Retesting my craziest 3D printer mods from the last 10 years

[@TeachingTech]

Thanks to all of the people posting that I used the wrong fishing line in this video. I have no patience for fishing and I'm allergic to eating fish so my knowledge on this topic is limited. I believe I used braided back in the day on the Solidoodle (as can be seen in the timelapse shot) and it did indeed did print better than shown here. Sorry for the confusion, and hopefully some folks might now know they can substitute line for a belt if in a pinch.

[@XXCoder]

I'd say you would need better torque adjuster. one that pushes on frame, rather than you try pull it

[@mouserr]

i want to hear more about that changing head

[@dudedud238]

Regarding the fishing line. You used mono filament fishing line, this has been designed to stretch a bit. You would want to use braided for the strongest line with the least Strech

[@milolc]

Ironically, he was showing off braided line while talking about zero stretch, then he used stretchy monofilament.

[@oliof]

also can be improved with capstan setup.

[@chucknorrispka]

Why don't we make belts to have zero stretch?

[@napa1617]

@@chucknorrispka we have reinforced belts with steel belting and fiberglass/nylon but they are expensive and stuff. Cheap and nonstretch is the hard part. Thousands of cyclical fatiguing loads under constant pressure is tough to not degrade

[@ssp_2015]

I think fluorocarbon line would be better. Zero stretch and it's thicker. Braided line tends to cut into things because it's so thin and can hold lots of tension

[@backgammonbacon]

That bearing lead screw is called a Helical Crayford and was invented for moving focusers on telescopes. It was invented by the Crayford Astronomical Society in Kent UK.

[@cda32]

Also used in lots of high precision positioning for measurement machines and stuff

[@TeachingTech]

That's cool, thanks for sharing.

[@kocakushh]

How much time should be passed until it wears down?

[@3dprintingrevolution791]

I came to comment on the fishing line. I have seen claims of extreme high speed printing using braided line under very high tension with no ringing. I'd like to see that revisited with braided line.

[@robertsheldon184]

No way, _you're_ lawsy? what a blast from the past. I don't think we talked much on the solidoodle forums (my name was rsheldiii) but I had a similar trajectory into 3d printing and hobbyist making in general - thanks a lot to you and 2n2r5 and everyone else on soliforum. I was fresh out of college for computer science, with a passion for but complete lack of understanding of other engineering subjects. I was enthralled with 3d printing and purchased a solidoodle 3, before quickly realizing that almost everything on it was underspec. The vibrant community on soliforum was the only thing that kept me from throwing it in the garbage bin. I decided I wasn't going to buy a new printer until I made this one work. By the end of it I had quite a few modifications: the mk6 extruder with e3d v6 hotend, direct drive y axis, upgraded extruder stepper driver, cable chain, qu-bd heated bed with upgraded traces and power supply (I pored over your wiring image for far too long, it was my first soldering project), and lmuu8 x/y carriages. I then put it on a very high shelf and bought a better printer (Prusa mk3 now). One of my requirements for buying new printers is that the official forums for the printer are a wasteland - if they're as lively as soliforum was back in the day that's a bad sign. Thanks for all you've done over the years! Soliforum and my adventure with the Solidoodle helped me realize that all technology is made by humans, and if someone had to put it together, odds are I can take it apart.

[@JazAero]

My best mod is a water cooled hot end for my Prusa Mark 3S. I designed it using all off-the-shelf parts. the only modification to the printer is widening the opening on the Prusa extruder cover which can be done with an X-Acto knife. Since I changed to water cooling, I have never had a printer filament jam, and I'm able to print faster much hotter and using more exotic materials such as CF poly carbonate than I ever could with a regular unmodded hot end. I've had several people asked me to post my design. As far as the hot end goes it's a standard V6 hot end, with the fins milled in an alternating pattern to create a flow for the water. Which then gets copper jacketed. Standard 80 mm rad and pump and then I added a flow meter with a LED temperature sensor. Shame they don't allow pictures to post in the comments. I've been running this for over a year now and would never go back to a standard hot end. Not even 1 of the new ones.

[@GGGG_3333]

That last mod was mind blowing to say the least.

[@itayst]

10 years… you are a real guru and someone I enjoy learning from! Thanks for the excellent content you create, Michael!!

[@noanyobiseniss7462]

You should build a printer with all diy components and compare to a out of the box ender clone. I think a tensioner nut on that bearing screw would be a good addition for when the wear creates slack. I also think that fishing line with one loop on each side of a belt running ontop might be a way to tighten up a existing belt. Really enjoyed this compilation and the memories of acid etching pcbs came to mind. :)

[@rescuebox7]

I never connected that you were the lawsy on the soliforums and thingiverse... Your carriages saved my printer many times over. Thank you. I still have my solidoodle. I just can't stand to throw it away.

