Hello All! (Page 1 of 4)

I have found many answers, they led to more questions   was wondering if there was a staged upgrade thread(a link thread if you will.

that power supply is on the list now , i was thinking about a PCB heated bed.  sounds like they heat a lot faster then the Aluminum.

Yup!
If you are in the US, you can order from Filastruder.com

Keep in mind that the E3D v6 would need a different extruder than the one mentioned. http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:393928

I have never upgraded my bed heater, so I could not guide you on that.

The MK5 can still use hold the PEEK hotend. Personally, I only used the E3D for it. I was forced to upgrade my hotend after only months of running with the stock hotend. I'm eternally grateful other users convinced me to upgrade, but it can be a major turnoff for other new users. I also had 4 clogs in one day which made me make the switch.
I tell you both points because if you have just one encounter assembling the acrylic jigsaw SD used to make stock, you will be mad at yourself for not printing the replacement parts first!
However, there are a number of very friendly users who would print your parts should you find yourself incapable

so for printing these parts, id want to use ABS, not PLA correct?  or some other non... stinky filament?

most definitely use ABS - the PLA wont hold up under the stress and heat.

As wardjr said - high or 100% infill - personally, i wouldn't go any less than 80%

For ABS filament, I can offer 3 recommendations.
1. Octave brand - highly regarded around here, but a bit on the expensive side.
2. Hatchbox (on Amazon) I have a couple of rolls of their stuff and it prints very nicely - especially the gold I have. I bought a sample pack to try some of the other colors, just haven't had a chance to do so yet.
3. Microcenter.com house brand called Inland - have a couple of rolls from them as well and so far it is very good quality & prints nicely.

Because of where I live, I have no local sources for filament, so I have to buy online. I have had no problems with any of these sources, place the order and get the product within the week.

and for the Lawsy carriages, you will need some bearings, and highly recommend you get new smooth rods as well - the bearings will eat up the stock SD rods (ask me how I know this, LOL)
I have had pretty good luck with these:
Bearings: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ED1 … ge_o01_s00
Rods (x 2): http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002BB … ge_o01_s00

Heartless is 2 762mm rods because they do not come precut to size....unless ordering from Solidoodle which is not recommended!

You will need a Dremel and a cutoff wheel. Each 762mm rod would be cut in half with one pair for X and the other for Y. There may be some excess which you can later use for various projects like a toddler proof enclosure (in my case) or bed stabilizer designs (preferred, not mandatory).

On the topic of materials, if you prefer PLA over ABS, you can print the carriages and maybe even the extruder with a high temp PLA made by Proto Pasta found here. But it is possible to warp printed carriages even made out of ABS if the VREF is set too high...as I experienced a couple months ago from a sobering brain fart.
ABS is king. So start planning a good enclosure and the rest is trial and error worst case scenario.

Yup. But at the length Heartless gave, you only need to order two. Some users have cannibalized their stock rods, but for more reasons than one, you would do yourself a favor upgrading the rods.
The X carriage rides on a front and rear rod, and the Y rides on a left and right rod. There is a Y drive rod at the back of the machine as well. Personally, I recommend grabbing a 6mm rod while you are at it. Many users report having issues printed circles and by installing Claghorn's Y direct drive mount, the problems are history. A 5mm>6mm coupler will be required for this as well.

Yes, the chromed, case hardened rods are very different than the oil hardened (which are basically tool steel - not meant to have bearings running on them) You can re-use the existing rods if you absolutely have to, but they will wear out after a month or two...

yeah, the rods I linked to are 30in/762mm - they are meant to be cut to the correct lengths once you get them. a cut off wheel is going to be the fastest way of cutting - either on a dremel or an angle grinder. I used an angle grinder cause I have one.
You need 2 cut pcs for the Y axis (front to back), and 2 cut pcs for the X axis (left to right) - buying 2 of those long rods will yield 2 cut pieces each with just a little left over on each one - best bang for the buck that I could find.

Recommend you do just one thing at a time here - baby steps to get started.

Start with the glass plate & hairspray right away to eliminate any potential warp of the aluminum bed. that will give you a nice flat surface to print your parts on once you get everything dialed in and it is printing nicely. It is so frustrating trying to print on a warped bed - been there! LOL

Then print up the Lawsy Carriages & extruder and install those along with the new rods. Will make a world of difference in how smoothly the printer runs!

You will probably want to get a fan on the X motor if you are going to enclose it - there is a great little fan mount on thingiverse (http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:128526) - friction fit to the motor, you just need a 40mm fan to put on it. mine used to get so hot you couldn't touch them - this can lead to skipped step problems. With that fan mount/fan installed they stay nice and cool now.

There are a few ways of enclosing your printer - everything from basic cardboard to foil-backed insulating foam to acrylic panels. You need to decide what is going to work best for you.

look closely at the rods under good lighting - if they show any kind of wear - seen as fine scratches (think of how metal looks after running sandpaper over it), or feel even a little bit rough, plan on replacing them sooner rather than later.

well i got it printing.  one of the belts was super loose...(pretty sure it wasnt from shipping.)  anyway figured that out thanks to some threads on here, the top layers of the PLA seem to be curling up... im guessing that isnt completely normal.  Looks like he wired an ON/Off switch, he has disabled it, might check that out.  i completed the thumbscrew, its not super pretty but it is a thumbscrew, the first few seconds of my print nothing seems to extrude?  i am using the Soliprint with slic3r, i have cura and simplify as well havent tried them.  also, was the site down for a while?

i started at 185, the curling was bad, it knocked the print off the bed, i boosted temps to 197  the curling was less, i actually finished the print.
very first thumbscrew attempt(belt was loose)

these are the prints i did, on the thumb screws they are front and back.