I’ve been running Buildtak as a print surface. It lasts for about one month of heavy use (5 trays of prints a day). It really improves surface finish and you don’t need acetone. The other material that is in use is PEI film 1 mm thick then stuck to glass with 3m high heat adhesion tape square.
Also for the Rep 2 gantry alignment problem: Someone who is trying to get the gantry to stay where it is supposed to be might find this helpful someday. If you are unable to get it to stay, try this:
After I kept fussing with set screws and it seemed like the pressure of the whole system was off. The left side was not following the right side properly and it would occasionally ‘slip’ causing major aliment issues in the print. This showed up after about 400 hours of printing.
I ended up cutting the belt on the left and installing it with a bit more tension. I used a pair of pliers to pull it tight. This fixed the issue while I ordered a new belt. While doing this I also re-lubricated the rods and together the tighter belt and smoother rods fixed the slipping issue. Whatever you do, DONT push down on the rods because they look a little bent. The whole gantry will pop out and be shooting / dropping parts in a circle around you!!
I need to reassemble a Gantry on a second machine, any guides out there can you recommend?
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normal paint thinners work the best for me as a cleaning agent for the build plate - better than acetone
This is a good video for the actual gantry assembly. It does not show the Y-idler pulley set up so I had to figure that out myself. If you need to get the Y-idler back on let me know and I can give you some tips
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeNgEfbdjsY&feature=youtu.be
I don´t have replicator 2 o 2x, I have a Replicator Z18 with the “Smart struder”.
I try print “Marvin” with many settings, varying speeds (extrude and travel), quality (layer high in .04 to .09 mm range), and with last firmware and Makerbot desktop versions, temperature, accord with Makerbot and some blogs recomendations. Quality of print change, but I do not obtain high quality print.
I use diferent finishing methods (acetone steems treatement, epoxic resin, etc.) that improve quality, but I expected that printer print a true high quality objects. ¡¡¡I very frusted ¡¡¡¡. May be it is imposible with Z18.
I continue with this challenge until I obtain real high quality.
try lowering the temp to around 210 and lowering the fan speed (or unplugging it). I’ve seen some problems caused by the fan blowing the filament off its target and this makes it low quality. Lower layer heights need way less cooling. And when you think about it the smaller stand is much easier to blow off course. Finding a temp setting that cools while not distorting the shape can take some work. I use simplify 3D but in maker-ware you have to make a custom profile in text editor!!
Have you tried printing out 3 at a time? That may help.
Just biy Simplify3D and you’d be amazed what your replicator can pull out
Sharon
February 11, 2015, 6:55pm
18
If they had an eval or test drive I would love to try it out…
Its looks like an expensive version of slic3r… Since there is no free trial I am very suspicious.
yes, but it’s worth it. I did prints with 50 micron layer heights on my Rep2 with it…
I run into a problem where i had to print basically a large 4cm in height cylinder with hundred small circular holes. No slicer would slice it in a day (!), send an email to them and they replied that S3D sliced it in seconds. I was sold immediately.
Really, read some reviews. Watch some youtube…
Once you use it you will know what you are paying for. I could not be in business without Simplify 3D. It’s at least 10x better than slic3r in my opinion.
As I was getting started with my 2X, I found ( @45 seconds of this video) the rods were not fully engaged into the bodies.during this process, I also ‘cracked loose’ all the structural screws on the main box itself.If the box is tilted and or out of alignments during initial assembly, nothing will line up properly. My square that I use is verified @ .0004" in 8", so that’s plenty accurate. I uset the square directly on the base plate, and checked all the verticals, and sequencially tightened ( like an engine block/ head tightening process, inspecting each vertical as went along. when that is complete, then move to the gantry duties. on my marvin pics I have my first bahamut print, @ .2 res to compare.
Yeah, extra help would be appreciated, the entire gantry fell during shipping.
Rhluttrell@rocketmail.com
Sharon
February 11, 2015, 9:40pm
25
Anybody have a source for an Aluminum Extruder Block upgrade for a Rep 2X (I need left and right)? The place on eBay where I got them for my Rep 2 seems to have gone offline. If you have a better suggestion for the 2X I would love to hear your experiences.
This is the one I had wanted (scroll down on the listing)
http://www.ebay.com/itm/111566069212
Thanks!
For the past year I’ve been sticking prints well with Kapton tape from ebay and wiping the build plate every build with denatured alcohol. I’ve tried acetone without any benefit beyond alcohol, and acetone stinks anyway. the first couple tape application were stressful but now I have fine system that works great by having two pencils at two edges that I hold taunt during the process.
wayne
February 12, 2015, 8:40am
27
Based on info on the excellent (but now defunct) Makerbot Operators google group, I bought the Rep2 version of this http://devilsinthedetails.ca
It supports Rep2X too, I’m happy with it, although I’ve not managed to get ninjaflex to extrude yet, need to use the alternate spring I think.
wayne
February 12, 2015, 8:48am
28
Personally, I think it’s awesome, and well worth it, it does have some quirks and takes time to get settings ‘dialled’ in.
Being able to manually place support material in the GUI is a great feature.
The automatic support material generation is kinda cool too; it kinds generates a concertina that can be easily removed(see attached)
The slicer is *fast*, it is multi-threaded so uses all your CPU cores.
