A8 Parts Forum  

Go Back   A8 Parts Forum > General Natter > Daily banter

Daily banter For everything, and anything that doesnt fit in elsewhere

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #101  
Old 16th January 2019, 01:37 PM
MikkiJayne MikkiJayne is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 5,017
Default

I'll be able to live-stream it now I've upgraded my broadband too

Turns out the reason my X carriage failed was because I was hanging a massive part cooling fan off the hotend mounting bosses, and they just aren't up to the job. They're aluminium nutsert-type things pressed in to a thin aluminium plate so really only strong enough to hold the hotend. All my fiddling and swapping parts etc has just stressed them beyond their service life - apparently its a known issue, but bizarrely I can not find a replacement carriage anywhere in the UK. There's only one site in the US which lists it, for a whole $5.

I have managed to bodge it back together with bits of PC case and cable ties for now so it will print again, and I've designed a new carriage which I will make from thicker aluminium plate. This will be much stronger, include a strain relief for the hotend wiring, and include mounting holes specifically for the larger part cooling fan so it doesn't hang off the hotend any more. I'm pondering getting the plate laser-cut for accuracy but I may just make it by hand in the workshop, depending on how long the bodge lasts
Reply With Quote
  #102  
Old 16th January 2019, 02:13 PM
steamship's Avatar
steamship steamship is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Londonderry, Northern Ireland
Posts: 2,931
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by MikkiJayne View Post
I'll be able to live-stream it now I've upgraded my broadband too
Wouldn't that be slower than watching paint dry?

I think I'll wait for the time-lapse videos.
__________________
2001 A8 D2 FL 3.7 Q - LPG Conversion, Engine: AKC, Gearbox:FBB, Colour:LY5X Aqua Blue pearl effect, Interior:WJ light beige/dark beige valcona leather with burr walnut inserts

My DIY jobs - Replaced alarm horn, Replaced Coolant Temp sensor, Updated RNS-D firmware, Installed Reversing Camera and Digital TV, Dashcam Installation, Retrofitted Rear Blinds, Auto-Dimming Rear View Mirror, Chrome Boot Struts

Sold! 2008 S8 D3 5.2 V10 - Engine: BSM, Gearbox:KLW, Colour:LY7F Suzuka Grey Pearl Effect, Interior:Black/Black with Silver/Black valcona leather with carbon atlas inserts, Bang & Olufsen, Heated windscreen, Soft-close doors, TV, DAB, AMI, Quad Zone, Auto Boot, Auto dim Mirrors, Keyless entry, PDC with rearview camera, AFS II Headlights

My DIY jobs - Fan Jet Windscreen Washers, Retrofitted Electric Side Blinds
Reply With Quote
  #103  
Old 16th January 2019, 02:29 PM
tc4332's Avatar
tc4332 tc4332 is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: May 2014
Location: Wigan, Greater Manchester, UK
Posts: 2,323
Default

Blooming Heck MJ, well done.
Thanks for keeping us in the loop. Hope the bodge lasts.
We now know not to put anything heavy on the carrier.
We are talking about using a self feed extruder just to get rid of the bowden cable.
__________________
Ray at Wigan Pier

2014 A8L D4 4.0TFSI Gold (Sticker says "Beige") Can't leave you in a black smoke cloud anymore..
In progress, Nothing left to do.



Gone 2004 A8 D3 3.0 TDI. Ebony Pearl Black (with little bits of other colours and glitter)
Reply With Quote
  #104  
Old 16th January 2019, 02:58 PM
MikkiJayne MikkiJayne is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 5,017
Default

The bowden is fine - its the big parts fan I was using, and probably mostly the fact that I did a lot of messing about swapping components and fiddling with the hotend which broke it. Nozzle swaps put a fair bit of load on those bosses too and I've done a lot of messing about with those too.

The heatsink cooling fan is really quite a bad compromise on the CR-10 since it also blows on the hotend. That means less stable print temperatures, more energy used to keep the hotend hot, and a limitation of max print temp (also the PTFE limits that). By changing to something like a fang cooler with a ducted fan on to the heatsink you get more even part cooling and keep the heatsink cooling air off the hotend. By also changing the cheap basic PTFE to Capricorn tube you can then print to the CR-10's maximum of 260C easily. It makes a big difference to complicated parts with lots of overheads and also opens up a wide range of materials.

I'm going to redesign the cooling fan I was using, but there are others which don't attach to the hotend heatsink and so won't cause the same problem. My new X carriage will be plenty robust enough either way

Its funny, at the top of the previous page I was saying the CR-10 can't really print anything other than PLA. Mine has subsequently printed PETG, CPE, ABS, ASA, and will be doing nylon as soon as my tufnol sheet gets here I might even try PC and some of the interesting alloys. The only thing I'm not trying to make it do is flexibles as noted in the Ginnam's thread.

A direct extruder will help with flexibles, and also filaments which have problems with oozing like PETG, but I'm not convinced its worth it on the CR-10. That may be because I'm quite happy to simply build another printer to do things the CR-10 is not good at. The Prusa mk3 for example does have a direct extruder using an E3D V6 hotend, and that's pretty much the reference machine of the cartesian market. But, its known to have clogging problems with things like carbon-filled filaments because they stick to it's all-metal hotend. The CR-10 with it's PTFE hotend will print those filaments absolutely fine. It really depends if you've run in to a specific limitation of the bowden setup tbh. If not, there's little to gain.

