Noob Questions

[tcat007]

Not sure if this is the right thread, but here goes.

1. What is everyone using as an enclosure for their Max v2? My install will be my garage (40-90 degrees in Texas). Are there dimension kit instructions anywhere? I'm thinking the 1" foam board they sell at Home Depot would be an easy enclosure. I've read that running ABS it's important to keep temperatures from fluctuating.

2. I have no problem logging on here from my PC, but with same log in on my cell phone (Nexus 6P), it won't accept my password. Anyone else have this issue?

3. Any "must do" mods worth doing (ordering) before building? (easier now than after the fact)

[Eaglezsoar]

If you type site:forum.seemecnc.com enclosure into your browser's search bar it will find all the threads about enclosures on the Forum
and the list is quite extensive.

I have no idea about your password not working.

We usually recommend that the printer be built as designed and fully evaluated before adding mods, this will give you a chance to decide which mods
would benefit YOU the most instead of spending money on mods that end up not being cost efficient.

[tcat007]

Thanks. Since my garage is cold this time of year (10-15C), I plan on an enclosure. Either a fast 18" x 18" x 48" cardboard or foamboard with clear front door, then eventually something like this: https://18264080209174115072.googlegrou ... 1FhxUJTRLM

My question is if I add a heat lamp (as in picture), should I run it 24/7 just to keep components warm, or is it adequate to heat it up maybe 30 minutes before? I plan on calibrating with enclosure at temperature. I plan on running mostly ABS, so I was afraid with no enclosure and garage at 15 degrees, I'd have problems. Just ordered a .03 PEI plate, my only initial mod once my machine gets here - and I build it

[geneb]

I'd just leave it in the house.

g.

[3D-Print]

I agree with Eagle. Build it and calibrate it so you get awesome prints. Then do the mods. Every modification I made was after the build (need to update my build thread with changes to-date).

I also agree with geneb, keep it in the house, unless you have an awesome "Man Cave!"

If you keep it in the house, I would think about an enclosure. I have primarily printed with ABS and dabbled with other filaments. I used JFettigs enclosure as detailed in my build thread (http://forum.seemecnc.com/viewtopic.php ... =25#p61585). This has been great for preventing layer separation with larger prints and I honestly have had no layer separation since building this enclosure and adding the enclosure halogens. With the enclosure and Halogens, I can keep the chamber at 40-50 degrees with ease. Two other benefits of an enclosure: 1) The enclosure cuts down the house noise (as much as I love the printer noise, not everyone in my house agrees 100% of the time), and 2) Also allows me to ventilate the enclosure to eliminate the plastic smell in the house (again even though the printer smell is like a "guy scent bomb" which I think is awesome.... I do worry about all the "unknowns" of aerosolized plastic).

I do really like my Tricklaser carbon fiber arms, however, the new SeeMeCNC arms look awesome!!!

My next mods are geared stepper extruders and multi-filament printing with the Duet 0.8.5 and Duex4 Bundle from Think3DPrint3D.

My dream is......... "easy" RGB printing!! Dreaming, yes, but in time it will come....... especially with the brain power of this forum!!!!

[tcat007]

Not exactly a Man Cave, but probably the only place I can get a "permit" Printer will be left side of desk. I think with an enclosure and heat lamp inside, should be OK. 40-50 degrees (F) in the garage doesn't happen that often in Texas, 90 is more the norm. There is a large workbench at back of garage, too messy to photo. Just wondering if it'd be better to leave heat lamp on full time to keep printer at a semi stable temp (when not in use). I have no internet at that PC, hopefully not an issue.

[img]https://photos-1.dropbox.com/t/2/AAAopz ... ize_mode=3[/img]

[tcat007]

Another quick couple of questions now that I have everything "organized".

1. BOM: 40W soldering iron. Later it says turn it up to 800 degrees. I have no dial, what does a 40w iron heat to?
2. Any particular type of solder? I don't see it listed in BOM or supplied. (I have some fat plumbing solder and some thin probably EE solder)
3. You put the Kapton Tape on "wet" RTV, or let the RTV dry first. (thermister p39)

That's all so far, painting edges of 4 main parts, I think that's all I'll paint. Will either be silver on my black Max or maybe red. Experimenting on drops.

[Xenocrates]

A soldering iron on it's own has no heat control. You need a soldering station fot that,if you plan to do more than basic electronics work, I'd recommend getting one. I used rosin core solder since I had it around. I recommend you use actual electronic solder rather than pipe or stained glass.

I've done kapton both wet and dry. It seems to work best wet, as that lets you form a plug straight oyt to the tape, and match the curve, for best retention. That is just anecdotal though

[geneb]

DO NOT EVER USE PIPE SOLDER ON ELECTRONICS. It's often acid-core and will destroy whatever delicate bits you're soldering to.

A 40W iron should heat the pad sufficiently. I'll clarify that bit when I have the time.

g.

