Folger Tech Kossel Unboxing and First Impressions (Pic Heavy) (Page 1 of 8)

Nothing missing that I can find so far. Since they crossed off the packing list with a permanent marker I pretty much have to just play it by ear while I follow the instructions. I will work on it more tonight and will update the thread as the news comes in.

When you go to print out the various parts, make sure you check the STL files over good - I started printing the bed bearing carriers for mine and there are some issues with the file - nothing that will make them unusable, just kind of funky looking... the screw holes print with jagged perimeters & there is an odd spot on one outer wall... they should still work fine, even with the oddities, but I will be checking the rest carefully before printing them

heartless is using the prussa kit from the same company, so we have been comparing the prussa to the kossel a bit. She meant the ones on her kit.

I will check as soon as I get back to work on it. Wasn't feeling well, went for a nap when I got home, been rolling around with a fever since.

Update: got a reply, they want me to use the bearing and see if it works its way in. If it doesn't, I have to send it in for evaluation. No way in hell am I putting it on the machine. It barely moves and will most likely damage other components. As soon as I figure out how to properly compress video off my phone I'll post it.

Edit: Video attached. Ignore my fat fingers.

They seem to be gettinganal since their sells went up. But those linear rail assemblies are not cheap. They go for around 45 bucks each on ebay.

I had a misdrilled piece of acrylic they offered to replace with. No question. I'm curious did they get rid of the 6mm long screws and replace them with 10mm as I advised? I bought the second one they sold so I was sort of a test run for them. I found some issues and alerted them and they said they would be fixed on future builds.

They got in touch with me again today, they are going to send me a new car that they have (sans rail) since I know how to transfer them without getting bearings everywhere. Very polite getting back to me, just asked for a shipping address. I did email them the video as well so it may have helped. I get the feeling a lot of people complain about the rails that come in so they use a stock response to weed out the people who don't actually have a problem..

All in all, I don't really blame them for wanting me to throw it on the machine and try it. I'm sure they get a lot of people saying that the rails don't run smoothly, since even my "smooth" ones don't feel nearly as nice as some NSK linear bearings or similar. You can see bubbles in the edges of the casting on the bad car.... really they just went with the cheap rails that 99% of the rostock community uses and I happened to get a bad one. My "good" bearings sound a lot better now that I've greased them and run them back and forth a few times by hand while I watch TV.

I have looked into the bad bearing car more, on the inside of it there was a sizeable burr. I cleared it out by gently running a #36 drill bit through it by hand, but it still didn't run smooth. Looks like the main problem is that the plastic end cap doesn't line up properly with the steel, resulting in another lip I will have to deal with. Tempted to keep working at it, but I know that it's not worth my time if they're sending me a new bearing. Hopefully I'll have it by the weekend. If I had the free time at work, I'd throw it on a mill and put a slight chamfer on it to see if that lets the balls flow better in both directions. Judging by the burr location and what not, it could be that the hole is misaligned as well.

Update: new bearing slider came in yesterday, works very well. Continued the build only to find that the effector was printed slightly too small and I can't fit the hot end in place because of it. I am going to forge ahead and see if I can pare it down enough to get working. Between that and the horribly printed extruder bracket, I think I will just have to get this printer running g as best I can until I have something working well enough that I can print better parts.

Edit: oh, and those bed screws loom to be 8mm. I will have to find my calipers to be sure.

I mistyped. Not the extruder bracket, the hot end bracket. The extruder bracket is acrylic, and didn't crack when I tightened the motor. I was worried that it would, though.

At this point, I'm about 80% done with the build. There isn't much left that can go wrong, so I'm happy there.

The problem with the effector being slightly undersized (aside from having to tap all the bolt holes) is that it has a countersink for the hotend to fit in and it doesn't. Because of that, the hotend is only held straight by the little bit of pressure applied around the rim where the countersink is too small. It should hold fine for now, but like I said it will have to be reprinted as soon as the printer is running.

Also of note is that I can't for the life of me get the top of the machine to actually fit on. The extrusions simply won't fit in their slots. I only fussed with it for about 30 minutes last night, and today I'll file down the inside corners and see if maybe it's just some brim from the printing. A lot of the printed pieces are really messy on the interior.

Still, speaking honestly, I would buy this kit in a heartbeat. The problems I've had haven't been too significant, and once they understood the bearing car problem they were quick to send a replacement. If I had my SD3 working, I'd probably have reprinted all of the parts in ABS anyway and wouldn't have noticed this problem in the first place. For the cost, you get a pretty solid kit with a name brand boardset.

Now that the thing is starting to come together, I'm getting excited!

The only real problem I've had that was insurmountable by me thus far was the bad bearing car. I still have the old one, and might throw it in a bridgeport at work and see if I can ream out the problem spots so I have a spare.

My advice is to pick up one of those little divider boxes like I have to sort the screws when they come in. The build would be an absolute nightmare without that stuff being sorted properly. Also check if you have a small rubber mallet since some of the brackets seem to be "persuasion fit"