Post by michaelkittrell on Dec 8, 2015 16:22:25 GMT
I'd like to announce that after a year, I finally finished building my printer. I had a ton of fun doing it, but for those that choose this path there are many pitfalls and it will probably take a lot longer than if you order more from the eclips3d store. If you don't have a lot of tools and friends and make any mistakes, you'll probably spend more than if you bought everything exactly as suggested and what you can directly from the Eclips3d store.
Biggest regret, not ordering the printed parts and the machined parts from eclips3d. The machined parts are what took me a year to finish. My 3d printed parts shrank over the past year and cost me 4-6 hours of time cutting/sanding them to make it work.
My final cost was $682.26 + $14 for a tap and die set + about $50 in gas for trips primarily related to this project. I do have a ton of extra screws, 4 extra 400mm rods, a 2nd set of pieces for most of the machined parts, a 1.5kg roll of filament and the personal satisfaction of doing it myself (plus a lot of blood, sweat and frustration). Didn't save a lot, but probably did save around 15% - 20% depending on any future issues (particularly with the knock off hot end).
I do wish I had gone bigger and badder. I've spent the past year thinking about what I want to print and for me a lot of it is bigger than 10" x 10". I'm not disappointed with the eclips3d by any stretch of the imagination, but for me personally a printer with a larger print area would've been better. Also, 3d printing is slow in general (eclips3d may be fast, but I don't have anything to compare it to). I went eclip3d for the quality, but again after a year of really thinking about what I would want to print, a lot of it doesn't need 50 micron resolution... I may need 2 printers, one eclips3d for pretty stuff (like figures and fun s stuff for the kids), and one monster printer with a large throughput hotend that can print a lot faster at bad quality for various things around the house, brackets, shelves, holders and random for our numerous pets (lizards, fish, turtles etc) and halloween costume stuff (swords, guns, princess crowns etc).
Thank you 3dPrintedLife. I had a lot of fun and I've learned a lot about Autodesk Inventor and machining. Without your videos and sharing your work, I would've ended up with a low end retail product that I'm sure I wouldn't have enjoyed.
Change Log
Ordering Parts
last updated 20160213, added some shipping/receiving information and minor updates to my experiences with each company
last updated 20170402, added some lessons learned, and suggested increased qty now that I've assembled my printer.
3d Printed parts
last updated 20170402
Machined Parts
last updated 20170402
Hello all, this is my first foray into 3d printing. I'm a wood worker, computer programmer.
I was thinking of making megamax or son of megamax, but I really liked the videos and the engineering 3dprintedlife put into this as well as everything under docs. Honestly, the aluminum extrusions the megamax guy uses scared me off those things look monstrously expensive.
As I build my eclipse3d, I want to document my process here for help (thanks in advance) and maybe it'll help someone else down the road. I'm also adding "todo" for myself to come back to later and fill in when I have more knowledge and experience. If anyone has info to add feel free to post and I'll try to add it.
3d Printed parts
last updated 20151208
The docs are great... if you know what to do with them. Being excited, I went straight from the videos (https://www.youtube.com/user/3DprintedLife/videos) to docs on eclipe3d.com and downloaded them ... and had no idea what to do with them. Windows 10 could open up the stl files so I can see them, but it took reading the forums and looking at the store to figure out that these are the files I need to get 3d printed. Fortunately, the local university has a 3d printer. I was doing fine until it asked for special printing instructions including "infill %."
University got back to me, they don't really want to print 26 individual parts. They've asked me to use Makerbot desktop software and send them print files. Guess that's what I'm doing this afternoon.
Did some playing with various print settings to figure out what it was going to cost (university charges per gram of filament), added all parts to one plate (with qty on the 5 or so parts that are more than 1) and got the following
100 micron, 20% infill, 10 shells = 52 hours 437g of filament
200 micron, 20%, 10 shells = 23 hours 415g of filament
200 micron, 20% infill, 2 shells = 19.5 hours 280g of filament
200 micron, 50% infill, 3 shells = 23 hours, 350g of filament
200micron, 100% infill, 2 shells = 28.5 hours, 462g of filament
* all with printing supports and raft
I ended up ordering mine with 50% infill, 3 shells. There lead time was about 10 days so I'm expecting it around 12/22.
I also specified that part A1 should be flipped upside down as it always seems to get added to the print job with a bracket pointing down. Flipping it upside down places a large flat surface down instead of that bracket (which would require the whole part to basically be printed on a bunch of supports as far as I know (note I know nothing, never printed 3d parts before).
I was told that the university only prints each part individually because multiple parts tend to get screwed up. I saw some guy here who did his all on one plate so it can be done, but I'm not going to argue with them on their machine with their experience (no labor costs for printing so doesn't matter to me).
Edit 20170402
I built my printer over the past few days. Some final lessons learned.
1. My printed parts all shrank. I assume they were printed in ABS and shrank as a result, but I actually don't know and it was ... not really possible to get quality information out of my printer. Spent 4-6 hours with my dremel, a razor blade and sand paper making parts fit correctly.
Especially nasty was the gantry as the bearings didn't fit at all. I screwed up 4 bearings trying to do a quick and dirty job instead of doing it properly. I believe I read someone else had this problem and had to hollow out the holes as well, 3dprintedlife mentioned updating the parts, but I don't know if it was ever done (or even needed to be done).
Don't know what is worse, that I waited a year to put it together so I could fix the parts post shrinkage, or wonder why my printer had problems with x/y movement as the bearings closed in around the rod and not know why.
2. Part A27/A30 wasn't in my original BOM or the 1.1 files. This is the small covers that hold the belts in place on the gantry. Is called A27 in the instructibles video, but seems to be part A30 the inventor files. Neither appears in the version of the BOM I have so I didn't get the 4 I needed printed. Jury rigged some stuff to hold the belts... printed some after I got my printer assembled.
3. Highly recommend buying the printed parts from eclips3d if you do not have instant access to a 3d printer (like you already own one or a friend has one). Being able to reprint parts, make adjustments instead of using a dremel and printing parts I missed (or were a mistake in the BOM)... would've been very nice. I'm sure 3dprintedlife's kits have all the necessary parts even if the official docs have mistakes (not 100% sure there are mistakes, but the copy I seem to have seems to have a mistake which may have been my fault no idea).
ToDo: Make a list of infill %s to use for each printed part in PLA.
Some notes
3dPrintedLife "I print most of my parts at 0.24mm layer heights with a 20% hexagonal infill, then some smaller parts which may be under more tension I print at 40-50% infill. There's no right answer, but I would definitely recommend honeycomb infill as it is much stronger."
(http://eclips3d.proboards.com/thread/8/printed-parts-printer)
The university only prints in PLA so I had no choice of filament material for the printed parts so I was was heartened to read this:
3dPrintedLife "I use Hatchbox PLA plastic and it works very well. ABS would probably give you stronger parts but I don't know if the shrinkage would play a factor too much."
(http://eclips3d.proboards.com/thread/8/printed-parts-printer)
I also picked up these potential issues if you use slicr (a program) to print. I have no idea what my university uses but if they ask I'll tell them and if they don't, I may end up cleaning up a lot of supports (extra plastic printed to hold up parts of the thing you're actually to be removed after it dries/hardens).
All3dPrinting: "When I imported the slic3rconfig.ini file, I guess there were just a couple of settings that I would not have set as the default. The complete individual objects is also set, do you find this faster/better in some way (I personally don't do this)? I would think that depending on the size of the object that is being printed, this could lead to poor printing quality (ie if it is a small part, you want to allow some time before the next layer to allow the last layer to cool a bit).
And I realize the support material can be turn off by whomever is using it, but if you have ever printed supports with PLA, its a pain in the butt clean it up depending on the complexity of the object, this is why I was surprise it was on by default."
and came across this thread with a pic of the printed parts. eclips3d.proboards.com/thread/28/finished-printed-parts
Machined Parts
last updated 20151208
I met a guy who machines out of his garage professionally and he was open to teaching me how to machine and to making a 3d printer for himself as well. He's not a computer driven machining shop so its up to me to go from the files in the docs to an actual metal part. I'm also thinking he might be able to help me source some of the metal parts being he's in the business.
The parts to be machined can be found in the "Assembly files" docs zip under "CNC'd Parts folder."
(thats as far as I've gotten heh)
File Types (seems to be 3 versions of each part)
EMS, Solid Edge by Siemens PLM Software
STP, multiple software packages can open these
IPT, Autodesk
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_computer-aided_design_editors
Found this which talks about converting from the docs format to autodesk format. In the thread is a dxf and dwg file of the z Plate. (http://eclips3d.proboards.com/thread/39/cnc-parts)
So not sure if thats 3 versions of each file because its important or 3 versions so you can pick the one you want to use. I signed up for a free autodesk 360 account which allows me to view the models. I've imported the 5 cnc parts and shared them (tried to credit 3dprintedlife where ever possible so no one could confuse this for my work). I had a spot of trouble loading models and viewing stuff until I "verified" my account through email. Then I suddenly could see things access menus etc.
You will need a password to view these ("www.eclips3d.com") downloading is turned off (you can go to the docs section of www.eclips3d.com/docs if you want to download it.
Part# B1: a360.co/1Ng3Jjc
Part# B2: a360.co/1TyMPQv
Part# B3: a360.co/1Ng3NiO
Part# B4: a360.co/1Ng3V1L
Part# B5: a360.co/1NJ02BF
Unfortunately, I still have no idea of the actual dimensions. So I signed up for autodesk inventor pro free to students (http://www.autodesk.com/education/free-software/all, they don't seem to verify you have a .edu email but you do certify that you qualify so please don't commit fraud or piracy, Federal crimes, just because they don't restrict it). 25 gb install. From there I was able to open up the IPT files and then teach myself how to make dimensioned drawings (wow autocad has come a long way). Since I had the autodesk360 account (its kind of project oriented, I uploaded these two pdf's and shared them (same password as above).