[Polygonhell]

Thanks. Since my garage is cold this time of year (10-15C), I plan on an enclosure. Either a fast 18" x 18" x 48" cardboard or foamboard with clear front door, then eventually something like this: https://18264080209174115072.googlegrou ... 1FhxUJTRLM

My question is if I add a heat lamp (as in picture), should I run it 24/7 just to keep components warm, or is it adequate to heat it up maybe 30 minutes before? I plan on calibrating with enclosure at temperature. I plan on running mostly ABS, so I was afraid with no enclosure and garage at 15 degrees, I'd have problems. Just ordered a .03 PEI plate, my only initial mod once my machine gets here - and I build it

My Max is in the house, but I have a MendelMax in my garage, and I've printed without an enclosure in sub freezing temperatures. So cold in fact that the controller goes immediatedly into an error state, at which point I use my fingers to heat the extruder enough to get past the error so it will start heating.
It's less than ideal, but I've never had an issue with it. The Max might be more sensitive to temperatures because of the wooden components, but I'd imagine it would be fine minus the occasional Z calibration.

[tcat007]

Definitely not planning to use the plumbing solder. I don't plan on soldering anything after this kit (other than possible repairs/fixes). I'll see if I can get by with just the 40w iron, supposed to hit 800-900.

Just finished painting edges of the 4 parts I plan on highlighting, decided on silver. Also wondering if any of these parts that "dropped" from the laser cut sheets are needed parts.
Also, going through BOM, I don't seem to have items on page 19 (Bearing Covers and Standoffs), they are marked "A"; I assume the Cheapskate Idler Bearing spacers "B" replace those. I did get the Red, black and white wire marked "A" (and not the 18g "B" cable). I got (9) bearings (not sure if R4 or 608), an "A" or "B"?

[img]https://photos-1.dropbox.com/t/2/AAAhF0 ... ize_mode=3[/img]

[img]https://photos-6.dropbox.com/t/2/AADL3t ... ize_mode=3[/img]

[Eaglezsoar]

Definitely not planning to use the plumbing solder. I don't plan on soldering anything after this kit (other than possible repairs/fixes). I'll see if I can get by with just the 40w iron, supposed to hit 800-900.

Just finished painting edges of the 4 parts I plan on highlighting, decided on silver. Also wondering if any of these parts that "dropped" from the laser cut sheets are needed parts.
Also, going through BOM, I don't seem to have items on page 19 (Bearing Covers and Standoffs), they are marked "A"; I assume the Cheapskate Idler Bearing spacers "B" replace those. I did get the Red, black and white wire marked "A" (and not the 18g "B" cable). I got (9) bearings (not sure if R4 or 608), an "A" or "B"?

[img]https://photos-1.dropbox.com/t/2/AADmiw ... ize_mode=3[/img]

[img]https://photos-6.dropbox.com/t/2/AADL3t ... ize_mode=3[/img]

Some of the parts that drop from the sheets are needed and I suggest keeping the parts that drop from the sheets until the build is complete, that way there is no chance of throwing out something you need.
You can also compare the "drops" with the BOM that shows the laser cut parts.

[geneb]

Eagle, I've totally revised the docs and one of the things I changed was the BOM for the part sheets and the task of peeling them all from the get out. For each step that uses a laser cut part, I call out what sheet it's on. That way the user is spared the Five Stages of Masking Tape and the chances of losing parts is drastically reduced. You might want to check it out, I think the flow is a lot better this time around.

A 608ZZ bearing is roughly 3/4" across and the R4 is considerably smaller.

g.

[Eaglezsoar]

Eagle, I've totally revised the docs and one of the things I changed was the BOM for the part sheets and the task of peeling them all from the get out. For each step that uses a laser cut part, I call out what sheet it's on. That way the user is spared the Five Stages of Masking Tape and the chances of losing parts is drastically reduced. You might want to check it out, I think the flow is a lot better this time around.

A 608ZZ bearing is roughly 3/4" across and the R4 is considerably smaller.

g.

Thanks, Gene.

[Xenocrates]

Since no one's addressed it here yet, a mods to start with discussion was/is running here: http://forum.seemecnc.com/viewtopic.php?f=77&t=9343.

As far as enclosures go, I personally really like polycarbonate, as you can see the printer running and it looks nice. Many others use Ikea/home depot cabinets of particle board/MDF. I know some others have used 2 wall poly. Others swear that a metal cabinet is the only safe/sane way to store it, as you can't burn through a steel cabinet, thus reducing the risk of burning down your house.

There are several designs of enclosure around. A 24 inch square cabinet (for base area), about 4 feet tall,if you want the entire printer in it. I used a 4X4 sheet of poly for my design (a modified version of Raymond Ma's, which is available on these here forums). Others have used water heater boxes temporarily.

forum wise, no idea as to why. It may be that you managed to fumble a caps lock or a shift, or it may be that your phone/the browser on it doesn't support the scripting/cookies to log in.

