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Posts Tagged ‘MakerBot Replicator 2’
MakerBot Replicator 2 Upgrade to Linear Bearings
2, Feb 2015
The MakerBot Replicator 2 3D printers are not among the most affordable ones and yet they do not have features in their build that more affordable devices on the market have by default. One such thing is the fact that the Replicator 2 3D printers rely on bushings instead of linear bearings for their moving parts along the three axes. While the use of bushings does work pretty well in the long term it could lead to reliability issues, so we have decided to try replacing them with linear bearings – something that needed some research and has turned out a not so easy task to do. What you should be aware of is that the replacement of the bushings with linear bearings should not lead to improvements in the quality you are getting, unless of course if you’ve already had some issues with the bushings.
The total number of bushings that you need to replace on the MakerBot Replicator 2 with linear bearings is 8 + 4 or 12 in total – there are 4 on the extruder head, and 2 on each side along with 4 more for the build table that moves along the Z axis. We are saying 8 + 4, because all of the bushings and respectively the linear bearings that you will need are different in size. The bushings for the Z axis or the build plate are actually with a bit larger size and we are still having trouble finding suitable linear bearings to replace them, so we actually changed only the 8 other bushings.
To replace the bushings that are used for the X and Y axis movement you will need 8 linear bearings that are marked as LM8SUU that are with a size of 8x15x17 mm (the actually used bushings are 1 mm shorter at 8x15x16 mm, but that is not a problem). The LM8SUU are the short version of the LM8UU bearings that will simply not fit in the MakerBot Replicator 2 as they are too big, so be careful that you choose the right model. The two bushings on the back for the build plate movement along the Z axis are with larger inside diameter, their size is 10x15x16, so the LM8SUU linear bearings won’t fit there. Unfortunately we are still not able to find a linear bearing with larger inner diameter and the same outside specifications (10x15x16 mm or 10x15x17 mm) as the LM8SUU to replace the two bushings along the Z axis, so we’ve settled only with installing linear bearings along the other two axes.
The disassembly of the X and Y axis movement mechanism is not that hard and you can repetitively quickly replace the bushings with bearings (you detach the whole mechanism from the top of the printer), unlike the more complex and hard to do disassembly of the moving mechanism along the Z axis. But as we’ve said the different bushings used along the Z axis and the act that we were not able to find suitable linear bearings to replace them, so there is no need to disassemble anything there anyway. One interesting things that we have noticed is that the bushings used for the extruder head were a bit different 2+2 in terms of visual appearance, but apparently also in terms of tolerance. The same goes for the bushings on the two sides, they are again 2+2 in terms of visual difference and tolerance, meaning that the ones with a bit larger tolerance move more freely as compared to the others. We have not noticed any difference in the behavior of the Replicator 2 after replacing them all with the same type of linear bearings, so we are not sure if there is a reason to use slightly different bushings and mixing them.
Dual or multi-color printing on 3D printers that do have just one extruder can be a tricky thing to do, but it is still possible, though with dual-extruder printers it is much easier. We have been playing with our MakerBot Replicator 2 3D printer in order to make dual-color 3D prints, though the methodology is the same as if you want to be able to print with more than two colors. Essentially what you need to do is pause the printing process with one color, replace the filament, then resume printing and you should get a dual or multi-color printed parts as a result. Normally, if you are using a 3D printer that uses GCODE you are able to script the commands to pause the printer to change the filament directly from the 3D model that you are printing, but with Replicator 2 this is unfortunately not possible. The reason for that is the MakerBot Replicator 2 uses the binary X3G format for the model you are printing and scripting a pause in GCODE file and then converting it to X3G does not help resolve the issue either.
There are essentially two ways that you can print with dual or multiple colors on MakerBot Replicator 2 3D printer and they are both limiting and not very useful if you want to print a really complex colorful 3D model. You need to essentially pause the printing process from the device itself, either manually, or by specifying the model height at witch the printer to execute an automatic pause then replace the filament type or color and resume printing. This is just fine if you have a 3D model that has a base with one color and then something on top of it in another color, but if the used colors are being mixed in a single layer, then it is not possible to use this pause/resume solution. So a nicer and smarter solution for multi-color printing on the MakerBot Replicator 2 and other single extruder 3D printers like it would be the upcoming Mosaic accessory, but until then you should do with what you have available. There is also another option that does require you to replace the firmware on your MakerBot Replicator 2 3D printer with one that does support GCODE like the Sailfish Firmware, but we haven’t tried that yet.
Dual-color printing with manual pause:
– Start the 3D printing with the first filament color
– Monitor the printing process carefully and when you are close to the point when you need the second color manually pause the printing
– To manually pause the printing press the left arrow from the Replicator 2 keypad and choose Pause
– Go to Change Filament and Unload the old filament and Load the new color
– Manually Resume Build to continue printing and select Back to Monitor to get to the print status screen again
The drawback of manual pausing and resuming is that you cannot easily get to the same point if you need to make multiple prints of the same model, though it might still be fine if you manage to pause while the infill is being printed.
