Hi there! I recently aquired a Lulzbot A0-100, which I am in process of upgrading to Ao-101-ish specifications. So far its working really well. i figured out the X axis pillow block clearance issues, got the new 16 tooth belt gears installed and firmwared, printed the new spool holder, and am going to town. I do have a couple of questions though on upgrading this thing. Thank you in advance for any assistance / ideas you might have!
The RAMPS enclosure. It looks like the A0-100 enclosure was designed with the intention of adding a top eventually, but the switch to the RAMBO controller happened before that occured. Does anyone know of a cover design for the RAMPS box so I can hide all those fun looking wire spaghetti? Prefferably one that incorporates a fan?
I can’t afford a Rambo controller yet, on account of I just bought a 3d printer. But, I see that most things are using it now. Is the Rambo controller a worthehile upgrade? The Ramps controller on this thing seems to be working fine so far, so I only want to consider upgrading if there is a good argument for doing so (aside from the shiny ready made enlosures I could print)
Is the TAZ power supply approximatly the same dimensions as the A0-100 PSU? (around 115mm wide?) and if so, will the printed TAZ cover likely fit the Ao-100 power supply?
Aside from the Budaschnozzle 2.0, are there any extruder upgrades on the Taz printers that would be usefull and or fit on the Ao-100 chassis? (edit: I already also printed out the extruder latch)
Also if anyone has any advice or insights into operation care and feeding of a 3D printer, I’d be happy to hear it.
I don’t know of a RAMPS cover with fan offhand, but there’s likely a few different designs on thingiverse and elsewhere.
RAMPS is very solid electronics. There’s no pressing reason you should upgrade it to the RAMBO.
The TAZ and AO-100 power supplies are basically the same size. They may have different hole locations. They are pretty similar power supplies.
There is a dual extruder mod for the AO-100, but it isn’t TAZ-based. I presume you have been using the latest/greatest slic3r or whatever other programs you use.
We do have a checklist of what we do to refurbish a printer. I’ll see if I can track down the doc and get it linked on the support pages. It is a pretty good list of every last thing to check out.
Thank you for the reply! I’ve found a few full up ramps enclosures on thingverse, but not one that looks like an add on, So i’ll probably print one of those when I get everything fully dialed in. Ironically I discovered my belt tension was too low while trying to print out the belt tensioner piece for the Ao-101 but i think i have that fixed now. I think i’ll stick with the Ramps controller for now since it seems to be working fine. I’m mainly afraid of sneezing on the open circuit board. (long story, but this is essentially a valid concern for me…)
Cool, I’ll try printing that power supply cover out and seeing if I can make it fit then. I’ll report back when i know if it will go on there or not.
Dual extruders is definitly something I’ll be dabbling with later on. I do also have a CNC mill in my garage, so I was toying with the idea of trying to mill an aluminum quickchange extruder head that would fit the rails, but thats going to require me having a better understanding of how everything works on it, etc.
I’ll make sure I read the document there. Thank you for the assistance! If you think of any other ideas or mods or anything, please let me know.
ANother quick question if some kind individual has a second. Is there a list of what specific bolts go in the Y axis belt tensioner for an Ao-101 anywhere conveniant? I looked through the various source docs I could find, and I didn’t run across one. Also, has anyone implemented an effective X axis belt tensioner? I suppose I can just find something somewhat close, but I’d like to keep it looking like a “real” ao-101 as much as possible.
Aside from that, I think i have everything mechanical upgraded now except for the lower x axis motor mounts, which Look close enough to the existing stock ones for now, and the rear y axis motor mount, which says revision 2.0 but i haven’t successfully managed to print one so far to be able to tell if it is different. That particular part seems to be cursed for me dor some reason. (I suspet I need to try the hairspray trick or something along those lines)
Also, in another thread somewhere, someone mentioned some flexible aluminum couplers that might fit the threaded rod diameter to the nema motor. ANyone have any idea on a part number for those if someone wanted to order some? I apperently just killed one of my plastic ones.
For a motor coupler, you can even use some hose from Ace/HomeDepot. For the AO-100, the motor shaft and the rod are different sizes, so you have to cut one small tube and put it in the bigger one. Then you can use those as a coupler. Very inexpensive and they work really well (better than the way more expensive metal ones).
That did the trick, i’m back up and printing. Attempting the largish (well for me so far anyways) power supply cover thingy. Seems to be working well so far. I jut wish I knew why it insists on making a cocoon for itself at the same time.
2 more extension pieces for the gantry after that and I can start printing helicopter pieces!
And I can’t believe no one managed to design one! I’ve been meaning to do it but I’ve been lazy.
I just now downloaded the original STL to have a look at it (pity no source file is available). It looks like the Lulzbot guys were already planning for a fan.
I can 100% confirm that the TAZ power supply enclosure pierce will fit the Ao-100 power supply. The mounting screws are offset one screw where you would want, but you get at least 1 fully anchored screw either side, and there is sufficeint space in the metal side pieces to install an additional self tapping screw safely withut penetrating the electronics area if you need a third one for anchoring.
