Tobbens Folgertech Kit Assembly Log

Introduction

This document is created to try to document a 3D printer build as detailed as possible, to facilitate the development of D3D Workshops. The starting point is an unboxed Folgertech Prusa i3 (see Tobbens_Folgertech_Kit_Unboxing_Log) and the instructions located at Prusa_i3_Modular_Build_Video containing script, Module Assembly Oder 3 module videos module 1, module 2, module 3, as well as time lapses of overall assembly, frame build and extruder slide build. The Folgertech build manual is also used.

Reliability Of Recorded Numbers

Tobben has assembled many RepRaps before, and also read the Module Assembly Order document prior to this logged assembly. Reading took ~10 minutes. Quantifying the relative advantage of previous RepRap experience is very hard, but recorded times should be at least be doubled for novices.

Build steps are performed calmly with no hurry.

No tools are prepared or planned beforehand, so time consumption for getting tools is included.

Nothing on the work-table is touched unless time is recorded. I've tried to avoid solving problems in my head or thinking about specific build steps when the stop watch is not running, so that also the thought work required is captured in the recorded times. Recording thought work with a stop watch is of course impossible to do perfectly.

Stop watch is stopped only while writing this log, taking pictures, eating and going to the toilet.

Log

Time order	Module	Activity	Time consumed	Time consumed, accumulative	Instruction Resources Used	Comment	Image
1	Bottom Frame 1	Removing tape from 2020s	5:46	0:05:46	None	Fiddly
2	Bottom Frame 2	Identifying which beams to use	4:55	0:10:41	Folgertech's Build Manual	Unable to find this info on OSE wiki
3	Bottom Frame 3	Watching Module 1 Video	1:30	0:12:11	module 1 video	Good video
4	Bottom Frame 4	Very roughly sorting Hardware Bag contents	2:20	0:14:31
5	Bottom Frame 5	Assembly of 8 first L-brackets	16:01	0:30:32	module 1 video	Assembly manual: Fill all L-bracket holes with mount screws before inserting into 2020s. Don't use L-shaped hex-key since mounting relies on 2020s lying down flat.
6	Bottom Frame 6	Confusion regarding the T-nut and screw sizes.	16:54	0:47:26	module 1 video, Folgertech's Build Manual	M4 and M5 T-nuts look very similar.
7	Bottom Frame 7	Assembly of left Y-rod bushings and corner brackets in middle of front beam	9:01	0:56:27	module 1 video	Say in assembly manual: Corner bracket hole sizes are big enough to be able to put T-nut through. Kit comment: M4 screw heads should have been bigger. T-nut and washer fiddling took lots of time.
8	Vertical Frame 1	Assembly and Mounting on Base Frame	33:33	1:30:00	module 1 video	Because of poor corner bracket quality, M4x8 screws are _almost_ too short, and power supply mounting gets very fiddly.
9	X-axis 1	Faulty Assembly of X-carriage Linear Bearings	9:41	1:39:41	module 2 video	Linear bearings mounted with smooth rod running through. This did not alone prevent the faulty mounting. Kit comment: This error possible because of bad print quality.
10	X-axis 2	Faulty Assembly of X-carriage Linear Bearings 2	10:25	1:50:06		Space for Linear Bearing is too short. Cut out more space by hand with knife. This is weak design since bearing fixation along X-axis is unimportant, so making a tight fit serves no purpose. Process made harder by smooth rods being very far from straight. Video showing bad gliding
11	X-axis 3	Assembly of X-carriage Linear Bearings	4:59	1:55:05		More manual cutting needed to get Linear Bearings into their tracks.
12	X-axis 4	Mount Linear Bearings Into X-idlers	3:02	1:58:07	module 2 video	Use paper to wipe off linear bearings, the stuff they're soaked in is not healthy to get on fingers.
