Diablo2112's 4-axis SFX-100 build

Wow, that's awesome!! I was just thinking how the eff I was going to run a 220V line to my sim. One less thing to deal with.
What amp breaker would you think this should be on? As you mention there would be more current draw with 110V.

I wrote you back on RaceDepartment, but for others that are interested, 15A should be enough for all 4 servos.

wow. amazing build! @diablo2112

can i ask you about your fans?
do you have links or documentation on how to go about building wind simulator?

gold..
wow.. thank you for all the amazing links!

Fans on my rig are the wind simulator from Motion House (South Korean firm). I bought these used off eBay, FYI.

https://en-motionhouse.imweb.me/shop/?idx=8

edit: link is apparently broken and these are NLA.

How to print SFX parts in under 100 hours

I've been experimenting with settings to reduce the print time for SFX parts. [For those unaware, I've been printing many of these sets as I've been doing this as a free service for the community].

Anyway, after literally thousands of hours of printing, I've found a way to use a 0.6mm nozzle to get gorgeous prints that are stronger than the original, and take half the time to print. Here's the final result. This piece normally takes about 11 hours to print with normal settings (0.4mm nozzle, 8 perimeters, 12 top/bottom layers, 20% infill). I printed this in less than 5 hours:



This part is stronger than the stock parts, a natural consequence of a thicker extrusion, larger layer height, and use of 25% (compared to 20%) infill. To achieve this you really have to know your printer and slicer. Here's details on how to get this result.

First, you need a well-calibrated printer. You want it square (no skew), a level bed, and a very well calibrated extruder. All of these things are outside the scope of this note; you can google to get all of these things tuned on your particular printer.

For the SFX parts, you have a few considerations. A big issue is warping. To prevent this, I print with a 5mm, single layer height brim. Also, I've found printing the first layer at half the height of subsequent layers dramatically improves bed adhesion, reduces warpage, and gives a nice, cosmetic result. Plus, the brim will be fairly thin and easy to remove at this setting.

Here's the basic settings for a 0.6mm nozzle. You'll have to find the places in your slicer program to update these:

0.6mm nozzle profile (be sure to change to the whole profile, not just the nozzle diameter)
0.4 mm layer height
0.2 mm minimum layer height (for variable layers, see below)
0.2 mm first layer height
5 perimeters
8 top/bottom layers
25% infill, grid pattern
solid infill every 20 layers
perimeter start point: random
5 mm brim, single layer high
variable layer height for the top 3mm of the print down to 0.2mm

The last requirement here is optional. Your slicer may not support this. You want the ability to have variable layer height, and set the last (top) 3mm of your print back to a 0.2mm layer. This wil print a very nice edge on the linear bearing (see picture, above) as well as give a very smooth, cosmetic infill on the top that you can see in the pic as well. If you do use variable layer height, you may want to set the number of "top" layers to 12, to compensate for the thinner layers this will print. Variable layer height is an advanced feature, and you'll have to read your slicer manual for specifics. Once you have all these settings, slice your STL file, and print away.

A couple of other comments. I printed all my bumpstops and sliders with the 0.4mm nozzle. I've not tried these 0.6mm nozzles with the sliders; this is the most sensitive part to variation in dimensions, and once I dialed one of my printers for sliders, I've used that ever since. You can try a 0.6mm nozzle on the slider, but be prepared to have to tune things to get a good, tight fit in the extrusion.

These changes will reduce the printing time for a full set of parts from 220 to about 100 hours. Good luck, and let me know if you have any further questions.

Your impressions are like all the rest of your work, be clean

Excellent work my friend, I have read everything about this build, I think I’m gonna start ordering parts to start my SFX-100 and great option using Thanos .
Building a 3DOf was fun but I think I’m ready for some actuators now thanks for all the information buddy.

Amazing work!
It doesn't even look the sliders are printed. So smooth!
Would you mind sharing the the slicer settings for the 0.4 nozzle? Also, what slicer are you using?

Also have a question regarding the cabinet for the controllers. What are the dimensions?
Trying to find something similar locally in Canada.
Thanks

Thanks! The key to getting those parts is really 2-fold. First - and most important - is a really well calibrated printer. This entails several subparts: square axis (no skew), a level print bed, properly tensioned belts and greased linear bearings, and a well-calibrated extruder. Each of these is beyond the scope of this reply; you'll have to research how to achieve this for your particular printer. The other key is picking the right filament. I use premium filaments, and I prefer glitter/glint to help hide build lines. I've successfully used Prusament Galaxy Black and Filament One Glint Grey (both shown above).

With that, my 0.4mm settings are the stock settings recommended by the SFX project:

0.4mm nozzle
0.25mm layer height
8 perimeters
12 top/bottom layers
25% infill, grid pattern
215/60 temps
NO brim on the sliders, feet, and bump stops. 5mm single layer brim on the other parts
I believe my slowest speeds are 30mm/s (for perimeters and first layer); whatever the stock "draft" settings are for other speeds

I slice my parts with the Prusaslicer (Sli3er?) v2.0.

I also upgraded my Prusa Mk3S to use a Bondtech geared extruder head. This helps as well, as its more accurate and provides much more consistent (and stronger) pushing force for the filament through the hot end. The other key mod on the Mk3S is the "NyLock" bed leveling mod. This later mod is easier than it sounds, and cheap. I recommend both of these if you're looking to improve your results to achieve what I've shown here.

The cabinet is a 6u cabinet available on Amazon. It's 14.5"H x 24"W x 18"D.

Search for "NavePoint 6U Wall Mount Network Server 19 Inch IT Cabinet Rack Enclosure" on Amazon and you'll find it.

you guys are making me second guess my decision to have gone for a 6 dof actuator build.. :/

Hey diablo, I love your rig! Any chance you'll be posting a list of the parts purchased and suppliers you bought from? I'm having trouble finding a good list for USA builds.

@diablo2112
Thanks for the 3D printing hints, really useful. I am in the middle of printing with the recommended print settings and I can't change now. Before the start I didn't want to experiment and lose a lot of time and filament, but I was also thinking myself that it could for sure be done faster with proper settings.

I have Prusa MK2 und using PrusaSlicer 2.1.. I had to print out a lot of "calibration cubes" until I found best settings for recommended Geetech Filament. It was not accurate at 1.75 diameter, it's more like 1.71 so I had to also play with extrusion multiplier to get accurate dimensions of printed parts. If the "slider" is a little too big, it won't fit in the 100x100 aluminum profile and it had to be sanded down.

It's really important to get your printer right to print as accurate dimensions as possible..

I have asked you a question on Reddit but you probably missed it, what is the exact model of your Monitor / TV and how did you mounted it?

I, too, did extensive calibration on my printers as you have done. It's really the key to get good-fitting parts. Good luck with the results, and post some pics!

My monitor is the Samsung CRG90, and it comes with a VESA mounting plate. I used the 100mm holes, screwed into a spare wall mount I had, and I drilled the wall mount and secured that to 40mm square profile with slot nuts. In addition, I braced the bottom of the monitor with 2 additional pieces of 40mm profile. These pieces aren't hard-attached to the monitor, but serve as a shelf to support the ends. Here's a few pics.

There's a very good parts list for US builders on the RaceDepartment thread. Here's the link:

https://www.racedepartment.com/thre...-simulator-thread.159524/page-98#post-2899157

And you may not be aware of the project website, which contains complete instructions, including links to a build list for various countries. Here's the link to the documents and instructions on the project website:

https://opensfx.com/documentation/

Thanks, that racedepartment shopping list is super helpful.