Spent yesterday morning trying to get the 3D printer working again following the recent upgrades (SD card reader, Encoder, new LCD with contrast control, second extruder, 3mm instead of 1.75mm filament and a keypad). However there is an age old adage "that if it ain't broke, don't fix it!" and that came home to me when I tried my first print after the rebuild.

On the Sumpod forum there has been a thread regarding some filament jamming issues and it has covered many items trying to find out what is causing it. Never having suffered jamming it was of general interest to me but came more into focus as soon as mine jammed. I had all the same signs, extruder jumping, printing stopping after a while and no obvious signs.

This is work done a couple of days ago but hopefully I will continue it tomorrow and get back to printing soon. The pictures should help but I will put together a full account if they parts work. I must admit I am unsure of the bearing and block as being a possible weak point. I have a stronger design in mind but this will require changes to the MDF parts. If I do need to make such changes I intend to use the SumPod to mill the MDF.

I have also made a couple of new nozzles, one with 0.3mm and the second 0.5mm holes. Also they have a heating chamber where the PTFE tubing is not heated directly like the present one. Again if it works I will write it up and give a drawing in the download page.

Any questions then please email me.

Well I managed to complete the elements of the 3mm PLA Filament hot end and the pictures of its manufacture are below for your interest, especially if your not conscious of engineering methods.

3 new heater blocks hot end Sumpod 1 at 6mm os nozzle dia and one at 8mm os dia ( for 3mm PLA)

Well I managed to get out into the workshop today and for a change I was machining which I must admit was a nice change. I wanted to make a second hot end (based on Richards firs design since it works so well) but with the capacity of 3mm PLA filament on one outlet and 1.75mm filament on the other. I also want to experiment with ABS later on and am researching other heating elements since ABS operates at a much higher temperature than PLA.

Here is version 1 of a new front panel to incorporate the Rotary click encoder, LCD, SD card reader, keypad, speaker and contrast control for my Sumpod. You may ask why its version one? Well when I looked at the picture below I realised I didn't like it. There are straight edges on mine but the nice radius to Richards frame makes mine look wrong.

Also I have ordered a larger lcd that I shall incorporate into a new panel plus the paint I use ran out before I could get a nice finish. So all in all its a first attempt that's taken a while but all the electronics work so its not such a big deal and I have the profiles to cut out the new top panel.

Sumpod additional front panel to accommodate new electronics

Conrad Electronic UK
Europe's leading electronic specialists now in the UK

EDIT 21/01/2012....It works a treat!!!

The method I used to assemble the new upgraded hot end was as follows

1.   The most important point to remember is that the PTFE tubing goes right to the end of the nozzle. To that end I measured the depth of the nozzle supplied and found it to be 11.78mm. Also it pays to chamfer the end of the tubing so it mates with the inside of the nozzle.

2.  The tubing, by its very nature, is slippery so I used some masking tape to provide grip. You need this as its a very tight fit, as it needs to be. edit 21 01 2012 measure mine with micrometer and it came in at 4.54mm!

Conrad Electronic UK
Europe's leading electronic specialists now in the UK

I have designed some corner pieces to hold the glass heated platform in place as designed by "Airstripper" from the SUMPOD forum Since this is one of the features of 3D printing, making your own parts etc, I thought I would try to help fulfill one of its purposes.

The design was in Alibre 3D Cad and if they work I will add them to Thingiverse for others to use if they so wish. If anyone wants a copy of either the stl file or GCode just email me

left handcorner for glass heated bed sumpod ver 1

right hand corner for glass heated bed sumpod ver 1

Conrad Electronic UK
Europe's leading electronic specialists now in the UK

Its not for now bit there are some really clever people on the SUMPOD forum and all sorts of additions, not least a rotary encoder, key pads, sd card reader etc. So I have made a 'picture' of how I intend to make the SUMPOD stand alone printer using all the enhacements under way now. The LCD will be 4 lines instead of the present two.

Not going to be this week though.......but watch this space!

Here is my 'vision'

photo of my vision of how to incoporate the enhacements.