YAAB (Yet another Aussie build)

Greetings,
Several years ago I purchased a chinese 3018 “engraver”. Build quality was terrible, I spent more time fixing it than using it. Now the motor clamp has broken due to very poor 3D printed part. As mine is a clone, even the X axis rails are not spaced as per the original open source standard.
My choice was either spend $100 to but a new Z axis setup, or…
I am in the process of printing the core, it should be finished tonight. I already have a Ramps 1.4 board and display, a Ryobi trim router and several 3D printers.
My out of pocket will be the motors, hardware, belts and bearings. I will have a better quality machine for about the same money.

It will be a slow build, as money allows. For now, print, print, print.
Thanks for having me aboard.
Cheers
Chris

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Welcome, always good to see another Aussie around.

Good to see another Aussie tackling this. I’ll be keen to watch along.

We could have a convention! :smiley:

I started trial assembly of what parts I have, I found 1/2 a tube of 6082RS that was left over from previous projects, I grabbed a 4 pack of M8x40 bolts and lock nuts from Bunnings, just as a trial, I will bulk buy the rest. I fitted the M8 bolts into all the holes as a test, I had no problems with the holes that had a shoulder on one side, I think they are for the cross braces, but the 4 holes for the embedded bearings for the Z axis, I had to put the 8mm drill bit through them to get the bolt to fit. Is this a common thing, or do I have dimensional accuracy issues? I printed the advanced test piece, the 140 and 150mm pieces checked out to 0.4mm and the 8mm drill was a snug fit (but the shank went in) in the test holes. Same story with the M5 holes.
Should I worry?
Cheers
Chris

After watching Eli Works’ video on core assembly (https://youtu.be/PABOe8LUJkU) I am relieved to find out that I am not alone. His 4 trapped bearings needed to be persuaded to “drop” into where they needed to be, and he had the same issue with those bolt holes.
Well that is a relief.
Just keep printing.
Here is the result so far.


Chris

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Oh this build is testing my patience. After a flying start, I was down to printing the 2 trucks and 2 mirrored trucks. First time, power failure 15% into the build. Second time, ran out of filament at 76% and the filament out sensor on my CR10 V2 failed to trigger, so it printed about 20mm of air before I found it. Then last night I got home, expecting it to be finished, and the Raspberry Pi running octoprint had frozen with the print at 91%
A fresh install onto a new microsd card and I am trying once again, but only 2 trucks at a time. I will prevail.

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Ouch! I guess I could have saved DAYS(!)if I hadn’t printed my Lowrider bits more than one at a time, but I believe in a kind of reverse Murphy’s Law - if you plan for things to go wrong they probably won’t! :rofl:. (A year later I’m almost done! All the best with the next round!

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Well I have finally had time to start assembling my Primo.


Hopefully I will be making chips soon.

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I now have it under control of the Ramps 1.4 board. I can move it X, Y and Z.
The belts are way looser than I honestly expected, but they are working reliably. I still have to set the drive current and clean up my cable management.
What is the procedure for drawing a crown, does one download the file, place it on an SD card and load from there?
I honestly was never expecting to get to this stage, I often start a project with the best of intentions, full of enthusiasm, then it peters out and I don’t finish it. Probably a touch of ADD if I am honest.
Thanks for bearing with me.
This is exciting!

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Well I sort of answered my own question. I have generated the file with Estlcam and will try the plot tomorrow night after work.

That is a rare but of self truth right there. Glad you hopped aboard anyway. I think it is fun just to get this far.

Before you try your own crown gcode, start with the premade .gcode file here: test crown. That is the gold standard to ring out your machine. You can put that on an SD card and put it in the screen, then “print” it.

After that, you can make the same file using estlcam basics. That isn’t a test of your machine, it is a test of your estlcam setup.

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