How to get better results from your 3D printer – Upgrading Hardware
Z-Rider by Twotimes
The last post dealt with ways to get better print results from your 3D printer through hardware calibration. The suggestions and comments were easily the best part of that post, so keep them coming! As before, some of these tips are more important to the Cupcake, but they’re all considerations when trying to get the best possible prints from your robot.
- Upgrade Hardware.
- Make or buy a good feed system for your filament. Some people use baskets suspended from the ceiling, coils sitting on lazy suzans, or filament spindle boxes. I used a DIY filament spindle for about nine months before switching a filament spindle box. The elimination of tangles was dramatic. A simple tangle can completely screw up a print job by stopping plastic extrusion or yanking the Z stage or entire robot out of whack. The investment in a good trouble free filament spindle box will make sure you can walk away from your 3D printer with peace of mind.
- Whether you get a filament box or make your own, definitely get a “feeding tube” for the plastic.
- Cupcake: There have been many Z axis cranks, but the original by Zaggo is still my favorite. This was the first printable 3D printer upgrade of which I really took note.
- Cupcake: If you’re upgrading from a basic Cupcake CNC kit, the most important upgrade you can get IMHO is definitely moving to the MK5 Plastruder. This single upgrade will make your life easier than you can imagine.
- Cupcake: Source, print, assemble, and install Twotimes’ XY lowrider for quieter and smoother printing.
- Cupcake: Upgrade to the Automated Build Platform or source, print, assemble, and install the Pfierce Robotic Build Platform by Chooch for flatter and automated printing from a heated build platform.
- Cupcake: Source, print, assemble, and install the epic Z axis riders by Twotimes or TheRuttmeister for smoother printing and less Z wobble.
- Cupcake: Source, print, assemble, and install the Zydac’s Z Axis Extender Kit or the Pfierce Z-axis extenders by Chooch for extra build height.
What am I leaving out? How would you upgrade your hardware?
How to get better results from your 3D printer
- How to get better results from your 3D printer – Calibrating Hardware
- How to get better results from your 3D printer – Upgrading Hardware
- How to get better results from your 3D printer – Calibrating Software
- How to get better results from your 3D printer – Maintenance
- How to get better results from your 3D printer – Abrasion
- How to get better results from your 3D printer – Heat
- How to get better results from your 3D printer – Coating
| Tagged with | calibrate, calibration, hardware, hardware calibration, improve, improving print, makerbot, print quality, quality | 14 comments |
14 Comments so far
Twotimes
Crap, this really means I need to finish the instructions and parts list on the Z-rider.
MakerBlock
@Twotimes: Peer pressure, eh?
Twotimes
Hey, peer pressure works wonders!
Twotimes
Almost as good as work deadlines.
tmophoto
pololu stepper driver really should be added to the list. it made my bot at least 70% quieter, havent noticed much of an improvement in resolution (it was really good before) but having a quiet printer is one of the best upgrades that i have made.
tmophoto
the fan on the power supply is the loudest thing on my cupcake now when printing.
tmophoto
and it frees up some makerbot stepper driver boards for stepper extruder experimenting. or you can sell them. the stepper extruder is the holy grail of cupcake upgrades
coasterman
If there are improvements like a Z-Rider on that list, definetely add microstepping drivers (which I am still trying to figure out how to acquire and set up).
Twotimes
coasterman, talk to Rob Giseburt about his PSMD (I would add the link but the last time I did that in the blog it threw me in moderation land) thing 4526.
Just search PSMD in the thingiverse search menu.
A agree with tmophoto, having a bot you can sit 2 feet from and not only do work but have a phone converstion without the other person hearing it is awesome!
tmophoto
should have posted a link
micro stepping pololu 3 axis board.
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4526
all the info needed to get it running and where to buy them can be found there.
i actually have mine running on 2 o fthe three on the board (x/y axis) and the makerbot stepper running the z axis.
Dennis Beifus
I have had some experience with rapid prototyping and I must say that I am impressed with your product. I have been using high-end CADD systems for a number of years and I would prefer to use the CADD system for the design of the parts and for output to the 3D printer. Would I require a post processor to translate the CADD data to the machine language for the 3D printer? I am currently using Solid Edge CADD software. The industry standard file I have been using is .stl Stereolithography. I am more interested in doing some more serious protoyping rather than making toys etc. Thank you.
hybot
@Dennis
The standard software tools, ReplicatorG and Skeinforge, operate on STL files, so you’re all set. I’m currently using an econo-CAD (TurboCAD), though I’m impressed with what you can do very quickly in Google sketch-up. Some people use Blender or OpenSCAD. In short, anything with which you can produce good STL should work just fine.
ReplicatorG is free, open source, and has an easy, intuitive interface to operate the printer and scale or translate your objects. Skeinforge is used to crunch the STL into gcode, a standard machine code used by CNC systems since forever. ReplicatorG comes bundled with Skeinforge, and the printer assembly instructions have download links and install instructions; over all the software setup is pretty easy.
MakerBlock
One thing I forgot to add to that post is that it’s a good idea to experiment a little with build surfaces. Printing on blue tape, acrylic, PET belts, blue tape covered acrylic, blue tape covered PET belts, there are a lot of combinations.
How to get better results from your 3D printer – Part III - MakerBot Industries
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