Rainforestnomad's 0.1 Formbot Build

[Rainforestnomad]

Good day!

I recently took shipment of the formbot Voron0.1 kit. I've printed most of the parts using a modified Ender 3Pro out of white and black ABS from Matter3D(a local filament company out of Victoria BC). I have a lot of problems with warping. Used a large cardboard box to enclose the printer, but still struggled with warping at the edges of the larger parts. Didn't end up using ABS slurry, but I may resort to that as I reprint a few parts. I have yet to print the hot end/extruder/toolhead parts, but unfortunately it looks like my Ender 3 has suffered from ANOTHER failed card. I'll be fixing that as I build, so that I may print the remainder of the parts...

I have a PI Zero2 and a BTT SKR Mini E3v3 already on hand, so I requested Formbot remove the PI3 and Mini E3v2 pieces from the kit, and they were happy to oblige and credit me an amount of money.

The aluminium in the kit is boring black, and the filament I'm using is boring black and white, so this thing won't be to snazzy looking. Going through the kit, the parts all look fine to me so far. There is one Moons stepper motor, for the extruder, the other 3 are Oukeda. Formbot points out on their website "Moons motors!" but don't quite deliver. Not sure if that will really make a difference functionally, but worth pointing out.

Ordered the Phaetus Dragon hot end. Is it as good as its cool sounding name? I've had a micro swiss hot end on my Ender3 and it has been flawless IMO.

The linear rails are branded Vivedino. They are clean and move really nicely. At least I think they do. I've never handled a linear rail before. I can detect no slop in their movement, feel no grittyness or anything that jumps out at me as bad. I did briefly wipe them down and apply a drop of 3in1 oil to each side of each rail.

I'll try to post some build pics, thoughts and whatnot here. Hoping for the best!

 

[Simon2.4]

Just now, Rainforestnomad said:

Phaetus Dragon hot end. Is it as good as its cool sounding name?

lol I always though that Phaetus is such an odd company name.. This is the image that comes to my mind...

 

Welcome to teamFDM , looking forward to seeing your build. Have you identified what is breaking your Creality boards?

[Simon2.4]

maybe more like this:

[Rainforestnomad]

13 hours ago, Simon2.4 said:

lol I always though that Phaetus is such an odd company name.. This is the image that comes to my mind...

 

Welcome to teamFDM , looking forward to seeing your build. Have you identified what is breaking your Creality boards?

Well I figured Phaetus was a greek word or some such... but a google search yields no definitions...

So it wasnt a Creality board that failed, its a BTT SKR2. The first board that failed was a BTT Mini e3 V2, the hot end thermistor input failed somehow. I replaced it with the SKR2 and was having success. Went away camping, when I came back I could no longer talk to it with Klipper/Mainsail... so I spent the morning today installing the Mini E3V3 into my Ender3Pro to get up and running again and finish printing those last few ABS parts. After a couple test prints(nerf parts for my kids nerf guns) I hoarded up the old ender3 pro into its makeshift cardboard box in the closet and began printing stinky ABS again.

Maybe I'll order the new BTT Pico board? Its advertised as being for the Voron0.1. Any thoughts?

[Rainforestnomad]

So one part i've been printing is these little nut holders I found on TeamFDM. As I peruse the instructions, I cannot find or see the use for this nut in the picture. Can anyone enlighten me?

[claudermilk]

Nero 3D did a video on the BTT Pico. He seemed to like it.

For the warping larger ABS parts, I resorted to a 8-9mm brim and some glue stick on my Prusa Mini under a box. That resolved the issue for me.

[Simon2.4]

I will probably build a 0.1 this year but for now I'm not very familiar with the design

[Rainforestnomad]

So I've finally assembled some parts of the printer. Ive been using the nut holders to preload the M3 nuts into the extrusion, seems like they are going to reduce some headaches when assembling later parts.

[Rainforestnomad]

Decided I didn't like the white ABS very much, so I reprinted the parts in black. This Voron will be very black...

Got the bed carriage assembled and sliding nicely...

[Rainforestnomad]

So when I was assembling the bed carriage, I found that there is a slight gap between the printed part and the bed carriage extrusion (yellow circle), and If i tightened the screws on the backside (orange arrow) it would compress the printed part and cause the front end of the carriage to kick upwards.... deciding this wasnt right I loosened the screws somewhat to keep the carriage level with the frame... hopefully that is what's intended.

[Rainforestnomad]

A few more parts bolted together, all nuts preloaded and counted twice. I'm really pleased with this thing so far. It really is smaller than I imagined, which is fine. I'm getting excited to run this thing.

Placed an order for a BTT Pico as the mobo, now that the SKR mini E3 is running my Ender3, and looks to be staying that way. I see BTT also makes a tiny screen with a dial for Voron's. It is only $10USD at the moment, so I grabbed that into my cart as well.

