New Firmware version 1.07

A new Firmware version is available:
The Software version is still 1.04

Version 1.07 contains enhancements to the machines accuracy and the way it senses the z gap setting.
Download link:

http://cubify.com/resource.aspx?link_id=14

The Firmware update process seems to work better now.

If you have problems uploading the .hex firmware file thru the web, here is the CubeX V1.07.hex file you can copy onto your local desktop and then upload it from there.
CubeX V1.07.hex

 

Z-gap consistency or inconsistency

The CubeX uses reed switches / sensors for the xyz homing. The switch activates thru a magnetic field (from a magnet). The z-sensor / switch is a black ~ 4mm diameter, 25mm long cylinder that sticks down vertical close to the jets back by the large single fan on the carriage.
The magnet to trigger the sensor is glued on the bottom of the print platform. The z-sensor points towards the magnet. Once the magnet with its magnetic field gets close enough to the sensor when the print platform moves up, the platform stops moving (-/+ the offset that you calibrate when setting the z-gap).

The z-sensor is positioned between the print jets and fans.
The temperature in that area can vary with the jets on or off and the fans on or off,
additionally the 6 fans (if you have a trio) can produce a different magnet field when they are on or off.
So all this "noise" could have an effect on the repeatability of the z-sensor.

Since I repositioned the z-sensor and magnet to a less "noisy" location, the z-gap has been very consistent.
The sensor repositioning kit came with the heated printbed, but you can get the z-sensor kit by itself from GRM products.
http://shop.grmproducts.com/Cubex-Z-Sensor-Kit-CBX-Z-Sensor-kit.htm?categoryId=6
It installs easily without modifications to the current z-sensor setup. The current sensor just gets unplugged and the new sensor from the kit plugs into the connector instead.

This little modification is well worth it.

Also, make sure to check the "Print bed leveling aid" post, for easier print bed leveling.



Just as a reference, here are pictures of the location for the X and Y homing sensors:

In general, this is what I do before printing:

1. Select the "Home" button. This will move the print jet behind the print bed so you can do step three.
2. Make sure the jets don't have any (not even a tiny piece at the tip) of filament left stuck on them otherwise it can affect your z-gap measurement.
3. Hit the "z-gap" menu button and check or adjust the z-gap with the up/down button.
4. Then print. 

Note: Always "Home" before setting or checking the z-gap. This has been most consistent.

(Note: I am not affiliated with GRM products and I have to buy my stuff like everybody else, but I gladly promote companies with great products and services that make my life easier).

 

Filament Cartridge update

Well, the Cartridge binding issues that can cause filament flow errors etc.. might be over.
Cubify made some changes to the cartridge.

I just got a new ABS gray cartridge (Source Graphics has gray and white ABS in stock).

Because of the known possible cartridge binding issues I did not want to take a chance of getting a print failure due to cartridge / filament binding, so I opened up the new cartridge to run it on an external holder, not knowing there were recently some improvements made  to the cartridges.

 

The inner cardboard spool is now narrower to prevent / minimize binding. The filament is now almost wound up to the top on a new full spool since the spool is narrower. (But has the same amount of filament as before - close to 650g).

Since there is now a gap between the side of the cardboard spool and the cartridge case, you probably don't want to push filament back into the cartridge because it could go to the side of the spool and tangle.

 

Externally the new cartridge looks the same, so you can't tell the difference.

 

Not sure when the cartridge improvements got implemented, but I would assume any new cartridge you are getting now, has the improvements.

 

Some measurements:

The old cardboard spools were ~ 46.5 mm wide.

Then new cardboard spools are ~ 40.5mm wide. The diameter is still the same, and the rest of the cartridge looks the same.

So from the outside, you can't tell a difference.

 

The date on the cardboard spool inside of the new cartridge is 23-05-13. 

The Lot # of the new cartridge I got is: X12052413-1ABS-IGR (ABS Industrial Gray)

 

The date on one of  the old (wider) cardboard spool inside is 3-5-13.

The Lot # on one of the older cartridges is: X12050313-1ABS-WHT  (ABS White).

 

The date of the implementation of the cartridge improvement could be different for each color or type of Cartridge.

 

I put the new spool and cartridge back together and ran a 6 hour print with the new cartridge without issues. - Nice.

 

Anyway, hopefully the binding issues are solved.

