Sunday, January 31, 2016

Fixing One 3D Printer so I Can Finish Another

While I have a perfectly good, highly modified Revolution XL 3D printer, I became interested in delta printers and decided a while back to build a Kossel Mini.  I sourced my own parts and recycled many parts from my first (long dead) RepRap Mendel.  Missing a few key parts and having been distracted by other more pressing projects, I let the incomplete build sit around for a long while until I could no longer let it gather dust and so I got back to it and moved it along.

Kossel Mini in progress
I had printed all the Kossel Mini's printed part using my RXL printer and I needed a couple more parts to break the logjam.  The problem was that my RXL no longer worked.  The hotend no longer heated and I was printerless.  A quick continuity test confirmed that my heater cartridge no longer was able to function.  Fortunately, I had a replacement on hand.  So I took apart my Micron3DP hotend:


The old dead heating block was covered with years of melted plastic and seemed overdue for a replacement.  I cut and stripped the wires on both sides and used butt connectors to attach the new heater block:


After the reassembly of the newly revitalized hotend, I took the RXL for a test drive and printed a couple of Bauhaus chess pieces for a friend with a growing set.  The end to this story is a happy one.