March 31, 2022
Description
!!! I have purchased 2x more Up Plus machines and one of them has slightly different (wider) hotend mounting point, if you have one of these please bare with me while I'm amending mounts to fit this variant. If you have 3rd variant or so please leave the comment so I can get that one done too.
This has been long lasting project I've been working on for some time and it's been always evolving so there are multiple variants depending on hardware chosen.
Going classic v6 or jumping Revo, 8bit board for Marlin, perhaps Klipper or going all Duet RepRap Firmware?! Just check files and read on what's what and why...
What is it and why it even exists?!
If you have your Up Plus variant of the machine and you are happy with it as is - I'd suggest you to skip this, most likely you don't need any of this but...
If either you've managed to burn any of the components, curious of all new slicers out there, been reading up on alternative firmware options of just simply bored of the machine just working - you might be in the right place...
I was mostly happy with the machine apart from few questionable design choices but when I've managed to fry my CPU board I've started exploring alternative options.
Step one on my journey was drop in replacement TinyFab CPU (highly recommend for those just wiling to experiment with alternative slicers and happy with the SmoothieWare firmware) which worked great but opened my eyes on what else I can do with this machine.
I've decided to go with E3D hotend upgrade, unfortunately hence stock hotend comes with PT100 but generic v6 from E3D has generic 104 Semitic thermistor it was simply much easier to go all out and replace whole controller board (also I wasn't the biggest fan of smoothie ware).
For the board I went with somewhat old school 8bit board from BIQU called KFB 2.0, reason was simple - most of my other machines were running Marlin firmware already aka comfort zone and shape and size of the board itself, USB port were just right so cables can reach easily, also it had JST connectors so no recrimping or so were required.
When experimented with TMC21xx drivers despite small motor size I had to run stepper drivers quite hot so designed 5015 blower fan exhaust which was connected to 5v just to get air moving quietly (suggest to tape over vent holes on the right to ensure incoming air passes stepper drivers).
Later on in life it got Kilipper firmware treatment so it was as simple as sharing one of the KFB board mounting screws to secure Pi Zero W inside the case and run 4x jumper wires from Pi GPIO pins to KFB Tx, Rx, 5v and GND for all compact package (no need for external power for Pi).
For the last and current upgrade of the board I went with MellowFly RRF E3 simply because it's "Duet" alike board (most of my machines are Duet2 powered now) and due to its size hence I had a plan to mount PSU inside to increase it's base weight which could come in handy when printing at now possible faster speeds although I've kept my external PSU and there's a lot of space in there now.
Extruders, hotends etc...
Hotend aka v6 mount was built around specific part cooling fan (http://thingiverse.com/thing:1746358) just because it was giving me good results on other machines, hence the plan was to push machine to go faster weight was a concern and I went with bowden setup instead of direct drive.
Extruder motor solid cover was doing fine but then when speeds increased, especially when experimenting with Volcano hotend, I had to increase extruder current which was making it to go hotter than I like and certain low temperature PLAs got too soft due to the heat from the motor so iteration with the fan had to be made, it takes regular 4040 fan to do the job (although motor screw spacing is tad bit tighter than fan screw holes, I did run a drill through the fan holes to make it a bit easier to mount).
At the end Volcano was a bit too challenging for a small Up extruder so I did go with E3D Titan which is absolutely worth the money product (don't skimp here, get genuine unit).
At some point I did try Aero and Volcano with CNC Kitchen designed part cooling fan but rolled back to bowden at the end (can't find Aero mount design files at the moment, will upload when/if I find them).
Latest upgrade (so far) is E3D Revo Micro, I'm mostly happy with it but potentially there will be another iteration if I fins some extra time.
Hence Revo Micro is super lightweight it can go fast, did measure vibrations etc using input shaper and it performs much better vs (still amazing) v6 hotend.
This time I've used different part cooling shroud (https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3590464) and also included BL Touch mount which isn't much necessary for 140x140 bed for sure but convenient for consistent homing vs Z-Max and it's "surprises" now and then.
As for cabling etc,
I did run full length v6 cables instead of using existing ribbon cable (if you're interested in using ribbon cable instead check my other Up Mini conversion project which have rudimentary pinout table there).
Power supply, I did switch to generic 24v brick because hotend and the fan was 24v rated and I wanted to get full performance out of the components (especially when went Volcano for a while).
I also did run new bed cartridge based thermistor (hence original was using PT100 which requires extra circuitry) and new long variant of heater cartridge too (hence original was 19v rated heat power in the firmware should be adjusted to not to fry the heater if on 24v PSU).
As for DC connector I went with "Arduino Style" DC jack hot glued in into the PCB adapter plate. Power draw of the machine was sufficient for the connector rating as far as I remember.
With Fly RRF board I've also upgraded to simpler "secure with the screw" DC jack to avoid hot glue gun.
I've included SketchUp files for v6 and KFB board and for Fly and Revo I've switched to much more decent CAD package OnShape where I have published my designs publicly.
If you've spotted something I have forgotten to mention or some mistakes, please comment so I can improve, any suggestions - happy to consider or feel free to modify yourself.
Category: 3D PrintersLicense:
Creative Commons — Attribution — Share Alike
7
Kris M
