The Bone Zone MAX v2

[BONE]

Started on the printer today, taking everything out of the box, being careful not get the packing peanuts everywhere. I can't remember the last package I got with packing peanuts. We have cats that would love to get their paws on the peanuts, so I am very careful removing everything and used a vacuum cleaner to suck everything that was stuck to boxes and in the aluminum tracking. It be nice to see everything packaged a little tighter in the box get rid of the packing peanuts, I hate those things.

Opening the box

Removal of packing foam

Removal of smaller boxes

Everything out of the box.

[BONE]

Watch out for the small pieces if you have cats or kids.

Small pieces

I was really hoping to get the frame together today, but that doesn't look like it's going to happen.

Incomplete holes

Tried pushing this hole out, but one of the sides was incomplete and it cracked the board. I'm going to have to contact the guys at SeemeCNC and see what can be done about this. Looks like I multiple problems with the pieces on Sheet 2. Masking tape is also pulling material of the edges of the pieces.

Incomplete hole and cracked edge.

[Eaglezsoar]

Let support know what pieces were damaged and it might be a good idea to include pictures of the damaged pieces and they should send you replacements.

[BONE]

I will be letting support know, I'm gather everything together first. It's just a bummer that I got bad pieces. I can only work on this at selected times and waiting for new pieces to arrive for the frame is just going to slow things down since the frame is one of the first things to build. Haven't starting building the frame yet, but I think the pieces from sheet two are for the top selection. I also have 4 sheets in my kit and the instructions says there are 3 sheets.

I was able to push some the incomplete pieces out, but it chipped up the edges pretty good. I havn't got the holes out on the pieces that I think are for the tower tops.

One piece also has a corner where the material is delaminating. Does look like an important piece, but not sure yet. With some of the smaller pieces it hard to tell if they were used for something. Picking up the sheets, some pieces fall out and I wasn't sure what they are for, so I have everything in piles of what I think it is.

I got the hot end together after shopping around town for the RTV Silcone. Why can't there be one time use packets of this stuff with the kit. Paying $7 for a tube of silicone that I'm probably not going to use again is a bit much when you only use a pennies worth.

I was very impressed with the packaging of the hardware and electronics box. Everything fit nice and tight, well organized and sealed in bags.

[BONE]

Finished the power supply. Couple of things that confused me in the instructions. It says that the power supply used is a 450W when I received a 550W in the kit. Is that going to be a problem?

For the green and black wire it did not say where to take the wires from, but there was a picture of the ATX connector, so I used the wires from there for the switch. Does that make sense? I also found the wording confusing, stating that the wires should cut from the connectors. But isn't the act of cutting the connector from the wire? I've also seen that the instructions do not reference the figures, is that something that is going to be added to the instructions?

If I were to cut off all the wires that are not needed, what can be done with the exposed ends so they do not touch each other or something else and possible short out?

[Eaglezsoar]

Hi Bone!
Let's see if I can help answer some of your questions.

They switched to the 550W power supplies because I believe the manufacturer quit making the 450W.

Once exposed to air, the RTF will solidify so trying to extrude a small amount from the tube and sending
with the kit would not work IMHO. They do not make small tubes of the stuff either.

The ends of the wires can be protected with small wire nuts, or what I have done is to use shrink tuning
of the appropriate size and shrink them to the wires leaving the shink tube about .25" longer than the wire, fold
the wrap over and secure it with a piece of vinyl electrical tape.

I cannot speak for Geneb and his intentions for his well written manual.

I agree that it is a bummer to receive bad wooden parts and have to wait for support to replace them.

Once you do get the parts replaced, I hope that you have a great build.

[Hans]

All of the black ground wires go to the same connection location inside the power supply, doesn't matter which ones you use.

The yellows are a different story, most go to the main high amperage rail, but a few go to a lower amperage sub-rail. So make sure to follow Gene's instructions on that. Otherwise you'll have to open up the power supply to make sure you're using the right wires, and not drawing too much power from the smaller rail.

-Hans

[BONE]

Thanks for clearly up the power supply questions. I've been taking notes during the build, so hopefully some of them will help clear things up in the manual in the future. I built the base last night and didn't have any problems with the instructions. I just think the power supply instructions could use some more work on details. I didn't cut the extra wires, I just wrapped them up nice and tight next to the side of the power supply.

As for the silicone and lock tight, I've received small one time use packets for other projects. Depending on the volume, I bet Permatex could supply small one time use packets. But maybe the volume is not large enough here.

[BONE]

I contacted SeeMeCNC support about Sheet 2 and the pieces with incomplete holes. They are shipping me out a entirely new sheet 2, and hopefully it will be here soon. So far support is great!

In the mean time I'm working ahead and completing other parts of the build. Unfortunately, I found that I'm missing 2 #4 T-nuts to complete the cheapskates. I'll have to see if a local hardware store has some.

The screws that came in the bag with the extruder to mount it are too short. So I robbed Peter to pay Paul with some other screws that came with the kit. Good thing I'm going to the hardware store tomorrow in search of T-nuts also.

Parts waiting for parts

[brent]

Most hardware stores near me sell t-nuts.

[BONE]

Most hardware stores near me sell t-nuts.

