Hi,
Ive finally decided to get the new hexagonal extrder assemble.
I have a taz 2 with all the new upgrades… so its pretty much a kickstarter taz evolved into a taz 6.
Where do I run the blower fan wire up to? Does it run in sync with the regular fan or is it a separate place on the rambo? I cant find any sold info on the OHAI.
Since ive upgraded the lead screws and rods, and everything else, i should just be able to flash the taz 5 firmwire right?
This shows where the blower wire goes in the taz 2, which was essentially electrically identical to the 3 in most cases. https://ohai.lulzbot.com/project/taz3-hexagon-toolhead/accessories/
If you buy that fan kit it comes with the pre crimped wire.
Note that there may have been a very small number of early 12 volt taz 2s . double check that you have the 24 volt power supply before you flash. If you don’t you will need to upgrade that and the bed. The hexagon kit if you got it from lulzbot or it works should already be 24v. If it is 24v, you should be good to run the taz 5 firmware. If you added auto leveling and a taz 6 bed you would want the 6 firmware for that feature.
Thanks!!
I HAD the 12v bed actually since I got my taz right off the line of Kickstarter however I have since upgraded the power supply!
I tried flashing the taz 5 firmware and running the new nozzle last night (without the blower setup) and it was acting really weird! Maybe the blower really is necessary? I have designed a quick connect from the original wire harness to the new 16 pin harness so I can easily switch between the buda and hexagonal now…
The issue:
It would extrude a nice even flow of material manually, as well as with the extrude button.
When I would actually run a print, the nozzle would do its thing but nothing would really “flow” and eventually it would stop extruding. The filament diameter & nozzle size were correct and the rest of the settings were stock taz 5 Cura.
It’s almost like it was under extruding and then it would begin to clog, while the hobbolt was doing burn outs… This happened twice with 2 different types of material
Could this be the missing blower? Or could I have the resistor wires backwards? The temps was reading normal and it appears to be accurate (because I could manually extrude). I don’t have a temperature gun to check either.
I appreciate the help because I don’t feel like trouble shooting this one…
There are two fan types on a Taz 5/6 configuration. The Fillament cooling fans, and the always on barrel cooling fan. The barrel cooling fan is required for the hexagon especially if you are printing PLA, because otherwise the fillament above the melt chamber melts slightly and expands in the barrel, causing partial or full bore lock, which jams the fillament in the barrel and causes it not to move. With ABS, you still get issues due to excessive fillament softness, but they usually show up as layers with wierd extra extrusion in some areas and underextrusion in others.
The thermistor in the buddaschnozzle and the heater core are completely different. You cannot use the old extruder with the new firmware. You can still swap it out and then flash back to the Taz 4 firmware, but trying to run the buddaschnozzle with taz 5 firmware will make it very unhappy.
if you have any small fan available, you can splice it in and temporarily secure it near the barrel until you can get a permanent fix.
There are two fan types on a Taz 5/6 configuration. The Fillament cooling fans, and the always on barrel cooling fan. The barrel cooling fan is required for the hexagon especially if you are printing PLA, because otherwise the fillament above the melt chamber melts slightly and expands in the barrel, causing partial or full bore lock, which jams the fillament in the barrel and causes it not to move. With ABS, you still get issues due to excessive fillament softness, but they usually show up as layers with wierd extra extrusion in some areas and underextrusion in others.
The thermistor in the buddaschnozzle and the heater core are completely different. You cannot use the old extruder with the new firmware. You can still swap it out and then flash back to the Taz 4 firmware, but trying to run the buddaschnozzle with taz 5 firmware will make it very unhappy.
if you have any small fan available, you can splice it in and temporarily secure it near the barrel until you can get a permanent fix.
Ok cool sounds like this is my issue. I assumed that the barrel fan was the reason my nozzle would print for just a few minutes before begging to clog. I will hookup that blower fan ASAP. Thanks for this info! I avoided upgraded my Buda to the hexagonal because ive had 4 fully functional buda nozzles since the start of my taz and they always worked fine. Im finally down to just 1.
I have simply used the same wiring harness from the BUDA thermistor and capacitor… I did NOT use the the buda’s components (because that would defeat the purpose of this upgrade)… therefore, I didnt have to run completely new wires to the rambo.
ON a side note, I noticed the Z-speed is ALOT faster with this new TAZ 5 firmware compared to my previous firmware. Did they upgrade the motors on the taz 5? Should I lower my Z speed just to be safe?
Do yourself a big favor and forgo the tiny fan that Lulzbot uses and get one of the larger (40mm) fans, fan mounts for this are all over Thingiverse including the one I designed (mines kinda ugly but it works). Everybody that uses PLA has issues with the tiny fan that Lulzbot uses and end up upgrading to fix the issue. ABS is not such an issue with the original fan but still a good idea to go big.
Do yourself a big favor and forgo the tiny fan that Lulzbot uses and get one of the larger (40mm) fans, fan mounts for this are all over Thingiverse including the one I designed (mines kinda ugly but it works). Everybody that uses PLA has issues with the tiny fan that Lulzbot uses and end up upgrading to fix the issue. ABS is not such an issue with the original fan but still a good idea to go big.
Ok thanks I will!
i still use the sketchy 30mm i rigged up my first “upgrade” when the taz first came out…
I was shocked the fan didn’t come stock because it was a big deal on these forums.
there huge holes between the shroud and the fan. I just never cared to fix it because it was already a huge improvment…
Bump:
I noticed the Z-speed is ALOT faster with this new TAZ 5 firmware compared to my previous firmware. Did they upgrade the motors on the taz 5? Should I lower my Z speed just to be safe?
The faster speed should be fine.
Ive now repalced my 5v blower fan, hooked it up to the correct location on the RAMBo, but it still does not spin. How can i test it? 
It should come on automatically as soon as the Taz is powered on. It is possible the wire leads are reversed, you will want to verify polarity here: https://ohai.lulzbot.com/project/c8d1632e-5df4-4844-8f4f-e653379a8fc3/a16b1f2d-5c1f-47fe-a83d-9d68cca5d62c/
You can test the fan itself by giving it 5v power to the leads. a 3 batter pack for AA batteries should get it close enough to at least spin up if you want to test that the fan itself is functional.
There is also a firmware change from the Taz 2 to the Taz 5 that enables those pins on the Rambo board. If you haven’t also done the Taz 4/5 leadscrew swap at this point you will need to track those values down in firmware manually and make the change. it may be simpler to start from a Taz 5 firmware and just change the lZ steps values and Z feed rates in configuration.h . Even with the need to move the Z taget endstop it is going to be simpler to change the hardware over than fix the firmware if you can get the parts. Lulzbot sells the X end plates as well as itworks. The leadscrews you might have to order from mitsumi.