Self sourced 2.4 R2. My first 3D printer ever

[lotech]

I was on the sling shot channel and someone designed a repeating ball bearing slinging crossbow.
But you can't buy it, you have to print it yourself.
Then I'm putting a later/better/stronger 02A trany in the old MK2 VW golf and the speedometer won't match the new trany.
Someone designed and printed up a solution.
Then it hit me.
There's a whole world of great things being designed that I can't buy.
I don't know anyone with a 3D printer locally. But I could make them myself and should learn how.

I got to studying 3D printers and there are so many to choose from.
In the comments on a utube video, someone mentioned a Voron, so I went to see what they were talking about, down the rabbit hole.
I love building things and have an old degree in electronics from '89 so I think I can do it.

Bought the stealthburner guts from Fysetc:

https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256804449233315.html?spm=a2g0o.order_list.order_list_main.53.543118029iG8HK&gatewayAdapt=glo2usa&_randl_shipto=US

And a REVO hotend at the discord garage sale. Got my PIF parts delivered so all the parts for the stealthburner are here.
Heatserts are fun.

Well I've already run into some problems.
1. The extruder bearing in the flat half fits nice and tight but when I went to put the other extruder bearing in, it fits loosely into the bottom of the half with the cone.
I wondered if the OD of the bearings was different, so I popped the one out of the flat side and tried it in the cone side. Same result.
So I made a video. Wondering what you experts think:

It fits loosely on the shaft but it still comes out with the shaft. It falls in and falls out.

2. The squirrel cage fan sticks up past the edge of the plastic, by about 1/8".
The distance from the top of the plastic down to the ledge the fan sits on is about 12.6mm and the fan is 15mm.
So I made another video:

Doh, I didn't see the stealthburner stuff in the instructions so watched a video on how it goes together.
He didn't mention that the bottom half of the fan gets removed and the stealthburner takes it's place.
But I should have noticed it left on the table,.. like I did the next time I watched it, ha.

Discord is great for a quick answer, but forums are easier to follow so I'm glad this one is available.
And thanks to all the members who have made build threads. They really are a great way to learn from other people's mistakes.

 

[lotech]

OK, my mistake. The fan doesn't get put back together before it is installed.
The cover gets removed and stays off.
I am watching BIB videos and working alongside.
Couldn't find the voron design page for the stealthburner, just the afterburner.
Maybe his instructions are for an LDO kit.

 

[dougf]

Good luck on the build. I'm sorry that I can't help - I built my Vorons before Stealthburner was released so I'm not familiar with your issues. Without any 3D printing experience, you may find the software (Klipper) and tuning of the printer a little intimidating, but enough people are willing to help and some pretty good videos.

 

[lotech]

The tuning is really the most intimidating part for me. But I have to get that far first, ha.
I have to mention that one of the reasons I chose a voron is because of all the community support.

To tighten the bearing up in the housing, I wrapped some foil tape around the bearing.
That was too much, It felt like it was fitting too tight and might crack if I kept pressing so I just put foil tape on 1/3 of the bearing's OD.
It now fits snug, holds tight.
My PIF provider said it would be fine. But that bearing is on the end closest to the filament and I think it would have caused an oscillation, being loose enough to fall out.

Another problem I ran into was with the LEDs in the fysetc stealthburner kit.
The LEDs have a surface mounted cap and resistor on the sides of the LED.
Just like in these ones:

Linneo ToolHead RGBW LED Harness - Voron Stealth Burner

Make your Voron Stealthburner upgrade/transition easy with Linneo's pre-soldered Toolhead harness. Available in both natural and cool RGBW LEDs.

kb-3d.com

There is a groove in the plastic holders to make room for them to slide into.
The fysetc one had the center LED, that goes under the logo, turned 90 degrees, so the cap was on the end instead of the sides.
When I tried to slide it into the LED carrier it hit the plastic nub on the far end and broke off.
I let fysetc know so they don't continue to build them like that. Gotta give QC feedback to vendors so they can improve their product.
If I had noticed, I could have carved the nub out of the plastic and it wouldn't have broken off, and probably would still have sat good enough to work.
I'll put an LED string into one of my other carts.

