Difference between revisions of "Cyclops & Chimera Documentation"

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If you have elected to use the grub screw holes between the fins, at this stage you may need to remove the fan.
 
If you have elected to use the grub screw holes between the fins, at this stage you may need to remove the fan.
  
'''BEFORE PRINTING - MAKE SURE YOU GO AND READ THE [Cyclops_%26_Chimera_Documentation#Software_and_Printing_Guidelines. CYCLOPS & CHIMERA PRINTING GUIDELINES], NO MATTER HOW EXPERIENCE YOU ARE!'''
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[[File:Cyclops Assembly - Complete.jpg|thumb|left|Cyclops assembly complete.]]
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'''BEFORE PRINTING - MAKE SURE YOU GO AND READ THE [[Cyclops & Chimera_Documentation#Software_and_Printing_Guidelines. CYCLOPS & CHIMERA PRINTING GUIDELINES]], NO MATTER HOW EXPERIENCED YOU ARE!'''
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Revision as of 16:23, 21 January 2015

This page will guide you through what constitutes the Cyclops, Chimera, and Legends Pack kits. As well as how to assemble these kits and guidelines for the use of them. It is imperative that this documentation is read in full as the steps do need to be followed in a very particular order, and there are certain actions that must be avoided in order to prevent failures or even damaging your parts.

What’s In the Box

Depending on what you have ordered, your shipment will contain a selection of the following bags:
Cyclops Cold Side Cyclops Hot Side Chimera Hot Side
Cyclops YES YES NO
Chimera YES NO YES
Legends Pack YES YES YES

Assembly Instructions

The assembly instructions are broken down into 3 stages - one for each of the bags.

Cyclops (& Chimera) Cold Side

Cyclops & Chimera share the same cold side. The cold side mounts to your carriage and allows you to easily swap them out as required.

Bag Contents:

  • 1 x Cyclops / Chimera Heatsink
  • 1 x 30x30x10 Fan
  • 2 x Embedded Bowden Couplings for Metal
  • 2 x Threaded Bowden Couplings with Collets Inserted
  • 1 x Bag of Fixings
  • 1 x Sachet of Thermal Paste
  • 1600mm of PTFE Tube 4mm OD, 2mm ID

Note:

  • The embedded bowden couplings for metal are pre-installed. Their collets will be enclosed in the Cyclops Cold Side bag.

Assembly Steps

Fan

Fan being screwed into block. Sticker facing towards fins.

Screw fan onto heatsink using the two supplied silver self tapping screws for metal. The sticker of the fan must face towards to fins of the heatsink in order that the fan blows air through the heatsink.


Note:

  • Use the top-right and bottom-left screw holes avoiding the small pilot holes which are designed to accept standard M3 machine screws.

Bowden Users (almost all of you)

Collets being pushed into Embeded Bowden Couplings.

Pop in the black plastic embedded bowden coupling collets into the holes with the already inserted brass ring.

Direct Users

If you are using the Cyclops / Chimera in a direct configuration then do not insert the collets unless you know you need them - they can be tricky to remove. Remember you will still need to use the PTFE tubing to run from your extruders down through the heatsink and into the heat breaks. Failure to do so will result in the filament being under constrained causing you trouble.

Heat Break grub screws

Loosely placing heat break retaining M3 grub screws.

Insert the small M3 grub screws into the holes shown below. These grub screws are used to tighten against the heat breaks later. For now just insert them and thread them in by one full turn only. Please ensure that you use the M3 grub screws supplied in the cold side fixings kit and not the ones supplied in the hot side kit. They are subtly different and mixing them up will result in damage.

Mounting Screws

The fixings bag will also contain 3x M3 dome headed screws and washers which are for mounting the heatsink to your printer.

PTFE Guidelines

Once you have assembled your Chimera or Cyclops hot-side parts according to the appropriate instructions below you should insert the PTFE tubing into the top of the heatsink, through the collets (where applicable). Ensuring the tubing passes all the way down into the counterbores in the heatbreaks.

While pushing the tubing firmly into the hotend pull up on the small black collet, this will pre-tension the tubing locking it into place and eliminating any slack or wiggle in the bowden system.

Cyclops HotSide

Bag Contents

  • 1 x Cyclops Switching Heater Block
  • 2 x Cyclops Heat Breaks
    • They can be identified apart from Kraken heat breaks by the small flats milled into the threaded section. [File:Cyclops Kraken Heat Break Side-by-Side.jpg Side-by-Side]
  • 1 x Heater Cartridge
  • 1 x Thermistor Kit
  • 1 x Thermistor Cable
  • 1 x Bag of Fixings (labelled: Cyclops Hot Side)

Assembly Steps

Finger-tight assembly steps.

These steps will be finalised while hot, so only tighten components up to the point where they will not come loose.

2.5mm ball held in tweezers above sealing hole.
2.5mm shown sitting in hole.
Putting M4 Screw in place to hold sealing ball.
Showing both screws inserted into block.

Balls & M4 Grubs: Each side in turn, insert a ball into the sealing hole with an M4 grub screws loosely screwed in behind it to hold it in place.