13	X-axis 5	Mounting X idler bearings	2:47	2:0:54	module 2 video	Took a guess at which screw to use.
14	X-axis 6	Mounting X Belt pulley and X-motor	8:43	2:9:37	module 2 video	A fair amount of guesswork to find the correct screw length.
15	X-axis 7	Fitting together idlers, carriage and linear rods	1:48	2:11:25	module 2 video
16	X-axis 8	Thread X-belt	4:29	2:15:54	module 2 video	Slight print error in X-carriage made fastening belt harder. Pushed in place with flat screwdriver.
17	Z-axis 1	Preparing Z-motors	6:50	2:22:44	module 3 video	M3x11 screws...
18	Z-axis 2	Preparing filament guide	2:03	2:24:47	module 3 video	1 min extra from tool change hex key -> previously unused screw driver -> hex key
19	Z-axis 3	Preparing Z-motors' T-nuts	3:14	2:28:01	module 3 video
20	Y-axis 1	Manually Enlargening Linear Bearing Holders	13:20	2:41:20		Once again, print error/extremely tight fit by design had to be adjusted with a knife to make linear bearings fit.
21	Y-axis 2	Threading zip-ties and figuring out how to place printed bearing holders	4:39	2:45:59	Folgertech Build Manual
22	Y-axis 3	Drilling out printed bearing holders' 3mm holes	4:59	2:50:58		Bad prints eat time budgets for lunch. This time, a squeezed out first layer was our enemy, preventing M3 screws from gliding freely.
23	Y-axis 4	Fastening Y Linear Bearings	9:47	3:0:52	Folgertech Build Manual page 8	First use of 5 mm spanner. Took extra time because of that.
24	Y-axis 5	Soldering and taping heat bed wires	29:50	3:30:42	Folgertech Build Manual pages 9, 10 and 11	Taping wires alone took ~10 min. Preparing soldering equipment took ~15 min.
25	Y-axis 6	Mounting Heat Bed onto Y-Carriage	5:40	3:36:30	Folgertech Build Manual page 11	Instructions said M3x8 screws. 8mm was impossibly short, used 10 mm ones.
26	Y-axis and Frame 1	Mount Y-motor mount	2:54	3:39:24	Folgertech Build Manual page 4
27	Y-axis and Frame 2	Mounting Y-Carriage	10:40	3:50:04		Mounted left smooth rod only first. Slided in right smooth rod and secured end bushings while Y-carriage fixated the span.
28	Y-axis and Frame 3	Mounting Y-motor	5:29	3:55:33		Tilt Frame sideways while mounting
29	Y-axis and Frame 4	Assembling Y-idler	20:51	4:16:24	Folgertech Build Manual page 20	I had attached belt holder in the wrong pair of holes in the Y-carriage, so some manual aiming required. Used standard M3 nut instead of nyloc, since nyloc was fiddly.
30	Y-axis and Frame 5	Threading Y-belt	4:37	4:21:01		Mount belt tensioner before tensioning the belt
31	X-axis, Z-axis and Frame 1	Shortening X-axis and Pushing it in place	7:30	4:28:31		Most time was spent shortening the X-axis. A lot of force needed.
32	X-axis, Z-axis and Frame 2	Tightening X-belt and right Z-rod bushing screw	3:30	4:32:01		Position belt tensioner here to avoid interfering with microswitch later.
33	X-axis, Z-axis and Frame 3	Mount left Z-motor	5:44	4:37:45		More easily done when printer is tilted. Insert threaded rod last. Secure it 1 cm below motor shaft.
33	X-axis, Z-axis and Frame 4	Mount Right Z-motor	6:34	4:44:19		Hold X-axis up close to motor when tightening to assure proper alignment
34	X-axis and Extruder 1	Mount Extruder	9:26	4:53:45	Folgertech Build Manual pages 18 and 19	Most time was spent screwing M3 screws 30 mm by hand because of poor print qualiy (too small M3 holes).
35	Endstop sensors and Frame 1	Mounting endstops	23:03	5:16:48	Folgertech Build Manual pages 32 and 33	Microswitch PCB and endstop holder combined differently on all three axes. Very easy to get orientations wrong.
36	Electronics 1	Re-Mounting Power Supply	3:42	5:20:30		Rotate Z-endstop away to more easily access bottom screw.
