These are the upgrades I added to my Rep 2:
Aluminium X Ends: shop.raffle.ch 37
Aluminium Carriage: shop.raffle.ch 20
Aluminium Z Arm upgrade: BC Technological Solutions: Aluminum Arm 34
Aluminium 3-in-1 extruder: http://orders-3in1-extruder.davidheadrick.com 35
Heated Build Plate: BC Tech: Heated Build Plate 36
X-Axis cable RJ45 X-Cable Repair for Replicator 2/2X by whpthomas - Thingiverse 25
Power supply (because of HBP): https://www.meanwell-web.com/en/product-info/ac-dc-power-supply/adaptor/gt-200-w/gs220/product/GS220A24-R7B 10
This video of various Rep2/Rep2X upgrades is interesting, he’s done a lot with Replicators : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvBLOmRXF0U&list=UUTh_cz1H9kqfxKAgaBZ38nQ 31
The attached guide also has some tips and nice exploded block diagrams. (I can’t find the original link, but the document is in the public domain)
Makerbot Replicator 2 Guide Public Edition.pdf 15 (1.23 MB)
While the article says you should level the build plate, I found that the out-of-the-box method is far from accurate. To get a truly level build plate, I haven’t found anything better than an incredibly thin leveling test print ( Leveling Test Print by DamianGto - Thingiverse 37 ) and a dial indicator rigged up on the X rails with some magnets ( Replicator Bed Level Jig by phineasjw - Thingiverse 28 )
Print once, find the point where the print came out the best, set that as your zero on your dial indicator, and then adjust the build plate until everywhere has the same reading. Repeat the process to either verify it’s level and set to the right height, or to find out how you might need to tweak the calibration, oooooorr… discover your build plate is warped in one corner and settle for not printing on that side until you get a glass build plate.
Amen on the test print for leveling. However my thingiverse print only 20 takes 2 minutes to print. Its set to only do hatching at corners and over each spring adjustments. Thing 80227 waste alot of material and time. Yes, I’ve found that the best leveling leaves the back left corner as an area to avoid. (or minimize with a raft)
Its the cooling personality of ABS that makes it warp. Warping can be avoided by building in a heated chamber, by using PEI (PEI bed surface - Hardware - LulzBot 13) or Buildtak bed liner. Kapton, glue, acetone slurry,hairspray (aqua net), blue tape, white glue mix will all work. The white glue mix can be made so strong that the parts will break the glass coming off so be careful. By using Buildtak we have found the parts become stronger by curing under stress.
Warping can be caused by long unbroken, straight lines of filament being put down in the slic3r engine and breaking up the pattern helps. Build plate heat traces cause some issues too as others have noticed that moving the part around on the plate can help. Avoid drafts and fans with ABS. Use an enclosure.
Currently I am testing and using Buildtak in a production environment. Its been the best stuff that I have used so far.
Two points:
1. The spring loaded mod is a must, but I had to go another step further for exotic filaments. This knob adjust makes it easy to apply just the right amount of force on the filament. Thingiverse - Digital Designs for Physical Objects 18
2. I’ve found that the NEW large rolls of PLA from MakerBot reguire ABS temps to avoid jamming. That and reduced print speed.
Acrylic warps over time with heat and is impossible to keep flat. I’ve gone another way with build platform issues… 2 items solved this for me. Buildtak http://www.buildtak.com/ 8 for the surface… I’ve not had to replace it after hundreds of hours of jobs… and an alum platform (because i upgraded to a heated platform ). Glass could do the same. I also enclosed the chamber and put an enviromental control on it for better temperature control.
Even with Buildtak you still need a heated bed right? I’ve got access to an Ultimaker 2 and a Makerbot Replicator 2. The U2 is supposed to be ABS capable, but so far it was not delivered. Buildtak would solve the adhesion and warping issues on it right? As for the Rep2, I’d love to find a cheap way to make it ABS capable.
Could you expand a bit more on what you did for the larger rolls? My school just bought a few of them, and I was the first one to test them out. My jobs, ranging from 3-5 hours, will start out great, and have even worked for hours, but always get some kind of jam before completion. It’s not the printer, as its in good condition, and has printed jobs well with other, smaller spools. However, its a 4th gen Rep2, and the set temp for PLA is already 230 C, so should I try to push up to 240 C for the larger spool? I’m already printing at sluggish speeds of 40 or 30 mm/s trying to keep the jobs good quality at low resolution.
maybe not so direct related to the article, but i was asked to dial in a makerbot for the local hackspace
i started with the pc and formatted and loaded win10, then makerbots desktop software…
did a factory reset of the printer and leveled the bed… messured filament diameter and entered that…
before it was over extruding now its close to ok
2 issue left…
1) on outside walls where layer changes it makes a small blob… on a cube that blob is at the same spot on every layer… very annoying
2) also single wall objects come out wrong width… how to i adjust the flow?
the software is all nice and dandy but not easy to tweak…
HEEEEELPPP 