OK EZ Robot community, I've been a little absent for the past few weeks and that's because I received My Solidoodle 2 Pro. [Edited out because JStarnes1-XLRobots has sold his with all of the grunt work put in, case and filament.]
After seeing @jstarnes Solidoodle, I was inspired to buy mine and started saving up forgetting entirely about the good old U S of A and the Federal Tax Return. So after putting some money back to do some painting and flooring in the kitchen I had enough for an SD2 Pro and some supplies.
Here it is out of the box, as I got it.
Here it is today.
I started out trying to set it up in my basement. Being in Ohio that was not working out. Simply too cold. So my ever awesome girlfriend suggested setting thing up in the office area of our master bedroom. So that's where we're broadcasting from today and probably for a while. The printer is now connected to my desktop on a good fairly stable stand.
OK Out of the box I had the slightly warped aluminum bed. Exactly like Jstarnes had. But I had already anticipated that so went and got 3 6x6 mirrors encased in cheap plastic frames at Family Dollar or Dollar General for $6. (I always confuse the 2 and they are basically side by side where I ususaly shop. Sorry I can't be more specific.) The frames simply unscrewed and I had my glass beds. (I've still only used 2 of them.) So I added my glass and adjusted the Z screw to lower the bed and then leveled it out. Not being from NYC, I didn't have a Metro card but I am having great luck with the cover torn of zig zag kutcorners cigarette rolling papers. They're under $2 almost everywhere. (Must be 18 or older in the US so, for you youngsters out there, be prepared for some odd looks when you ask mom and dad to get you a pack of these.) [Update 06/24/2014: I've found the instructions insert from Tranformers Construct Bots to be my tool of choice for this now. They are a little flimsy but doable and just a hair thinner.]
Out of the box my spool mount was damaged from shipping so I made a makeshift one to print a replacement. This time I tried just on glass and I couldn't get it to stick. So I added 3M Blue painters tape and it went a little something like this.-635311777718089098.jpg)
That's an in process shot of my first successful print. I used a brim on this one just to help insure the part was usable when it was done. I ended up with this.
Trimmed off the brim and got this.
And installed it like so.
Then I printed a simple scraper.
These were at .3mm with ABS. You'll notice that they look pretty sloppy. My extruder had a lot of wobble in it so I printed a part that was supposed to fix that and as I went to install it I noticed the screws for the teflon blocks that sandwich the bar were very loose so I pushed my teflon blocks where they needed to be, tightened the screws properly and my head wobble was gone.
Next I started having issues with parts sticking. So I got frustrated and switched to PLA. I printed a few things with PLA just to dial the printer in better and do some experimenting.
I printed a few EZBits, Standard Vertical servo backs and arms and the camera shroud. I had to take the case off of my camera to get it inside the shroud. I should have used support material when I printed it so one side is really thin.
I didn't take any picks of the servo pieces because I broke most of them forcing them together. I made these while calibrating the printer so, they weren't the best parts.
I also printed a bumper/mount for my Arduino Uno.
Then I went on to the next post.
Asked
— Edited
So, now we get to printing EZ-Bits. I did all of these at .2mm with ABS.
I made 8 sets of the Vertical Standard servo pieces.
Here is one set on a pair of TowerPro MG995.
You can see they don't fit right. Last night I printed the HD servo Brackets and they fit pretty good.
Taking a cue form EZR and XL, I even opened the stl up in blender and added my little avatar logo.
I've printed a pair of the Standard Horizontal Brackets and some male connectors.
Just some more pics of random EZ Bit stuff I printed. A Blank standard servo is in there. I printed the body and top the glued them together with a little bit of acetone.
But wait, There's more... In the next post.
If it's the one I think you're meaning, it is the connector that joins DJ's body to the arms .... It is in ARC from memory. Select JD as an Example Project and then go into the parts section ... it should be in there.
Cheers,
J
It is THIS one. I can't find it anywhere.
Thanks!
But, of course I have NO idea where to find them.
