Documentation

Maintaining your Replicator

Here are a few things you can do to help The Replicator keep on happily churning out printed items for a long, long time.

First, some basic Replicator™ maintenance tips from Annelise:

• Replicator Maintenance Watch

This video will demonstrate how to replace the kapton tape on your build platform, clean out the drive gear, and lubricate the rods inside your Replicator.

Replacing your Kapton tape

First, peel off the old tape. Then cut off about eight inches of new tape and fold over about an inch at one end -- this will give you something to hold on to.

Lay one long edge of the tape down the center of the platform and slide a finger along the edge to make it stick. Once you have that center line down, start to push the kapton tape out to the edge of the build platform a little bit at a time, pushing the bubbles away from you as you go.

Your Replicator Accessory Box  came with a tape applicator, which is great at smoothing out the bubbles, but if you haven't got that handy, try using a credit card. Once you've pushed out all the bubbles, trim off the excess tape at the edge of the platform using a scissor or exacto knife. Now repeat the process on the other side to cover the second half of the platform.

You can also patch damaged areas or holes with small pieces of kapton tape.

Lubricating The Replicator™

It is a good idea to regularly lubricate the milled rods. We now offer a PTFE-based grease that works great for your precision rods, as well as the threaded rod on your Z-axis.

Use a clean, lint-free rag (or your finger) to spread out the grease on the rods. Try to spread it as evenly as possible. For the threaded rod, make sure you get the grease inside of the threads themselves. Once your rods are lubed up, feel free to move each axis and see how smoothly your Replicator can function!

Tightening bolts

Some of the bolts that hold The Replicator together can loosen over time.  If you notice that happening, it’s a good idea to tighten them all up.  Grab the proper wrench from the Hex Wrench Kit and tighten them!  Don’t overdo it though — a quarter turn past finger-tight should do it.

Cleaning the drive gear

After a few months of printing, you may start having some extrusion trouble. That probably means it's time to clean the drive gear.

The drive gear is the part of the Stepstruder that pushes filament through the extruder, and eventually it will be clogged by bits of hardened plastic. To clean it, you'll have to open up your Stepstruder.

First, unload the filament from the extruder that's giving you trouble and move it out of the way. Now take a look at the front of the Stepstruder. Unscrew the two bolts at the lower corners of the fan. Remove the fan and set it aside, along with the heatsink and spacers.

Now look at the top of the Stepstruder. There are two bolts in front of the black Stepstruder cable, one right up against the cable and one directly in front of it. Unscrew them both and disconnect the motor cable. You should now be able to pull the stepper motor out of the Stepstruder.

Take a look at the drive gear. You’ll probably see a lot of tiny bits of plastic clogging up the gear. You can clean them out with a brush or a toothpick. Then put your Stepstruder together again and get back to printing.

Replacing the plunger

Another thing that can cause extrusion trouble is the deterioration of the Delrin plunger inside the Stepstruder.

Follow the steps for cleaning the drive gear, above, until you get to the point where you can take the motor out of the Stepstruder. Now unscrew the drive block front, the black plastic plate at the front of the motor.

Underneath it, you'll see the Delrin plunger assembly to one side of the drive gear. Make sure you remember which side the plunger is on; it should always be at the inside -- the side facing the central cable. Now remove it, being careful not to let the plastic and metal washers fall off.

The Delrin plunger is a plastic part that's meant to wear away over time. If your Replicator has seen a fair amount of use, you'll notice a divot being worn into the side of the plunger. If the divot is worn too deep, that's probably the cause of your extrusion problems, and you'll want to replace the plunger. You can also just turn the plunger so that a different side is facing up to be worn down by the filament.

We offer a replacement plunger kit at our store. Keep in mind that, while it comes with four metal washers, the plunger in your MK8 Stepstruder probably only needs two. There are also some Replicators with a single round O-ring instead of two flat ones. The rounded O-ring requires four washers.

Replacing the MK 8 nozzle

If your extrusion troubles aren't solved by cleaning out the drive gear or replacing the delrin plunger, it's possible that your nozzle is clogged. Here's a quick guide to replacing your MK8 nozzle.

Upgrading your firmware

Every once in a while we come out with a new version of the firmware for The Replicator. Uploading the new firmware to your bot will ensure that your bot gets all the latest improvements and operates as smoothly as possible. The most recent firmware released for The Replicator is version 7.0. To check what firmware your bot has now, go to the Info and Settings menu on your bot's LCD panel and select Version Number. If you don't see an Info and Setting menu, you can find Version Number under Utilities -- but we can tell you right now that you will need to upgrade.

Upgrading is pretty easy, and we walk you through the process here.