ToM Build
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Douglas Cogan
May 11, 2011, 3:33:17 PM5/11/11
to chicago...@googlegroups.com
Hi,
I've also gone to the Dark Side recently and bought a ToM kit. Got it about 2 weeks ago but sadly have only done a little bit of work on it. I was able to see on the website what was needed to configure the computer so I was able to get that set up prior to the kit arriving, but was surprised when I got a link to the instructions online. There are 2 important decisions to make about the construction that need upfront thought - the build platform and the extruder. In looking it over, it seems going with a 1.72 mm filament is what they are pushing, but I out of ignorance got a bunch of 3 mm filament with the kit before I understood that there were 2 kinds to pick from, so I'm not sure which to build. So you might want to look over the build instructions before the unit comes so you can give that some thought. I went with the heated platform instead of the automated build platform because I read online lots of complaints about trouble getting it level, and thought I would start out simple. I think (?) that I can switch over to the ABP after the fact. We shall see.
I live in Brookfield, so shoot me an email if you want to see what you get in the kit.
Does anyone else have any input as to whether to use 1.75 or 3 mm filament?
And thanks, Sacha, for the highlight of the PS1 build out. That sounds like a great chance to learn heaps.
-Doug
-----Original Message-----
From: chicago...@googlegroups.com [mailto:chicago...@googlegroups.com]On Behalf Of Sacha De'Angeli
Sent: Wednesday, May 04, 2011 3:04 PM
To: chicago...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [chicago-reprap] Re: New to group
If you're looking for some in-person meeting, Pumping <http://pumpingstationone.org/> Station: One by Belmont and California is starting to build a decent group of general CNC folks, and some folks are planning a mass Prusa build on 6/18 (which I intend to participate in), so the general organizational knowledge base of 3d printing should improve soon.
(full disclosure: I am a co-founder, ex-board
Yepher
May 11, 2011, 3:57:21 PM5/11/11
to Chicago 3D Printer Enthusiasts
Doug,
Thanks for the information. Were the instructions on the website
these: (http://wiki.makerbot.com/thingomatic-doc:thingomatic-assembly-
instructions) or did they give you a different set?
I did not realize the ABP and Heated Build Platform were mutually
exclusive. Based on my reading so far it appears that a heated
platform is a must have.
I was also unaware of the different configurations for the filament. I
was thinking about pre-ordering filament but now I am glad I did not.
Thanks for letting me learn from your mistake on this one.
I would love to get a chance to see the ToM (and even help assemble it
if you want) before mine arrives. I will shoot you a separate email to
see if this can be worked out.
Thanks for the information. Were the instructions on the website
these: (http://wiki.makerbot.com/thingomatic-doc:thingomatic-assembly-
instructions) or did they give you a different set?
I did not realize the ABP and Heated Build Platform were mutually
exclusive. Based on my reading so far it appears that a heated
platform is a must have.
I was also unaware of the different configurations for the filament. I
was thinking about pre-ordering filament but now I am glad I did not.
Thanks for letting me learn from your mistake on this one.
I would love to get a chance to see the ToM (and even help assemble it
if you want) before mine arrives. I will shoot you a separate email to
see if this can be worked out.
Yepher
May 11, 2011, 4:14:45 PM5/11/11
to Chicago 3D Printer Enthusiasts
Douglas,
I see I mis-read your comment about ABP/HBP. I now realize your
decision was not because of the lack of heating on the ABP but because
it is hard to get the ABP level. Sorry about that.
I see I mis-read your comment about ABP/HBP. I now realize your
decision was not because of the lack of heating on the ABP but because
it is hard to get the ABP level. Sorry about that.
Douglas Cogan
May 11, 2011, 4:20:29 PM5/11/11
to chicago...@googlegroups.com
Yes, the Automated Build Platform is also heated. I just read some posts that said it was a tough build so I wanted to go with something simpler out of the gate so I can get printing. Thanks for the offer to help assemble. Let me check my schedule.
-Doug
Douglas,
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Yepher
Jun 3, 2011, 11:03:01 AM6/3/11
to Chicago 3D Printer Enthusiasts
Doug,
Thanks for the earlier advise. On my ToM I ended up going with the ABP
and 3MM plastic. The assembly went fairly smooth except I had a bad
Extruder Controller that I had to RMA. I definitely got caught by a
few gotchas as well and had to take two steps back for each step
forward a few time.