Also, Hi Gemini64! My modeling skills are a bit rusty, but i’d be happy to help with any aspects of making a to-fit case top. I do have a bit of electronic enlosure experiance just from a computer repair and maintenance perspective (servers, computers, etc)
Yes, with electroncs enclosures, generally more venting will be better than less. Sometimes in areas where you have alot of risk of water or debris exposure you might want fiewer, in this case heat is going to be the enemy. Dust over time will be a factor in any case that size, so I wouldn’t wory about preventing dust infiltration as much as I would about venting and active cooling. I think you could get away with a fairly simple box for the upper part, a cover for the SD card slot top, a cover for the side wires and top wires coming into the box, and then relief cuts at the bottom for the power and USB. THe screw holes for the top look to be already there, and the upper portion where the SD card slot is looks like it has a cable path out for an optional LCD for Ramps already too. I’d guess a 1/3 - 2/3rd split, the existing part is the 1/3rd, the top would be about twice that tall Fan looks like a standard 40mm square enclosure fan, though it might be quieter to wall that port up and just bolt a 92mm square fan to the theoretical top of the case (bigger fan - lower noise frequincy and more air movement
That 60mm height increase is my next printing task now that I have all the Ao-101 and Taz parts printed that will fit for now. Thanks!
I made a discovery, the following X-axis belt tensioner is a direct bolt on fit for the x axis of the Ao-100 and Ao-101 belt, mounting on the existing belt clamp locations:
Be sure to drop in the m3 nuts when you are supposed to (like a certain person who shall rename nameless forgot to do the first time I tried printing this…) but other than that it fits and more importantly clears the rest of the belt. I do wish the mounting flange was just a tiny bit thicker, but it seems strong enough so far.
Discovered another bolt on piece. I’ve already determined that changing the nozzle of the extruder is a pain in the ass, so I went looking for a quick disconnect, thinking I was going to have to mill one. But someone came up with a quick fit carriage that fits the Ao-100 - A0-101 style bearings
Which will fit either the richrap adaptor plate, or a modified greg wade’s style extruder.
I also found out the lulzbot AO-100 LCD doesn’t have the auxiliary pins for a LCD, and Soldiering is the thing I am pretty much absolutly worst at in the whole universe, so I dunno what I am going to do there. I really don’t want to mess with the working brain too much. But i kinda want the LCD on it now that I have it and a shiny new case for it. /shrug, not sure what I’m going to do about that yet.
Between the new frame extension and the belt tensioners, my prints are showing a slight amount of improvement over their already pretty damn good for a newbie (it’s the machine, not me) quality. I’m going to basically have an A0-103 by the time i’m done I guess
Anyone know if the TAZ rambo enclosure is the same size as the A0-101’s? It looks from the pictures like the taz one prints differently
Hmm. I wonder if it would still mount to the side of an AO series printer then without major modification. Maybe I’ll print the backplate out and see if I can make it line up.
I also need to figure out what kind of connectors I want to standardize on for the wiring harness. If i’m going to put a quick disconnect on the extruder head, I’ll need an 8 pin disconnect of some sort. I could use DB9 serial, which is what I ended up using on my CNC, but thats pretty big for a Nema 17 motor. The rest of the steppers wouldn’t need 8 pins. I may ned up going with a different plug for the extruder end. Or possibly 2 plugs, though that seems like it would take more space than a DB9 serial connector.
my goal is to have 2 extruders, one with a big nozzle, one with a tiny one, that i can swap out. Maybe a polycarbonate nozzle later too.
Someday i’ll start playing with dual extruders too, but for now I feel the Ao-100 chassis is just too narrow to really effectivly use 2 extruders, and I don’t really want to widen it to the point where it could use two because that would be alot of part sourcing.
I decided to go ahead and see if I can make a cover design to fit the AO-100 ramps base rather than printing the rambo box since I won’t be upgrading to it for a while. Autodesk inventor has a neat STL to 3D object converter that works quite well, and I have a box design most of the way put together. My 3D skills are apperently kind of rusty though, so it’s taking me a while longer than I had hoped. Once I get it more resembling something, I’ll see about putting the part file up somewhere for people to play with
I’m toying with ideas to try and put some of the TAZ z axis improvements into the Ao-101 form factor, but keep the X axis kind of how it is on the Ao-101 since I just got done printing a fleet of quick disconnects. My X and y are really dialed in well now, and the Z is good, but I’d like to try and put one of those automatic bed level thingies on it, and I don’t think it’s quite accurate enough as is for that to be a good idea.
The bearings and lead screw section from the Taz Z axis might be persuaded to work with some modifications. I may have to consider widening the base of the printer frame itself and the X axis bearing rods at the same time to make room for either a future dual extruder setup, or maybe make room for a different X carriage bearing setup. I dunno.
Printer is printing really really well though. I just like tinkering with the hardware.
