1 (edited by Zortwil 2014-10-19 18:58:40)

Topic: SD4 Mods?

Hey, I've been looking around for mods for my SD4 and I've found a few, but have some questions about them.

1. Carriages: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:104059
These seem to be designed for the SD 2 and 3, and I noticed that the belt isn't like how it is on the SD4, it has holes punched in like the X axis.

If I'm able to use these, do I need new rods?

2. Fishing line:
Can I use it with the above carriages(if I can use the carriages in the first place)? Pros/cons?

3. Fan Mount/Duct: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:30828
I know it would need changes to be used on the SD4, but would I need to attach a new fan, or can I simply move the second extruder fan(the one without the heatsink) and attach it to the mount?

4. E3D:
Does it really make much of an improvement? I have trouble with overhangs but everything else I find satisfactory

5. Threadless Ballscrew:
Is there a writeup for this somewhere? Not sure how you would get the threaded screw in the the threadless rod in?

Thanks everyone!

PS: If you have any modded/dialed in SD prints that are really nice, I'd love to see them to see what is possible!

2

Re: SD4 Mods?

1. This should be adaptable to the SD4 with little trouble - everything is approximately the same size as the SD3.

Ball bearings are good - over time the original bushings wear, and the friction increases. You may not see any difference in new machines, but the ball bearings last much better, and only need very light lubrication - this prevents that abrasive mix of grease and other stuff forming...

New rods is a good idea for the ball bearings, as there has been some consternation about the exact size and surface hardness of the original rods - the ball bearings are much more sensitive to this! Although it costs more, you'll have the best experience and get the most mileage if you replace the rods and bearings together.

I'm not familiar with the SD4 y-axis belts, but I hear they are continuous and clamped on, and tensioning is done from the front idler blocks. This is potentially a better solution than the punched-through-bolt on the SD2/3. 2.03mm pitch x 6mm wide MXL belts is available widely by the m/ft on eBay and 3d printing websites for basically nothing (a couple of $ / m at most, and you need less than 2m to do the y axis), so you could easily purchase a length of new belt to try out the lawsy carriages without cutting the originals.

2. Haven't done fishing line myself, but it's well regarded - talk to wardjr. smile Pretty much no different to doing the above, but use line instead of new belts. Only addition is you have to measure and update the steps-per-mm.

3. I've never come up with a good solution for this. Please experiment, and if you're happy with it, post it up here to show us! A new computer fan may not cost much, but note that you may want to connect the nozzle fan for g-code control - so if the extruder fan is keeping the barrel cool (which can help to reduce clogging), then you might want to keep that there...

4. It's pretty cool. It won't improve overhangs really, that's all about cooling and part design. If you're happy, no need to go to the trouble of changing (it's wiring and a firmware update). If you have trouble with your hot-end in the future though (e.g. continuous clogs, catastrophic melting failure, etc.) I'd highly recommend it as a replacement though.

5. I avoided the threadless ballscrew as I didn't really like the assymmetry of it (it's steps-per-mm actually will vary with direction and to a small extent load - this makes me uncomfortable!). Replacing the z axis is a bit of a big job, you end up with most of the printer's guts on the floor. Consider the M5 / M3 threaded rod also - this also works really well, and is a bit easier to get to grips with. Also important for the z-axis is making sure you've dealt with the backlash: I had quite a lot, and the first few layers were always a mess. Using the M99 'hysteresis fix' to correct in software worked wonders for me.

SD3. Mk2b + glass, heated enclosure, GT2 belts, direct drive y shaft, linear bearings, bowden-feed E3D v5 w/ 0.9° stepper
Smoothieboard via Octoprint on RPi

3

Re: SD4 Mods?

Thanks a lot for all the information grob! I really do appreciate it.

I'm probably going to go ahead and try the carriages and fishing line.

I'll do some research on the fan and see how it goes.

Thank you again!

4

Re: SD4 Mods?

