Unanswered Robo3d R1+ Bed Replacement/y-Carriage Replacement

Hi, the heated glass bed finally cracked on me. I have a few modifications that I am considering making to the printer.

Current Upgrades:
E3D v6 hotend(bowden setup)
E3D Hemera extruder(bowden setup)
Running Marlin 2.0
TMC2208 stepper motor drivers in legacy configuration
PT100 temperature sensor for hotend

1) Y-Carriage Upgrade I have been trying to find a good way to replace the stock rod system that the y-carriage uses. I bought two 330mm linear rail guides with one bearing on each to replace the rods. The link to the rails is below.
https://www.amazon.com/Iverntech-Li...V6FPFKZZWENG&refRID=2BAC27CBV6FPFKZZWENG&th=1

I want to mount the rails to the frame of the printer and the bearings to the bed that I am going to have to make because the bearings are much lighter. I have not been able to come up with a good solution to attach those bearings to a glass bed so far. I wanted to do this to make the y-carriage and bed lighter so it can move quicker and the rails do not flex like the rods do if you slide the bed all of the way out towards the front or back. The linear rails also move much easier and seem to be quieter. My first attempt was to use a 1.25 inch wide and 1/8 inch thick length of aluminum with a printed piece to hold magnets screwed into the end of both pieces of aluminum with a L shaped piece of aluminum attaching the two lengths on the ends. The L shape pieces are to make it sturdier and to attach the belt to along with one of them triggering the end stop switch. Drilling holes accurate enough to fit the 20x20mm spacing that the holes in the bearing are as well as making sure the pieces are not crooked at all is too difficult. I tried finding Y-carriages on amazon but had not luck finding anything that would work. That is one thing I need help with.

2) Bed and Electronics Replacements I bought a 250x320mm sheet or borosilicate glass from amazon to replace the bed. For now I think I am just going to clamp it on top of the cracked glass. I want to switch the printers power supply to 24v for the increased torque people have said you get and the other positives. I found a heater cartridge for the hot end and a power supply. Since I want to switch the voltage I figured I might as well just get rid of the Arduino mega 2560 and the ramps 1.4 board and replace them with something better as well as adding a screen. I could not find a kapton heater that would work well and I prefer not to use a silicone heater because I read on another forum that they expand a decent amount when they get hot and they are heavier and thicker than kapton heaters. There is also the issue of the thermistor for the new heater because I have no clue what to do for that. For the board and screen I was thinking maybe a board from bigtreetech off of amazon but I do not know for sure what would be best.

https://www.amazon.com/BIGTREETECH-...248921011&rnid=1248919011&s=industrial&sr=1-6

Thank you!

 

I recently ran across a series on YouTube in which a guy upgraded his Robo3D R1+ with linear rails. It's in five parts, starting here:



I've never tried that sort of upgrade, so I can't say how well the upgrade shown in the YouTube series will work, or whether there might be a better way to do it. I don't see links to Thingiverse objects for the printed parts, and when I clicked the "check out the website" link, Firefox threw up a warning about a potential security risk, so beware of that! (It could have been a false alarm, but I wasn't willing to risk it.)

My own bed has been accumulating chips; even when printing PLA, the plastic often adheres too well, causing chips to come out. In the short term, I've added a PEI sheet, which has restored a smooth printing surface. In the long term, I've bought parts to build a new metal bed -- a metal sheet, mounting magnets, and silicone heater. Most of the parts have yet to arrive. This by itself won't help with the bed flexing, but it's a start. Incidentally, a company called PartsBuilt 3D stocks various OEM and third-party replacement parts for Robo3D printers, so they're worth checking out for some components. I ordered my magnets from them, for instance. They've also got a replacement glass bed.

About a month ago, I did "brain surgery" on my R1+, replacing its main control board. I posted a brief summary on this forum, but for the complete description, see here:

https://www.rodsbooks.com/robo3d-upgrade/

I used a BigTreeTech SKR Pro v1.2, which is a little upscale compared to the SKR v1.4 Turbo you're considering; mine has an extra stepper driver socket, more RAM, and a better CPU. I plan to eventually go dual-extruder on my printer, so the extra stepper driver is important; and I'm running the LPC/STM32 port of RepRapFirmware on the board, which makes the extra RAM desirable. You could do everything I've done so far with the SKR v1.4 Turbo, but the SKR Pro provides a little more breathing room for future expansion. Overall, I'm very happy with this upgrade; it makes my R1+ much easier to use. That's more because of RepRapFirmware than because of the SKR Pro board per se, though. If you plan to stick with Marlin, I'm not sure that upgrading to a 32-bit board would really offer that much of an advantage, unless there's some other feature (like extra stepper drivers or other I/O) that you want.

 

I've seen those youtube videos before and I jus am not a fan of the rails being attached to the bed because each rail feels very heavy, like at least a pound each(guesstimating).

