Category: 3D printing

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Magnetic dual parking extruders reprap I3 Bear with Duet2wifi and sensorless homing

My most recent and probably last build from scratch is the dual carriage I3-based printer as shown in the below picture, in the building phase.  This printer can be used either for 2 colors or for printing with soluble support PVA filament.

I decided to use sensorless homing for this build due to problems when using endstop switches.  When using endstops, problems may come up because f.i.  homing to the left means that the left tool will be parked against the endstop, should you use endstops.  Same on the right hand side when the right hand tool is parked.  I encountered difficulties that the driven sensor carriage in the middle can then get into an unknown state (or position) when both tools (carriages) are in the parked position.

If you home one of both Tools with sensorless homing, the status of the sensor carriage is always automatically known.  So, since the XY position of the center (sensor) carriage is known you can always do a Z-homing at any given X-Y position and you can also do G32 and G29 without the need to carry T0 or T1 along.  And- you can easlily reset an unknown status of the sensor carriage by homing it, either left or right.

Get my build plans and Configuration files for Duet2wifi HERE

The box at the left rear is for the Duet2wifi board.  The 24V fan-regulated power supply is already positioned at the rear,  right side.

The main challenge with this build was to get the settings perfect for the dual tools.

It took me 2 months before I got it to work perftectly for both PLA and/or Petg.

As with my previous dual color dual nozzle builds, the basics is very simple. Just define 2 tools with 2 heaters, 2 temp sensors, 2 fans et cetera.

I already envisioned the approch with the slicer(s): All offsets are done ONLY in firmware, NOT in the slicer! As far as the slicer(s) is/are concerned, the nozzles of Tool0 and 1 are at the same (X0/Y0) offset.

For the Duet, the only addition in the slicer is an M0 command as stop command for the printer.  Define 2 nozzles of 1.75mm without any offset and you’re done in the slicer.

Then, you will need to set everything in your config.g at the tool section like XYZ offset and so on.

I decided to get T0 as reference, and set everything to 0 there. X=0, Y=0 and Z=0.  Then, measure the differences at T1 versus T0 with calipers to start with and inport these values in the T1 toolsection in config.g.

Start a testprint and measure what to amend, take little steps and the metrics are done!

But- the hard part is- as I experienced- to get good prints without blobs and unexpected stringing, both incoming as outgoing (into and out of the printed object(s).  Drying the filament also helps a lot!

In the end, I just took the same approach as with the tool settings: As little as possible retraction settings in the slicer and all except the basic print retractions are now in the configuration files that are called upon Tool changes tpre.g,  tfree.g and tpost.g (for T0 and T1).

This means that you can play with retracting and extruding of filament length and speed directly at, during and after Tool changes.  And- in my experience it is all affected by the type of filament you use and the temperature you are at with the hotend. Also, the fact whether you use a lower temperature during waiting has great impact.

In my experience, you should finetune the config settings for the mentioned settings per object and per type of filament.

Therefore, I decided to used this printer for only 1 goal and make the settings perfect to accomplish this goal.  Right now, I have optimized this printer to print 1) PLA from 123print in the Netherlands, of a specific type and 2) PVA from the same supplier.  This gives me the possibility to print complex objects with soluble supports and it works extremely well at doing this!

PM: I also added LED lights on top of the printer as an integrated feature.  This makes use of a heater pin as GPIO (with a M42  P [pin] S[value intensity]) command), like the solenoids that I use to catch the carriages T0 and T1. To come from the 3.3V and max 1mA from the GPIO pin to the required 24Volts, I used small mosfet boards.  All programming is done in the Duet’s config and macro files, view the below example of my stop.g file which is called from the slicer’s stop setting: M0.

