Must do mods for a new Mk3 build?  

Re: Must do mods for a new Mk3 build?

I did these:

I haven't really needed this yet but many folks complain about not being able to pull their filament out so I printed this extruder cover: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2748862

I also printed this y-axis tensioner: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2786671
Of note is that the stock pulley (on the newest mk3s) will not work with this tensioner but it worked fine with one that I had in my parts box. I could not seem to assemble the stock setup without the belt being ultra tight and causing layer shifts and this tensioner works well.

Haven't felt the need for any others yet.

Cheers

Re: Must do mods for a new Mk3 build?

No mods required. Just take your time and assemble well by the guidelines.
The only mod I printed so far was the inlay for soft TPU. Except of that. Stock v2 parts which I got initially are working perfectly fine.

Re: Must do mods for a new Mk3 build?

spoolholder - literally anything but what it comes with

y tensioner is handy
rubber foot locks are handy

just spend the time and get your wiring *perfect* the first time. its an unholy pain as-is, so don't make future maintenance tougher on yourself.

Re: Must do mods for a new Mk3 build?

I did these:

I haven't really needed this yet but many folks complain about not being able to pull their filament out so I printed this extruder cover: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2748862

I also printed this y-axis tensioner: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2786671
Of note is that the stock pulley (on the newest mk3s) will not work with this tensioner but it worked fine with one that I had in my parts box. I could not seem to assemble the stock setup without the belt being ultra tight and causing layer shifts and this tensioner works well.

Haven't felt the need for any others yet.

Cheers

Good Suggestions. I really like the idea of the Y tensioner. My Rostock usually involves loosening a couple screws and prying the bearing up with a screwdriver while trying to retighten the screws at the same time.

I've seen a couple of other prints that give you a bit more adjustment room for the x motor as well. Will probably do one of those too.

Any recommendation on a pulley that would work on the Y tensioner there? Is this where a toothed pulley might be a lot better bet?

No mods required. Just take your time and assemble well by the guidelines.
The only mod I printed so far was the inlay for soft TPU. Except of that. Stock v2 parts which I got initially are working perfectly fine.

😆 Mods might not be required, but I'm pretty sure I've got some disorder that won't let me not make at least one or two! 😉

I'll look into the inlay you mentioned. I don't print a lot of flexibles, but I want it to work nice when I do.

spoolholder - literally anything but what it comes with

y tensioner is handy
rubber foot locks are handy

just spend the time and get your wiring *perfect* the first time. its an unholy pain as-is, so don't make future maintenance tougher on yourself.

Not too worried about the wiring. Built my Current printer from the ground up and done several mods (including upgrading to an e3d V6 and adding an accelerometer/autoleveling board that required some creative rewiring, to say the least). Just looking through the MK3's manual and I can tell that this one is going to be WAY easier than my Rostock!

As far as the feet locks, I actually saw one earlier today that bolts the frame to the work surface and supplies a nice brace for the Z frame. Gotta do some measuring, to see if it'll work on my mounting location, but I'm definitely leaning in that direction right now.

What about the Layer Fan? Is there a preferred solution that most people prefer or is the stock one really good?

The other two I'm curious about is the X carriage and the extruder setup. I've seen mention of modded x carriages that make the belt path completely parallel to the travel guides. Any recommendations there? I've also seen mention of modding the extruder body to provide a more direct filament path... Wasn't entirely sure on what I was looking at when I saw the post. might just have to have the pieces in hand first to see what I'm looking at. 🙂

Re: Must do mods for a new Mk3 build?

Here's what I've done on mine so far. I haven't done any high temp filament printing yet, I've only just got my hands on some CF so will have some fun with it over the next few weeks.

Clip on filament guide
Y-Axis Tensioner - both the motor mount (edit: found here) and the idler holder
X-Axis Tensioner - only needs the right end parts, I think it required a new idler - I replaced mine with the GT2 16T ones
JLTX's updated extruder back plate with belt access - It's not as difficult as it looks to replace. If you have another printer, print this before assembling your printer.
X motor strain relief - as previously posted

I think the toothed pulleys reduce the ringing a little bit. Both the Y and X axis tensioners are really elegant solutions. Unless you knew what you were looking for, you wouldn't be able to tell when looking at my printer. I got mine off ebay in Australia, it shouldn't be too hard to find them on Amazon or eBay in the US.

It helps a little to get the filament roll off the top of the printer.

I think a lot of the biggest differences will come down to the usuals: Getting your live-z down correct, looking after the build plate, and maybe calibrating the PINDA temp. Putting it in an enclosure definitely helps too.