 

 

 

October 2013  Update:

Well, I still have some winding and binding even with the new spool design, so if one binds once, I take the spool out of the cartridge and run externally.

 

Cartridges and Filament flow errors

Since there have been several users including myself with filament cartridge issues, and several posts about it in the CubeX user group, I thought I should post about it here with some possible temporary help to keep printing.

This might help you to get by and use a problem cartridge.
(Attempt at own risk).

Each cartridge has a little chip at the bottom where the filament exits, that makes contact with the CubeX when the cartridge is installed. The chip contains information about what type of cartridge it is and possibly records the amount left in the cartridge.

If you have a cartridge read error,  you should check that the contacts in the CubeX and on the cartridge are clean and try to re-insert it. If that does not help try the cartridge in a different cartridge slot if you have a duo or trio. I have had only one cartridge read error and it went away when I re-inserted it a few times.      Otherwise I don't have more help on that one, except power cycling the CubeX and trying again.

If your cartridge is binding (filament won't pull out easily) and or you are getting a filament flow error you can carefully open the cartridge and run the spool externally.
 

(Note:   A filament flow error might not always be due to a binding cartridge.)

In some cases the filament is wound up crossed onto the spool and hanging the spool externally won't help either because it keeps tangling on the spool. (At least you can see what is going on with the spool hanging externally). In that case unwinding and rewinding up the filament on the spool is the only fix.

(Note: Be careful to not damage the chip at the bottom of the cartridge, and careful with the inner cardboard spool since it is only lightly glued together.)

Here is what I did:
This has worked great for me with the 3 cartridges I had binding issues with. One I had to glue the spool back together, but got it useable off the external hanger.

Take the cartridge out of the CubeX.

Use a exactor knife to cut the label at the cartridge seam.

To open the cartridge, start at bottom of the cartridge next to the chip. Insert a small flat screwdriver to release the clip next to the chip. Try to keep the chip in its place.

 

Then do the same on the clip next to it and move all the way around to open the cartridge case.

 

Carefully take the cardboard spool out. Handle the spool with care so it does not fall apart, since it is only lightly glued together.

 

Once the spool is taken out of the cartridge, make sure the chip is in its place (if the chip fell out, make sure to position and orient it correctly, otherwise it won't make contact with the CubeX) and then close up the empty cartridge (with chip in place).

Also, when removing the spool from a cartridge, make sure to write onto the spool, which cartridge it belongs to, so you don't get them mixed up if you have multiple cartridges of same color etc..

The empty cartridge can now be inserted back into the CubeX.

Inspect the spool and how the filament is wound up on it. You might have to unwind some filament, where it is bound or tangled up, and then loosely wind the filament back up on the spool.

For the cardboard spool, you need a holder with a smooth rod so the spool can rotate on it.

Here is a hanger you can print yourself (in PLA), but you also need a smooth 1/2" rod (should be very smooth / polished) with 8-32 threaded holes on each end and two 8-32 x 1/2" SHC screws and washers  and one large fender washer.

 

STL file for spool hanger:   Spool holder .stl file
SolidWorks file for spool hanger:  Spool holder SolidWorks file
 Or you can rig up anything similar as long as the spool has a very smooth rod to hang off and rotate on.

 

Take the filament end, and make sure to get a clean cut of the filament so it will feed in properly. The filament should be still round at the end after clipping it. If not, you can use a exactor knife to slightly taper the end of the filament which might help feeding it back into the guide and filament feed motor.

After prepping the filament end, you can then just feed the filament directly from the hanging spool into the filament guide in front of where you inserted the empty cartridge.

Use the cartridge replace menu. (You can leave the empty cartridge in place during the process).

Once the filament is feed thru and extruding , you are ready to go.

If you have problems feeding the filament and the motor won't pull the filament in, go into the menu with the 240C icon. There you can heat up the jet by double clicking on the TGT temperature, it will toggle between 0 C, 195C and 230C. Use 230C.  Then you can double click on the feed speed to get the motor feeding at different speeds, 8 or 12 should work.

 

 

Keep pushing the filament in, pull in and out, eventually it should go.

I had a difficulties last time at a filament change, but eventually after I re-cut the end of the filament again, it feed in ok.
 

 

After using the cartridge, I stick it in a plastic bag with the desiccant from the cartridge, till I use it again.