; stop.g
; called when M0 (Stop) is run (e.g. when a print from SD card is cancelled)
; Also called by slicer end gcode by M0
;
M400 ; Finish move queue
M117 Cool down ; Update the LCD screen with “Cool down”
M83 ; Extruder relative mode
G1 E-2 ; Retract filament 2mm for both extruders !!
M106 S255 ; Fan at 100 to cool nozzle and bed
M104 S0 T0 ; Extruder T0 heater off
M104 S0 T1 ; Extruder T1 heater off
M140 S0 ; Bed heater off
G28 X ; Home X
M220 S100 ; Set speed factor back to 100% in case it was changed
M221 S100 ; Set extrusion factor back to 100% in case it was changed
M42 P4 S0 ; Magnet T0 off
M42 P5 S0 ; Magnet T1 off
M104 S41 T0 ; set extruder T0 to cool down
M104 S41 T1 ; set extruder T1 to cool down
;M568 R41:41 S41:41 ; set standby and active temperatures for tools 0 and 1 (or single M568 T0 R41 S41)
M116 ; wait for Tools actions as specified in above M568 instructions
G90 ; Absolute positioning
G1 Y200 ; to get objects removed easier, move bed forward
M106 P0 S0 ; Fan L object T0 off
M106 P2 S0 ; Fan R object T1 off
G28 X ; Home X
M84 ; Steppers off
M98 P/sys/ledflash.g; Perform execution of ledflash.g in specified directory
M42 P6 S0.008 ; Led light setting almost OFF
M117 Jantec=done! ; Update the LCD screen with “Jantec=done!”

G1 X5 Y5 ; Move to corner
M140 S{print_bed_temperature} ; Set bed temp
T1 ; Select extruder 1 (or 0 depending on how your printer is set up)
M104 S{print_temperature} ; Set extruder temp
M116; Wait for temperatures

 

Please donate $1 to my paypal account if you use (parts of) my developed materials so I can continue to share nice stuff for you to download

 

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Our 3d printers, managed by OCTOPI and Duet Web Controller

Above: Our Dual Bear I3 dual color 3d printer with independant carriages, this one does not run octopi and is remotely managed by Duet Web Control (DWC).

Above: The Voron 2.4, dimensions 300x300x220 mm

Prusa Bear I3plus with mods like dual Z axis control. This printer runs Duet and  DWC.

 

Kingroon Kp3S heavily modded with new firmware and tool fan. This printer runs with Octopi for remote management.

 

Twotrees Sapphire PRO with new firmware, also with octopi.

 

Voron 2.4 for Nylon and ABS printing, with external exhaust and 300+ degC printhead, bed up to 150 degC.  Also runs octopi.

 

Prusa i3 mini original, the production monster for PETG. Also on octopi.

 

And the Twotrees Sapphire pro, our perfect printer for fast production, also on octopi.

 

And the multicolour completely rebuilt Geeetech A30M dual head printer with a new Duet2Wifi motherboard, dual Chimera heatblock and direct drive extruders.  This one runs Duet with DWC instead of Octopi.

 

 

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Our 3d printers, managed by OCTOPI OR Duet’s web-based app

Above: Our Dual Bear I3 dual color 3d printer with independant carriages, remotely managed by DUET’s webinterface

The Octopi solution works with a Raspberry PI, and on it the Octopi firmware.  The device you set up on your wifi and you connect it to your 3d printer’s USB. Then you have a web interface on the Raspberry’s IP address that allows you to manage all the things about your connected printer.  All the settings like temperature, mesh, and basically anything else you can manage through a local LCD.  And- you can upload your jobs to the raspberry and start/manage and adjust temperature and such.  What I really like is that you can connect a raspberry camera and follow your jobs.

The Duet I find in use and possibilities more pleasant. because in addition to everything that the octopi can, you can also modify the system files online.  And printer updates can do, directly in the firmware.  Moreover, you do not need a separate box because the Duet2wifi already has everything on board.

The disadvantage is that you can’t attach a camera to the Duet. There is a possibility em an IP camera to integrate into the DWC, Duet’s web based remote app.  And such a wifi IP camera is easy to make yourself with a cheap esp unit.

 

Above: The Voron 2.4, dimensions 300x300x220 mm

Prusa Bear I3plus with mods dual Z axis control

 

Kingroon Kp3S heavily modded with new firmware and tool fan

 

Twotrees Sapphire PRO with new firmware

 

Voron 2.4 for Nylon and ABS printing, with external exhaust and 300+ degC printhead, bed up to 150 degC

 

Prusa i3 mini original, the production monster for PETG

 

And the Twotrees Sapphire pro, our perfect printer for fast production

 

And the multicolour completely rebuilt Geeetech A30M dual head printer with a new Duet2Wifi motherboard, dual Chimera heatblock and direct drive extruders

 

 

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VORON 2.4 20″x20″x20″ and DUET2WIFI

Get the documentation, specs, config.g, macros and build docs

LEES IN HET NEDERLANDS

After my succesfull buildproject of a Voron 2.4 3d printer in the fall of 2020, I still wanted a really big 3d printer with a print surface of over 20x20x20 inch.

