XmodAlloy wrote:

First, did you put the grey-black plastic spacer behind the thrust bearing (the thing with little rollers)? If so, remove that. That might get you close to the 10mm mark without the extra lasercut spacers behind the flange..

This is not good advice. The plastic part is critical to the thrust bearing being loaded evenly.

10mm is not a hard limit, and he should be at 10mm by simply putting a set of washers behind the flange.

That's true. I had made the assumption that the aluminum was flat and perfectly perpendicular to the barrel. Not a good assumption...

First, did you put the grey-black plastic spacer behind the thrust bearing (the thing with little rollers)? If so, remove that. That might get you close to the 10mm mark without the extra lasercut spacers behind the flange..

This is not good advice. The plastic part is critical to the thrust bearing being loaded evenly.

10mm is not a hard limit, and he should be at 10mm by simply putting a set of washers behind the flange.

XmodAlloy wrote:

Question, are there two lasercut spacers behind your lasercut face-plate or three? Behind the four-bolt flange.

EDIT: I need to read more fully into these things...

First, did you put the grey-black plastic spacer behind the thrust bearing (the thing with little rollers)? If so, remove that. That might get you close to the 10mm mark without the extra lasercut spacers behind the flange.

Second, make doubly sure that the collar (the one that's tightened around the auger shaft with a hex key) is butted up as far to the front of the auger as possible when it's loose. Tighten it there. This will also help alleviate that problem. If this and the spacer removal are done and the shaft still sticks out too much (when you're pushing on it to compress the thrust bearing), then put the lasercut spacers back in right behind the flange and between the front face-plate.

Third, the hex-shaft on the auger can be pretty darn loose on the hex-coupler that connects it to the motor. Make sure it can slide easily.

Well, thats a small issue with the auger sticking out too far, I can fiddle around with spacers/washers etc and eventually get it to 10mm fine - its the acrylic that doesn't fit properly after that.

My acrylic wants to twist a little and won't let me put the 4 x m5 long black screws through the side panels, the aluminium block is always in the way of one side and blocks the bolts exit.

I might actually redesign a new housing for this thing, I really don't like the way it's coming together and I don't see why I couldn't print one that is both large enough to fit the PID comfortably without squishing everything and also will allow me to get all the spacing correct without having to do all this stuffing around. I am not sure why at 2.1version of the kit it is still so rough in it's build state? I was sort of hoping that by waiting this long most of the problems were ironed out but I seem to be getting kicked in the butt.

If you scroll up you will see my hex adapter was way too tight and had to be filed down, but even still its not as loose as I would like so I am going to have to re-do that again as it's getting stuck/jammed on the auger and wont budge on the odd occasion.

I had my case be a little finicky too. Just loosen the four flange bolts to the point that the face-plate can be moved with force but stays still on its own, then put the sides on and slide the bolts through. Line everything up and then pull the side plates back off and carefully tighten the four flange bolts again. Now the face-plate should be in a position that it will fit together without binding too much. You may have to try this a few times. I had to assemble and disassemble mine about 6 times.

I might actually redesign a new housing for this thing, I really don't like the way it's coming together and I don't see why I couldn't print one that is both large enough to fit the PID comfortably without squishing everything and also will allow me to get all the spacing correct without having to do all this stuffing around.

For the laser cut part sure - that's just cosmetics and you can do whatever you want for that (or not even use it at all if you didn't want to).  For the actual metal part though you'll want to still use that - the motor would rip apart a plastic piece (all those forces it's using to push the plastic out are also trying to twist the motor the other direction).

Question, are there two lasercut spacers behind your lasercut face-plate or three? Behind the four-bolt flange.

EDIT: I need to read more fully into these things...

First, did you put the grey-black plastic spacer behind the thrust bearing (the thing with little rollers)? If so, remove that. That might get you close to the 10mm mark without the extra lasercut spacers behind the flange.

Second, make doubly sure that the collar (the one that's tightened around the auger shaft with a hex key) is butted up as far to the front of the auger as possible when it's loose. Tighten it there. This will also help alleviate that problem. If this and the spacer removal are done and the shaft still sticks out too much (when you're pushing on it to compress the thrust bearing), then put the lasercut spacers back in right behind the flange and between the front face-plate.

Third, the hex-shaft on the auger can be pretty darn loose on the hex-coupler that connects it to the motor. Make sure it can slide easily.

Well, thats a small issue with the auger sticking out too far, I can fiddle around with spacers/washers etc and eventually get it to 10mm fine - its the acrylic that doesn't fit properly after that.

My acrylic wants to twist a little and won't let me put the 4 x m5 long black screws through the side panels, the aluminium block is always in the way of one side and blocks the bolts exit.

I might actually redesign a new housing for this thing, I really don't like the way it's coming together and I don't see why I couldn't print one that is both large enough to fit the PID comfortably without squishing everything and also will allow me to get all the spacing correct without having to do all this stuffing around. I am not sure why at 2.1version of the kit it is still so rough in it's build state? I was sort of hoping that by waiting this long most of the problems were ironed out but I seem to be getting kicked in the butt.

