Carbon Fiber arms from Trick Laser

[Jimustanguitar]

I got my set of CF arms from TrickLaser last week. I have to say, the kit is complete and very well thought out. It literally comes with everything that you need.

I haven't printed many things yet (it's been a busy week because of Notre Dame's commencement) but from the few things that I have, you can tell that it's a great improvement. I'm going to reprint several of the things that I've already made and photograph the difference. When I was printing with my plastic arms, you would notice a ticking sound, especially when printing very ziggy zaggy things like a stretchlet. This was lash and slop in the plastic arms and where they connected to the u-joints and where the u-joints were fitted into the bearing carrier and hot-end mount. Now with the new arms, I've run the speed up quite a bit without noticing sounds or slop at all. I ran half of a stretchlet at normal speed and kicked it up to 300% for the other half, and you can't tell the difference. I think the new speed limitation I'll start encountering is making the plastic cool from one layer to the next... I'm working on that too.

Not only are the arms considerably lighter, but you're removing the weight of all 12 metal u-joints too. Lighter, stiffer, less slop... Awesome. I would definitely recommend picking up a set for your Rostock.

[CosplayEngineer]

I installed my Trick Laser CF arms last week and my prints went from ok to great. I printed out the N64 logo in Red ABS at 0.2mm layer height at 30mm/s at 230C. I couldn't believe the quality. I'm very glad I ordered them. They installed in seconds too. Turn key operation.

[cambo3d]

trick laser now has the zero lash straps for them also. because some of the rod ends have play in them. the straps take the play out.

basically just a strong rubber band type material that pulls the arms snug.

[Jimustanguitar]

Hey cambo, what all do you have wired to your hot-end? Is that 3rd set of wires for a fan or LED's?

[cambo3d]

Hey cambo, what all do you have wired to your hot-end? Is that 3rd set of wires for a fan or LED's?

for my led ring and fans http://forum.seemecnc.com/viewtopic.php ... 270#p10128

[Flateric]

I installed my Trick Laser CF arms last week and my prints went from ok to great. I printed out the N64 logo in Red ABS at 0.2mm layer height at 30mm/s at 230C. I couldn't believe the quality. I'm very glad I ordered them. They installed in seconds too. Turn key operation.

Here's someone after my own heart! Printed the N64 logo, where did you get the file?

I used to be an N64 developer with Nintendo.

[Jimustanguitar]

There's a few of them, http://www.thingiverse.com/search?q=n64&sa=

It's on my list, but I didn't make one yet

[cpunches]

Where can you order those arms?

[cambo3d]

Where can you order those arms?

tricklaser.com

[cpunches]

Thanks.

[626Pilot]

Can't wait for mine!

[626Pilot]

Well, they got here and I have to say it's trivially easy to ruin the kit before it's even built. Take my advice - don't build it yourself. Buy it assembled. It's only $20 extra, and it will be built by someone who knows exactly how it's supposed to go together, and has extra parts on hand in case anything goes wrong.

Supposing you want to build it yourself anyway, here's some advice:

Materials - you will need some Loctite (I got Loctite Green) and some superglue. They are made by the same company, but they are NOT the same product. "Loctite" is fully liquid. Superglue is viscous.

First, for the part where you thread the set screws into the rod ends. Get out your digital calipers and set them to 5/8", then lay them down at the edge of your table where you can easily hold the set screws up to them. Take a set screw and line up the right end of the set screw with the right jaw of your calipers. Now, get ready to grasp the screw with your pliers by moving them into position between the caliper jaws. Line up the left outside edge of your pliers with the inside edge of the left jaw of the calipers. Grasp the screw firmly with the pliers. At this point, your pliers should be holding the screw such that if you were to thread the rod-end over the left side of the screw, all the way to the edge of the pliers, it would leave 5/8" of screw exposed. (This way, you don't have to fiddle around with it too much, it will be right the first time.)

Now, dip the left end of the screw into some Loctite (I used Loctite Green) and thread it into the rod-end by hand until it won't go anymore. (Better to do this part by hand, so it doesn't go in at a funny angle.) That done, you will have to use either a narrow-shafted screwdriver or one jaw of some needle-nosed pliers. A screwdriver would be better since it has no hard edges, and you want to avoid roughing up the inside of the loop! The metal axle used to hold the bearings to the Rostock carriages would probably work pretty well for this too, and you have to remove that anyway, so you might want to give it a shot if you haven't got a narrow enough screwdriver.

Insert whatever you're using through the loop and use it to rotate the rod-end until it meets the edge of your pliers. Once you have the piece in motion, try not to stop turning it because it will take extra torque to break it free and you don't want to overstress it. You can re-start the threading process a few times, but the loop you're using to turn the part is a weak point, so be careful - you don't want to break or deform it. Once you've got it threaded, hold up the exposed length of screw to the calipers to verify.

Now, for the part where you fasten the rod-ends to the carbon fiber rods with the aluminum inserts. I think the instructions are wrong here. It says to glue them in, implying to use superglue, but I ran out of luck here. I think Loctite would have been the better choice. If you put a very tiny amount of superglue on the end of the rod end, it will fit into the rod perfectly. However, if you use a very tiny amount plus .000000000001 of a picoliter too much, it will seize before it's in all the way; and if it doesn't, it will seize the moment it's seated, and you will NOT be able to rotate the insert inside the rod (which means you cannot possibly fix the alignment if both rod ends aren't exactly symmetrical with one another.) It's almost like you need a jig to do this right. If the rod ends aren't exactly symmetrical, you're out of luck.

