Welcome to the SeeMeCNC Community

Hey all,

So I have a stock Rostock MAX v2 that I have dubbed "Orangesicle", and I want to mod it. Below is my list of mods that I want to do:

PEI Bed

LEDs on the hot end mount

Tool Brackets

Orange plastic pieces to replace the black ones (Printed with vents and fans, per xenocrates advice)

Raymond-style Enclosure

If you have any comments/questions/advice on what I should/should not have, please let me know!

Thanks,

If you plan on doing much in the way of ABS, or large parts, or exotic higher temperature filaments, I suggest a chamber as well. Heated by preference. I find the Raymond style enclosure will accomodate tools in the top brackets (It was intended for the V1, and so needed cable routing paths, which when I modified it for the V2, became tool holders) So, two birds, one stone. I would also like to suggest 713 maker's (AKA travelphotog AKA Matthew) excellent hotend mount, which comes in E3D V6, SeemeCNC, and Prometheus flavors, in your choice of colors (I bet I know which one you'll go for), and which can accommodate several other hotends with custom length spacers, as it uses the groove mount (AKA J-head) standard. It's also faster to change them if you ever get to having more than one hotend. No nuts, no spacers to fiddle with (assuming you're using the same length for both), only three screws (either the top 3, for swapping in without changing spacer length, or the bottom 3, for changing out the spacers and mount)

I also suggest a heat spreader, either copper or aluminum. Either would work. Try for a flat one. If you can't manage that, I've been informed that 2+ layers of heavy duty aluminum foil, properly masked against shorts, work very well and add minimal cost and thermal mass.

If you are replacing the acyrlic though, I would suggest replacing the lower sections with a vented, printed design, with some fans to help cool the lower compartment, and a USB Keystone jack in one, so you won't have to worry as much about accidentally ripping the port off the rambo, or putting strain on it.

Wow, so much advice!! I will definitely look into all you said, I really like the idea of the enclosure.

Thanks Xenocrates!

I think I will put these: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:238653 on as well, they look nice, if they don't fit (which I don't think they will, since I have a v2) I will print some brackets to hang them off the front. I am also going to put this on: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1234264 (I made it btw)

Where exactly do I find the Raymond style Enclosures?

I made the brackets: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1234402

The Raymond style brackets you need are the lower bracket http://forum.seemecnc.com/download/file.php?id=5530, and my modification of the lower bracket into a V2 compatible upper bracket, http://forum.seemecnc.com/download/file.php?id=10942

Note that these are designed to have blind nuts inserted into the holes. I suggest sacrificing one out of the pack to be the one you use to start the holes, and start them by heating it with a torch/hot air gun, and then once you have a lip, use a drill bit of appropriate size (I think it was 5/16ths?), preferably a Forstner bit, to drill the majority of the cavity. If you want them in permanently, sand the outside of the blind nut roughly, then apply an acetone/ABS slurry to the OD, and then insert this (Don't do it hot). They will once cured, be stuck in good.

Ok

I have a few questions about the enclosure,

1. What do I use to enclose it?

2. What do I use to heat it?

3. What are all the parts (not just printed parts) required to make the enclosure?

And some questions about other things,

1. Where do I put the aluminum foil (do you have a template for the places to put the aluminum foil under the heated bed)?

2. Why would I need a hotend mount?

Thanks,

You would use acrylic or poly-carbonate to enclose it. I prefer poly due to the higher temp tolerance, and better scratch resistance.

Most people have used heat lamps or similar. I've been looking into using flat panel heaters as well, but as far as I know, no one is currently using much beyond heat lamps. You may want a temperature controller, such as the Inkbird model available on amazon to control it, rather than just leaving it on while you print.

The parts are: 3 each, top and bottom brackets, 6 shims of a size suitable to lock the lower brackets into the extrusions if desired (once the enclosure is assembled, they are largely retained by friction and the panels) 24 blind nuts, a 4X4 foot piece of the enclosing material, appropriate machine screws to go with the blind nuts. I would also add washers and hinges, the washers to keep the machine screws from scaring the poly, or slipping through over-large holes, and the hinges to make it easier to open and close. If you install hinges, you can potentially cut down on the blind nuts and machine screws by 4 each.


As for the foil, a circle the size of the glass, and directly under it would be what you want. Just use the glass as a template, as the point is to have a thermally conductive layer under the entire thing.

The hotend mount is something I recommend because of how many people eventually upgrade from SeemeCNC's stock mount, and also because the included mount, while functional, is a pain. The long bolts mean you need to use both hands for removing them, and work from both sides of the platform any time you want to remove the hotend, and the melamine will compress if over tightened, which can skew your hotend. The mount I recomended is also a thing of beauty, and can reduce mass on the effector, allowing potentially higher accelerations. It's also compatible with most hotends out there, provided the correct lock rings and spacers are in hand (you can buy those separately from the mount)

Thanks for all this info, I will be looking into all of this. Hopefully I can start modding soon.

