Solidoodle Modifications
Here's all the modifications I've made to my Solidoodle 2 (and it is a good thing one of my goals when deciding on a 3D printer to buy was to get something I could tinker with, because there has been a lot of tinkering :-).
Completed
A Glass Bed and hairspray was the
first mod because I couldn't get anything to stick to the stock
Solidoodle bed. This was an enormous improvement.
The Z-Stop
really needs to be replaced to use a thicker glass bed, and this
version of a replacement Z-Stop also allows the use of locktite to
keep vibration from changing the Z-Stop setting over time.
The Spool
Mount allows the filament to be dragged into the extruder with
much less resistance than the stock mount which runs the filament
though a hole from the back.
The Foamboard
Case (with vinyl windows) has gone through several iterations
(most recently to extend the front cover to allow a fan to poke out),
but the latest design for the clips and magnets to hold it on has
definitely improved since my initial case.
The 12 Volt
Power box to add a bunch of 12 Volt headers for extra fans and
wot-not was useful. Since it uses a separate 12V supply, I can unload
fans and LEDs and such from my printrboard and let the power go to
things like the print bed heater and extruder (not that it really
makes a lot of difference).
The Electronics Cover keeps the
printrboard cool with dual 40mm fans.
The Nema14 Fan Mount was
handy for cooling the X axis stepper (which seems to get pretty darn
hot without cooling). Had to do a little filing and scraping to get
it to go on, but I no longer get blisters if I happen to touch the
motor after a print :-).
The Nozzle
Cleaner allows me to run the hot end across a pipe cleaner to
remove any filament that drooled while the print head was heating up
before the print starts.
The Thumb Screw from
thingiverse (flat version) was useful to let me easily adjust the bed
level (I epoxied them on as they would just unscrew otherwise).
The Stabilizer helps keep the print bed from
vibrating when the carriage movement hits a resonant frequency (or
the print head drags across curling up plastic).
The New Z Axis
seems to work and fixed a problem I always seemed to have with what
may have been a damaged thread (it always showed up at the same
level).
The new Y
idler brackets seemed like a good idea to provide a more solid
mounting for the use of fishing line instead of belts.
The Y rod
bearing also stiffens up the Y rod for the potential higher
stress fishing line.
The Fishing Line
Conversion replaces the belts with fishing line to reduce
backlash.
New
Carriages to provide all linear bearing motion.
Y-Rod Direct
Drive gets rid of the nasty belt that is the source of much
backlash.
The Cable Chain
should help to switch to the E3D since I'll have more fan cables and
new heater and thermistor cables to run to the motherboard.
The PWM Fan
Mount
The Y-Rod
Shaft Stop to keep the Y shaft from slipping out of the oldham
coupler.
The New Power
Supply to solve flaky behavior.
Converted my solidoodle to use the Titan Aero extruder.
Now I've gotten the part cooler added.
I've completed the New Y Idlers project.
I rigged up a Cable
Chain Guide to eliminate jams.
I installed a Flexible
PEI Print Bed.
I installed a Raspberry Pi 4B and now run the solidoodle
via wifi and octoprint.
A camera for
the Raspberry Pi.
Dormant, probably dead
The Filament Out Detection was added as a side project as part of the Cable Chain mod, but I need to hook up the switch and enable the microcode.
The Bed Heater is a modification in progress. I have added all the missing headers to the printrboard (one of which is being used for the PWM controlled fan above), but I haven't yet gotten the extra power wired into the board or fully switched to the new power supply.
Go back to my main Solidoodle page.