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Comments: 54
  • #1

    AäronR (Friday, 08 November 2013 19:24)

    Hello, can you make your site in Englisch, i can't read the text

  • #2

    stefan (Saturday, 09 November 2013 08:33)

    good idea, this will take some days

  • #3

    Henk (Saturday, 16 November 2013 16:03)

    Thanks for your suggestions for improvement of the k8200. I have been working with it for 4 weeks now and results after many hours of experiment have been pretty disappointing so far. Your Slicer ini files certainly improved results a lot. Now I hope I can find a place with facilities to improve the extruder.

  • #4

    Jonas Andersson (Wednesday, 27 November 2013 10:00)

    Hi,

    what is the advantage of having the small PTFE part between the aluminium cooler and extruder nozzle? Is it to have some sort of heat insulation? I was thikning of doing original PTFE-part completely in aluminium and add flanges to it and a fan like you did.

  • #5

    stefan (Wednesday, 27 November 2013 14:19)

    yes, that's right, you need a thermal insulation. Otherwise the filament guide becomes hot or the extruder is cooled down. Even with thermal insulation you have to cool the heatsink.

  • #6

    Jonas Andersson (Thursday, 28 November 2013 09:25)

    Like I suspected then :)
    I just made one completely in aluminium, I will try it after work and see how it goes, if I have to make one with insulation inbetween.
    Would it be possible to get the source file for the fan holder? I'm thinking of adapting it for 40 mm fan instead of 25 mm.

  • #7

    stefan (Thursday, 28 November 2013 17:36)

    which file format do you need?

  • #8

    Jonas Andersson (Friday, 29 November 2013 08:59)

    Preferably OpenSCAD, but i assume you have used some other application drawing this. Pick one that is easy for you, I will manage to open it. Thanks!

  • #9

    stefan (Friday, 29 November 2013 10:52)

    yes, so I placed a dxf on the website, I hope you can open it.

  • #10

    Germann (Monday, 30 December 2013 13:52)

    Hi. Thanks for the improvement guide.

    Regarding the extruder. Do you think it is possible to completely remove the telflon tube, and just let the hot end hang in the long screws to the extruder but still add a fan to cool directly on the ABS and lead the heat away?
    Thank.

  • #11

    Stefan (Monday, 30 December 2013 15:02)

    No I am sure this will not work.
    1. you don't have any guide for the filament, it will bend when beeing pushed
    2. the melted plastic will swell out of the upper hole of the hot end when the extruder pushes the filament into it


  • #12

    mamo (Friday, 03 January 2014 14:14)

    hello stefan
    do you think it is possible that I can buy an extruder like since I can not do it? Could you suggest a site where I can buy one like that?
    thanks for your blog and greetings from italy

  • #13

    Stefan (Friday, 03 January 2014 22:25)

    hello Mamo
    I produced the parts myself. Everybody who has a lathe can manufacture the parts (teflon part and alu part) easily. So you have to look for a mechanical workshop. The fan you can buy in a electronic shop and the fan housing can be made with your printer.
    many greetings from switzerland

  • #14

    mamo (Saturday, 04 January 2014 01:16)

    thanks stefan continues so great you are!
    hi

  • #15

    Stefan (Monday, 06 January 2014 11:21)

    maybe you missunderstood my answer. I did not intend to produce the parts, but if you don't find any solution to manufacture the parts you can contact me again of course.

  • #16

    Robert (Tuesday, 07 January 2014 00:13)

    I also don't have access to a Lathe and can't make the teflon or alu parts. Do you think you could make me the parts. I would be willing to pay for the parts and shipping.

    Thanks

  • #17

    Stefan (Tuesday, 07 January 2014 17:19)

    ok I will calculate price and shipping cost

  • #18

    Robert (Thursday, 09 January 2014 23:17)

    Thanks, looking forward to the information.
    What are your views about the nozzle diameter .5 mm? Do you think a .3 mm nozzle would make a big difference? If so, how hard would it be to change?

  • #19

    Stefan (Friday, 10 January 2014 10:43)

    I made a little shop, don't be confused about the message 'test order' during the order process, it will work anyhow.

    I have no experience with 0.3 mm nozzle, but printing will take more time. The nozzle must be heatet when you change the nozzle. Which parameter do you want to improve with this action?

  • #20

    Sandy (Sunday, 09 February 2014 03:16)

    Stefan,
    I also have the K8200 and the the design is great, the electronics and hot end not so great.
    The first thing I replaced is all the wiring completely as the ribbon cable started to melt with ABS currents. I next replaced the electronics with the Ramps 1.4 board with the display. I then replaced the hot end with the j-head .35. I now have a nice machine that was very expensive. I am also using a PC power supply.
    Greetings from Las Vegas, NV.

    Thanks,
    Sandy

  • #21

    Stefan (Monday, 10 February 2014 10:07)

    yes the wiring is bad, I replaced it too.

