Building the ERCF v2, Enraged Rabbit Carrot Feeder by Siboor. Part 4 - The Cotton Tail Buffer ERCT

[@ChrisRigter]

I installed the coupler blocks and assembled the arms first, then did the microswitch. It was a little tedious, but watching this im glad I did it that way!

[@KapmansBasementWorkshop]

Hopefully my video will convince others to do it your way! Thanks!

[@ChrisRigter]

Now I'm waiting to see how you tackle the LEDs. This is one big area of a let down for this kit in my opinion, would have been just a little bit of effort on siboors part to make all 17 leds in a nice easy harness!

[@shingabiss]

Thanks for making this series! Very helpful.

[@KapmansBasementWorkshop]

Thanks you!

[@stacylow9375]

Hey, I highly recommend the filamentalist as a buffering system versus the ERCT. Makes loading, unloading etc much easier and the spools auto rewind!

[@KapmansBasementWorkshop]

I've been looking at it. I love the idea of the spool holder being the buffer vs having a spool holder and a buffer. I'm having considerable trouble with space and the current setup. Filamentalist would be a big improvement. I'm glad to hear it's working out well for you. Thank you!

[@akashpatel2338]

Awesome job with this whole ERCF V2 series!

[@KapmansBasementWorkshop]

Thank you! Just one or two more....

[@kotmorkot8654]

Thanks. Very good for understanding. Wait to continue

[@KapmansBasementWorkshop]

Thank you!

[@joshuaaxtman9205]

Thanks for the video Kapman! Interested to see how you tackle the LED’s

[@KapmansBasementWorkshop]

I'm working through the LEDs now. Should be in the next video. Thank you for watching!

[@m00seeee]

Im building this same kit at the moment and hit the same issues with the silly m3 traps. Trying the V grove traps now. Thanks for the tips! Have been waiting for a video each week to continue my progress :)

[@KapmansBasementWorkshop]

The v groove traps are what worked for me. I had planned on releasing the video for electronics and software by now, but it's going to take a few more days. But that and at least one more are on the way. Thank you for commenting and letting me know I wasn't the only one!

[@duck_that_quacks]

​@@KapmansBasementWorkshop I've tried the M3 traps and had some of them break, I realised the issue was tuning the print settings so that it maximises part strength For that specific part I tuned z offset as low as possible, slowed down the print, increased chamber temperature, printed at 0% fan speed and lowered pressure advance After that the part was incredibly strong and didn't break at all

[@KapmansBasementWorkshop]

@@duck_that_quacks I wish I thought of that. This is a great tip! I will probably reprint those parts soon and then give it a second try. Thank you for this!

[@gs1-j3t]

Love you Video, I am building mine now. And I did not get the flexible sensor in my kit like you show, mine was rigged and to install I had to mount them one at a time.

[@KapmansBasementWorkshop]

It appears they chnaged. I eliminate the flexible circuit board and ended up just wiring the microswitches due to a mistake I made with one of the microswitches which ruined the flexible circut board.

[@gs1-j3t]

@@KapmansBasementWorkshop For the new one, I had to put it in one mount at a time, basically build the buffer up as you go. I hate soldering and wiring in general. I am getting too old and shaky. I did get it all together and then snapped a few of the ABS parts. I am reprinting it all in a good PETG parts are looking great., Time will tell if they hold up.

[@FuttFel]

A bit late now perhaps, but the RC2 files are available on Github and they have much easier to print buffers and such. And some other improvements to a bunch of different parts. I printed those for my Siboor kit and the kit went together smoothly. There's even a heatset insert version on the way for the three buffer walls that surround the buffer wheels. (Requested by several people, including myself, who felt that the plastic was incredibly easy to strip out when attaching the buffer wheel walls to one another) I personally put together the buffer completely, then inserted the ball bearings, laid down the PCB and then added screws to the switches one by one, left to right, then I finally tested each switch with a piece of filament. It wasn't a big deal at all to attach the endstop PCB.