@josh is correct, they are going to change. I'd like to think that the connector size will remain unaltered though. but yes, they are changeing so I probably wont print any more ez bits until the library update. I do have some more to show off, I just got to take some pics and ,aybe a vid or 2.
could someone just simply upload the file for me?
Thanks!
Load up your ARC Software on your computer.
At the top click Project, then click Design.
That will bring up the Design Screen. Click the triangle next to the Library Manager Button, then select Servos.
Wait for the bits to load and locate Standard servo Swivel. Then click the Little Blue "i" icon. Its underneath the shopping cart icon.
That will bring up the Info Screen. Scroll down to Horizontal Connector Male and click the Save STL Button.
I'm sorry I was calling things by the wrong names. I was at work so I didn't have ARC at hand to verify.
Also if you don't have the servo Swivel, Click the Library Manager Button. Then click Sync Now. it will download all of the current versions into your ez-bit library.
Hope that gets you what you need. Oh, BTW I did have to repair it in netfab before printing it.
Sometimes I can be So Dense and Lame. I have been looking for this little part for almost a year. I pressed EVERY BUTTON. But when I got to the little blue i , I figured it was for information only. Please forgive me for being so Dense. And, Thank You for you for being patient with me.
My printer suffered an injury during a work space re-arrangement and I seem to have bent the shaft on my X motor. I can still get ABS to print with a fan but not very well I'm afraid. Now that the new EZ-Bits are available I've a fire in my pants to get it working again so I can try printing all of those out. I'm moving shop to a now spare bedroom in the next week or so and will take my printer apart to see if I can maybe fix it before ordering a new one.
I pretty much have everything I REALLY wanted to print out initially, printed out so, I haven't been that motivated to mess with it. Especially knowing another work space re-location was going to take place. I'm moving from a carpeted floor to a wooden one. Hopefully that will help with stability. I'm even wondering if moving it may solve my problem since moving it seemed to cause it. I'm just assuming my X motor is bad based on that fact that it seems to wobble and I didn't really notice it before. Then again, I wasn't looking
I still have my 3 legged Six that I have not messed with enough to start a post about it but I hope to get to that soon as well. I just wanted to let EZ-Robot.com and all of my friends and acquaintances here that I'm still alive and with checking the site on about a 3-5 day basis. I've just been busy with summer prep, holidays and family affairs.
My Roli and other parts should only be a month or two away at this point also. My enthusiasm is rising again. With the pre summer honey do list pretty much done, I'm hoping to be getting a little more active on the site again soon.
One thing I also wanted to do, and if someone wants to beat me to it, I'm cool with that, was to make an EZ-Robot version of the "KEEP CALM" poster. "KEEP CALM,(EZR LOGO),THE REVOLUTION,IS ON". I've been bouncing between 3 different computers lately and need to do some centralization/organization so, I've avoided really doing anything of any significance. I know it would only take about 5-10 minutes. I'm really surprised the marketing team hasn't capitalized on this yet.
Also, Congrats to all of you with V4 stuff. I haven't gotten to reading many of the posts or new info about it. I didn't want to get over anxious waiting for mine. In any event, I live, I love and I'll be back
I loaded the Gcode and I found the estimated times fairly accurate (shorter than EPT usually for me) so this is the info from those files. I printed them at 0.2 layer height. The top took about 5 hours with support. (I didn't have a fan then so I think I could cut some time off of that when I get ready to try the new ones out.) The bottom took a little under 3 hours also with support though, not very much.
I hope you find this info of use.
So with the new .stl files being released and yet another work space relocation I've fired up the Solidoodle 2 for the first time in about a month. Here's where I'm at and what I'm doing.
I'm still having an issue that I believe is my x motor but since I've added a fan I've been able to at least finish some prints. They're bad, to say the least and ugly at best but still functional for anything I've been trying. Nothing too detailed obviously.
As I stated above, the new .stl files are out. I milked them all from ARC and ran them through netfab. Only like 4 or 5 of them needed repaired. I also flipped the top shell of the US Ping Senor shroud so it would print the face on the bed and not try to print it as bridges. As I play with them more I will update more on any issues or tips I may come up with.
