It's printing – finally

[RobertKuhlmann]

Hi Quentin,

it took another two weekends to start a real print finally. But Morgan has finished its first print today.

You can see it working on youtube:

[Quentin Harley]

That is great news. It is a great feeling when you see everything come together for the first time.

Print those new motor brackets and belt clips next…

Congrats!
Q

[RobertKuhlmann]

After crashing my electronics with my heated bed I decided to use Traumflug’s SevenSwitch to power my 13A heated bed (6 Min from 21°C to 110°C) and it works like charm.
My heated bed, covered with Kapton and prepared with hairspray and powered to 110°C gives the best results untilnow.

I modified Marlin to output the calibration data with more precision (8 digits, instead of 2). But on the long run I’ll use Teacup as firmware, rather than Marlin. Have to transfer the Scara calculations to Teacup for that.

But first I’ll have to print new Morgan parts (as Quentin proposed) to get even better print results.

[Whiskey]

Hi Robert …
240°C ? WOW – you are printing ABS right ?
try to “melt” some ABS-Filament (only a few Centimeter) into some Acetone and coating the printingbed with that (not realy sure if Kapton resist! -I print on a IKEA mirror…)

PLA works perfect for me with Hairspray (the strong -5- and cheap one from Rossmann) OR with the “ABS-Soup”, also (it was just a try and surprise suprise – work like glue on the glas 😉 )

[RobertKuhlmann]

Hi Whiskey,

the Kapton is safe up to 350°C. I use hairspray on Kapton as an abherant, because the ABS sticks to the Kapton surface very good – sometimes too good. Driving the heated bed with 120°C turns out to be a good choice for ABS, reducing warping (I’m using SevenSwitch for that, using a self constructed 12V/13A bed (look at RepRap-Wiki: http://www.reprap.org/wiki/Robert%27s_Heated_Bed).

I’ve modified my Morgan for more precision (the first prints weren’t very precise though). I’m using the clamps for the belt now an have fixed my X-and Y-axis steppers solid to the platform (using stuff I had around here instead of new self printed motor mounts, that weren’t usable at all).

Important thing was to fill in the gap between threaded rods and bearings: So I finally found out what the “tightening kone” was intended for. But I’m using standard thread sealing PTFE string for that purpose.

And I’m a real fan of Quentin’s SDS-drill-Z-axis drive. The drills aren’t very cheap here, but app. 7€/pcs. is acceptable and it’s so nice to have a fast Y-axis that works with very good precision as well.

I didn’t use the motor-mounts I was printing in the video, because I didn’t have M3 x 50mm at hand and the print stopped before the higher mount was finished. But I’ve replaced their function by some metal struttigs, reducing their backlash to a (non visual) minimum.

I will try to give Teacup a Morgan-extension now.

[RobertKuhlmann]

I’m still not very happy with the precision of my Morgan. Using the drive-belt-clips already and having the motors mounted perfectly on the base, there are still wobbles along some printed routes. I’ll have to rework the pole I think and check the screws and bearings of the arms.

Update from the bed-front:
I’m using an 18A-variant (216 Watt at 12V) of my heated bed (driven with Traumflug’s SevenSwitch of course) at 130°C. Works very good. I just have to be careful not to pull up the prints to early. The bed has to cool down after printing, because otherwise the Kapton can stick to the print, because at 130°C the Kapton-adhesive looses its strength (getting it back after colling down).

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