[@KapmansBasementWorkshop]

I did not see RC2 in the Repo. I just looked again and failed to find it. Please post a link if possible. Thanks for the update!

[@FuttFel]

@@KapmansBasementWorkshop I've attached the link. In the top left it says "master" where you choose the branch to view. RC2 is what you want. Lots of goodies in that.

[@FuttFel]

Turns out I can't link to it. Check my other reply.

[@hornet331]

@@KapmansBasementWorkshop there is a Branch in the ERCF v2 repo, you can select it when clicking on master and select RC2 or click on the Branches text right to the master text. Its a mixed bag, as it has some commits that are not in the master/main branch but is also behind in some others.

[@SkippyTheBeerCan1337]

Thank you for the video!

[@KapmansBasementWorkshop]

Thank you for watching and commenting!

[@NefariousElasticity]

Working on building my ERCFv2 + Cotton Tail currently out of the TriangleLab kit. I will say that Siboor definitely did a better job with their kit - the flexible PCB to unify all the microswitches for the coupler blocks here, for one example, but also really organizing and labelling the kit. At certain points I had to bust out my calipers to make sure I had selected the right screws because TriangleLab just throws all the screws in a bag. I'm now hoping to find a video covering the entire process of soldering and setting up the LEDs for both the ERCF and the ERCT, because the manuals don't even mention how to wire up the LEDs for the ERCT or how you're supposed to chain them to the LEDs from the ERCF (as the BTT MMB only has one pin header for LEDs). Did you have any trouble with the support arms for the ERCT? I noticed in the CAD for them that there is barely any tolerance given to handle shrinkage, so I ended up having to shim the arms where the 3x M3x8 screws go in each in order to prevent the wheels from binding. The rabbit graphic also for some reason starts printing at Z0.4, and the bottom edges have a 45 degree chamfer, which caused me some problems. I ended up just modifying the provided STLs to be completely flat on the bottom to get rid of the chamfers and rabbit logo offset, and made the arms a bit wider to prevent issues with the wheels binding. Maybe my V2.4 isn't as tuned as I thought it was, but the support arm design definitely needs some work I think.

[@KapmansBasementWorkshop]

My support arms are a little rough when assembled. But they seem to work. My biggest complaint is the amount of space they take. And the flexible PCB, some people have received a standard not flexible version. I'm not sure which one I like better, but I ended up breaking mine by pulling out a microswitch by mistake. When I re-attached it, I never got a reliable reading again. When I get the followup video complete, I will show how I ended up soldering the microswitches with wires instead. FOr the LEDs. I used black filament and intend on mounting the ERCF to the back of the printer. All the extra leds did not make sense to me as I would not be able to see them. So I only mounted the front facing LEDs since those are the ones I would be able to see. I suppose if this was printed out of white or clear filament, the leds on the back side would be nice too. Thank you for posting and watching. I wish you a great build!

[@dfarr2004]

If you run into the issue where all the pre gate sensors come up as triggered when running the mmu_sensors command in the console, the issue I found was all the holes where the bearings dropped in had a little bit of an overhang issue causing the bearings not to fully seat which then in turn caused all of the switches to be pressed. Also easiest way to install the pcb is when the buffer is put together.

[@KapmansBasementWorkshop]

Thats a good tip. I ended up ripping one of the microswitches off the PCB by mistake. I pressed it back in, but once hooked up, both it and the switches aroound it were unreliable. I ended up pulling the PCB off and soldered wires across the microswitches. I will show it off in the next video. Thank you for posting!

[@Mikehatespigs]

​@KapmansBasementWorkshop I just ordered a pcb set from siboor so I didn't have to solder my wire management needs some work

[@kajakmannen]

Hi man. Thx for all nice videos. Im also building an Siboor ERCF V2. One question that popped up for me was how do they think about the bypss channel. I have the filament coming in right from the electeonics box area. Not clear how they think here!!??

[@KapmansBasementWorkshop]

I have not used that yet. But Siboor didn't design that part. Ask the ERCF discord channel. I'll bet someone knows the answer there. Thanks for the kind words and watching!