[@rbyt2010]

Congratulations on your anniversary, Michael. You've created a terrific channel :) Thanks!

[@H34...]

You used monofilament nylon which is deliberately stretchy. The braided dynema you showed would have been better. The main issue with fishing line (at least the way you've done it here, with no fixed anchor on the pulley and nothing to deal with string walking over itself) and threadless ballscrews is precision, both are friction drive as done here and will drift. If you marked the carriage location on the linear guide and ordered it to move back and forth a bunch of times, it would not return exactly to where it started. The drift often isn't severe enough to notice a layer shift, but over the full height of the model the layers will definitely be skewed a significant amount. Try printing a tall cube and check the vertical walls for flatness and squareness to the base.

[@RubixB0y]

You see the ripples in your fishing line print because you have a toothed gear, you're effectively changing the tension for every tooth on there. I'd bet if you drove it off a cylinder instead of a gear it would work just fine

[@musicianpete]

...Or a large-radius sheave maybe?

[@dsnineteen]

As someone who only joined the 3D printing community around 2019-2020, it’s fascinating to see what the printfathers faced, innovated and overcame! Inspiring, really.

[@lloydford788]

That threadless ballscrew was amazing. Thanks for sharing!

[@ianbertenshaw4350]

Funny thing about belt stretch is the majority of it is caused when a printer sits on a shelf for a while without the tension being released , if you are not going to use a printer for a while loosen the belts up - same goes for bandsaw and hacksaw blades .

[@AndrewAHayes]

My first 3D printer was a Mendel that seemed to get an upgrade every week eventualy finishing up as a Mendel 90, the community for RepRap Mendel was massive with none other than Joseph Prusa highly involved in the community which was extremley close, I made some good friends back then and am still in touch with a few of them, a few of us who were also into machining and CNC used to make parts and sell them amongst us but ended up stopping selling them amongst us as people who found out seemed to think they were entitled to be able to order parts from us, it was never intended as anything even remotely retail just letting friends buy a part from leftover steel stock for the material costs, in the end we just used to offer people the parts files if they asked for a part, and then Jo Prusa started selling parts and the pressure was off us!

[@RicardoPenders]

Adding a second threaded bushing to the other side so you can tighten up the slag between the two to practically zero, way easier to do than what you did with the ball bearings on the rod which is also a very cool idea that I didn't know it would work.

[@TeachingTech]

When I was revisiting the forum thread, someone did exactly that. There was two versions of the Solidoodle bed mount. Unfortunately I had the old plywood thick one instead of the newer aluminium slimline version so less room to work with.

[@spikekent]

Happy Anniversary Michael, wow, doesn't time fly when you're having fun. I've learnt a ton from your videos over the years, looking forward to many more to come.

[@paulg3336]

Mechanisms that use a cable (i.e. fishing line) are often tensioned by having an extension spring attached to the cable. This was common on radio tuner scales for the pointer mechanism

[@musicianpete]

Add mechanical reduction into that system for bonus engineering points and less pucker factor

[@mvadu]

I am still using the diy bed heater I made using the copper tape stuck in a pattern to aluminum bed separated by tape. It works quite well..

[@1stWorldProblemsSolved]

I still have my Solidoodle (as a museum piece ) and loved working with you and other's on the mods.

[@TeachingTech]

I still have the frame and some of the components from when I tore it down. It was a tremendous community!

[@ScottLahteine]

Happy Anniversary! Ten years is big milestone (still a few years off for me). I love the fishing line modification. It's got to be cheaper than GT2 belts! At the moment I'm rebuilding my first 3D printer - a self-sourced Prusa i3 with MDF Graber frame. It will be weird to have it working and printing again, but better than ever thanks to all the experience gained from years with higher quality machines.

[@TeachingTech]

This is a great opportunity to thank you for your contribution to 3D printing. You've accomplished a lot more in less time than I have!

[@fc3sbob]

back in 2013 my first printer was a delta printer that used fishing line instead of belts. It was pretty cool. The guy who designed the printer made the pulley's from nylon and the line would ride up and down as it moved, which I think was your problem because the toothed gear would cause problems with the print. I still have the printer in my basement, I bet if I dug it out it would still work!

[@pirobot668beta]

Use a fast solenoid for retraction, stepper motor for feed. On a Bowden rig: at the Hot-end, Bowden tube mounting flange is mounted to a short-throw solenoid. When solenoid is operated, it increases the distance between the Bowden tube flange and the hot-end, retracting the filament. The stepper feeding the filament goes stationary during the retraction interval...it doesn't 'chew' the filament by pulling it back and forth. Solenoid Retraction at the Hot-end is gonna be as fast as direct-drive retraction, if not faster!

