kbob and Impulse, the Rostock MAX

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kbob
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kbob and Impulse, the Rostock MAX

Post by kbob »

I'm calling it Impulse because it was an impulse purchase. I wasn't even looking for a 3D printer. Interested, sure. Paying attention to what's available, that too. Planning to get one anytime soon? Not at all.

I stopped at SeeMeCNC's booth at Maker Faire, and when the booth guy (sorry, don't know who) mentioned it was $900 at the faire, I couldn't resist. I made a quick call home to ask permission, and went back to the booth. I talked to Steve (PartDaddy) for a few minutes, then he and I went out to the van where he rang me up and gave me all the parts. I walked back to my car (about a mile) with a box of parts tucked under each arm and the rest in my backpack.

I stayed in California all last week on business, but I'm home now. I'm going to take Impulse to Eugene Maker Space to build it. Several friends have volunteered to help. (imagine that!) The first construction session is this Friday.

I've studied geneb's assembly guide, both version 1 (Oops!) and version 2. I watched some of Steve's assembly videos. I've only read about 1,000 of the posts on this forum.

This is what a Rostock MAX looks like in a hotel room. I still haven't opened the boxes -- I'll do it on Friday with witnesses present.
IMG_20130523_212054.jpg
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Re: kbob and Impulse, the Rostock MAX

Post by cpunches »

Can't wait to see the results!
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Tools and Materials

Post by kbob »

I found this fine article at Hor'ble Fright tonight. It will be just the thing to measure whether my towers are equidistant and parallel. With its vernier scale, it should produce repeatable measurements down to 0.02 mm or so. (Not necessarily accurate, just repeatable.) The outside edges expand to almost 29 inches, so it might also be a suitable replacement for the sawed off yardstick.
In England, this would be a "Sizable Aluminium Calliper" and it would be Birmingham brand.
In England, this would be a "Sizable Aluminium Calliper" and it would be Birmingham brand.
I've blocked off most of the weekend for the Rostock Festival. I'll start assembly tomorrow night after work. Some friends have offered to help. I'll try to make time to take some photos for this forum. In the meantime, I've gathered all the tools and materials I think I'll need and loaded them into the car. I even have some extras — a little paint, a lighted power switch, countersink bits, taps, and a big mallet. And the Sizable Alloy Calliper.

w00t!
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Re: kbob and Impulse, the Rostock MAX

Post by cambo3d »

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Re: kbob and Impulse, the Rostock MAX

Post by kbob »

Last night I started building. I had two friends help me peel all the tape off the melamine and press in the nylon locknuts. That part went pretty fast.

I am going to experiment with some small departures from the official instructions. I.e., I'm going to do it wrong. (-: Or maybe I'll find some things that make it easier for the next guys.

To start with, I used a drill press and countersink bit to countersink all the holes instead of snapping the melamine disk out. One of my tape pulling friends suggested turning the drill bit upside down. That way, the smooth shaft goes into the existing hole and does not remove any more material. Here's the countersink stub.

(image) Something's broken -- I can't upload an image. Will try again later.

I set the drill press's end stop so that the countersink stops at the correct depth. Here are two photos of the countersunk hole.

(image)
(image)
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Re: kbob and Impulse, the Rostock MAX

Post by kbob »

I decided to mount the RAMBo early on. As soon as I finished the first tri-support assembly, I put the RAMBo onto it

(image) (Can't upload images. Something is broken; I'll try again later.)

