Bondtech upgrade for Rep2

[TobyCWood]

This thing is the best upgrade I've done since the alucarriage. Easily... the VERY best feeder upgrade!!

I can do TPU at the same speed as PLA! Major increase in overall print quality from an aluminum idler arm. It has the dual hobbed gear. You need to contact them if you want to buy it, it's not in their product pages. MAJOR thumbs up!!

[Ryan Carlyle]

What cooling bar is that? Does it come with the upgrade?

[TobyCWood]

Yeah the cooling block is provided. It's deeper hence you need longer screws. I wonder if more Aluminum means better cooling? I would assume it does. It sure prints a heckofalot better. It also shifts the print area in the Y axis.

BTW... it is also a bolt on upgrade for the CR1 as well. Works GREAT! The CR1's feeder always seemed to fade over time. I think it may be the tiny idler arm Carl used as well as the need for a lot of sprung pressure. The Bondtech eliminated all the issues and the cooling block provides a spot for a downward fan mount. I'm not too sure how many of these Martin has so ya better HURRY!

[ScottWells3D]

Awesome - been waiting for that. thanks!

[jmpr...@gmail.com]

On Tuesday, October 31, 2017 at 2:33:16 PM UTC-4, TobyCWood wrote:

 I'm not too sure how many of these Martin has so ya better HURRY!

Well he's got 2 less now...

[ScottWells3D]

And -2 more!

[TobyCWood]

No doubt they will sell quite a bit more after my review on the 3D Printing Today podcast.

On Saturday, November 18, 2017 at 11:44:08 AM UTC-8, ScottWells3D wrote:

And -2 more!

[David Celento: DigiFabLab]

Toby: can you identify all the upgrades involved in your photo. Looking to simply get the R2 to print reliably so I can produce some stuff with it!

(Ologies if you have already done this somewhere else and I missed it. I have not been very active latelyon the list, as you all might have noticed!)

~Dave

[TobyCWood]

The extruder carriage and the Y ends are from Carl Raffle. The cantilevered z arms and the heated build plate are Bottleworks. Both suppliers are no longer in biz. Sorry.

[David Celento: DigiFabLab]

Thx!

Is the hot end stuff stock MBI and the extrude Bondtech?

[jmpr...@gmail.com]

I also have the Raffle carriage and Y ends. Fargo 3D also makes a version of these but as I don't own them I can't comment if they are of similar quality. The carriage allows using higher temp filaments. The Y ends for me solved a surprising amount of rod flex. My Replicator 2 just turned 5 years old and is probably still my most reliable printer.

[TobyCWood]

The pictured Rep2 was given to me in pieces. Totally ruined by it's previous owner and rebuilt by me. New MB, all new extruder parts, it came with all the Raffle upgrades and the bottle works bed though. Prior to the Bondtech it had problems with some PLAs and it needed oil to get a reliable extrusion. No longer. 

[makerbotman]

Ok, got one last week. Very happy with it so far, now to try some TPU, is NinjaFlex the one to try?

I posted a STL of the blower fan mount I created to make it all work.

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2757686

[TobyCWood]

Ninjaflex is a bit softer then most tpu but I bet it works fine. Start out at a much slower speed.

[jmpr...@gmail.com]

I finally got around to installing this. It was more complicated than I expected. First I have the V1 version of the Raffle carriage where the tolerances weren't as good as his later stuff and the block was extremely tight. Second the downward cooling fan is sitting higher which means 2 things, one the stock duct doesn't fit anymore and I lose a fair bit of y because the fan hits the -y part of the frame. What have people done to deal with the cooling fan issues?

[makerbotman]

My mount for the fan will lower the downward fan as much as possible. I'd like it to be another 2-3 mm lower, but it's limited by the carriage. Also it centers the blower duct on the nozzle.

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2757686

I'm not sure about the y issue, you may need to limit your Y travel a couple of mm.

On Sunday, January 21, 2018 at 5:59:19 PM UTC-8, jmpr...@gmail.com wrote:

[TobyCWood]

Keep in mind the replacement mounts for the downward fans are wider in the X axis then the OEM(that includes makerbotman's). That changes where the duct ends under the hot block... It puts it off to the left. It also can effect the carriage at startup if your starting code puts the hot end off the plate on the forward left corner so that the hot end drips off the plate before priming. The bolt on the fan will crash into the casing. Making this mount this thick is really not needed nor is the added weight of threaded metal inserts.

On Sunday, January 21, 2018 at 5:59:19 PM UTC-8, jmpr...@gmail.com wrote:

[makerbotman]

Your correct, I remixed this from a fat part, so I'll trim mine up. Looks like I'm 1.3mm thicker than stock. Apologies for that.

I didn't mind the 1.32g (.05oz) weight delta for having threaded inserts, but if I remove the threaded inserts, I can get the blower lower.

Thanks for the feedback. 

[makerbotman]

I updated the design to be same effective thickness as the OEM part, 8.5mm. Removed the threaded inserts to allow the blower (and duct) to mount lower. Should be much better now.

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2757686

[TobyCWood]

Cool I will give it a try.

[makerbotman]

I just uploaded a v3 to the same thing #, (terrible revision control, I know) couple of minor tweaks. 

I'm still using V2, the fixes are not worth the time to reprint.

[ScottWells3D]

I've been very busy the past several months and am just now getting a chance to install the Bondtech upgrades on my Replicator based CXY machines. I have a question & I apologize if Ive missed something obvious: I'm installing on a Replicator 2 style set up. the nut at the top of the melt tube as I have it installed (which I believe is standard) interferes with installing the extruder stepper motor with the upgrade (see attached image). How did you guys have yours set up to do the upgrade? the instructions are for the 2X, so that part of the set up is different.

Thanks

Scott

[chrono144]

I don't have a rep2 but don't your put the nut on the bottom, towards the hotend?

[Joseph Chiu (Toybuilder)]

You can do it either way, but, yeah, in some cases you need to move the nut to the bottom to avoid interference.  It forces the head lower by a little bit.

ᐧ

[ScottWells3D]

Thanks guys.

 It has a nut on either side of the cool block by default.

 I wrote to Martin & he told me to just remove the top nut. There is a recess in the bottom of his extruder housing that's too small for the nut, but the top of the melt tube will fit in it, I just need to figure out if I need to lower it some.

I haven't used my FDM printers in quiet a while (basically since getting the Form2), actually excited to melt some plastic again :-)

[TobyCWood]

Nut has to be underneath. The bt feeder has to sit flush on the bt cold block.

[Gian Pablo]

Stay tuned for more news from Martin: a threaded cooling block for the Rep2x, Tecto style.

[chrono144]

Whaaaat!
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