Re: Must do mods for a new Mk3 build?

What about the Layer Fan? Is there a preferred solution that most people prefer or is the stock one really good?

I haven't had issues with the layer fan (that's the blower on the front right?). I have had to reduce the extruder cooling to 20% when doing initial heating of the extruder. It was taking too long for me. I guess I'm just impatient.

I'm actually pretty keen to try out JLTX's skelestruder design, I just have to find the time to print it all out, assemble and install it.

Re: Must do mods for a new Mk3 build?

That is not o print but i would add:
E3d silicon sock for higher temp filaments
Capricorn tube (for flexible filaments)

Re: Must do mods for a new Mk3 build?

Here's what I've done on mine so far. I haven't done any high temp filament printing yet, I've only just got my hands on some CF so will have some fun with it over the next few weeks.

Clip on filament guide
Y-Axis Tensioner - both the motor mount (edit: found here) and the idler holder
X-Axis Tensioner - only needs the right end parts, I think it required a new idler - I replaced mine with the GT2 16T ones
JLTX's updated extruder back plate with belt access - It's not as difficult as it looks to replace. If you have another printer, print this before assembling your printer.
X motor strain relief - as previously posted

I think the toothed pulleys reduce the ringing a little bit. Both the Y and X axis tensioners are really elegant solutions. Unless you knew what you were looking for, you wouldn't be able to tell when looking at my printer. I got mine off ebay in Australia, it shouldn't be too hard to find them on Amazon or eBay in the US.

It helps a little to get the filament roll off the top of the printer.

I think a lot of the biggest differences will come down to the usuals: Getting your live-z down correct, looking after the build plate, and maybe calibrating the PINDA temp. Putting it in an enclosure definitely helps too.

Thanks for this! I think I'm going to end up incorporating a lot of it. Had a chance to sit down and really pour over the manual and thingiverse and think I've got a pretty well organized plan together for now. Basically I'm going to be reprinting mostly updated versions of all the orange parts. Mostly with the idea of Straightening belts, smoothing bearings, and strengthening/reinforcing mounts. Since I don't have any good matching prusa orange PETG, I'm going to redo all those parts in whatever cool color shows up in my Makergeeks grab bag today. 😉 (I was looking to do a transparent crystal red, but that didn't get shipped with my grab bag, for some reason, and I don't want to wait until it's back in stock or whatever...)

I've got a new polymer bearing kit and a full set GT2 16T Idlers coming tomorrow. Depending on how fast my Rostock Max can knock out the parts, I should have a my MK3 up and running by friday sometime.

What about the Layer Fan? Is there a preferred solution that most people prefer or is the stock one really good?

I haven't had issues with the layer fan (that's the blower on the front right?). I have had to reduce the extruder cooling to 20% when doing initial heating of the extruder. It was taking too long for me. I guess I'm just impatient.

I'm actually pretty keen to try out JLTX's skelestruder design, I just have to find the time to print it all out, assemble and install it.

Yep, the fan that blows on the print. I'm still not all that skillful on how much fan to use and when (granted the stock fan setup on my rostock isn't the greatest). I think I'll probably just give the stock design (or a slightly modded one, since I'll be reprinting it anyway) a go for now and see if I need to go a different route later on.

That is not o print but i would add:
E3d silicon sock for higher temp filaments
Capricorn tube (for flexible filaments)

100% agreed! I've been using the socks on my Current printer for well over a year and they are FANTASTIC! 🙂

Hadn't heard of Capricorn Tubing before, but it looks intriguing. Might be a good update for my Rostock Max if nothing else. 🙂

I've got a few other mods I'm looking at and might do as well. I have a raspberry pi zero w coming (Really not all that big a fan of octoprint, but it's not like it's all that spendy to do) and I'm looking at doing a chain cable print to help better support all the wires (in addition to making it look a whole lot meaner! ) 😉

Also looking into a couple different options for filament holders. I'm currently using some printed snapfit rollers that the spool sits on so it can turn nice and easy, but I'm eyeing a solution that would hold multiple rolls and also provide some filament drying capability.

I'll probably throw up a build log once I get started. Should be a fun weekend. 😉

Edit: My Maker Geeks Grab Bag showed up... Translucent Purple and Vivd Yellow. I might be a Minnesota Vikings fan, but damn. Not what I was hoping for. Guess I'll be looking to grab some better filament elsewhere and get here quick! lol

Re: Must do mods for a new Mk3 build?

OctoPrint (if you have another printer, and intend to use the Zero, print the Einsy enclosure with door before assembly)
Filament guide
Not printed, but wave washers for bed leveling. Again, get before you assemble, royal PITA to add afterwards.