Why do it that way?
  • It's easier to screw in. Don't have to reach in through the door.
  • I can trim the motor wires to match the actual distance to the headers on the RAMBo. I'll leave about two inches of slack in each. That's cleaner than leaving big coils of extra wire. I'll also trim the power supply wires with maybe 6 inches of slack.
Why was this a bad idea?
  • Risk of static discharge or damage during construction. My board is hanging out there in a construction zone. As soon as the table is on, it will be better protected, though.
Any other reasons I should not have done this?
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Re: kbob and Impulse, the Rostock MAX

Post by Eaglezsoar »

Sounds like a smart way to do it. You'll end up with a neater look without all the excess wire all over.
It's also a good idea to run the wire for the end stops down the uprights before you mount them, it's easier.
If you have future plans on a top mounted extruder don't forget the wires for that also.
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Re: kbob and Impulse, the Rostock MAX

Post by foshon »

I do not believe the server allows photo uploads. You have to use a third party to host (flickr, imgur. etc.).
Purple = sarcasm

Please do a board search before posting your question, many have been answered with very time consuming detail already.
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Re: kbob and Impulse, the Rostock MAX

Post by Eaglezsoar »

foshon wrote:I do not believe the server allows photo uploads. You have to use a third party to host (flickr, imgur. etc.).
I thought pictures can be sent as attachments?
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Re: kbob and Impulse, the Rostock MAX

Post by dbarrans »

foshon, it works for me. All the pictures I've posted in my build thread were attached to their messages, not hosted elsewhere.

- dan
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Re: kbob and Impulse, the Rostock MAX

Post by kbob »

dbarrans wrote:foshon, it works for me. All the pictures I've posted in my build thread were attached to their messages, not hosted elsewhere.

- dan
So were mine, up until last night. dbarrans, are you still able to attach images?
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Re: kbob and Impulse, the Rostock MAX

Post by dbarrans »

Maybe. Let's see...
image.jpg
image.jpg (859 Bytes) Viewed 21865 times
Looks like the answer is yes.

- dan
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Re: kbob and Impulse, the Rostock MAX

Post by kbob »

I figured it out. phpBB fails if you attach an image bigger than 4096 pixels. There's probably a server setting somewhere to configure that. Does anyone know how to contact the forum maintainers? I already sent email to [email protected] but haven't heard back.

Here is the server setting. (Allegedly. I don't actually know anything about phpBB.)
https://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtop ... &t=1797035

Meanwhile, I've been building, and I've got a big photo backlog. I'll redo the earlier posts with the missing images and then post my buildlog from yesterday.
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Re: kbob and Impulse, the Rostock MAX

Post by kbob »

Repost with photos.

<strike>Last night</strike>Friday night I started building. I had two friends help me peel all the tape off the melamine and press in the nylon locknuts. That part went pretty fast.

I am going to experiment with some small departures from the official instructions. I.e., I'm going to do it wrong. (-: Or maybe I'll find some things that make it easier for the next guys.

To start with, I used a drill press and countersink bit to countersink all the holes instead of snapping the melamine disk out. One of my tape pulling friends suggested turning the drill bit upside down. That way, the smooth shaft goes into the existing hole and does not remove any more material. Here's the countersink stub.
Upside down drill bit does not bore.
Upside down drill bit does not bore.
I set the drill press's end stop so that the countersink stops at the correct depth. Here are two photos of the countersunk hole.
Freshly countersunk.
Freshly countersunk.
Sans sawdust.
Sans sawdust.
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Re: kbob and Impulse, the Rostock MAX

Post by kbob »

Repost with photo.

I decided to mount the RAMBo early on. As soon as I finished the first tri-support assembly, I put the RAMBo onto it.

Why do it that way?

It's easier to screw in. Don't have to reach in through the door.
I can trim the motor wires to match the actual distance to the headers on the RAMBo. I'll leave about two inches of slack in each. That's cleaner than leaving big coils of extra wire. I'll also trim the power supply wires with maybe 6 inches of slack.

Why was this a bad idea?

Risk of static discharge or damage during construction. My board is hanging out there in a construction zone. As soon as the table is on, it will be better protected, though.

Any other reasons I should not have done this?
Attachments
RAMBo installed early.
RAMBo installed early.
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Re: kbob and Impulse, the Rostock MAX

Post by ApacheXMD »

I think originally, seemecnc intended for us to countersink the holes the traditional way with a bit/drill and the rings were just an idication of where countersinks were required. Then they realized popping out the rings worked ok, so they eliminated the requirement of buying a countersink bit. Of course if you have the drill and bit handy, its probably easier to do it "right".
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Power Supply installed early, too.

