Had a great time upgrading my lr2 to lr3. Successful LR2 to LR3 Upgrade in Seattle! Didn’t really get a ton of use out of the lr3, (plans…) but had fun tinkering and adding the pendant, Peter’s fenders etc. Bought Ryan’s lr3-LR4 upgrade kit.
Ran the calilantern calibrations (other thread Calilantern Experiences (for LR3->LR4 upgrade) ). Printed the core (10 hours on Elegoo Neptune 4) and other parts in Elegoo PLA Pro which claims to be more rigid than their normal PLA. Printing the braces in PLA on my old printer in parallel.
Cut the LR4 struts diagonally. Something was off though, the core was tilting during the cuts, but they came out well enough (holes seem accurate, test fits OK on a brace.)
Not shown: I converted the svg files from the strut generator to dxf with Inkscape, which was how I made Fusion 360 import them so I could separate, rotate 45 degrees and test fit them, and exported 2 files. I can post them here if desired when I get home. I use EstlCam 12 for generating the gcode.
This is the universe telling me that it’s a good time to upgrade: upon teardown I discovered my LR3 Core has two delaminations! I won’t be using that “metallic” pla again. Explains the tilting weirdness.
Teardown complete. Ryan’s table design will hopefully not need adjustment for the LR4 other than a new thicc Y rail. Bought 1" EMT conduit. Next is assembly. Sounds like the Core assembly instructions will be out any second now. (edit: refreshed, and there they are! Woohoo)
Looking great! When I took my LR3 apart, my core was still solid and good, but my nylock nuts on the tool mount holes had lost their ability to lock, so instead of nylock they were nynot. Obviously, I am not reusing those! LOL
Good point, after reusing them for two generations of lowriders, I’ll definitely check that they still “lock”! Maybe locktite for the important ones…after I Google to see if pla is compatible with blue locktite!
Good progress tonight, couple tiny tips: my biggest “pain” was getting the Z stepper motor wires through the “tunnel of love.” I had to feed a solid core wire in, wrap it around the end, and pull it back through, which worked fine. It’s probably because I have my motor wires twisted. Oh, and remove any little zip ties you have on your stepper motor wires, or they will bind up or prevent the other wires from sliding through.
Looking good! Tomorrow I’ll do the other side. At first I thought I didn’t print the other “front” wheel, but realized it looks different and only has 1 ball bearing. Taking my time to let the excellent instructions roll out…
I have not ever printed TPU. I also had some ANCIENT flexible filament, I think I got off Kickstarter, Zen Toolworks which doesn’t seem to exist any more. I guess it’s TPU.
Took my PLA profile, halved max volumetric speed and disabled retraction. Set temp to 230 and bed temp to 50. Used glue stick on textured PEI bed, apparently it bonds to the bed extremely well…
It is a bit tricky to load since it’s so slippery, and the spool is heavy and new. But it worked!
Finished the other “cheek.” Getting the last Z motor wires through was tough, but the solid core wire “fish tape” trick worked again. Not sure why its such a tight fit, seems like it is the connector squeezing through (wires relatively loose when it’s pulled through.) Love the internal wire routing!
To protect the microswitch levers, I prop up that side on the nice soft bundled belts. Somehow during disassembly of the lr3 I lost a lever, so had to order a new sack of switches.
Total labor so far about 2 ish hours, not counting teardown of the lr3.
I am intrigued by the two piece Z axis connectors. Excited to see how that all goes together, considering that was my most problematic axis for lr2 and lr3.
Next, the Core, and probably cut the EMT to length. I peeked ahead and the filament, uh, “nut cages” are brilliant!
Thanks, me too! It is Elegoo PLA Pro 'Burgundy Red." I accidentally also ordered their PETG Pro of the same color, which I’ll save for something else…
1 spool was enough for the core and misc parts other than braces and y clips.
Before I cut my x rail conduit to length, I’m wondering if I go with what the calculator says for a 48" width (54.625"), or if I should measure based on my existing table.
The center of my old rail to the center of the other track is 56.5". This was for the 48" cutting width for the LR3.
Edit: hmm, I see the calculator says 59.375 table width, for the default width rails. Edge to edge, my table is 62" wide. So I’m probably good, just need a little longer rails.
“Given a table x inches wide, my X rails should be X - 4.75 inches” seems right and the calculator agrees. 57.25 it is.
I’d try to get where it fits your existing table. I think the calculator spits out a table width for you, and if that’s off by some amount, you could then redo the cuttable width and go again until the table width matches your own. ?
PS: I think it will give you a table width that goes from the outside of the printed braces (and tensioners) on the Y rail side, to the printed tensioners on the non-rail side.
Yes, I agree, and it’ll be easier to make the pipes shorter than lengthen them. I’ll start with 57.25, it seems. Thanks Doug!
P. S. Apologies to users of the superior metric system. Notice my tape measure has metric markings too, so I’m semi reformed!( I do my CAD designs in metric, of course, I’m not a monster!)
Core complete. I was confused that there were 5 nuts pictured, but only 4 nut holes for the tool mount, maybe it could say “insert the 4 tool mount nuts.” Love the filament nut retainers. Then I was a little confused (didn’t look at the pics closely enough) where to run the end stop wire and ended up clipping it and resoldering 3 times. After I realized I had also installed it on the wrong side, I assume for overachievers that want an x max stop? Or like things backwards. Cool to have options! Neat that the top tension is adjustable.
I did a lot of prep-work before cutting my EMT and making my gantry, but tonight I got my rail side YZ plate assembly in place… and I am afraid I may have made my gantry too short, by about 10 or so mm. Sigh. I’m not certain yet, but looking at it. Will know more soon.
Yes, there are some of us that like to swap X and Y axes to have the design work in landscape mode instead of portrait mode, and that requires homing to the other side of the gantry!
Ryan was so kind and generous in considering all these outlier type uses and if it could be accommodated in a reasonable way that did not decrease rigidity, he worked it in. So now, what used to be non-standard and required a remix, is now just a variant on standard.
to dxf with Inkscape, which was how I made Fusion 360 import them so I could separate, rotate 45 degrees and test fit them, and exported 2 files. I can post them here if desired when I get home. I use EstlCam 12 for generating the gcode.
I’ll start with 57.25, it seems. Thanks Doug!