Managed to create some dimensional drawings for the parts. You only possibly want this if you're machining parts yourself... without using computer automation (CNC).
All 5 parts in one PDF, english. The guy I'm working with likes inches.
a360.co/1M3oc8U
drafts in metric (incomplete)
B1 - a360.co/1Qdt8Qg
B3 - a360.co/1ID0vJM
He had a lot to say, but the big take away for me was the "precision". He wanted to know if all the parts had to be machined to precision or not. He ended up deciding that the square cut outs (where the brackets snugs up against the frame) and the screw holes should be done to precision, but the rest of it (like the pass throughs for the motor shafts and the corners) didn't matter. I tried to talk him into just maching the frame screw holes to precision and since they're at 90 degrees the frame would be square... but he said trust me it'll be better this way so I am.
Edit 20170402
The machining never really came through. Not sure if it would've really worked even if we had done it because of the 90 degree corners. I did finally get the parts made for $24 from a local place that specializes in cutting fence designs (I'm in AZ, they do a lot of fancy fences cut out of thin metal which rusts, I don't get it, but they do). I'm pretty sure they used a waterjet, but I think laser cut would've been better (and probably more expensive).
Lessons learned:
1. The Z plate is 1/4" thick, the rest is 1/8" thick. My z plate is 1/8" thick because I didn't notice that. Also, its apparently really hard to cut aluminum with laser as its so reflective... as far as I've read it takes a 1kw laser to do 1/8". I only mention this because my parts weren't as precise as I would've preferred probably because they were cut on a waterjet.
2. I screwed up and only had 1 Y gantry plate in my drawing instead of 2. Fortunately I ordered 2 sets. So I have backup copies of everything except the y gantry plate.
3. Some of my holes were not cut well. I think their gcode cut file had some of the holes too big. Its possible it shifted while cutting, but its multiple holes are oval instead of circle (shifted should've produced holes not in the right place, unless it shifted then they realigned and recut so they'd be right... doubtful). Fortunately I ordered 2 sets and used the "best" pieces.
3. There are about 25 holes that are tapped (threaded). I had no idea when I ordered my parts... so I had to tap those holes myself. A $14 carbon steel tap and die set from harbor freight did the trick, but ... it was harrowing and probably not the best quality. There are multiple thread pitches for each screw size (M3, M4 and M5) so matching the thread cutter to the screws you will be using is important.
Working with 1/8" aluminum was rough as you don't get many threads... so you can't screw up too badly or the piece is bad. Use a "guide"... which in my case was a piece of 1/4" aluminum that I drilled a m3, m4 and m5 sized hole in (guessetimated which bit to use) with my drill press so it would be perfectly vertical (no idea how well a "guide" can be made with a hand drill, the point is for it to be very close to 90 degrees vertical).
I tapped each of those guide holes then screwed the guide into a board (with a cut out in the center for the holes), slipped my part underneath it, lined it up (using the thread cutter to find its own center by screwing it in and letting it portrude just barely into the stock) clamped it down and let the threaded guide help apply downard pressure necessary to tap the stock underneath the guide. Used wd40 to lube (not sure necessary since manual), did a half to full turn, backed out a 1/4 turn and continued. Didn't break my thread cutters, but read alot about people doing that because they never backed out. The M5s were much harder to tap than the M3s. I was quite worried that I was going to break my thread cutter when tapping my guide in 1/4 aluminum which were my first taps (so the cutter was at its sharpest).
Ordering Parts
last updated 20160213
My total around $682.26 so far including shipping and skipping a couple parts. I also haven't ordered the mastercraft stuff. I believe I have all those parts, but if not I'll order them when I need them. Its not expensive, but the qty is excessive for 1 printer. Buying from the eclip3d store makes a lot of sense here. The complete kit also... is a very reasonable deal especially considering the effort you have to go through ... for any savings (if there are actual in your pocket $$ savings which its unclear to me yet. Mostly any savings I'm getting are "extra" material rather than money in my pocket).
I live in AZ so I didn't note paying sales tax for anything, but if you live in other states you may have to pay tax with your order for some retailers.
BuildTak ($28 on Amazon)
Ordering directly from Buildtak is not optimal imo. One 8x8 is $10, but shipping is $6 making it $16 for 1 sheet or $28 for 3 sheets with free shipping on Amazon.
www.amazon.com/BuildTak-Printing-Build-Surface-Square/dp/B00MN5X2YG
I questioned if the buildtak surfacce was necessary as there are two youtube videos the first talkign about how awesome it is, and then one a couple months later talking about turning on the heated bed.
"Yes I'd say it is well worth it to get 3, they will likely last for the life of your printer and it will save you countless hours replacing painters tape and lots of frustration from warping prints."
Eclips3d, eclips3d.proboards.com/thread/94/buildtak-surface-necessary
and a response
"I find the buildtak suface to work well with PLA. It sometimes sticks too well and it is easy to damage the surface or print when prying it off. I don't see it lasting all that long given the damage I already see. If you want to save money use glass and hairspray or glue stick. Regular window glass from the hardware store will work fine. I have my glass clipped to the bed with binder clips."
theo1001, eclips3d.proboards.com/thread/94/buildtak-surface-necessary
I think I'm going to skip the buildtak surface initially and just use glass and hairspray. I got glass lieing around and if plain glass works well then I save $30 great. If it doesn't work, I can always order buildtak.
edit 20170402 - I am using glass, it seems fine so far (1 day of printing).
Mastercraft ($25.77 projected total have not ordered, not included in my running total above)
the qty on these is excessive for 1 printer. Buying from the eclip3d store makes a lot of sense here. It is quite literally $8 cheaper if I recall correctly.
G27 Thumb Screw 3 96115A420 McMaster-Carr McMaster-Carr Kit 3.48
G28 Small Spring 3 9657K283 McMaster-Carr McMaster-Carr Kit pack of 12 10.35 12ct
G29 Large Spring 1 9657K83 McMaster-Carr McMaster-Carr Kit 6.10 12ct
D5 M3x30 Hex Head 3 91287A024 McMaster-Carr Fasteners Kit + McMaster-Carr Kit 5.84 50px
edit 20170402
I ended up using springs I recovered from scanner / printer tear down. Used extra 35 mm M3's that I had from the trimcraft order. Thumbscrews and proper length springs would be really, really, really nice, but saved myself $25.
Misumi (about 2 weeks to receive, total around $262. Shipping estimated at around $18 by another user ($11.30 in my case), my total was $216 including shipping, but I ordered the rod differently as noted below. Shipping looks reasonably fast, around 2 weeks before shipping and ground shipping is another 3-5 days or probably 3 weeks total.
They ship from two locations CA and Illinois so you probably pay tax in both states).
Kind of hard to order from these guys. Most of these you have to "configure" before you can add them to the cart. Its not necessarily hard, just a little daunting at first for me since I'm not a mechanical engineer I don't have familiarity with the terms used etc. Also because there are so many options, I played to find out if there was "cheaper" ways to buy some of these. Other than the hardened rods, not really.
Shipping is interesting, if you choose the FedEx option, you get "3rd party carrier" for the shipping billing and have to enter an account #. Unless you have an account with fedex you don't have one of these. Some of the other options like UPS have a "prepay and collect" option. I ordered yesterday, but I haven't paid yet and I don't have any shipping costs. I'll probably have to call in to get the order finalized and shipped. Shipping looks reasonably fast (within a week), but I don't know for sure yet.
I wasn't sure if my order was actually paid and processed after putting it in. Maybe I missed an email, they do calculate and add shipping so they can't exactly tell you exactly what they charged you on the spot. Someone else noted shipping was about $18; I haven't actually seen my total yet. Regardless, for some reason, I didn't know whether I had successfully ordered or not until I called in this morning (10 days after ordering) and they told me it was shipping in 2 days out of CA.
If I already had a 3d printer and ready to build one the way I want, It seems appropriate to me to enclose the build area (for heat retention and slower cooling) and the top area where the xy gantry and extruder is too. Covering it will likely introduce over heating issues in some of the components (motors especially) and I just don't think I can anticipate the lengths I will need to build it out the way I'm thinking even if I knew for sure overheating wasn't an issue or I could mitigate it easily. Anyhow If I have to replace all the extrusions I will waste at least $50 just on the extrusions which is a big waste, but since I do actually want a working 3d printer someday, I'm just going with the lengths as specified.
I think I would prefer to use the 40x40 extrusions and make them bigger in some dimensions than called for so I could go bigger. This was actually my complaint about building the "megamax" and was part of my original decision point to go with eclip3d, but after seeing the cost of 40x40, it doesn't seem that much worse. It probably only adds $100 to go 40x40, but I'm going to build eclip3d, then decide whether I really need a bigger badder version.
HFSF5_2020 ($2.37)
us.misumi-ec.com/vona2/detail/110302683920/?ProductCode=HFSF5-2020-360
HFST5_2020_360 ($2.37), HFST5_2020_400 ($2.64) is basically the same as above it just has 2 flat edges and 2 slotted edges.
us.misumi-ec.com/vona2/detail/110302684010/?Inch=0
HBLFSN5_C $20 (paste HBLFSN5 into search, then select the part, then specify "C (Taps for Cover Mounting) in the left options panel)
us.misumi-ec.com/vona2/detail/110300437260/?Inch=0&CategorySpec=00000042746%3A%3Aa\
note you have to select "C (Taps for Cover Mounting)" to get the "_C" in the part #. Adds about 20 cents per bracket for a screw hole in the outside facing portion of the bracket (vs the two faces that attaches to the frame). I assume this is so you can add plexiglass sheets around the build chamber in the future. I selected "not provided" for most of the options, the cheapest screwset added like 50 cents.
edit 20170402 - i ordered HBLFSNF5_C, not sure how or why... whether I ordered it wrong or they screwed up, but I got a bracket that was shorter on one side instead of equal on both sides. Why does this matter, because the head of one screw blocks the other which means you can only assemble/disassemble one way. I had to screw/unscrew several brackets several times during the "assembling the frame" part of the build. Also, I assume the longer on both sides bracket would help make sure the construction is square (perfect 90s). So.... do heed 3dprintedlife's advice to watch the videos several times before building, do make sure you get the correct brackets or pay some extra time and frustration.