Re: Must do mods for a new Mk3 build?

OctoPrint (if you have another printer, and intend to use the Zero, print the Einsy enclosure with door before assembly)
Filament guide
Not printed, but wave washers for bed leveling. Again, get before you assemble, royal PITA to add afterwards.

Yep, Einsy enclosure for the Zero is on my list. Just depends on whether I decide to go for the chain cable mod or not right off the bat... seeing how the Translucent Red filament (or any color other than purple and yellow) I wanted isn't here and probably won't be by Friday. I might just go ahead and start working on that. 🙂

Any recommendations on the wave washers? I was going to print some flex filament washers for that purpose (saw in another thread on this board), but was a bit skeptical of how well they'd hold up to bed temps. A steel spring washer would probably be a great deal more practical!

Re: Must do mods for a new Mk3 build?

[quote=jake.s6 post_id=92395 time=1530140329 user_id=73211
Any recommendations on the wave washers? I was going to print some flex filament washers for that purpose (saw in another thread on this board), but was a bit skeptical of how well they'd hold up to bed temps. A steel spring washer would probably be a great deal more practical!
[/quote]

I got some wave washers on Amazon.

Re: Must do mods for a new Mk3 build?

I did a cable chain mod I found on Thingiverse. Seems to work fine so far.
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2862375
In addition I build the enclosure and have the LCD on a seperate holder.

Re: Must do mods for a new Mk3 build?

E3D Copper Volcano with copper nozzle upgrade so you can print faster.
40w heater cartridge so you don't have to wait so long for the hot-end to warm up.
Better power supply. Many reported failures with stock PSU.
Better belts for less ringing
Wireless print file upload
Lightweight heatsink for extruder stepper motor so that your filament doesn't soften/melt before it should.
Upgrade to martin's extruder idler
Mesh cable wrap so your wires don't get shredded by the stock hard plastic cable wrap.
Lightweight Insulation on bottom of heatbed so that it heats up faster.
Maybe externally mounted print spool holder from a drybox.
Maybe a higher power heatbed so that it heats up faster.
Maybe the skelestruder
Maybe Bear enhancements for more rigidity
Maybe a titanium heatbreak for superior heat isolation from the hotend
Maybe a more adjustable pinda holder.
Maybe a Duet WiFi or a Klipper.

Re: Must do mods for a new Mk3 build?

I went through the same exercise and this is what I ended up doing:

Misumi Bearings and Shafts:
(10) LMU8 Linear Bushings
(2) SFJ8-320 Rods
(2) SFJ8-330 Rods
(2) SFJ8-370 Rods
[Degreased with kerosene on arrival and relubricated with Shell Gadus S2 V100 grease]

e3D silicone sock

Idlers replaced with 20T toothed pulleys with dual bearings
Cables wrapped with braided wrap
Used heavier gauge silicone wires on the heat bed
Power supply swapped out with Meanwell NES-350-24 and removed from frame
Brace: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2772947
Power Supply Cover: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2814343
Z-Axis mounts: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2779123
Y-Axis improvements
Motor mount: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2809788
Adjustable tensioner: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2786671
X-Axis strain relief: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2543380
Cooling fan shroud: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2808683
Extruder fan deflector: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2746072

I relocated the filament spool, as well.

Re: Must do mods for a new Mk3 build?

I thought this thread is about "MUST mods". But it's growing to a mod contest. 🙂

Re: Must do mods for a new Mk3 build?

I went through the same exercise and this is what I ended up doing:

Misumi Bearings and Shafts:
(10) LMU8 Linear Bushings
(2) SFJ8-320 Rods
(2) SFJ8-330 Rods
(2) SFJ8-370 Rods
[Degreased with kerosene on arrival and relubricated with Shell Gadus S2 V100 grease]

e3D silicone sock

Idlers replaced with 20T toothed pulleys with dual bearings
Cables wrapped with braided wrap
Used heavier gauge silicone wires on the heat bed
Power supply swapped out with Meanwell NES-350-24 and removed from frame
Brace: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2772947
Power Supply Cover: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2814343
Z-Axis mounts: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2779123
Y-Axis improvements
Motor mount: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2809788
Adjustable tensioner: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2786671
X-Axis strain relief: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2543380
Cooling fan shroud: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2808683
Extruder fan deflector: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2746072

I relocated the filament spool, as well.

Wow, I'm impressed!

Did you notice any improvement (and, if so, what kind of improvement) from your Misumi Bearing and Shafts upgrade?

Re: Must do mods for a new Mk3 build?

I thought this thread is about "MUST mods". But it's growing to a mod contest. 🙂

Hahaha, right?

