Building and using the BQ Hephestos Version 2 3DPrinter

It's the start of a new year - 2016 - Sales of 3D Printers are still on the increase.

In this post I'm looking at the new BQ Hephestos V2 3D printer kit -  (Pre-production version).

This is an easy-to-assemble 3D Printer kit aimed at individuals, makers, and the education sector.

Right now if you look around at some of the big 3D printing companies, it's all bad news, redundancies and re-organisations, shift in consumer demand, lots of excuses that 3D printing is not doing what they thought it would...

But that's just not the case for many smaller and middle-sized 3D printing manufactures as demand ramps up and things start to turn from more than just a hobby.

Some companies have so much demand that even the use of '3D Print-farms', making parts to make more 3D Printers, are not enough to keep up with increasing sales orders.

BQ is one of these fortunate companies with orders outstripping manufacturing capacity. They told me recently - "something was needed to increase and grow how many 3D Printer kits could be sold to an expanding and global audience" - Sales are good for BQ.

Prusa i3 - Hephestos Version 1 - Image from Bq.com

The original BQ Hephestos (Ver 1) is an Open-Source 'RepRap' made out of many 3D Printed parts and closely based on the popular Prusa i3 configuration.

BQ WitBox - Image from Bq.com

BQ's previous 3D Printer (The Witbox) Is also Open-Source, aimed at a higher overall specification and bigger, enclosed build area.

BQ have merged many of the best aspects of Witbox and Hephestos V1 and incorporated them into the Hephestos Version 2 (Kit) design.

I didn't have the opportunity to try out the Hephestos V1 or the Witbox, but I am familiar with the design. This post and video is about my experience using a pre-production Hephestos V2.

BQ have offices across Europe with a remit for education, and a willingness to be Open-Sourced in all they do. If you take a look over at the BQ 'Do It With Others - DIWO) - http://diwo.bq.com/ you can start to see what drives BQ forwards and how 3D printing is playing a significant part in this educational - maker direction.

One key aspect of the Hephestos V2 is that is uses no 3D Printed parts (well, it has one 3D printed fan duct, that's all). It's still all Open-Source and runs a customised version of the popular Marlin Firmware. It also still looks a little similar to the Prusa i3, but when you look closer it's had a completed re-design of the motion system and control electronics.

The Hephestos V2 is a great machine, as long as you take into account the limits of a cold build platform (not a problem for FilaFlex).


My introduction video for the Hephestos V2 explains more about the machine and what you can do with it -

Hephestos V2 Introduction video - (November 2015).

Please read below for further details and comments. An updated summary of the build, including some further enhancements and examples of printed parts from the Hephestos V2 can be seen my following video -

Hephestos V2 Update, pre-production build and machine upgrades -  (December 2015).

Kit Packaging...

Although the packaging is almost completely cardboard, it adds a considerable weight (pre-production kit packaging - things may change for the final version).


This is an ideal flexible plastic printer - 

If the Hephestos V2 printer was designed for anything in particular, I would say it was for printing in Flexible filaments like FilaFlex, NinjaFlex and SemiFlex - TPU / TPE materials.

The excellent extruder design allows 1.75mm flexibles to be printed very fast and accurately.

Certainly not everything is quite perfect, and I'm sure some of the pre-production issues will be ironed out before the launch and production shipments.

With the Hephestos V2, I'm not convinced that such a large build platform without a heated bed makes complete sense. But I do understand the benefit of having a low powered unit, for education sectors.

I have smaller delta printers (including my own 3DR design) that have no heated bed, I really like them, my children enjoy using them and they make sense because they have a small print area.

There is also no easy way to add a heated bed. The power supply can not deliver enough power and there is no easy way to mount either a PCB heater or a flexible silicone heat pad.

The electronic's do have options for a second extruder and possibly a heated bed, but the connector is not fitted on the version I have, so it will be interesting to see if BQ have a plan for customers that want or need a heated bed option.

In the video I show some of the key steps to build up this printer. It's easy to do, and the instructions are very clear and easy to follow.

I have also been experimenting with how well the Hephestos V2 prints in FilaFlex (It's fantastic).

All the great FilaFlex colours - Printed on the Hephestos V2 3D Printer.