Thanks,

Aureus wrote:I made the brackets: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1234402

The brackets I am talking about above are to hold the tool caddy I posted a link to in another post (in this thread) so that it can fit on a v2 MAX

The brackets for the enclosure are already posted in this thread,

The Raymond style brackets you need are the lower bracket http://forum.seemecnc.com/download/file.php?id=5530, and my modification of the lower bracket into a V2 compatible upper bracket, http://forum.seemecnc.com/download/file.php?id=10942

Click on the links, and it will download the STL's from the forums (Both are relinked attachements from other threads, the lower bracket from Raymond's original thread, and the upper from my post on my machines.) I figured I wouldn't take up more space on whatever server this all lives on, and would also try to keep the download counts semi-accurate. AFAIK, they aren't on thingiverse yet, at least not my bracket. I may post them, and a properly sized shim later, so that it can go in the Thingiverse collections.

The upper brackets don't require any extra hardware to mount them, but they do require the lower bolt of the upper extrusion attachment point be removed so that it can slide over the upper bolt and the end stop screws, before it is replaced. This way I could mount it with minimal extra hardware, and without losing any Z. It could probably be done better, but I find they work relatively well. The retention is good enough I haven't yet bothered shimming my bottom brackets in place.

I am printing the tool caddies!

How think should the acrylic sheets be (for the enclosure)?

Will these: http://www.summitracing.com/parts/aaf-a ... AoaM8P8HAQ work? If I buy one of them, would I have enough? One sheet is: 39.99, is that a good price?

Thanks,

They are unlikely to work well, being made of HDPE, which is more temperature sensitive than acrylic to a large extent. I would look at a place like US plastics to buy your sheet from, and due to the size of panels required, a 4X4 is needed, unless you actually buy 3 4X2s, as one goes along the top of the the sheet, and the rest 90 degrees out of phase with it. I've used eighth inch poly with good results, and quarter inch was used for some portions by Raymond. A 4X4 sheet of 1/8th poly is 83$ from US plastics. Shipping will be annoying though. However, 2X4 1/8th sheets are 40.5$ apiece, and three would be needed. So unless shipping is extortionate, go for the larger sheet. it will be cheaper in the long run, and you'll have a fair size chunk left over to play with for other things (mine was 14X13 IN i think?)

Is there any other material that can be used, that you know of? If not, makes a material not be able to be used?

Can 3/16th plastic be used?

I was thinking only the front need to be clear plastic I am thinking of using the thin 1/8 thick plywood sometimes used in model building you can get it with a nice hardwood as the outer laminations which could look quite nice after varnishing... or even 1/4" foam core board which you could paint that just leaves the front to be of a transparent plastic....

Anything which is stable at the temperatures you plan on using would work. 3/16ths plastic will work well, as it's right between the two designed thicknesses. Plywood would also work well enough. I personally would not want to use foamboard, due to the operating temperature of the printer being high enough to cause problems if you ram the hotend into it. But if you cover it with duct tape (not duck, but the metal tape for ducting), it should be fine.

If you want to use plywood, I suggest Baltic birch. Light, strong, attractive, and available in 5X5 sheets. It also laser cuts and engraves well.

I know Tcat made his enclosure of foam coated with duct tape, and aside from accidentally ramming the effector into it and scaring the finish, it seems to have worked for him. On the other hand, be careful with any enclosure material with an ignition temperature below your hotend max temp. One person had a cabinet with foam glued in, and a portion of the foam came loose and set the entire cabinet on fire. Nearly burned down their garage. Thankfully, that's the only incident we know of which has occurred like that, and safety features have been added to Repetier to help combat thermal run-away. But be aware of the potential dangers of using materials with ignition temperatures below hotend temp, such as foamboard or foam.

Ok, is there a certain material in plastic that makes it unusable in the enclosure?

Would this work: http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.a ... &catid=442

Would work reasonably. Be careful about localized heating with that, and warpage. It will also be annoying to drill the holes through, but it it possible.

The major property you have to look at is thermal stability for most plastics. HDPE is very like ABS, and if you get it warm enough, will slump, bend ETC. Acrylic is slightly more temp stable than that. Poly is even better, and is fairly easy to machine. Poly is also very IR absorbing, so if you use a heat lamp to heat it, it will warm up, and then the air around the walls (on both sides, sadly) will warm up, faster than if you had a less IR absorbing material. Acrylic is reasonable for IR absorption. Go for it if it makes you happy, since at least one person used smoked black acrylic for their enclosure.

Thanks! You have helped me very much!