[@CrazyMonkeyCM32]

Good video. At 6:57 it looks like the M2 micro switch tore of the flex board? Hopefully not, can't tell.

[@KapmansBasementWorkshop]

Yes, it did. We will see if I was able to fix it soon.....Thank you!

[@ivantrail702]

These boards have been found to be finicky and difficult to manufacture. Apparently Siboor is shipping regular stiff PCBs now, which aren't recommended by the ERCF team as they inhibit movement of the filament blocks. The best bet is to just solder up a harness with wire at this point. Hopefully the FCB version can be updated and work better soon.

[@kristalbellens1340]

bonjour , très bien expliquer merci pour les informations

[@KapmansBasementWorkshop]

Merci beaucoup!

[@karlfife]

I'm wondering how the filament will ever be able to move easily enough through all of that paraphernalia, like the long PTFE tubing, buffer wheels, runout sensors, idlers, collets, not to mention a dry box. Regular ASA/PLA is slippery smooth, so yeah, fine. But matte PLA, CF blends, and many others are not, and have significant drag. Even with only an encoder and the tube feeding my 2.4, I quickly exhaust my extruder's ability to push hard enough for good flow, while pulling hard against parasitic drag. Is this a concern for you? Does this system actively mitigate this in some way? Thanks for the great content!

[@KapmansBasementWorkshop]

Honestly, I am a little concerned. But there are people successfully running these. So far is my tests with a piece of filament, there isn't as much friction as I thought there would be. But who knows, there might be an orbiter in my future. Thanks for commenting!

[@ivantrail702]

The gear stepper can be synchronized to the extruder via a setting in the Happy Hare software.

[@kevinpfeffer914]

Did you encounter any issues fitting the Board into the PCB Holder? Mine seems to be to tight on the left/right and the screw holes are also not fully aligned. Up to now i did not encounter serious issues with accuracy on other parts

[@KapmansBasementWorkshop]

I did have a problem in that part warped during the print as ABS loves to do. It doesn't fit perfectly, but it does fit. In my case, due to the warp, the cover for the PCB won't snap on nicely. I will try to reprint that part later.

[@andrelloydtorres4468]

I’m curious, what LED carrier mount did you use for the coupler block? I can’t mount my neopixels in the STL in the ECRF V2 repo.

[@KapmansBasementWorkshop]

I've avoided the LED installation for the video as I need a little time to also experiement with wiring them to the mcu. I expect to show what I neded up doing in the next video once I get the electronics working.

[@ivantrail702]

Those are a bit difficult. I have found that using the back edge of an XActo blade to scrape the tiny neopixel circuit boards with a slight taper toward the led side helps them snap in a bit better.

[@ivantrail702]

Also, print twice as many mounts as you need. They tend to snap.

[@alidaf-YT]

Don't screw the microswitch board in until it's assembled. Assemble the support arms, buffer wheels and spacers and screw the support arms together one at a time. Once that's done there's enough flexibility between them to fit the coupler blocks if you start at the MMU end. Then add the ball bearings and microswitch board.

[@KapmansBasementWorkshop]

Thank you for the tip!

[@jeffrex6305]

Are you going to show a video on wiring to the machine and configuring in klipper and klipper screen?

[@KapmansBasementWorkshop]

I am working on that video right now. It has taken longer than I expected. But it on the way.

[@jeffrex6305]

@@KapmansBasementWorkshop Awesome thank you! I'm struggling to find all the documentation for everything so your videos have been super helpful. Much appreciated!

[@KapmansBasementWorkshop]

@@jeffrex6305 Sooon!

[@DanielPowell-wv4rg]

Would this work on a Creality K1 Printer?

[@KapmansBasementWorkshop]

I believe it would. The software for this uses Klipper, so assuming your K1 is using klipper and you have a spare USB port, it should work.

[@cgrosbeck]

So don't use carbon fiber filled for the board holder do to the conductivity of carbon fiber!!!

[@KapmansBasementWorkshop]

I would not have considered it would be conductive. Thanks for posting this.