At this point things are working fairly well. I have printed 2
calibration cubes and one travel tic-tac-toe board.
http://www.thingiverse.com/derivative:9958
My problem at this point is how to separate the print from the build
skid. I have done some googling but have yet to find a proper answer.
-- Yepher
Thanks for the earlier advise. On my ToM I ended up going with the ABP
and 3MM plastic. The assembly went fairly smooth except I had a bad
Extruder Controller that I had to RMA. I definitely got caught by a
few gotchas as well and had to take two steps back for each step
forward a few time.
At this point things are working fairly well. I have printed 2
calibration cubes and one travel tic-tac-toe board.
http://www.thingiverse.com/derivative:9958
My problem at this point is how to separate the print from the build
skid. I have done some googling but have yet to find a proper answer.
-- Yepher
andres
Jun 3, 2011, 11:14:52 AM6/3/11
to chicago...@googlegroups.com
If you are printing with heated bed on, you can just wait for the bed to cool, that normally allows it to separate easily since the print shrinks. otherwise, there isn't a good way. if you have nothing between your heated bed and the print besides the aluminum heat spreader i don't think a scraper would be a good move.
good work though! welcome to the world of 3d printing! (oh, and most everyone gets that two steps forward one back thing. i've had more steps back than i would like to admit. but at least i'm at where i am now.)
Andres
Douglas Cogan
Jun 3, 2011, 11:50:35 AM6/3/11
to chicago...@googlegroups.com
Yepher,
Well, you’ve lapped me. Congratulations! I am just now getting my last parts together. I also had my share of setbacks, plus very limited hours to work on it. BTW what was the symptom on the extruder board? I have found the tech support to be very responsive. They sent me some extra bolts I lost (try to get McMaster Carr to do that.)
I coated my hbp with the blue tape as they suggested, but I guess that isn’t as good a plan as I thought based on your feedback. . I hope I didn’t steer you wrong in letting you know that I went with the HBP instead of the Automated Build Platform.
I’m glad to hear that you have it running and there is light at the end of this tunnel. Any tips on calibration?
Douglas Cogan
Jun 3, 2011, 1:12:18 PM6/3/11
to chicago...@googlegroups.com
Yepher,
Sorry, it seems I misread your post, and that you are using the Automated Build Platform. (Sorry, I had the HBP on my brain.)
I did wonder when I saw the design how it was that the objects would detach from the plastic conveyer belt. I'm sticking to the heated build platform myself at least until I get things going since I'm not looking to do a whole lot of unattended construction. I wonder if adding the blue tape on top of the plastic conveyer would keep it from sticking and still allow enough heat to go through.
Yepher
Jun 3, 2011, 2:50:14 PM6/3/11
to Chicago 3D Printer Enthusiasts
Doug,
I realized the extruder board was bad when I tried to flash it for
several hours and could not get it to take the firmware. It seemed to
power on fine. I believe the boot loader was not loaded on the board
and that was the cause of the problem I was having. I am glad I got it
exchanged at this point because it had some really poorly done rework
on it. There was a wire soldered on the bottom of the board between
two connections. The soldering job was very poor but I don't that is
what caused my problem. Yes, Ethan at Makerbot was responsive and
pretty easy to work with on the RMA process.
I did not have that much tweaking to do. In fact my build platform was
level without any adjustments. The instructions seemed to indicate
this is the typical case with the ABP. Most of my problems involved
putting something on backward or using the wrong bolt and realizing it
10 steps later.
Here are some thing I would fix if I were building it again. Or thing
that I was darn glad I did at a later step (mostly due to random
luck):
1. My X-Axis motor is backward for X+ and X-. To fix this I would have
to take almost the entire thing apart again to fix it. Luckily you can
fix this on the on board configuration. I would pay better attention
to how this should be installed.
2. When I put the Rods in my X and Y axis I squeezed and pulled on the
rods to align the bearings. The bearing got aligned quite well that
way. There is a video on this page that talks about how to do it after
it is assembled (http://wiki.makerbot.com/thingomatic-doc:automated-
build-platform-v2-0). I had tried to do what was in the video but it
was not working very well for me. I realized a little later that I
made an error that required me to take the X-Axis off and that is when
I discovered it is better to align them before you fit them in the Y-
Axis. I re-used this concept for the Y-Axis. The X and Y are very
smooth after doing this. I could barely move the X before I had taken
it apart for a different mistake.
3. All my motor controller needed to be adjusted. I needed to adjust
the REF and the PFD settings.I almost skipped this step but I am glad
I did it now. Some of the stepper controllers were hard to adjust
while mounted on the board because several wires are too short.
