exxos 3D soldering machine build

[exxos]

NOTE: This is a blog of my progress on adapting a 3D printer to do soldering. This is not a how-to guide! All information is for personal non-profit usage only.


To start off, here's my "used" printer. It honestly looks like brand new, doesn't even look used!

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/394771743273

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I guessed how to build it


I will power it up tomorrow and do a small test print to see if it all works.

[rubber_jonnie]

So the plan is to convert this to an automated soldering rig? Interesting.

[stephen_usher]

So the plan is to convert this to an automated soldering rig? Interesting.

Just replace the plastic filament with solder, what could go wrong?

[rubber_jonnie]

So the plan is to convert this to an automated soldering rig? Interesting.

Just replace the plastic filament with solder, what could go wrong?

Yes. What.Could.Go.Wrong...

[exxos]

So here the following games start. Windows does not find the printer.. I did contact them on eBay messages but doubt I get any sort of sensible reply.

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So I did what was us old dinosaur people do, and googled the hardware ID "USB\VID_1A86&PID_7523"

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Usual list of very dubious -looking websites but then stumbled across this on github.

https://github.com/codebndr/windows-dri ... ree/master

More specifically

https://github.com/codebndr/windows-dri ... vers/ch340

Though I can never work out how to download files. So I just went back to the master page and downloaded the lot.


Anyway..

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So now simply 3-D finds the printer

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There is a profile for the printer. I don't plan on spending any time calibrating or setting it up at this point. I just want press plankton make sure it actually attempts to do so more than anything..


EDIT:

Uploaded the relevant file just in case it vanishes or I lose it in the future...

ch340.zip

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EDIT2:
Turns out I have misunderstood the website for downloading the driver

When I went on drives and software I only saw this..

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When actual fact there is a menu on the left

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Which then takes you here..

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Then here

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... KzvDoE6muX

Anycubic Kobra Neo driver

drive-download-20230919T091311Z-001.zip

(2.16 MiB) Downloaded 57 times

[Icky]

Oh no this blog is about to explode

[exxos]

Did a rough calibration for the Z axis and just went for it...

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Second try with lower Z-home. Looks like the bed is not quite aligned properly but at this point I don't care anyway.

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[stephen_usher]

Not terrible.

Of course, having the bed move now is such old hat now that the X-Y printers such as the Bambu are here.

In 3D printing lifecycle we've just moved from the 1970s DIY dot matrix printer kits to the Epson FX80 plug in and go stage.

[exxos]

The Z-sensor I presume is IR.

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It looks like the sensor bolted onto the chassis and not movable. A bit of a pain that but I will think about that more later.

The actual "plunger" is bolted on. So I may be able to extend that because I need the home position to be a lot higher up.

[stephen_usher]

Apparently AnyCubic are reasonable when it comes to getting spare parts.