1 Topic by Irish

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Topic: Back in Business, sort of

I was down with the flu during the holidays and also was trying to add a glass top to the bed of my SD2. I found the Z limit screw was too short. Bought one 3/8" longer local but only after getting it installed and finding it not to adjust at the maximum did I realize it wasn't threaded all the way. Bought a small set of Metric taps and dies at Harbor Freight and succeeded tonight on getting it threaded and installed. Only issue I have is the holder treads may have been damaged some. It works but feels a bit loose.

Does any one have an STL file of the Z Limit switch holder? I'd like to make a new one and thread it to match the screw. Onlly other option, besides waiting forever for Solidoodle to send one, is to make one out of aluminum.

Other question is, what to use on the glass to get the PLA to stick to it. I've heard about hair spray and then some solutions. Which is really best and does the table need to be heatead for those?

Thanks,

2 Reply by qac1991 (edited by qac1991 2013-01-07 03:33:33)

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Re: Back in Business, sort of

Hey I modeled a replacement. It's a bit hard getting a caliper back there and I didn't want to take it off so it might not be exact. Is your printer ok to print this? If you do and some measurements are off I can change it real quick. The holes are 2.75mm instead of 2.9mm that way you should still be able to tap it.

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zhold.STL 27.23 kb, 31 downloads since 2013-01-07 

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3 Reply by qac1991

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Re: Back in Business, sort of

Actually don't print that one, I looked at the model and saw some mistakes, try this one. I think spacing should be fixed, I also added a fillet so its less likely to break.

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zholdrv.STL 31.14 kb, 25 downloads since 2013-01-07 

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4 Reply by Irish

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Re: Back in Business, sort of

Hi, qac1991, I took the holder out. It's real easy as there are only two screws holding it in and the nuts are fastened into the back panel. At least they did that. Yes, I the printer is working fine so I'll down load your STL file and give it a try. The old holder works but it's just that the z stop adjustment screw seems a bit loose and I'd like it to be a bit harder to adjust. That way once adjusted it won't move on me. Thanks.

5 Reply by cmetzel

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Re: Back in Business, sort of

You can just turn the original screw upside down and adjust it by hand or with a cutoff allen wrench.

6 Reply by lawsy

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Re: Back in Business, sort of

Just posted this:

http://www.soliforum.com/topic/964/lowe … ew-holder/

lawsy's Website

7 Reply by Irish

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Re: Back in Business, sort of

cmetzel wrote:

You can just turn the original screw upside down and adjust it by hand or with a cutoff allen wrench.

That's a real good apporach to solving the issue, lower the screw so you can use the original one. Nice going. I downloaded your file. I'll see if I can print it tomorrow.

8 Reply by Irish

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Re: Back in Business, sort of

cmetzel wrote:

You can just turn the original screw upside down and adjust it by hand or with a cutoff allen wrench.

That's a real handy approach to fixing the issue of adding a glass bed. My glass is 1/4" thick but this will still do the trick. I downloaded your file and I'll see if I can get it printed tomorrow.

9 Reply by jon_bondy

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Re: Back in Business, sort of

I like what you did, but it is interesting that both of my printers shipped with screws that were long enough that I was able to add a glass plate without any modifications to the Z axis screw or bracket.

10 Reply by IanJohnson

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Re: Back in Business, sort of

A lot of capability can be added to the Solidoodle, giving it features you find on more expensive printers without approaching their price, even after you buy the add-ons.  Things are complicated enough for SD without them sourcing and selling more accessories, which are easily printed or bought elsewhere by users. 

The longer screw may be coincidence, but it would be cool if they made tweaks to the design that make it easier to make some of these additions.  The glass is a simple enough solution for the problem of warped aluminum.  It makes sense for SD to make that addition as easy as possible without messing around with cutting and shipping glass themselves, or replacing aluminum plates.

Another area they could help would be adding headers to the expansion pins on the board.  If those headers were there, anyone could simply buy a SDSL from Emaker, stick it on, and have SD card suppport.  Same with the Viki LCD once it's released, and there are some MOSFET kits for fan control out now that take minimal soldering.  Someone could even wire up some of those boards to fans and connectors and offer a plug and play nozzle fan.

It would help if those things were quietly enabled in the shipping firmware, which is easily updated in older printers.  Unless you are missing a bootloader, then too bad for you apparently.

If those things were in place, then it would be easy to buy a $600-700 printer, spend $150 on add-ons and have a $1500 printer.

11 Reply by Irish

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Re: Back in Business, sort of

Lawsy's lowered holder for the Z axis limit screw printed out OK. I'll need to drill out the holes and tap it but otherwise it's very usable.

Also, the 1/4" glass bed works great. I gave it one shot of White Rain hair spray, light one, and I haven't had to do anything to it since them. Done maybe six prints and each one holds well and snaps of cleanly when the plate cools. I've switched back to ABS as I wasn't real happy with the PLA output. Seeing I got a good print of a part today I might swithc back to PLA to see if that prints as good. One thing I found is I need to start with 195C for the first few layers then lower to !93C for the remainder of the print. I also lowered the bed temp from 100C to 80C and everything looks real good.

12 Reply by elmoret

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Re: Back in Business, sort of

How are these guys beating the spam filter?

Filastruder - the robust, inexpensive filament extruder
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