Ebay SINTRON Kossel Mini full kit

nevermind all those messages I seem to have fixed it . I'll post details when I know for sure. man what a hassle..

Hi guys,
Does anybody use Simplify3D? After watching this I thought worth trying it out, but unfortunately they do not provide trial version, one should trust them and just buy.
It's interesting your opinion...

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Levon
Hi guys,
Does anybody use Simplify3D? After watching this I thought worth trying it out, but unfortunately they do not provide trial version, one should trust them and just buy.
It's interesting your opinion...

Thanks for that link. I am glad I watched it. I was wondering why with slic3r I was having issues with the bottom layer when I do rafts. According to that review its slic3r itself causing issues with the bottom layer. I didnt know. So that helps me from going crazy trying to tweek my system.

Yes, rafts from Cura gives better bottom layer than from Slic3r. But I rarely use rafts, I prefer brims If model has small bottom.
Also, I never faced with infill problems in Slic3r (as in video above). Even more, I have to add more bottom/top layers in Cura, because sometimes Cura fails to close top without gaps. Slic3r gives more solid bottom/top infill for me.
And, yes, Slic3r is slowest slicer comparing to Cura (especially 1.1.7) and gives slowest prints. Cura respects printing speeds which are set in its config, but Slic3r does not. It prints 2x-3x slower in general than the printer could do it with that particular settings. It's can be easily seen in G-code if you familiar with it.

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Levon
Hi guys,
Does anybody use Simplify3D? After watching this I thought worth trying it out, but unfortunately they do not provide trial version, one should trust them and just buy.

Actually, they have Try'n'Buy version. But you have to pay $149 first. They just promise to do full refund in 2 weeks if you do not like the program.

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GrAndAG

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Levon
Hi guys,
Does anybody use Simplify3D? After watching this I thought worth trying it out, but unfortunately they do not provide trial version, one should trust them and just buy.

Actually, they have Try'n'Buy version. But you have to pay $149 first. They just promise to do full refund in 2 weeks if you do not like the program.

Ouch thats a steep price.

Well you guys were right. My issues with bridging were related to NO object fan. I decided to place one on. I used this one: [www.thingiverse.com]

But it wasnt enough. The back side of the object was rough. The front side where this fan was at was very smooth. So I put 2 fans on my system. One in the front and one in the back. Now my bridging issues went away. Its not 100% perfect but close enough for me. This is with PLA.

I attached the IR probe to the heatsink fan shroud. Thus I am limited on the types of object fans out there. I had to use the link above to make a U shaped connection to attach the object fan to. This is a good fix for anyone using a Kossel with an IR probe and in need of an object fan.

Right now however, I decided to move up to using up my last spool of ABS. The duet is having issues heating up the hotbed beyond 97deg. I might have to test the hotbed and maybe try for 95 deg or lower and see if ABS sticks. I wrapped my Kossel in painters throw down plastic to keep the temp up and help the warming of the bed. I made sure that the electronics are NOT enclosed in the plastic.

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DRTak
Right now however, I decided to move up to using up my last spool of ABS. The duet is having issues heating up the hotbed beyond 97deg. I might have to test the hotbed and maybe try for 95 deg or lower and see if ABS sticks.

Don't blame the Duet for not getting above 97C, the problem is almost certainly an under-powered bed heater. This is very common with PCB bed heaters. There are a couple of things you can do:

1. Measure the power supply output voltage at its terminals. Then measure the voltage across the bed heater terminals when the bed heater is on. If it is lower by more than 0.2V, that is too much voltage drop. The usual cause is that your 12V power and/or bed heater wires are too thin, or you have a poor connection.

2. If you have a typical Chinese LED-type power supply, there will be a voltage adjustment pot at one end of the terminal block. If the PSU is not already working at or close to its maximum power, it is safe to turn the voltage up from 12V to 14V.

