03-03-2025 -- 3D printer upgrades, phase 2

Howdy all. It is still cold outside, and snow is still expected Thursday. But, it is better today than the last few. Almost 40 degrees this afternoon, and possibly hitting 50 degrees tomorrow before the fall back to winter.

I have gotten a little further with the reorganization in the 3D printer room.

First step was to get the printer off the workbench, and the AMS 4-color filament units disconnected and out of the way.

Thereby moving the mess to the other side of the room!

I now could remove the workbench and put the coffee table it its place. If you look below the coffee table you will see a bin with filament “poop”. Originally, I wanted the printer to the left on the table, but couldn’t get the poop slide and bin where it was needed. Thus this setup.

I was at this point last night when I was getting very frustrated because with this arrangement, the existing PTFE tubes weren’t long enough, and they are next to impossible to remove, without the proper tool. And I couldn’t find the tool… UGH.

After a lousy night’s sleep (maybe 1 hour total sleeping), I got up and re-attacked the setup. Found the PTFE tube remover, replaced the tubes with longer ones, and then had issues with the cables. I’ve bent the pins on one of the cables that go into the back of the printer. It needs replaced, but it is still functioning for now. I ordered new ones for the system.

One thing you can’t see, is I have used a drier for all of the reusable desiccant, in bins within the AMS units. You can see a square on the left one, and a circle on the right one, that are moisture meters. There is desiccant in containers holding those meters, and in each gap between what looks like 4 white columns in each AMS unit too.

What you can see, is the riser / slider is on the top of the printer, and is holding up the AMS unit above it. And, there are now LED strip lights illuminating the inside of the printer. That works well, but I don’t seem to have any USB 2.0 extension cables that I can run for the 3-5 feet to a power source. That one is plugged into a very, very old USB A extension cable that is like 20 feet long and is wrapped up and sitting on the desk.

I have shorter cables ordered that should have arrived today, but are now scheduled for two days from now. Those lights will be plugged into a USB charger that has Alexa capability so I can turn them on from anywhere.

Here is a final picture, for now, of it actually printing something. (Clips for holding the loose end of a filament roll).

The LED strip makes it so much easier to see what is happening.

Much more needs to be done. Like I now need to get that workbench to replace some crappy folding tables in the Laser Engraver room. And, the other 3D printer (Carbon X1) needs its light riser/slider installed. And there are other upgrades to both printers not yet done. But I can print again for now, and Enjoy Life.