(Unofficial) Replicator XL V1.5

thingiverse

This is a bunch of improvements of the RepXL rolled into one build plate. Read the instruction for what was change and added. I just made a ton of changes and additions to the file on 11/25/12. Read about the changes in the instructions section. If you don't have access to a laser cutter let me know and we can work something out. Instructions This is a derivative of http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:33265 John has an amazing idea and I just love it so if you're going to make one why not add in some improvements? Here are my build photos. http://www.flickr.com/photos/daverandolph/sets/72157632079826074/ There are a few changes that I made. So refer to the original projects for build notes. This one file has ever laser cut piece for building a Replicator XL so you don't have to recycle parts and worry about which version you got and if yours will line up. It's also nice to be able to paint all your parts and still have your printer running while you wait on it to dry. Below you will find a list of ever change I made and everything I added to the project. Basically it’s a one stop shop. On the back plate the cut out for the scrubber or meter port was missing so i added it back in. The slots for the Z end stop don't have enough range for the new position so I changed the holes to slots and moved them up giving a full 3/4" of range for adjustment. On the front plate I added holes to mount the acrylic doors from http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:33269 I also added holes for a stop plate for the door at the bottom. I also included the stop plate to cut. I added holes and made a latch for the top to hold the doors shut. The latch slides up and down. On the inside plate I took out the corners and made a little 1/2 cable pass through. This is to move air over the motherboard and not take air in from the build chamber. I also added back in cable clip holes that were missing from the original file. I moved the motherboard mounting holes so that they will line up with the power/reset/usb ports. I made no changes to the left side and the top panel. On the right side I added an intake port based on the idea from: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:33779 this way its built in and ready to go. garyacrowellsr suggested I make mounting holes for this http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:34785 to help keep tension on the Y motor. The bottom cover plate has a notch cut out to move air away from the motherboard. It also had the other corners filled in to make a more direct air flow. The partition plate on the bottom is from: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:24066 which will allow you to mount a second 40mm fan. So I just have two 12V fans in series to cool the motherboard. I've included my remake of the HBP in the build: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:35059 this will help reduce the sag in your HBP and I changed the rear plate to look more Replicator2ish. I put in all the adaptors for holding the rod’s in the Replicator. My build is done and printing now! Here are some of my notes for others building this. I did have to extend some wires. For me I extended the heaters and fans for the extruders and the stepper motor for the Y-Axis. I extended them by about 4" each. It wasn't to bad and all of my extensions are underneath so you don't see any splices in the build chamber. Solder them don't just tape them! I highly recommend some shrink tubing. You will be tempted to over tighten the bolts, don't or the wood will pull the square bolts in to tight and you will damage your frame. Check out these vertical rod supports. http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:35013 I think they are better and look better than the wood ones used. You don't have to disassemble the extruders electronics to take it apart. Take out the Y-axis rods and motors and belts and lift the whole extruder and X-axis assemble out. Pull off the sides and unscrew the limit switches and unplug the lights from the motherboard. This way you won't have to remove very many wires when you take it apart. It's a lot easier than trying to remember what went where. If you do detach a wire, label it. Leave your Y motor loose and make it the last thing you tighten up since it needs to be pulled tight against the belt. The Z end stop was barely long enough to reach to the new height. I suggest bringing it up the rear right behind the Y motor but bring up the Y-Limit switch up the rear left. This will give you a good 2 additional inches. Be sure to change the start and end g-code files located in ReplicatorG/replicatorg-0039/machines/replicator. There is a start and end file for either Dual_Head of Single_Head. Change the end code to G0 Z250 (from 150) and in the start code change the G1 to Z250 (from 150) Also be sure to edit ReplicatorG/replicatorg-0039/machines/replicator.xml and search for id="z" length="150" and change that to 250. It will appear twice in there. This will change the build volume in ReplicatorG for you. I talked with JohnA (The guy who made the original design) tonight and he told me why my Z-Axis wasn't going all the way down. ReplicatorG seems to have the Z-Axis hard coded in version 040 but as soon as I did the modifications to version 039 of ReplicatorG it all works beautifully. I found with my HBP modification that if you use the 1" thick supports you have to set the z axis to 245 but with the 3/4" version you can do the full 250. I personally will stick with the 1" version and loose 5mm to give my bed more support.