CoreXY Build - update 9

I added the other belt after having to reprint the carriage because I broke it trying to cram some m3 nuts into their slots that were a little too small :-)

I added the proximity do-hicky as well and apart from the fan I now have everything attached to the carriage. I'll need to trim the belts but will wait until the end to do it.

I'm still waiting on stepper motors and the ramps board, pei sheet and will have to order the power supply next friday, so things are still a ways off being ready for printing.

As the Hypercube "BOM" on thingiverse said, order the short v6, it turned out to be the wrong one and it has since changed to the correct, long one, so I'm also waiting on the new one to arrive.

I printed the Ramps holder and it seemed to print with some issues on the bottom of the tabs where they didnt print properly. I've been noticing a lot of small issues like this with the latest update to S3D recently!? ok edit: it seems I should have looked at the file in S3D a bit closer it was designed that way so I take it back :-)

I'm posting a lot of these pictures so if you are also making this and find your way here then you'll have a series of reference photos you can use if you, like me, get stuck sometimes wondering which is the best orientation for a part. I'm not saying this is the best way to do it, just consider it a starting point.

CoreXY Build - update 8

Some small progress on the printer, I got one of the belts on the printer temporarily, to make sure things lined up and I'm happy to say the top belt does at least.

I also fitted the spool holder with some 8mm threaded rod and my over designed spool holder which screws together and spins on a couple of bearings.

Maybe red isnt the colour for this but it wasnt made for this printer and it will do until my ocd can't take it any more lol.

Made this spool holder in Fusion 360 for some fun and I got carried away and took it all too seriously. Also the reason I went into our local Hardware store Bunnings for some 8mm wing nuts.

Some Led self adhesive lighting strips now fitted. It costs way too much, but getting some cheap ones from China would have taken too long and I need lighting to see what I'm doing while building the printer and I will need it later so I bit the bullet while at Bunnings buying some wing nuts.

CoreXY Build - update 7

I redesigned the end of the bed support at the front as the original one had only one bolt hole.

I also had to shorten the Z axis bearing / bed frame holder by 25.4 mm as the bed plate holder at the rear had no where to bolt on to.

STL for the front of the bed.
STL for the rear Z Axis

The photo wouldnt focus but I'm trying to show the new M3 pan head bolts stting lower than the stupid ones I ordered, some allan keyed ones that sit way too high above the build plate.

I wanted some counter sunk ones but when conglomerates that run shopping centres buy up hardware stores you end up with huge stores that no longer sell hardware like they used to, and you no longer get much of a choice. 

And then they all whine that we are spending all our money overseas, via the internet!

Final build size is 220 mm x 220 mm x 230 mm the same as my i3. 

Which is 8.6 inches x 8.6 inches x 9.05 inches

I was hoping the Z axis was going to be a bit bigger but in reality I've only ever got close to using the full Z height a couple of times...........and all I have to do is to buy longer 2020 to make it larger, so not really a problem.

The lengths of 2020 that were cut for this build were:-

Z Axis = 4 x 500 mm

X Axis = 4 x 380 mm

Y Axis = 4 x 320 mm

Were I to rebuild or buy some more 2020 in the future, I'd add 10 or 20 mm to the Y Axis, so it was 330/340 mm for some additional clearance from the Z axis holders at the rear as well as some peace of mind. In hindsight I would consider adding another 10/20mm to the X as well. 

Suggestions in the comments if you know.

I need to find out about how to set it up so it knows home will be a set distance away from the bed, so to be clear, when the extruder is at its home position it will be about 25mm away from the bed in X. Where do I enter this information in firmware so it knows this?

The X Axis gives me room at "home position" so the hot end sits off the bed at rest and allows room to clear the nozzle.

I havent yet fitted the end stops so I'm still not certain of anything until that is done.

edit: The end stops showed up today and for reasons not yet clear 9 of them showed up lol Bangood said they were out of stock on some items so I cancelled that order and ordered some more, then they turned around and said they were ready to send the same items a few days later, so who knows what going on with them.

I could have assembled the printer in the lounge room on my little coffee table or on my kitchen table but both are covered in stuff that I didnt want to move just yet ;-D

CoreXY Build - update 6

Working on the print bed frame.

A lot of farting around getting the bits of 2020 lined up with the Z Axis and associated bearings.

I need to get rid of the self centring Z nut I printed, its not something I'm happy with. It was worth a try and maybe another style would work better or might be better off printed in pla rather than petg, I just don't know. I might just go back to the metal one I have as it can't be any worse than this lol.

Resting the 220mm x 220mm ali plate on the frame to see what sort of area I have to print with.

Looks like minimum 240mm Z height and over 220 X wide but depth Y is harder to guage but will be 220 or maybe 215mm I wont know until the build progresses a little further.

edit:- I just checked the Y axis and it will make and or excceed 220 mm so "everything is coming up Milhouse" Woo Hoo.

I'll be sticking a thin sheet of PEI onto the aluminium plate and hoping the proximity switch will still work through it. I'm guessing it will as the sheet is only about 1mm thick. If it doesnt then I'm going to get a BL Touch or clone to use instead.

