TL-Smoothers installed on Ultimaker 2+ Extended

[RetromanIE 41]

I finally finished the TL Smoother install on my Ultimaker 2+ Extended. 

 

Smoothers:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07GR5SNNG

Heatsinks:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07NVF5BYY/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I used the below smoother case as a start and redesigned it a little to suit my needs.

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3499652

 

Before the heatsinks and better smoother case tops.

 

Heatsinks and smoother case tops with XYZ cutouts installed.

 

I also grabbed a concrete slab to use as a base for the printer(was using thin granite before this). I covered the corners with some spongy/rubbery material and left the centre uncovered to help with cooling. 

 

I'm still testing the smoothers but they have definitely reduced/removed the salmon skin/zebra stripes on my prints. A side effect of the smoothers seems to be quieter operation of the printer. I'm not sure it's actually more silent(as in the decibel level), but the tone has changed and seems lower and less noticeable. One thing, definitely get heatsinks if you are going to be using these, they get hot and you want to be pulling as much of that heat away as possible. I also installed heatsinks on the stepper driver chips on the main pcb in case they get hotter while running with the smoothers installed(they run pretty warm as it is anyway).

 

I'll continue testing and report any issues here.

 

 

 

.

 

Edited April 25, 2019 by RetromanIE

[neotko 1,417]

Looks nice and clean, my only 'but' is that the heat craw will go up affecting the small boards and the printed part. The smothers easily get to 60-70C so you better print that on something else than pla or that enclosure will deform just like the plastic covers they sell with them.

 

The other issue of the smoothers is the torque is reduced, so if you get a x/y slipping change the travel speed for non printing moves. I also observed a lot of torque lost on the extruder, so check that if you print at the limit or raise the hotend temperature to compensate the torque. 

 

For reference

 

[RetromanIE 41]

I didn't install a smoother on the extruder, is there still a chance of loss of torque on that without the smoother? My travel speed is usually 120-150mm/s and no slippage so far(its early days in the testing though).

As for the case, its ABS Pro from formfutura and i've tested it myself up to 110c without any issue, so it should be ok. 

 

 

[RetromanIE 41]

@neotko

Did you install a smoother on the extruder?

[neotko 1,417]

3 hours ago, RetromanIE said:

@neotko

Did you install a smoother on the extruder?

 

I did at that time of test, also got a x/y shift months after. In the end like I say on the other post I just moved out to duet3d and been enjoying the quality of life of a proper 32bit cpu with trinamic steppers. Happy printer, happy life

[RetromanIE 41]

Ok, so I don't have any before and after pics ready at the moment. But the smoothers have definitely improve the print quality. The zebra stripes/salmon skin is gone completely on most prints and only slightly visible on some others. For the prints that you can still see the effect, I'd say it's a 90% reduction from before. 

 

[randyinla 14]

I just did the solder solution for my a4988 stepper drivers on my U3Ext.  I performed the hack on all 5 stepper drivers (x,y,z, extruder 1 & 2) because the issue is with the 2 missing/softer steps on all steppers, not just the ones that move the gantry/bed.  How much those missing steps can affect the actual pressure through the nozzle is up for debate (may not affect it at all), but I figured might as well fix all of the similar devices instead of just x,y,z.

 

Seeing the heat sinks on the smoothers makes me wonder... Do the original stepper drivers also get hot with either the addition of smoothers or the "solder over the resistors" hack I did?  I don't want to possibly butn them out because I didn't know.

[RetromanIE 41]

13 minutes ago, randyinla said:

I just did the solder solution for my a4988 stepper drivers on my U3Ext.  I performed the hack on all 5 stepper drivers (x,y,z, extruder 1 & 2) because the issue is with the 2 missing/softer steps on all steppers, not just the ones that move the gantry/bed.  How much those missing steps can affect the actual pressure through the nozzle is up for debate (may not affect it at all), but I figured might as well fix all of the similar devices instead of just x,y,z.

 

Seeing the heat sinks on the smoothers makes me wonder... Do the original stepper drivers also get hot with either the addition of smoothers or the "solder over the resistors" hack I did?  I don't want to possibly butn them out because I didn't know.

 

I put heatsinks on the original stepper drivers as well. They did get a little hotter than normal with the addition of the tl smoothers. Heatsinks are so cheap it just seems like the sensible thing to do, even without any modification.

[randyinla 14]

36 minutes ago, RetromanIE said:

 

I put heatsinks on the original stepper drivers as well. They did get a little hotter than normal with the addition of the tl smoothers. Heatsinks are so cheap it just seems like the sensible thing to do, even without any modification.

Yeah.  Makes sense.

[TeckKonceptz 1]

On 4/29/2019 at 6:08 AM, RetromanIE said:

Ok, so I don't have any before and after pics ready at the moment. But the smoothers have definitely improve the print quality. The zebra stripes/salmon skin is gone completely on most prints and only slightly visible on some others. For the prints that you can still see the effect, I'd say it's a 90% reduction from before. 

 

Can you share some of your current prints with TL- smoothers installed ? Im on the fence about doing the Duet swap but Im a little hesitant as the the Z endstop is still a little bit of a concern.

[LePaul 331]

I've been wondering about adding smoothers to my UM2+ as on some prints, it's very noticeable.  

I have followed this thread and a few others, wondering about before and after result prints.

90% reduction sounds great!

I was looking at your original post and was wondering if the addition of a 5015 blower fan for some airflow over the smoothers would be overkill or not?

 

[neotko 1,417]

2 hours ago, LePaul said:

I've been wondering about adding smoothers to my UM2+ as on some prints, it's very noticeable.  

I have followed this thread and a few others, wondering about before and after result prints.

90% reduction sounds great!

I was looking at your original post and was wondering if the addition of a 5015 blower fan for some airflow over the smoothers would be overkill or not?

 

 

With this summer nothing is an overkill. Ofc I prefer my duet3Ds 😄