PRGCS3-100-100 $1.47
us.misumi-ec.com/vona2/detail/110300286150/?ProductCode=PRGCS3-100-200
Calls for qty 2. Specifies to cut to 40mm x 40mm so I assume you need 40x80mm total (instead of 2 sheets of 100x100 which is what the part# references. If you do need more, the 100 x 200 sheet is $1.00 cheaper than buying 2 100x100 sheets). (I actually ordered 100x200 so I would have extra or just in case it is actually 2 sheets its only 50 cents more for 2x as much.
PSFCJ10-335 ($16.11), PSFCJ10-360 ($31.73)
us.misumi-ec.com/vona2/detail/110300004660/?ProductCode=PSFCJ10-360
us.misumi-ec.com/vona2/detail/110300004660/?ProductCode=PSFCJ10-335
So… the price difference between the 335 and the 360 pieces… is entirely due to quantity. It is $32 for 1-3, $16 for 4-9 and $10 for 10. The BOM calls for 2 @ 360mm and 4 @ 335mm which means you’ll pay $64 for 2 and $64 for the other 4 or $128 total. If you can cut it yourself (to precision I assume)… order 6 @ 360 and cut 4 down to 335 mm for $92. For $105 you can get 10 @ 360 and have 4 spare… for your next printer I guess. I don’t know if you can just take a hacksaw to these… you’ll probably bend and score the rods ruining them. My machinst friend said use an angle grinder then mill them to the correct length. Unless you know a machinst, you might be stuck paying full price. The price break is at 400mm. 400mm is $31, 401mm is $37. 600mm and 800mm are $51. 10x360, 10x400 and 4x800mm all cost about the same due to qty discounts ~$105 ( although shipping a 32” rod may cost a lot more than a 16” no idea).
edit 20170402 after putting mine together, I don't see the need for "precision" in the lengths. Approximate should work (especially for the 360mm ones) and as long as you can cut it without bending or scratching it I think you're golden.
HNSQ3-3
us.misumi-ec.com/vona2/detail/110300465710/?ProductCode=HNSQ3-3
I actually really like the look of these (2x as expensive) (http://us.misumi-ec.com/vona2/detail/110302246940/?ProductCode=HNKK5-3), but not sure they’ll fit properly. Even if they technically fit, the design/assembly may require some play in the positioning. Can’t take a chance on a first build.
MDZB10-10 $13.04
us.misumi-ec.com/vona2/detail/110302640070/?ProductCode=MDZB10-10
edit: 20170402, I suggest you order extra of these bushings. The holes that these fit into on the 3d printed parts can shrink (depending on what material printed in) and getting the fit right was a huge chore. I ruined 4 getting 8 to fit right (see my notes on 3d printed parts, if you order yours from 3dprintedlife you may not need extras).
LHMRD10 $17.76
us.misumi-ec.com/vona2/detail/110302209570/?ProductCode=LHMRD10
Open Builds (about 5 business days to receive, $88.07 with shipping but I didn't buy the $30 PSU)
PSU (skipped, using a computer psu)
openbuildspartstore.com/12v-30a-power-supply/
I skipped the psu, going to use a computer psu, but I was reading on reddit about someone who had a computer PSU hooked up to his 3d printer and "nearly burned his house down". A bit exaggerated, but his take away was that he needed to install a fuse because something went wrong and part of his 3d printer caught on fire. For a device that you might turn on and let run 24 hours unattended in a remote location because its noisy (since its roughly 2x as long to print at 50 microns as it is to print at 100 microns) its probably extremely unwise to not have fuses. Your typical resettable home electrical breakers can fail to trip when they're supposed to. They are not 100% reliable. If you have fused breakers (very old stuff) maybe you could rely on that instead of fuses on your printer. I will probably put 2 amp fuses inline to my stepper motors so an issue blows the 20 cent fuse instead of the $17 motor. Same with regards to the $100 azteeg board (when I figure out the correct amps for that fuse). Probably also want to put a smoke alarm near your 3d printer if you run it in a remote location like a basement.
Stepper motor ($17.50)
openbuildspartstore.com/nema-17-stepper-motor/
Really like the look of the nema-24 motors so I can consider "upgrading" to a bigger version of eclip3d in the future, but requires too much research and guesswork considering my lack of experience. Could be issues with the controller being able to handle the 2.3 amp drives vs these 1.7a ones. Could be issues with the physical size and mounting. Could be issues with the heavier motors causing deflection in the hardened rods for the gantry throwing off the quality.
lead screw, $10, shows up as 250mm but has verbage indicating it is actually 290 as noted in the BOM.
openbuildspartstore.com/8mm-metric-acme-lead-screw/
funny story, I have a bunch of kids so i was thinking do i really want lead (chemistry symbol pb) in my house? Also lead is really soft so what business does it have doing in a high tolerance 3d printer. Well its not lead (pb), its lead like leader. My machinist friend had a chuckle over that one.
lead screw nut plate ($6.25)
openbuildspartstore.com/nut-plate-for-8mm-metric-acme-lead-screw/
aluminum spacer (qty 6 for total of $1.20, make sure you get the 6mm ones), openbuildspartstore.com/aluminum-spacers/
mini ball bearing ($1), openbuildspartstore.com/mini-ball-bearing-5x10x4-2/
Ebay ($15, ships same day (varies though as multiple selelrs...) I didn't buy some of the stuff)
End Stops ($10 bucks, ships same day about 3 business days to receive)
www.ebay.com/itm/3-pcs-Mechanical-Endstop-Module-V1-2-for-3D-Printer-RAMPS-1-4-RepRap-Prusa-i3-/181633032913?hash=item2a4a2c22d1
I was tempted to order the end stops with the azteeg controller (its a low cost option) and the other stuff since the price looked competitive... but again I went with whats called for in the BOM.
Spiral cable managmenet ($5 bucks ships same day)
www.ebay.com/itm/4mm-88FT-27M-Spiral-Cable-Wire-Wrap-Tube-Computer-Manage-Cord-Black-/301627469924?hash=item463a65f064
comes with like 88 feet or something for $5
Power cable, Power switch and fuse (I'm using a computer PSU not the robodigg one. Most computer PSU's have a switch built in)
www.ebay.com/itm/Monoprice-5280-10-foot-18AWG-Power-Cord-Cable-C13-5-15P-/371299868942?hash=item567332610e
www.ebay.com/itm/Generic-AC-Power-Socket-fuse-Holder-rocker-Switch-250V10A-Snap-in-IEC320-C14-1PC-/321237687373?hash=item4acb421c4d
www.ebay.com/itm/5pcs-10A-250V-5x20mm-Glass-Fast-Fuse-US-Seller-/261370345417?hash=item3cdae2f7c9
I skipped these parts, but I was reading on reddit about someone who had a computer PSU hooked up to his 3d printer and "nearly burned his house down". A bit exaggerated, but his take away was that he needed to install a fuse because something went wrong and part of his 3d printer caught on fire. For a device that you might turn on and let run 24 hours unattended in a remote location because its noisy (since its roughly 2x as long to print at 50 microns as it is to print at 100 microns) its probably extremely unwise to not have fuses. Your typical resettable home electrical breakers can fail to trip when they're supposed to. They are not 100% reliable. If you have fused breakers (very old stuff) maybe you could rely on that instead of fuses on your printer. I will probably put 2 amp fuses inline to my stepper motors so an issue blows the 20 cent fuse instead of the $17 motor. Same with regards to the $100 azteeg board (when I figure out the correct amps for that fuse). Probably also want to put a smoke alarm near your 3d printer if you run it in a remote location like a basement.
LED lighting strip (out of stock, but I do plan to buy it, but still out of stock a month later. May never come back in stock)
www.ebay.com/itm/12V-Waterproof-5M-30CM-3528-5050-SMD-15-300-600-LED-Flexible-Strip-Decor-Light-/301735800093?var=600565149857&hash=item4640daed1d
RoboDigg (about a week to receive after paying so probably around 10 days from when you place the order. $123 including shipping and a $12 1.5kg roll of 1.75mm abs filament. without the filament total around $100. Shipping is via airmail from China so probably doesn't take that long, but its not fast)
So placed my order with robodigg but couldn't pay. It appears to go to someone (probably in china since the english is below average but not terribad) who looks it over and calculates the shipping then updates the order. A day later, I now have the option to pay for my order (but I didn't get any email notice letting me know it was ready to pay, I just checked the website).
So the total for shipping was $40 with a roll of abs filament ($12, 1.5kg). I thought the filament was really cheap so I asked how much for a 2nd roll which increased shipping $20 (total of around $32 for a 2nd roll). Removing the first roll lowered my shipping to $30. I went ahead and kept the first roll for a net of around $22 for 1.5kg of 1.75mm abs in black). $32 for a second roll is also probably a good price as far as I know, but I'll wait to see how good this first roll is and then probably order 5 or 6 rolls. From my research, filament quality can vary, but I needed to have something to print with once I get it all together.
Robodigg apparently doesn't ship anything from 2/2 through about 2/15 due to Chinese new year. I finalized my order on 2/2, hopefully i get it within a couple weeks (I did).
Chinese New Year Notice
Air mail stops to ship out orders from 17:59:59, 2nd, Feb 2016 Beijing Time, because that China Post does Not accept shipments during CNY.
