There’s also a good chance I’ll mess it up with the finish and have to cut it again. 
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I’m seeing this front plate and I see your dilemma. I think I will try to find some black steel countersunk screws for these parts.
I’m terribly excited. I hope I can convince my son we should work on this this weekend.
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Red fingernail polish on the screw heads?
I found some 6-32 countersunk screws at a local ace. They were $0.44/ea. Which kind of makes me mad, but I don’t know why.
I got the countersink depth perfect for them:
I tried using polycrylic on a piece of scrap and the India ink was running. I decided to try spray, non wax shellac. It works great:
They should sell it with the ink.
I’m thinking I’ll go over it with some matte polycrylic and get rid of the shiny.
The M5 nylocks are $0.99 each, it infuriated me and two old dudes in the hardware isle sympathized, they were trying to get some washers they didn’t remember the size they needed so they had to buy a bunch and were off the handle pissed at the prices. Now I know why so many people want to just buy my hardware.
Those screws are stealth mode, super nice, and those parts look great.
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I found some good ones on amazon. $181 for 10,000 of them. Oh well.
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I made some progress over the weekend. Luckily, my son has really been enjoying the build, so I’ve been able to work on it while he’s awake, which is a lot of time!
So to summarize the work I did on the frame parts:
- 1:10 ratio wood glue to water mixture. two coats, quick sand in between.
- heavy coat of india ink
- CNC!
- touch up india ink
- shellac spray. I don’t know how many coats, they dry in about 5 minutes, so I just sprayed many times
- water based polyeurethane
That’s more than I wanted to do, and honestly, the grain isn’t really showing up anymore. Part of the issue is the BB isn’t very figured, and part of it is because the ink is so black and part of it is because the finish is so glossy. I do really like the look, but it’s not was I was aiming for. But I do like it:
I’ll get a picture out of the dungeon when it’s all finished. The black has the texture of the wood (you can see and feel the fibers a little) but it is really hard to see the grain patterns. Anyways, that’s drowned out by the high contrast between the black and the edges. I really like it, and I’m very happy that it’s not MDF.
Henry and I had a great time building the frame. These parts are really satisfying to assemble. This 3/8" plywood is really ~10mm and that’s the perfect size (IMO). The 3/4" screws go right to the end of my locknuts if I really cinch them down. I am using Z motors with integrated leadscrews, and the M3 socket caps look like this:
Ryan was nice enough to countersink the Z mount screws though, so I grabbed some M3 black countersink screws I had (I have no idea where I got them):
The speed plate looks great. I countersunk the screws, although I’m not going to see them as soon as the build plate is installed. I will have to print a picture of it next to the printer to remind me how great it looks.
That’s the frame. I mentioned this earlier, but I plan on making the Heffe plate later. I want to build in a space underneath it for the controller and power supply. I also have a few versions of components I’m trying out. That’s the best part of this printer, you can pretty easily make it yours. From that perspective, it’s done. It’s a canvas ready for my engineering art.
Another big thanks to Ryan for creating a second revision of this printer. I know the MPCNC is your bread and butter so I appreciate the time and soul you put into the MP3DP (and the Low Rider).
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On the components side, I have trinamic 2130 drivers, and a 3D touch (bl touch knockoff) sensor. I have a E3D v6 (titan?) kit I also bought from alibaba. I have some cheap integrated ramps replacement board for a controller. That’s the desired components. But there are some problems I have to solve before those end up on the printer. I didn’t install any endstops though, because I plan on using the trinamic endstop capabilities and the Z probe.
I have the MK8 from my V1 on there, and it’s looking good. I just need a mount for the z probe. If I’m going through the CAD steps though, I’d rather also get the v6 mounted. So, options.
w.r.t. the touch sensor, it needs a servo output and the board I have got rid of them for some reason, so I have to solve that problem too. I might have the first version without an LCD and that might be permanent (I use octoprint almost exclusively anyway).
w.r.t. the heatbed, I’m using the MK3 one I bought for my v1 from the shop. I’m adding PEI and I’m not installing springs. I am going to go crazy and try this three screw method that Ryan says works. I am debating countersinking the screws. Just for looks.
Then comes wire management, which I won’t tackle until I’m at least printing something. I’d like to try the tape measure trick, at least from the X carriage to the X motor. More CAD needed. There’s not much room between the X carriage and the frame, so it will need to be precise to not get in the way.