I never have learned how to solder surface mount components, might be time I did.

Over the weeks, while I was studying voron, learning the terms, I filled a cart on alley express with items from different venders.
It was time to actually commit and start spending some money and checkout.
The fysetc stuff got here last by a good stretch. The extrusions and bed from Funssor got here quick.

 

[lotech]

I'm making my own deck panel out of some stainless I have.
Someone linked me to this site to find the dimensions:

Voron-2/Drawing_DXFs/Panels/Deck_Panel.PDF at Voron2.4 · VoronDesign/Voron-2

Voron 2 CoreXY 3D Printer design. Contribute to VoronDesign/Voron-2 development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

But if I make a deck at 41cm, when the inside dimensions of the 350mm frame is 47cm then there will be a gap all around the edges.
About 1 3/8" gap.
The instructions show the deck panel filling in the entire space.

it's supposed to fill in the entire space right? Not supposed to be a big gap between the deck panel and the inside of the frame right?

Does anyone here have a link to the real dimensions for a deck panel for a 350mm, 2.4?

 

[MagicToolbox]

The same link you posted has a DXF file for all three different builds - thanks for posting it, now I have the info for my Alumaclad deck project.

In case reading DXF is an issue, I pulled it into CAD and dimensioned it.

 

[lotech]

Hey thanks for doing that. I couldn't understand what the DXF files were saying.

Right, I asked my question on discord.
Since the placement of holes on the inside is the same for all deck panels
I guess what I didn't understand was "frame -41" for the outside dimensions.
What that means is to take the outside dimensions of the frame and minus 41mm.
40mm because the extrusions are 20mm and an extra 1mm to keep it from rubbing on the inside of the extrusions and scratching them up during install,... give a little clearance.

I didn't make rectangle-shaped holes in the center of the deck panel, I just lined up the din rails and drilled 1/4" holes.
My din rails (from west3d) didn't have slots that would line up with the extrusions. I would have had to drill holes between the slots.
Basically making one long slot, that in my opinion would have made them weak where they bolt on
So instead of putting them in perpendicular to the extrusions they bolt to,
I put the din rails in parallel to the extrusions.
I saw in BIB's videos, that's the way LDO suggests mounting them.

And since I used 16 gauge stainless, instead of the thicker composite, I had to shorten the 10mm bolts to about 8mm.

I have the deck panel mounted and it's on to the electronics.
I'm sure there will be many small things I don't understand.
I don't care if they make me look stupid, I'll still post any problems I have, to hopefully help anyone else with the same concerns.

 

[MagicToolbox]

Hey thanks for doing that. I couldn't understand what the DXF files were saying.

Right, I asked my question on discord.
Since the placement of holes on the inside is the same for all deck panels
I guess what I didn't understand was "frame -41" for the outside dimensions.
What that means is to take the outside dimensions of the frame and minus 41mm.
40mm because the extrusions are 20mm and an extra 1mm to keep it from rubbing on the inside of the extrusions and scratching them up during install,... give a little clearance.

I didn't make rectangle-shaped holes in the center of the deck panel, I just lined up the din rails and drilled 1/4" holes.
My din rails (from west3d) didn't have slots that would line up with the extrusions. I would have had to drill holes between the slots.
Basically making one long slot, that in my opinion would have made them weak where they bolt on
So instead of putting them in perpendicular to the extrusions they bolt to,
I put the din rails in parallel to the extrusions.
I saw in BIB's videos, that's the way LDO suggests mounting them.

And since I used 16 gauge stainless, instead of the thicker composite, I had to shorten the 10mm bolts to about 8mm.

I have the deck panel mounted and it's on to the electronics.
I'm sure there will be many small things I don't understand.
I don't care if they make me look stupid, I'll still post any problems I have, to hopefully help anyone else with the same concerns.

No worries. Like I said, I needed that very drawing, now I can use it for cutting the Alumaclad I managed to source. I have completed my build and have moved to tuning, so I'll have to do a partial disassembly to replace the panel.

Make sure you get instructions for the controller board that you are using - I only had a couple wiring issues and some jumper problems. My Fysetc kit came with a picture and a pictogram of the controller - but not a lot of information about jumper settings. I missed moving a jumper and had 3 different fans that had a 12v jumper which needed a 24V jumper. Good luck and have fun.

