Folger Tech 2020 i3 Printer Kit (Official Thread)

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msaeger

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One concerning issue i'm having right now is that my X-axis motor is overheating like crazy after just a few minutes. I noticed this while calibrating the printer last night for leveling. It's the only one that gets really hot. I saw posts from Devil inc in the first pages having the same symptoms, but i didn't quite understand his solution. Some help, please?

Mine gets really hot too but the Y motor which I would think it working just as hard doesn't even get warm. I am thinking the x motor is just under sized. I have also read people saying to adjust the stepper driver current for that too but I am more afraid of screwing up something doing that than the motor being hot.

I had a print going for over an hour last night and also found my x-axis motor was pretty hot. interestingly, I've been using Cura and my prints come out much better, but for good or bad, the head moves much faster. Print quality seems to be the same so I'm not complaining, but I guess one impact is the temperature of the X stepper. I temporarily put a fan underneath it and it helped. I may look into finding a more permanent fan mount or, dare I suggest, I may look into adjusting the voltage for it.

Hey everyone!
I've had mine for about a week now as well, and seem to have fixed some things, and havent had time to fix others. Anyway, it is printing and decently for a sub $300 printer. I believe the firmware is inverting an axis because when its printing a spiral vase, for instance, instead of spiraling to the left, the print is spiraling to the right. Would changing the #define INVERT_X_DIR correct this problem?Koch Snowflake hollow vase from my folger 2020 i3.

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markts

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msaeger

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One concerning issue i'm having right now is that my X-axis motor is overheating like crazy after just a few minutes. I noticed this while calibrating the printer last night for leveling. It's the only one that gets really hot. I saw posts from Devil inc in the first pages having the same symptoms, but i didn't quite understand his solution. Some help, please?

Mine gets really hot too but the Y motor which I would think it working just as hard doesn't even get warm. I am thinking the x motor is just under sized. I have also read people saying to adjust the stepper driver current for that too but I am more afraid of screwing up something doing that than the motor being hot.

I had a print going for over an hour last night and also found my x-axis motor was pretty hot. interestingly, I've been using Cura and my prints come out much better, but for good or bad, the head moves much faster. Print quality seems to be the same so I'm not complaining, but I guess one impact is the temperature of the X stepper. I temporarily put a fan underneath it and it helped. I may look into finding a more permanent fan mount or, dare I suggest, I may look into adjusting the voltage for it.

I adjusted my voltage last night and noticed a big difference in heat and noise. It's still somewhat loud, but its much cooler and seems smoother. I would adjust your pot on your driver. I also put a fan over my ramps today. If you still want a fan for your stepper, check out my parts collection [www.thingiverse.com]

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My creations/2020 aluminum parts/FolgerTech i3 upgrades [www.thingiverse.com]

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mel0n

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markts

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msaeger

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One concerning issue i'm having right now is that my X-axis motor is overheating like crazy after just a few minutes. I noticed this while calibrating the printer last night for leveling. It's the only one that gets really hot. I saw posts from Devil inc in the first pages having the same symptoms, but i didn't quite understand his solution. Some help, please?

Mine gets really hot too but the Y motor which I would think it working just as hard doesn't even get warm. I am thinking the x motor is just under sized. I have also read people saying to adjust the stepper driver current for that too but I am more afraid of screwing up something doing that than the motor being hot.

I had a print going for over an hour last night and also found my x-axis motor was pretty hot. interestingly, I've been using Cura and my prints come out much better, but for good or bad, the head moves much faster. Print quality seems to be the same so I'm not complaining, but I guess one impact is the temperature of the X stepper. I temporarily put a fan underneath it and it helped. I may look into finding a more permanent fan mount or, dare I suggest, I may look into adjusting the voltage for it.

I adjusted my voltage last night and noticed a big difference in heat and noise. It's still somewhat loud, but its much cooler and seems smoother. I would adjust your pot on your driver. I also put a fan over my ramps today. If you still want a fan for your stepper, check out my parts collection [www.thingiverse.com]

I'll definitely look into the stepper voltage. Thanks fo rthe pointer to the collection - I'm already using a MOAB for a stepper fan - did you just adjust the size on yours?

yup, I measured an old computer fan, and the bolts I had available to me to determine sizes and holes that my bolts would thread into since I am lacking m3 hardware or nuts.

