Interesting. Can you link me the pdf? I don't see it on Mutley3D's site.

 

Higher voltage allows for faster acceleration, and higher speeds (speed will be limited on how fast your controller can pump out the steps to the driver though).

Have you tried these guys? Don't be afraid of larger companies. If they won't sell to you in small volume, make up a company name and see if you can get samples (I can't tell you the number of times I've done that with success). You don't have to get into specifics. Just say "Hello. I'm working for company so-and-so, and I'm looking for Garolite or a similar material for an upcoming project. Can I get some samples from you?" If they start getting nosey, just tell them you can't discuss the details at this time as it's a very sensitive topic. That will get them to back off pretty quick.

 

That's pretty interesting that it's FR4. That would explain the grain that I see mentioned, and why you can't use caustic chemicals with it (isopropyl alcohol is used as a thinning agent for epoxy resin). FR4 is pretty dimensionally stable, but it's really not what I would consider flat when compared to glass or cast tooling plate (which is ground flat).

Also interesting for you @Argentum Fox is that FR4 and Garolite are the same thing (Garolite usually comes in more colors than FR4). If you can't find a ready source of Garolite, then you may be able to find FR4. Also, depending on your build plate size and weight, you may be able to use some moderately thick high quality plywood. It's pretty stiff and light, but you need to keep the humidity in the room under control or it may warp on you.

 

Yeah, they were a little spend, but they fit the bill, and also fit with the bolt on mantra. What's nice about getting them from Miami is that you can get them any length you want. At this point, $70 was a drop in the bucket compared to the $700+ I dropped in the OB store!

 

Well, I'm not particularly thrilled with Uberclock (US distributor for Smoothie). It took them 4 days to get my order to the USPS drop site, and I'm sure that's only because I prodded them yesterday with an email asking what the deal was (they didn't actually reply to my email). Hopefully this is a limited occurrence. My Smoothieboard x5 should be in my grubby little mitts by Wednesday.

 

No display at this point. I'm just going to be running the machine through Reptier Host, mainly because it's what I'm familiar with (I have a laptop in my garage that sits next to the workbench where the printer will live). Once I get the machine in a happy state, I may start looking into the ethernet connection option to see how that all works.

 

A little. I said I would get pictures, and I will Last week got a little busy. I'll post an update once I get home tonight.

 

So, I've been really terrible with getting pictures posted, as well as finding time and motivation to continue working on it.

Well, I got it moving under its own steam tonight! Still need to tweak a few things electrically, like changing the Y and Z motor direction, fixing the extruder motor wiring (no movement), and checking the output for the heatbed SSR. I would have done that tonight, but it was getting late.

Here it is on its current state:



Other than fixing the above issues, all I need to finish are the end stops.

 

Fixed the directions on the axes and the output for the heated bed. The extruder channel seems to be not functioning properly though, and I'm not sure why just yet. The extruder is on the epsilon channel (channel 5), as gamma and delta are running the Z-axis (if you don't know, Smoothieware labels their axes alpha, beta, gamma, delta, epsilon as this can be used on machines that don't conform to the cartesian format, like delta printers). I have changed the step, enable, and direction pin assignment for the first extruder to point to that channel, but all it seems to do when you tell it to move is just shake the stepper. It doesn't turn, but just oscillates back and forth. The motor is fine (tested on a working channel, and the current is set to what it needs to be (it's a small Nema17 pancake motor rated for 1A). I've tried it with another motor too, and I get the same results. Hopefully the driver isn't damaged.

I think I'm going to wire up a quick DRV8825 breakout board to connect to the pin headers on the Smoothieboard to see if I cooked the driver somehow. Don't know how I would have done that, as it never worked from the start. It's possible it was defective, but who knows.

 

PEI is just like glass when it comes to releasing parts, but it doesn't need prep for ABS. Just print and go. You don't need to mush the first layer into it as bas as you normally would. It's far more durable than most build surfaces like Buildtak, but leaves a glass smooth bottom surface.

I stick mine down with a 3M adhesive, but I've seen others clip it on like glass.

It's a little more pricey, but I think it's worth it

 

The PEI that I have purchased so far has been in thicker (about 1mm) sheets and are as tough as nails. You can clip this down with binder clips like you would for glass. This was the sheet I purchased for this printer:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0086AMWLG/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

And the adhesive (if you want to use it):

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007Y7D5NQ/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

The extruder motor started working last night. I have no idea what happened to change the situation from the day before, but all I did was remove the board from the wall to inspect the solder joints for the stepper connector to make sure all 4 connections were correct. There were no problems, but it started working once I put it all back together. It's really infuriating when you have no idea how you fixed something.

I did find out that the fan that I bought for print cooling (40x20mm fan) is a piece of crap. Ran for all of about 30 seconds, then died. I'm not even going to bother dealing with the vendor, as I don't want another of the same fan. Ordered a high quality Sunon replacement that will be here next week.