Post by kbob »

After I got the tri-supports loosely attached to the base, I went ahead and put in the power supply. That made it really easy to run the power supply wires, and it also made it easy to install all four power supply screws. The Cover Brackets (those little vertical pieces) are not obstructing the screw holes yet. I also got all the spare wires tucked neatly away between the power supply and the Z tri-support.

I don't see any downside to doing it this way at all.
Power supply in place.
Power supply in place.
Here is the wiring that I did before closing up the base. I ran power to the motherboard, hooked up all three motors, and ran three wires out for the power switch. (Three? See next post.) The power switch wires are coiled up under the masking tape in this photo.
At Rostock, the wiring goes in before the table goes on.
At Rostock, the wiring goes in before the table goes on.
The Z motor line did not have a lot of slack, so I plugged it into the right hand Z motor jack. The two jacks are equivalent, right?

I did not do any wiring for the bed heater or hot end before closing the base. I may regret that later.
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Lighted Power Switch

Post by kbob »

The power switch in the kit is really cheesy. I didn't care for it at all. So when I was at Oregon Electronics last week, I picked up a lighted SPST switch. It's round and black because the Rostock is round and black. It has an LED because the Rostock does not have enough LEDs.

I'm glad I put the switch in before I assembled the base, because I enlarged the hole on a drill press, then enlarged it some more with a Dremel in a vise.
The switch, still a little dusty
The switch, still a little dusty
The switch was designed to mount in a thinner panel than this fiberboard, so I turned the panel over and drilled a larger hole from the other side. I drilled both holes blind to prevent chipping the melamine, and the first bit poked its nose through to make a pilot hole for the second one. I just love Forstner bits...

Unfortunately, the switch was bigger than 3/4" and smaller than 7/8", so I had to Dremel out the smaller hole to something in between. But the switch bezel hides my sins, so I am absolved.
Concentric drill holes
Concentric drill holes
I did not wire up the switch. Until the base was assembled, the door was not permanently attached. I think I have some spade lugs in the right sizes. If I can find them, I won't have to solder the leads on.
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Tight Like a Drum

Post by kbob »

I assembled the "snare drum", the base assembly, last night. It took about 15 minutes to get all the panels aligned to put the top piece on. But I got it. I torqued all the screws to "4" on the electric screwdriver's meaningless number scale. That was the lowest setting that would pull the tabs all the way into the slots. Then I ran a straightedge over all the screw heads. Those that stuck out, I hand-tightened until the straightedge wouldn't catch on them.

The table measured flat in all directions except that the unsupported edge between the Y and Z towers is drooping a millimeter or so. I don't think that will be critical. If it is, I'll have to jam a dowel or something under that edge.

The next step was to install the T-Slot nuts. My immediate reaction was, "Gee, this is hard! I should have done it before I screwed the table on." (-: It doesn't really matter, though. I had to revisit those fasteners multiple times before I got the towers aligned.
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Re: kbob and Impulse, the Rostock MAX

Post by Eaglezsoar »

The table should be absolutely flat in all directions. Shim where you must but you must start out with a flat table.
That 1mm doesn't sound like much but it will matter when you start calibrating your printer.
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Re: kbob and Impulse, the Rostock MAX

Post by kbob »

The last thing I did last night was to erect the tower. I happened onto a really slick way to align the uprights. I clamped them to a square. The square is sitting inside the T-slot. The clamp is forcing the upright against the square. Gravity is holding the square flat against the table. Therefore, the upright is square to the table (within the accuracy of the square). I have to push on it to move it to a non-square position, and it comes right back.
Auto-square mode
Auto-square mode
There are still two degrees of freedom, though. There's the height of the upright and how far from the table's center it is.