The piece of glass that came out of my print bed was about 1cm wide at the smallest so I think putting a layer of anything thin over it like buildtak would not work super well. I might consider using a silicone heater. What size was the heater that you ordered? Also do you know what the size of the stock kapton heater is? I also do not know how I would attach a thermistor or what thermistor would be good for the job.

As far as using a bigtreetech skr turbo v1.4 I do not need the extra stepper motor driver. What advantages does RepRapFirmware have over Marlin 2.0?

 

That mirrors the stock design. I suspect that Robo3D did it that way in the original so as to keep the footprint of the printer smaller, to help with shipping and storage. If you compare a Robo3D R1+ to something like a Prusa i3, the latter has huge chunks extending out in front and back for its bed rails. You could always do it that way, of course, but you'll end up with the same issue of increased footprint. That might be fine; it won't really affect the area required when the printer is operating, after all.

My bed has chunks that are about that size, too. My PEI sheet seems to cover them OK. That said, I'm not happy with that, and my PEI sheet solution is only temporary. Although the ultra-smooth finish that a glass bed can produce is sometimes nice, overall I prefer the aluminum bed on my homemade Kossel XL.

I ordered one that's 250mm x 250mm:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07PJSPD1F/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I didn't notice when I placed the order that it's being shipped from China, so it'll be a while before I get it. The ad is unclear on this detail, but this type of heater often has a built-in thermistor. If mine doesn't, then I'll drill a small hole somewhere and embed one in the new aluminum bed. (I've got one or two spares.) That would likely be harder with a glass bed, though.

I've never used Marlin 2.0.x, so I can't speak to it specifically; I can only compare to Marlin 1.1.x. Some highlights:

• Duet Web Control (DWC) -- This provides the ability to upload files to print via a Web browser, or direct from some slicers, obviating the need to juggle SD cards or dedicate a computer (or Raspberry Pi running OctoPrint) to print. It also enables remote monitoring and control of the printer, graphs of temperature, multiple estimates of completion time, and more. These features are similar to what OctoPrint provides, but IMHO the DWC interface is cleaner and less trouble-prone.
  
• Easier configuration -- Configuring Marlin often requires recompiling it from source and re-flashing it. With RRF, you can just edit a configuration file, which is much faster. The DWC provides a text editor for this purpose -- click on a configuration file and you can edit it in your Web browser.
  
• Advanced features -- RRF has led Marlin in implementing certain advanced features. Under Marlin 1.x, for instance, AFAIK there's no way to get it to align the R1+'s two lead screws, so they tend to go out of alignment, leaving the X-axis gantry off-kilter compared to the bed. (I don't know if you've had that problem. I did, and it drove me nuts!) RRF provides a way to correct such problems automatically. (I gather that Marlin 2.0.x finally adds something similar, but I don't know the details.)
• Fewer bugs -- In my experience, Marlin is buggy. Every version I've tried has done weird and undesirable things, like give me false alarms about thermal excursions if I change the target temperature before the original is reached. RRF is much less buggy, in my experience. That said, I haven't tried Marlin 2.0.x; it may be better. Marlin effectively lost me as a user before 2.0.x was released. (That version came out before I upgraded my motherboard, but I by that time I'd experienced RRF on my Kossel XL, and I was so frustrated with Marlin that I was disinclined to give its 2.0.x version a try.)

Speaking subjectively, even after I added a 12864 LCD panel and OctoPrint to my R1+, controlling it felt like driving from the back seat of a car using a system of pulleys. With RRF, control is much more direct and easy; I'm finally sitting in the driver's seat, as it were.

Be aware that RRF now runs on a variety of 32-bit boards, including the BTT SKR v1.4 that you're considering. Another you might want to consider is the Mellow FLY-CDY:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005001701631493.html

Unfortunately, I can't seem to find it on Amazon, and buying from AliExpress means it'll take about a month to arrive (assuming you're in the US or Europe). Cost would be similar to the BTT SKR v1.4, once you add a color LCD controller; but it comes with a built-in WiFi module, so there'd be a little less hassle in setting that up if you go with RRF. It's also got six stepper driver sockets, which you say you don't need, but the option is there for more expansion if you want it in the future. If you're happy with Marlin and don't want to experiment with RRF, then the SKR v1.4 would likely be safer in some ways because it's a more popular board.

 

I think I am probably going to stick with Marlin for now. I don't feel like learning how to do everything in RRF because I have spent a lot of time learning Marlin and making adjustments. My main concern now is the issue with the bed. The most difficult part of it is just making or finding a Y-carriage for the glass bed to sit on. One of the main things I want is to make sure to keep it as light as possible so I can ideally print at higher speeds with less noise and less frame vibration.

 

Fair enough. You might check the RepRap wiki, which has a number of designs archived. You might find some inspiration there:

https://reprap.org/wiki/RepRap_Options