My Voron 300x300x300mm build plate size

Imagine to have a print of more than double the size compared to the below picture!

During the build and at using the Voron 2.4 printer, I found the documentation on the hardware build really excellent.  But, the electronics part was scattered around several places, and although the Klipper implementation is very good I have experienced that the combination of 2 SKR 1.4 turbo motherboards with an Octopi controller does not provide enough operational stability to me. And- I feel the need to control more settings than I can do with the Klipper solution.  I think I probably am just more into the Duet and the reprap solution than the Klipper one, due to previous positive Duet – and MKS reprap experiences.

In a couple of previous builds I used a Duet2wifi, and I also experienced the add-ons for Duet2 like driver boards, PT100 boards and more hardware that is also very well implemented in the new RRF3+ firmware.

Duet wifi board , used for my dual head setup I3bear-based with sensorless homing

Reasons enough for me to choose the Duet2 and the 5-ports expansion board , or possibly an additional Duex board for my new to build Voron 2.4 ‘big 3d printer’.

At this page, I will share my progess on this build.

I have all required hardware laying around and since I already built a Voron 2.4, I will first focus on the electronics.  For the hardware, I still need the plexiglass sides, top and front doors.  I  do have all extrusion, bed, bed heater 230V, linear rails, all printed parts and so on, neatly stored at home.

So, I am setting up the electronics to know beforehand that everything works well.  I don’t want to start building the hardware and find out afterwards that my Duet2wifi will not do the job I want it to do.

Yesterday (October 4th,2020) I put the electronics and config.g together. I used:

  • Duet2wifi board with 24V PSU and 4.3 inch TFT/LCD
  • 5-port expansion board with 4 plug-in 2209 drivers V3.0
  • Z-switch mechanical
  • X-and Y end switches (hall-effect)
  • Hotend 24V with NTC connected including tool’s fan (I am missing the PT100’s interface board, have ordered one but I did this before so should be no problemo)
  • Hotbed simulated with another hotend including NTC
  • Stepper motors connected to X(0),Y(1) and 1 x  stepper on the expansion board Z(5) (Driver5)

The Duet2wifi board is a Chinese MKS clone with electronics version 1.02 which works fine.  The expansion board is also a Chinese one, but this is a bare-bone  implementation of the 5-ports driver add-on board that comes without drivers.  the nice thing about this add-on board is that drivers can be plugged in directly.

The Duet2 came with firmware 2.1 installed.  To get to FFR3.1, you must first install 3.0 and after this, you can move to 3.1…  be aware!

After updating the paneldue and the Duet2wifi board, I activated the wifi and put the ssid and PW in. (This procedure goes via USB between PC and Duet, using a terminal emulator like YAT)  This is a bit tiresome but given the security you get from it, I feel it is OK.

The settings that are needed to get the Chinese expension board to work are not too difficult.  Add the Z-drives, and change some other settings. On top of this page, you can download the latest doc with all info I have, and a direct download to the adapted config and macros is available in the documentation.

The rest of the build including photos will be here later!

Update 3-2021: I recently built 2 other 3d printers using Duet2wifi boards: a cartesian I3 with independent extruders and a Delta 2GS.  Not much time to work on the big Voron.  I also just rebuilt my Geetech A30M  (330x330x400mm build size) from the smartto board to Duet2wifi, Check ik out on this site!

I will probably not build the big Voron 3d printer after all,  and if I don’t, I will rebuild my existing Voron 2.4 300×300 from Klipper, octopi and 2x SKR1.4 to Duet2wifi+Duex.  That will be interesting and achievable.

Since I am currently running 10 different 3d printers, my space is getting cramped in the house. I don’t want to expand into another room.  One should be enough. Having more printers gives me the best possible fit of a specific  filament type per printer.

The Voron is due to its perfect prints with ABS really only used for/with ABS or nylon.

The I3Bear dual carriage works best with dual PLA or PLA&PVA.

The Prusa mini works perfect with PETG

The I3Bear solo goes perfect with PETG or PLA.

The A30M & its mixing extruder goes perfect with PLA and/or PETG

And so on….

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3d applications – self-folding materials

3D printing became a hot item around 2016,  and quite a few 3d printing machines have been sold over the years.  But, at some point it seems that the use for products from these machines has faded away.