RobotDigg stops to ship out orders from 3rd, Feb 2016 Beijing or HongKong Time. Orders paid 3rd, Feb 2016 or after will be arranged around 15-20th, Feb 2016
Not going to itemize these, they're all pretty cheap. Total was around $80, but shipping is like $40). I was really thinking of ordering multiple of some items as replacements since shipping is so ridiculous. Things like belts might be "wear" parts and need replacement or be prone to me screwing it up during assembly. The motor is $7 so might be good to have a replacement especially if it takes 20 or 30 days to receive the items. That's what I'm expecting, but I don't actually know the delivery estimate yet.
www.robotdigg.com/product/7/NEMA17+40mm+stepper+motor
(5mm bore) www.robotdigg.com/product/145/UM+GT2+Pulley+20+Tooth+5mm+or+6mm+Bore
www.robotdigg.com/product/215/F625ZZ+Flanged+Ball+Bearing
www.robotdigg.com/product/10/Open+Ended+6mm+Width+GT2+Belt
(note this comes as 1 roll even though you order qty 3 (3 meters)) I had about 12 inches left over.
(5mm to 8mm) www.robotdigg.com/product/354/Flexible+Clamping+Coupler+D20L25
(1.75mm) www.robotdigg.com/product/242/MK8+Filament+Drive+Gear
www.robotdigg.com/product/202/MK3+Dual+Power+ALU-Heatbed
www.robotdigg.com/product/189/3pin+1M+Long+Endstop+Cables+w/+Dupont+Connector
www.robotdigg.com/product/195/4pin+1M+Long+RDG+Step+Motor+Cables+w/+Dupont+Connector
(m5) www.robotdigg.com/product/317/Pre+Assembly+T+Nuts+for+2020+Aluminum+Extrusion
www.robotdigg.com/product/214/SK10+Linear+Bearing+Support+Unit
www.robotdigg.com/product/320/5015+12VDC+0.23A+Blower+Fan
(2mm id, 4mm od) www.robotdigg.com/product/133/PTFE+Tube+2*4mm+or+3*5mm+10+Meters
www.robotdigg.com/product/549/MF58+100k+thermistor+with+1m+cables
www.robotdigg.com/product/188/2pin+1M+Long+Thermistor+Cables+w/+Dupont+Connector
Panucatt (about 3 business days to receive, eclip3d10 $10 off code worked fine at checkout. Total was around $103.50, ships fast same day)
www.panucatt.com/azteeg_X5_mini_reprap_3d_printer_controller_p/ax5mini.htm
Not much to say here, couldn't find it for a better price anywhere so bought it directly from panucatt with the eclips3d10 code. I really liked the look of their other controller for $135 which has like double or triple the relays (for extra motors, extruders, temperature sensors etc), but I don't want to take on the research and engineering at this point in time to use it since this is my first printer, just going with whats called for in the BOM.
I was tempted to order the board with the end stops and the other stuff since the price looked competitive... but again I went with whats called for in the BOM.
There is a thread for people using the other panucatt board, there is also a thread on people building a 24v version of the ecips3d (requiring the 24v version of the board) because of issues getting the heating bed hot enough on the 12v system as currently spec'd (as of 2/2016). The 24v version as far as I understand requires you order the 24v of the controller and the 24v version of the hotend and probably a few other parts need to be different.
Trimcraftaviation (about 4 business days to receive, screws and stuff, around $17 with shipping, ships fast)
Pretty easy to order from, got a confirmation next day that it would ship that day. I did my research about a month ago and ordered around 1/27/2016. You can probably just browsed my link, clicked add to cart for each item then view your cart and check out.
edit 20170402 - trimcraft changed their links. I updated these below so they should work, but no guarantees.
www.trimcraftaviationrc.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=25
www.trimcraftaviationrc.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=26
www.trimcraftaviationrc.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=27
www.trimcraftaviationrc.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=197
www.trimcraftaviationrc.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=194
www.trimcraftaviationrc.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=230
www.trimcraftaviationrc.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=28
www.trimcraftaviationrc.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=30
www.trimcraftaviationrc.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=438
www.trimcraftaviationrc.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=50
edit 20170402 - I didn't like these, the head took a different hex wrench as compared to the other m5 screws. No idea if changing this to the other head style would be problematic, but I didn't like these.
www.trimcraftaviationrc.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=178
www.trimcraftaviationrc.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=179
www.trimcraftaviationrc.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=231
I would order qty 2. Technically 1 is enough, but when I put my printer together I found that I used more of these washers than was called for. I used all 25 and wish I had another 5-10, but I also used some random parts/scrap from around the house. There were plenty of m3 washers.
e3d hot end ($78 from most sites fast shipping, $25.99 at one place I don't trust and probably takes 30 days to ship)
Buying direct from e3d is probably a bad idea if you're in the US since it seems to be in Europe. The currency conversion, the extra charges your bank and credit card will probably charge you for converting... probably best to order from a US based retailer for $78-$88 as far as I could tell. Several of their official retailers websites didn't come up. So you may want to try and choose the "bigger" more reputable of their US based resellers.
I found this retailer... and I hestiate to post. The price is $25.99 free shipping. I don't know how they can have the same thing that is $80 everywhere and for it to be the same thing. It could be a knock off, it could be a pricing mistake, it could be the wrong title on a part. I cross checked it with the official e3d site and it looks like it has all the same parts judging by the pictures. If I knew for sure it was a knockoff, I would not buy it as this item is probably the most important thing to getting good accuracy and having an enjoyable printing experience rather than a constant headache of clearing the extruder and or replacing the extruder. I'm a neophyte to 3d printing so ... I actually don't know, just based on my research.
www.miniinthebox.com/e3d-v6-hot-end-full-kit-1-75mm-12v-bowden-reprap-3d-printer-extruder-parts-accessories-0-4mm-nozzle_p4295185.html
(buy at your own, probably extreme risk and long shipping time; just over 2 weeks. I ordered it, I'm personally expecting it to be not as advertised for example just a print nozzle instead of a full kit or a knock off. I am gambling $26 that a retailer made a price mistake on the $80 extruder, but if its not the correct part, I'll be disputing the charge and buying it for $80 from a US retailer. My order is currently "shipped" as of 1/28 and today is 2/2. My order was in Malaysia on 1/31 if I'm reading the tracking information correctly so probably another week to receive. It left Malaysia on 2/3 (3 days after I ordered) and arrived in the USA on 2/4 but I still don't have it (2/13, 14 days after ordering) its probably sitting in customs or something.
edit 20170402 - I still get spam emails from this company (and they are constant) despite a dozen attempts to unsubscribe.
The hot end does work so far, 1 day of actual printing, but I did have some issues installing. I'm not sure whether this is because my 3d printed parts shrank or if this part is slightly taller/bigger than a legit e3d hotend. Regardless, I had to dremel the heck out of the hotend holding bracket and cut off part of the filament feeding tube/mechanism to get it to fit correctly under the stepper motor. I really don't like how tight the tolerance is between the top of the hotend / feeding tube and the stepper motor/mk8 drive gear that feeds the filament. IIRC, 3dprintedlife talks about this in a video and this was done to reduce cord drag/tube drag and yield a better quality print. I believe him, but I still don't like how tight it was (but i ordered a knock off part so I'm lucky it fit at all).
I received it about 17 days after ordering and it looks like the pictures from the e3d website. The only difference I can see is the thermistor cable is opaque plastic instead of blue corded fabric as pictured on the e3d website (unknown significance, the picture may be old and some come with blue cables some with opaque). For the record, I would think the blue corded cabe is more resistant to high temps and breakage, but thats just a guess based on the fact that high end computer mice and keyboards come with braided covering. Also, the block cut out (where the heating element is compressed within the hotend) looks slightly not square. It won't matter since this is meant to be screwed down holding the heating element in place, but for an $80 piece of metal from a reputable company, I would expect a little more perfection... which could mean this is knock off instead of reall. I have never seen a head that i know for sure is legit e3d so it may be just the accepted quality... its not important that its square, its just important that you can screw it down tight enough that the heating element is sandwiched in between and can warm up the hotend. It comes assembled and looks legit, that's all I can say at this point until I've actually printed a few things.
*ugh and unsubscribe from their emails right away, daily craptastic ads. Update, unsubscribed at least 3x on 3 different days, still getting the spam.
Note, there is an e3d "lite" hot end that is half the price of the one called for in the BOM. My research on this and other 3d printers suggests that the most frequent problem and complaint is related to hot ends, specifically to nozzle's becoming plugged up and designs that cause variances in flow rate. For example if the hot end heats up the filament above the nozzle (rather than in the nozzle) you could have melted or soft plastic where you don't want it which could at minimum cause the extruder filament "drive" motor to have an inconsistent time "grabbing" and feeding the filament. I'm not claiming this is the best hot end, but its the one eclips3d calls for and saving $40 bucks on this critical part... on a $800 3d printer... doesn't make sense to me.
"Note that you can substitute the E3D V6 for the E3D V6 lite without modifying parts, but the hot end performance will not be as good."
per Eclip3d, step 6, www.instructables.com/id/Eclips3D-High-Precision-3D-Printer/?ALLSTEPS
I believe there is a thread on modding the ecips3d to use dual extruders, but I have to get mine built before I start looking at improvements. Would require a different controller board I believe as well as substantial modifications to the aluminum plate the hotend is mounted too as well as extra parts.
3d printed parts
the local university printed them up for $27. It took them about 6 weeks and a dozen emails to get around to it, but not bad. They charged something like $0.10 a gram of material, no handling, setup or job fee. For more details, see the printed parts section of this post.
edit 20170402 - highly suggest you buy your printed parts from Eclips3d unless you have your own printer/friend has a printer. See printed parts section at top for more information. Long story short, parts shrank, missed some parts because weren't on the version of the BOM I used. Really wish I could print certain parts over again. Really wish parts I printed actually fit correctly (due to shrinkage or due to version not sure); I'm sure the 3dprintedlife parts work correctly).