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My creations/2020 aluminum parts/FolgerTech i3 upgrades [www.thingiverse.com]

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jfitch
I received my printer kit yesterday. Looks like everything is there except the threaded rod. I'm sure they'll ship me the missing rod. I have already sent them a message. My question is does the type or size of the threaded rod matter for this printer. I have some threaded rod around the shop that I could probably cut down if needed. What is the recommended size rod and length?

Look inside the aluminum frame pieces. If I remember correctly mine were taped in there, presumably to keep them safe and undamaged.

I am very impressed with this kit. Much less with their customer service who, instead of offering me helpful advice, insist on just guiding me back to the reprap.org page...

Anyway, i wanted to share a few more prints i've done lately.
This is a cubesat. A 10x10x10cm cube frame for small satellites. I modelled it for a contest over on Grabcad. I felt it would be nice to print a working model.


The print came surprisingly accurate, much closer than i would have expected.

More pictures and model here:
[grabcad.com]

Now here's the real reason i wanted a printer: toy cars!
I'm working on a very precise replica of a Tamiya Mini4wd car chassis on solidworks. The chassis is unfinished, but i really wanted to test out my new printer (this was my 5th print, i believe). Notice it printed mirrored. I still have to fix that.


The body was actually made on a Makerbot Rep2 a couple of years ago. I'm pretty sure i can achieve the same degree of surface finish with the Prusa. I'll find out this weekend. The body lines up perfectly with the wheels, therefore the chassis printed correctly.


I'm very happy with this machine...at $300 i'm almost tempted to purchase another one just for the fun of building it, and of course to increase my operating print time as well.

Nice, these are looking like really good.

On Folger's customer service, at one time people described them as supplying a kit of parts rather than a kit. It seemed like they had moved more towards a complete kit by publishing a build manual and similar things. Now it sounds like they are going in the other direction again. I've been really happy with my 2020 and I want to see them succeed, and it seems to me that the things that give them an edge over the Chinese vendors of i3's are having a metal frame kit rather than acrylic or wood, and their ability to communicate with their North American customer base. Anyone could catch up on the first of these, so by not putting effort into the second, they make themselves vulnerable.

If I buy another one, it might be their Kossel.

Right now I am printing mostly copies of the original parts (or variant designs of them) in case they break, and also because I plan to take apart the Y carriage and rebuild it. It moved accurately, but it noisy. My hypothesis is that the aluminium plate vibrates against the screws, which I had to leave slightly loose to get a smooth movement. This could be because the original parts weren't accurately printed. So I intend to replace them, use a different tensioner, and while I have it in piece to lubricate the bearings.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/16/2015 07:24PM by animoose.

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See my blog at [moosteria.blogspot.com].

i'm trying to find a solution to my axis endstop: it keeps slipping down when the machine is running and if i forget to rotate it, the extruder smashes into the side. This is due to the fact that the lower rod in my kit was too short and it's a tad bit loose. I'll probably end up gluing the rod in place.

I got another email from Folger tech's customer "service" today and once again, of no help.

Anybody have a clue how to print using the lcd and sd card? I got a gcode file on the sdcard and when i go to select it it reads "wait for user..." Then it does nothing.

That's exactly how you print from the LCD and an SD card!
I'm assuming you get the message after you select your file. I found this post that talks about an issue with M109 and M190 commands. Its old, but apparently the bug may still be there... Not sure if it would help though!

If you're not on it ,maybe try flashing to the latest firmware?
Also, if Repetier Host (or whatever you use) is connected to the printer, try disconnecting the USB cable.
Another thing to try is home the printer and move the Z up before you select the the file. That's what I usually do.

Tap the encoder, IIRC, to start the print . . .

- Tim

So I finally was able to print the donut fan shroud (or parts of it) with ABS. It took a lot of test prints and redesigns, but I think I finally got it.I haven't had time to try printing the full part, but I'm hoping I will this weekend. I did post it on Thingiverse if someone wants to give it a go

Here are some pictures of how it mounts and what it looks like.




More on Thingiverse.