That being said, my printer is 99% assembled at this point. I ended up reprinting all of the orange parts in a MatterHackers Translucent Red PETG. A lot of those parts were modded versions off thinigiverse. I then had the bad fortune of trying to print those parts on the hottest/most humid days we've had this year. Managed to get down to the last 3 parts (which were mostly asthetic) before my PETG became pretty much unuseable. I couldn't get the LCD cover to print right for the life of me. Stringing and blobs all over that led to an inevitable layer shift... not to mention I couldn't get the the lettering to fill in for anything on the first layer. Just wouldn't stick good enough. I tried drying the filament in the oven, but my oven must be really off because 170 F completely cooked it (I've already got 4 Ikea Lack tables coming so I can completely enclose both printers and make a nice filament dry box). Anyway, switched to PLA for those last few parts and after some sanding, filling and painting, I made them look NICE and really fit the color scheme. I also dismantled the PSU and Painted the cover to match. (not the best paint job I ever did, but It's still looks pretty good!) I figure if nothing else, With the lack enclosure I'm going to have to mount it externally, at which point I might spend the $30 for a Bigger/better PSU anyway... In the meantime, I'm styling! lol

So the mods I went with, off the top of me head, were as follows:

Beefed up Y motor mount, belt holder, and Y-tensioner/idler (16t toothed idler installed on all)
Beefed up Y -rod holders
Improved X axis Idler/tensioner and corresponding Motor mount and X carriage. (nice parallel belts!
Replaced the bearings on the X and Y rods with Polymer bearings
Printed Spacers for the bearings in the Z carriages (left the bearings here stock as I read that polymer bearings can potentially cause binding here)
Beefed up Z motor mounts
Wrapped all electrical cables in braided black and red mesh loom and put heat shrink on the ends.
Was going to do the cable chain mod on all 3 axis, but by the time I had the cables coming off the extruder wrapped they were too bulky to fit in the chains and bend properly, so I scrapped the chains and went with Rpi Zero einsy case (with the access hole... I'd edited and printed a cable chain version that had the pi hole... oh well). I left the x carriage cable support for the cable chains since I liked it a lot better than the stock solution.
I painted the Einsy door cover and Rpi Zero Access cover to match the LCD cover.
Installed the Rpi Zero
Used spring washers under the heat bed mounts for super fine tuning the bed surface
Filament Sensor cover
Replaced extruder Bowden tubing with capricorn tubing

The Layer Fan is Stock for now. (grrr... orange on my nice Black and Red printer!) It was one of the last parts I needed to print in PETG and I just couldn't get it done. I might have enough Red left to do it, but I'm skeptical as to whether or not I can get it (this particular roll of filament) to print right, and I don't have any other colors that would look better than the orange, so for now...

Anyway. I've got it all pieced together, wired up and ready to go, but I just haven't had time to actually sit down and go through the initial calibration and first print phase yet. I'm hoping tomorrow, maybe. I'm not anticipating any major problems (just a lot of potential tweaking). All In all the build went really well. Had I stuck to a stock build, I'm pretty confident I could have had it all together in a few hours, easily. I built my Rostock Max V2 from a kit as well, 4-5 years ago. It was a good build with a well done manual, but even so, was much more difficult to do than the MK3. The wiring alone was an order of magnitude easier on the MK3. Never had to manually assemble any connectors (accept for the 3 or 4 I took apart so I could get through the wire loom lol) on the mk3. No harder than building a custom PC, of which I've done many. 🙂

Future mods I plan to do to finish things out:

Lack Enclosure for printer with a stacked on top lack enclosure for filament feeding to both printers.
Modify the filament enclosure with a built in dehydrator and humidity monitor
Meanwell 350 watt PSU (externally mounted)
Bolt down frame mount to replace the rubber feet
Frame support kit/rods to help keep all the Frame angles correct
I know I probably forgetting something, but this should take care of 99% of my needs for the immediate future. 🙂

I'll be sure to update with some pics and results once I get a chance to actually run through the calibration procedure.

Re: Must do mods for a new Mk3 build?

Wow, I'm impressed!

Did you notice any improvement (and, if so, what kind of improvement) from your Misumi Bearing and Shafts upgrade?

It's tough to say as I never actually installed the stock rods/bearings. I've been happy with the performance of the Misumi parts, though; virtually zero play in any axis.

Re: Must do mods for a new Mk3 build?

virtually zero play in any axis.

Well, that alone is worthy of an upgrade. Do you have a link to where you purchased them from? I'd like to go to the same source as you so I can get exactly the same thing you got.