I have also been printing a lot of moulds for various materials, including candle wax, soap, chocolate and clay. - More on this in a future blog post - keep a look out.

Casting materials (and foods) seem to release well from FilaFlex, so it's an easy process to design, make and use a 3D Printed flexible mould from the Hephestos V2.

Take a guess what this is...

This is a shock case for a Kindle Fire 7" tablet.

Designed to be easy to print and to protect the unit.

Inductive level sensing - 

The back of the glass build platform has a thin sheet of steel bonded to it. This is so the inductive sensor can accurately check the distance of the print nozzle to the build surface.

BQ have produced their own inductive sensor, it's fitted firmly behind the extruder and hot-end. Inductive sensors are good as a distance sensor because they don't require any physical contact to the surface.

You have to calibrate the sensor by setting the nozzle just touching the build plate and storing the offset distance, this is really easy to do with guided instructions on the LCD screen. My only frustration with this process is that you can't just easily change the offset distance value. The menu options make you do the level and distance process over again if it's not close enough for your first layer. (This was on the pre-production version - things may change before the machine is shipped).

Overall it's very accurate, I have not seen any deviation in sensing distance at all, the inductive sensor is a good solution for this type of 3D printer, it is not concerned by any surface coatings you apply or the type of material used for the build plate - as long as you have a flat sheet of steel underneath for it to sense. This is bonded to the back of the glass build plate for the Hephestos V2.

I really do like this printer, the kits is very easy to build and you get fantastic print results due to the very high quality parts that have been used. It's a very fast printer and the extruder is the best I have ever used for flexible filaments and it's also great for normal PLA plastic too.

BQ have not cut any corners (apart from lacking a heated bed, but we can forgive them for that), they have made a machine for a sensible price, using high quality parts that will last you a long time and produce great printed parts.


Final thoughts (about buying a 3D printer - of any type) - 

In a market that's racing to the bottom, it's not going to be easy for any company to stand out. Alternative 'generic' 3DPrinter kits can be sourced for a lot less than most machines on the market today, but do ask yourself if they are any good before parting with even a little money.

For me we are seeing an interesting time in Desktop 3D Printing, even more companies than ever are deciding to make their own model - a slight tweak here, a different configuration or size. But to the average user that wants a 3D Printer (or should I say they want the capability of 3D printed objects at home) - it's starting to get really confusing who and what machine to buy.

We are going to see many more revisions before the 'ultimate' desktop 3D printer is with us, and that will still take quite a long time (many more years) to happen. So my advice is still very similar if you are looking to get into 3D printing -

1) - Have a 'need' for a 3D printer - remember you can use 3D printing services if you need special parts printed (gold, ceramic, very high quality details).

2) - If you just 'want' a 3D printer - then that's fine. Spend some time thinking about what you may do with it, be sure to understand how long the print process takes (many hours most of the time).

3) - If you have a need and want to operate a desktop 3D printer, investigate if  plastic (FDM) printing or SLA (resin) based machines are more appropriate for your application.

4) - Value for money - this depends on many factors, how much support you wish to get from the manufacturer. If you want a kit or a ready-built machine, and how much you want to spend.

If you spend ~£150 / $200 / 200 euro on a 3D printer - even a kit, you may be disappointed, frustrated or need to spend more to get it working well - ( Like buying a new hot-end and/or extruder for example ).

5) - As a guide, it's still sensible to be thinking about spending around £500 / 700 euro / $750 as a minimum for a machine that can provide quality prints using good components in the design.

If you plan to spend more than £1500+ / 2000 euro / $2000 For a 'desktop 3D Printer' have a very good reason and do plenty of research first.

I have many more projects, 3D printer and material reviews along with development experiments coming up for this year, stay tuned and do get in contact.

Catch me on Twitter @RichRap3D

Or over on Google+

Thanks for reading, see you next time.

Richard.

BCN3D Technologies SIGMA 3D Printer review and thoughts

Hi Everyone, 

I have been testing the new BCN3D Technologies Sigma 3D printer over the last few weeks. I thought you might like to hear my views about it. This is the 3D printer I have been waiting for this year, and I'm not disappointed at all.

Most of my comments are in the video (below and on YouTube) - This is basically an introduction video to the BCN3D Technologies Sigma 3D Printer - Dual carriage extruder system, professional printing on the desktop - I take a look at dual colour and soluble support materials along with my overall thoughts on the Sigma 3D Printer, who it's aimed at and does it provide value for money (Yes, yes it does).

