New To-Be Rostock User in Central Illinois/USA

[jckrieger]

Hi,

I've ordered a new Rostock Max V2 and hope to build it in the next few weeks. I'm a mechanical engineer with experience repairing industrial electronics and also have some background with Arduino projects. I'm excellent with a soldering iron and my fabrication and assembly abilities are quite good (I rebuild engines and transmissions in my spare time as a hobby).

I plan to make some automotive parts out of ABS and Nylon and look forward to the capabilities of this printer. I also hope to use this machine to print molds for green sand in order to make some aluminum castings in the future.

I've read a lot of negative reviews, but it looks like if I take my time with the assembly and carefully calibrate the printer I should have a good chance of success. It should also help that See Me CNC is only a few hours drive and one time zone away.

Let me know what you guys recommend for somebody building their first Rostock. I know there is a series of videos on youtube for many build checkpoints, and there are tutorials for calibration and skate tuning. Are there any other recommended resources for a first timer?

[Eaglezsoar]

Obviously the most important resource will be the assembly manual. Geneb has done an excellent job creating the assembly manuals.

I would highly recommend using the dampeners on all the axes and the cold extruder, the noise level will be dramatically reduced and is one of the first things I recommend for a new builder.
You can pick some up from a user called Astroboy907. You can send him a pm and ask about ordering 4 of the Astrosyn Dampers.
The other recommended upgrade would be the all metal hotends like the e3d V6 available from e3d-online.com or filastruder.com.
They will get hot enough to use the nylons, Polycarbonates, etc. The other upgrades can wait for a while. You need to print with the printer and get used to it before making more modifications or
upgrades. These are just my opinions and I hope that I have been some use.

[jckrieger]

I've seen the video that shows the impact of the isolaters. I'm not terribly concerned with noise, but for the right price I'd definitely consider picking one up. I'll also take a look at the all metal hot ends. I'm not sure what I want to do with the extruder yet, as I need to see what the limitations are first hand before I start making too many modifications. If the stock hot end can't take the heat, then I'll definitely pick up something a little more temperature capable!

[bot]

You'll only need 3 dampers, actually. They are not compatible with the stock ezstruder setup.

[BenTheRighteous]

I dunno man, if Eagle says you can put a damper on the ezstruder, I want to hear more about it!

[jckrieger]

I haven't heard back from Astroboy, so it looks like the Rostock is going together without dampers. I'm about 5 hours into the build and have the base assembled. So far everything is going well, except my cat walked off with my 10-32 cap screw, so I had to grab my 10-32 tap and cut the threads the non-redneck way.

The manual is well written and really takes any guesswork out of the assembly (so far).

All I can say is wow, this thing smells like a house fire! If you're traumatized by the smell of burning wood/plastic, you might want to consider something that's not laser cut wood. I have noticed that the parts fit together very well, and so far the engineering appears to be quite good. I'll take some pictures once I'm a little further along and I'll try to document anything that caused troubles for me.

[Eaglezsoar]

I haven't heard back from Astroboy, so it looks like the Rostock is going together without dampers. I'm about 5 hours into the build and have the base assembled. So far everything is going well, except my cat walked off with my 10-32 cap screw, so I had to grab my 10-32 tap and cut the threads the non-redneck way.

The manual is well written and really takes any guesswork out of the assembly (so far).

All I can say is wow, this thing smells like a house fire! If you're traumatized by the smell of burning wood/plastic, you might want to consider something that's not laser cut wood. I have noticed that the parts fit together very well, and so far the engineering appears to be quite good. I'll take some pictures once I'm a little further along and I'll try to document anything that caused troubles for me.

That smell is done on purpose. You know how a new car has that certain smell? Printers have their own smell also.

[jdurand]

And here I thought it was just the bad cigar the packing person was smoking.

[Eaglezsoar]

And here I thought it was just the bad cigar the packing person was smoking.

[BenTheRighteous]

I loved that smell!

Unfortunately so did the cat, she wouldn't stop chewing on the little cutouts.

Anyway, sign me up for "new printer smell" any day!

[Eaglezsoar]

I loved that smell!

Unfortunately so did the cat, she wouldn't stop chewing on the little cutouts.

Anyway, sign me up for "new printer smell" any day!

Me too! I was so disappointed when I painted the edges and the smell went away.

[ThatOneGuy]

Where about in central Illinois are ya? I'm in the Peoria area myself.

[Eaglezsoar]

I dunno man, if Eagle says you can put a damper on the ezstruder, I want to hear more about it!

At this time putting a damper on the EZStruder is not being done by anyone as far as I know. I do know that some have accomplished
it put no one has indicated how they did it. I suspect that someone on this forum will step forward and tell us how they have added a
damper to the cold extruder. Until someone comes forth I have to say that it has not been done.

[jckrieger]

Where about in central Illinois are ya? I'm in the Peoria area myself.

I'm just outside of Hanna City, so about 10 miles from Peoria. Good to hear there's another person in the area. There aren't always a lot of people into my hobbies around here.

And an update:

[img]http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa44/jckrieger/20141207_162912_zps6c44fb9f.jpg[/img]

I'm doing a stress test with the heaters on to see if the power supply will cooperate. I ran parallel 18 gauge wires on the heated bed and the unit was shutting down after a short time. I un-did my parallel wiring and put it back to stock. We'll see if it can stay running overnight.

I think the power supply is marginal at best. It's making a super high frequency noise that is likely going to make me go insane. I'll contact See Me CNC tomorrow once they're back at work.

[bot]

That whining noise likely means you need a replacement... don't leave it on overnight.

[ThatOneGuy]

Where about in central Illinois are ya? I'm in the Peoria area myself.

I'm just outside of Hanna City, so about 10 miles from Peoria. Good to hear there's another person in the area. There aren't always a lot of people into my hobbies around here.

And an update:

[img]http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa44/jckrieger/20141207_162912_zps6c44fb9f.jpg[/img]

I'm doing a stress test with the heaters on to see if the power supply will cooperate. I ran parallel 18 gauge wires on the heated bed and the unit was shutting down after a short time. I un-did my parallel wiring and put it back to stock. We'll see if it can stay running overnight.

I think the power supply is marginal at best. It's making a super high frequency noise that is likely going to make me go insane. I'll contact See Me CNC tomorrow once they're back at work.

I'm in Pekin myself and yes I agree it is awesome to have a fellow hobbyist locally.

If the high pitch noise is coming from your power supply I definitely wouldn't leave it on all night.

[jckrieger]

SeeMeCNC is sending me a new power supply. Of course, I had to troubleshoot the issue last night and installed a dual 12V rail power supply I had in the attic. No more screaming, shutting down, or low voltages anymore. Should be ready to print as soon as I re-calibrate the arc radius and receive my order of ABS!