37	Electronics 2	Attach mains voltage	14:44	5:31:32	Folgertech Build Manual page 35	Maybe easier to do before re-mounting power supply. All ends are tinned and bent like a hook around screw.
38	Electronics 3	Attaching RAMPS Power Wires	19:29	5:51:01	Folgertech Build Manual pages 35 and 36	All ends were tinned, which took a long time. Hooked ends to power supply.
39	Electronics 4	Attaching Acrylic Mount Plate	3:10	5:54:11
40	Electronics 5	Mounting RAMPS	8:09	6:2:20		Found no screws of correct length, used my own.
41	Electronics 6	Wiring Z-motors and bending RAMPS pins into place	6:52	6:9:12		This orientation of cables is reflected in firmware.
42	Electronics 7	Wiring Y-motor	5:27	6:14:39		Took 2 min longer because I've mounted Y motor with contacts facing backwards. Getting the connector into the motor was a tight fit.
43	Electronics 8	Wiring X-motor	2:20	6:16:59		Ran out of zip-ties. Had to go get new ones.
44	Electronics 9	Wrapping Extruder cables in cable guide	5:11	6:22:10		Wrap them all at the same time. This step should have been postponed until after soldering longer fan-cables.
45	Electronics 10	Connecting 22 gauge wires for Extruder Fan to 12 V	5:42	6:27:14		This step should have been done together with step 38, "Attaching RAMPS Power Wires". Would have saved ca 2 min.
46	Electronics 11	Soldering fan wires to 22 gauge 12 V wires and wrapping	13:30	6:40:44		This step included some unwinding of cable-guide, preparing soldering iron, stripping wires, finding cable shrink (not included in kit). With a connector or longer fan cables in the first place, this step would have been 2:30.
47	Electronics 12	Connecting Hot end to RAMPS	8:31	6:49:15	Folgertech Build Manual page 30	Heater element connectors were tinned. Heater cables a little tricky to strip, took ~1 min more than stripping plastic cables.
48	Electronics 13	Connecting Bed Wires to RAMPS	9:33	6:58:48	Folgertech Build Manual page 29	Bed heater wires were tinned. These are the most important ones to tin and secure tightly! The instructions from Folgertech told the user to plug the black bed wire into a RAMPS port marked with "+". This felt so wrong, I just couldn't do it. The bed is just acting as a resistor, so it would work either way.
49	Electronics 14	Connecting Endstops	15:30	7:14:18	Folgertech Build Manual pages 33 and 34	The Folgertech guide has a bug in it. Near bottom of page 33, it says "There are 6 rows of pins". Every other following statement with pin counts assumes 7 rows of pins. There are really 1 _column_ of four I2C pins and 6 columns of end stop pins. These are ordered like Z_max,Z_min,Y_max,Y_min,X_max,X_min. Therefore, step 23.10 in the Folgertech manual also is a bug, since we have a X_max endstop, not a X_min one. These bugs took 10 min to get straight.
50	Electronics 15	Final check and Connecting Power	2:46	7:17:04
51	Software 1	Booting D3D Configured Porteus	2:00	7:19:04	D3D_Live_ISO#Computer_Models_Verified_to_Boot	Had to specify /dev/ttyACM0 in Pronterface's drop down menu before pressing "connect".
52	Print 1	Pre-flight Check	25:00	7:44:04		Started a Python script for future automation of this process, published here.
53	Print 2	First Print	15:21	7:59:25

Afterthoughts

First of all, the printer works. See video of first print.

However, the assembly is an error-prone process. There are hundreds of common and uncommon mistakes that are easy to do but hard to debug, making the build a risky endeavor for novices.

Pitfall Examples

Y-belt mount point that allows belt to come in from the wrong angle:

This would make the pulley work along the leg of an ever-changing triangle instead of a straight line, and big prints' dimensions would be wrong.