I'll be posting more about my use of the Sigma, so if you have any questions, or want me to test something specific or just want more about any aspect of it, do let me know in the comments here or on YouTube, on G+ or on Twitter @RichRap3D

BCN3D Technologies SIGMA 3D Printer

The BCN3D Technologies SIGMA 3D Printer 

Just to be clear, I don't work for BCN3D - I'm wearing the BCN3D shirt to show support for a really fantastic team and such a well designed 3D Printer. More people need to be aware of BCN3D - they are a serious 3D printing company who have scaled up in every way from their early RepRap roots at the Barcelona University.

For a further back story on the Sigma and information about BCN3D Technologies - Do also take a look at my visit to see them earlier on this year over on the DisruptiveMagazine Blog - Parts 1 and 2 - 

Part 1 - http://disruptivemagazine.com/blog/from-reprap-students-to-masters-of-3d-printing-a-spanish-success-story-part-1/

Part 2 - http://disruptivemagazine.com/blog/from-reprap-students-to-masters-of-3d-printing-a-spanish-success-story-part-2/

Above is my introduction video and review of the Sigma - if you are looking for a new or first (or second / 12th ) 3D printer it could be a very good use of 17mins, I hope you find it useful.

It's also over on YouTube here in HD if you prefer.

Solid Aluminium monocoque frame / enclosure

Custom Electronics

Full colour LCD touch screen, with simple to use controls.

Dual independent extruder carriages - allows for perfect dual colour printing, or the use of soluble support materials.

PVA soluble support material

Dual colour printing

In my eyes both the Sigma and BCN3D Technologies have a lot of credibility, they certainly deserve more global awareness on what they are doing and the machines they are manufacturing. 

The Sigma is a great 3D Printer. Value for money and robust. Like all 3D Printers it's not perfect, but for someone that wants 3D Printed parts and is not so interested in tinkering, the Sigma is my solid recommendation of where to spend your money and a company to support. They have a long-term view of 3D printing, Sigma is just the start, and what a machine to start with.

The key message here is that most new users looking for a 3D printer now, will be interested in the 3D Printed parts it makes, not so much with the tinkering or constant upgrading. This is a 3D printer that prints, well and reliably. If you need a production machine, say for running a 3D printing Hub. Sigma is a very good choice indeed.


Thanks for watching and reading, 

See you again very soon for yet another 3D Printer review. Busy October!

Cheers,

Rich.

3D Printers - Big printers, Small printers, Wide printers, Tall printers

Big, Small, Wide, Tall, You have brains in your head. You have tools you can use, you can design a 3D printer any way you choose :) - thanks for the positive thinking Dr Seuss.

This is a summary post, going over some of the machines I have been working on over the last 6 months. Much more information, design details and files are on the way, just fighting for time at the moment.

Back in Feburary (13th) I posted an update of my adventures, and a picture of me for support of the open-hand project, in the background you can see my machines in their early development stages, not many people spotted them, a few did, you know who you are and get 10,000 bonus points, well done :)

And a brightness warning ! - I always let my kids decide on the colour scheme for all my 3D printer prototypes, so watch out below - some of them are very bright and bold !

Recent Development History - 

3DR was my attempt to try and keep Delta printers using 3D printed parts, and take more of a RepRap approach instead of the trend in machining everything for 'professional' results. 3DR seems very popular and I put that down to the majority of parts still being 3D printed, even if they are a little more complicated and time consuming to produce parts than other RepRap machines.

Other than lots of variants and diversification by other people in the community, I have not needed to do anything to the original design of the 3DR, it's still my go-to printer for many objects.

I want to expand on the 3DR family, this post is an overview of the work in progress machines I have going on at the moment and a little more about them.

And before we go any further, I firmly believe we can't have enough RepRap designs, variation and machines, the more the better. None of the following replace 3DR, they all add to the RepRap family.

3DRnano - 
Back in December Gina Häußge(the creator of the awesome Octoprint) asked the G+ 3D printing community if any small 3D printers were available, for demonstrating and transporting to shows, events etc.

I had a few things underway and 3DRnano is starting to be a very capably and portable 3D Printer.

