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Hi drunkenmugsy, nice build, it's looking good!
Just one thing, be careful with the High Temp RTV Silicone. It's not a thermal conductor, It is a thermal INSULATOR.
So don't get it between the thermister and the hot end block. You can use it, but make sure the tip of the thermistor stays clean. Don't fill the the thermister hole with it.

One of the best things I've done was getting these M3 screw in thermisters: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Modular-Screw-o ... 1341736569

EDIT: If you do buy this thermistor, make sure to update the firmware.
#define EXT0_TEMPSENSOR_TYPE 1

1 for the EPCOS B57560G104F 100k Thermistor /// I think it's 97 by default

If you have a set of calipers (digital preferred) you can use the depth gauge and set the heated bed to the same height at all 6 screw mounting locations. It's possible to tighten at random torque values, which could cause inconsistencies with the glass. I found in my case that a slightly looser heater bed allowed for it to conform to the glass with the clips installed. (not movable up/down loose, just not cranked over tight)

I have not attached the glass to the bed. I just set it on it. But I had the kapton tape for the middle still installed. I have not tried it without that yet. What made me think it is bevelled is going through the tower calibration process. As stated I think I have some wires bound up in the center under it. I will check that today and also remove the kapton tape on the bed thermistor.
I undertand the rtv is an insulator and this has puzzled me as to why it is used in the hotend. I am quite sure that the hotend thermistor is sealed in the rtv and not directly touching the bare metal hotend. This is bad? If this is bad then how do the resistors even work at all? I do plan on getting the screw in thermistor but I will save that for when I get an upgraded hotend with better heaters. I have upgraded the things I thought most important right at the start.
1.Stepper dampers
2.Arms
3.Light to see initial layers better
Anything else is going to wait until I see what I can get with what it comes with stock. Except for maybe the .35 nozzle. I really like how that turns out. But I think I may be setting myself up for frustration trying to learn to print intially at .35. That bar may be too high for a starting point.

I did manage to get the cheapskates on and calibrated. Such minute calibrations make a huge difference here!

KAS wrote:If you have a set of calipers (digital preferred) you can use the depth gauge and set the heated bed to the same height at all 6 screw mounting locations. It's possible to tighten at random torque values, which could cause inconsistencies with the glass. I found in my case that a slightly looser heater bed allowed for it to conform to the glass with the clips installed. (not movable up/down loose, just not cranked over tight)

This is good advice I think. I will attach the heat bed after I check it rather than torque it!

I checked the heatbed wires. They were kind of bound up. I am not sure that was the problem. Fixed it better anyway. I then attached the bed rather than torqued it. That may have been part of the problem as well.

Got the skates, belts and extruder mounted. We did it a little different for the extruder connections. We used spade connectors and heatshrink rather than the twist and kapton tape. I like the look much better even though nobody will see it. We made one little screwup. We put the eyeball skate backs on upside down for 2 of the skates. The are physically the same just flipped 180deg. I double and triple checked that the cams are right and the arm bridge is in the right position. I dont see how it will matter and I am not going to take them apart until I upgrade the skates.

I got the TrickLaser arms installed. They seems pretty sweet but I have no comparison as I am putting them on at build time. I noticed in trying to invert the effector that you can 'kink' the arms to where they will not really be moveable without breaking them. Is this normal? I see that you have to position the effector in a certain way to invert it. In the vids it was just move skate all the way down/up and you should be able to go around to all 3. This was not my experience! Took me a sec to figure it out without damaging the arms.
Hot end is coming together with connectors so I can swap it out or repair if needed. TrickLaser hotend heat indicator installed and wired directly to hotend.

These thermisor wires do seem really fragile. I hope I didnt break them taping it all up. I also got a decent square and redid the tower calibration. It was off by about 1/8" over a 8" distance on one tower. The other two were better. Now they are as close as they are going to get I think!

Arms are done and in the down position. Effector is mounted. Hotend is mounted and partially wired. Waiting on one more part. I splurged and got the TrickLaser LED light ring for the underside of the effector. Silly me. I though what I had purchased originally 9 months ago was the underside ring. It was not. Ah well. I think they will both look cool on it. Top of the top is on. Its easy enough to remove if I need to rewire the top for something. Spool holder is on.

Now my fuckup. How many LED smoke panels are cracked on the bottom right below the emergency stop button? Because mine is. Dammit I knew that would happen and just as I release the pressure of tightening the last screw. POP, cracked. I didnt even screw it down all the way. There is still a good 1/8" gap between the side panel and the bottom of the front plate. I am so bummed. I can handle the upside down eyes. But this just killed my night.

