Suggested Maintenance and upgrades

[Chris Fastie]

The MakerBot Replicator 1 printers owned by Public Lab have a couple of vulnerabilities:

1. A voltage regulator on the motherboard is subject to failing and destroying the motherboard.  Authentic replacement motherboards are getting hard to find and cost several hundred dollars. Clone motherboards are easier to find but might require some modifications to other printer components.  The voltage regulator is cheap to replace, but requires desoldering and soldering on the motherboard. This upgrade has been done to about six of the 10 Public Lab Replicators (one example). If you are using one of the other four, get in touch. The probability that your motherboard will fry is unknown, but many think it is high.
2. The x-axis idler pulley that turns every time the extruders move left or right (x-axis) must be lubricated with silicone grease after every 50 hours of use. The black plastic pulley spins on a steel axle and will wear away the plastic if lubrication is inadequate. When the plastic wears it exposes abrasive fibers which grab the axle and start to spin it. The spinning axle then wears into the plastic x-end bracket and destroys it. The recommended lubricant is Super-Lube which is easy to buy. Even though I regularly lubricated my pulley, the grease always turned black, suggesting that the plastic was wearing anyway. So I replaced the pulley with an aftermarket ball-bearing pulley for $18.  Very smooth.
   
3. The filament feeding mechanism at the extruder eventually stops feeding filament properly. In the OEM design, a Delrin plunger pushes the filament against a toothed wheel which digs into the filament and pulls it along. The Delrin plunger soon wears away and stops pushing hard enough to engage the teeth so the rate at which filament is fed into the extruder varies and eventually becomes inadequate. A completely new design is available which works really well. I called Makerbot (347 334-6801) and they sent me the replacement parts for free. Dan called them and they charged him. There is a discussion in this thread. Some of the Replicators received by Public Lab had this upgrade already. If yours did not, and you are interested in making consistently good prints, this upgrade is essential.
4. The four horizontal rods which the extruders ride on (two x and two y) should be lubricated every 50 hours with Super Lube silicone grease.

There are a few other things, but it is pretty important to be aware of the four above. Get in touch if you want to figure out how to address these issues.

Chris

[Chris Fastie]

This is another upgrade (modification) that some would consider essential. The connector which brings power and data to the heated build plate is inadequate for the power required. The four data lines are fine, but the two power lines (red and black) often burn up. This can start a fire. If your heated build plate does not heat up, this might be why. Here is an easy fix:

The two power lines (red and black) are permanently soldered to the pins. The connector remains in use for the other four lines.

From Jetguy: "What he did was unlock them in the sockets and MOVE them over 2 positions leaving the excess empty 2 positions on the end. Hint, the little metal tabs in the holes are what locks them in."

From this post: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/3dprintertipstricksreviews/L0RVLfLsQpQ

Chris

[Chris Fastie]

There is more information about the fix of the build plate connector in this thread: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/flashforge/83UnLIMGX_Y