Davinci 1.0 upgrades

I have had my printer for about a year and left it stock. As with most Davinci 1.0 I struggled with the XYZ software and the bed glass cracked about 10 days after I got it. As I have read so many times XYZ wants you to ship them a broken piece of glass so they can send you another piece of $2 glass. I really didnt have any issues with the crack in the glass so I just put blue painters tape on the bed and kept printing.

That lasted for almost a year. I started looking at new printers and I came across a couple articles about upgrading/modding the Davinci. I took the first step and did the Repiter software upgrade. That alone was an amazing difference in how the printer printed. Other than not being able to figure out the auto bed leveling, the software/firmware is the easiest upgrade you can do. I did have a couple issues with loading the firmware, but once I realized what I was doing wrong (yes i was wrong, dont tell my wife) the process was easy. And it was free, you cant beat free.

After the first upgrade, i was hooked and wanted to do more. The next logical step (well at least in my mind) was to ditch the stock print head. I went with the e3d V6 and a couple different nozzles. Several good videos on line and it wasn't that hard. As with everything I do, it never goes like the videos. That's why I am writing this. I had to do a couple things that the videos didnt cover and I added a couple things to help make a neater install. So for the e3d print head in a Davinci here is what I did.

Here is the video I started with. He does a real good job with the entire process.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vX9r4Ncr4dU&t=1480s

RECOMMENDATION #1: Watch all the videos first, even before you buy the print head. Make sure your up to the task before you grenade your machine.

I printed all the pieces and gathered the recommended hardware to modify the print carrier.

• (2) m3X35mm bolts(I went with the Allen hex ones that the video recommends.

• (2)m3X12mm bolts

• (10) m3 washers (I got thick ones and thin ones)

I all goes together just like the video, but I did a little extra. When you start to assemble the carriage you need to put a washer between the filament tension plate and the printed piece that holds the new head. That is a needed step as over time the bushing from the tension plate will dig into the head block and cause the tension plate not to move freely. It will probably stick open and you will have all kinds of print problems.

When you add this washer it makes the head block sit crooked. You can either redesign the head block to compensate for the extra .75mm(depending on the washer), Sand the existing head block to compensate (taking .75 off a 2mm wall thickness may not be a good idea), or you can shim the other side of the head block with the same size washer. See the photo below, i added the washer on the right side to adjust for the tension plate washer.

When I did that I also noticed the top part of the head block plate was hanging in the air. I wasnt too fond of just putting the bolt in and tightening it up. The Tension plate is on the right side of the carriage(from the back) and it adds 1.5mm of thickness that not compensated for on the left side. Once again you can re-design the top spacer, out shim it. If this was a NASA satellite I would have redesigned the part, instead a couple washers work. You can see the 2 washers on the right side of the photo.

Now everything is nice and square!!!

The other arrow pointing to the tension grip wheel is just to remind you to make sure the center of the grip wheel grove is in line with the center seam of the 2 piece head block. Being as picky as i am, I used thinner washers to get it to line up perfectly.

Once I got it all lined up I realized the Fan hits the side of the carriage. The guy in the video did not have that problem, but I did. I did change the head block position by .5mm but not in the direction i was having the fan problem in. All I can think is that e3d changed the fan to a thicker one, my carriage was a little different, or the guy in the video modified the fan and didnt say anything. I dont the video omitted a step because he was pretty detailed and this was a pretty big step.

So I had to modify my carriage, not a big deal. If you have a dremell its a easy cut, if not you can probably sand it. If you sand it, plan on a hours worth of work. You can see in the photo what I had to cut. I think i cut too much out, you can probably get away with half that distance. The structure of the carriage is still solid so I am not too worried about the cutting. The fan is also in there a little crooked, but its just clipped to the heatsink and I couldn't see it when I took the picture. It moves real easy with your finger.

Once I got the fan situation sorted out, I noticed there was no place to mount the little board with the optical sensor and the thermistor connection. If I would have noticed that before I took my printer apart I would have printed a plate. Instead I had a little piece of 1.5mm clear pcv sheet and I just made one real quick. I would have preferred to use a couple 3mm bolts and nylon lock nuts to hold the board on, but all I had was some self tapping screws. Add them to your hardware list if you want to.

