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I have a Rostock MAX V2 that I purchased as a kit a couple years ago. It has been upgraded with the injection molded skates and a ball joint platform. I swapped the original ATX power supply with a 650 watt supply and I am using a fablam sheet on my build surface. With careful alignment I have managed to produce a reasonable print result using PLA. I never did get the extruder hot enough to produce an acceptable result with ABS.

I purchased the HE280 kit with a preassembled whip and worked through the upgrade instructions for the hot end assembly, wiring, firmware update and matter control configuration. I was able to download the 3d probing gcode file and it ran without any problems.

I switched laptops when I did this upgrade so I installed Matter Control from scratch along with the three SLIC3R files. I was surprised to see the hot end set to 210 for PLA, but decided to give it a whirl.

But like most things in life there are a few details that I still need to work out...

1. I didn't seen any reference in the instructions to a thermal calibration process for the new hot end. This was a prominent step with the original hot end and I'm wondering if I missed something here. Is there a thermal calibration process and if so where can I find it?

2. I have noticed that the main cooling fan on the HE280 runs all the time. If the printer is turned on, the fan is running. Is this normal for the HE280?

3. I noticed gaps in my first print layer and am hearing a distinct popping sounds while printing. It turns out that the extruder motor is slipping. I don't see any visual wear or material buildup on the feed roller and after watching carefully and lightly holding the manual feed knob it seem like it is some how trying to feed the material faster than it can come out the hot end. The extruder seems to build up pressure to a point where the feed roller can't hold it anymore and then allows the filament to slips back and relieve the overpressure. There is definitely a direct correlation between the popping sound and the material gaps on the print surface.

I measured the skirt thickness and it is very close to the default 0.35 mm first layer thickness.

I have tried setting the extruder temperature as high as 225 degrees and it seem to help the feed issue, but results in some vertical slump in the print.

Any ideas?

Bob

1. It's considered to do OK on the defaults in the new firmware, but you can use the same process as before.

2. Yep, not enough pins to control it in the 8 pin connector.

3. The popping sound is usually water absorbed by the filament. The HE280 is also an all metal design, which has a slightly higher friction than a PTFE lined hotend, especially for PLA. You may need to reduce speeds or increase temperatures. I would reprofile the filament for the new hotend. Even a new thermistor can mess with things, much less new geometry and materials.

(2) Yes, it's normal, because that fan is hardwired to on. No harm in that fan running all the time, other than the noise factor. A few people have gone to the trouble of running an extra wire back to the Rambo to reclaim the lost fan function. MHackney wrote up a procedure in his thread if that interests you. Here's a direct link to it: http://forum.seemecnc.com/viewtopic.php ... fan#p97237