3D Printer - Rostock MAX v3

3D Printer - Rostock MAX v3
Name	Rostock MAX v3 3D Printer
Zone	Fab Lab
Owner	Paul Frick
Make Model	SeeMeCNC Rostock MAX
Part Number	v3
Date Acquired
Storage Location	South bench
Authorization Required	No
Status	Down
Value	1500
Power Requirements	120VAC 7A
Documentation
Other References

Intro

Printer is in a probably working state, please document and report any errors encountered.

• For some reason the bed leveling calibration does not work at this time. Manual Z-height adjustment required.
• Printer firmware is in single extruder mode, use extruder T0 (rear-most extruder, on the left if looking at the two extruders).

Rules

• Please have some basic understanding of 3D printers and/or read the manual before use.
• Please donate $0.10 per cubic centimeter or per gram of ABS (or $0.20 per cubic centimeter or per gram of PETG), whether or not the print succeeded.

• If anything breaks or you think something broke, let me or the zone coordinator know via slack or email list, as I'd rather know I need to fix something than find out next I go to print.

Instructions

General Use

On a convenient computer...

• Somehow convert file to STL format
• Open CURA
• File->Clear platform
• File->Load model file
• Check that infill, perimeters, etc. are set the way you want.
• At the top of the CURA window, there is a readout of how much filament will be consumed, both in linear meters and in cubic centimeters. Since ABS has a density roughly equal to 1 gm/cm^3, you can assume that your print will be roughly this much plastic in grams. Plan payment accordingly.
• File->Save gcode (it has already been generated while you weren't looking)
• Copy the gcode file you just saved to the Rostock SD card

On the printer itself...

• Put the SD card into the Rostock (on the clear LCD panel)
• Turn the printer on via the power switch next to the display (just to the right on of the display)
• Select file to print, printer will start automatically
• Note that the fan on the moving platform will turn on and off automatically; you do not have to do anything special to make sure it does.
• Wait impatiently for your print to finish.
• Wait some more.
• And a little more.
• Once the print is done, wait for the bed to reach ~40C, and forcefully pry the print off the bed with your hands. DO NOT USE A METAL SCRAPER--THE BED IS GLASS. If needed, rotate the six blue clips out of the way and remove the glass, please put the glass back after removing your print. I've found that placing the removed bed in an acetone bath helps dissolve the remaining purple glue stick, use at your own risk and note this was only tested on PLA, your results may vary.
• USE PURPLE GLUE STICK IF NEEDED FOR BETTER PRINT ADHESION
• Toss the recommended donation based on the final mass of your print (based on the scale, not the CURA readout) into the bin labeled for the purpose.

CURA Settings

Printer Settings

• DeltaBot
• Bed X-dir = 280mm
• Bed Y-dir = 280mm
• Height = 360mm

Settings as of CURA 15.04.3

• Layer height: 0.2mm
• Shell Thickness: 1.4mm
• Enable Retraction: Yes

• Bottom/Top Thickness: 1.4mm

• Print Speed: 40mm/s (30mm/s to 50mm/s work best)
• Travel Speed: 300mm/s

• Filament Diameter: 1.75mm (Assuming Inland PLA)
• Nozzle Size: 0.7mm

• COOLING FAN SPEED: <50%, 25% FOR BEST UNATTENDED RESULTS

Leave all others default.

Error Recovery

• If anything goes wrong with the print, turn off the machine with its power switch.
• Please do contribute to the filament fund for the mass you did end up with.
• Take notes (and pictures!) on what failed, and send them to Amelia Meyer or Paul Frick.

Filament Change

• If you want to change the filament that is in the machine, set the Extruder temperature to 230C through the machine's LCD interface, and wait for it to heat up.
• Hold the red lever on the extruder down, and firmly pull up on the filament, drawing it up and out of the hotend and Bowden cable.
• Neatly spool up the filament back onto its source spool, lock the end into the spool side, and grab the new spool.
• Feed the filament through the top plate of the machine, and into the extruder--make sure to hold down the red lever on the extruder.
• Once you have the filament in the Bowden cable, keep pushing the filament through until you see filament of the new color extruded out of the hotend.
• Go print!

PLA Settings

• Hot End: 210C
• Bed: 60C

Use Purple glue stick as needed for adhesion.

ABS Settings

• Hot End: 240C
• Bed: 80C

Use Purple glue stick as needed for adhesion. Also prayer and incantations work to keep ABS from warping.

PETG Settings

• Hot End: 250C
• Bed: 70C

If in doubt, check http://seemecnc.com.

IMPORTANT INFO THAT NEEDS TO BE PUT SOMEWHERE

I've discovered a 'def' error that results from the part fans (the three little fans around the nozzle) cooling the bed faster than it can heat, which makes the printer controller think there's an error somewhere which causes it to go into safe mode. I have not yet figured a permanent solution to this, so right now the best course of action is to either monitor the print and adjust the fan speed via the menu settings if the bed starts to cool down during the print, or else set Max fan speed to 25% in the gcode via cura or any other slicer you may prefer. Any troubleshooting or advice on this matter would be greatly appreciated.

The printer currently has a dual extruder setup through the single print nozzle. Last I checked the firmware was setup to support this, so anyone who knows how to print with dual extruders can try it, just set the slicer so that both extruders are in the same location. The printer extrudes filament through a y-splitter and can retract past the y-splitter to swap filaments. Of course, both filaments will need to have a similar melt profile. Also note that the extruders are labeled incorrectly; T0 is actually extruder 1, and T1 is actually extruder 0.

Troubleshooting

Common errors and issues:

• Printer homes in wrong direction (down instead of up): check for SD card corruption, replace with known good card and rerun calibration. If problem persists, contact zone coordinator and reflash firmware of knowledge of how to reflash firmware is present.

• Extruder stops extruding during print and temperature display says "def" in either or both of the thermal zones: see "def" section above. Printer is in a default mode and must be power cycled. Common causes of the "def" issue are failure of the thermal monitoring system (the thermistors broke or got disconnected) or abnormal temperature readings (the temperature isn't going up even though more current is being pumped into the heater). The former issue is a hardware fault and the zone coordinator should be contacted. The latter issue has been commonly caused by the part fans (the three downward facing fans around the nozzle) running at too high a speed and cooling the bed faster than it can be heated. Also happens more often during the winter. To correct this latter issue run fans at no more than 25% speed (set manually or in slicer) during the winter or when concerns exist, user can also monitor temperatures and manually adjust fan speeds and bed temperature to stabilize bed temperature at set point.

• Extruder is under-extruding (prints are weak and brittle because plastic beads aren't making contact with adjacent beads, print looks like a sponge): check nozzle diameter settings, nozzle probably set too large in slicer.

• Filament is making popping/sizzling noises during print and print now has a lot of little holes in it: check filament print temperature range, lower extruder temperature closer to minimum print temperature. Also check room humidity, close the door, and if still unsolved dry the filament in a dry box or through baking.

• If the machine makes an ear-piercing screech when you turn it on, that means the SD card is bad.

Maintenance Info

• Needs unclogging or nozzle replacement.

ToDo

• Troubleshoot calibration issue, G29 command causes hang and code crash