 

[claudermilk]

I'm sure there will be many small things I don't understand.
I don't care if they make me look stupid, I'll still post any problems I have, to hopefully help anyone else with the same concerns.

We were all there once. You won't look stupid, you'll look smart for being willing to ask the question and be sure before moving on with guesses. We're all here to learn and share knowledge.

 

[lotech]

I'm putting together another order and would like to get the last few parts.
On thermistors; I have a revo, which I think comes with it's own thermistor.
How many more thermistors do I need?
One for the chamber thermistor, any others?
And what kind is recommended?

 

[claudermilk]

Yes, the Revo heater has the thermistor integrated. The bed heater pad should also have on integrated. You don't require any more than that. A chamber thermistor is a nice to have, but not required. A basic 104NT like this is fine.

 

[tiamatu]

Depending on your toolhead, you may have a thermistor present on the toohead board, if not, you can get a couple cheap ones on Amazon and use as many as your board allows. I have one in the EBB2209 on the toolhead (built-in) and one in my gantry cable chain for chamber temps. I also have one thermo-taped to my PSU on the side to monitor those temps. Some also use them to monitor heat creep on hotends by affixing them to the top of the heatsink (different for each toolhead).

Lots of different uses, but the only two you really need are one for the hotend (your Revo is built-in) and one for the chamber.

 

[lotech]

I think my bed heater came with a thermistor but I'll have to check, thanks for reminding me about that one.

I'm trying to keep this order from one vender, you know, to keep shipping down.
West 3d has the slotted raceway cable ducts, KB is out of stock on those.
It doesn't look like that is something available locally in my small town.

West 3d doesn't show the 104NT. It has this one instead:

PT1000 Thermistor Cartridge (450C)

The Trianglelab Thermistor Cartridge PT1000 for E3D hotend v6 heater block supports up to 450 degrees. PT1000 sensors are able to measure higher temperatures than your typical thermistors - up to 400°C and are more accurate too. These are perfect if you are printing high temperature materials...

west3d.com

Is one better than the other? Or more appropriate for this purpose?
PT1000 vs 104NT
Looks like it is 11.99 instead of 5.99
450C is that more than I need for chamber? doesn't say what temp
Might be just for a hotend
but has a meter of fiberglass High temp wire. vs the 104 short piece of temp wire then just regular

A chamber thermistor wire is run inside the gantry chains right? So the wire should be teflon or something flexible?
I'll check to see if my wiring harness came with the wires for the thermistor.

Also wondering about the rasberry Pi. Have they come up with a reliable/tested/documented alternative?
And what is a good GUI?
I was going to use an old laptop but it seems bulky and most of the folks using one have more than one printer running off it.

 

[claudermilk]

I have not used a PT1000 yet myself. My understanding is it's more for higher temps and is a bit more accurate. There' also some additional settings & wiring considerations with it. I'm happy with my cheap 104. It gets the job done. On my Trident I have the chamber thermistor mounted about halfway up the rear leadscrew rail extrusion and just run the wire down and under the deck. If you do end up running its wires in the chains, use the same kind as you do for the tool head.

Most of us run Klipper and either Mainsail or Fluidd as the GUI. Use whichever you prefer, they are very similar. I started with Mainsail but have shifted over to Fluidd. I've come to like the general interface a bit more after an adjustment period, and much prefer config file editing in Fluidd (that's what drove me to look at it to begin with).

For Pis, right now it looks like there's decent availability of several models last time I looked. Any model of 3 or 4 is more than enough, and for smaller printers the Zero 2 (or preferably 2W) worsk as well. BTT has developed their own "clone" and there's the Orange Pi among several others.

 

[lotech]

Looks like Pi 3B+ is affordable and available at digikey.
What is a good screen for it?
I've read a 4.3" screen is a good size.

 

[Ytrahcodo]

I just finished a 2.4 from a Formbot kit that supplied a Bigtree Tech HDMI 5 touch screen. It's a nice screen but I find that it gets in the way when moving the Voron around on the bench. It's too big to fit flush with the bottom skirting, so it juts out at an angle on a custom printed bracket mount. So you can't tip the machine over on its front to work on it because the screen mount would certainly break off.