 

 

 

 

New CubeX Software Version 1.04 and Firmware Version 1.06 available

What's new?

• I noticed there is now a "Fit to window" button.
• The "Support" feature got improved and it seems to do somewhat better with the support structure.(If you are using the "Support" feature, it's always good to check the build file and see where the support structure is added. In some cases, you might still rather design your own support structure in the model).
• I am getting now better result with the 0.10 resolution setting than before.

Not sure what else was changed and improved with this update.

Here is the link for the software download.
http://cubify.com/resource.aspx?link_id=14

Heated Printbed for the CubeX

If you have printed with ABS, you know that part adhesion to the print platform and part warping are quite a challenge and issue. The much higher shrinkage rate of the ABS material compared to PLA, make the part want to curl up at the edges.

I have printed some ABS parts with success, but most parts with a larger base, warp too much. The CubeX can print nice in ABS, if you can get the part to stick well to the print platform.

In this case (Yoda model) the ABS print came out good with the standard setup, and the warped bottom does not really matter much.

 

But often ABS parts look like this (above).

 

After trying blue tape, different glues, enclosing the whole printer, etc.. etc.. nothing seem to help enough against the part lifting and warping on many parts, when printing with ABS.

I finally acknowledged and what many suggest, that a heated printbed is most helpful for most ABS printing to get flat or straight parts.

So I searched and found a company (GRM Products) http://www.grmproducts.com/CubeX_Heated_Bed_System.html

that designed a heated printbed kit for the CubeX. They have been selling heated printbed kits for the 3D touch printers (similar to CubeX) and gotten very good reviews.

In my ABS part warping frustration, I did not hesitate to order the heated printbed kit and install it in my CubeX.

 

The installation is pretty straight forward. You remove the standard print platform base (3 screws) and then install the heated print bed re-using the same hardware. The controller box attaches with high strength double stick tape onto the side of the CubeX, and the self adhesive cable tie holders keep the cables in place. There is a cut off switch which turns the heater automatically off when the print is done. - very nice. The switch needs to be positioned and the switch lever needs to be adjusted to trigger properly. You have to do a little test print and mark the position on the side how far the print bed moves down after a print so you know at what height to position the heater cut off switch. Then you can use the "Move" command to move the printbed up and down at the mark and check if the switch triggers. Once the switch is in place it's good.
A new z-gap sensor was also installed in a different location, so the temperature changes would not affect the z-gap.

 

The design and finish of the heated printbed kit is solid and very clean. The print bed top surface is a high temp glass. The controller keeps the printbed temperature at the adjustable set temperature and is very easy to use. The print bed heats up very quick (2min for PLA (70deg C) and 5 min for ABS (110deg C).  The max adjustable setting is 135deg C.

The controller has also a 110V socket in the back, which can be turned on or off with a switch at the front of the controller.

 

The heated print bed platform is nice and flat. After the installation, you have to of course level the printbed and adjust the z-gap.

All three print platform leveling screws are accessible.

I check the z-gap after the printbed heated up, right before starting the print.

It was recommended to use blue painters tape or Kapton tape. So I started with blue painters tape first.

The first print was a 2"x1" small part that I could not print on the standard printbed without the part warping,  but with the heated printbed the part printed without warping.

 

I used blue painters tape on top of the glass platform to print onto. Print bed temperature at 110C.

Now printing a larger part:

The second print was a 6" x 2" square. During the print I saw that the blue painters tape lifted a little at the end of the part at the tape seam. So I aborted the print.

I only had 2" wide blue painters tape, so on larger parts, there is always somewhere a tape seam underneath the part. So it is best to use a wider tape or position the part that the tape seam is more in the middle of the part vs close to part edges where you have the most part shrinkage (pulling on the tape)

Next I put a 6" wide Kapton tape onto the printbed and printed the same 6" x 2" square part again.

The Kapton tape works great. The part stayed flat to the platform without warping. It showed already how well it printed without the part lifting and curling up at the edges. - awesome.

Next was a 9"L  x 2"W  x 2"H mount. I increased the printbed temperature to 120deg C.

Since this part is so long and the best possible adhesion might be needed, put a coat of Acetone/ABS slurry onto the Kapton tape. (other 3D printer users with heated printbed and Kapton tape swear by it) It is Acetone with pieces of ABS dissolved into it. I keep it in an acetone proof container and wipe a coat of it onto the print bed with a rag.

