FolgerTech Kossel Magnetic Upgrade (OBSOLETE - SEE V2!)
THIS DESIGN IS OBSOLETE - Please see my "V2" re-design:
VERSION 2 posted here! http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1064124
UPDATE!** I have finally received my new 'countersunk' magnets and 10mm threaded steel balls... So I now have all the parts necessary to complete my re-design of this kit!!! I am working on the new design and will be uploading the new design soon - I haven't decided yet whether to replace everything here, or to just create a new 'thing'... Either way, you'll be able to find the new 'kit' from this link... ;-)
That's all for my update right now, LOL!
Back to the existing comments for the 'current' project...
These are the objects I'm creating to upgrade my FolgerTech Kossel to Magnetic attachment.
Unfortunately This project isn't turning into much of an 'upgrade' as the magnets just don't hold as well as they should. (And these are SUPPOSED to be "N52" grade neodymium magnets.) It may just be that the gap is too much between the magnet and the ball bearing. I tried to minimize it to just .1mm, but for some reason, both Cura and Slic3r insisted on putting 3 or 4 .1mm layers in there... And .I haven't found a way to make that smaller as of yet. So for now, I extended my original 'Traxxas' ball-joint arms by ~70mm (for ~300MM total now) and re-installed the ball-joint setup into my printer.
If you have any tips on how to get that gap down to a single .1mm layer, please let me know
In the mean time, I'm probably going to re-think my design and put the ball bearings on the rods and mount 'dish' magnets on the effector and Carriages. (v1.5?)
Acually... V2 posted here! http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1064124
Anyways, back to the notes about this 'thing' now...
One thing to note is that it doesn't support the original servo-mounted micro-switch bed leveling. I changed to FSR Bed leveling. - A link to the kit that I bought from eBay is included in "Parts Sources" at the bottom of the Instructions.
The Effector fits the "E3D V5 Clone" that came with my printer. I just bought a Genuine E3D V6, so I will be creating an effector for that as well, but for now, this one is tailored towards the V5 and/or clones.
UPDATE Everything seems to fit quite well, but I may need stronger magnets...
Ok, well these parts are working, but the magnets aren't holding as strong as I think they should. I think that either my gaps between the magnets and ball bearings are too big or my magnets aren't quite strong enough (They're SUPPOSED to be N52 grade, but I doubt they are, as the 6MMx10MM ones seem stronger than the 10mmx10mm ones -- stupid cheap Chinese magnets!!!).
So if the printer moves too fast, or the print head gets bumped, they come un-done relatively easy.
But, they ARE working, and I'm producing some nice accurate prints, but I am printing a bit slower than I was before (I'm trying a 60mm/s print now, and surprisingly', it seems to be doing quite well. (But I was printing at close to 200mm/s with the stock Traxxas rod ends. - albeit a little lower quality, but it could handle it!)
Update: The 60mm/s print failed as one of the magnets disconnected mid-print.
So I think I'm going to have to re-design this upgrade, as printing SLOWER was certainly not my objective...