Smokey ,The Ender 3 ,3D Printer

Due to the machine possessing a warped and uneven aluminium bed , the stock BuildTak build plate produced unreliable print results. As such a Glass Ultra-base coated print bed, which provides a levelled and flat print surface was installed onto the machine. In addition to being levelled , such a glass bed also is coated with an Ultra-base coating of which adheres to printed parts whilst the bed is heated and releases upon cooling , further enabling reliable 3D printing.

To prevent the deformation of parts being printed due to draughts, of which causes uneven cooling of such parts, an enclosure was built around the printer. Such enclosure prevents draughts whilst capturing heated air, allowing for an increased ambient temperature around the build plate of the machine during printing, allowing for the manufacture of ABS and PETG components.

However, via convection, the heat tends to "pool" towards the top of the enclosure, instead of within the printing area, leading to anomalous expansion of the machine's aluminium frame and components with little print benefit. As such an Anti-Convection system was incorporated into the machine enclosure.

The system is composed of a Thermostat module, an Air Circulation Module and a Filter Module. The Thermostat module measures the temperature of the top of the enclosure and once the temperature at the top of the enclosure possesses a sizable difference to that of the bottom of the enclosure , this module engages the Air Circulation Module.

Once activated , the Air Circulation Module redistributes the hot air from the top of the machine to that of the bottom of the machine via the use of two 12 volt Computer fans and a clear pipe system. Such ensures even heating of the entire enclosure , at an ambient temperature above that of the room's temperature , overall saving energy.

Within the Air Circulation Module, there is a Filter module , through which all circulated air passes. This module is composed of an Activated Carbon Filter of which removes particulate materials, produced during the printing process , most noticeable when printing materials such as ABS.

Due to the overall increase in the ambient temperature via means of the enclosure, the machine's electronics would be exposed to temperatures above room temperature for prolonged periods. This can be especially detrimental to the longevity of the stepper motors of the machine , which themselves generate heat. As such specialized fan brackets were designed and mounted onto the X and Y axis stepper motors , which are the most used within the machine assembly. To these brackets, 80 millimetre Computer fans were mounted of which run in conjunction with the enclosure's fan module and cool the X and Y axis stepper motors. These fans are also equipped with dust guards to ensure fan longevity.

For similar reasons as that of the Stepper Motor Cooling System, a snorkel was designed and attached to the cooling fan inlet for the machine Control board. This serves to allow the intake of cool external air into the Control Board Enclosure to ensure it maintains a steady temperature comparable to room temperature.

Such aids the overall longevity of the Printer's Control Board.

An incident occurred in which the machine's Hot end wires short-circuited with the machine's thermistor wires , leading to plumes of smoke being emitted from the machine leading to the printer being dubbed Smokey the 3D Printer.

Such an incident led to the damaging of the printer's Main Board , LCD Screen ribbon and the Hot end heater.

After such incident, the stock 90 Watt heater was upgraded to a higher power 120 Watt heater.

Similarly, as a consequence of the aforementioned incident , the stock Creality Main Board was upgraded to an SKR E3 V1.2 Main Board from Big Tree Tech. Such board was an upgrade to the Stock Main Board , possessing a 32-bit processing architecture and silent stepper motor drivers and a stock bootloader , all of which were absent from the stock mainboard.

However soon after being installed , another incident occurred in which the display wires were shorted due to a defect in the SKR E3 V1.2 Main Board , leading to irreparable damage to an LDC display and the Mainboard itself. Such an incident also led to the machine emanating grey smoke solidifying the machine's titular name.

After such an SKR E3 V2 Main Board was installed, which possessed a more reliable manufacturing and circuit board copper trace design.

As to improve my prototyping workflow, an Octoprint server running on a Raspberry Pi 3 was added to the printer. By default, a model must be sliced and processed and then placed onto a micro SD card , which must be manually be inserted into the 3D printer , as to print a 3D model. Such process was augmented with an Octoprint server running on a Raspberry Pi 3, whereby to start a Print all that is required is the upload of the model to the Server via WIFI, after which the server automatically feeds instructions to the 3D printer. Such a setup also allows for remote control and monitoring of the machine augmenting and improving the entire printing process.

Traditionally, an FDM 3D printer's print bed must be levelled, I.e. its height adjusted on all at all 4 points relative to the machine's nozzle , to ensure reliable printing. Such a process is often tedious and requires a lot of guesswork to achieve a reliable print output and often times is the make or break of a successful 3D print.

Such a process was automated via the use of a BL touch , a probe of which measures the height of the build plate at a specified number of points on a grid and alters its movements to suit. Via such a tool ,the Bed leveling can be mostly eliminated from the printing process , with Bed levelling only being required to ensure the difference in heights across the build plate is small to increase print reliability. A BL Touch has made a 10-minute setup process into a near-instantaneous one, which will take place before printing.

A common issue with the original Ender 3 is the waring of the filament inlet, through which filament is fed into the extruder. Such occurs due to the rubbing of the filament against such a part of which is plastic on this printer and this erosion can lead to a critical failure of the 3D printer during a print.

As to remedy such an issue , a Full Metal Extruder Motor Bracket was installed , of which is not prone to such an issue.

Another issue that plages Stock Ender 3 machines is that of stringing , i.e. the formation of unwanted strands and artefacts on the surface of a model due to material leaking from the nozzle of the hot end of the machine.

In addition to altering the retraction settings and E-steps of the machine , the Stock generic PTFE Tubing and coupler were replaced by Capricorn PTFE tubing and couplers.

These components however are very hard to remove when maintaining the machine , and such a problem was addressed by the Hassle Free PTFE Removal Tool.

Lastly, the Cap of the X-axis motor is adorned with a branded ISA CUSTOM badge based upon a similarly branded logo seen around the website and in the footer of the page.