Upgrade or throw away?

[MSURunner]

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:87117

I designed this to get me printing with the stock hotend in PLA. I ended up opting for an E3D and a more "traditional" mount, but I'm considering going back to achieve better part cooling. This worked quite well in that regard and a couple of bucks in plastic gives you a cheap opportunity to begin playing in PLA.

[untitled86]

This is my first print with the new hardware. So far I've installed the fans, EZStruder and tricklaser arms. I LOVE THE NEW EZSTRUDER! So freakin' easy and reliable. This print took ~12 hrs @ high-speed. This enclosure prototype is 6.3" tall. The quality is much better when I slow things down.

The only thing I did to "calibrate" the rostock for my new hardware was change the number of steps per mm for the extruder and the Z home for my new .35mm tip.

Any suggestions on calibrating are appreciated.

[Eaglezsoar]

The best idea on how to calibrate is to download the latest copy of Geneb's assembly manual and follow the calibration instructions in the manual.
Your print looks good for not being calibrated except for the strings, just think how good it will be after you do a complete calibration.
I guess now you won't be selling it.

[untitled86]

The best idea on how to calibrate is to download the latest copy of Geneb's assembly manual and follow the calibration instructions in the manual.
Your print looks good for not being calibrated except for the strings, just think how good it will be after you do a complete calibration.
I guess now you won't be selling it.

Thanks, that's what I'll do (follow Geneb's instructions). About selling it, right now I'm happy. I've printed about a dozen things since I posted last and nothing horrible has happened.

In fact, if I can actually get this working properly I might be able to send a few customers SeeMeCNC's way.

[Broose]

Is this what I need?

http://e3d-online.com/E3D-HotEnds/E3D-V ... tal-HotEnd

Are there any other parts I'll need to attach this to my rostock max?

You can adapt that to the Max, but the bowden version is really nice- very nice push to fit couplings
http://e3d-online.com/E3D-HotEnds/E3D-B ... tal-HotEnd

[626Pilot]

A cooling fan for PLA isn't an absolute must, Ive gotten away without one platy of times, including some times i probably shouldn't have, though it helps a lot to have one

If he uses my E3D mount, he will have to have a fan turned on all the time. Otherwise the plates will warp, rendering the printer useless.

[untitled86]

Well, I'm really glad I didn't throw it away now. Thanks again for all the help!!!

Attached are images of my latest creation (the blue enclosure for a new instrument my employer is building). I bought my Rostock Max to make useful things to boost my career. And at least in some small way, mission accomplished!

As you can see I had a little problem with my PTFE fittings. I've ordered replacements but until they arrive I've found duct-tape and zip-ties get the job done.

EDIT:
1) FYI, that brown object being printed is a Stiffener. The PLA enclosure was just for development. We had the actual enclosures extruded out of aluminum. The guy in our shop tried to cut the features (holes for screen, keys, etc.) but the aluminum was too thin and bent. So I was asked to print this stiffener to place inside the extrusion which worked great for the guy in our shop. ...Kindof a cool use of a PLA model IMHO (my bosses idea).

2) Obviously this is the case after a lot of use and wear. The thing my employer likes the most about the models I print, they're plenty strong for what we do. We had a couple of prototypes printed by Shape-a-ways and a local Z-Print operation. Obviously the Z-Print model fell apart right away. The Shape-a-ways model (plastic) worked great, but was a lot more flexible. The PLA feels different than the aluminum models, but it's the closest by far.

[Tinyhead]

I came across this thread a while ago and wondered what ever happened. Glad to see everything worked out for you! The case looks slick!

[bubbasnow]

you should try t glase, it now comes in red blue clear and black...i havent tried the bridge type filament yet

[McSlappy]

Wow that case kicks ass! What else have you made?!!?

[enggmaug]

I don't have an E3D... but I believe that you need to print something in order to adapt and attach it to the max... it could be annoying if you currently don't have any way to print that.

I've read many complaints from some early Rostock max users, but well, again, I've read many many more happy comments than complaints all in all.

[McSlappy]

Despite my issues with the e3d, I love it. It prints ABS beautifully! Heck, it prints PLA perfectly too, I just seem to have some random jamming that I cannot pinpoint. I'm still waiting on new PLA to test with

[Navkram]

That case looks great. this is exactly what these printer are for proto type work. great job and glad you did not sell.

[Chrissi]

Oh neat! a real tri-corder!

[untitled86]

Oh neat! a real tri-corder!

I would say no, because in my mind a tricorder captures and analysis every useful wavelength and can be used from a good distance (several feet at least). With our instrument fruit on the tree/vine, etc. need to be placed right up against the glass. And our device only covers 390-1190nm, that's only a tiny fraction of all the useful wavelengths.

But considering that Georgia Tech called their simple multi-spectral device a tricorder, it seems like I should be able to call ours one. Our device uses a very expensive low-noise spectrometer (think hyper-spectral not multi-spectral) it does real-time analysis and it's programmable.

[untitled86]

Wow that case kicks ass! What else have you made?!!?

Nothing really. In that shot of my printer you can see I squirted out one of those EZStruder fixtures (also a spindle for the spool up top). I love the EZStruder.

Right now I'm printing more a few more stiffeners for the shop (they wanted a few to speedup their process). Next I'll probably print some ducts for my fans. Right now they're just zip-tied on.

I'm using 75mm/s and 230C (my thermistor is probably wack) with PLA. It takes me 12+ hrs to print the stiffener (~7x4x2") included in this shot. Is that normal? What's the fastest I can realistically print?

[untitled86]

That last post makes the stiffener look low quality. I'll upload a close-up when it's done printing.

This is just something I printed early today when I was fiddling around. This is the kind of quality I see at 75 mm/s even on my large 6-7" models.

[Tinyhead]

That looks great!

When you fixed up your rig, did you do all the upgrades you mentioned all at once or did you see how things went as you got the parts? I'm just curious if you could pinpoint as to what upgrade/fix you might have done to really turn your prints around.

[untitled86]

That looks great!

When you fixed up your rig, did you do all the upgrades you mentioned all at once or did you see how things went as you got the parts? I'm just curious if you could pinpoint as to what upgrade/fix you might have done to really turn your prints around.

So, I didn't upgrade my hotend. I just added a fan for the peek section. That was half of my problem. The other half was the extruder. The original extruder with the Rostock Max sucks IMHO. But I love my new EZStruder. It's simple and it just works.

The Trick Laser arms were probably overkill, but I'm sure they have something to do with my smooth walls.

I also think moving my filament to the top and using that roof mount for the EZStruder helped take some defects out of my models. The filament used to rock back and forth a lot in the original setup. Now it turns very smoothly.

[Tinyhead]

Oh for sure. I'm sure the lack of peek fan would cause a world of problems. ISteve the trick laser arms are some of the best, so I'm sure you couldn't go wrong there.

As for the ezstruder, I'm sure they changed it out just for that reason. I recall reading before I got my rostock and many many people were saying that Steve's extruder had more than a few potential problems.

I'm pumped that you got it working again. It'd be sad to see it go to waste.

[untitled86]

I printed this yesterday. The PLA doesn't like my camera phone. It looks much better in person. More importantly, it fits PERFECTLY in the aluminum extrusion it was made for.