Right now, I'm trying to print the US Ping shell. I have this white filament that I think may be crappy. It seems to melt at a real low temp. So low that I'm wondering if it may be PLA instead of the ABS I ordered. I'll have to give it an acetone test, something I've also procrastinated on. I've also suspected an issue with my x motor but the problem happened at the same time I switched filament and moved my set up so, I'm not sure just yet. It seems to be printing a little better in it's new home.
I did make the mistake of printing both pieces of the Ping shell at the same time. The larger one curled in a corner a bit but I'm pretty sure i'll be able to finish the print. Next I'll try them separately and see how that goes.
Ultimately, I'm going to have to pull that x motor off and really examine it. I'm just in no hurry to take it apart
Well I'm going to check on that shell now. I'll try to get to another update later this weekend.
[Amendment]
Printing still seems to be going well. About another hour to go. (1hour 45min projected total print time at .2mm, 40% infill, 3 shells all the way around. Before @aislinn asks
When printing parts for your printer, try to print them with filament with a high melting temp. As stated before I have this while that melts real low and I tried using it to make a part that holds my fan and those keep melting about 1 hour into printing. So, I dug up my old blue one and slapped it back on and it seems to be doing fine. I've actually printed the V3 bodies with the one I'm using now and it's only browned out a little. It melted at 210-215 as where the white I have starts to melt at 180-190.
So in short, if you go to print pieces for your printer, especially anything that's going to touch your hot end anywhere, use the filament with the highest melting point. That way when you're printing with your other lower temp filaments, you won't have to worry about your printers parts melting, like it did to me, several times.
I hope this tip helps save some one some time and stress. I wish I didn't have to learn it the hard way but, I did. So, I shared.
[/Amendment]
And now for something completely different.
I'm still using the Repetier that is available from the Solidoodle web site. I tried the newest version when I first got my printer and I couldn't get it to connect so I just stuck with the recommended one. I have updated slic3r and am using the newest version of that.
As per Prev Post, I flipped the top shell of the US Ping Senor shroud so it would print the face on the bed and not try to print it as bridges. I printed these at .2mm resolution, 40% infill, 3 shells for top, sides/walls/perimeters, and bottom.
Being so thin I probably could have just used maybe 5 or 6 shells with 0 infill. I'm not sure if you can use 0 infill. I know you cant use 1 but can use .99 . Something to consider if I ever go to print another one.
Here are the outsides of the Ping Cover. The back is on top and the front is on bottom. You can see the gaps and strands. The jacked upper right corner on the front is where it curled as mentioned before. As you can tell they are a little ugly due to my printer not being in top form but, they work.
Here are the insides. Not too shabby. On the back, there's a little pillar next to the screw holes on the lower left and upper right corners. In the upper right one, you can see one of the areas my printer seems to skip or jerk at.
Next is pictures of it "assembled."
You should be very aware that because my printer has some alignment issues, these prints are no reflection of the designs themselves. They are well designed. So well, that they even fit together and clip into the other bits I've printed. The sensor went right into the front with no problem. Even with my printer having its issues so I can only assume that they would be stellar if someone else, like the XL Robot boys printed them. Good work once again Cory.
This sensor was the first thing I had soldered in probably 20 years so it had a very weak joint on one of the pins. I pulled a wire off of it pulling it through the back so I re-soldered it now that I'm a little better at it and it's all good now. Practice, practice, practice. After I did that, the wires had plenty of but not too much room to get through.
They are only snapped together so, it's not together very well. I didn't screw it shut yet and it did take a little nursing but that's because of the jacked up corner from the curling and my lines aren't strait. But it passed the most important test for me. It woks. That's all I ask. Looking good is great but I'm pretty happy that even though I've already damaged it a little, I'm still getting my use and money back out of my Solidoodle 2. Because the way I see it, every bit I print is one I don't have to buy. $5 saved is about $4.9x earned.
It's going to be pretty hectic for me the next few weeks and I probably should fix my printer so I don't have an agenda right now but, if I end up doing something or think of any tips, tricks, advice or any other 3d printing contribution, I'll share it as soon as I do.