I'm finding that I use the Mainsail screen on my laptop more for control than the LCD on the printer, so it probably doesn't really need such a large screen.
This is all to say that you should think about the tradeoffs of having a larger screen that sticks out. I think even a 4.3" will probably protrude from the front. It makes an argument for some kind of top-mounted screen.

It's probably best to use a screen with HDMI interface. The PI3 supports HDMI as well as its 'native' flat-ribbon DSI interface. DSI has the touch interface built in to the same cable but the flat ribbon is a bit awkward to route and you'll need a long one. HDMI is easier to route and more rugged, but you will need to run an additional USB cable for the touch interface. HDMI may also need some configuration tweaks in the RPI config file. 800x480 is the native display resolution, which might play nicer with the software without having to adjust scaling. But other resolutions are supported.

There are so many affordable small displays available now that it can be confusing to make a choice. You should probably avoid high res screens that have a native portrait mode orientation because they require you to configure the PI to rotate the display by 90deg and introduce unnecessary complications in the configuration. Capacitive touch is preferable to resistive touch.
Waveshare has a wide selection of displays and seems to be a well established source. Lots of no-name China displays are available but the reliability is a crap shoot.

 

[ChrisA]

Also wondering about the rasberry Pi. Have they come up with a reliable/tested/documented alternative?
And what is a good GUI?

Basically anything that runs Linux. I have a test setup running in a virtual machine in an Apple M2-Pro based Mac Mini. You might also use an old notebook PC or even that old tower PC that is under your desk and not used anymore. But the Pi3 is "good enough" and costs only about $30. and it fits completely inside the printer. The notebook PC would have to sit next to the printer.

I have a BTT Pi Clone and it has the advantage over the standard Pi that it can run off either 24 or 5 volts and has some connectors on it that standard Pis lack. BTT has an SC card image to run on it but I've got it running the "standard" Debian "bookworm" now.

About the GUI, you can install Mainsail, Fluid and Octopi all at the same time even on a Pi3. Then you can bring up either of those or even all of those on any PC or Mac that has access to your network. So "all of the above" is a valid answer. After a while you will know which you like.

There are also screen with a possible touch interfwct that connect directly to the printer. I don't use those much because the printers live out in the garage.

 

[lotech]

Thanks for the help.
I got mailsail and clipper installed.
That was a scary part for me, mechanical things are common but command prompt stuff is a new experience.
Bit of a learning curve. Now my laptop connects to the Pi through an ethernet cable. Putty connects and mainsail can be navigated. Setting up the config files.
Thanks a lot to Build it Basement and his utube videos.

Most of the wiring is done.
I am confused about what order the Z-steppers wires are supposed to be connected to the octopus V1.1.
These are the motors I bought:

STEPPERONLINE Nema17 Stepper Motor 84oz.in 2A CNC Robot Reprap Makerbot Arduino | eBay

Why StepperOnline ?. As a China-based distributor, StepperOnline has developed long lasting ties with more than 50 factories. We purchasing products with huge quantity to lower the cost as possible.

www.ebay.com

On the paperwork that came with them;
One field has black is A+, green is A-.
And the other field winding has the red wire as B+, blue is B-

On the octopus pin diagram it shows the stepper wires A1 A2 B2 B1, not plus or minus anything.

BTT_Octopus_Color_PIN_Diagram/BTT_Octopus_V1.1_Color_PIN_Diagram/BIGTREETECH-Octopus-V1.1-color-PIN.jpg at main · GadgetAngel/BTT_Octopus_Color_PIN_Diagram

A repository for Color PIN Diagram for Bigtreetech Octopus Boards - GadgetAngel/BTT_Octopus_Color_PIN_Diagram

github.com

The factory set order of the wires in the plugs is; black, green, red, blue.
If the + means 1, and - means 2 (assuming):
The black A+ wire is A1, and green A- is A2, then shouldn't the next wire be the blue B- is B2 wire? followed by the red B+ is B1.
Should I swap the red and blue wires?