next to the nozzle is actually wider (2mm) so it's like it cannot get through the nozzle, which would make you think it is a temperature problem. I guess I could just order some replacements while I am at it anyway.

[Badwolf]

I have wondered that as well. But the PLA does start to melt around 200c anyway (ive print at lower before) and ive had it cranked to 265c. makes no odds.

265C will almost certainly have caused problems with that PTFE tube and could be why you're seeing the diameter change.

I know you don't want to get the spanner on the i3, but it could help find the answer more quickly.

BW

[exxos]

Parts on order now for the dreamer.

Went back to the i3 .. Spent ages looking for a stl for the extruder fan finally found one and the prints are all messed up again. Long story short, the block the hotend bolts into is shredded and wobbles all over the place. So now all that is in bits. Seems the part got updated since mine that the block now clamps the bolt rather than screws in. So need even more bits now to adapt.

Only UK places want £50+ for a block of metal. Madness. ordered one from China for £7. So I guess the i3 will be in bits for a while now

Hopefully the dreamer bits will come by Friday so I can assembled it all back together..

[exxos]

Progress...

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Old and new...

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[exxos]

So what I did not realise is that the assembly I purchased was for tensioning the filament from the small more than printing with the thing

I did notice my gears were bunged up with filament fragments which probably does not help. Long story short, I purchased one of these assemblies which has the better grip gear and also has the allegedly self-cleaning thingy on it as well. I just purchased a whole new assembly rather than trying to figure out how to budget altogether myself. Was not exactly cheap either Though I am determined to get this printer to work properly if it kills me

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[Badwolf]

Was not exactly cheap either Though I am determined to get this printer to work properly if it kills me

I reckon that must have cost what my printer did.

BW

[exxos]

Got a huge update coming later of my new exxos-extruder (aka total hackjob)

Skipping the assembly drama for now, I have started printing with 0.2mm size with a supposed 0.4mm nozzle. The top one still has the visible gaps as before, and the bottom one is printing with 0.2mm setting. So it is like the nozzle is actually 0.2mm not 0.4mm.

To the naked eye you can clearly see the top one has been printed badly. The bottom one to the naked eye looks like a perfectly flat surface.

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This is the left extruder nozzle ( will doublecheck the one currently on the printer later) but you can see the hole is clearly twice as large than the one on the right is a new 0.2mm nozzle.

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So I am sure why I ended up with this situation unless both nozzles are incredibly out of tolerance.

[exxos]

I3 chaos.

I tried to print out a new fan duct. But things were not going well.

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Turns out where the head screws into the block it had completely stripped away and the head was loose as anything. It could of not being simple to be able to simply rotate and use the other otherwise good thread in the block as the mounting holes are slightly offset from centre. So it was physically impossible to reuse this block

Spend ages looking online for a replacement. The only UK stores wanted in the range of £50!! talk about rip-off prices!! so I had to order one from China which will probably take a month to get here before I can get back to this printer.

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[exxos]

DREAMER CHAOS.

As people probably have forgotten already, I ordered a "red" extruder a few days ago. Though this just was not designed to be a actual extruder mechanism So I basically had to make it fit


STEP 1 - Total disassembly of the extruder.

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STEP 2 - First oppies.

What I did not realise was these new red mechanisms take up the full front of the motor. The original black parts there was a gap at the bottom as this is where the motor bolted onto the large metal bar where the heating blocks are actually screwed into. So basically it was physically impossible to actually mount the motor

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STEP 3 - Copper bar bodges.

I could something metal bar down to size and drilled it and bolted it as shown below.

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The problem was spring tension screw could not physically be inserted because the bar was making it impossible to fit.

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So for starters I "counter sunk" where the bolt went in..

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..And got the grind wheel on the copper to make it a fraction shorter.

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Now back together again..

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STEP 4 - The heating block does not fit.


Silly me thinking all these fixings would be the same size The flashforge hollow bolts are fractionally bigger than the seemingly "normal" sizes.

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So knocking nine bells out of it to remove it..

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The next problem was I needed a bolt on top of the bar.. Where the red mechanism was actually in the way. So I drilled this out so I could sink a nut into it.

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STEP 5 - re-assembly..


Which did not get very far...

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STEP 6 - The thermal sensor does not fit either.


The flash forge as a screw in sensor which just not physically fit in the new block.

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Annoyingly I assume normal sensors start off at 100K resistance and drop down rapidly to a few ohms. The flash forge ones seem to start off around 6ohms... I tried it with the 100K ones anyway..

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I get the impression it did not work very well


So I drilled out the block and fitted the flash forge sensor and just cable tied it into place..

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Now the temperature proper but I could not mount the assembly as the head was "backwards". With the nozzle being offset, you end up with a larger block of metal either to the left or the right. So rather than the wires sticking out of the back , I needed to rotate it so they were actually sticking out of the front..

Only these things seemed a bit more fragile than I thought As the fecker snapped off

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STEP 7 - Going backwards.


So all the faffing to get the new head to fit I had to refit the original stuff and refit the FF heating block..

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STEP 8 - First tests.


Looking as expected..

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Hit the target temp..

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Now to try a quick print...

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STEP 10 - About to give up.

More assembly. Though the other day I had mistakenly fitted a 5V fan to the extruder (instead of 24V!!) and it went up in smoke. I thought the fan had just died, but neither the left or the right edge fan now function So I need to take a look at the circuit board to see if there is a fuse on that line or something.. Still need to do that..

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I went back to calibrating the E-steps and my God this extruder can push filaments through at a rate of God knows what! I was pushing it through that 700mm/min And jumped to 900mm/min and it was still pushing only he was not actually coming out of the nozzle any more Turns out I had managed to squash several inches of filament inside the extruder assembly somehow So I had to dismantle the whole thing for like the millionth time to un-clog it all.

I can definitely see a improvement with this setup. Things just look "shaper" and more detailed than they was before. I think now the filament is not slipping, has greatly improved the print quality.

Next to experiment with printing speeds and see what the quality ends up like...