Voron Replicator 2!

[Ducky4546]

5 hours ago, Pierre52 said:

Would you be prepared to share the F360 step files for the parts that you have re-worked?

I uploaded the modded Y rails to the files section. Have fun. 

   Tim

 

[Pierre52]

Many thanks Tim

[Ducky4546]

A bit more progress today. I decided to take the wolf in sheep's clothing approach to this project. With the top sheet metal removed it made it really difficult to get the stiffness back in the frame from the 20x20 extrusion. 

I originally had envisioned suspending the gantry from the top sheet metal but it would have been really hard to work on. 

So I dug out the Tormach and tried out my new non ferrous blade for the shop saw and got cutting . Im going to lock in the final drop and get those holes machined. 

 

[Ducky4546]

All the holes for the blind joints are finished. I have access for 3 height drops (10,30,50mm) I'll square up a few of the cuts on the mill tomorrow and work on an upper Z axis mount. 

[claudermilk]

13 hours ago, Ducky4546 said:

So I dug out the Tormach and tried out my new non ferrous blade for the shop saw and got cutting .

Not at all jealous of that comment. Nope, not at all. (OK, that's a lie)

[Ducky4546]

One of the forum members reminded me that I hadn't modified the limit switch brackets for my MGN 12 mod. I had some free time this morning and did some quick edits. 

MGN 12 Y rail mod for Trident gantry https://www.teamfdm.com/files/file/640-mgn-12-y-rail-mod-for-trident-gantry/

[Ducky4546]

Its been a bit quiet in the shop. I was having trouble with the bed wheels on my CR6 printing some of the parts I needed . I got mad at it and tore it apart to fix things properly. But I foolishly bought one of those Sonic Pad thinking it would be an easy jump start into Klipper. Wronge! I returned it and dug out a Pi 3b+ I had.  

The Cr6 now has dual linear rails and Klipper running with basic macros, object exclude and soon adaptive bed meshing. It was quite a bit of a learning process but I had to bit the bullet at some point. I am glad my friend and fellow robotics coach was there to answer my dumb non programmer questions. Overcoming that certain level of assumed knowledge and vocabulary is always tricky learning in a new venue. But I feel much more confident ill figure out the wiring and pinouts on the Core2x. 

I started my own GIT hub to take notes on all the steps and guides I went through in my own words (Elbow connected to the shin bone sort of writing) I have much more to add to it so I don't forget it all. I probably went way deeper down the rabbit hole than I needed to but that's just how it goes. https://github.com/Tmallard/CR6se-Klipper

My inner machinist decided printed linear rail alignment tools were not cutting it. So I got the depth mic out and that made it pretty easy to line up the two rails parallel to each other

I got horribly confused with what things Klipper included by default especially the bed mesh. Once I figure out how to add a few lines to my start Gcode macro I was all set. But then ironically a day or so ago I got a pop up message from mainsail saying you now had to call things out in your start code. Its crazy how three little lines of code make the print go from crap to pretty dam good. 

Armed with all this knew knowledge ill be back on the MakerVot2x tomorrow. 

    SET_GCODE_OFFSET Z=+.200
    BED_MESH_PROFILE LOAD=default
    SET_PRESSURE_ADVANCE ADVANCE=0.4

My tool setter worked great leveling the X axis to the frame. No guessing allowed! 

Bed Mesh before alignment. I crashed the nozzle doing something stupid and boy was it out

After rebuild

My Son enjoyed helping with the initial heater checks

[mvdveer]

11 minutes ago, Ducky4546 said:

I started my own GIT hub to take notes on all the steps and guides

I like that. Had a look and reads well.

Guess I am just too lazy to even attempt this. 

 

12 minutes ago, Ducky4546 said:

I got horribly confused with what things Klipper included by default especially the bed mesh

Especially since it has recently changed. Before the latest updates, the bed mesh (default) would have been automatically loaded. After the latest updates, this needs to be explicitly defined in the start up code. At least there were plenty of warnings in the mainsail interface about this.

