Solidoodle Workbench Overhaul x2 (Page 1 of 2)

That's good to know regarding the thermistors!

I got the go-ahead for 24v conversion. I'm looking at two PSU options right now.

The first is this one from amazon. 24v 21a 500w

The second is a cheaper eBay option. 24v 20a 480w

I'm going to have to wire either one, and they both are quite close in rating. I'll likely go the cheaper route as kind-of a proof-of-concept.

If my research is correct, and I get the 24v version of the titan aqua (complete with the V6 hotend), I should be able to plug and play without changing anything else. Can someone confirm that for me? I know sometimes fans can be inconsistent, and I'm not concerned if I have to replace those. The bed, however, is another story.

I currently have no plans of messing with the bed until I need to. I plan to run it through the Duet 2 WiFi. Will I see an increase in top-temp/heating times? I absolutely want to be able to print ABS, and I'm guessing that's about the limit of the stock heat bed.

Regards,
ESOCHI

These options from Openbuilds are pretty cool and a good deal:

https://openbuildspartstore.com/power-supplies/

Time for the fun stuff.

We purchased the following:

24v Meanwell Power Supply Bundle

Duet 2 Wifi

E3D Titan Aqua (Extruder and Hotend Combo)

E3D Liquid Cooling Kit

I'm still pushing forward with my "use the old 12v board to power the 12v Liquid Cooling Kit" idea, so I won't be buying a 24v-12v DC-DC adapter.

SO FAR:
I've assembled all parts.
I've disassembled the printer as far as necessary.
I've begun configuring the Duet 2 WiFi

STILL NEED TO:
Engineer a solution to attach the Titan Aqua. I removed everything except the linear bearings and MAN are they BAD! They both slide HORRIBLY and they're LOUD. Not that they're rotating with normal use, but one spins in one direction and not the other, and the other spins in both directions freely. I either need to rip the dust shield off and hit them with brake parts cleaner then a light oil, or get rid of them. If we go the later route I'd have to print carriage parts since it seems like the rods are glued in? I'd love to put some carbon fiber rods in their place if I removed them, as weight is always an issue with direct drive systems.

Not sure what route I'm taking but figured there was enough info for an update.

Regards,
ESOCHI

I did not! Well, I assumed there was flex but I didn't expect it to cause worse issues than the ghosting I get from the weight on my gantry. I'm quite curious to see what the trade off would end up being like. I may do this one "for science" while keeping my hopes safely down haha. Maybe there's something more like a linear rail I could use (if not just an actual one). Time to do some research!

With the linear bearings being shot, and the stock weight of the gantry+dual extruders, I was getting awful quality prints. Even at stupid slow speeds with jerk and accel settings quite low.

Regards,
ESOCHI

what do you consider stupid slow speeds?

The new hotend/extruder is not going to solve your ghosting. If that is a concern then you should address it first. Again the only way you are going to be able to fix it is by making the machine as a whole more rigid. Use 10mm rods in place of all 8mm rods. The distance between rod ends on that machine is really too much for 8mm rods. But then again you have people like Heartless who is our seasoned SD veteran and she loves her machines. So it is possible to get these machines to work and work well enough to run a business with.

Also for the record the correct term for the issue you are referring to is Ringing, not ghosting. It's caused by the movement structure in the machine resonating at the frequency of the last print head movement after it came off of a corner or edge. Think of it like a chain swinging after it is bumped. It does this because it is moving too fast or the the weight is too much for the rods to support or both. It could also be caused by something that is loose that is allowing this ringing.

Ah, but here is the rub.. mine are SD4s.. not workbench, so there is a big difference there in distances.
I would have to agree with upgrading to the 10mm rods for increased stiffness on the X & Y axis.
I do NOT recommend the carbon fiber rods at all (except for use in the thing below) - Hardened steel for X & Y

Also make sure the bed is as rigid as possible - side to side.. does the workbench use the same cantilever bed design as the older machines? if so, there is bound to be a bit of play/slop at the front - put a stop to it. I use this for stabilizing the bed front on my SD4s - you could, in theory, also use it with a longer rod...
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:195266

Rigidity is the name of the game here. The more rigid you can make the structure, the better your results will be.

as for the print speeds, yes, those are a bit on the "stupid slow" side. I run my SD4s at 40mm/s print speeds for the most part - any more than that and the ringing does get a bit out of hand. you should, in theory, be able to run the same without major issue.

