The new Hexagon Hotend

I have one of the earliest ROBO 3D Printers. I've been reselling Hexagon Hotends on Amazon for a few months now, and I had been planning to mount one on my ROBO but didn't have time until this weekend. I popped up to this forum to see how other people have done it and noticed that the ROBO 3D team is now shipping the ROBO with the same Hexagon Hotends I'm selling!

So, before I start bubble gum and scotch taping things into place, I'd like to see how the ROBO team decided to configure the carriage and fans for the Hexagon. I'm thinking that the ROBO team probably took some time to come up with the best possible configuration and have a more elegant mounting solution than I would have used. Does anyone have pics of the new setup? Did the ROBO team modify the carriage? Did they do something really simple like screwing the small fan on the side, or did they come up with a new fan mount? Are they using a fan shroud for the Hexagon? A picture would tell 857 words.

 

They didn't modify the carriage at all. The hexagon mounts the same as the old J-heads and they use this fan shroud : https://www.dropbox.com/s/putwmqq55f6ku2j/Hex Fan.stl?dl=0
with a 25mm fan

 

That's way nicer than what I was going to do. I incorrectly assumed the fan and shroud would not fit under there. I'll download that file this evening and give it a shot this week. Thanks for the photo Mike, you're always a wealth of good info.

 

Another related question. what do you connect the 25mm fan wire to? Do you splice it into the existing 40mm fan wiring, or is there another spot on the ramps board it should be connected to?

Speaking of the ramps board, where do I download hexagon compatible firmware? My firmware limits my hot end temp to 239 C.

 

They plug into the red/black highlighted posts:



You need an always on power source, otherwise it will overheat.


The firmware depends on what kind of printer you have.

If you have auto-leveling switches, as seen in the image I posted originally, (to the right of the fan), then you need an Auto-level firmware with the True modifier enabled (Parallel switches)

https://www.dropbox.com/s/hd6djpsdaaqiumw/Auto_Level_6_10.zip


or if you have a machine screw that contacts a switch for the Z_min endstop, then you need a non-autolevel firmware, or an autolevel with the False modifier enabled (Series switches, single switch)

https://www.dropbox.com/s/04hedq3az25p92t/Auto_Level_Series_6_10.zip?dl=0

Which I also have a copy of that done up for E3D mods: https://www.dropbox.com/s/eqe5izgqc8fjon9/Auto_Level_Series_6_10_E3D.zip?dl=0

 

This is my hexagon setup. If you look at the rest of my thread you'll see info on installation.
http://forums.robo3dprinter.com/index.php?threads/Galaxius'-Printer.2903/#post-25996

 

Thanks folks! I thought I'd have it done by now but it looks like it will be a few days. I'll post after I get it running.

 

Mike,

I downloaded the second link - I have a machine screw that contacts a switch on the Z axis. I opened up the config to take a look and found this entry:

#define HEATER_0_MAXTEMP 240 //robo
#define HEATER_1_MAXTEMP 275
#define HEATER_2_MAXTEMP 275
#define BED_MAXTEMP 115

Don't I need to change that to a higher temp for the Hexagon?

What's the limit set to on new ROBO's that are shipping with the Hexagon?

 

340 is good for the hexagon but you won't need to go anywhere near that unless you're printing with exotic filaments. The hexagon is good to 400 I believe.

 

You bought a robo3d with a hexagon in it? Then you don't have a screw that contacts the Z limit switch. Just the X

 

No, I bought a ROBO 3D back in April with the Z limit switch. I bought it from someone who had been on an early list and wasn't using it, so it was already several months old. I'm getting rid of the plastic hotend and installing the metal Hexagon hotend.

The original firmware in my machine limited the hotend to 239 (240) degrees C. I want to be able to print at hotter temperatures with the Hexagon, so I need to change the firmware. I'm assuming that I need to use the Arduino 0023 software. I'm using the second configuration file you provided. Is that correct?

I may be imagining this but it seems like when I originally got the ROBO and installed MatterControl, it upgraded my firmware. If I reinstall MatterControl, will it overwrite the firmware?

 

Arduino IDE, and yes, use the Series firmware

MatterControl will only write over the firmware if you tell it to