Seb's Formbot 2.4 300mm Adventure

[Dirk]

1 hour ago, sebster said:

I did not know how to read the diagrams

Not your fault. 

The original documents are in Chinese, and then translated to English. The "build" documents are the best, because Chaoticlabs made so many diagrams and illustrations which makes reading easier

This is the correct path to go through building your first Voron. Which makes you the expert of your printer once it is finished (!) 

A shorted max chip means it is probably already dead or is about to do so. And maybe even your thermistor might be dysfunctional. I would, like the first time, recommend switching to the normal thermistor switch. It works perfectly well. Because it also works well with my PT1000 connected to my Rapido. No need for dips or an extra chip.

If pins 1-2 and 3-4 are shorted of the max chip input, I would not use it at all.. Probably they are touching because you pushed a bigger connector in it? or a not fitting smaller one? (I pushed my rapido connector also inside, didnt fit!)

Current me, as opposed to me when I was building my Voron, would get a new pcb... The time you put in crimping mini jsts with inappropriate instruments is not worth your time / frustration A new complete EBB SB2209 RP2040 costs only 25 euros right now.

So my suggestions now: use the thermistor input instead of MAX. Oh, check where the pins short. get a bigger PCB

 

 

[sebster]

tldr; The printer is moving! PT1000 is giving reasonable data.

Not sure what happened in terms of restarts and saving. All motor directions in the default config were reversed but that is fixed. Sensorless homing for X and Y is working.

Like you said, @Dirk I'm learning a ton. It's frustrating that I don't know what changed to make it work but I won't complain for now. Not sure I currently trust my SB2209 so I'll see what Formbot say. I sent them an email after all the checks when nothing was working...

Thanks for your help everybody. I'll keep you posted!

Edited March 22 by sebster

[sebster]

TAP is working!

I just misunderstood how the endstop trigger status UI works... It seems to work

This is just for history:

The struggle learning experience continues.

The tap sensor is connected as per diagram. The indicator light is working. The endstop indicator does not get triggered when I move the print head manually. I assume it should. According to the manual the pin is:

pin: EBBCan: PB5

I have included this in my probe section. Neither this nor with a ^ works. I'm lost once again...

Edited March 23 by sebster

[mvdveer]

1 hour ago, sebster said:

The endstop indicator does not get triggered when I move the print head manually.

Depending on the TAP build you have, it may be that the probe is not triggered because the top part of the X-Carriage is too short. Try adding a bit of plastic to it, if that is it. Easy to test - See if you can trigger the optical switch with a dark piece of paper. If you can - it means the switch works and the part does not trigger it.

.

[sebster]

Thank you all for your tips and guidance! I wouldn't be nearly this far in the process without your help. I really appreciate it!

She is alive!

I work as IT Consultant. I've built highly available database cluster on cloud infrastructure. That was a piece of cake compared to getting this Voron to print first layer patches Time to eat that bowl of cereal...

You can probably guess which step of the Initial Startup guide I missed Frantically tapping the offset+ only zoomed on the ipad. I dodged a lot of bullets and this is a hit I can live with...

This is such a fun milestone to reach. There is still a ton of things to tune, build and install but this is what I've started to gun for more than I probably should have.

I'm loving this project and I really wouldn't without this forum so thank you!!! EricZimmerman looked at my klippy log. I'm nerdstruck

Next up is getting the panels/doors mounted and installing a chamber temp sensor (or figure out the integrated one on the CAN board?!) so I can tune with ABS and print the missing parts.

Edited March 25 by sebster

[Penatr8tor]

Congrat's @sebster

[sebster]

I have done a first round of tuning and wow... My ender is fun and it's a good machine but it just doesn't compare.

There is a lot to print still but that is so much fun now.

I had another failure with the PT1000. The crimps were good but there was something about a short in the logs so I put heat shrink around the wires and added a drop of glue to the connector. There have been no issues in the last 4h of printing. So it was the wiring after all. I think one of the strands of the wire poked through the fabric insulation and caused intermittent shorts. Thank god for BTTs short detection/protection.

To be figured out

Umbilical

How/where to mount and how to reinforce so it's less floppy? I've printed a mod for the wire to go to the A-Drive. Not sure about the steel wire / base string / igus dilemma. There doesn't seem to be any consensus. Anybody got tips on that front? The BTT parts for the Stealthburner are a mess. Improving those is on my todo list.

Doors

They fit exactly but the standard hinges have a little bit of play so the doors sometimes lie on top of each other. Not sure how to get the missing half mm I need.

Wins

https://github.com/Frix-x/klippain is an absolute treat. It was linked around here. It's not as much of a rabbit hole as I thought. It simply worked for me.  I don't mind terminals but input shaping for example is so much more convenient with this script. The analysis for belt tension seems useful as well. I wonder how much belt tooth number really matters when tension is actually equal. Might be my inexperience or ignorance. I'll test this eventually. So far I have equal tension only. Belts are on the cleanup todo list together with the wiring.

I was hesitant with the colour scheme but I love it!

The LEDs on the Stealthburner turn the extrusion into a spectacle I love to watch.