4. The build platform temperature sensor was very tricky for me. I had
hooked it up wrong and even looked at the instructions several time.
There is a spot that just seems like it should go there. It turns out
it goes on the last 3 pin connector instead of the 4 pin connector. I
luckily realized this before I turned it on. This was another one of
those good thing I did something wrong in an earlier step because it
helped me find this problem before I blew something up.
5. The power supply I got had to molex connector tails. One tail had
three connectors and the other had two. The instruction seems fairly
clear that you want to use the two connector on the Extruder
controller and the three molex connector on the 3 driver controllers.
Because of the length of the cables I could not figure out how to do
that in the configuration they say you should use. I moved my X-Axis
controller to the opposite side (in the spot labeled B-Axis). This
allowed my to connect the two connector cable to the Z-Axis and the
Extruder controller and the 3 molex tail to the other three driver
boards.
For some reason my Y-Axis belt is higher than what the instructions
indicate it should be. This was not too much trouble. I just moved the
shiv higher up on the motor arbor. I did this with the Y-Axis
installed and just eyeballed it to where the belt no longer rubbed the
Y-Axis trolley.
These are the things that stood out to me. I hope it helps you.
-- Yepher
On Jun 3, 10:50 am, Douglas Cogan <dco...@pti.com> wrote:
> Yepher,
>
> Well, you've lapped me. Congratulations! I am just now getting my last parts together. I also had my share of setbacks, plus very limited hours to work on it. BTW what was the symptom on the extruder board? I have found the tech support to be very responsive. They sent me some extra bolts I lost (try to get McMaster Carr to do that.)
>
> I coated my hbp with the blue tape as they suggested, but I guess that isn't as good a plan as I thought based on your feedback. . I hope I didn't steer you wrong in letting you know that I went with the HBP instead of the Automated Build Platform.
>
> I'm glad to hear that you have it running and there is light at the end of this tunnel. Any tips on calibration?
>
> -Doug
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: chicago...@googlegroups.com [mailto:chicago...@googlegroups.com]On Behalf Of andres
> Sent: Friday, June 03, 2011 10:15 AM
> To: chicago...@googlegroups.com
> Subject: Re: [chicago-reprap] Re: ToM Build
>
> If you are printing with heated bed on, you can just wait for the bed to cool, that normally allows it to separate easily since the print shrinks. otherwise, there isn't a good way. if you have nothing between your heated bed and the print besides the aluminum heat spreader i don't think a scraper would be a good move.
>
> good work though! welcome to the world of 3d printing! (oh, and most everyone gets that two steps forward one back thing. i've had more steps back than i would like to admit. but at least i'm at where i am now.)
>
> Andres
> > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to chicago-repra...@googlegroups.com <mailto:chicago-reprap%2Bunsu...@googlegroups.com> .
I realized the extruder board was bad when I tried to flash it for
several hours and could not get it to take the firmware. It seemed to
power on fine. I believe the boot loader was not loaded on the board
and that was the cause of the problem I was having. I am glad I got it
exchanged at this point because it had some really poorly done rework
on it. There was a wire soldered on the bottom of the board between
two connections. The soldering job was very poor but I don't that is
what caused my problem. Yes, Ethan at Makerbot was responsive and
pretty easy to work with on the RMA process.
I did not have that much tweaking to do. In fact my build platform was
level without any adjustments. The instructions seemed to indicate
this is the typical case with the ABP. Most of my problems involved
putting something on backward or using the wrong bolt and realizing it
10 steps later.
Here are some thing I would fix if I were building it again. Or thing
that I was darn glad I did at a later step (mostly due to random
luck):
1. My X-Axis motor is backward for X+ and X-. To fix this I would have
to take almost the entire thing apart again to fix it. Luckily you can
fix this on the on board configuration. I would pay better attention
to how this should be installed.
2. When I put the Rods in my X and Y axis I squeezed and pulled on the
rods to align the bearings. The bearing got aligned quite well that
way. There is a video on this page that talks about how to do it after
it is assembled (http://wiki.makerbot.com/thingomatic-doc:automated-
build-platform-v2-0). I had tried to do what was in the video but it
was not working very well for me. I realized a little later that I
made an error that required me to take the X-Axis off and that is when
I discovered it is better to align them before you fit them in the Y-
Axis. I re-used this concept for the Y-Axis. The X and Y are very
smooth after doing this. I could barely move the X before I had taken
it apart for a different mistake.