So glad I extended the Z bed bearing prints as it makes the cantilever a lot stronger.

CoreXY Build - update 5

Just some minor additions today and a realisation that the new idler holders I enlarged to accomodate the new larger toothed idler bearings might be out of allignment with everything because of it. I have most of this now drawn up in 3ds Max so I'll have to go into the file and check the alignment sometime in the next few days.

New idler holder

edit:- Ok I went back into 3ds Max and adjusted the XY_Joiners so now all the idlers and Joiners should line up........................Should, because I only just started printing them :-) Looks good, in the viewport in software ;-D

I finally got around to reworking the Z axis bed holders and am a lot happier with them than the original ones. I adapted one of the remixes already uploaded to Thingiverse.

I also printed a self centering nut for the Z stepper and Threaded rod. I might go back to what I was using as a place holder as this thing doesnt seem self centering at all it wobbles! lol

Not that it really matters but these photos show the older version of the Z axis brass nut. I've since flipped it so it now points down 180 degrees and inserted into the plastic. Asthetics more than anything, it doesnt clash or crash into anything.

Added the spool holder today. This photo shows the brass Z nut refitted 180 degrees.

Printed the bowden driver housing thingy but it had to be in a different colour as I wasnt sure I had enough of the other blue left to finish it.

The last few days I've made a comedy of silly trivial errors and today thinking I didn't have any M5 x 10mm screws I drove all the way to the industrial centre to get some, completely forgetting I had a bag of them here already Face palm! The ones I had here were the kind that use a Allen key type of driver and I guess I'm happy that the new ones are Philips instead. It's also the type that a slotted screwdriver will fit, so messing about looking for the elusive Allen keys won't be an issue. ;-D

As stuff ordered from China takes ages to reach me and I'd been informed that some of the stuff wasn't available, so I was forced to order them from Aliexpress instead, then a few days later Banggood says they're on their way despite asking me what I wanted to do "Get a refund etc"

and I told them yes give me a refund. Several days later they had charged me and were shipping regardless ???? so I have a few spares on their way.

This has all caused a little confusion and I ordered some more ptfe tube not realising it was one of the items "on a slow boat from China" so even more spares....... lol. These things were like $2.00 to $5.00 so not a huge life changing problem but I'm starting to question the possiblity that I'm slowly spiralling into early onset alzheimer's lol

CoreXY Build - update 4

Got some more bits printed and added them to the frame for position testing.

The bottom rails will now drop down to the level of the Z stepper motor. I havent measured the final Z height that I'll be able to print, but some where between 200 amd 250 mm I think and hope.

The coupler is just a place holder for the time being and I have no idea which way the lead screw will go and if I have it upside down or not. I'll simply pick the way that gives me the most room.

I ordered 400mm acme? rod and if I have to I'll simply cut the excess off later on when the height has been established.

I think I'll be encolsing the printer with perspex eventually but because of its cost its a long way off.

I need to order some more 2020 for the print bed frame (Supplier is out of stock of course) and still havent decided on what is going to drive all this. Will it be the ramps setup as Tech2c did or something a little more exotic. My finances are screaming at me so no points for guessing the out come of this lol

edit:- On a whim I decided to back a new board that met my price range not expecting it to meet its goals...................and boy could I have been less wrong and the one I ordered will arrive sometime in January. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1245051645/re-arm-for-ramps-simple-32-bit-upgrade

I'll be fitting the ramps until this arrives I guess!?

I might need to buy a new power supply as well as the one I have lying around here might not be up to snuff. It had trouble reaching 12 v output last time I tried it and don't want to risk it.

edit: Apparently I threw it out, so the point is mute :-) edit:- Ordered the one posted by Tech2c BOM on Thingiverse

A few things are on order and still on their way, like the heat bed, stepper motors (The ones on here are place holders).

Next pay I need to order two more stepper motors and likely a power supply.

I still need to sort out the bowden drive as well and havent really ordered any bits for it yet. edit turns out I did actually order some bits and pieces for it.

Well I still havent finished printing for it so back to it I guess.

CoreXY Build - update 3

I had some LM8UU Bearings here but had ordered some more just to be sure and I'm amazed at the fluctuation in sizes you get with them as well as the 8mm smooth rod.

The smooth rods are all different sizes and while it's by a tiny amount when you add in the LMUU bearings you get a wide range of fittings.

The rods varied from 8.02 to 8.07 so I tried 17 of the bearings on every rod matching up each bearing to each rod to find a fit that didnt grind. I know they are cheap chinese things and should take this into account but it is still surprising me. I'm going to research the performance some of the Ingus drylin bearings.

edit:- I ordered some of the drylin bearings and boy they arent cheap I put them on the x axis but wont be able to really test them until the rest of the items I need to get this thing up and running arrive.

After clamping the bearings into their housing on the X axiz also causes them to become missaligned and to not run smoothly at all. Yikes!

I'm still waiting on some of the small nuts and bolts to arrive and am using some 35mm one I had here already to test everything.

Finally got the X Axis to run smoother.