[smirk]

6 hours ago, Ducky4546 said:

I got a pop up message from mainsail saying you now had to call things

Welcome to the world of Klipper! I guess the positive they provided a pop-up message to say so, in the past the first you knew something had changed was when Klipper refused to start, after an update, because your config was not valid.

Good write up by the way, I like your Github entry.

[claudermilk]

Nice. It's always good to find a nice, detailed how-to like you wrote. I'm running into the steep learning curve with assumed knowledge on some Home Assistant projects I'm tackling right now, so I feel your pain there.

FYI, to make things even more fun with Klipper, you can put some of the macro calls in your slicer custom gcode (assuming PrusaSlicer and SuperSlicer). For example I have set_pressure_advance in my SuperSlicer filament custom gcode for a per-filament setting.

[Ducky4546]

Thanks @mvdveer @smirk @claudermilk! Happy to hear you like my write up. I plan to add to it as I go. Just scractching the surface of what Kipper can do. Now less VZbot and Annex K3 videos analyzing what they hell makes those go so dam fast. Back to my build 

[Ducky4546]

Small shop update. I got my hands on a Pi Pico and ADXL 345 case and some a Dupont connector kit. Dreading the many hours of crimping ahead I decided to make a tool to help with my fumble fingers. It is just an pin header that is soldered an old screw driver. It was a fun little lathe and soldered project and wayyy easier to load in the crimp tool. 

Do you guys have any recommendations for building a starter kit for wires? The Voron bom calls out a few sizes on AliExpress (which takes forever) 

This printer project is more about learning how to be build and tune. I have already learned allot. There were way too many years of not being able to fix some stupid broken wire or firmware setting. I'll have an update on the mechanical soon. 

Klipper is making some nice prints too

[mvdveer]

2 hours ago, Ducky4546 said:

I decided to make a tool to help with my fumble fingers. It is just an pin header that is soldered an old screw driver.

What a great invention. Especially for us GOMs with fat fingers 

[Ducky4546]

So my project has taken a bit of a turn...As I was trying to fit everything the single biggest pain was the stock Z axis rails. I had looked at some other core XY layouts that hang from the top plane. But I was already far enough down the rabbit hole on this one. 

One thing I have learned from engineering is when you are stuck apply constraints to your design. Most times you get stuck because there are too many protentional ways to skin the cat. The Z axis rails and AB motor mount and bars were chewing up room too much room in the back of the printer and conflicting with each other. 

Researching electronics and heated beds I came across the E3D 200 X 300 x 800 watt heated bed! I thought to myself this printer originally had a allot of wasted space because they made it wide enough for 2x tool heads on one carriage. A quick check with the ruler and I said this could work. But I would likely have to just make the whole frame. (No big deal seeing it was more a of MakerBot costume with a Voron inside at this point)  

So I got the kids off to school and got cranking on Fusion 360. I played with a bunch of layouts to make that 200x300mm bed work. The solution I came up with was to mount the Trident AB motors externally like the V0 does. I started messing with a V0 belted Z axis mounted flush to the main frame. I really didn't like mounting to the AB cross bar like the trident design does. It was very educational to mix and match parts and walk in the designers shoes. Many of the design decisions the Voron team made are much clearer now. 

 

You can see how I flipped the notch on the AB motor plate compared to stock here.

I got a Big Tree Tech PI TFT 50 touch screen. In the spirit of this project I am playing with making a maker bot styled panel for the front. Its now the printer Maker Bot should have made in the same foot print too! 

More work to do but I am enjoying chipping away at this project and exercising a part of my brain that has been dormant for the past three years.

[atrushing]

11 minutes ago, Ducky4546 said:

I thought to myself this printer originally had a allot of wasted space because they made it wide enough for 2x tool heads on one carriage.