[@RubixB0y]

This is a cool idea!

[@declinox]

The best part of owning a 3D printer is hacking on it and upgrading it. Good stuff!

[@therick0996]

“More printers’ printers print prints for printers’ printers than printers print prints for printed projects” -Zack Freedman

[@cheetahkid]

I built a new printer printed from my old printer and was using both of them, that was fun.

[@OM222O]

You cannot simply measure low resistance values (usually less than 5 ohms) with a multi meter. The reading you get will be higher due to test lead resistance. This means your PCB would draw significantly more than 15A and could damage the PSU by overloading it. You need to use the 4 wire measurment technique to correctly test the resistance of your DIY heater pad.

[@Roobotics]

The heating element on the solidoodle 2 series, was literally a giant resistor bolted to the bed underneath. And can verify, it was just as terrible as stated.

[@TeachingTech]

I was hoping to find it to film but it might be long gone. When I started the slicer was Skeinforge and that was stupidly slow too. Starting a print job was a serious time commitment.

[@donminion3714]

Happy 10 Years, make more so good stuff, i love it.

[@jooo270]

I'm still using my Solidoodle2 with 80lb braided fishing line. It's still working amazing and have not touched it many years after putting it on.

[@rheller_82]

Ah memory lane of my first 3D printer the solidoodle 2. I don't print with abs anymore, but that thing was a champ with it.

[@Jibs-HappyDesigns-990]

wow! U have grown incredibly in this walk of life! congratulations! now just look @ how 3d printing tools, & machines have changed!! wow!! good luck! cheers!

[@MyBrothersMario]

I remember the threadless lead screw mod, I wanted to do that one on my initial Solidoodle 2, I had no idea that your first printer was the Solidoodle 2 as well.

[@abarasabwehttam]

My first machine was a FlashForge Creator, clone if the Makerbot you showed. Nice to see how far we have come!

[@mszoomy]

Interesting. I knew the fishing line wouldn't work 😆 but that threadless lead screw is interesting

[@noanyobiseniss7462]

Hmm just thought of a better bearing lead screw design where you use the inner race of slightly larger bearings and then the outer diameter would be just larger than the bearings themselfs and no bolts would be needed to hold them, just a clamshell case that could be designed with enough slack to allow for tensioning (that would be the design challenge as in order to tension the forces would have to be applied to the bearings differently: possibly in a screw configuration). Also this design would have the advantage of applying 2 surfaces per bearing as opposed to only one.

[@Lucas_sGarage]

My first 3d printer was an Anet e10, the one that i still use today, not because i don't want others, it's just because im waiting until I can move to my new shop

[@first-thoughtgiver-of-will2456]

You should try 18 gauge braided cable instead of fishing line. It's easily sourced and may allow for greater tensile forces for fast printing.

[@simoneiorio9703]

On the fishing market you can find steel lines (in many cases are covered by a similar rubber polymer coating), so if you want give a new chance to your belt mod. Classic fishing lines are a lot elastic so you can’t eliminate similar jerk problems, like you can do with the belt, but maybe with a steel fishing line (and maybe with more than one pass, before the 3 passes on the motor gear) elastic effects can becomes less enough to do a better test.

[@Morberis]

Wow coming from industrial equipment, that tensioning system where you just pull it tight and set it... A screw mechanism would be much better.

[@TeachingTech]

That printer is a few years old and newer prints tend to have much better systems like you describe.

[@Morberis]

@@TeachingTech good to know

[@RomanoPRODUCTION]

Thank you Michael, the mods are quite cuddleables

[@theagentsmith]

I didn't know you were Lawsy! Heavily modded my Solidoodle 3 thanks tp your designs. Replaced imperial threaded rod with metric one, plexiglas covers, threaded rod decoupler, glass bed, touchscreen display with a Pi and early version of Octoprint, webcam. Recently I upgraded the hotend with an E3D V6 but the thing is not really reliable. The PSU is underpowered, the mainboard cheap, there are bushings instead of bearings...

[@cheetahkid]

good video. I remember about PEI, I read about it and would it work better than my glue/kapton/masking tape. I was impressed highly when I got the PEI plate, about 3mm thick, now that would be 8 years ago, I still have it right now tempted to use it again, I had over 100 hours of use till my printer refuse to carry on. Since then whole lot change (I do not use PET for PEI or glass). I always use PLA to lot of my work. I just got the new printer only last week ready for ABS/ASA printing.