BTT Pi & Linux Image have been great. I wasn't sure if I should build everything from scratch and opted for the everything included option for now. Everything has worked flawlessly. I just plugged in the screen and that was it.

I had read mixed reviews on sensorless homing but it has worked perfectly. The printer is really clean without endstops and just the CAN cable. It resulted in a lot of extra thinking about parts but worked out great. The best part is no part

Right now all is good in voron land.

Edited March 29 by sebster

[Dirk]

3 hours ago, sebster said:

've printed a mod for the wire to go to the A-Drive

I did that too. Actually I did print several. I do not like any of them. Not even with a bicycle-cable-tube which stiffens the whole construction, I do not like it.
I am right now in the process of pulling the can cable through this. 

 

Your printer looks great. Congratulations.

 

[sebster]

1 hour ago, Dirk said:

I did that too. Actually I did print several. I do not like any of them. Not even with a bicycle-cable-tube which stiffens the whole construction, I do not like it.
I am right now in the process of pulling the can cable through this. 

Your printer looks great. Congratulations.

I'm not particularly fond of any of the solutions I have found either.

This looks great at first glance. Maybe one could run umbilical and filament through a port like this:

What do you reckon?

[mvdveer]

5 hours ago, sebster said:

There doesn't seem to be any consensus. Anybody got tips on that front?

There is not, I am using a small diameter piano wire (0.8mm) inside a PTFE tube (Bowden) running from the toolhead to the A-Drive modification. Seems to be holding up pretty well and working really well.

Your printer is "Schmick!"

[Dirk]

46 minutes ago, sebster said:

This looks great at first glance

It makes your printer suddenly less square (wont fit under my table) and it is a strange place to put a roll... But it works great and you have an excellent view on the roll.. 

I must say honestly that I do see the guidance through the exhaust more often. 

One positive thing about it is that it takes the weight off the gantry (sometimes helping with sagging when motors turn off).

Another pro of the exhaust gate is, that there is less cables down there. Especially when you do this or this.  I am showing these latest two mods for people that have CAN and are looking for a way to make it even more organised than it already is. 

[sebster]

Moving the Z Chain below the beam makes it look much cleaner. I might go for that. Running the canbus cable alongside the filament seems like the option with the least additional hardware. Maybe I can make that work somehow.

[Dirk]

9 hours ago, sebster said:

Running the canbus cable alongside the filament seems

Today I was almost there, but saw other things to fix. but here is how far I got. you see the toolhead on the left fron, which is the longest cable length you need.

all other movements the cable will not fold in front of the x-beam or get in between the gantry and another extrusion.

[sebster]

9 hours ago, Dirk said:

Today I was almost there, but saw other things to fix. but here is how far I got. you see the toolhead on the left fron, which is the longest cable length you need.

all other movements the cable will not fold in front of the x-beam or get in between the gantry and another extrusion.

That looks like what I am planning on doing. Is that a PG7 gland with no exhaust filter/fan?

Hopefully I won't need the exhaust except maybe in summer. I get to about 44C chamber temps right now and from what I remember 50-60C chamber is ok.

[Dirk]

5 hours ago, sebster said:

PG7 gland with no exhaust filter/fan?

Yes.

I had a VEFACH on the back, but half the printer is disassembled now.

If you think the exhaust is only for temperature control, then you should check this valuable post. The exhaust should be an obligatory part in every printer. I ordered parts to build a Nevermore Stealthmax. I believe the VEFACH was one of the recommended updates before you started

You can perfectly run an exhaust and maintain same chamber temperatures. And increasing chamber temperature is about isolating the chamber well. Here is an excellent report that demonstrates that.

Your health can't be less important than the prints you make

 

Edited March 29 by Dirk
autocrrect... how can vefach be beach?

[Dirk]

I got to this today. and it looks nice.

it functions well. 

what I do not like, is the cable on the back.

I think I will tape it until I have built the stealthmax.

I came across several other z-chain solutions, I thought looked better than the ones I linked before, so thought I'd share.

And ask the others for their opinion?

https://www.printables.com/model/712328-no-z-chain-for-voron-24

https://www.printables.com/model/764315-voron-24-z-chain-transpose

https://www.printables.com/model/445298-inverted-z-chain-for-voron

 

 

 

 

[mvdveer]

3 minutes ago, Dirk said:

what I do not like, is the cable on the back.

I put this in a cable duct to tidy it up. 

[Dirk]

59 minutes ago, mvdveer said:

I put this in a cable duct to tidy it up. 

Nice solution  Thanks. I will build my filter and then see how it all comes together. I have seen it is quite a big thing, so I expect it to cover up part of the cable. and what leaves, I hopefully can handle like you did.

Also cool colors: Galatasaray?

[sebster]

Thanks for those links @Dirk. They look promising.

I went with the V6 nevermore for now. The coal included with the formbot kit does not look inspiring Seems like a good idea to get some real nevermore coal soon.

Currently the plan is to go with printed PG7 aka PUG alongside filament PTFE with a cable channel down the back like @mvdveer posted. 

I can't vent outside so I think I'll not ventilate during prints but keep a coal filter running. That should do a decent amount of filtering and keep chamber temps high.

Edited March 30 by sebster