kbob and Impulse, the Rostock MAX

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kbob and Impulse, the Rostock MAX

Postby kbob » Fri May 24, 2013 4:47 am

At Maker Faire last weekend, SeeMeCNC were selling their Rostock MAX kit at 10% off. I've been looking at printers for a long time, but never really planned to get one. But there it was, a big old delta with an 11" diameter by 14.75" high build volume (280 by 375 mm), a heated bed, and the new EZStruder pushing into a Bowden tube. So after a quick call to my wife to ask permission, I loaded one into the trunk of my car. I dub this printer Impulse because it was an impulse purchase.

I'm still in California on a business trip, so the printer is just sitting in my hotel room. I haven't even broken the tape seals on the boxes. I will wait until I get home so I don't lose any parts. In the meantime, I've been reading all I can on the SeeMeCNC forums. Users' experiences are mixed. Some are doing beautiful prints, and others are having all kinds of troubles. (That's not unlike the ORD bots, the Printrbots, or any other kit.) I guess I'll find out whether I bought a lemon when I build it.

It came in five pieces.

  • A shrink wrapped bundle of laser cut fiberboard and aluminum extrusion
  • A sealed cardboard box which supposedly has all the other parts
  • A PC power supply, 480 watts
  • An EZstruder, disassembled, in a little plastic bag
  • An EZstruder Adapter, which is two laser cut pieces of fiberboard, not packaged at all. Steve (Mr. SeeMeCNC) just handed them to me as loose pieces.

Here is what SeeMeCNC says is included. I'm recording this here because they have been updating their kits continuously.

This kit includes the following:

  • All Laser cut parts and pieces to build the entire machine
  • T-SLot aluminum extrusion pre-cut to length
  • All hardware (stainless where applicable) to build the entire machine
  • "Steve's Extruder" set up for bowden drive
  • Our own Hot-end, set up for 1.75mm filament
  • All 4 NEMA 17 stepper motors
  • NOW INCLUDES LCD Controller, for standalone prints!
  • RAMBo Electronics by UltiMachine, including 3 mechanical endstops and all wiring ****
  • 450w ATX PC style power supply for powering the machine
  • Onyx Heated Bed


The text on the web site is already out of date on at least the extruder and power supply.

I added a borosilicate plate, which is being shipped from Indiana. I also got 2 lb. of ABS filament, since the printers at my maker space are set up for 3mm, and the EZstruder wants 1.75mm. I'll probably be giving away a lot of 3mm filament to the other members — I'd just bought 3 Kg. Oh, well.

IMG_20130523_212054.jpg
My, what yellow lighting you have!


IMG_20130523_212105.jpg
A laser has been here. I can see its tracks.


IMG_20130523_213405.jpg
Bits
Bob
"If you didn't code it, it will never own you." (-:
kbob
 
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Re: kbob and Impulse, the Rostock MAX

Postby Enraged » Fri May 24, 2013 3:33 pm

Congrats on the purchase, that looks like a nice quality kit. A Delta ORDbot is next on my list to build, it's amazing to see how quickly the delta format has developed over the past 6 months.
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Re: kbob and Impulse, the Rostock MAX

Postby bdring » Fri May 24, 2013 4:06 pm

BTW: The SeeMeCNC guys are some of my favorite people in the RepRap community. They ran Midwest RepRap Fest earlier this year which is going to a be a "must attend" event if they do it again.
Bart
"If you didn't build it, you will never own it."
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A little jealous

Postby flickerfly » Sat May 25, 2013 1:50 am

Yeah, I fell in love with the RostockMax at Maker Faire NYC. :mrgreen:

They are so fun to watch in their graceful way of building up a beautiful print and it sounds like the SeeMeCNC guys are the ones to pick it up from. I floated around the community their and I'd say they have an equally helpful community to the one I've seen here. They even suggested I not get a RostockMax as my first build. My appreciate for that machine was one of the reason's I didn't think much about getting the EZStruder for my OrdBot.
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Pieces go together

Postby kbob » Wed Jun 05, 2013 7:24 pm

I worked on this printer all last weekend. I got the basic chassis and electronics installed. The base is a squat cylinder with internal bracing in a Y shape. It holds an ATX PC power supply and a RAMBo board, as well as the three motors.