[@1marcelfilms]

Threadless ballscrew becomes threaded ballscrew on its own

[@joaosimoes5508]

That plain rod with the tilted bearings is mind-blowing! Hahahah delicious

[@technosworld2]

There's actually a pro-sumer 3D printer, the Fusion3 that uses fishing line for their axes and apparently it works well

[@3dexperiments]

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!!

[@Shadow__X]

You might want to look into rolling screw extruders, they use the same concept as the Threadless ballscrew except the rollers have sharp rings on them to grip the filament and it's the ring part that rotates instead of the rod (filament), it looks promising because there aren't really any teeth involved (you would probably even get away with rubber on the rollers)

[@gregstarr2]

The ball screw seems cool but i think it could wear less with softer wheels like the popular v slot roller type ones

[@JohnSmith-mk8hz]

That was fun.

[@groggynod]

This brought back memories and the nightmare of reassembling the "JIGSAW" hot end!!!

[@filanfyretracker]

as someone new to the hobby were the first hot ends just hacked from hot glue guns? Or did actual systems exist for making a hot end that even slightly resembles something like a V6

[@JazAero]

by the way Michael sorry for the double post, just thought you you might want to hear, I'm currently designing and building and all ballscrew printer with just over a one cubic yard capacity, this is monster of a printer.. uses a big tree tech board, but I'm having trouble finding heated printing platen big enough to suit my needs. 40-44 inch square I was thinking of a large aluminum plate with 4 silicone hot pads to give me a zone heating system, then I can print smaller things on part of the print bed without heating up the entire print bed.

[@MarinusMakesStuff]

Ha, omg, I just remembered building my first printer in 2012. The 'Prusa Air 2'. It used two M8 rods for the Z-axis, and I got ripped off by the seller, who sold me soft steel smooth rods. What a time. And I paid triple the amount of an Ender 3 for that crappy kit and still had to upgrade it with so many expensive parts, first a Budaschnozzle, then a J-head clone. People mainly printed with ABS back in the days, and the tolerances were all over the place. I get the idea most people don't get to appreciate how great printers are nowadays, compared to how it was 10 years ago.

[@cheetahkid]

I remember soft steel smooth rods, I got ripped off too. That was I think 2014, I could not tell if it was chrome coated rod. Took a few month and found it has indent my rods.

[@Santibag]

In the fishing line part, you used only one line, so the stretching is too much. It may be a bit trickier, but I think a few parallel lines together would make a much better belt replacement. And since you distribute the load between multiple lines, you wouldn't need to wrap the lines on the motor gear as much as you do with a single line. Only one lap winding, just to get twice the friction per line, when compared to a non-winded line. 3 fishing lines, 6 wrappings in total, which is almost the same amount of wrappings as you did. But with roughly a third of the stretch(polymers can have very weird stress/strain graphs, which may not even be linear in any part of the graph, so less stretch may not be half the stretch but may be more or less than half).

[@MichaelJHathaway]

I like your heated pcb board. Thanks for the video.

[@DIYdoofus]

Any plans to review the Tronxy Crux 1? The manufacturer says they’ll be available for retail in July. I can only see one review on KZbin so far, keen to get more opinions before buying for my tech class. Alternatively any suggestions for a cheap auto leveling printer that uses standard USB for gcode? Thanks mate!

[@skaltura]

#3 i've always wanted to test myself to be honest

[@justinkirschenman2232]

I just watched a video showing this threadless ball screw as an extruder.

[@ZOMBIEHEADSHOTKILLER]

i would love to see a more detailed video about the build process of the heat bed...... i have been wanting to build my own custom printer, which would need a custom heat bed.

[@the4thj]

When do parts wear out? What would be their hours of operation per each part? Good episode also thank you.

[@ResistCircuitResist]

Jeez, i didn't know they made kapton tape that wide.

[@lasskinn474]

Replicator shipped with wide kapton to use on the steel bed. It sucked. Glass etc are much better.

[@MMOchAForPrez]

This is pretty cool!

[@IanMott]

Beautiful content!

[@Felenari]

Good watch. Ty m8.

[@kocakushh]

How much time passed until wear accumulates? I had seen the exact same part before and I thought I should try this. I have all parts to make this bearing mod and I have the same fitting issue. If it is worth doing it I will give a go

[@nathan1sixteen]

I kinda wish I had held onto my old Solidoodle

[@_killer_designs]

Amazing video!

[@daliasprints9798]

The fishing line also lacks any built-in dimensional accuracy like a belt would give. You have to just measure the effective pulley diameter very very precisely.

