This is really a ‘null report’ posting to say that the build went pretty well with no great surprises.
I used the kit from @gerritLabCrafter which I recommend: well packaged, and everything nicely labelled.
I printed the parts using a Bambu P1S. Setting the slicer to use “Arachne” rather than the default “Classic” wall algorithm makes the brim separate cleanly. For this build I was trying to keep things as simple as possible, so just used Bambu’s ‘basic white’ PLA for the main body, but I’m looking at alternatives for the future.
Things I wish I knew/ learnt for next time…
Pulling the nuts up into the nut traps: don’t be too gentle, you can tighten more than you think, or they’ll fall out.
I think there’s conflicting advice on where to connect the LED to the Sangaboard, and it took a couple of goes to figure that out, not least as I must have inverted the wiring polarity.
Marking the motor leads with X, Y, Z before installing them is to be recommended, to save figuring that out when it’s time to plug them into the Sangaboard.
Talking of the Sangaboard, the instructions mention needing to upload firmware to it, which seemed involved, and I took a gamble that that had already been done on the unit that came in the kit from LabCrafter, and it had.
Initially the Z-motor was binding and not rotating, and of course that’s the one that’s hardest to see. Loosening and reseating it quickly solved that.
Next up I’ll be upgrading it to a high-res version with 40x optics, and changing some parts from the basic white PLA to something more exciting.
Whilst everything seems to be working, it appears that the M4x6mm button head screws holding the Z motor in place are not doing so. One is, but one is isn’t holding at all, so I assume I’ve knackered the thread in the plastic.
And whilst that’s my fault, it makes me wonder whether these motor screws should have some captive nuts, as we do elsewhere?
Nuts would be more robust, but nut traps for M4 would be large. There is not a lot of space between the lugs and the large gears.
Practically, the lugs have a through hole and will take a longer screw if you have stripped the top part.
There was a discussion, I think, about using an M3 bolt and nut trap on the motors. I remember talking about ways to centre the 4mm motor holes with a small lip or something.
Practically, the lugs have a through hole and will take a longer screw if you have stripped the top part.
Thanks, I’ll do that. Maybe specifying longer screws in the first place would give more chance without the need to rework that part of the model design at all. (Having said that, I’m aware I’m a sample-size of just one)
I’m using a Pi 3B+, and whilst originally fine, this morning it wasn’t recognised by the monitor connected to the HDMI port (but was happily still working over the network). I swapped monitors and cables to rule them out, and tried adding more power (ie to the Pi directly, rather than just to the Sangaboard). To no avail.