Due to the availability of 3D printers and the fact that these printers are getting better and are producing prints with better quality as they evolve over time, more applications have been developed.

In this article I will sum up a couple of these new areas in which 3D printing became a driver for new developments, which are sometimes just scratching the surface of possible future developments.

  1. Dental products.  For over 40 years , dentists are using Services from laboratories to produce Ceramic protheses for teeth.  The base for this is a mould, taken from the patient.  I recall that this was indeed not a very pleasant process for the patient.  This process was time consuming and it required also some adjusting and fine-tuning at delivering the protheses at the right place.   Currently all dentists are either producing the protheses themselves or use online deliveries that are mostly available with a production- and delivery time of less than 4 hours.  the process starts with a 3d-scan from the patient’s mouth, compared with (if available) older pictures and/or X-rays.  All is fed into a normal PC, and the software makes the 3d print data.  After that, printing the protheses is quite simple with the new ceramic printable filaments. Placing the protheses with UV-herdening glue means that someday we will be able to do this at home. Although the prepping of the place to put the protheses will still be done by a dentist, I presume.
  2. Technical parts.  For many tehnological industries the availability of 3D printers has made it possible to have faster development processes of new parts and applications,  You can think of modeling new tools,  household objects, cars and -parts, and so on.  Since new materials can be printed like aluminium, copper, gold, silver and carbon much is possible. After the developments has produced a complete product, mass-production can start and for this, the 3D design files can be handed over to make the work easy.nn In this way both time and money is saved.
  3. Art.  Maybe not the most obvious development yet, but lately I ran into some artists whom actually used 3D printing in most expressive ways, as art may do.  If you check the internet for this, some interstingexamples can be found.
  4. Medical developments.  Since 2017, a new development achieved the ability for 3D printed parts to shrink and expand, based on the printed structure.  Read this article about self-folding materials
  5. Fun printing. Many hobbyists are printing 3D objects just for fun.  To add-on applications to their 3D printer, build new ones or print household applications.

 

 

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K40 lasercutter

My Chinese lasercutter which I bought back in 2014 has been upgraded over the years.  As many others do, I got the cooling system for the laser tube inside the casing, added some LED lights inside and also added an air pump for the laser head.

All in all the machine works fine now but the relatively small working area remains the bottleneck for using this machine for real interesting projects.

Mid-2020 I used the laser cutter for a couple of projects where I needed series of cut acrylic.  The machine handled this flawlessly, but I did put it outside to prevent any smoke from entering our home.

I do have some ideas about upgrading the machine with a larger workspace and put the electronics and water cooling system in a seperate housing.  No materials are needed for this, except 3 linear rails and some aluminium profiles.  But- (status May-2021)  I will start this project only if there is some work to be done with the machine since it is already working fine as it is, although the workspace is limited.

I use Inkscape (freeware) for making designs in SVG and import these .SVG files in K40whisperer (also freeware) which then  can send the required Gcode to the K40 lasercutter. This all works very well and fast, you don’t need a fast computer for this.  I use a 10 year old dedicated HP laptop for this.

In future use I want to make this lasercutter use the same board as I am using with my big LED laser cutter, so I can use GRBL on both.

As you probably know, a K40 or any other CO2 lasercutter can cut a specific kind of materials while a common LED lasercutter can cut other kind of materials better, due to the used kind of light on both which differ in wavelenghts.

The CO2 cutter can cut acrylic easily and the LED laser cutter can’t.

The LED cutter requires some sort of substance in the to be cut material to work properly.

Be aware that the security goggles you need also are specific for either macine.

The original driver board of the K40 CO2 lasercutter
First cut on a piece of tripledeck 4mm multiplex for my clock pieces
The clock’s interior and stand pieces, wood and acrylic. Both cut on the K40
The inside of the K40’s work space with the debree on the bottom. The air hose is green silicon. Also added an emergency cutoff switch for the laser tube. open the hood and the power stops.
The electronics and water cooling on the Right hand side of the K40’s housing. The air cooled radiators are just out of sight to the most right hand side of the housing, 3 pieces of 40x40mm
The acrylic cut for the clock, done in 1 time. This is 3 mm thick.
The thermostatic control of the coolant pump, taken out of its case to set the working temperatures
My solution for the cutting bed was to use an old footboard maze and I welded 4 nuts in it with long bolts that act as feet. This makes it possible to adjust the height 1x for optimum focussing the laser in the center of the to be cut material.