Sigh. New challenge - with the aluminum heatbed/PEI plastic bonded to the heatbed, I cannot get it to go over 60 degrees. The wires powering the bed are not warm, so I don't think it's a resistance issue there. Is the heatbed included with the folgertech just not powerful enough to heat a slab of metal?

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jfitch
I received my printer kit yesterday. Looks like everything is there except the threaded rod. I'm sure they'll ship me the missing rod. I have already sent them a message. My question is does the type or size of the threaded rod matter for this printer. I have some threaded rod around the shop that I could probably cut down if needed. What is the recommended size rod and length?

I thought I didn't receive the threaded rod as well, until I found it a day later in the heated bed bag. Haha. Did you check in there?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/17/2015 12:38AM by cvanclev.

I can barely get mine to get to 100 degrees, and that's with a glass insulator on top, a crdboard, and 15 to 20 minutes of heating. You added a heat sink to your bed, so I'm thinking its not going to work
I have been toying with the idea of making my own heatbed using NiChrome or Kanthal A1 @ 110VAC going through a 12V relay. But, I have to do A LOT of research 1st. It would be nice if I can get the bed to 100 degrees as fast as the hot end gets to 240

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My Thingiverse things.

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JoeH
I can barely get mine to get to 100 degrees, and that's with a glass insulator on top, a crdboard, and 15 to 20 minutes of heating. You added a heat sink to your bed, so I'm thinking its not going to work
I have been toying with the idea of making my own heatbed using NiChrome or Kanthal A1 @ 110VAC going through a 12V relay. But, I have to do A LOT of research 1st. It would be nice if I can get the bed to 100 degrees as fast as the hot end gets to 240

I ordered the newer MK2 bed with the aluminum already bonded to it (since the thermistor also appears to not be properly seated between the plate and the pcb, and it's bonded with 3M 468 and I can't think of a way to separate them cleanly). The product description says it should heat up to 100c in 2 minutes. If it doesn't, I guess I'll go down the rabbit hole of finding a more powerful power supply.

...this is starting to get frustrating

Edit: ordered has been cancelled. After googling around, it seems everyone has this problem when running aluminum beds. The fix seems to be running a 14v power supply or a separate 24v power supply hooked up to a relay. Does anyone have any better ideas?

Edit 2: F*ck it. I'm going with the regular heatbed, with glass bonded with 3M 468, with a layer of foil tape and PEI plastic on top of it.

Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 07/17/2015 02:23AM by therippa.

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therippa
Edit 2: F*ck it. I'm going with the regular heatbed, with glass bonded with 3M 468, with a layer of foil tape and PEI plastic on top of it.

Yet here I am printing away with just my $4 piece of lowes glass, a 50 cent glue stick, an allen wrench, a beer, a piece of paper, and 5 mins to level.


On a side note though, I spent a lot of time playing with slic3r. Up until now I hadn't touched slic3r and have been using cura. I figured out the following:
- Slic3r has much better options (which every1 always point out, but some argue you don't need them)
- Cura produces decent prints with minimal effort
- The exact same settings in Slic3r and Cura will produce very different prints
- Slic3r will produce a much slower print, at a much higher quality, and with the extra fine tuning, much more precise
- Cura will produce some really fast prints, that look pretty decent, but the dimensions are a lot harder to get nailed down. Especially extrusion width and infill.

All this started because I am trying to print wheels for a robot, and Cura just couldn't get them accurate so I decided to give slic3r a try. Its about half the print speed but all my artifacts are gone, and I was able to get the single perimeter extrusion width within +- 0.1mm which is basically a mechanical limitation due to backlash etc. My calibration prints even looked insanely better with slic3r over Cura. But I really can't knock Cura's ease of use, speed of prints/quality ratio, and slicing speed.

So I think I will continue to use Cura for prints that I would like to be faster at a cost of precision such as vader buddha, and Slic3r for mechanical parts that need to be precise at the cost of speed.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/17/2015 08:23AM by mel0n.

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My creations/2020 aluminum parts/FolgerTech i3 upgrades [www.thingiverse.com]

That's interesting. I moved to Cura because I couldn't get my prints to improve with Slic3r. Just by switching I got much better prints. I've wondered what settings to change in slic3r to improve things and i'm sure there's improvement to be made, but short of trial and error (which I'd love to have the time for) it was easier to just stay with Cura.