The clear/Polycarbonate carriage in the middle is a normal 3DR using LM6UU linear bearings. On the left is a 3DRmega (see below) Using LM10UU bearings and rods and finally on the right is a 3DRnano that uses tiny little LM4UU bearings.

For some idea of scale, left is the nano almost fits inside and actually provides more print area over the physical size than a normal 3DR.

Using the j-head as a light-weight hot-end for now, but a smaller or stainless steel trimmed down e3d V6 would be great ;)

It uses tiny little everything, including LM4UU bearings and 4mm rods ! Spools, carriages and spectra-line, all small and detailed.

Very tiny carriages, even the smallest Ty-wrap looks large with a 4mm Bearing.

Arm assembly is similar to the normal 3DR, just using even smaller parts.

The assembled nano arms do not compromise much on print area or movement, and are just a little scaled down from normal 3DR arms.

It's designed to be Battery and/or Solar powered, light and all the 3D printed part to fit on a 200mm x 200mm bed.

Motor choice -

Top to bottom NEMA17, NEMA14, NEMA11 & NEMA8

The spool for a NEMA8 was so small to print, but actually came out and performed very well.

For the prototype I experimented with NEMA8 motors, you can see one fitted above, for this size printer NEMA8 proved to be just a little weak, but you could make an even smaller printer using one (3DRpico?)

I settled on the NEMA11 for the 3DRnano

And full one piece solid prints for all the main structural parts.

It's using the Awesome tiny Makerbeam 10mm x 10mm Aluminium extrusions - standard stock size of 300mm long - so it's a compact printer with still a decent 160mm build height.

My kids selected some stunning Faberdashery colours for the 3DRnano prototype, Punk star Pink, Aurora and Pearly White.

Hall effect end-stop sensor's have always been good for me, so again I used them on the nano, they could do with being a little smaller, but work exceptionally well for this machine.

If you are wondering the hole in the middle is where the extruder motor goes :)

The top electronics section and LCD enclosure is going through a re-design at the moment, this was one part I was not happy with on the original design.

More build info, files and video's on 3DRnano. It will be up on Youmagine here as soon as I can.

Lots of people said after I posted various images of 3DRnano - put it up on Kickstarter, and yes I could especially as even the most unbelievable things seem to get funded without any issue at all - Anyone for Potato salad? - head in hands, they are not even trying, and it's working...

Now for something rather BIG - 

3DRmega - 
This one is kind of self explanatory, it's big and most things are scaled-up -

This is a really old picture, apologies for that, where it's being developed at the moment I simply cant get back enough to fit it all in the photo.

Sketchup again for the design, what can I say. It still works well for me and it's so nice to see a model turn into a real thing without errors or problems. I only made one set of files from the design and everything fitted perfectly.

Painful development - 

This development has gone really well for the printed and mechanical design, and much less smoothly almost everything else, especially with choices of electronics, power, wiring and the (arrggghhhh - see below for my pain) heated bed.

Success! (prototype, should have just stopped) - 

I actually has the prototype up-and-running without a heated bed in Feb2014, my aim then was to work more on cement printing and more exotic extruders (more on that in the next post).

I made the mistake of doing a re-design and adding a heated bed :(, new Smoothie electronics :) and industrial stepper drivers, all great things, but so much more development pain. To give you an idea of the up's and downs on this project, I totally designed, refined and finished Sli3DR (see below) during my sulking phase of V2 3DRmega...

Well it's almost all finished now and worked out, here is more of the progress and some of the setbacks.

Outline (new) spec-

• Bigger Motors - NEMA 23's
• Bigger Drivers - Dedicated 3A 128microstep (prototype used normal Ramps and drivers)
• Bigger Electronics - The great ARM based Smoothie board is being used for the (new) prototype.
• Bigger Rods and Frame (10mm Rods and 30mm Aluminium box-section)
• Bigger Printed parts - most parts are 100+mm is size (total printed parts weight is just under 2KG)
• Bigger Print head / multiple / materials / feeds etc.

3DRmega now stands around 1.8M tall.

For some time now I have specifically wanted a printer that I could place down onto almost any surface (to print directly onto) - that means not having parts, electronics, motors or even any real structure at the bottom of the machine. The reason for this is so you can print things 'in place' - like a Stone sculpture directly onto a paving slab already fitted - cool !