If you scroll up you will see my hex adapter was way too tight and had to be filed down, but even still its not as loose as I would like so I am going to have to re-do that again as it's getting stuck/jammed on the auger and wont budge on the odd occasion.

EDIT: I need to read more fully into these things...

First, did you put the grey-black plastic spacer behind the thrust bearing (the thing with little rollers)? If so, remove that. That might get you close to the 10mm mark without the extra lasercut spacers behind the flange.

Second, make doubly sure that the collar (the one that's tightened around the auger shaft with a hex key) is butted up as far to the front of the auger as possible when it's loose. Tighten it there. This will also help alleviate that problem. If this and the spacer removal are done and the shaft still sticks out too much (when you're pushing on it to compress the thrust bearing), then put the lasercut spacers back in right behind the flange and between the front face-plate.

Third, the hex-shaft on the auger can be pretty darn loose on the hex-coupler that connects it to the motor. Make sure it can slide easily.

The Aluminium block really could do with a hole in the bottom of it too

but there is nothing about being careful about the PID squishing the wires up against the spinning auger

   just doesnt have to happen, yea it looks tight in there! use an external terminal block kept the wires to a minimum inside for me
     
     you could run the filament fan leads outside/ around the chassis just fine.

bad luck with the K sensor.

Well, Im stuffed anyway now .. got to the point of the electronics install and the thermocoupler is broken at the sensor end - seems nothing wants to go right with this, a 1-2 hour build has been triple that so far and I havent even turned the dang thing on. 

From what im reading any K-type -50c-250c should be ok for it?

I think the electronics part of the manual is fine, the wording is easy to follow - but there is nothing about being careful about the PID squishing the wires up against the spinning auger... or besides a finished photo, the best way to actually assembly the acrylic section without putting it together all crooked.. it really does feel like a blind build to some extent and only compacted now by a bad part. I really have never had this much bad luck with any kit

Also my PID is practically touching the auger when you slide it underneath.. is it meant to be that close?

That's what the the whole shaft collar is for - and what testing for movement is for.  What you are doing is trying to simulate the plastic trying to push the augur towards the gearbox/motor by pushing on it (just like the plastic will do when it's loaded in and trying to push the augur backwards towards the motor), and at the same time you're trying to make sure the hex socket can move back and forth (not up and down, but back and forth towards and away from the motor).  The idea being if the shaft collar and everything is in the right place you will be able to move that hex socket even when the augur is pushed out to the point that the bearing is up against the frame.  Once you have plastic in it the whole thing becomes a much greater affair, so that's why the instructions say to test it before putting any plastic in.

Different version of the kit include augurs of different lengths - that's why what is recommended for one is not for another.  The whole goal is just to make sure it isn't pushing backwards against the motor/gearbox tightly while you're actively trying to push it that direction (that the thrust bearing and collar are stopping it from doing so), and that it's not sticking out of the barrel too far either.

When the machine is lying normally on it's base, is the Auger meant to be able to move so far it leaves the hex adaptor? I never noticed it when it was standing upright, but once I put it back down I noticed not only does my hex adapter cleanly have 1-2mm of play now - but the auger can actually be pushed completely out of the hex adaptor before it is stopped by the nozzle.

That's normal. All of the force during extrusion drives the auger towards the gearmotor. Once plastics has been run through the machine once, the auger can't move back and forth anymore. This is described in Step 15.

That's for a previous version.

I will give that a go thanks, easier than undoing the entire thing again!

I have 8x  M5 screws

4 x that hold the alum bracket on the gearbox
4 that fix the acrylic panels to eachother (long black ones)

I have no other M5 screws.

But if you are saying use the existing M5's to fix the board on, the photo shows you are attaching them to the end of the block - the opposite end of the motor, the two holes we did not use screws for.

I have found some screws but really, I don't want to spend any more time discussing why they were not there - that's all I was stating, they were not in the kit. They didnt fall out, the bag was intact but as I said, missing M3's and the extra M5's for the board.

But I blame myself, you did say check all components were there before commencing, I just assumed they would be.

As for the 3rd spacer being used, I am confused because "Would not recommend using the extra spacers "  conflicts with advice you gave in another thread:

Geoff has a 2.1a kit, which slides the shaft collar all the way onto the auger (until it can slide no more).

yea its the 2.1a  have to recheck but thought it stated 80 mm in the manual?.  i was rounding the 85 "until it can slide no more" is what I did thou

I just need to  remember to slide that coupling over before closing up.

@geoffro when you added the barrel,auger and front plate, did you fix the side panels and the four long bolts  before tightening the  barrel and front panel, just a chance your alignment maybe off which would prevent you shoving all the case bolts through the casing.. thought I mention this as it got me 

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