Biggest regret, not ordering the printed parts and the machined parts from eclips3d. The machined parts are what took me a year to finish. My 3d printed parts shrank over the past year and cost me 4-6 hours of time cutting/sanding them to make it work.
My final cost was $682.26 + $14 for a tap and die set + about $50 in gas for trips primarily related to this project. I do have a ton of extra screws, 4 extra 400mm rods, a 2nd set of pieces for most of the machined parts, a 1.5kg roll of filament and the personal satisfaction of doing it myself (plus a lot of blood, sweat and frustration). Didn't save a lot, but probably did save around 15% - 20% depending on any future issues (particularly with the knock off hot end).
I do wish I had gone bigger and badder. I've spent the past year thinking about what I want to print and for me a lot of it is bigger than 10" x 10". I'm not disappointed with the eclips3d by any stretch of the imagination, but for me personally a printer with a larger print area would've been better. Also, 3d printing is slow in general (eclips3d may be fast, but I don't have anything to compare it to). I went eclip3d for the quality, but again after a year of really thinking about what I would want to print, a lot of it doesn't need 50 micron resolution... I may need 2 printers, one eclips3d for pretty stuff (like figures and fun s stuff for the kids), and one monster printer with a large throughput hotend that can print a lot faster at bad quality for various things around the house, brackets, shelves, holders and random for our numerous pets (lizards, fish, turtles etc) and halloween costume stuff (swords, guns, princess crowns etc).
Thank you 3dPrintedLife. I had a lot of fun and I've learned a lot about Autodesk Inventor and machining. Without your videos and sharing your work, I would've ended up with a low end retail product that I'm sure I wouldn't have enjoyed.
Change Log
Ordering Parts
last updated 20160213, added some shipping/receiving information and minor updates to my experiences with each company
last updated 20170402, added some lessons learned, and suggested increased qty now that I've assembled my printer.
3d Printed parts
last updated 20170402
Machined Parts
last updated 20170402
Hello all, this is my first foray into 3d printing. I'm a wood worker, computer programmer.
I was thinking of making megamax or son of megamax, but I really liked the videos and the engineering 3dprintedlife put into this as well as everything under docs. Honestly, the aluminum extrusions the megamax guy uses scared me off those things look monstrously expensive.
As I build my eclipse3d, I want to document my process here for help (thanks in advance) and maybe it'll help someone else down the road. I'm also adding "todo" for myself to come back to later and fill in when I have more knowledge and experience. If anyone has info to add feel free to post and I'll try to add it.
3d Printed parts
last updated 20151208
The docs are great... if you know what to do with them. Being excited, I went straight from the videos (https://www.youtube.com/user/3DprintedLife/videos) to docs on eclipe3d.com and downloaded them ... and had no idea what to do with them. Windows 10 could open up the stl files so I can see them, but it took reading the forums and looking at the store to figure out that these are the files I need to get 3d printed. Fortunately, the local university has a 3d printer. I was doing fine until it asked for special printing instructions including "infill %."
University got back to me, they don't really want to print 26 individual parts. They've asked me to use Makerbot desktop software and send them print files. Guess that's what I'm doing this afternoon.
Did some playing with various print settings to figure out what it was going to cost (university charges per gram of filament), added all parts to one plate (with qty on the 5 or so parts that are more than 1) and got the following
100 micron, 20% infill, 10 shells = 52 hours 437g of filament
200 micron, 20%, 10 shells = 23 hours 415g of filament
200 micron, 20% infill, 2 shells = 19.5 hours 280g of filament
200 micron, 50% infill, 3 shells = 23 hours, 350g of filament
200micron, 100% infill, 2 shells = 28.5 hours, 462g of filament
* all with printing supports and raft
I ended up ordering mine with 50% infill, 3 shells. There lead time was about 10 days so I'm expecting it around 12/22.
I also specified that part A1 should be flipped upside down as it always seems to get added to the print job with a bracket pointing down. Flipping it upside down places a large flat surface down instead of that bracket (which would require the whole part to basically be printed on a bunch of supports as far as I know (note I know nothing, never printed 3d parts before).
I was told that the university only prints each part individually because multiple parts tend to get screwed up. I saw some guy here who did his all on one plate so it can be done, but I'm not going to argue with them on their machine with their experience (no labor costs for printing so doesn't matter to me).
Edit 20170402
I built my printer over the past few days. Some final lessons learned.
1. My printed parts all shrank. I assume they were printed in ABS and shrank as a result, but I actually don't know and it was ... not really possible to get quality information out of my printer. Spent 4-6 hours with my dremel, a razor blade and sand paper making parts fit correctly.
Especially nasty was the gantry as the bearings didn't fit at all. I screwed up 4 bearings trying to do a quick and dirty job instead of doing it properly. I believe I read someone else had this problem and had to hollow out the holes as well, 3dprintedlife mentioned updating the parts, but I don't know if it was ever done (or even needed to be done).
Don't know what is worse, that I waited a year to put it together so I could fix the parts post shrinkage, or wonder why my printer had problems with x/y movement as the bearings closed in around the rod and not know why.
2. Part A27/A30 wasn't in my original BOM or the 1.1 files. This is the small covers that hold the belts in place on the gantry. Is called A27 in the instructibles video, but seems to be part A30 the inventor files. Neither appears in the version of the BOM I have so I didn't get the 4 I needed printed. Jury rigged some stuff to hold the belts... printed some after I got my printer assembled.
3. Highly recommend buying the printed parts from eclips3d if you do not have instant access to a 3d printer (like you already own one or a friend has one). Being able to reprint parts, make adjustments instead of using a dremel and printing parts I missed (or were a mistake in the BOM)... would've been very nice. I'm sure 3dprintedlife's kits have all the necessary parts even if the official docs have mistakes (not 100% sure there are mistakes, but the copy I seem to have seems to have a mistake which may have been my fault no idea).
ToDo: Make a list of infill %s to use for each printed part in PLA.
Some notes
3dPrintedLife "I print most of my parts at 0.24mm layer heights with a 20% hexagonal infill, then some smaller parts which may be under more tension I print at 40-50% infill. There's no right answer, but I would definitely recommend honeycomb infill as it is much stronger."
(http://eclips3d.proboards.com/thread/8/printed-parts-printer)
The university only prints in PLA so I had no choice of filament material for the printed parts so I was was heartened to read this:
3dPrintedLife "I use Hatchbox PLA plastic and it works very well. ABS would probably give you stronger parts but I don't know if the shrinkage would play a factor too much."
(http://eclips3d.proboards.com/thread/8/printed-parts-printer)
I also picked up these potential issues if you use slicr (a program) to print. I have no idea what my university uses but if they ask I'll tell them and if they don't, I may end up cleaning up a lot of supports (extra plastic printed to hold up parts of the thing you're actually to be removed after it dries/hardens).
All3dPrinting: "When I imported the slic3rconfig.ini file, I guess there were just a couple of settings that I would not have set as the default. The complete individual objects is also set, do you find this faster/better in some way (I personally don't do this)? I would think that depending on the size of the object that is being printed, this could lead to poor printing quality (ie if it is a small part, you want to allow some time before the next layer to allow the last layer to cool a bit).
And I realize the support material can be turn off by whomever is using it, but if you have ever printed supports with PLA, its a pain in the butt clean it up depending on the complexity of the object, this is why I was surprise it was on by default."
and came across this thread with a pic of the printed parts. eclips3d.proboards.com/thread/28/finished-printed-parts
Machined Parts
last updated 20151208
I met a guy who machines out of his garage professionally and he was open to teaching me how to machine and to making a 3d printer for himself as well. He's not a computer driven machining shop so its up to me to go from the files in the docs to an actual metal part. I'm also thinking he might be able to help me source some of the metal parts being he's in the business.
The parts to be machined can be found in the "Assembly files" docs zip under "CNC'd Parts folder."
(thats as far as I've gotten heh)
File Types (seems to be 3 versions of each part)
EMS, Solid Edge by Siemens PLM Software
STP, multiple software packages can open these
IPT, Autodesk
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_computer-aided_design_editors
Found this which talks about converting from the docs format to autodesk format. In the thread is a dxf and dwg file of the z Plate. (http://eclips3d.proboards.com/thread/39/cnc-parts)
So not sure if thats 3 versions of each file because its important or 3 versions so you can pick the one you want to use. I signed up for a free autodesk 360 account which allows me to view the models. I've imported the 5 cnc parts and shared them (tried to credit 3dprintedlife where ever possible so no one could confuse this for my work). I had a spot of trouble loading models and viewing stuff until I "verified" my account through email. Then I suddenly could see things access menus etc.
You will need a password to view these ("www.eclips3d.com") downloading is turned off (you can go to the docs section of www.eclips3d.com/docs if you want to download it.
Part# B1: a360.co/1Ng3Jjc
Part# B2: a360.co/1TyMPQv
Part# B3: a360.co/1Ng3NiO
Part# B4: a360.co/1Ng3V1L
Part# B5: a360.co/1NJ02BF
Unfortunately, I still have no idea of the actual dimensions. So I signed up for autodesk inventor pro free to students (http://www.autodesk.com/education/free-software/all, they don't seem to verify you have a .edu email but you do certify that you qualify so please don't commit fraud or piracy, Federal crimes, just because they don't restrict it). 25 gb install. From there I was able to open up the IPT files and then teach myself how to make dimensioned drawings (wow autocad has come a long way). Since I had the autodesk360 account (its kind of project oriented, I uploaded these two pdf's and shared them (same password as above).
Managed to create some dimensional drawings for the parts. You only possibly want this if you're machining parts yourself... without using computer automation (CNC).