OK everything is done! I have calibrated the bed! It seems like the steppers are getting very, very hot though. So hot that I cannot keep my fingers on them after 10-15 seconds. Is this normal? I will get some exact temps as I do the first print as it has cooled down a bit now.

OK looking good now. Some small issues but overall I think it will be usable.

Check the brand of your steppers, you may need to adjust the current in the firmware.

teoman wrote:Check the brand of your steppers, you may need to adjust the current in the firmware.

I did that. They were the clipless 4 wire steppers mentioned and were adjusted down to 155 if I recall correctly.

I guess its not too hot. The extruder is at 54c. It is printing KICK ASS though! I got some clear blue ABS from hatchbox and it seems to be doing really good! I am freaking ecstatic! First layer looks good from here. At layer 28 of the fan shroud now and I cant see any issues.

Its been a couple days. I am done. Sorta. I think I need to run some more mod wires. This may require a partial tear down. Any good ways to run more wires? I need more 12v on hotend with individual control... = more wires I know.

Overall this was a good build I think. I have had success right off the bat in printing the fan shrouds. Excellent kit SMCNC!

Someone ran some extra wires up the sides of the extruded towers and covered them with plastic strips of some sort, looked neat from what I remember. I'll see if I can locate the post.


Edit:

jdurand did, post found here: http://forum.seemecnc.com/viewtopic.php ... res#p58187

KAS wrote:Someone ran some extra wires up the sides of the extruded towers and covered them with plastic strips of some sort, looked neat from what I remember. I'll see if I can locate the post.
Edit:
jdurand did, post found here: http://forum.seemecnc.com/viewtopic.php ... res#p58187

That is just awesome and gives me a brighter outlook for sure. I was not looking forward to removing the towers just to plumb wire. Thanks much!

Seems to me that you could fish wire up the towers fairly simply by just removing the top cover and sliding a fish tape or glow-rod down the tower, attaching wire or a fish line to the bottom and them pulling it back up through the tower.

You would probably even just use a long piece of stiff wire to do the same. Heck, you might even be able to push a piece of ABS filament down the tower and tape a twine to the bottom and pull it up and then use the twine to pull up the wire that you need.

mvansomeren wrote:Seems to me that you could fish wire up the towers fairly simply by just removing the top cover and sliding a fish tape or glow-rod down the tower, attaching wire or a fish line to the bottom and them pulling it back up through the tower.

You would probably even just use a long piece of stiff wire to do the same. Heck, you might even be able to push a piece of ABS filament down the tower and tape a twine to the bottom and pull it up and then use the twine to pull up the wire that you need.

There are already wires in the center of the towers from the initial build. On the towers with room I dont want to run the type of wires I need to(power vs signal). I like this idea of using the channel for wiring. Now I just need to find a small spool of the strapping tape. Homedepot has 4000' for $80... geez really? I should have kept the stuff that came off the SMCNC box. Maybe you should add that to the build manual Gene. Save that shit for future expansion!

drunkenmugsy wrote:There are already wires in the center of the towers from the initial build. On the towers with room I dont want to run the type of wires I need to(power vs signal). I like this idea of using the channel for wiring. Now I just need to find a small spool of the strapping tape. Homedepot has 4000' for $80... geez really? I should have kept the stuff that came off the SMCNC box. Maybe you should add that to the build manual Gene. Save that shit for future expansion!

Maybe you can just go to a UPS store and see if they will sell you 10' of the stuff?

Tincho85 wrote:Hi drunkenmugsy, nice build, it's looking good!
Just one thing, be careful with the High Temp RTV Silicone. It's not a thermal conductor, It is a thermal INSULATOR.
So don't get it between the thermister and the hot end block. You can use it, but make sure the tip of the thermistor stays clean. Don't fill the the thermister hole with it.

One of the best things I've done was getting these M3 screw in thermisters:

hex-thermistor-small.jpg

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Modular-Screw-o ... 1341736569

EDIT: If you do buy this thermistor, make sure to update the firmware.
#define EXT0_TEMPSENSOR_TYPE 1

1 for the EPCOS B57560G104F 100k Thermistor /// I think it's 97 by default

Got my screw in therm in the mail today. Thanks for the suggestion.

So I was churning through a print lifting issue. I printed the first 4 or 5 layers a couple times. Same thing, square flat part does not want to stick. So in a moment of sheer frustration I printed it vertical on a raft rather than horizontal with a skirt. I didnt think the layers would line up all the way as well as they do when it is on a flat surface like the glass. Well I was wrong. Part printed near perfect. I fitted it to a store bought mate and it fit perfect. Piece is strong too. Love this printer!