At this point in the build I had already ruined two rods, so I decided to just order the kit fully built. I'm out the seventy bucks I spent and the guy's site says there's a two week lead time to get the arms assembled, but there is just WAY too much stuff to go wrong, and I'd rather it be someone else's problem to fix. Saving myself 20 bucks and a couple weeks of waiting time WASN'T worth it.

[wonderemporium]

I've fiddled with the stock arms many times and still can't get them to behave properly so I'm hoping this finally gets my machine up to world class printing. I have some big jobs for it coming up. I can't wait a couple of weeks for them so I took the safe route and ordered two sets so I can destroy up to 6 of them during assembly before I'm in trouble. I've destroyed plenty of parts in my day but I'm guessing I can't blow 6 of them. Here's hoping!

[ArthurDent]

I couldn't wait the 2 weeks to get the arms pre-assembled, so I went ahead and risked building them myself. I used epoxy (instead of superglue) to attach the ends to the rods, and that worked perfectly...although the ends did rotate and slide freely for me, unlike 626Pilot. Maybe the superglue sets up too quickly? In any case, a jig is a requirement to get the ends properly aligned. I printed up some "pegs" to hold the ends up off a board while the epoxy set up.

In case anyone wants the STL, here it is. I used a vice grip to hold the rod ends down against the jig while they cured.

So far these rods do have some play in them, but I ordered mine before Trick Laser offered the zero-lash straps. I'll probably order them up soon. Prints are definitely better now.

[CosplayEngineer]

I installed my Trick Laser CF arms last week and my prints went from ok to great. I printed out the N64 logo in Red ABS at 0.2mm layer height at 30mm/s at 230C. I couldn't believe the quality. I'm very glad I ordered them. They installed in seconds too. Turn key operation.

Here's someone after my own heart! Printed the N64 logo, where did you get the file?

I used to be an N64 developer with Nintendo.

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:33437

That's the one I used.

[Navkram]

626pilot. If you heat the ends slowly and carefully you should be able to un-bond the ends and try again. Go slow with pliers to pull the end apart as hyou slowly heat the end.
If using a super glue if you use too little it will set faster and not have enough time to assemble. The more you apply even if some sqeuzes out you will have time to assemble and wipe excess off before it cures. Use a synthetic man made fabric to wipe off excess. Not paper towel or cotton it will make a mess. You will still need to work fast but have time. Or use a 2 part epoxy then you have time to assemble just leave in a fixture to hold overnight with the epoxy.

[jetpad]

Also, Acetone will dissolve superglue. You could try soaking the end of the rod in it for a while.

[Navkram]

Not sure what plastic the ends are made out of the Acetone might melt the ends or effect the ball joint.

[Flateric]

Acetone will also leach and eat the carbon fiber's resine that it is bonded together with ruining it, do not soak your carbon in acetone, it's end up looking like a paintbrush on the end.

[626Pilot]

626pilot. If you heat the ends slowly and carefully you should be able to un-bond the ends and try again. Go slow with pliers to pull the end apart as hyou slowly heat the end.
If using a super glue if you use too little it will set faster and not have enough time to assemble. The more you apply even if some sqeuzes out you will have time to assemble and wipe excess off before it cures. Use a synthetic man made fabric to wipe off excess. Not paper towel or cotton it will make a mess. You will still need to work fast but have time. Or use a 2 part epoxy then you have time to assemble just leave in a fixture to hold overnight with the epoxy.

I actually just got the arms preassembled a few days ago. Print quality is WAAAAY better. SeeMeCNC should be shipping Rostocks with this kit, I think. The stock arms, and the huge number of variables you have to get right with sanding and chamfering and all that noise, are now out the window and my printer is moving straight and true.

The difficulty I had is, I think, that the instructions say to "glue" when they should say to use "loc-tite." The immediate seizing happened with superglue, but it didn't happen with loc-tite. It takes awhile to set, whereas superglue is deliberately designed to set as quickly as possible.

Re: Heating the rod ends to dissolve the glue. The rod ends have plastic and you have to heat that stuff over 400 degrees to get it to come loose. I wouldn't recommend it.

[Navkram]

The ends are a plastic. But you can unscrew them from the aluminum insert. use a some other threaded bolt to screw in to the aluminum insert.n heat carefully while pulling the insert out.

[JohnStack]

Bought the finished ones. Love them.

After reading all of this - I strongly endorse buying the completed arms...LOL

[626Pilot]

Bought the finished ones. Love them.

After reading all of this - I strongly endorse buying the completed arms...LOL

Trick Laser arms are the difference between "parts made with a sort of OK DIY 3D printer" and "parts made with something very, very precise." They are just brilliant.

[626Pilot]

One of my arms has developed a squeak after about a week's worth of runtime. Is there any kind of grease I can use to fix it?

[aehM_Key]

What exactly is the difference in print quality? Can anybody provide before/after pictures? Thanks!