3. All my motor controller needed to be adjusted. I needed to adjust
the REF and the PFD settings.I almost skipped this step but I am glad
I did it now. Some of the stepper controllers were hard to adjust
while mounted on the board because several wires are too short.
4. The build platform temperature sensor was very tricky for me. I had
hooked it up wrong and even looked at the instructions several time.
There is a spot that just seems like it should go there. It turns out
it goes on the last 3 pin connector instead of the 4 pin connector. I
luckily realized this before I turned it on. This was another one of
those good thing I did something wrong in an earlier step because it
helped me find this problem before I blew something up.
5. The power supply I got had to molex connector tails. One tail had
three connectors and the other had two. The instruction seems fairly
clear that you want to use the two connector on the Extruder
controller and the three molex connector on the 3 driver controllers.
Because of the length of the cables I could not figure out how to do
that in the configuration they say you should use. I moved my X-Axis
controller to the opposite side (in the spot labeled B-Axis). This
allowed my to connect the two connector cable to the Z-Axis and the
Extruder controller and the 3 molex tail to the other three driver
boards.
For some reason my Y-Axis belt is higher than what the instructions
indicate it should be. This was not too much trouble. I just moved the
shiv higher up on the motor arbor. I did this with the Y-Axis
installed and just eyeballed it to where the belt no longer rubbed the
Y-Axis trolley.
These are the things that stood out to me. I hope it helps you.
-- Yepher
On Jun 3, 10:50 am, Douglas Cogan <dco...@pti.com> wrote:
> Yepher,
>
> Well, you've lapped me. Congratulations! I am just now getting my last parts together. I also had my share of setbacks, plus very limited hours to work on it. BTW what was the symptom on the extruder board? I have found the tech support to be very responsive. They sent me some extra bolts I lost (try to get McMaster Carr to do that.)
>
> I coated my hbp with the blue tape as they suggested, but I guess that isn't as good a plan as I thought based on your feedback. . I hope I didn't steer you wrong in letting you know that I went with the HBP instead of the Automated Build Platform.
>
> I'm glad to hear that you have it running and there is light at the end of this tunnel. Any tips on calibration?
>
> -Doug
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: chicago...@googlegroups.com [mailto:chicago...@googlegroups.com]On Behalf Of andres
> Sent: Friday, June 03, 2011 10:15 AM
> To: chicago...@googlegroups.com
> Subject: Re: [chicago-reprap] Re: ToM Build
>
> If you are printing with heated bed on, you can just wait for the bed to cool, that normally allows it to separate easily since the print shrinks. otherwise, there isn't a good way. if you have nothing between your heated bed and the print besides the aluminum heat spreader i don't think a scraper would be a good move.
>
> good work though! welcome to the world of 3d printing! (oh, and most everyone gets that two steps forward one back thing. i've had more steps back than i would like to admit. but at least i'm at where i am now.)
>
> Andres
> Thanks for the earlier advise. On my ToM I ended up going with the ABP
> and 3MM plastic. The assembly went fairly smooth except I had a bad
> Extruder Controller that I had to RMA. I definitely got caught by a
> few gotchas as well and had to take two steps back for each step
> forward a few time.
>
> At this point things are working fairly well. I have printed 2
> calibration cubes and one travel tic-tac-toe board.http://www.thingiverse.com/derivative:9958
> and 3MM plastic. The assembly went fairly smooth except I had a bad
> Extruder Controller that I had to RMA. I definitely got caught by a
> few gotchas as well and had to take two steps back for each step
> forward a few time.
>
> At this point things are working fairly well. I have printed 2
> --
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Chicago 3D Printer Enthusiasts" group.
> To post to this group, send email to chicago...@googlegroups.com.
> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to chicago-repra...@googlegroups.com <mailto:chicago-reprap%2Bunsu...@googlegroups.com> .
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Chicago 3D Printer Enthusiasts" group.
> To post to this group, send email to chicago...@googlegroups.com.
Yepher
Jun 3, 2011, 2:51:22 PM6/3/11
to Chicago 3D Printer Enthusiasts
Andres,
I am using the automated build platform. But I was trying to remove
the raft before it was cool. Maybe I should wait longer before trying
to remove it. I will give it a try.
-- Yepher
I am using the automated build platform. But I was trying to remove
the raft before it was cool. Maybe I should wait longer before trying
to remove it. I will give it a try.
-- Yepher
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