Loosely screwing in heat breaks.

Heat Breaks: Screw the two Heat-Breaks into the top of the heater block. Note the use of Cyclops Heat Breaks which compared to Kraken Heat Breaks have a partial thread, spanner flats and are marginally longer.

Screwing 0.4mm Cyclops nozzle into Cyclops block.

Nozzle: Screw the nozzle into the heater block. Cyclops nozzles are specific to Cyclops and v6-Ecosystem nozzles cannot be used.


Heater Cartridge

Heater Cartridge inserted into Cyclops block.

Insert the Heater Cartridge and fix in place with the knurled point M3 grub screw provided in the fixings kit. Have the legs coming out to the left with the thermistor holes facing you. This will provide additional strain relief for thermistor later.

Thermistor

Cutting the sleeving to length. Sleeving on thermistor.

Cut the blue glass-fiber sleeving into 2 x 35mm lengths and slide them onto the legs of the thermistor.

Thermistor bent into initial shape.

Holding the thermistor between your finger and thumb, make a 90º bend in the legs about 5mm from the tip of the bead.

Thermistor secured into place with M3 screw and washer.

Place the bead of the thermistor into the hole, and fasten in place using the M3x4 screw and washer. Use your fingernails to keep the sleeving under the washer whilst tightening.

Visually check that the blue sleeving is insulating the legs of the thermistor right down to the bead. If the legs make electrical contact with the block or each other your temperature readings will be incorrect and you risk overheating.

Strip the ends of your thermistor cabling ~5mm.

Strip the ends of the red and black thermistor cable (~5mm) and put a length of heatshrink over each wire.

Thermistor with ferrules and hooks formed.

Place a ferrule on each sleeved thermistor leg, if you have the flared mouth of the ferrule pointing away from the HotEnd it makes it easier to push them over the wires later.

Form the thermistor wire and bare portion of the thermistor legs into hooks, and hook the legs together.

Ferrule in place ready for crimping.

Push the ferrule over the bare portions of the wires ready to crimp into place.

Ferrule crimped in place.

Crimp the ferrules by firmly crushing them with a pair of pliers. You can use a fancy ferrule crimping tool if you have one, but it's not needed.

Repeat the process for the other leg.

Thermistor cable tied to heater cartridge for strain relief.

Push the ferrule over the bare portions of the wires ready to crimp into place.

Heatshrink in place ready for shrinking.
Heatshrink shrunk with hot air gun.

Slide the heatshrink down over the now crushed ferrules and shrink into place with a heat source such as a soldering iron, hot air gun or even a flame.

Hot Tighten

In the following stages we are going to configure the HotEnd in firmware then go on to do the final hot-tighten of the HotEnd. These steps are important because when the heater block cools back down it will contract and form a tight seal.

Important: put the HotSide on something that will be able to take the heat.

Connect up to your electronics and heat up to 290*C.

For each of the following steps, grip the heater block with a spanner or other tool e.g. a pair of pipe grips. Be sure to grip in such a way that you don’t do any damage to the thermistor. Note: The heater block will be cooled by contact with the spanner so pause between each component to allow the temperature to rise again.

Hot-Tighten of M4 grub screws against balls.

The Balls: Begin tightening the M4 grub screws, you will feel the balls slide along the under-sized hole as they progress forwards. When you feel the resistance increase significantly, the balls have reached the end of their travel and you are done. The grub screws should now be approximately flush with the surface of the block.

Hot-Tighten of Heat Breaks.

Heat Breaks: Use the supplied spanner to tighten up the heat breaks. You should get ⅛ to ¼ turn out of them now that everything is hot.

Hot-Tighten of Nozzle.

Nozzle: Use a 6mm spanner to tighten up the nozzle. As with the heat breaks you should get ⅛ to ¼ turn.

Allow the HotSide to cool.

Assemble onto HeatSink

Starting to apply heatsink compound.
Heatsink compound applied sparingly to heat breaks.

Apply heatsink compound (thermal grease) onto the surface of the heat breaks sparingly.

Inserting Cyclops into the heatsink 1/3.
Inserting Cyclops into the heatsink 2/3.
Inserting Cyclops into the heatsink 3/3.

Slide the heat breaks up into the Heat Sink.

Securing heat breaks in place with M3 grub screws - do not over-tighten!.

There are 4 grub screw holes on both sides of the heatsink to allow the user the choice of securing the Heat Breaks from the front or the back. Which is more convenient will depend on your mounting arrangements.

Important: The grub screws should be tightened up only enough to secure them, excessive tightening of the grub screws will damage the surface of the Heat Breaks and may cause them to become stuck inside of the heatsink.

If you have elected to use the grub screw holes between the fins, at this stage you may need to remove the fan.

Cyclops assembly complete.

BEFORE PRINTING - MAKE SURE YOU GO AND READ THE Cyclops & Chimera_Documentation#Software_and_Printing_Guidelines. CYCLOPS & CHIMERA PRINTING GUIDELINES, NO MATTER HOW EXPERIENCED YOU ARE!