I adjusted the height with the flat blade screwdriver you see in the photo. The screwdriver acts as a lever with a big mechanical advantage. I could push down the handle and shift the post up with resolution less than the thickness of the etched alignment line. (I hadn't figured this out when I shot the photo, so the post is just resting on the screwdriver there.) Once the height was right, I squeezed the clamp, the square dropped down to the table, I unsqueezed the clamp, and the clamp forced the post into square orientation.

Then the square was holding the post up, and I could release the screwdriver. I pressed the post toward the center of the table as far as it would go with thumb and snugged the screws. It took a few iterations to work out this technique, but I readjusted all three posts once I had it.

Then I followed the procedure in geneb's manual to measure the top height. Except... I used the Birmingham Substantial Alloy Calliper (BSAC). I just couldn't bear the thought of butchering an innocent yardstick. I also wasn't sure I'd cut the yardstick accurately enough.

I put the first Idler Mount on and aligned it. Then I inserted the BSAC and adjusted it so the table and idler mount were both touching the outside of its jaws. I locked the jaw at that position. After that, I used the BSAC just like the manual says to callously exploit the victim yardstick.
No yardsticks were harmed.
No yardsticks were harmed.
Then I used the BSAC to measure the distance between all three tower pairs, both at the bottom and at the top. I got readings of 381.10 to 301.30 mm at all points. I repeated them, and they were the same. I identified the post that needed to be adjusted, loosened it and slid it out about 375 milli-titches. Then I re-measured. No difference. So I called it good. One of my towers is about the thickness of a bee's wing too close. I doubt I'll be able to make the CheapSkates that uniform.

And then I called it a night. Packed up my tools and spare parts, turned off the lights, and went home.
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Re: kbob and Impulse, the Rostock MAX

Post by kbob »

Eaglezsoar wrote:The table should be absolutely flat in all directions. Shim where you must but you must start out with a flat table.
That 1mm doesn't sound like much but it will matter when you start calibrating your printer.
When I put the Onyx on, I'll see how it is affected. If it is a problem, I'll fabricate some kind of adjustable support post and put it out at the edge of the table where it is drooping.

Right now, I'm more worried about all the reports that the Onyx warps. I'm wondering how I can mount it so it has freedom to expand.
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With a Little Help from my Friends

Post by kbob »

I am building Impulse at the Eugene Maker Space. I would like to thank the other members who've helped me put it together this weekend.

Darrell and Weston worked Friday night. They pulled tape off of melamine, helped catalog parts, and inserted all the nylon nuts. The upside down drill bit for countersinking was Darrell's idea.

Rick helped on Saturday. He put the connectors and labels on the motor leads.

Darrell came back on Saturday and helped with the wiring. The power switch wiring is his, and he helped me with the RAMBo power connections. (I got to use ferrules for the first time, wheee!)

Thanks, guys!

I strongly recommend building your printer at a maker space. I'm a loner by nature, but it's fun to build things with friends.
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Re: kbob and Impulse, the Rostock MAX

Post by foshon »

Are you a member of PETY (People for the Ethical Treatment of Yardsticks)? :D


All PCB heaters warp. My MM used to use a MKV (i think), the little red one, it warped. The onyx is large so it warps fairly extremely. That is why I went with a kapton heater directly applied to alum.
Purple = sarcasm

Please do a board search before posting your question, many have been answered with very time consuming detail already.
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Re: kbob and Impulse, the Rostock MAX

Post by kbob »

foshon wrote:Are you a member of PETY (People for the Ethical Treatment of Yardsticks)? :D


All PCB heaters warp. My MM used to use a MKV (i think), the little red one, it warped. The onyx is large so it warps fairly extremely. That is why I went with a kapton heater directly applied to alum.
Okay. I have SeeMeCNC's borosilicate plate. It will be flat; it's just a question of where it will settle and whether it heats evenly.

In the meantime, I've continued assembly.
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