Dual-color printing with automatic pause:
– Start the 3D printing with the first filament color
– Press the left arrow on the keypad and select Z Pause Height
– Enter the value in millimeters for the height of the printed 3D object when you need the printer to automatically pause
– Set Pause Active to On in order to tell the 3D printer to activate the pause at the set position
– Go to Done and Back to Monitor and wait for the printing process to reach to the set point when it will automatically pause and activate the Change Filament menu
– You need to Unload the old filament and then Load the new color and then just Resume Build
The drawback of the automatic pause is that you can only use values that fractional such as 1.2 mm or 2.3 mm etc, you can use only 1, 2, 3 mm and so on ad object height on the Z axis. If you take this limitation into account when designing the 3D model of the object you are going to be printing it might be fine, but this could be a problem if you want to print an already designed model.
While both the methods described above do have their limitations and are far from perfect, you can still get pretty good results printing with dual colors or even more colors if you have the patience. Do note however that the more the colors the higher the chance of issues , our dual color test prints ended up quite well, though not perfect. Again a reminder that the the above options you have for the MakerBot Replicator 2 for pausing and resuming the print will work good if you don’t want to have multiple colors in a single layer of the object you are printing.
- In: Tips and Tricks
- Tags: change filament, dual-color 3d print, dual-color 3d print on single extruder, MakerBot Replicator 2, MakerBot Replicator 2 dual-color, MakerBot Replicator 2 multi-color, multi-color 3d print, multi-color 3d print on single extruder, pause and resume print, print pause, Replicator 2 3D printer, single extruder dual color, single extruder multi color, Z Pause Height
It is always good to have alternatives and not be forced to use only one thing and he same is also very true for 3D printers and their software. If you are limited to using only the software provided by your 3D printer’s manufacturer you may end up disappointed from the device just because of a the software being full of bugs or very limited in terms of features. When we were choosing our first 3D printer we have taken into account this as well and went for a device that is supported by alternative software such as the Simplify 3D among others. Not that the Makerbot Replicator 2 was not supported by other solutions as well back then, but having a software that has some useful extra functionality and features that is recommended by people already more experienced in 3D printing is definitely a plus. Now, a few months later when Makerbot has decided to integrate the MakerWare into their Makerbot Desktop software along with other features is making us rely more on the Siplify3D software more and more. Not that the MakerBot Desktop software is bad, but the whole package is not what a more advanced user that wants to be more in control of the printing process would actually want. It seems that MakerBot is targeting more novice users by trying to provide a simpler and more user friendly software, but many of the people that start with 3D printing quickly outgrow the basic needs and start having more requirements…
This is were the Simplify3D software comes into action by offering wider functionality and more advanced control over the printing process, should you need it, along with support for many 3D printers. With the just released Simplify3D V2.2 update the software now supports even more 3D printers than before, including the newer MakerBot 5th Gen Replicator, MakerBot Mini, MakerBot Z18 among many others. The drawback with Simplify3D is that the software is commercial and you need to buy a license to be able to try it use it, so you cannot just download a demo version that you can try out before you buy. A license for the Simplify3D 3D printing software will cost you $140 USD, a one time price that you have to pay for it that covers future updates. The best thing is that chances are that not only your current, but also your future 3D printer may be supported by the software, so even if you get another device or upgrade in the future you may still be able to use the same software with the new printer. So while it may not be a wise idea to buy the software if you are just starting in the world of 3D printing and are still wondering if it is something for you to dig deeper in, if you have already decided that 3D printing is your thing, then getting a license for the Simplify3D software may be a good idea.
The Simplify3D software is essentially an all-in-one software suite for your 3D printing needs, at least if you have an FDM/FFF 3D printer that extrudes thermoplastic. The software has a fast slicing engine and a very good preview on how the actual print will look like, including a preview of the whole printing process. Simplify3D also offers more advanced and intelligent functionality regarding the support structures, it even allows you to manually add or remove support for models before trying to print them at places that you may consider it will be useful. Another good and useful thing is that the printing algorithms used by the software are probably different as compared to what your original 3D printing software uses. This means that if your original software has trouble slicing a 3D model and properly printing it due to some issues you might have better success with the different algorithms used by the Simplify3D software. When talking about issues with models, the Simplify3D also has some advantages thanks to a few options available for analyzing and reporting possible issues with the models you are trying to print with even the ability to automatically fix some of them. This functionality however is far from perfect and there are other software that offer better and more functional ability to find and repair automatically issues with your 3D models. With all that said we are not going to say that Simplify3D is the perfect and absolutely problem free software for your 3D printer, it still has some issues and things we don’t like, as well as functions that are lacking. The good thing is that the company developing the software is actually listening to what the users of Simplify3D need and want to have available and implement new things based on the user feedback and this is very important to have for a 3D printer software. So we do recommend to check out the features and functionality that the Simplify3D software offers as we have been happily using the software for a while already and will continue to do so, though we are not always and only relying on it for our 3D printing needs.
– For more information about the Simplify3D alternative 3D printer software package…