I have completed a successful integration of the E3D Titan extruder using the V6 hotend with the MPCNC with awesome results.
There were quite a few bumps, bruises along the way and this posting will help you evade if not eliminate if you decide to use the E3D hotends with your MPCNC as a 3D printer.
The Titan Extruder
This is by far the most accurate extruder out today… the MK8-10 extruder ideas are great and their direct drive design makes them easy to integrate with any device including the MPCNC, however they all have a common issue. Pathing of the filament from entry to exit.
The Titan extruder kit basically upgrades your current extruder assembly to support ANY and ALL Filament types (of course based on the filament, you will need better hotends etc… due to heat limitations).
Here is a rundown of what you will need:
- Purchase the Titan kit either direct from E3D-Online.com - btw their support rocks, they have run into all types of oddities and they make sure that you are walking away with a fully functional unit.
- Purchase a E3D V6 hotend - stay away from the LITE version, as its not a 100% metal hotend. You can purchase this also from E3D online or Amazon.
You will need to mount using the MK8 mounting bracket and sleeve. I will post some photos of my assembly and possibly a video of the unit running.
Firmware changes:
This is by far the most critical piece. You cannot use the out of box firmware for the MPCNC that Ryan provides. You must make the following changes:
Thermal Settings
Open the configuration.h file using the IDE of choice.
Go to line 229 and change the value from 11 to 5.
#define TEMP_SENSOR_0 5 //MPCNC
The thermistor used on the V6 hotend is the ATC Semitec 104GT-2 (Used in ParCan & J-Head) (4.7k pullup). This is very important for the software to properly align and keep the hotend at the correct temperature during prints.
NOTE: I left it at 11, and I kept seeing very odd lines like as if I had Z issues.
Run the Auto PID tune
You will then need to open your slicer of choice, or tool that allows accessing the firmware console while connected via usb to the printer.
Ensure that the extruder is at its coldest point (its not heated) - should be showing around 14-30c
M303 E0 S200 C8 (click send or press enter)
This will heat the first nozzle (E0), and cycle around the target temperature 8 times (C8) at the given temperature (S200) and return values for P I and D. An example from http://www.soliwiki.com/PID_tuning
Plug those into the values replacing what is there on lines 291-293… mine was:
#define DEFAULT_Kp 17.12 //MPCNC
#define DEFAULT_Ki 1.58 //MPCNC
#define DEFAULT_Kd 46.27 //MPCNC
Movement Settings (steps)
Go to line 759 (yours may vary if you added/removed lines
Comment out the current line for the MPCNC / Ultimaker
change it to the following:
#define DEFAULT_AXIS_STEPS_PER_UNIT {200,200,4535.44,837} // Titan Extruder MPCNC
This is for 200steps Stepper with 32tooth.
NOTE: if you get the 400step/sec Stepper from E3D you will need to double the 837 to 1674
Reduce the acceleration of the retraction - its too high for the gear ratio… reduce from 300 to 1500 on line 764
#define DEFAULT_RETRACT_ACCELERATION 1500 // E acceleration in mm/s^2 for retracts
That is it!
Do a 100mm test using a straw… measure and cut it to 100mm
Place it over the filament and touch the entry point of the tube entering the titan. This is generally 16mm high from the body of the extruder and is fine. We just need to measure distance here.
Mark the end on the filament where the straw ends.
Now heat and extrude 120mm
Once complete, measure and verify you have indeed 20mm before entering the tube. IF NOT, then we need to tweak. With the above settings, I had a perfect measurement.