---

Large delta printer [miscsolutions.wordpress.com], E3D tool changer, Robotdigg SCARA printer, Crane Quad and Ormerod

Disclosure: I design Duet electronics and work on RepRapFirmware, [duet3d.com].

tI thought I solved the problem of not being to upload sketches with the ramps 1.4 attached, but it appeared it only worked when only the stepper drivers were attached. I ordered a new one but impatient as I was I configured the printer with taking the ramps off multiple times. Now at the test phase the next issue developed. The extruder works in reversed directions. When I click reverse it extrudes and when I click extrude it reverses. How do I solve this, should I just attach the connector in opposite directions? I followed the steps in the manual but still this happens. really frustrating, so is that manual. Any ideas guys?

fixed the last part by flipping the connecter, man sintron are as***les by not updating that manual. Really frustrating.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/30/2016 05:40PM by Noitome.

Bona nit:
I am now printing a Yoda (in this moment it is looking quite as a frog) with my recently built Kossel from Sintron. Thanks to you all for your feedback in this forum, I had some difficulties mainly while getting the printer in running order but now all is working pretty well.
Main issues have been with endstops and stepper motors, the firmware Sintron provides installed in Arduino board is simply not working (it is saying Mendel Ready on LCD at start) so I loaded a Marlin update I found here (thanks to @GrAndAG ) and I have been able to start testing the printer.
Problem with endstops: Sintron is using Blomker PDF as building instructions with some modifications to match the differences with their Kossel version (Mainly rod carriages, extrusions, rods, etc,,) so Blomker used simple mechanical microswitches wired as N(ormally) C(losed) and Sintron is selling MakerBot PCB's with LEDs and diodes, the hic is that these PCBs remain closed for Arduino when triggered due to the diodes so it is not possible to achieve a proper homing of the carriages (the steppers didn't stop and the carriages went bumping the top frame). I have finally solved this by using the NO pins of the PCBs and inverting the endstops in firmware
The stepper motors were all running in the wrong sense when they were plugged as per their diagram, I have inverted their rotation by firmware as I was tinkering with endstops.
After all that (how do you say the opposite of boring?) time bringing Mari Karmen (this is a joke with Mini Kossel and a Spanish woman name) to life, I have been coarse calibrating her just to see what she is able to print.
Finally I have MK running (Yoda seems to look less amphibious now) and me ready to work on all the improvements this Mini Kossel is demanding.
As a conclusion: This kit is for me a very good entrance to the 3D printing, cheap enough for quite any budget, easy to upgrade and (as it was used to say when you bought a wrecky used car) funny to tinker with.

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dc42

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DRTak
Right now however, I decided to move up to using up my last spool of ABS. The duet is having issues heating up the hotbed beyond 97deg. I might have to test the hotbed and maybe try for 95 deg or lower and see if ABS sticks.

Don't blame the Duet for not getting above 97C, the problem is almost certainly an under-powered bed heater. This is very common with PCB bed heaters. There are a couple of things you can do:

1. Measure the power supply output voltage at its terminals. Then measure the voltage across the bed heater terminals when the bed heater is on. If it is lower by more than 0.2V, that is too much voltage drop. The usual cause is that your 12V power and/or bed heater wires are too thin, or you have a poor connection.

2. If you have a typical Chinese LED-type power supply, there will be a voltage adjustment pot at one end of the terminal block. If the PSU is not already working at or close to its maximum power, it is safe to turn the voltage up from 12V to 14V.

Well I'm using Ramps/Marlin and the exact same bed heater, and mine goes from room temperature to 105 degrees in 5 minutes.

Just sayin'.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/30/2016 09:52PM by nebbian.

Supposedly identical bed heaters are not identical. Some have more or less resistance than average. It's probably caused by variation in the copper thickness. However, it's possible that you have a bad connection on the Duet, so check that the screws in the power in and bed heater terminals on the Duet are tight, and that nothing at that edge of the board is getting hot.

Also, heating power varies as the square of supply voltage, so a small change in power supply voltage makes a bigger difference to the temperature you can achieve.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/31/2016 03:49AM by dc42.

---

Large delta printer [miscsolutions.wordpress.com], E3D tool changer, Robotdigg SCARA printer, Crane Quad and Ormerod

Disclosure: I design Duet electronics and work on RepRapFirmware, [duet3d.com].

