Salad Fork Build Log

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This is my attempt at documenting my build of a Fabreeko Salad Fork kit. So far this has been a great build and I would recommend this kit to anyone. It’s a full end to end kit with very premium parts.



Primary Filament: Fusion Filaments Mushroom Cloud Grey

Secondary Filament: Fusion Filaments Red Dwarf



I was heavily inspired after viewing Le0n’s Micron build log. I would highly recommend checking it out if you haven’t already. I don’t come close to their quality however I am already getting ideas on how to improve my process for the next build.

 

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Admittedly as I was printing, I was very nervous that the grey would be too light against the extrusions. I loved the combo so much though, so I held out and waited to see it in person. I did have a backup plan, but fortunately that wasn’t necessary.

 

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I ordered the kit in late December and received it in early February. The packaging is very impressive and well laid out. I was very eager at this point to start the build.

 

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Step one was to get the rails prepped. This part isn’t very enjoyable but fortunately the HoneyBadger rails come clean and dry, so the process only involves greasing.



Attaching the rails is a straightforward process, use the alignment tool, ensure you have the correct spacing from the end, then tighten. I do hate using M2 button heads as the hex size never seems consistent, 1.5 is too big and 1.3 is too small. Nonetheless, with some determination they will go. I also opted to purchase nut rails separately as they were not included in the kit. I would recommend going that route, printed nut bars just flat-out suck. (they’re also Ti, so cool points)

 

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Onto the frame



I think the frame is the least pleasurable or nerve wrecking part of a printer build as I know this can have big impacts down the road. Starting with a good base is very important and fortunately I have a large quartz countertop piece to help aid in ensuring the frame is as square as possible.

The extrusions were all cut nice and square with no issues, so this really helped with achieving perfection (or as close to).



I chose to use classic No Drop Nuts vs the part specific printed nut rails. Why? I don’t know to be honest…

 

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Now with the frame completed it’s time to move onto adding the Y rail extrusions. Don’t forget to add nuts for the backers!

 

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Adding the Z motors and the deck plate.



Without a doubt my favorite feature of the Fabreeko kit is the aluminum deck plate and back panel. It looks and feels amazing, I haven’t had experience with ACM, so I am curious how it compares to that.



Adding the Z carriages without the springs. This is the preferred method, I am unsure why, but people way smarter than I have stated this, so without springs they go.

 

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I chose EGLM bearings instead of the standard steel GE5C bearings. I doubt there is much if any improvement, but I figured the cost is worth it.



I also added the mount for the Wagos where I will terminate the bed into. This is the standard practice anymore, allowing easier removal of the bed.

 

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Adding the AB lowers to the frame and centering the rear extrusion.

 

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I went with the pinned mod for this build, I really like the look of the captive pin’s vs the screw heads visible. The pins are added into the lower, bearing stacks added then the upper seals it up. It’s a nice & easy process.



The Y end stop is also incorporated into the A drive upper, so this needs to be catered for. I did notice that the cable routing was changed in a later revision. The mod isn’t updated but this worked in my favor as I need that channel to route other wires.

 

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The pins mod also incorporates Rama style idlers. This is my first experience with these style idlers and wow are they easy to assemble. I do plan to reprint the housings at some point as I am not a fan of the imprinted “A” and “B” being very visible from the inside of the printer. I removed them from the AB drives but forgot to do the idlers.

 

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Pins again in the XY joints along with the backer installed.



I also love the detail in the etching on the bearings. Just another nice touch to show the attention to detail.



With the Y end stop in the A drive, you can’t use the traditional method of pressing the gantry to the rear and tightening to help ensure squareness. So, I instead pulled the gantry forward, snugged it up, then moved to the rear and measured a set distance off the drives. Once I was happy, I tightened it up. It moves smoothly and measures square so I’m happy with it.

 

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Now to prep the bed.



I cleaned it up and shed a tear as I covered the nicely engraved logo.



One tip here is to ensure you install the magnet BEFORE the heater. Installing the heater first will leave the bed wobbly on the table and make the magnet install that much harder.



The Fabreeko edge to edge heater is nice, the glue is high temp, so no RTV here needed. This is nice as I am not a fan of the look unless LDO installed it. The black sleeving is a nice touch however it will all come off as the bed wires will terminate into the under bed Wagos.

 

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I am using Boop on this build, this is still in Beta as of writing this. I also saw on Steve’s stream that it may be getting a big overhaul, but for now, I will be using this version. Just from bench testing it seems to work well enough after I did a little shaving to some edges.



Belted the printer up and started building the Mini Stealthburner. I love the look of this toolhead over the Afterburner.

I ran a Mini AB on my v0 for many hundreds of hours without fail so I expect to have the same luck with the SB.



The kit also includes coated BMG gears, I’m not sure if there is really any benefit for the standard filaments I use, but it is a nice touch.



I am using a Revo I had on hand instead of the included BMO. I don’t have much love for the Revo so I’m giving it a shot here to see if it will grow on me. It will probably end up getting a dragon or Rapido if I ever decide to push this printer later down the road.

 

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WIRING!!!



This is legit my favorite part of any build. I find it very satisfying and rewarding to see everything tie in together.

I opted to use my own PTFE wire in place of the included leads as they didn’t all match and I wasn’t fond of that. Even though most of it will be covered with sleeving.



I started with getting the Z and AB steppers wired up as they will make up most of the wiring underneath.

I took the idea from Steve of using colored heat shrink at the ends to tell which wire is which. I would love to have a label printer capable of printing heat shrink tubing, but it’s a hard pill to swallow to only be used for printers…

 

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I needed to run wiring all the way to the top of the printer for the daylight sticks. I have these on all my printers, and they are probably the first “upgrade” I would recommend for a new printer. They are cheap and good lighting on your printer is a game changer. It’s almost a requirement in my opinion.



Since these wires will need to run down the front of the extrusions, I opted to used silver sleeving to hide them as best I could. I think it turned out well and without over analyzing the printer they can be easily missed.



I also took the time to wire up the bed and install the cable chain at this point. The Wagos make this an easy process.



This concludes all my low voltage wiring underneath the deck panel.

 

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High voltage wiring consists of three wires and with the compactness of the printer there isn’t anything special.

I used the black sleeving included in the kit, just to visually separate the high vs low voltages.



Installed the drivers and this pretty much wraps up everything underneath. I still need to figure out what I’m going to do with the CB1 antenna. It’s too short to go out anywhere that makes sense. I will probably look around and see if I can get a longer one or just stick it on the inside of a skirt. I will run this printer wireless, so I need to have this installed.

 

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At this point all I need to finish up is wiring up the toolhead to the EBB36 and wait for Zruncho to drop the new zero panels 😊.

Then onto the first startup and configuring.

I'll post those updates once they happen.

Cheers!

 

[Diffident]

The sleeving looks really good. I was thinking about building a Salad Fork...I can't wait to see this finished.

 

[WhiteWulfe]

Oh my, that red sleeving definitely adds that extra little touch!