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markts
That's interesting. I moved to Cura because I couldn't get my prints to improve with Slic3r. Just by switching I got much better prints. I've wondered what settings to change in slic3r to improve things and i'm sure there's improvement to be made, but short of trial and error (which I'd love to have the time for) it was easier to just stay with Cura.

This had been exactly my experience up until I took the time to work through all the possible settings in slic3r, and print a lot of calibration/test shapes, and single extrusion width cubes to super fine tune my extrusion multiplier. (not measuring a 20mmx20mm cube as Tom points out is wrong)

I think Slic3r may be more susceptible to mechanical issues than Cura which is why I couldn't get slic3r to work well after I finished my build, but now that the vast majority of my mechanical issues are ironed out, I am getting better prints with slic3r than Cura. Especially since I understand a lot more about the entire process, and all the settings in the slicer/ how they affect the print.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/17/2015 10:20AM by mel0n.

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My creations/2020 aluminum parts/FolgerTech i3 upgrades [www.thingiverse.com]

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mel0n

This had been exactly my experience up until I took the time to work through all the possible settings in slic3r, and print a lot of calibration/test shapes, and single extrusion width cubes to super fine tune my extrusion multiplier. (not measuring a 20mmx20mm cube as Tom points out is wrong)

I think Slic3r may be more susceptible to mechanical issues than Cura which is why I couldn't get slic3r to work well after I finished my build, but now that the vast majority of my mechanical issues are ironed out, I am getting better prints with slic3r than Cura. Especially since I understand a lot more about the entire process, and all the settings in the slicer/ how they affect the print.

Good to know! I'm up for learning about the process, just gotta make time for it.

When you say, "not measuring a 20mmx20mm cube as Tom points out is wrong", are you saying that you're making a mistake NOT measuring the 20x20 cube? Or Tom is wrong by suggesting that? (I think I can find the video you're referring to, but do you have a link handy? Is it just his extrusion calibration video?)

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markts

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mel0n

This had been exactly my experience up until I took the time to work through all the possible settings in slic3r, and print a lot of calibration/test shapes, and single extrusion width cubes to super fine tune my extrusion multiplier. (not measuring a 20mmx20mm cube as Tom points out is wrong)

I think Slic3r may be more susceptible to mechanical issues than Cura which is why I couldn't get slic3r to work well after I finished my build, but now that the vast majority of my mechanical issues are ironed out, I am getting better prints with slic3r than Cura. Especially since I understand a lot more about the entire process, and all the settings in the slicer/ how they affect the print.

Good to know! I'm up for learning about the process, just gotta make time for it.

When you say, "not measuring a 20mmx20mm cube as Tom points out is wrong", are you saying that you're making a mistake NOT measuring the 20x20 cube? Or Tom is wrong by suggesting that? (I think I can find the video you're referring to, but do you have a link handy? Is it just his extrusion calibration video?)

Sure! I am fine tuning my extrusion using methods such as these :
[www.youtube.com]
[www.youtube.com]

Here is Tom's video explaining why measuring a 20x20 cube is wrong:
[www.youtube.com]

So I am fine tuning the width of a single extrusion, not the width of a cube. And once you have been printing/playing enough you should have a pretty good grasp on how your slicer settings affect your print, and if not, EXPERIMENT!

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My creations/2020 aluminum parts/FolgerTech i3 upgrades [www.thingiverse.com]

Is there a list of tools to assembly this printer? I am gonna purchase this printer next week and would like to know what tools are needed so I can get them ready for when the printer arrives.

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mel0n

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therippa
Edit 2: F*ck it. I'm going with the regular heatbed, with glass bonded with 3M 468, with a layer of foil tape and PEI plastic on top of it.

Yet here I am printing away with just my $4 piece of lowes glass, a 50 cent glue stick, an allen wrench, a beer, a piece of paper, and 5 mins to level.

I like messing with things

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zarnold16
Is there a list of tools to assembly this printer? I am gonna purchase this printer next week and would like to know what tools are needed so I can get them ready for when the printer arrives.

I remember needing metric allen wrenches, phillips screw drivers, calipers, wire cutters, 3mm drill bit, pliers.