IMG_9687.JPG
Base in progress, front side


IMG_9696.JPG
Base done, tower going up.


The chassis is all laser cut melamine/fiber board. The chassis is big. The base measures about 17.5 inches (445 mm) in diameter, and it's almost 40" tall (1 meter).

On Sunday, I got one of the Cheapskates built. Cheapskate is SeeMeCNC's catchy name for the carriage that travels up and down on the rails. Last night, I made the other two. The Cheapskate is heavy! It probably handles higher side loads than Bart's Makerslide and V-wheel carriages, and it is undoubtedly cheaper, but it carries a lot of weight. The vertical posts are 1" T-slot from 80/20.

The Rostock MAX uses US dimensions and fasteners throughout. Those of you who don't live in this country would probably find that an annoyance. I'm only moderately annoyed; I have more metric tools and parts handy, but the US sizes are readily available here.

Last night, I also assembled the effector platform. The effector platform is the moving platform at the center that holds the hot end. (Sorry, no photos yet.)

All the U joints use an aluminum cross shaft in a nylon housing. The nylon is all oversize and has to be sanded down to a zero play fit. It is labor intensive and so far, I haven't made one that perfectly eliminates play without binding. Several people are working on BerryBot3D style magnetic ball-and-socket joints.

I wrote a lot more over here. http://forum.seemecnc.com/viewtopic.php?f=42&t=1959
Bob
"If you didn't code it, it will never own you." (-:
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Iterating fast

Postby kbob » Wed Jun 05, 2013 7:35 pm

I forgot to mention: The Rostock MAX is evolving very quickly. I got mine at Maker Faire on May 19th. The week before, SeeMeCNC had announced the EZStruder. (I got one of each. There was an old-style Steve's Extruder in the box, and Steve handed me an EZStruder with the boxes.)

Since then, SeeMeCNC has announced a redesign of the extruder and filament spool mount that puts them at the top of the tower instead of on the side. It's available as an upgrade, reasonably priced at $18 or $24 (sale/regular price).

And yesterday, June 4th, I saw the first photos of a redesigned hot end. I don't think it's available yet.

So the printer is improving rapidly. That's good. But mine is already obsolete before I got it built. (-:
Bob
"If you didn't code it, it will never own you." (-:
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Re: kbob and Impulse, the Rostock MAX

Postby flickerfly » Fri Jun 07, 2013 3:33 pm

I hadn't heard about the new filament mount. Are they selling it yet? I didn't see it with a quick glance at their website.
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Re: kbob and Impulse, the Rostock MAX

Postby kbob » Fri Jun 07, 2013 6:23 pm

flickerfly wrote:I hadn't heard about the new filament mount. Are they selling it yet? I didn't see it with a quick glance at their website.


Yes. It's called EZStruder Mounting Kit.

http://shop.seemecnc.com/EZStruder-Moun ... -70791.htm
Bob
"If you didn't code it, it will never own you." (-:
kbob
 
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Re: kbob and Impulse, the Rostock MAX

Postby flickerfly » Fri Jun 07, 2013 6:32 pm

Oh, interesting. I wonder if hysteresis becomes more of a problem when the prints get taller since the bowden tube is more bent requiring more force to push the filament through. It is entirely possible that I underestimate the bowden tube's capability to reduce that friction.
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Re: kbob and Impulse, the Rostock MAX

Postby kbob » Sat Jun 08, 2013 10:08 pm

flickerfly wrote:Oh, interesting. I wonder if hysteresis becomes more of a problem when the prints get taller since the bowden tube is more bent requiring more force to push the filament through. It is entirely possible that I underestimate the bowden tube's capability to reduce that friction.


Near the base, I think the tube should be straighter. The old mount makes a 180° bend.

Here's a photo of the assembled chassis. The whole thing stands 38.5 inches tall (98 cm).

IMG_9703.jpg
Assembled Chassis
Bob
"If you didn't code it, it will never own you." (-:
kbob
 
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