Chimera (Dual v6) HotSide

Bag Contents

  • 2 x v6 Heater Blocks
  • 2 x v6 Nozzles
  • 2 x Kraken Heat Breaks
  • 2 x Heater Cartridges
  • 2 x Thermistor Kits
  • 2 x Thermistor Cables
  • 1 x Bag of Fixings (labelled: Dual v6 Hot Side Kit)

Assembly Steps

Follow the steps listed in the v6 documentation page to assemble the two HotSides. http://e3d-online.com/E3D-v6-Assembly Note the use of Kraken Heat Breaks which compared to Chimera Heat Breaks have a full thread, no spanner flats and are marginally shorter.

Assemble onto HeatSink

Apply heatsink compound (thermal grease) onto the surface of the heat breaks sparingly. Slide the heat breaks up into the Heat Sink. There are 4 grub screw holes on both sides of the heatsink to allow the user the choice of securing the Heat Breaks from the front or the back. Which is more convenient will depend on your mounting arrangements. Notes: The grub screws should be tightened up only enough to secure them, excessive tightening of the grub screws will damage the surface of the Heat Breaks and may cause them to become stuck inside of the heatsink. You may need to remove the fan to get to the holes depending on which set you have chosen to use.


The Transformation - Switching between Chimera and Cyclops

The Chimera and Cyclops have been designed to share the same heatsink and be interchangeable. Really there are no surprises here, but just a few notes.

We have provided you with full sets of electronics for each HotSide so there is no need to remove the thermistor or heater cartridge making switching quick and easy. Be gentle with the Heat Breaks - there is 0.05mm clearance between the inside of the HeatSink and the Heat Breaks. Damage to the surface can cause you trouble getting them in and out. We have provided cup-point grub screws to minimise risk of damage, you may want to add something extra in there. When swapping, ensure that all the thermal compound doesn’t get scraped off the heat breaks. The HeatSink does less cooling than v6 and The Kraken making the thermal gradient is smaller. The compound ensures that the Heat Breaks get enough cooling.

Mounting Considerations

The heatsink has 3 mounting holes on the back face, opposite the fan, and also 3 mounting holes available on the top face. These are provided to allow easy design of mounting systems for most printers. You should only need to use one set of the three holes. It is important to respect the airflow from the fan and over the heatsink. The air must be able to enter the fan from the front face, and crucially it must be able to exit from the side of the heatsink without being impeded. If the airflow over the fins is restricted then the hotend will overheat, and will fail to function.

The heatbreaks slide into the heatsink and are adjustable to an extent, by loosening the grub screws that clamp the heatbreaks inside the heatsink the heatbreaks will be able to slide in and out of the heatsink. In Chimera this is useful as the nozzles can each be individually levelled with respect to the axes. However it is important not to set the heatbreaks so that they are too far out of the heatsink. Any more than 1mm of the smooth portion of the heatsink protruding from the heatsink can cause issues. If using the 3x mounting screws on the back face of the heatsink do remember to provide access for an allen key to be able to undo the heatbreak securing grub-screws.


Software and Printing Guidelines.

Our preferred software stack is to use Repetier-Firmware on the printer, Cura to produce GCode, with Repetier-Host to arrange and pre-process multi-material 3D models. As ever, there are a plethora of other software options that you may wish to experiment with, however we have found the above combination to be the easiest to get great results from.

Chimera

Chimera can be broadly treated as a pair of standard hotends, and does not require any particular special treatment. It is important to ensure that your bed, axes, and nozzles are all tram and correctly aligned to ensure that nozzles do not collide with prints. Large amounts of retraction on tool change can cause issues with restarting extrusion; if a large retraction value (5mm+) is used soft filament is pulled into cold zones where it can freeze into place.

Cyclops

Cyclops requires some care and precautions with regards to slicing settings and setup. The main point to understand is that if a filament is not present in both heatbreaks and fully towards the bottom of the heatbreaks into the heated zone then there nothing stopping liquid plastic from back-flowing up the empty heatbreak and making a horrible mess of the cold side of the hotend. Always ensure filament is present in both heatbreaks before attempting to extrude in order to prevent back-flow.

When inserting filament for the first time it is a good idea to insert the filament into the hotend as far as they will go when cold, and then heat up the hotend to printing temperature.

When configuring your slicer for dual extrusion pay attention to the length of retraction used on tool change. Slicers often assume that you are using a fairly conventional hotend and attempt to fully retract the filament out of the hot zone of the hotend with a long retraction when switching hotends. This can cause the filament to be retracted too far out of the idle heatbreak and allow back-flow.

In general we have found that a 1mm standard retraction works well for most situations. Retraction on tool change works well when set to a value of around 1.5-2mm. Any longer than this and back-flow may occurr.

Cura has a useful dual extrusion feature called “Wipe and Prime Tower”. This feature creates a sacrificial tower-object which when the printer has to change extruders the printer will use to purge out the old colour before continuing with the next part of the print. Cyclops works well with values of around 25-35 mm^3 depending on the type of filament being used and the strength of the colours. In general we find ABS produces much crisper switches than PLA with lower purge volumes, and also seems to produce slightly better quality prints.