Welcome to the SeeMeCNC Community

Hi there. My 13 year old son and I have been working on assembling a Rostock Max, but due to the incomplete directions have been having a difficult time completing it. Is there anyone on the forum who lives in Northern California that is interested in becoming a consultant for us to finish our Rostock Max?

Ideally, we would prefer someone who could come to our house in San Francisco and do this with us.

I am willing to pay a reasonable amount for this help, and would prefer someone who has successfully built a Rostock Max already.

Thanks.

David

You can post questions on irc at freenode.net #seemecnc.

I'm sorry, but incomplete directions? Are you serious? Did you download the 2nd edition manual like you were asked to do? The first 130 pages do nothing but completely cover the mechanical and electrical assembly of the machine. *facepalms*

g.

geneb wrote:I'm sorry, but incomplete directions? Are you serious? Did you download the 2nd edition manual like you were asked to do? The first 130 pages do nothing but completely cover the mechanical and electrical assembly of the machine. *facepalms*

g.

Gene, could you give out that link again to the second edition. The more we post the link the easier it is too find in the future when doing searches for it.

Certainly!

http://www.geneb.org/rostock-max/Rostoc ... -Guide.pdf

It's also available on the SeeMeCNC github http://github.com/seemecnc/RostockMAX/ASSEMBLY_MANUAL, but github has issues with downloading the large PDF, so I'm keeping my local link updated.

g.

I know it can be frustrating at times but i know you and your son can get it done. Don't give up. I'm in South San Francisco, and though I can't commit to build it for you, I am wiling to offer you assistance via pm or on the phone. Is there a particular part youre stuck on?

It'll be very satisfying and rewarding once you guys get it up and running. And realize that if you build it, you will know the inner workings of the printer and any future troubleshooting and upgrades will be much more feasible and easy. And remember you're pioneers just by virtue of your purchase of the bleeding edge technology. Don't give up!

You might also try taking it in to one of the local maker spaces. Our maker space (Oregon, not SF) has helped a couple of people get their printers up and running.

You'd also learn a whole lot talking to people who use printers every day.

Hi there. My original comment was not intended to critique the documentation...more the "out of the box experience" as Steve Jobs would say. My apologies Gene if this seemed to specifically critique your work...not my intent. Having said that, and having worked as a software entrepreneur for over twenty years, I don't think I am out of bounds to say that the out of the box experience could be improved (reference to where the right edition of the docs should be located, parts list, etc.).

The box did not include any instructions, so we downloaded those mentioned on the website. Unfortunately, these were the first edition instructions until Geneb kindly referred us to the second edition. The problem is that already assembled the machine base (as outlined in the first edition manual) before getting the second edition manual. Now the second edition manual says to put the stepper motors on before assembling the base.

What do you recommend we do? Do we need to take apart the base and start over with the second edition manual?

and thank you to the others on this thread for the helpful suggestions. We are members at Techshop Sf so maybe someone down there can help us.

I am sure we can figure out how to build this, but the "time to value ratio" does not solve for me if I have to trouble shoot each step. I would prefer to pay someone who has done this before to consult with us so I can avoid any wild goose chases, and to ensure that the end product will work.

You can pretty much put everything in after assembling the base, doing most of the assembly without the top on the base is certainly easier though.
If you do proceed, the stepper motors are easy, the two parts I had issues with were the long screws for the outside idler bearing, which take some jockeying because you can't get the screw straight because of the location of the narrow outside pieces. And the screws for the PSU which are a pig to line up, but it just take a bit of patience and a fair amount of swearing.

You can still get the stepper motors in now. Lots of us succesfully built our printers using the first edition of the manual.

Remember this is a kit, but it wasn't meant to be a complete plug and play appliance. It's an ever evolving hobby and and it's cuttjng edge tech.

Dont take apart the base. Get yourself a long skinny driver to get at the screws that hold the stepper motorsin place. It's not super easy but youll get it.

I kinda felt the same way about the time - value ratio, but i figured that time spent building was part of the price of admission. There were ready-built options like makerbot, lulzbot, cube, afinia, and tons of others, but I chose to build a kit, and I figured that there would be just as much fiddling with a ready built printer, and having built it, I would be better off.

Maybe they should offer a family safe version of the MAX that includes earmuffs for youngsters. I know mine gained some vocabulary words during construction.