All 5 parts in one PDF, english. The guy I'm working with likes inches.
a360.co/1M3oc8U
drafts in metric (incomplete)
B1 - a360.co/1Qdt8Qg
B3 - a360.co/1ID0vJM
He had a lot to say, but the big take away for me was the "precision". He wanted to know if all the parts had to be machined to precision or not. He ended up deciding that the square cut outs (where the brackets snugs up against the frame) and the screw holes should be done to precision, but the rest of it (like the pass throughs for the motor shafts and the corners) didn't matter. I tried to talk him into just maching the frame screw holes to precision and since they're at 90 degrees the frame would be square... but he said trust me it'll be better this way so I am.
Edit 20170402
The machining never really came through. Not sure if it would've really worked even if we had done it because of the 90 degree corners. I did finally get the parts made for $24 from a local place that specializes in cutting fence designs (I'm in AZ, they do a lot of fancy fences cut out of thin metal which rusts, I don't get it, but they do). I'm pretty sure they used a waterjet, but I think laser cut would've been better (and probably more expensive).
Lessons learned:
1. The Z plate is 1/4" thick, the rest is 1/8" thick. My z plate is 1/8" thick because I didn't notice that. Also, its apparently really hard to cut aluminum with laser as its so reflective... as far as I've read it takes a 1kw laser to do 1/8". I only mention this because my parts weren't as precise as I would've preferred probably because they were cut on a waterjet.
2. I screwed up and only had 1 Y gantry plate in my drawing instead of 2. Fortunately I ordered 2 sets. So I have backup copies of everything except the y gantry plate.
3. Some of my holes were not cut well. I think their gcode cut file had some of the holes too big. Its possible it shifted while cutting, but its multiple holes are oval instead of circle (shifted should've produced holes not in the right place, unless it shifted then they realigned and recut so they'd be right... doubtful). Fortunately I ordered 2 sets and used the "best" pieces.
3. There are about 25 holes that are tapped (threaded). I had no idea when I ordered my parts... so I had to tap those holes myself. A $14 carbon steel tap and die set from harbor freight did the trick, but ... it was harrowing and probably not the best quality. There are multiple thread pitches for each screw size (M3, M4 and M5) so matching the thread cutter to the screws you will be using is important.
Working with 1/8" aluminum was rough as you don't get many threads... so you can't screw up too badly or the piece is bad. Use a "guide"... which in my case was a piece of 1/4" aluminum that I drilled a m3, m4 and m5 sized hole in (guessetimated which bit to use) with my drill press so it would be perfectly vertical (no idea how well a "guide" can be made with a hand drill, the point is for it to be very close to 90 degrees vertical).
I tapped each of those guide holes then screwed the guide into a board (with a cut out in the center for the holes), slipped my part underneath it, lined it up (using the thread cutter to find its own center by screwing it in and letting it portrude just barely into the stock) clamped it down and let the threaded guide help apply downard pressure necessary to tap the stock underneath the guide. Used wd40 to lube (not sure necessary since manual), did a half to full turn, backed out a 1/4 turn and continued. Didn't break my thread cutters, but read alot about people doing that because they never backed out. The M5s were much harder to tap than the M3s. I was quite worried that I was going to break my thread cutter when tapping my guide in 1/4 aluminum which were my first taps (so the cutter was at its sharpest).
Ordering Parts
last updated 20160213
My total around $682.26 so far including shipping and skipping a couple parts. I also haven't ordered the mastercraft stuff. I believe I have all those parts, but if not I'll order them when I need them. Its not expensive, but the qty is excessive for 1 printer. Buying from the eclip3d store makes a lot of sense here. The complete kit also... is a very reasonable deal especially considering the effort you have to go through ... for any savings (if there are actual in your pocket $$ savings which its unclear to me yet. Mostly any savings I'm getting are "extra" material rather than money in my pocket).
I live in AZ so I didn't note paying sales tax for anything, but if you live in other states you may have to pay tax with your order for some retailers.
BuildTak ($28 on Amazon)
Ordering directly from Buildtak is not optimal imo. One 8x8 is $10, but shipping is $6 making it $16 for 1 sheet or $28 for 3 sheets with free shipping on Amazon.
www.amazon.com/BuildTak-Printing-Build-Surface-Square/dp/B00MN5X2YG
I questioned if the buildtak surfacce was necessary as there are two youtube videos the first talkign about how awesome it is, and then one a couple months later talking about turning on the heated bed.
"Yes I'd say it is well worth it to get 3, they will likely last for the life of your printer and it will save you countless hours replacing painters tape and lots of frustration from warping prints."
Eclips3d, eclips3d.proboards.com/thread/94/buildtak-surface-necessary
and a response
"I find the buildtak suface to work well with PLA. It sometimes sticks too well and it is easy to damage the surface or print when prying it off. I don't see it lasting all that long given the damage I already see. If you want to save money use glass and hairspray or glue stick. Regular window glass from the hardware store will work fine. I have my glass clipped to the bed with binder clips."
theo1001, eclips3d.proboards.com/thread/94/buildtak-surface-necessary
I think I'm going to skip the buildtak surface initially and just use glass and hairspray. I got glass lieing around and if plain glass works well then I save $30 great. If it doesn't work, I can always order buildtak.
edit 20170402 - I am using glass, it seems fine so far (1 day of printing).
Mastercraft ($25.77 projected total have not ordered, not included in my running total above)
the qty on these is excessive for 1 printer. Buying from the eclip3d store makes a lot of sense here. It is quite literally $8 cheaper if I recall correctly.
G27 Thumb Screw 3 96115A420 McMaster-Carr McMaster-Carr Kit 3.48
G28 Small Spring 3 9657K283 McMaster-Carr McMaster-Carr Kit pack of 12 10.35 12ct
G29 Large Spring 1 9657K83 McMaster-Carr McMaster-Carr Kit 6.10 12ct
D5 M3x30 Hex Head 3 91287A024 McMaster-Carr Fasteners Kit + McMaster-Carr Kit 5.84 50px
edit 20170402
I ended up using springs I recovered from scanner / printer tear down. Used extra 35 mm M3's that I had from the trimcraft order. Thumbscrews and proper length springs would be really, really, really nice, but saved myself $25.
Misumi (about 2 weeks to receive, total around $262. Shipping estimated at around $18 by another user ($11.30 in my case), my total was $216 including shipping, but I ordered the rod differently as noted below. Shipping looks reasonably fast, around 2 weeks before shipping and ground shipping is another 3-5 days or probably 3 weeks total.
They ship from two locations CA and Illinois so you probably pay tax in both states).
Kind of hard to order from these guys. Most of these you have to "configure" before you can add them to the cart. Its not necessarily hard, just a little daunting at first for me since I'm not a mechanical engineer I don't have familiarity with the terms used etc. Also because there are so many options, I played to find out if there was "cheaper" ways to buy some of these. Other than the hardened rods, not really.
Shipping is interesting, if you choose the FedEx option, you get "3rd party carrier" for the shipping billing and have to enter an account #. Unless you have an account with fedex you don't have one of these. Some of the other options like UPS have a "prepay and collect" option. I ordered yesterday, but I haven't paid yet and I don't have any shipping costs. I'll probably have to call in to get the order finalized and shipped. Shipping looks reasonably fast (within a week), but I don't know for sure yet.
I wasn't sure if my order was actually paid and processed after putting it in. Maybe I missed an email, they do calculate and add shipping so they can't exactly tell you exactly what they charged you on the spot. Someone else noted shipping was about $18; I haven't actually seen my total yet. Regardless, for some reason, I didn't know whether I had successfully ordered or not until I called in this morning (10 days after ordering) and they told me it was shipping in 2 days out of CA.
If I already had a 3d printer and ready to build one the way I want, It seems appropriate to me to enclose the build area (for heat retention and slower cooling) and the top area where the xy gantry and extruder is too. Covering it will likely introduce over heating issues in some of the components (motors especially) and I just don't think I can anticipate the lengths I will need to build it out the way I'm thinking even if I knew for sure overheating wasn't an issue or I could mitigate it easily. Anyhow If I have to replace all the extrusions I will waste at least $50 just on the extrusions which is a big waste, but since I do actually want a working 3d printer someday, I'm just going with the lengths as specified.
I think I would prefer to use the 40x40 extrusions and make them bigger in some dimensions than called for so I could go bigger. This was actually my complaint about building the "megamax" and was part of my original decision point to go with eclip3d, but after seeing the cost of 40x40, it doesn't seem that much worse. It probably only adds $100 to go 40x40, but I'm going to build eclip3d, then decide whether I really need a bigger badder version.
HFSF5_2020 ($2.37)
us.misumi-ec.com/vona2/detail/110302683920/?ProductCode=HFSF5-2020-360
HFST5_2020_360 ($2.37), HFST5_2020_400 ($2.64) is basically the same as above it just has 2 flat edges and 2 slotted edges.
us.misumi-ec.com/vona2/detail/110302684010/?Inch=0
HBLFSN5_C $20 (paste HBLFSN5 into search, then select the part, then specify "C (Taps for Cover Mounting) in the left options panel)
us.misumi-ec.com/vona2/detail/110300437260/?Inch=0&CategorySpec=00000042746%3A%3Aa\
note you have to select "C (Taps for Cover Mounting)" to get the "_C" in the part #. Adds about 20 cents per bracket for a screw hole in the outside facing portion of the bracket (vs the two faces that attaches to the frame). I assume this is so you can add plexiglass sheets around the build chamber in the future. I selected "not provided" for most of the options, the cheapest screwset added like 50 cents.
edit 20170402 - i ordered HBLFSNF5_C, not sure how or why... whether I ordered it wrong or they screwed up, but I got a bracket that was shorter on one side instead of equal on both sides. Why does this matter, because the head of one screw blocks the other which means you can only assemble/disassemble one way. I had to screw/unscrew several brackets several times during the "assembling the frame" part of the build. Also, I assume the longer on both sides bracket would help make sure the construction is square (perfect 90s). So.... do heed 3dprintedlife's advice to watch the videos several times before building, do make sure you get the correct brackets or pay some extra time and frustration.