Depends on what parts you are missing and how accurate of a build you want :-)

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Newbie with Folgertech 2020 i3.

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zarnold16
Is there a list of tools to assembly this printer? I am gonna purchase this printer next week and would like to know what tools are needed so I can get them ready for when the printer arrives.

Metric allen keys, fine nose pliers, soldering iron, wire cutters. Maybe a small file. Maybe a rubber mallet for step 10, though you can get by without. I would also buy more cable ties - they supply enough for holding the bearings, but none for tidying the wiring up. Also more spiral cable wrap, as they don't supply much and its a very rigid kind which isn't very convenient. Strong drink for recovering after difficult steps.

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See my blog at [moosteria.blogspot.com].

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msaeger

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zarnold16
Is there a list of tools to assembly this printer? I am gonna purchase this printer next week and would like to know what tools are needed so I can get them ready for when the printer arrives.

I remember needing metric allen wrenches, phillips screw drivers, calipers, wire cutters, 3mm drill bit, pliers.

Depends on what parts you are missing and how accurate of a build you want :-)

3mm drill bit to clean out nozzle clogs. Allen wrenches (hex) down to 1.5 mm (t-handle sets may not go small enough and may not fit into tight corners) Calipers to check sizes. Square to help with the corners. Files and or dremel tool to help if things are not drilled or line up correctly. wrenches (adjustable MIGHT get you by). Screwdrivers. I am not sure of what else.

My kit is somewhere since my tracking number never got updated (common problem i hear). Would ask Dan but he's gone (and customer support seems lacking now to read forum). You tube no any help last time I looked. Big shout out to animoose his blog has the best pictures I have seen so far [moosteria.blogspot.com] .

Will try to post some pictures once I start my build.

For the people that ordered before last Sunday, I emailed them asking when they will ship yesturday and they said thursday or friday so hopefully ours ships today.

Well at least they answered you I emailed and called with no response.. My tracking is still "Label Created".. I ran a business for over 40 years,,, and Customer service and interaction with customers is your business,, Hopefully they gave me a wrong tracking.. don't know as they havn't answered.. I was going to let them know it would be alright if they were waiting on a few parts it would be OK to ship what they had and send the rest later,, I wouldn't have minded even paying the extra shipping.. well we will see,, at least I hope since waiting all the parts will be present..

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/17/2015 03:30PM by mike3.

Nope, that's how Folger rolls. They appear to print a label and start a box (apparently using the label to track it internally) and the box only ships when the content is complete. I ordered metal corners for my Kossel (which were listed as taking pre-orders, not in stock) and some other stuff, and the label appeared the next day . . . That was June 8, IIRC, and I think it shipped yesterday. The trick in the interim was getting them to ship the stuff that was in stock, and not letting it sit and wait . . . a couple of e-mails got that done, but I would have thought that would have been a given since the corners were known to be not in stock . . . but they did actually *call* me yesterday to tell me they were in and shipping, and to verify color. Oh, and e-mail is hands down the best way to get a response.

Sometimes, on printers, if they are out of stock on an item, or a vendor chumps them and delivers late, kits get in this cycle, which is what I expect is going on with yours, and I almost 100% certain that your kit has not yet shipped, as opposed to being orked in transit.

- Tim

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/17/2015 04:17PM by tadawson.

Thanks Tim. hopefully it will get better as I like the Idea of an American company.. but with good customer service...

Meanwhile while I am waiting.. could someone with the experience with this kit help me understand the Software side of things,, I am pretty good with electro-mechanical side of it I believe.. with the exceptions of the specific interaction with a 3D printer and its controller/software... First does the Folger 2020 come with the software loaded on the arduino if not how is this done.. second what software will I need to download and why and its uses.. Any help will be greatly appreciated.. I am a complete newbie with 3D printers,, but have worked with electronics as a hobby since I was a kid.. and have very good skills building things.Once I understand . Thanks Mike PS I also ordered the LCD 2004 and a 2.2lb of ABS ,, You don't have to go into great detail if you don't want to a brief explanation would help.. I have heard of Slic3r .. and marlin etc but not really sure what is used for I have played with Splic3r loading up .stl files and looking at them.. and watched some videos still not quite certain what's going on..

Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 07/17/2015 04:57PM by mike3.