    What experiences did you do with the small nozzle? Which parameters are improving?

    best regards
    Stefan

  • #22

    Ahab (Sunday, 16 February 2014 17:27)

    Hello Stefan!...great work!...congratulations ;)

    I don´t know if you can help me, but i broke the copper barrel from the extruder while tightening it...do you know about any fixing method without having to buy one?

    Cheers!

  • #23

    Stefan (Monday, 17 February 2014 10:08)

    hello Ahab

    maybe you can braze the brass parts together (above 450°C), not soldering (melts at 183°C). Before that you have to remove the heater and the NTC of course.

    regards
    Stefan

  • #24

    JoostdW (Monday, 03 March 2014 13:49)

    The same as Ahab's misfortune happened to me - the manual states thighten with force - and of course I also used too much force.
    Having a lathe, I made a new part and removed the remnants of the old one out of the nozzle and cut new M6 threading in it.
    Without a lathe youy may try to drill a 3,2 mm hole in the length of a M6 brass screw, cut of the broken 6mm piece of the old part, drill 5 mm. holes in nozzle and part and cut M6 threading in them. Then refit nozzle and repaired part without tightening too heavy ;)

  • #25

    JoostdW (Monday, 03 March 2014 14:07)

    Nice Blog, by the way Stephan, and thank you for the STL's and the drawings for extruder (why no M8 threa on the lower part too screw it in the brass part, just like the PTFE extruder ?) and fanhousing and for all the other tips and ideas !

  • #26

    Paul (Monday, 03 March 2014 17:27)

    Hi is there a parts list for the heatbed 24v PSU controller

    Regards,
    Paul

  • #27

    Stefan (Wednesday, 05 March 2014 13:33)

    hi JoostdW
    thanks a lot for your tips to repair the Extruder.

    hi Paul
    yes, you can download the partlist from download section now

    regards
    Stefan

  • #28

    Kenny Liebert (Thursday, 03 April 2014 09:10)

    I would be very interested in a tutorial on how to upgrade the heated bed with a separate power supply

  • #29

    Pete (Wednesday, 09 April 2014 21:40)

    Hi awesome work and some clever simple fixes, I have created a fan duct which uses the stock K8200 fan to direct air onto the hotend and nozzle which might work with your extruder mod: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:294246

    I was wondering if you thought there was any possible improvement on upgrading the z axis to 2xleadscrews to improve stiffness of the extruders frame? Or have you printed at high speeds without any 'wobble' problems?

    Cheers, Pete

  • #30

    Stefan (Monday, 14 April 2014 19:17)

    hi Kenny
    I like to make a tutorial, but there's no time left these days, I hope you will find a solution.

    hi Pete
    thanks for your link, this looks quite interesting for pla.
    I only had wobble problems at the beginning, then I decided to take a flexible connection between stepper and leadscrew and to replace the rodholder (http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:222907). Since then there is no wobbling at all.

    best regards
    Stefan

  • #31

    Graeme (Monday, 29 September 2014 14:09)

    Hi Stefan,
    Thank you very much for your excellent website.
    I have have rewired my K8200 (to improve the looks), and installed a E3D V6 hotend. However I live in UAE and have trouble sourcing the z-axis mods ie the trapezoidal rod, bearing, bearing holder and flex coupling. Can I order a kit of parts from you for DHL delivery to Dubai ? Price is of little concern - I simply need a single source of supply for these parts. Regards G

  • #32

    Stefan (Thursday, 02 October 2014 16:32)

    hi Graeme
    sorry but I don't have a trapezoidal rod, but why do you want to install this? the original rod plus a flex coupling and a better bearing holder works perfekt! you can use a rubber tube instead of alu flex coupling, this works nearly as good as the alu part.
    best regards
    Stefan

  • #33

    Graeme (Thursday, 02 October 2014 17:53)

    Thanks Stefan, I'll try as you suggested and will report back. I see that Velleman is about to make a trapezoidal kit available but have no idea of cost or timing at this stage. Regards G

  • #34

    Michael (Saturday, 04 October 2014 00:04)

    I have probs with the vertical surfaces. They have a sinosodial shape. One layer more out, the next more in an so on. I modified the Z-Nut, but nothing changed.I could send You a Pic by PN, how. Can you help me?

  • #35

    Stefan (Monday, 06 October 2014 10:02)

    hi Michael
    this problem occurs because of the rigid connection between motor and rod AND the motor axis and rod axis are not exactly parallel. So you need a flexible connection between these two parts. If you measure the period length it will be 1.25 mm which is the slope of the thread. If not please let me know.
    best regards
    Stefan

  • #36

    Michael (Monday, 20 October 2014 19:53)

    Hi Stefan,

    I changed the z-axis using a flexible tube and also a horizontal movable nut. The weight of the z-axis is now sitting on the above z-axis bearing by a locknut. But the wobble is still on the surface. If I see other youtube vids I see a very smooth vertical surface. Is that a prob of the extrusion?