[@Zugaaa]

gotta upgrade your ratrig vcore 3 to vcore 3.1 please record the process! :D

[@Malainor]

Oh you where the one who did the heated bed remeber parts of it. Did see a fun version someone els did. big builds space, water underneath heat water bath= heated bed. Rip apart a water boiler put it in ....the water leak risk is another story.

[@nicholasjones6203]

hello I was wondering if you have a solution for my issue. i currently own a an ender 3 v2 printer with a BL-Touch. I'm having trouble with the printer head offsetting too far from the glass after it levels the bed before it prints. I've researched a way to use pronterface but my printer landed into an issue where my usb port runs into an error and states that it cannot be recognized. i had another person said that I didn't need to use pronterface and should look into marlins. I see many options on their site, but I don't know what options i should pick for the BL-Touch. the mother board I'm using is the creality version 4.2.2. honestly I would like to just start printing and tweak things as I get more familiar. I think I have bit more than i chew here, and could use a little guidance. please help me out; it would be greatly appreciated.

[@DegonTheMighty]

Is that a modified 2018 black/gold Tevo Tornado on the desk at the beginning of the video? Edit: The Tevo Tornado is specifically mentioned at the end of the video, haha.

[@lasskinn474]

Z backslash isn't much of an issue on Z. What you can do pretty much completely elminate backslash on 8mm threaded rod on z is to 3d print like 1cm tall nuts from pla and use those instead. It works very nicely with no play and some spray teflon in there its nicely slippery and the printed nuts last a long long time

[@Malainor]

Fishing lines work well. I work as a metal machine place. Imagen my suprice years ago when the yearly check up on the 3d probe machine. It was just thick boat lines basicly in a hell of a tension system. i thought it was ballscrews..i been open to fishing lines/knot ropes sins then. meters of line. i thing its area is around z800mm, x800 y800. 3 of 20 is allowed to use it no exeptions...i just see it as a sail boat now.

[@yitspaerl7255]

Memory lane, thanks.

[@woodywong76]

Nylon isnt the correct type of fishing line for this, there is simply too much elasticity! You must use the more modern braided line which has no stretch at all. Also, these setups always use round, not tooothed pulleys and idlers

[@RetiredRhetoricalWarhorse]

Can someone point me to a video or website that explains what quality prints are normal in 3d printing? I have wasted so much time trying to perfect my printer instead of getting started with the hobby and I wonder if I demand a perfection that may be completely unrealistic.

[@capitalinventor4823]

Perhaps going to a forum where people talk about 3D printers, either in general or specifically about the brand of printer that you have would be helpful. You would be able to post a couple of photos of what you have printed and point out anything that is bothering you. If you go to a place where people are talking about your brand of printer then you would likely be able to see what other people are producing with the same model of printer. The printer is not going to make objects with perfects smooth surfaces. If you get the prints that almost always stick to the build plate, don’t have very much stringing, are dimensionally accurate, and don’t require a lot of work (this varies depending on the person) to clean up in order to decorate then you have done an excellent job of calibrating your printer. Also, setting up your printer is not something that you have to absolutely finish before you may start your hobby. Setting up the printer is an ongoing process. As you learn more about 3D printing then you will be able to go back and fine tine your printer or slicer settings. Unless your prints are not sticking to the bed or you are printing a lot of spaghetti then start printing your hobby prints. It would be terrible for you to begin to hate 3D printing because you see the setup process as frustrating, at least I get that impression from your message. Don’t be afraid to print. It’s only a bit of plastic. I’d suggest trying some smaller items before jumping in and printing the larger one in order to get more comfortable with everything. But most importantly, have fun.

[@bagibadoo439]

I get PTSD from thinking back to the early 3d printing days, man how shit and complicated everything was back then.

[@Ryet9]

🦅️ 🦅️ 🦅️

[@wlaltlqkf]

good

[@Blue.4D2]

⭐🙂👍

[@makewithmegma]

💕👍

[@lusher00]

You can just say lash, the back isn’t necessary.

[@omnom2455]

🇵🇸

[@kippie80]

I don't see any benefit of PEI over Kapton tape on aluminum bed.

[@Kalvinjj]

Last time I printed on kapton tape I couldn't get ABS to stick at all. PEI just heat it up and off you go. ABS, PLA and TPU, those two not even necessary to have PEI tho as they'll stick to plain glass. Dunno PETG, but that one sticks well and releases easily from plain PVA based wood glue.

[@lasskinn474]

I'd mod it for glass or something onstead. Ripping tape and replacing it sucks and the adhesions not that great. Replicator shipped with steel buildplate that you put kapton over that was supposed to be the bees knees but really it wasn't..