DrTak,

To help with the heatbed, I did the following:

• 30A Automotive relay plus inline 15A fuse, due to rubbish fuse on the Ramps. You might not need to do this.
• Turn up the voltage on the power supply to 14V
• Use good quality 16ga silicone insulated wire
• Insulate the bottom of the bed with cardboard and aluminium roofing tape

As mentioned before, this setup goes from room temperature to 105 in five minutes.
I haven't tried going higher than 105 degrees, but it holds this temperauture easily with about a 50% duty cycle on the relay (I can hear it clicking). I feel that 115 would be achievable but only just.


I hope this helps.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/31/2016 07:03AM by nebbian.

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dc42

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DRTak
Right now however, I decided to move up to using up my last spool of ABS. The duet is having issues heating up the hotbed beyond 97deg. I might have to test the hotbed and maybe try for 95 deg or lower and see if ABS sticks.

Don't blame the Duet for not getting above 97C, the problem is almost certainly an under-powered bed heater. This is very common with PCB bed heaters. There are a couple of things you can do:

1. Measure the power supply output voltage at its terminals. Then measure the voltage across the bed heater terminals when the bed heater is on. If it is lower by more than 0.2V, that is too much voltage drop. The usual cause is that your 12V power and/or bed heater wires are too thin, or you have a poor connection.

2. If you have a typical Chinese LED-type power supply, there will be a voltage adjustment pot at one end of the terminal block. If the PSU is not already working at or close to its maximum power, it is safe to turn the voltage up from 12V to 14V.

Thanks for the input and quick response. Im sure you are right that its the chinese power supply. After waiting a very long time I got the temp of the bed up to 100deg. I had to do your trick with putting plastic around the bottom of the unit to contain the heat. I made sure the electronics and paneldue were not enclosed. I have not measured the voltage but I can also say that it might be related to my long wire that goes from the bottom of the kossel heatbed to the top where i have my electronics.

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Noitome
tI thought I solved the problem of not being to upload sketches with the ramps 1.4 attached, but it appeared it only worked when only the stepper drivers were attached. I ordered a new one but impatient as I was I configured the printer with taking the ramps off multiple times. Now at the test phase the next issue developed. The extruder works in reversed directions. When I click reverse it extrudes and when I click extrude it reverses. How do I solve this, should I just attach the connector in opposite directions? I followed the steps in the manual but still this happens. really frustrating, so is that manual. Any ideas guys?

fixed the last part by flipping the connecter, man sintron are as***les by not updating that manual. Really frustrating.

For me when I had Ramps and now with the duet. The wires are reversed for the extruder. Its the exact opposite.

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nebbian

Quote
dc42

Quote
DRTak
Right now however, I decided to move up to using up my last spool of ABS. The duet is having issues heating up the hotbed beyond 97deg. I might have to test the hotbed and maybe try for 95 deg or lower and see if ABS sticks.

Don't blame the Duet for not getting above 97C, the problem is almost certainly an under-powered bed heater. This is very common with PCB bed heaters. There are a couple of things you can do:

1. Measure the power supply output voltage at its terminals. Then measure the voltage across the bed heater terminals when the bed heater is on. If it is lower by more than 0.2V, that is too much voltage drop. The usual cause is that your 12V power and/or bed heater wires are too thin, or you have a poor connection.

2. If you have a typical Chinese LED-type power supply, there will be a voltage adjustment pot at one end of the terminal block. If the PSU is not already working at or close to its maximum power, it is safe to turn the voltage up from 12V to 14V.

Nebbian. I agree with you on that. When I had ramps it was really fast. But 2 things I have done to make it slow. This is my guess. I added a round glass plate to the top. And I added about 2ft of extra 12-14gauge wire to go from the heatbed to the electronics on top. Im assuming this is what is making it take so long to heat up the bed.
Well I'm using Ramps/Marlin and the exact same bed heater, and mine goes from room temperature to 105 degrees in 5 minutes.

Just sayin'.

Quote
nebbian
DrTak,

To help with the heatbed, I did the following:

• 30A Automotive relay plus inline 15A fuse, due to rubbish fuse on the Ramps. You might not need to do this.
• Turn up the voltage on the power supply to 14V
• Use good quality 16ga silicone insulated wire
• Insulate the bottom of the bed with cardboard and aluminium roofing tape

As mentioned before, this setup goes from room temperature to 105 in five minutes.
I haven't tried going higher than 105 degrees, but it holds this temperauture easily with about a 50% duty cycle on the relay (I can hear it clicking). I feel that 115 would be achievable but only just.