Yes, the SD WB has 10mm rods all around except for Z axis, which is 12mm. I'm digging the bed stabilizer, Heartless. I may do that after this first round of upgrades.

I'm configuring the Duet 2 WiFi now, and slowly things are coming together. I'll post my config file after I'm done just so it's available if anyone else does this mod.

Current holdups I still need to figure out:

Heated bed has 4 identical red wires in its plug, but the Duet only has a 2 post connector for heated beds. I'm thinking I should just split off 2 and 2.

Z probe vs Z stop issues. Solidoodle wired the Z probe as if it were a stop switch, and the Duet has an option for both a Z stop and a Z probe, but the probe is wired differently (4 pin instead of 3 pin like the stops). I can re-wire the Solidoodle Z probe to match the Duet Z probe 4 pin connector, but it's worth mentioning that there's a difference there. I think I have to go this route to include the 7.45mm offset in the config files (or whatever it ends up being after the carriage re-design).

That's all for now!

Regards,
ESOCHI

Alright folks, we're coming to a close on this project!

Imgur Album

Currently I've made the following additions:
Removed the entire hot end/extruder/carriage and replaced it with an E3D Titan Aqua w/ Water Cooling Kit.
Added a 24v Duet 2 Wi-Fi board and 24v Mean Well power supply kit
Added a cable management system I designed/printed.

Other Modifications Made:
The Z stop/probe was relocated to the frame instead of leaving it on the carriage. As the bed rises it hits the button. In other words I don't have the auto bed level function anymore.
The original 12v board is still in use for the 12v fans and LED, the water cooling kit, and the heated bed. I control the bed via Cura right now, completely separate from the actual gcode running through the Duet. I'm open to suggestions on this aspect as Cura times out on its "pre-heat" function after like 10 minutes and I have to hit it again.
I added some start gcode to compensate for the Z axis backlash/elephants foot that is god awful on this machine. It kinda causes a slight head crash but there's more than enough flex for that to be fine for now.

G28 ;Home
G1 Z10.0 F6000 ;Move the platform down 10mm
;Prime the extruder
G92 E0
G1 F200 E3
G92 E0
G1 X30 Y30 Z0 ;moves onto print bed from home and drops Z to 0
G1 Z0.50 ;backlash compensation
G92 Z0 ;reset Z to "0"
M572 D0 S0.1 ;pressure advance value for reprap firmware

If anyone wants any of the files I have no issue uploading them somewhere.
Same goes for the Duet 2 Configuration files.

Imgur Album

So basically I'm controlling the old board via USB and Cura, using the "preheat" function in Cura in leu of trying to run an actual gcode file because it's one button to click and to be honest I haven't tested any other route.

I imagine I could make a gcode file that has no extruder heat or motor movements, just a code to heat the bed until I shut down the 12v supply. (I have the power supplies off when I'm not near the machine and they're on wifi plugs so if a print runs late I can shut things down remotely)

I bought a few 100k thermisters so that the old board still "thinks" everything is in order, plus I used one on the Duet so it "thinks" the bed is connected.

I started with Repetier Host and I have no issues giving that a shot.  Prints are coming out quite nicely with a little glue stick on the glass bed!

My last hurdle is taming the backlash I'm getting. Curves are a bit skewed on one axis. The Y motor has trouble moving everything especially if I tighten any belts (yes, I've also loosened them and tested, which helped more than tightening) so I've bought a pack of timing pulleys that have 16 teeth instead of 26. This should not only add a good bit of torque (I'm already at max amperage) but should add some precision as well, although I may already be past that threshold and it wouldn't be noticeable. They arrive tomorrow!

Interesting side note, I'm almost positive that I have about a .05 to .1mm sag when the Y carriage is in the middle of the supports, and no sag once it gets close to the left or the right side. I thought my bed was off when I started this journey but a weight based sag makes much more sense.

Regards,
ESOCHI