I know most hardware stores sell T-nuts. I just went to Lowes at lunch, but the smallest size they have is 6-32 and I need 4-40. I'm betting that Home Depot is going be the same. I'm going to try ACE Hardware after work and try my luck there. Lowes also does not or is out of 6-32 screws over 1.5 inches long. Again I will try my luck at ACE Hardware. McMaster is an option, but thats to much $$ for just a couple small pieces.

Just a little frustating when I drop some coin on this kit and I have these issues that are slowing the build. But SeeMeCNC Support is helping me out and should have my missing and replacement parts soon. Hopefully I'll get them in the next couple days, I'm running out of stuff to assemble.

[Mac The Knife]

A good hobby shop may have 4-40 t nuts.

[BONE]

Just got from ACE Hardware, which has a pretty good selection, and walked out with nothing. They had T-nuts in both zinc plate and stainless, but only down to 6-32. SeeMeCNC is sending me replacements and should be here by Thursday, so I'm going to stop shopping around. Onto some soldering tonight after some clean up work.

What a mess.

[BONE]

I think I'm finished soldering my hot bed, I have an extra resistor and a possible place to put it. I have a rev 5 Oynx and I do not see the extra resistor and power location on my bed in the instructions. Do I need to put it on? Do I need to supply power to the HOT END LED also?

[travelphotog]

The resistor is needed for the Rev5 if you want both LEDs to work ( they are nice to have so use them) The info you need it on page 80 in the manual I do believe. The spots you need are there on the right side of your photo. PM me if you need any help. Your build is looking good. also take me advice and go pick up a cheap dial indicator off Amazon or Ebay. They REALLY make calibration easier once you have your printer up and going. Good luck on the build and keep posting updates! We all love seeing build shots!

[BONE]

Thanks travel,
I think I need to quit my day job so I can have my mornings to work on the printer when my eyes are fresh. Totally missed that on page 80 last night. I just realized what happened. In all my going back and forth and scrolling, I ended up looking at rev 4 where there is no hot end LED.

As she sits this morning.

Status update

Thought I did a good job with the extra wires. Tie wrapped them back to the side of the power supply. I dont think anything goes there. I heard things get mess when installing the RAMBO board and wires.

[travelphotog]

Few things I wish I had done: Leave MORE wire on the wires to the RAMBO so it is easier to service. also loom them like the bowden tube is. I would also go ahead and save yourself some time and replace the loud 40MM RAMBO fan now. Here is what I used http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009NQ ... UTF8&psc=1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; it is SUPER silent! Did you install dampners on the motors?

[BONE]

I was thinking about the dampers on the motors, but I just wanted to get the thing built. Is just for noise, or does it kill vibrations that affect the print also?

Might order that fan should here Friday when the replacement parts get here. Thanks for the link.

[travelphotog]

Any time!

[BONE]

Fan ordered and nothing else happened to tonight. Slow night. Back at tomorrow!

[BONE]

Added some tape to the supports, just in case. Wires were a little close.

I have no tools that will fit in the space provided to hold the nuts on the on the bottom of the effector. Always design enough clearance for a socket to fit on the nut. I'm also finding these Phillip heads a pain, much rather have all allen or torx heads. I'd be OK with going to all metric also, since I own more metric tools then standards. And I live in the States! Metric all the way.

Also, you can't tell from this photo, the hot end hangs down lower then the nuts. So access with an open wrench is at a steep angle that does not allow me to get on the nut and hold it.

[travelphotog]

Most of us flip the screws and the nuts. The nuts end up on tp and the screws heads on the bottom. makes life FAR easier. Hope it helps!

[BONE]

Nuts over the head of the screw. Got it. Check.

[BONE]

So I received my replacements that were missing or wrong when I first got the kit. They broke everything out of Sheet 2 for me, so hopefully everything is good to go. The hardware that was missing, they sent me extra, so that was nice. I wish this build was going smoother then it is. They say approximately 20+ hours of assembly time on the website and I defiantly have 20 hours in it before I received these replacement parts. It's hard to focus on the project when when you run into these kind of problems. It has me guessing if it really is worth the money. I sure hope it is.

[travelphotog]

For me it was a pretty smooth build over all. So on one hand it is sort of hard to comment on this from the same "place" you find yourself at right now. But I can say a few things. First to me it was SO worth the build time. My printer prints great and I am already printing things for people and even starting to see income off the printer and it is not even 2 weeks old. I choose the Max V2 due to being a kit. I WANTED to know my printer inside and out. I have talked to a fair number of guys who hardly know anything about their printer and how EVERY nut and bolt works to make a print. You have just hit a small bump in the road. It seems like the guys at SeemeCNC got your stuff out to you pretty fast to try and keep your build on time. In some ways it might be a blessing. I threw mine together in under 20 hours and it works great. But if i had it to do over I would have loomed the RAMBO wires (after leaving more than just 6" of wire.. Needs more for moving stuff around down there) and a few other things I might have done differently if I had a delay and time to LOOK at it outside of the manual.

I think once you have your printer up and going you will be like the rest of us... A kid with a new toy that MAKES THINGS! We all choose to build the MAX because for one reason or another it just was "right" to build our printer. Some do it to save money, some to enjoy the build and others as a challenge. But in the end we all love out printers and have a bond that no Makerbot guy can claim. We BUILT our printers with our own hands and know everything about them. Besides... Nothing looks as cool as a MAX and FEW others can come anywhere close to the print size we can!

OK my 2 cents worth.