[Rainforestnomad]

I finally made some headway on the warping issues I'd been fighting while printing the larger parts. The ultimate solution was to use the PEI sheet, and I diluted some PVA glue(common white wood glue) with water, and spread it onto the printing area with a brush. Then I heated up the print bed to 60deg, and watched the water evaporate leaving just the glue as a thin film. Printing onto this glue surface seemed to hold the part to the bed while cooling and resist the warping forces. I'm pretty happy with the print quality i've achieved on these parts. The annoying thing is printing them over and over until I finally had success, but such is life.

 

I'll be printing the exterior parts from PLA, possibly in green...

[Rainforestnomad]

While printing the last B tensioner part, I assembled the A side motor mount/tensioner setup. I referenced the LDO website, they have excellent instructions, with pictures about which way to face the wires from the stepper motor.

[Rainforestnomad]

B Side tensioner assembled. They are ready to mount onto the frame!

[Rainforestnomad]

Mounted the tensioners/stepper assemblies to the frame. I'm glad I elected to use the no drop nut holders. I can see how just having some nuts flopping around in the extrusion could be frustrating to line up, 5 nuts per side... These no drops made this attachment a breeze.

[Rainforestnomad]

So thats all I could do by midnight tonight. I've set up the idler parts to print while I go to bed. So far I've printed the parts one at a time, aside from the spacers, and the no drop nut holders. Now I'm printing the idler parts all in one go, sequentially so that it finishes one idler and then prints the next, each at one corner of the bed. I have more faith in the quality of the part, and if the printer does mess up somehow at least a part or two may be finished first...

[Simon2.4]

6 hours ago, Rainforestnomad said:

slight gap between the printed part and the bed carriage extrusion (yellow circle)

Did you measure your parts and compare to the CAD model? Up to now with my 2.4, everything has fit so nicely; this would have bugged me alot. I suggest you print shims or something to have that assembly as rigid as possible.

Your parts look amazing. Good job on the tuning it was worth the pain.

Mine is also black with dark grey (named graphite) PLA parts for the outside.

[Rainforestnomad]

12 hours ago, Simon2.4 said:

Did you measure your parts and compare to the CAD model? Up to now with my 2.4, everything has fit so nicely; this would have bugged me alot. I suggest you print shims or something to have that assembly as rigid as possible.

So I did spend some time on Voron Discord, and learned that there is supposed to be a 0.2mm gap on each side of the extrusion from one of the people there... my measurements were consistent with that, a 15.5mm gap in the part, a 15mm extrusion... so in light of this information, I loosened the front bolt, and tightened the two back bolts transferring the gap to the front side of the printed parts, then I dropped a 0.5mm shim (same as ones in the pulley assembly) behind each front bolt, manuevered it into place to have the bolt go through it and into the nut behind, and then tightened the whole thing back up. Seems to have worked like a charm. Everything is tight, bed carriage is more or less level with the frame.

[Simon2.4]

that looks more sound to me indeed.

[Rainforestnomad]

Assembled the front idler pulleys after they finished printing this morning... next batch of parts is on the printer tonight.

[Rainforestnomad]

Installed the feet, and then the integrated lead screw motor. Everything fits together so nicely. The lead screw nut is plastic... hopefully a good PTFE type of plastic. I coated the lead screw in a thin film of 3in1 oil before threading it into the the nut and mounting the motor.

I swore I wanted to get away from the lead screw type of drive after all my fiddling with the Ender3. Hopefully this one doesn't disappoint.

[Rainforestnomad]

Managed to assemble the X-gantry, and mount it to the printer. Once again it all fits so neatly and clearly shows excellent design. Almost ready to start threading some belts! I've printed all the extruder/hotend parts for the Mini-Afterburner direct drive setup, and I'll need to setup a print for more no-drop nut holders.

[Demosth]

Love it - keep up the good work and keep us posted!

[Rainforestnomad]

Tonight I have installed the top rails, and managed to route the belts through the frame and into the x-carriage. I referenced a couple videos on youtube just to get a few perspectives, and had no real trouble routing and tightening the belts. One thing to keep in mind is to back off the tension knob/nuts of the A/B stepper motors, and then tighten the belts. I'm fairly certain i've got enough tension, and done this right, however i'm feeling reticent to commit and actually cut the belts short to length... maybe I'll sleep on it. I suppose there is a certain amount of deflection, if pushed with a finger, on each length of belt that is acceptable, before beginning to tighten the knobs.

[Rainforestnomad]

So after querying the helpful people on Voron Discord,  I learned that I can use a guitar tuning app on my smartphone, and tune each inner belt to 110hz. This is a good benchmark for tension. There were a few opinions expressed about how tension doesn't have to be exact, and be careful not to go Hulk-mode on the belts. It's nice to have a target to work towards. I used the smartphone app while holding the microphone up to the belt, gave each belt a pluck with my finger, and the app displayed the frequency for me, allowing me to fine tune it somewhat, although I was already really close to that "note". It can take a few plucks to get a resonance, and its very brief. (I certainly won't be playing any melodies on this thing)

110hz is some kind of mind/body resonance for meditation and related ideas. There is a youtube recording of the resonance, and it sounds just like the belt. Interesting.

Didn't think this build would lead me down a path like this... Wierd and Cool.

I think i'm ready to cut those belts to size.