I hope this helps.

Nebbian.

I have used the roofing tape on the bottom. I also put a layer of kapton tape on the bottom. An additional layer of black electrical tape. This helped. But Im almost thinking I need to use ?cork as well. Im afraid of cardboard. I already had my fire issue with the ramps electronics (thus my upgarde to duet). I dont want to add paper to the bottom of a heatbed.

does anyone know how to solve the problem I'm facing where if I print the areas furthest away from the middle are a lot less precise in printing? e.g. I was printing the lcd cover from thingyverse [www.thingiverse.com] and it appears that the printer skips the rounds for where the screws are supposed to go in whereas the slicer shows perfectly where they are supposed to be.
Hopefully there is solution which doesn't involve any sketches
(since then I have to take the ramps off again in order to upload them).

Quote
Noitome
does anyone know how to solve the problem I'm facing where if I print the areas furthest away from the middle are a lot less precise in printing? e.g. I was printing the lcd cover from thingyverse [www.thingiverse.com] and it appears that the printer skips the rounds for where the screws are supposed to go in whereas the slicer shows perfectly where they are supposed to be.
Hopefully there is solution which doesn't involve any sketches
(since then I have to take the ramps off again in order to upload them).

Do you have the original sintron rods with the original sintron rod ends that bump into each other? If yes, it is most likely the cause.

[www.ebay.com] this is the listing I bought, I believe those rods are different from the ones in the start of this forum. Full metal screw on pieces, it doesn't seem to bump into one another. But I didn't check for that at the ends. It does manage to push up the z-probe on the outer screw so the positions are able to be reached. Though when I put in the coordinates of the cap screw before auto leveling it reaches the screw, the auto level actually messes this up and makes the position unreachable. After auto level I am unable to reach the screw postion by manualy inserting coordinates.

Maybe the printing area is too small? Did any of you guys manage to succesfully print a lcd screen cover for the sintron kossel? and if so, did you have to change the positioning of the stl file before printing?
(the one I printed also appeared to be for a different LCD but it was a good test anyways )

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/31/2016 03:26PM by Noitome.

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Noitome
[www.ebay.com] this is the listing I bought, I believe those rods are different from the ones in the start of this forum. Full metal screw on pieces, it doesn't seem to bump into one another. But I didn't check for that at the ends. It does manage to push up the z-probe on the outer screw so the positions are able to be reached. Though when I put in the coordinates of the cap screw before auto leveling it reaches the screw, the auto level actually messes this up and makes the position unreachable. After auto level I am unable to reach the screw postion by manualy inserting coordinates.

Maybe the printing area is too small? Did any of you guys manage to succesfully print a lcd screen cover for the sintron kossel? and if so, did you have to change the positioning of the stl file before printing?
(the one I printed also appeared to be for a different LCD but it was a good test anyways )

This is the original sintron and as far as I can tell by this thread it was causing problems everyone, not just me. With these rods I had at best 50mm radius printing area. Originally I was stubborn to get the exact printer they sent to work before making any adjustments, so I even went as far as printing on my other print their "update" for carriages and effector. And this is how I got as far as 50mm and actually could get it to somewhat work. Maybe now they ship updated carriages and effector and that would explain both that you got it working and that you can't go too far from center. I'd suggest that you watch adjacent rod ends closely while trying to print…

As far as I've read the topic I can say that they have indeed updated the carriages, but I don't know about the effector. But at least I can print pretty decent when it's not too big, guess I'll just have to wait for upgrades to arrive until I can start printing covers then. Thnx!

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DRTak
I have used the roofing tape on the bottom. I also put a layer of kapton tape on the bottom. An additional layer of black electrical tape. This helped. But Im almost thinking I need to use ?cork as well. Im afraid of cardboard. I already had my fire issue with the ramps electronics (thus my upgarde to duet). I dont want to add paper to the bottom of a heatbed.