[tcat007]

Thanks for the info and suggestions. Will decide on an enclosure once I get this built. Got to page 69 my first day today, about 8 or 9 hours into it, ready for wiring the towers. Only issues I've had so far is figuring out which wires are what and whether I have "A" or "B". The 26 gauge red, white and black being wrapped up together makes it a bit confusing since it seems the red and black get pulled out for one thing; and the white goes with red and black 18 gauge. Got the bundle of 26 gauge all tangled trying to pull the white out. Only other issue is my crimper didn't seem to be crimping tight enough, broke one lug trying to squeeze it with something I shouldn't have. I was happy when I flipped the switch and the fan blew air out the back!

Only "error" I've seen so far is 6.7B calls for (3) #4 Sheet Metal Screw, then in the tutorial it calls them Pan Head Machine Screws (a little confusing for an ME, I used the sheet metal ones).
This laser cut melamine is just amazing stuff, as well as the engineering and thought that went into this kit. Thanks to all the See Me folks for making life fun and easy!

Decided to go out and run wires, got to page 75. What would be real helpful is a picture of how much of each wire is supposed to come out of each end. Like I have about 30" of black and red (both 18g and 26g) out the top, leaving about 12" below. The 2 sets of fan wires are much shorter than the other 4. And cutting the 26g white in half resulted in two 9' wires (not 10' per manual). I'll re-read the balance to see if there is mention of wire lengths, but a note about it around page 70 would be nice.

[tcat007]

Another small manual thing on page 86 "You'll need to offset the angle of the square a bit to keep it off the Kapton tape in the center." That made me go back and look at the previous 85 pages to see where Kapton Tape was added, I don't believe there is any.

Made it to p107 last night, about 18 hrs in. Hopefully finish today or tomorrow (if I don't get side tracked putting up Christmas deco.

Hopefully I don't need the extra 9 bearing I got in the mail yesterday (shipping error according to email), they are smaller than the 9 I have installed in the towers.

[Windshadow]

TopCat i am even more noob than you are, yep just at the studding the manual stage before my kit gets here on Monday. but i think this is the thread for talking to Gene about his manual
http://forum.seemecnc.com/viewtopic.php ... 0&start=25

i will me building and using my Max in my living room this Winter as my machine shop gets down to the 40 to 50f range and gets only residual heat from the basement furnace room. i wear gloves with the fingertips removed when i use it this time of the year. so i am considering some sort of enclosure as well. i have decided on an almost totally stock build as well adding just the stepper moter dampers from these folks http://tricklaser.com/Stepper-motor-ins ... -SMI-3.htm

initially i plan to use the purple glue sticks method of plate prep but this thread and its parent i find fascinating so in a month or 2 i go with its PEI surface.
http://forum.seemecnc.com/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=7452

[tcat007]

It's actually supposed to hit 70 in about a week, and even today with it 40 outside my garage is 60. I'm going to build a quick plywood enclosure with heat lamp to keep it warm if it gets much colder. Read ahead and get the wire length sticking out of each top end close to correct before installing the aluminum columns. I'm going to post a few pictures in the "show us your machine" section. Good luck!

[geneb]

Grab the latest manual - v4.11 I think. That Kapton reference has been removed.

g.

[tcat007]

Thanks. Manual title should have version number. I have "4th addition", and new download has same name, but does have that changed. Will use the "new" one for the rest of the build.

[Eaglezsoar]

Thanks. Manual title should have version number. I have "4th addition", and new download has same name, but does have that changed. Will use the "new" one for the rest of the build.

The one you have is the latest. Have fun!

[tcat007]

Questions:
1. OK to notch the left acrylic window for the USB cord, or do you normally just remove the window to use USB?
2. OK to plug the slots in Top plate (of base) so only cool air from below is sucked thru Base?
3. Do I cut off excess belt after removing slack? (if so how much to leave)
4. Normal to have excess parts? (see photo in "Show us your Machine" "r3d2"section)

Built and ready to start learning the software!

[Xenocrates]

1. Most people run the cord through the hole in the base plate, so the acrylic can be left alone.
2. That cool air will warm and then rise. The slots in the top will largely be exhaust thanks to convection, in theory. In addition, until you get to a very warm chamber, the temperature difference won't be huge between up top and down low.
3. You could, but I prefer to leave it, as it's not too ugly or long, and would be extra effort to cut. I'd say leave it, in case you wear it accidentally, that way you don't need multiple splices to repair it in theory, or wait for another belt.
4. the extra parts pictured mostly are there just in case. The screws are for the base side panels/top deck, if you have already installed all those, I'm jealous you got extras. The other black plastic parts, the ones with two holes in them, are from the old U-joint arms. Not sure how you ended up with those, but the extra parts you have are nothing particularly special, and there seems to always be extra parts.