New build - any words of wisdom?

[animoose]

I just ordered the parts for an Eclips3d, and wanted to ask for any words of wisdom before I start building it. I mean think like "whatever you do, don't do X" or "if you do Y, your life will be easier". This will be the second printer I've built. The first one was a Folgertech 2020, which is a prusa variant. There is one way that I am deviating from the official parts for the Eclips3D. I am going with RAMPS+Mega for the electronics. The reason is that the 32-bit controller field seems to be moving quite rapidly at the moment, so I wanted to wait a while and see how it changes. 

[travistrue]

How did you like Mega+RAMPS so far? The Eclips3D was the first 3D printer I've built, and the Azteeg was nice to setup. I've built two Eclips3D's using Azteegs for both, and each other them had issues with either the thermistor giving inaccurate readings or the heated bed heating indefinitely. I'm going to fall back on the Mega+RAMPS route because one Azteeg is broken, and I happen have 2 sets of those parts lying around unused, much cheaper, and much more available.

Here's some stuff I've learned so far from building the Eclips3D:
-When putting the linear bushings into the sliding gantry pieces, make sure to push them in while a smooth rod is already through the piece. That way, when you push the bushings in, they're straight with one another, and will cause less friction. My friend went a step further, and used the tip of a flathead screwdriver to push them in even more, which seemed to help reduce friction.

-Make sure to use a legit E3D hot end instead of a cheaper one off of Amazon. My friend and I did that, and the hot end was too long. It kept the end stop from hitting, and had no room to put the bowden tubing.

-Make sure you printed the latest fan duct piece (I think it was from 2/16?) as it's long-enough to put the screw in to lock it into place.

[animoose]

Thanks for the comments. I have a genuine E3D already that I am going to use.

Good idea on the bushings. I had the same issue with the linear bearings (LM8UUs) in my current printer.

I don't much like the Mega+RAMPS combination. It works, but is easily damaged for example when adjusting the stepper drivers. For my existing printer, the speed is fine, though I understand you can get smoother operation from a faster board presumably as it can put more processing power into converting the Gcode into the specific steps on each motor. My ideal board would have a fast processor, built in drivers with digital adjustment, a good network connection and a driver for a second extruder. You can get this right now, but as I said I think there is a lot going on in this area (e.g. rumors of a new Smoothieboard), so I think it's worth waiting a while.