The nano and mega for scale.

A set of 3DRmega 3D printed frame parts, just under 2Kg of filament used for these, they are also designed to minimize warp and maximise adhesion to the build platform.

The carriages snap-fit onto LM10UU Linear bearings and are running on 10mm smooth stainless steel rods, just like 3DR but bigger and stronger.

Left to Right - LM10UU, LM8UU, LM6UU and LM4UU

Integral belt lock and points to attach the delta arms.

When assembling the delta arms, it's vital to get the flat surfaces of the universal joints parallel and spaced perfectly apart. I used a simple wooden Jig and bolts to make sure everything was lined up before tightening everything and adding super-glue.

The arms are made from carbon fiber tent poles, cut to size and have an all metal universal ball joint fitted to each end. This allows the center carriage to move in any direction as each arm moves up and down.

The center carriage is one of my favorite mega parts, it's solid and not yet quick-fit is easy to install alternative extruders.

The entire frame is made of just three different lengths of 30mm Aluminium box section.

When designing the printed parts I added various viewing windows, in this one you can see the pencil center line on the aluminium section lines up the the point of the RepRap logo, this makes it easy to get everything lined up correctly before doing a final check and tightening. 

The frame is solid but to aid with both thermal stability when printing very large parts and for extra light-weight support, 10mm clear corrugated poly-carbonate roofing sheeting is wrapped and fixed around the outer frame, an opening door allows full access inside the build chamber.

Smoothie electronics, power supplies and industrial stepper drivers sit inside the top cover for the V2 design.

Like the nano, but unlike the standard 3DR I have mounted the Motors at the top, this allows much more freedom for the design and flexibility of printing on almost any surface.

Even with everything fitted including side panels 3DRmega can still be lifted, moved and re-positioned by hand with only one person. I have not weighed it, but I'm estimating it's under 18Kg in total.

Extruders - 

I designed a few different extruders for the mega, the main requirement was at least one design that didn't use a bowden feed and fed 3mm material, after some interesting re-design around the available 3D space when the arms move around, I ended up with a nice vertical geared design that's stable and works amazingly well.

I have a few other very exciting extruders to share soon, stay tuned for more info :)

Glass - 

For the heated bed I had been on the lookout for some round sheets for a while, whilst on a routine shopping trip I spotted a vintage 70s mirror, almost the correct size, I bought it for £2.50 and was rather impressed with it.

Upon closer inspection it had a date on the back of the mirror, 1977, it's almost the same age as me! I decided not to use it as the glass and mirror looked quite brittle.

For ease of use, simple fitting and a solid base. I ended up with a 12mm Ply base, Cork insulation, thermally reflective sheets (see below) heated bed and a 4mm sheet of glass on top.

These grill and oven pads are amazing, they have a highly reflective metal surface, and thermal insulation on the back - I use them on all my heated bed's - One fits a normal Prusa heat-bed, tape more together with PET or Kapton for bigger requirements. Very easy to cut to size too.

and a cork base is not required for a normal heat-bed, but I added one underneath the fat pads to be sure no heat would be wasted.  

Disaster strikes - 

I spent quite a while on the heated bed design for 3DRmega. It's a big sheet of glass to heat and insulate well.

Shortly (like 5 mins) after completing the one-of-a-kind and very large 36V heated bed prototype, with glass top and triple insulated base. I went and dropped a heavy NEMA23 motor right onto one corner causing this wonderful mess.

I had just tested it, worked perfectly... then butterfingers, smash :(

If it had only been the glass that got damaged I would not have been so annoyed with myself, but a NEMA23 is heavy and the heated bed and wiring needed repair. Also sourcing more (toughened - this time) glass ended up taking a lot longer than I expected.

And guess what? When I posted about 3DRmega in February, I had a flood of requests for design files (I posted way too early, sorry) and also hundreds of people saying I should put it up on Kickstarter...

That's enough of the mega for now, I'll post more and release the design files when I'm in a better mood with it :) and I can document them a little better. I will also get some video's done to show it printing, it's even more impressive than when you saw your first delta printer, big smiles for big 3D printers.