I am tempted to suggest that you aim for an IDEX setup.. But maybe it's better to get a more standard design working before making things even more complicated.

[Ducky4546]

Lol @atrushingit did cross my mind. But your right get it working first then make fancy stuff

Edited January 26, 2023 by Ducky4546

[Ducky4546]

Finally I have my Frankenstein Voron in one piece! Externally mounting the AB motors saved allot of room in the Y axis, but it was tricky to get everything to clear. 

I widened the Z axis off the Tiny M files so it would support my 200x300mm bed more proportionally. I still need to add mounting plate for the bed and get a slightly longer Z rail. 

I reprinted all the black parts for full Voron Specs using the Vision Miner adhesive. The trident feet pull off the bed in the corners like hell. I was very impressed how well that stuff held. 

I've deviated allot since this project started. But looking back I was so overwhelmed with the complexity of the Voron and Klipper. Now I'm having a blast with Klipper and definitely have better understanding of the important elements during construction. It's been a good project to get my engineering Brain going again after 3 years of being locked up with a baby and three year old. Ooof.....

I've been building up my electrical kit quietly and researching boards to run. The SKR EZ looks like a good option.

There is allot more work to do but I'm excited to see it taking shape!

Edited February 8, 2023 by Ducky4546

[mvdveer]

I love where this is going. Beautiful build.

[Ducky4546]

Small side tangent today. I was testing out the Wam Bam Pex sheet on adhered to a glass plate for my CR6. I had also ordered a blank flex plate to stick to the bottom of the glass for easy swaps. 

 

First observations the blank flex plate stick to the mag base very firm just by its self. Adhered to the glass its strong enough to pick up the printer. It might needs some kind of cam to pop the bed loose. Might be silly for a thick plate like on a 2.4 but for the thinner plates out there it could be help. Or if you wanted to swap to a glass plate.  

The sandwich build up was as follows; Bare Wam Bam Plate, 3M 268 adhesive, Creality plate, Wam Bam Pex sheet. 

The Bed mesh improved from just clips to mag base.  

Bed mesh with bed clips 

Bed  mesh with mag base

3m 468 MP Adhesive

Bottom view (Please excuse the finger prints)

Installed lets see how it works. 

[Ducky4546]

Well I'm impressed with Vision miner glue. I just got deal on a second CR6 and got it running with Klipper and an M4 extruder today. 

I ran it before on my PEI sheet and it left a weird residue. Perfect mirror finish on glass this time no residue. 

Just got a test print I ran the top xy Joints on green Hatch Box and. VM glue right on glass worked amazing open air. Even the tiny little numb on the cable pass through didn't pull up. These small parts are pretty forgiving.

The other CR6 got mad and clogged promptly hahah. 

 

t still. 

[claudermilk]

That Vision Miner is godawful expensive, but it's magic.

[Penatr8tor]

Looking really nice @Ducky4546.

Of course I'm a bit on the older side but I can say that an Opti-Visor is one of the best tools for crimping those tiny little connector contacts. In addition I bought one of the crimping tools that move the jaws parallel to one another. On Amazon they're listed as Molex crimp tool and go for around $25.

[Ducky4546]

50 minutes ago, Penatr8tor said:

Opti-Visor is one of the best tools

Thanks for the tip. I have the I-wiss and the Engineer crimpers. I had trouble getting the depths right on the smaller just connectors on the I-wiss. I have an idea for a little jig that will help with my fumble fingers. 

I'd love to get my hands on those magnifiers the dental hygienists use. The magnifiers I have are a very short focal length.  

[mvdveer]

3 minutes ago, Ducky4546 said:

'd love to get my hands on those magnifiers the dental hygienists use

They called eye loupes and I use them at times in my work. Can get cheaper ones than the medical grade, that are just as good (I have a couple). See here for an example. Just need to search for the correct focal length

[Penatr8tor]

Yup, Those are cool. I rely on glasses for regular vision so I generally go for something that works over my glasses.