Current state:
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I wish I had done a really detailed change log. It looks super similar but I changed everything. Made me realize I need to do it for the new lowrider. Can’t wait to see what you think vs the previous version.
Thanks for the update and kind words. I really like following along and all the ways you make it yours (you can order black anodized pulleys now, couplers as well but you don’t need them) .
I have some 12AWG wire I want to replace the wire on my mk3 bed with. Just to make it longer, really. The solder that’s keeping the existing wires in place is not going anywhere with my normal delicate soldering settings. I’m sure the 12"x12" chunk of aluminum has something to do with it, but I got to thinking that maybe it’s some high temperature solder or something. Does anyone know anything about that? I can get it off, but I don’t want to use the wrong solder when I’m attaching my new wires. I could solder new wires to the end, or use an XT60 connector to extend it, but that’s a little bit of a hack.
I think it is just the giant heat sink it is on. Do you have two irons to gang up on it with?
I’ll just microwave it
My soldering station has a rework heatgun, so I can attack it with that too. I’m pretty sure I can get it up to temp, and I could probably put the whole thing in the oven to warm it up a little too. I think this is my station:
Oh fancy, my friend recommended the yihua 968db+ (looks exactly like this, https://amzn.to/2I79UyH)
Best money I have ever spent on electronics. I use it all the time, before I would just twist stuff because of the hassle. No more lighters on shrink wrap even.
It’s alive! It’s printing a test cube! It’s not “finished” but I did manage to get the E3D v6/Titan extruder mounted and the BL Touch sensor mounted. After I did that, it became obvious that at least the X axis wire management was required. I even went for the tape measure trick on the X axis, and I think it’s going to work well.
I printed some clips for the 8mm rods because the TMC2130s are finding home, and this helps me set where that is. I set it so the BL touch is just barely on the bed on that side.
I printed a mount for the tape measure in two parts. One that connects between the X motor and the x motor mount. And one that connects to the top of the extruder strap. They are separate parts, not modified original parts, but I think they are good enough!
The control board I’m using (I can never remember the name… Let’s see it’s a “Makerboard model Pro”?) uses JST-XHT connectors, not the dupont style. Everything I have is for the dupont style connectors, and they aren’t quite compatible. I have some of the right connectors coming from amazon tomorrow. I’ve been having trouble with the Y axis sometimes not moving, and I think that’s the reason. The first cube print stopped with a “driver error” of some kind from the TMCs, so I will wait until I get those connectors to print again. The motor connectors, the endstops, the temperature sensors all use those connectors. I am also using some smooth idlers I stole from my ZXY (sorry buddy) and I am missing one LM8UU in the X carriage. So I have a few parts to swap out when all of that gets in.
I haven’t attached my PEI sheet yet. I want to get the software about right first. I don’t want to dig into my nice, new PEI sheet because I haven’t calibrated the Z yet…
I’m really happy though. I actually printed something today, so I’m calling today it’s birthday. The frame is much stronger than my 1/4" MDF of the first one (and I can’t tell, but I think the new design is stronger too). The BL touch sensor can reach the whole bed, so I want to experiment making something that really stretches out to all corners. I’ve only used inductive sensors before, so I’m excited to have this one measure the top of the PEI instead of something in the plate. It’s also much quieter, although that’s not my main concern, I won’t be able to hear this from the living room like I can my wanhao. The extruder fan is definitely the loudest part.
I uploaded a video of the two printers printing. I will also load one of it homing, because I thin it’s cool. I should also get the 3D parts I made up on TV before I lose them.
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Happy birthday!
Looks great, the tape measure thing is awesome. I am going to be using it a lot more often as well.
OOOOHHHH, that could be awesome!
Aargh. I am having lots of troubles with XY motion. I’m pretty sure it’s caused by my 2130s. I’m either going to pull them out, or switch to bug fix 2.0 to see if that helps.
[attachment file=59913]
There are soooo many settings for those things.
when I first turn the printer on, I home, which works fine for X and Y, then it tries to move the platform to measure Z in the middle (I’m probing). 1/2 times or so it won’t move forward.
Then, during a print, I was seeing a lot of overheat warnings, and so I put a huge fan on it. The overheat warnings went away and it printed pretty much the same. I was convinced it was the connectors, but I replaced them all and it’s printing about the same. Grumble grumble…