More info and design files will be up on Youmagine here as soon as I can

3DRultra - 
Well, not yet. but for a really massive Delta printer, moving to LM16UU / LM20UU or linear Rails would start to give you a very large printable area indeed - Bigger frames can be made out of even larger Aluminium box sections, even scaffolding poles if you want. If someone wants to fund the parts, I'll design and make it... (seriously, get in touch).

This post is getting rather long, so I'll delay the full post about Sli3DR for a few days, here is a little of what it's all about and as so many people asked me about the mechanism, that's shown below too -

Sli3DR - (pronounced Slider)
Sli3DR is not a Delta based printer, rather it's based on an intriguing 'unnamed mechanism' that was floating around on the RepRap Forum and G+ last year. Billy ZelsnackIdentified it as used in a very old (Rikadenki) Pen Plotter design here.  A few people have tried it out for 3D printing using off the shelf mechanical parts, I wanted to make it with 3D printed parts and Spectra Line based on this mechanism. 

Edit - This bit's updated for correct back credit of bringing the mechanism to the attention of the RepRap and 3D printing community - David Moorhouse over on G+ showed a cable bot design 1st November 2013, see here -https://plus.google.com/104904818050178236499/posts/WpzzVuULM2z

David's original video sparked great discussion over the mechanism, Tim Rastall Made a great sketch of the 'unnamed mechanism' - still unnamed as far as I know. 

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-753_E-QeVmo/UlYKlAfRqGI/AAAAAAAAIEg/Ki-oSosqbEU/w471-h514-no/Unna...

Find out more about David's build over here - http://astro.smugmug.com/Hobbies/3D-Printer-Cablebot/

Maybe it was fate but it was also only a few weeks after the Ultimaker 2 was announced, and not yet actually ever managing to be an Ultimaker owner (one day) - I always wanted to build something similar.

After using the Tantillus (very similar to Ultimaker position mechanism) and looking into both CoreXY and HBot systems for a while this 'unnamed mechanism' seemed perfect. It's very old, not patented, (or if it ever was that's expired), and I can use the same Spectra line as the Tantillus and 3DR's - Now to design it.

It's using Spectra Line on all the axis drives, including the Z axis - my quest for ideal Z movements moves ever closer to perfection.

Tim Rastall was also designing a Super-big Tantillus called the Ingentis around the same time. I printed an early set of Ingentis parts, but after seeing the above mechanism I just had to design a printer based on it. I did borrow the style of Tim's Z-Axis arms, (Thanks Tim) everything else needed to be designed and had to be able to be scaled up or down.

I used Sketchup again, I still find it east to use but I must admit after getting in all the 2D dimensions and measurements, moving to 3D parts does not give you much chance to refine the concept into a beautiful looking 'product' before you get trapped into blocky looking parts. But it did the job for a new concept design. - I desire a much more Organic feel for the the next project.

If you were wondering, the parts are printed in Faberdashery Cyber Yellow, it's ultra day-glow Yellow and looks great, day or night.

Hot end and carriage system

That's not all Kapton tape - It has some layers of ceramic insulation.

Side and back panels too, and a clear door.

Sli3DR is actually the closest to be releasable, I need to attach a few licenses to the design files and then it will go up on Youmagine here - I have put up lots more pictures too.

Yea, I know, I should put it up on Kickstarter, thanks.

If you want to spontaneously fund me 'without a Kickstarter' I have a donate button over on the left of my blog.

Potato salad is over $35K and rising as I type this - madness, total madness. - That said I do make a wicked Chili...

RepRap Barcelona - mash.

And talking of Potatoes, RepRap Barcelona have done a mash potato extruder based on my Universal paste extruder design - great work guys :)

Other news / updates - 

The UK 3D Printing TCT Show is happening in 30th Sept - 2nd October, over three days this time, the RepRap hub is planned to be bigger and better than ever, but only if people get involved and want to help make it a success - if you want to take part please e-mail me on - tctshow@reprapmagazine.com

Many companies have decided to take their own spaces so if you want to be part of the RepRap Community Hub, then do let me know.

TCT Show Floorplan is available to view here

3D Printing development and the 3D Printing industry is a massive roller-coaster, I would have to say that at the moment I'm on a big downward plunge into a dim tunnel, my wallet has fallen out and people are screaming all around me. See you next time.

Rich.