  • #37

    Stefan (Tuesday, 21 October 2014 09:41)

    hi Michael
    is there a 'wobbling' period of 1.25 mm distance in the surface? if yes it is not a problem of the extrusion.
    maybe the surface of the locknut is not rectangular to the thread, could you please mount the original connector (placed between motor an rod) instead of the locknut? the connector has a thread on one side, and thread and surface are quite perpendicular.

  • #38

    Michael (Friday, 31 October 2014 23:20)

    Can you post a Pic of a nice smooth vertical surface of a printed item? So i could see the ultimate limits of the printer. I would prefere to see a pic with ABS, but also PLA.

    Regards
    Michael

  • #39

    Stefan (Monday, 03 November 2014 10:51)

    hi Michael
    you can find a picture here: http://k8200.jimdo.com/temp/ . It's not the ultimate quality because I printed it very fast in ABS. Is this ok for you?

    regards
    Stefan

  • #40

    Michael (Thursday, 20 November 2014 19:39)

    Hi,
    i can answer this very late, sorry. It looks ok. Do you have a 0.5 or 0.3 mm nozzle. And what is the layer height?

    Regrads Michael

  • #41

    Stefan (Saturday, 22 November 2014 16:59)

    hi Michael
    I added another photo, this part is made with 0.5 mm nozzle and 0.2 mm layer height, ABS at 245°C.

    regards Stefan

  • #42

    Marc (Sunday, 30 November 2014 19:08)

    Hi,
    thank you for the cool stuff for the K8200, good work....

    But one question: i have a little Problem with the 24V Driver Board:

    What is the value of the Resistor R5, and how i can controlled the Fan only with the Headbet? (Nozzle is controlled over the original Controller)?

    My fan not run when the Heatbed is on, but is direct on when turn on the power (15v) of the Driver board...

    I hope you understand my bad english....

    Best regards
    Marc

  • #43

    Stefan (Monday, 01 December 2014 14:13)

    hi Marc

    the value of R5 is 0 ohms, this was necessary because of the design of my board, you can leave off this part.

    If you need to cool the heatsink of the extruder kit described on this website I strongly recommend to control the fan by the nozzle signal as recommended.

    If you use the fan for other purposes and control it with the heatbed signal you have to connect the cathode of D2 to pin x2-3 instead pin x2-1/x4-3. Then the fan will run continuous even if the heatbed is switched on/off during temperatur regulation, and the fan keeps cooling for some minutes after switchoff of the heatbed. After switching on the power of the Driver board the fan starts to run for some minutes too.

    best regards
    Stefan

  • #44

    Marc (Saturday, 06 December 2014 15:46)

    Hi Stefan, yes it works. Thank you.

    The next Project is the conversion from the nozzle, then i control the fan by the nozzle Signal.

    At the Moment the control by the heatbet is a good solution for the Transition. The fan is cooling the driverboard at the Moment, i think that it better for the IRFZ24N. He's pretty hot if the heatbed is on.

    best regards
    Marc

  • #45

    DonParpan (Tuesday, 15 September 2015 18:09)

    I want to make the driver board but I have problems with finding all the parts I need. I can find some of them but the Names in the Device and Package rows often give no results when I look for them.
    I am not very experienced with getting parts for electronics so I don't want to use a wrong part.

  • #46

    DonParpan (Tuesday, 15 September 2015 18:10)

    I want to make the driver board but I have problems with finding all the parts I need. I can find some of them but the Names in the Device and Package rows often give no results when I look for them.
    I am not very experienced with getting parts for electronics so I don't want to use a wrong part.

  • #47

    Stefan (Monday, 21 September 2015 16:20)

    hy DonParpan
    ok, so do you have a distributor for electronic components? if not, in which country do you live? Maybe I can find a distributor for you.
    best regards
    Stefan

  • #48

    DonParpan (Friday, 02 October 2015 22:28)

    Thanks for the answer but I actually don't need that anymore. I replaced the electronics so I can fit another extruder to the printer and the controller does everything I need.

  • #49

    Ivan Andre Abelsen (Thursday, 15 October 2015 14:13)

    Still "online"? :)

  • #50

    Stefan (Thursday, 15 October 2015 17:58)

    yes from time to time ...

  • #51

    experience in dubai (Thursday, 23 February 2017 07:57)

    Great Article it its really informative and innovative keep us posted with new updates. its was really valuable. thanks a lot.

  • #52

    מאווררי תקרה (Saturday, 26 August 2017 16:34)

    This article gives the light in which we can observe the reality. This is very nice one and gives indepth information. Thanks for this nice article.

  • #53

    Daniel (Friday, 09 February 2018 01:39)

    Is the PTFE insulator threaded?

  • #54

    Stefan (Monday, 12 February 2018 06:25)

    hello Daniel
    yes it is threaded, but I don't produce it any more.