The video does not talk about the filament sensor, with the new layout it is no longer used. You need to disable it or your printer will always think its out of filament. You might be able to disable it in the software, but I couldnt find any place to do it. Web searches showed people taking the little filament holder out and putting heat shrink tube on the optical sensor. That would probably work, but my luck it would fall off in the middle of a print and cause all kinds of problems.

I just wrapped a little piece of electrical tape around the opening on the filament tube(top arrow), and stuck it back in between the sensors. The filament tube is mounted to the board with the same screws that hold the board in, so this thing is not falling out.

The other arrow is just to show you where I had to modify the carriage to clear the fan.

Once all that is done you need to run a pair of wires to run the new 12V fan. I would be nice if there was a 5V fan as you could use the existing fan connection on the board. The video instructs you to solder the 2 new wires directly to the +12v and gnd posts on the main control board (arrow on the right of the photo).

The +12 is really easy to get to, the gnd is way harder. Its possible but if I can avoid putting heat directly on the main board, I will. So what I did was make a Y splice connection directly into the +12v (yellow wire) and gnd (black wire). If you cut a couple ty-wraps you can get enough wire out of the machine to solder safely away from the main board.

Here is how I did my y-splice. I use them all the time for my RC boats

Choose your spot where you want to make the splice. I went about 25mm down from the connector. Also stagger the y-splices a little bit just to ensure they never touch each other. They will be taped, but its just a good habit.

With the wire out of the machine use a razor blade to score the wire jacket in 2 places about 10mm apart. Then slit the jacket between the 2 score marks.

Peel out the jacket to expose the wire.

Strip about 12mm of jacket off the end of the fan leads.

Wrap the exposed fan lead around the exposed wire

Solder the 2 together

Wrap the splice with electrical tape.

If you want to fiddle with getting the pin out of the connector you can put a piece of shrink tube on it. I have the tool to pop the pins out so I went that route.  Using tape will work just as good.

Once I was done I put all the wire loom back on and ty-wrapped everything back together. When you are working on the print head wires, make sure you leave enough slack for the carriage to move all the way around. Move the carriage to all 4 corners with the power off just to make sure it reaches.

So at this point I was getting ready to level the bed and do a test print. I looked at the broken glass and said to myself, "I might as well fix that while I have the whole thing tore apart. I have seen a couple upgrades for the beds including 6mm glass and aluminum. I have also seen aluminum beds with removable glass plates. If you go with anything thicker than 3mm you will need to make a spacer for the z-axis top sensor.

With that being said Im going with the 3mm aluminum and the removable glass plate. Before I go out and buy a new bed I am going to try and salvage the existing heater and re attach it to a new 3mm aluminum plate. I have the plate on hand so why not.   

The glass comes out with 4 screws. Trace the heater wires back to the main board and disconnect them. Cut a few ty-wraps and its out.  Now to get the heater off the glass in one piece. It wasnt as hard as I thought. I used a heat gun to heat up the glass (I started with a hair drier, it works but the heat gun is much faster) once it was hot i used a razor blade to pick up a corner. Once i could get my fingers on it I was able to work it off in one piece.

Once you get it off you have to deal with the glue. I had some acetone so I tried a little corner. Worked great. I laid a blue shop towel over the whole thing and poured acetone on the whole thing. I let is sit for about 5 mins to soften up. Once it loosens up you can roll it off with your fingers.

DO NOT scrape it with anything other than your finger. Not even your nails. Once you get it to start rolling up on itself it comes off real easy.

Once i got it clean I measured the resistance between the 2 wires. 1.2 Ohms was what I got. If you dont get a reading (infinity) there is a broken trace and the heater is shot.

if your interested in who makes the heaters it flexso.com.tw Not sure if you can but them direct, i know there are other options out there too.

So that was my Friday!!. I will follow up tomorrow when I get the Bed all put together.

I also didnt proof read this, so forgive any typos, its late and im going to bed.