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Author Archive

New nozzle brush

by on Mar.15, 2025, under 3dprinting, Technology

From the beginning, I have mounted a cleaning brush along the back edge of the build plate for head cleaning. It’s pure copper to prevent head damage, and its been very good at keeping buildup off the nozzles. Unfortunately, since this is a TAP based voron, this has caused issues. In order to reach the cleaning head, the kinematics have to be fully initialized. The problem is I need to clean the nozzle before I can properly level the gantry and home the z axis. The dirty nozzle throws off the leveling calculations randomly, but is generally good enough. I can then scrub the nozzle, and get a perfect calibration. It just takes two cycles and slows things down.

With moving the brush to be mounted on the gantry, I no longer need to level the gantry. I can just home x and Y, then manually move the nozzle over to the brush for scrubbing. Once scrubbed, I can level Z. At least that’s the plan. We’ll see how this goes once installed.

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Kosh upgrades

by on Mar.14, 2025, under 3dprinting, Technology

IT took so long to get Kosh stable, that once it was working well, I was resistant to making any changes. I’ve built up quite a list of upgrades and fixes over the past 18 months

  • Upgraded CNC-TAP using optical switch rather than mechanical switch. Carriage also has slight redesign for better rigidity.
  • Multiple extruders. Galileo2, LGX Clockwork2. Not sure which way I will go on this. I may end up just upgrading CW2
  • new mainboard MCU with faster processor to fix timing issues with canbus under load
  • new CPU for faster services, better efficiency
  • new TSMC2160 drivers for x/y axis
  • aluminum endcaps for gantry for better belt tensioning
  • cpap fresh air supply for part cooling
  • filament sensors before and after extruder on toolhead
  • filament cutter
  • ECAS 4 fitting for top on the toolhead
  • RGBW light kit for toolhead for better part lighting
  • Power relay for AC – automatic shutdown module

I’m starting with building up a new toolhead I can swap in as soon as all my parts arrive. I’ve decided to stick with Clockwork2 since its the reference for filamatrix. Filamatrix is a modified stealthburner toolhead for working with the BoxTurtle AMS system.

I’ve printed up the parts in ASA and ABS and spent the past couple days fitting everything and making sure all my hardware is mounted cleanly.

For the CPAP adaptor, I have been looking to see if there was a way to redirect a portion of the cool air to the MCU as its been getting a little bit warmer than I would like. Things are awfully tight in that area though. Gearing, motor, and filament cutter have all gone in well. So far I’m not seeing any jamming along the filament path. Driving the extruder is still smooth.

The wiring harness for the filament sensors is done as well, and I’m going to try and wire them into the bltouch connector. It has dual ground and signal pins which should be perfect.

I tested out the LED strand finally today. I have been waiting a long time to get this in. It’s an alternate version of the lighting string from fystetc. The wiring is attached with connectors and de-straining which makes it more resistant to vibration. It includes 8 leds in the logo for better animations and feedback along with RGBW leds on the tool head leds for far brighter and cleaner lighting. Very excited to get these programmed in.

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Finally fixed a long standing issue on Kosh

by on Mar.10, 2025, under 3dprinting, Technology

My Voron has been an excellent printer, but there have been a couple of problems that were not blocking, but were annoying. One of them was chamber temp control. Most of the time I’m just printing PLA, where it doesn’t matter since my default config keeps the chamber below 35C. When ever I want to print with ABS and ASA I “have” to manually set temps on the printer. The printer is configured to look for the parameter in PRINT_START, but it hasn’t been working I have been looking into it for a long time, but finally found the cause this evening. The printer config in Prusa Slicer was missing chamber temps from its call of print start. Prusa Slicer->Printer->General->Start G-Code

print_start EXTRUDER=[first_layer_temperature] BED=[first_layer_bed_temperature] CHAMBER_TEMP=[chamber_temperature] CHAMBER_MIN_TEMP=[chamber_minimal_temperature]

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Yet another blower test

by on Apr.12, 2024, under 3dprinting, Technology

My current blower is working well, but I still wanted better performance, and I’m pretty sure how to get it. I’m a bit afraid of the results though. I expect it to be loud. What I want to try is coaxial fans that counter rotate, working as a turbine air compressor. These are commonly used in servers, so I know them well. They are loud as fuck.

So the results are really impressive, and it moves tons of air. Temp control is better than ever. Unfortunately its just too loud. Even at minimal speeds its unbearable sitting next to me. So its going to go in the spare parts bin with the others for now. I’m sure I’ll use it in the future.

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Lazy Susan v3

by on Jan.23, 2024, under 3dprinting, Technology

Since I have the Voron now, I added a corner bracket for mounting, and mirrored it for the other back corner. I can mount 10KG of filament on the machine now. The floating buffer makes it all run perfectly.

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Its Lego time

by on Dec.30, 2023, under Home

This is why I spend weeks working on printing terribly frustrating models for my Son-in-law. He got me this for xmas

I’ve put together quite a few Lego sets over the years, but this series is next level. Its kind of a shame how much crazy stuff isn’t visible once completed. That’s why I’m saving parts of my build here.

Just amazing.

It will now go up on my wall next to the Porche

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Street Sharks

by on Dec.20, 2023, under 3dprinting, Home, Technology

Making a gift for my son-in-law. Coloring these was much harder than I expected, and cleanup was a bear removing all the supports. The results were awesome though. color swaps were minimal though, so waste was not as bad as expected.

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The floating buffer v2

by on Dec.06, 2023, under 3dprinting, Technology

got the rails in, and remodeled the buffer. Its silky smooth now. Also added a base for stability. Its working amazing

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Picked up an A1 mini

by on Nov.29, 2023, under 3dprinting, Home, Technology

Bambulabs just released a new A series of printers, and I just could not pass up the deal. I grabbed an A1 mini with 4 spool AMS for $150

I had to give the prusa back to my son in law, so this fills the gap and lets me play with the bambulabs tools a bit and try AMS printing.

The first thing I tried was coloring and printing a dragon model I’ve had for a while. I think it came out pretty well.

And I love printing magnets

Overall not too bad so far, but the waste is just terrible. Every color switch feels like losing entire layers of filament. On layers that use all 4 colors its really aweful. Speed is hit badly as well. But the results are what matter, and the prints look excellent.

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Large gear extruder / Galileo 2 Extruder

by on Nov.21, 2023, under 3dprinting

While the buffers have helped a ton in giving me better consistency, I would really like to move to a large gear extruder for better management. I printed up some new housings based upon the Galileo 2 Extruder and have been doing some fit testing.

So far things look good, but the printer is working so well right now its hard to justify a teardown and install. The design is also still pending some final tweaks, so I may hold off installing for a bit. I have a number of things I would like to swap out now including the main MCU.

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