Sortwil,

If you bought a SD 4 recently, I don't think you need to modify anything,
My friend bought a SD4 2 months ago, I was working with him for the
Calibration, I found that, the X carriage has linear bearings, metal
Extruder and modified hot end, if you just print plastic parts, never clogged.
The Y drive has a closed belt, it is very easy to calibrate, actually we didn't
Calibrate anything, only checked Z platform. We got very good prints.
A lot of SD2 and SD3 users said you have to modify SD4, but they never know
What parts the mod SD4 has now? The modified SD4 is much different with SD3.
So ask the user who has the newest SD4 for questions.

5

Re: SD4 Mods?

AOYOU3D has a point - I figured you'd already made up your mind you wanted to modify the printer, probably mainly for fun? This is exactly what I've done with my poor SD3, so feel the enthusiasm. I do think that as far as basic mechanical function is concerned, the SD3 and SD4 are quite similar, so many of the modifications posted on this forum for the SD3 are relevant. All four you have listed are worth considering (pros/cons as per their respective forum threads).

On the other hand, an example of a mod that may not be worth doing is using the lawsy Mk5 extruder: the SD4 extruder is much improved from the SD3: a pretty nice aluminium job - you'll probably want to keep that.

A piece of advice definitely from my own experience: if you're modifying because you're unhappy with the print quality, before you replace anything, try and identify the specific things you're unhappy with and work out what the specific solutions are (or whether you're up against an inherent limitation in the process). This will lead to the largest chance of success, and minimise disappointment / expenditure hehe.

Also - I've yet to see a photo of linear bearings in a stock SD4 - definitely plenty with those bronze bushings. Are you sure the one you saw hadn't been modified, AOYOU? I think this would have cropped up here at least if SD had sneakily started using them...

SD3. Mk2b + glass, heated enclosure, GT2 belts, direct drive y shaft, linear bearings, bowden-feed E3D v5 w/ 0.9° stepper
Smoothieboard via Octoprint on RPi

6 (edited by Zortwil 2014-10-21 07:22:30)

Re: SD4 Mods?

grob wrote:

AOYOU3D has a point - I figured you'd already made up your mind you wanted to modify the printer, probably mainly for fun? This is exactly what I've done with my poor SD3, so feel the enthusiasm. I do think that as far as basic mechanical function is concerned, the SD3 and SD4 are quite similar, so many of the modifications posted on this forum for the SD3 are relevant. All four you have listed are worth considering (pros/cons as per their respective forum threads).

On the other hand, an example of a mod that may not be worth doing is using the lawsy Mk5 extruder: the SD4 extruder is much improved from the SD3: a pretty nice aluminium job - you'll probably want to keep that.

A piece of advice definitely from my own experience: if you're modifying because you're unhappy with the print quality, before you replace anything, try and identify the specific things you're unhappy with and work out what the specific solutions are (or whether you're up against an inherent limitation in the process). This will lead to the largest chance of success, and minimise disappointment / expenditure hehe.

Also - I've yet to see a photo of linear bearings in a stock SD4 - definitely plenty with those bronze bushings. Are you sure the one you saw hadn't been modified, AOYOU? I think this would have cropped up here at least if SD had sneakily started using them...

Yeah, I'm mainly doing it for fun and learning, but a little performance increase wouldn't be bad.

I'm fairly satisfied with the quality, the main thing I'm looking to fix is my slightly imperfect circles which I heard fishing line might help with(I've spend hours and hours and hours messing with belts).

EDIT: Another thing I'm looking for is speed.

7

Re: SD4 Mods?

i planned on releasing the stls but i made it so long ago i have lost the files sad
the rod is the same 8mm stuff for the X and Y axis i had left over and a spare LMU8 bearing

Sign up with Florida National University for getting incredible online 642-832 dump courses exam and University of Toronto.

8

Re: SD4 Mods?

Which belts are you replacing with fishing line and what test?

SD3, E3D hotend,linear bearing on x/y axis',pillow block bearing on y conneting rod, ball bearngs on front y axis, fan on y stepper motor.