PRGCS3-100-100 $1.47
us.misumi-ec.com/vona2/detail/110300286150/?ProductCode=PRGCS3-100-200
Calls for qty 2. Specifies to cut to 40mm x 40mm so I assume you need 40x80mm total (instead of 2 sheets of 100x100 which is what the part# references. If you do need more, the 100 x 200 sheet is $1.00 cheaper than buying 2 100x100 sheets). (I actually ordered 100x200 so I would have extra or just in case it is actually 2 sheets its only 50 cents more for 2x as much.
PSFCJ10-335 ($16.11), PSFCJ10-360 ($31.73)
us.misumi-ec.com/vona2/detail/110300004660/?ProductCode=PSFCJ10-360
us.misumi-ec.com/vona2/detail/110300004660/?ProductCode=PSFCJ10-335
So… the price difference between the 335 and the 360 pieces… is entirely due to quantity. It is $32 for 1-3, $16 for 4-9 and $10 for 10. The BOM calls for 2 @ 360mm and 4 @ 335mm which means you’ll pay $64 for 2 and $64 for the other 4 or $128 total. If you can cut it yourself (to precision I assume)… order 6 @ 360 and cut 4 down to 335 mm for $92. For $105 you can get 10 @ 360 and have 4 spare… for your next printer I guess. I don’t know if you can just take a hacksaw to these… you’ll probably bend and score the rods ruining them. My machinst friend said use an angle grinder then mill them to the correct length. Unless you know a machinst, you might be stuck paying full price. The price break is at 400mm. 400mm is $31, 401mm is $37. 600mm and 800mm are $51. 10x360, 10x400 and 4x800mm all cost about the same due to qty discounts ~$105 ( although shipping a 32” rod may cost a lot more than a 16” no idea).
edit 20170402 after putting mine together, I don't see the need for "precision" in the lengths. Approximate should work (especially for the 360mm ones) and as long as you can cut it without bending or scratching it I think you're golden.
HNSQ3-3
us.misumi-ec.com/vona2/detail/110300465710/?ProductCode=HNSQ3-3
I actually really like the look of these (2x as expensive) (http://us.misumi-ec.com/vona2/detail/110302246940/?ProductCode=HNKK5-3), but not sure they’ll fit properly. Even if they technically fit, the design/assembly may require some play in the positioning. Can’t take a chance on a first build.
MDZB10-10 $13.04
us.misumi-ec.com/vona2/detail/110302640070/?ProductCode=MDZB10-10
edit: 20170402, I suggest you order extra of these bushings. The holes that these fit into on the 3d printed parts can shrink (depending on what material printed in) and getting the fit right was a huge chore. I ruined 4 getting 8 to fit right (see my notes on 3d printed parts, if you order yours from 3dprintedlife you may not need extras).
LHMRD10 $17.76
us.misumi-ec.com/vona2/detail/110302209570/?ProductCode=LHMRD10
Open Builds (about 5 business days to receive, $88.07 with shipping but I didn't buy the $30 PSU)
PSU (skipped, using a computer psu)
openbuildspartstore.com/12v-30a-power-supply/
I skipped the psu, going to use a computer psu, but I was reading on reddit about someone who had a computer PSU hooked up to his 3d printer and "nearly burned his house down". A bit exaggerated, but his take away was that he needed to install a fuse because something went wrong and part of his 3d printer caught on fire. For a device that you might turn on and let run 24 hours unattended in a remote location because its noisy (since its roughly 2x as long to print at 50 microns as it is to print at 100 microns) its probably extremely unwise to not have fuses. Your typical resettable home electrical breakers can fail to trip when they're supposed to. They are not 100% reliable. If you have fused breakers (very old stuff) maybe you could rely on that instead of fuses on your printer. I will probably put 2 amp fuses inline to my stepper motors so an issue blows the 20 cent fuse instead of the $17 motor. Same with regards to the $100 azteeg board (when I figure out the correct amps for that fuse). Probably also want to put a smoke alarm near your 3d printer if you run it in a remote location like a basement.
Stepper motor ($17.50)
openbuildspartstore.com/nema-17-stepper-motor/
Really like the look of the nema-24 motors so I can consider "upgrading" to a bigger version of eclip3d in the future, but requires too much research and guesswork considering my lack of experience. Could be issues with the controller being able to handle the 2.3 amp drives vs these 1.7a ones. Could be issues with the physical size and mounting. Could be issues with the heavier motors causing deflection in the hardened rods for the gantry throwing off the quality.
lead screw, $10, shows up as 250mm but has verbage indicating it is actually 290 as noted in the BOM.
openbuildspartstore.com/8mm-metric-acme-lead-screw/
funny story, I have a bunch of kids so i was thinking do i really want lead (chemistry symbol pb) in my house? Also lead is really soft so what business does it have doing in a high tolerance 3d printer. Well its not lead (pb), its lead like leader. My machinist friend had a chuckle over that one.
lead screw nut plate ($6.25)
openbuildspartstore.com/nut-plate-for-8mm-metric-acme-lead-screw/
aluminum spacer (qty 6 for total of $1.20, make sure you get the 6mm ones), openbuildspartstore.com/aluminum-spacers/
mini ball bearing ($1), openbuildspartstore.com/mini-ball-bearing-5x10x4-2/
Ebay ($15, ships same day (varies though as multiple selelrs...) I didn't buy some of the stuff)
End Stops ($10 bucks, ships same day about 3 business days to receive)
www.ebay.com/itm/3-pcs-Mechanical-Endstop-Module-V1-2-for-3D-Printer-RAMPS-1-4-RepRap-Prusa-i3-/181633032913?hash=item2a4a2c22d1
I was tempted to order the end stops with the azteeg controller (its a low cost option) and the other stuff since the price looked competitive... but again I went with whats called for in the BOM.
Spiral cable managmenet ($5 bucks ships same day)
www.ebay.com/itm/4mm-88FT-27M-Spiral-Cable-Wire-Wrap-Tube-Computer-Manage-Cord-Black-/301627469924?hash=item463a65f064
comes with like 88 feet or something for $5
Power cable, Power switch and fuse (I'm using a computer PSU not the robodigg one. Most computer PSU's have a switch built in)
www.ebay.com/itm/Monoprice-5280-10-foot-18AWG-Power-Cord-Cable-C13-5-15P-/371299868942?hash=item567332610e
www.ebay.com/itm/Generic-AC-Power-Socket-fuse-Holder-rocker-Switch-250V10A-Snap-in-IEC320-C14-1PC-/321237687373?hash=item4acb421c4d
www.ebay.com/itm/5pcs-10A-250V-5x20mm-Glass-Fast-Fuse-US-Seller-/261370345417?hash=item3cdae2f7c9
I skipped these parts, but I was reading on reddit about someone who had a computer PSU hooked up to his 3d printer and "nearly burned his house down". A bit exaggerated, but his take away was that he needed to install a fuse because something went wrong and part of his 3d printer caught on fire. For a device that you might turn on and let run 24 hours unattended in a remote location because its noisy (since its roughly 2x as long to print at 50 microns as it is to print at 100 microns) its probably extremely unwise to not have fuses. Your typical resettable home electrical breakers can fail to trip when they're supposed to. They are not 100% reliable. If you have fused breakers (very old stuff) maybe you could rely on that instead of fuses on your printer. I will probably put 2 amp fuses inline to my stepper motors so an issue blows the 20 cent fuse instead of the $17 motor. Same with regards to the $100 azteeg board (when I figure out the correct amps for that fuse). Probably also want to put a smoke alarm near your 3d printer if you run it in a remote location like a basement.
LED lighting strip (out of stock, but I do plan to buy it, but still out of stock a month later. May never come back in stock)
www.ebay.com/itm/12V-Waterproof-5M-30CM-3528-5050-SMD-15-300-600-LED-Flexible-Strip-Decor-Light-/301735800093?var=600565149857&hash=item4640daed1d
RoboDigg (about a week to receive after paying so probably around 10 days from when you place the order. $123 including shipping and a $12 1.5kg roll of 1.75mm abs filament. without the filament total around $100. Shipping is via airmail from China so probably doesn't take that long, but its not fast)
So placed my order with robodigg but couldn't pay. It appears to go to someone (probably in china since the english is below average but not terribad) who looks it over and calculates the shipping then updates the order. A day later, I now have the option to pay for my order (but I didn't get any email notice letting me know it was ready to pay, I just checked the website).
So the total for shipping was $40 with a roll of abs filament ($12, 1.5kg). I thought the filament was really cheap so I asked how much for a 2nd roll which increased shipping $20 (total of around $32 for a 2nd roll). Removing the first roll lowered my shipping to $30. I went ahead and kept the first roll for a net of around $22 for 1.5kg of 1.75mm abs in black). $32 for a second roll is also probably a good price as far as I know, but I'll wait to see how good this first roll is and then probably order 5 or 6 rolls. From my research, filament quality can vary, but I needed to have something to print with once I get it all together.
Robodigg apparently doesn't ship anything from 2/2 through about 2/15 due to Chinese new year. I finalized my order on 2/2, hopefully i get it within a couple weeks (I did).
Chinese New Year Notice
Air mail stops to ship out orders from 17:59:59, 2nd, Feb 2016 Beijing Time, because that China Post does Not accept shipments during CNY.