With the Duet, you can safely increase the power supply voltage to increase the heating power. If you are using a Chinese LED power supply, there will be a potentiometer at one end of the terminal block to adjust the voltage. Try 13V, and if you want more heat then 14V. Don't go above 14V without putting some silicon diodes in series with the fans to drop the voltage back to about 12V. For safety, disconnect the Duet before adjusting the pot.

---

Large delta printer [miscsolutions.wordpress.com], E3D tool changer, Robotdigg SCARA printer, Crane Quad and Ormerod

Disclosure: I design Duet electronics and work on RepRapFirmware, [duet3d.com].

Quote
DRTak

Nebbian. I agree with you on that. When I had ramps it was really fast. But 2 things I have done to make it slow. This is my guess. I added a round glass plate to the top. And I added about 2ft of extra 12-14gauge wire to go from the heatbed to the electronics on top. Im assuming this is what is making it take so long to heat up the bed.

Hmmm well that's strange. If you were getting fast heatup times with the RAMPS, and not with the Duet, then it indicates to me that there's a problem with either the extra wiring, or something inside the Duet.

Is it possible that the Duet isn't sending a 100% duty cycle to the bed?

If you have a spare 20A or higher relay lying around, then it isn't very hard to hook this up between the duet and the heatbed. If it buzzes then your problem is the duty cycle on the Duet, if it heats up the bed quickly then the problem is the FET on the Duet.

12-14 ga wire should be ample for that sort of load.

Noitome,

I printed that LCD cover and it did work for a while, but I found it to be weak and not really suitable for our machines.

Here's one that I printed recently, which works quite well:
[www.thingiverse.com]

Here it is attached to my printer. I had to drill some holes to make it fit the sintron dimensions, but that was easy and worked well.

Hi all,
Yesterday night I printed this fish, all is done pretty well, I was even able to separate the links with not much of force applied.
The only thing that annoys me is the inconsistency of the layers. Please see the attachments. I'm sure it's something mechanical and I mostly suspect my push rods which are the original ones, but grinded (maybe not enough). Though the whole thing was in the center and the length is around 60mm. I would definitely accuse the push rods if I had a slight offset on just one layer, but they off with batches, which is strange to me.

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Levon
Hi all,
Yesterday night I printed this fish, all is done pretty well, I was even able to separate the links with not much of force applied.
The only thing that annoys me is the inconsistency of the layers. Please see the attachments. I'm sure it's something mechanical and I mostly suspect my push rods which are the original ones, but grinded (maybe not enough). Though the whole thing was in the center and the length is around 60mm. I would definitely accuse the push rods if I had a slight offset on just one layer, but they off with batches, which is strange to me.

Hi Levon,

I had very similar Problems, when my belts were not tensioned enough.
After some weeks in tensioned condition, they got little bit loose. I gave them more tension and included springs like theese Thingiverse
Position of the springs - directly underneath the carriages

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Sir_Death
Hi Levon,

I had very similar Problems, when my belts were not tensioned enough.
After some weeks in tensioned condition, they got little bit loose. I gave them more tension and included springs like theese Thingiverse
Position of the springs - directly underneath the carriages

Hehe funny idea, I'll give it a try. And yes I guess they got loose a little bit, might be exactly the reason.
Will let you know that improves the quality.

Thank you!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/02/2016 03:53AM by Levon.

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Levon
The only thing that annoys me is the inconsistency of the layers. Please see the attachments. I'm sure it's something mechanical and I mostly suspect my push rods which are the original ones, but grinded (maybe not enough). Though the whole thing was in the center and the length is around 60mm. I would definitely accuse the push rods if I had a slight offset on just one layer, but they off with batches, which is strange to me.

Did you mount the bed using springs?
I had the similar problem (layers offset) when my bed was installed on springs. Sometimes the nozzle was able to move bed a bit during the printing. Now I remounted the bed firmly and that issue is gone.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/02/2016 05:27AM by GrAndAG.

Quote
GrAndAG
Did you mount the bed using springs?
I had the similar problem (layers offset) when my bed was installed on springs. Sometimes the nozzle was able to move bed a bit during the printing. Now I remounted the bed firmly and that issue is gone.

Hi, yes, it's on springs, seems pretty sturdy when I test it with my hand... Don't think that's the bed... Though thanks for the thought, I'll double check it just to be sure.