Last edited by MikkiJayne; 16th January 2019 at 03:05 PM.
Reply With Quote
  #105  
Old 17th January 2019, 09:00 AM
gninnam gninnam is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: On the computer
Posts: 1,387
Default

Sounds like you are having loads of fun
__________________
Andy.

Current cars:

BMW i4 M-Sport

Peugeot 207 (the sons)

Triumph Daytona 675 (2017 reg)

===========================

Gone but not forgotten

Ford Focus ST-2 Mk3 (the wifes) (stolen Oct 2023)

1972 T2 Bay Window Camper (Slow)

Audi TT Mk1 225 - now with coil-overs and a 7inch touchscreen infotainment centre

2003 A8 Sport 4.2 (with ACC & LPG) (Feed up with all the issues so passed it on to a forum member)

2000 A8 FL QS 4.2 (with RNS-E - Nice) (Engine poorly so sold on to be brought back by someone who has the time)
Reply With Quote
  #106  
Old 17th January 2019, 09:09 AM
MikkiJayne MikkiJayne is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 5,017
Default

Best toy ever!

(even better than the lathe and milling machine, and I never thought I'd say that!)
Reply With Quote
  #107  
Old 25th January 2019, 07:43 PM
MikkiJayne MikkiJayne is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 5,017
Default

Well the Hypercube kit finally arrived from Ratrig (two weeks to get here from Portugal) and I have to say I am pretty underwhelmed. The extrusions are cut very accurately, but the angle brackets for joining the extrusions are straight outta Shenzhen They're supposed to have little tabs on them which align them with the grooves in the extrusion, but these are just tiny stumps which do nothing so its really difficult to get the frame square. By contrast, the brackets I printed for the CR-10, on the CR-10 are far sturdier and dimensionally accurate. I would have been better off printing the brackets for the 'cube while waiting for the extrusion to turn up.

I'll probably still order the extrusion for the Evo from them when the time comes since they're the only European supplier of black 3030 I can find, but I will source or print the hardware myself.

Pics of the frame later
Reply With Quote
  #108  
Old 25th January 2019, 08:07 PM
ainarssems ainarssems is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Rushden, Northants
Posts: 3,799
Default

Not 3D printer related but I am still waiting for some small parts to arrive from Lithuania that I bought on e-bay 2 weeks ago. But LEDs that I bought on Aliexpress arrived in 3 days from China. Maybe we will get better shipping times from EU when we are out of it.
__________________
Currently 8less
2011 Q7 S Line 3.0TDI, 2016 Tesla Model S 90D

8 history:
2006 A8 Sport 4.2TDI quattro SOLD,
1997 S8, reached end of life with gearbox failure
Reply With Quote
  #109  
Old 25th January 2019, 08:34 PM
tc4332's Avatar
tc4332 tc4332 is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: May 2014
Location: Wigan, Greater Manchester, UK
Posts: 2,323
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by MikkiJayne View Post
Well the Hypercube kit finally arrived from Ratrig (two weeks to get here from Portugal) and I have to say I am pretty underwhelmed. The extrusions are cut very accurately, but the angle brackets for joining the extrusions are straight outta Shenzhen They're supposed to have little tabs on them which align them with the grooves in the extrusion, but these are just tiny stumps which do nothing so its really difficult to get the frame square. By contrast, the brackets I printed for the CR-10, on the CR-10 are far sturdier and dimensionally accurate. I would have been better off printing the brackets for the 'cube while waiting for the extrusion to turn up.

I'll probably still order the extrusion for the Evo from them when the time comes since they're the only European supplier of black 3030 I can find, but I will source or print the hardware myself.

Pics of the frame later
It's all a bit of a bugger.
I ordered some tram bits from the only manufacturer who resides in the States. Ordered before Xmas and finally emailed him this week. Prompt reply, All manually made so it takes time to fulfill the orders.
Thanks for letting us know about the right angle brackets, probably like the plastic ones in MFI days. That is if you remember MFI.
We're looking at an Evo but on the higher side. Auto levelling, maybe tool changing, or multiple extruders feeding the one nozzle.
All pipe dreams at the moment just like my self dreiving trams.
__________________
Ray at Wigan Pier

2014 A8L D4 4.0TFSI Gold (Sticker says "Beige") Can't leave you in a black smoke cloud anymore..
In progress, Nothing left to do.



Gone 2004 A8 D3 3.0 TDI. Ebony Pearl Black (with little bits of other colours and glitter)
Reply With Quote
  #110  
Old 29th January 2019, 11:20 AM
MikkiJayne MikkiJayne is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 5,017
Default

New preferred supplier of extrusion: https://ooznest.co.uk/

The anodising is better, the ends are cut much cleaner with no burrs, and custom lengths turned up next day Better in every way than Ratrig.

Only downside is that they don't have 3030 so no good for building an Evo, but they do have 4040 for building a monster
Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT. The time now is 09:07 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.0
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.