Well, the air pump cooling system I installed a while back really wasn't performing as well as I expected. Aaand in the process of adjusting it, I cracked off the fragile air pipe. So, I'm going to try out the stock cooling fans that came with the new hot end.
While I'm doing that, I'm adding a ring of LEDs (originally built as an accent light for cars, and therefore conveniently already designed for the same 12 volts my printer runs on).
It's pretty bright!
Maybe a little too bright. It washes out the camera. I'll see if I can adjust that later.
I'm working towards getting my printer set up for longer, unattended prints, so I can make larger models.
My new hot end came with a thermal fuse built in, to make thermal run-away impossible. I have since added thermal fuses to the heat lamp and to the heated bed and power supply.
I also installed some passive fire extinguishers (in addition to the traditional fire extinguisher I keep near the door)
Next step will be adding a relay board to the raspberry pi that controls the printer, so I can remotely control power to all the heated elements and the entire printer.
I've been a Patreon sponsor of OctoPrint for months now, but I finally got it up and running on my printer. It's running on a raspberry pi 3 that is now attached to the Rostock's frame.
I also set up a client Android app, called Printoid.
I can now monitor a print remotely, from any computer or phone on my network!
Here's my temporary camera setup:
A little later, I have a much nicer setup:
The camera is on a gooseneck lamp from IKEA. I put black electrical tape on the camera ribbon cable to keep it from reflecting in timelapses.
I upgraded my printer with an all-metal hotend and a new cooling system!
The new Hotend is the HE280, from the people that designed my printer. It wasn't immediately obvious to me what the new max temp was (my old hot end maxed out at 235, and some all metal hotends go up to 300). It turns out the recommended max temp is right there in the name: Hot End 280 - 280°C is the max temp. This will allow me to print in PETG and High Impact PolyStyrene (HIPS) and even nylons!
Probably the most important part of this upgrade is the accelerometer that's built into the new hot end. This accelerometer allows super easy calibration of the Z-height (and easier bed leveling). The accelerometer can detect when the nozzle "taps" against the glass bed:
I have never had the bed level calibrated this well before:
The new cooling system is much more compact than the old fan system. It's the Berd Air from The Maker Hive. It uses a vacuum pump running in reverse to pipe cool air down to the nozzle. Ideally, all the cool air hits the deposited plastic, and none of it hits the hot nozzle. Here's a picture of the air pump, nestled nicely in rat's nest of wires:
I also added some bungie cords to keep the wire harnesses from interferring with the endstops:
