New Toy arrived

OK I have been thinking that I need to invest in a small CNC machine to build prototype circuit boards to for my hobby.

So a few months back I was looking to pay about £100 -£150 at most for a machine to learn with, so I started to research in what they call hobby CNC machines and there are many types of them out there to choose now days !

Things I had to take into consideration with the machine

• value for money
• space to fit it 
• can it be upgraded
• limitations 

After a few weeks of looking into CNC machines I found there are a lot of hobby machines that I liked but at the moment I only have a 500x500 space to use at this time, so I started to look into the group of CNC machines that are mainly made in China the machine models are called  1610,2418, 3018, 3020, 3040, 6040. 

The model numbers are actually the bed size for example 1610 is a 16x10cm bed size and so on. some of these machines are in my price range and look to be able to upgrade and 3d print parts to assist with making stuff.

After a bit more research I chose to go with the 3018 as it was just in my price range again there was a few to choose from there is a 3018, 3018 pro and a 3018 pro max, 

• The standard has 20x20 aluminium sections for the main frame and some braces to help hold the frame work and 
• The pro has 20x40 side sections and thick plastic uprights and front sections and is apparently more rugged 
• The pro max has the side screens to help limit the mess and protect more from a bit braking in use

I ended up paying £160 pro version at the time from Amazon as I thought it looked nicer and its more rugged it arrived in less than a week.

When you open the box it's all in pieces to assemble with the help of the instruction manual, looking at the manual it's a bit basic on the building instructions of the kit, so I would recommend using YouTube to guide you if you have never done anything like this before.

This  is a helpful 

Take your time getting it right especially the screws for the x and y-axis movement to the motors, if its slightly off it will cause problems with its operation when in use.

Taking the mic

Happy that the printer seems to be working OK, I decided to clear out some part spools I have sat around and taking up space, I decided to print some radio parts for my radio projects.

I had a look through thingiverse and found some bits to print for my ubitx v4 radio I'm slowly starting to make into a portable radio, for going mobile with it.

All his info for the build is here

 

I came across a mic that makes use of the original parts in the kit, I downloaded the files and found the ppt button to need a lot of support whatever way you try to print it, so I set up a few ways to try to print it, in the end the best print I got was with it on the side.

I think it worked quite well, what do you think?

This is my video of my case

A cable has been ordered for the finish of the build 

Bye bye BLTouch

I have had probe on my printer for years now and never had an issue, last year I built an enclosure out of lack tables and I found things with the original sensor going strange. I had to keep adjusting the offsets to the bed I was damaging nozzles and digging into the bed.

My suspicion was at the time the cheap 3D touch was worn out or the hats was affecting it, when I had some money I purchased an original antclabs bltouch v3 sensor 

It arrived in January and once the time arose the new sensor got fitted, and tested and for some reason it still didn't work as well as it could have so it was time to start looking at the code.

I downloaded marlin 2.0.5.3 and went through a lot of YouTube videos and wrote down notes on how to use the new marlin and in fact the vs code that I haven't used before

it was then I got into adjusting the code to work the to work for my ender3, I did struggle at points as things  have moved around in the files, it took many attempts to get the code to work and I still could not get it to work correctly.

At 9pm last night I decided for now to go back to a standard z stop switch and change the firmware to suit 

New Hotend

(left bigtreetech mk8 all metal and right is a stock mk8)

ok as part of my radio fun I also have a 3d printer, its and ender 3 that is modified in a few ways.

I have been trying out different all metal hot ends to find one that is a sensible price as there are some very good all metal hot ends that are very expensive and there are as i have found some very cheap all metal hot ends that are not worth entertaining.

The cheapest one I have found that works is the bigtreetech mk8 all metal hot end, it is what it says it is and it is a close comparison to an all metal hot end made by an American company that is twice the price of one of this one.

Here is the link and make sure you choose the mk8 version

It's a good quality hot end for the price that will fit directly to my carriage plate with no issues and works perfectly with my direct drive design.

The main thing that make this hot end different to a standard hot end is the heat sink only allows the ptfe tube to go in a short, as way then the bore is machined just wide enough to take a 1.75mm filament. compared to a stock mk8 hot end that the tube seats right on to the back of the nozzle.

Then the heat brake fits into a socket and a grub screw holds it into the heat sink, this allows little chance of the filament causing a blockage 

Why change to an all metal hot end you ask?

• I'm currently printing with a lot of petg filament that needs to have a temp of up to 250 degrees and I have found I'm getting issues with the filament blocking in the bottom of the ptfe tube, when removing it I find the bottom of the tube deformed and scorched, this is because I'm at or close to its maximum working temperature of ptfe tube. 
• When exceeding the max working temperature it can cause the ptfe tube to melt and give off poisonous fumes! (the thermistors are not 100 percent accurate)
• When refitting the ptfe tube end needs to be cut absolutely straight and clean or it to will cause more blockage and clog issues (trust me I have found out)

An alternative that I didn't try with the stock hot end was Capricorn tube, it can apparently cope with a bit more heat compared to the standard ptfe tube and some point in the future I  intend to push my printer to print other filaments that need to go up to temperatures above Capricorn tube. 

Amazon did good

Well 1350 on Sunday and the screen arrived brilliant service, and brilliant packaging, try installing the ubitx information tomorrow when I get time.

Amazon for the Win

After my disappointment before the weekend I decided I would try trusty Amazon, as im a prime member things get delivered next day (in this pandemic things don’t always arrive same day but they are usually within a week and it keeps you updated)

So I ordered a Nextion 3.2 inch screen and it says it will arrive on Sunday let’s wait and see.

Ubitx modifications to work with the Nextion screens.

The raduino board behind the display houses an Arduino nano, to fit a nextion screen to your Ubitx board you need to flash a newer firmware to the Arduino!

If your screen allows you to select a com port and set it to nano 328p like and the baud rate, like in the picture below ignore the ch340 and the Arduino IDE steps and scroll down to the Xloader section.

 I found some issues with this so I thought I would share my findings for others that have never worked with the Arduino microcontrollers before, this is updating the Arduino are two diffrent parts that make the nextion screen work

Skills needed:
soldering

Ok before I start I recommend you buy an Arduino nano328p  as they unplug from the board (I recommend buying without the header pins fitted as header pins are fitted to the top of the board), you can find these on amazon and ebay for less than £5. and the origonal nano is there and working should you need to go back to the lcd screen for any reason.

Tools needed:
soldering iron
mini usb lead (not a micro usb)
tools to get to your raduino board if fitted into a case

Software needed:
ch340 driver Here
Arduino IDE here
Xloader here (auters websire not available)

The Driver:

Ok install the ch340 driver is needed for most of the Arduino Nano boards as they are clones and use this driver board. Sometimes this fails to install properly on winnows 10 it informs you of this, restart the installer and click uninstall, once uninstalled click install and it should work.

Arduino IDE:

I did this as im not sure why but I could not get xloader to flash the firmware across to the board until I uploaded a program through the IDE for some reason!

ok on the site there are many ways to use it from a web interface to a windows app or download it and install to the computer. I have tried the app but some of the projects I have made have had issues with flashing the firmware to the boards for some reason. So I downloaded the IDE and installed manually.

If you don’t use official Arduino boards for your projects I recommend making a donation to them for all their hard efforts making the software so you can work with these boards.#

Ok once installed restart your computer.

When its restarted plug the Arduino into the computer, the computer should make a noise saying its recognized it’s been plugged in and the power light should come on and the nano

Now start the Arduino ide.

Click on file on the top menu then go down to examples > basics>blink, the blink text should show in the main editor box.

Then click on tools in the top menu scroll down to Board then a side menu comes out and find nano.

Then in tools scroll down to processor and select the atmega328p (old version) I believe the new version is only on the newer official nano boards)

Also in tools check the port no is correct for the board its easier if there are no other usb connected to the computer at the time

Then below the file menu there are some icons, click on the right arrow next to the tick (should say upload) this will send the blink file to the Arduino details as it goes information will come up in the bottom of the ide and a progress bar will tell you what’s going on.

If you look at the four led lights by the reset button on the board the tx and rx leds will flicker very quickly when it says uploading in the ide at the bottom once done it will tell you what its done and if it was successful

Ok if that works without fault leave the board connected and open xloader

Xloader:

Ok sometimes its as easy to set up xloader you open it and it it works straight off, if your reading this you may be having a bit of fun getting to this point

I downloaded the nano firmware from HAMSKEY and unpacked it, there are two files one for the v2,3,4 boards and one for the v5 board open the correct file to your version Ubitx board and open the read me file and it tells you what file you need for your UbitX.

In x loader

The top line hex file is the file you want to flash to the nano click on the square with the dots to find your hex file and the path for that file once you open it comes up in the white box

Use the drop down menu and select duemilanove/nano (atmega328)

Com port needs to be the port of your nano, the same as you used in the IDE

Baud rate should set when you choose the device but don’t use any more than 57600

Press upload and it should come up with whats happening in the very bottom of program, it should take less than 30 seconds from pressing the upload button, again tou will see the tx and rx lights flash on the board and when they stop the program will confirm if its worked or not.

This nano is ready to swap out with the other nano on the raduino

NOTE: the Nextion screen wont work until you upload the files to the nextion screen, that will be done once I receive my screen