RobotDigg stops to ship out orders from 3rd, Feb 2016 Beijing or HongKong Time. Orders paid 3rd, Feb 2016 or after will be arranged around 15-20th, Feb 2016
Not going to itemize these, they're all pretty cheap. Total was around $80, but shipping is like $40). I was really thinking of ordering multiple of some items as replacements since shipping is so ridiculous. Things like belts might be "wear" parts and need replacement or be prone to me screwing it up during assembly. The motor is $7 so might be good to have a replacement especially if it takes 20 or 30 days to receive the items. That's what I'm expecting, but I don't actually know the delivery estimate yet.
www.robotdigg.com/product/7/NEMA17+40mm+stepper+motor
(5mm bore) www.robotdigg.com/product/145/UM+GT2+Pulley+20+Tooth+5mm+or+6mm+Bore
www.robotdigg.com/product/215/F625ZZ+Flanged+Ball+Bearing
www.robotdigg.com/product/10/Open+Ended+6mm+Width+GT2+Belt
(note this comes as 1 roll even though you order qty 3 (3 meters)) I had about 12 inches left over.
(5mm to 8mm) www.robotdigg.com/product/354/Flexible+Clamping+Coupler+D20L25
(1.75mm) www.robotdigg.com/product/242/MK8+Filament+Drive+Gear
www.robotdigg.com/product/202/MK3+Dual+Power+ALU-Heatbed
www.robotdigg.com/product/189/3pin+1M+Long+Endstop+Cables+w/+Dupont+Connector
www.robotdigg.com/product/195/4pin+1M+Long+RDG+Step+Motor+Cables+w/+Dupont+Connector
(m5) www.robotdigg.com/product/317/Pre+Assembly+T+Nuts+for+2020+Aluminum+Extrusion
www.robotdigg.com/product/214/SK10+Linear+Bearing+Support+Unit
www.robotdigg.com/product/320/5015+12VDC+0.23A+Blower+Fan
(2mm id, 4mm od) www.robotdigg.com/product/133/PTFE+Tube+2*4mm+or+3*5mm+10+Meters
www.robotdigg.com/product/549/MF58+100k+thermistor+with+1m+cables
www.robotdigg.com/product/188/2pin+1M+Long+Thermistor+Cables+w/+Dupont+Connector
Panucatt (about 3 business days to receive, eclip3d10 $10 off code worked fine at checkout. Total was around $103.50, ships fast same day)
www.panucatt.com/azteeg_X5_mini_reprap_3d_printer_controller_p/ax5mini.htm
Not much to say here, couldn't find it for a better price anywhere so bought it directly from panucatt with the eclips3d10 code. I really liked the look of their other controller for $135 which has like double or triple the relays (for extra motors, extruders, temperature sensors etc), but I don't want to take on the research and engineering at this point in time to use it since this is my first printer, just going with whats called for in the BOM.
I was tempted to order the board with the end stops and the other stuff since the price looked competitive... but again I went with whats called for in the BOM.
There is a thread for people using the other panucatt board, there is also a thread on people building a 24v version of the ecips3d (requiring the 24v version of the board) because of issues getting the heating bed hot enough on the 12v system as currently spec'd (as of 2/2016). The 24v version as far as I understand requires you order the 24v of the controller and the 24v version of the hotend and probably a few other parts need to be different.
Trimcraftaviation (about 4 business days to receive, screws and stuff, around $17 with shipping, ships fast)
Pretty easy to order from, got a confirmation next day that it would ship that day. I did my research about a month ago and ordered around 1/27/2016. You can probably just browsed my link, clicked add to cart for each item then view your cart and check out.
edit 20170402 - trimcraft changed their links. I updated these below so they should work, but no guarantees.
www.trimcraftaviationrc.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=25
www.trimcraftaviationrc.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=26
www.trimcraftaviationrc.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=27
www.trimcraftaviationrc.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=197
www.trimcraftaviationrc.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=194
www.trimcraftaviationrc.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=230
www.trimcraftaviationrc.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=28
www.trimcraftaviationrc.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=30
www.trimcraftaviationrc.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=438
www.trimcraftaviationrc.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=50
edit 20170402 - I didn't like these, the head took a different hex wrench as compared to the other m5 screws. No idea if changing this to the other head style would be problematic, but I didn't like these.
www.trimcraftaviationrc.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=178
www.trimcraftaviationrc.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=179
www.trimcraftaviationrc.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=231
I would order qty 2. Technically 1 is enough, but when I put my printer together I found that I used more of these washers than was called for. I used all 25 and wish I had another 5-10, but I also used some random parts/scrap from around the house. There were plenty of m3 washers.
e3d hot end ($78 from most sites fast shipping, $25.99 at one place I don't trust and probably takes 30 days to ship)
Buying direct from e3d is probably a bad idea if you're in the US since it seems to be in Europe. The currency conversion, the extra charges your bank and credit card will probably charge you for converting... probably best to order from a US based retailer for $78-$88 as far as I could tell. Several of their official retailers websites didn't come up. So you may want to try and choose the "bigger" more reputable of their US based resellers.
I found this retailer... and I hestiate to post. The price is $25.99 free shipping. I don't know how they can have the same thing that is $80 everywhere and for it to be the same thing. It could be a knock off, it could be a pricing mistake, it could be the wrong title on a part. I cross checked it with the official e3d site and it looks like it has all the same parts judging by the pictures. If I knew for sure it was a knockoff, I would not buy it as this item is probably the most important thing to getting good accuracy and having an enjoyable printing experience rather than a constant headache of clearing the extruder and or replacing the extruder. I'm a neophyte to 3d printing so ... I actually don't know, just based on my research.
www.miniinthebox.com/e3d-v6-hot-end-full-kit-1-75mm-12v-bowden-reprap-3d-printer-extruder-parts-accessories-0-4mm-nozzle_p4295185.html
(buy at your own, probably extreme risk and long shipping time; just over 2 weeks. I ordered it, I'm personally expecting it to be not as advertised for example just a print nozzle instead of a full kit or a knock off. I am gambling $26 that a retailer made a price mistake on the $80 extruder, but if its not the correct part, I'll be disputing the charge and buying it for $80 from a US retailer. My order is currently "shipped" as of 1/28 and today is 2/2. My order was in Malaysia on 1/31 if I'm reading the tracking information correctly so probably another week to receive. It left Malaysia on 2/3 (3 days after I ordered) and arrived in the USA on 2/4 but I still don't have it (2/13, 14 days after ordering) its probably sitting in customs or something.
edit 20170402 - I still get spam emails from this company (and they are constant) despite a dozen attempts to unsubscribe.
The hot end does work so far, 1 day of actual printing, but I did have some issues installing. I'm not sure whether this is because my 3d printed parts shrank or if this part is slightly taller/bigger than a legit e3d hotend. Regardless, I had to dremel the heck out of the hotend holding bracket and cut off part of the filament feeding tube/mechanism to get it to fit correctly under the stepper motor. I really don't like how tight the tolerance is between the top of the hotend / feeding tube and the stepper motor/mk8 drive gear that feeds the filament. IIRC, 3dprintedlife talks about this in a video and this was done to reduce cord drag/tube drag and yield a better quality print. I believe him, but I still don't like how tight it was (but i ordered a knock off part so I'm lucky it fit at all).
I received it about 17 days after ordering and it looks like the pictures from the e3d website. The only difference I can see is the thermistor cable is opaque plastic instead of blue corded fabric as pictured on the e3d website (unknown significance, the picture may be old and some come with blue cables some with opaque). For the record, I would think the blue corded cabe is more resistant to high temps and breakage, but thats just a guess based on the fact that high end computer mice and keyboards come with braided covering. Also, the block cut out (where the heating element is compressed within the hotend) looks slightly not square. It won't matter since this is meant to be screwed down holding the heating element in place, but for an $80 piece of metal from a reputable company, I would expect a little more perfection... which could mean this is knock off instead of reall. I have never seen a head that i know for sure is legit e3d so it may be just the accepted quality... its not important that its square, its just important that you can screw it down tight enough that the heating element is sandwiched in between and can warm up the hotend. It comes assembled and looks legit, that's all I can say at this point until I've actually printed a few things.
*ugh and unsubscribe from their emails right away, daily craptastic ads. Update, unsubscribed at least 3x on 3 different days, still getting the spam.
Note, there is an e3d "lite" hot end that is half the price of the one called for in the BOM. My research on this and other 3d printers suggests that the most frequent problem and complaint is related to hot ends, specifically to nozzle's becoming plugged up and designs that cause variances in flow rate. For example if the hot end heats up the filament above the nozzle (rather than in the nozzle) you could have melted or soft plastic where you don't want it which could at minimum cause the extruder filament "drive" motor to have an inconsistent time "grabbing" and feeding the filament. I'm not claiming this is the best hot end, but its the one eclips3d calls for and saving $40 bucks on this critical part... on a $800 3d printer... doesn't make sense to me.
"Note that you can substitute the E3D V6 for the E3D V6 lite without modifying parts, but the hot end performance will not be as good."
per Eclip3d, step 6, www.instructables.com/id/Eclips3D-High-Precision-3D-Printer/?ALLSTEPS
I believe there is a thread on modding the ecips3d to use dual extruders, but I have to get mine built before I start looking at improvements. Would require a different controller board I believe as well as substantial modifications to the aluminum plate the hotend is mounted too as well as extra parts.
3d printed parts
the local university printed them up for $27. It took them about 6 weeks and a dozen emails to get around to it, but not bad. They charged something like $0.10 a gram of material, no handling, setup or job fee. For more details, see the printed parts section of this post.
edit 20170402 - highly suggest you buy your printed parts from Eclips3d unless you have your own printer/friend has a printer. See printed parts section at top for more information. Long story short, parts shrank, missed some parts because weren't on the version of the BOM I used. Really wish I could print certain parts over again. Really wish parts I printed actually fit correctly (due to shrinkage or due to version not sure); I'm sure the 3dprintedlife parts work correctly).