The print came out very nice. Very flat, no warping.  - this is great!

Using the slurry, the parts can be hard to remove from the platform after the print because the part binds so well to the Kapton tape with the slurry applied. The "helper pads" make it easier to remove the part without marring the part.  Helper disks download: Helper disks zip file

So on a smaller part I just print directly onto the Kapton tape. Sometimes the Kapton tape can get damaged when pulling the part off, but if it is not in an area where the next print is, I leave it. The Kapton tape usually lasts for a couple prints. Otherwise just put a new Kapton film on. I got a 5" and 6" roll of Kapton tape on Amazon. It's fairly cheap and there is a lot on a roll. It comes also in narrower or wider rolls.

After the print, it is recommended to let the heated printbed and the part cool before removing it, so this takes a little longer than without a heated printbed.

So far I only printed three smaller PLA parts on the heated printbed (at 50 - 70deg C). No glue, directly onto the Kapton tape. - No problem.

I will print larger parts soon and see how it would print directly onto the glass.

The heated print bed is permanently installed, no need to remove after a print since there is no glue to wash off. To replace the Kapton tape I just lower the printbed and thanks to the remove able top and access to the side and front, there is enough room to apply the tape onto the platform. First I thought oh - no, the heated printbed is not removable, but using it now, I find it is not necessary to remove it at all anyway.

The heated printbed definitely makes the difference for ABS printing.

The price for the CubeX Heated Printbed kit is not cheap, but I am very happy with the product, quality and ABS print results.

It is nice now to be able to get besides great PLA prints, also more successful ABS prints.

To see the 9" long part print perfectly flat on the heated printbed was quite amazing.

I will post some more ABS print results as they come along, besides the PLA printing.

 

 

 

(Note: I am not affiliated with GRM products and have to buy my stuff like everybody else, but I gladly promote companies with great products and services).

 

 

 

Example - Making a challenging model printable.

This is just an example how a challenging model for 3D printing was modified to make it printable. It might spark some ideas next time you run into a challenging model to print.

First off, thank you to Landru who modified this model to make it easily printable and to post it on Thingiverse for everybody:   -  Nice.
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:14480

As you can see, this model as it is would not be printable without a lot of support structure, and even then, would most likely not come out very clean.

To solve this the model was modified and split into two pieces.
Chamfers were added to many features to minimize overhangs.

Part 1:

Part 2:

 

 

Holes for alignment pins were also designed into each half of the model.

Just in case, I added little "helper disks" under the thin ends of the wings for more print bed adhesion surface to prevent any part pull up and warping. I usually don't design the helper pads into the model, instead add them when setting up the model in the CubeX software for creating the build file. (see other post about "helper pads" and download. Helper disks zip file

Note: I would print one part at a time. Seem to get better results that way and minimize possible strings between parts when the print jet moves from one to the other part.

 

 

 

Both parts printed very nice. 0.25 Resolution, medium fill, PLA natural, no raft, no support, with added helper pads.

I just had to cut off the helper pads, insert the alignment pins and add a few drops of superglue to hold both parts together. (I used spring pins and pushed them into place with the tip of a hot soldering iron. That melted them right into place).

 

Printed model assembled:

Size: W: 4.2", H: 3.0", D: 5.25"

 

 

New CubeX User Guide available

http://cubify.s3.amazonaws.com/public/cubex/cubex_user_guide.pdf

More Part measurements, and other functional parts printed on the CubeX

Here are some more prints with the CubeX.

Note: All prints are with PLA.

I am quite impressed how accurate and consistent the parts are printing.

Hole locations were right on. I do not have the means of measuring them exactly, but the mating parts fit to the screw holes.

 

PLA taps and drills quite nicely (slow speed to not melt the plastic) and the threads are quite strong for plastic.

Since PLA is not as flexible as ABS, snap fits don't work as well with PLA. (I have only tried one snap fit).

 

In some cases you want to adjust your design to get the proper fit and not be too tight, but it is predicable.

For example the clamp around a cylinder. Knowing that the inner diameter of the clamp prints slightly smaller, I increased the diameter of 2.530" on the model by 0.01" to get the proper clearance to fit on the cylinder.

 

Also, some parts that are designed as machined parts, might need to be modified in some areas, due to less strength and higher flex of the plastic part.