@jpod, Yes it is. The 1100’s a good machine. Thanks!
Custom hot ends for the Zim
Has anyone had a problem with those tiny black “clamps” holding the belt at the X and Y axis?
Also thought of making those in Aluminium as there is a wood screw (!) into the original plastic part and I don’t think they will last the whole lifetime of my ZIM (I printed more thant 10kg of PLA with my ZIM till now…)
Till now no, unscrewed and screwed it a couple of times but why not aluminum is better.
Agreed, Al would be better (tapped) instead of wood screw in plastic. I would order replacements.
I haven’t had to adjust mine yet mainly because I had so many problems with my original printer. I just haven’t had a chance to print much. Between replacement print head assemblies, rewiring, new cabling etc. my print ratio to time spent fixing unit is not good. I think i have spent more time loading/unloading filament than anything. :0
There is a simpler solution for this. I don’t know of anyone having issues with these parts, however if you feel confident doing a bit of modification to the existing part, or even 3d printing a replacement:
Step 1: Remove the wood screw from the assembly.
Step 2: Counter sink the hole on the bottom side of the clamp and drill the hole through for a 6-32 or 3mm screw.
Step 3: Insert the screw from the bottom side up, so the head is fully countersunk in the hole and use a nut to hold it together on the top side.
I haven’t tested this myself as this isn’t one of my issues, but there’s no reason it shouldn’t provide a viable solution for anyone with the skills to perform this modification.
Does anyone know which side to order for a mono zim? Left or Right?
I believe it is right. I ordered a mono zim on fire sale a couple of months ago and converted it to a dual extruder printer. If I remember correctly, the right hot end is populated, and plugged into the left extruder output (e1). This is what told the cubie software it was mono.
By the way, making a mono zim into a dual is easy with Insomnia’s hot ends. When I swapped the rfid over to the other side (e0), my $300 mono zim came up as dual but the filament tracking in software didn’t work due to only one rfid. The mono I received had everything required to run as dual except the hot end, lower stepper, and rfid. The extruder stepper and stepper drivers were populated for both sides. Since I don’t use the lower feed, the conversion was simply to add another hot end (left), and then use octoprint (actually I originally used my Rfid emulator I posted about previously to trick the zeepro software into thinking there was a cartridge loaded, but now I just use octoprint and it works better for me).
Excellent, thanks so much! I may just have to order both and go for dual!
I received the custom hot ends, they look very high quality! With the temperature sensor connector the new end is not the same as the original ones and I’m wondering if it is causing me problems. With the slightest movement the temperature sensor stops working (and then will start working again after moving it). It seems like the connection is really loose and I’m wondering if there is anything I can do? Is there a chance I broke something on the board? The connector wiggles a bit but it all looks connected to me.
I had to do a complete head dissassembly before to clear out a jam, but I was able to get it to work slightly until it clogged again so the only thing I can narrow it down to is the new heating blocks. Does anyone have advice?
@madaman13, This could be caused by a few different possible issues. The connector I used is purposefully different from the original. The original connector was not designed to be removed and replaced with any frequency and as a result, it was very difficult to unplug the original connector without pulling the wires out. Unfortunately, the trouble doesn’t end there. The plugs on the pcb board that Zeepro used were also not designed to have the connectors unplugged and plugged in with any frequency. The evidence of this is clear when you go to attempt to unplug the connector you can see the plug socket move all over the place. I’ve found that it’s not uncommon for the solder points to crack on these parts.
The connector I used is different, however it does provide a good fit to the socket. If you’re experiencing contact issues It’s most likely that you have a cracked solder point. In light of this new issue which I’ve only discovered quite recently I’ve begun shipping The male side of the connectors along with the replacement hot end. The part is a pigtail which has the Male connector side at one end. Not everyone is going to be able to do this, however if you have basic soldering skills, you can de-solder the old plug socket and solder the pigtail in its place. This solves all the problems associated with the thermistor connector. The alternative to replacing the socket is simply locating the cracked solder joint and repairing it. It’s most likely on one of the pins itself. If you do choose to do the repair, I recommend adding some hot melt glue or some strong adhesive to help hold the socket in place to avoid it happening again.
If anyone wants to do the repalcement and needs the pigtails, please shoot me an email through the 3dprintermods web site and I’ll mail out the pigtails free of charge.
Thanks!
Great Work @Insomnia, This is a great remake of the design. I’m glad you were able to com up with a solution for the nozzle issue. My printer had just gone down due to my nozzles failing.
@Insomnia , Is this your own web store that you’ve set up?
I think Jpod is correct but just to be certain, when I order for my mono zim i believe it is the right side I need to order. When I’m facing the zim (green led power button is on the right) and so is the nozzle, does that mean I need to order the right side hot end?
Thanks all!
@Cal, I’m not familiar with the mono head Zim, however if you remove the shroud from the print head and take a look at the heat block itself you can match it up to the images on www.3dprintermods.com. The heat block has one strait end and one curved end. If think of the curved end as an arrow, the right side will point left and the left side will point right. Hope that helps!
Just got the new nozzles, and I’m so happy cause its able to get my printer running once more.
Issue being is that the new design doesn’t lend itself well to adjustment.
If the lead tube isnt pressed up against the nozzle, it allows the material to ooze out the side, or for the nozzle to walk loose. so if you try to adjust it, it either becomes loose, has no place to move to adjust, or you have to remove the entire heater block to adjust the feed tube as well.
That is one thing that zim really had going for them was that their nozzles were easily adjusted without having to do a lot of other work to get it going.
@tookys, When I designed these hot ends, this was a double edged sword for me. The original Zeepro design, while it may have been a bit easier to adjust for the first time, became nearly impossible to adjust after the first few prints, with the nozzle becoming locked in place. The frozen nozzle required removal of the heat block anyway and often resulted in a damaged hot end in attempt to remove the nozzle.
These Hot Ends do require the nozzle and throat to “mate” however this keeps filament from leaking into the threads and locking the nozzles in. Certainly there are other design options that would have made nozzle adjustment faster, unfortunately it would have doubled the price to speed up an action that rarely needs to be performed. There is an installation guide on the 3dprintermods web page that explains the adjustment and installation.
Hmm, I think i may know a simple fix to make adjustment easier.
Making a threaded sleeve that the nozzle and feed tube could mate inside of, and the sleeve itself handles the height adjustment. I’ll see if i can whip one up some time.
Just ordered one of these for my mono zim. The thread size on the nozzle is 6mm correct? What is the actual diameter of the nozzle that comes with the block, meaning what do I put in Slic3r for nozzle size? Sorry if this is a dumb question, or if it has been asked before.
When will more right side hot ends be available? I plan to order once they are back in stock.