I got an Aliexpress package, and obviously I'm trying to feel inside (like trying to figure out what's in a present), and it turns out that there's a bunch of packages that's been shipped as one. Efficient.
"Lengthen" nozzles
These nozzles are 40mm in length, and I'm assuming it was one of those old 3D printer parts that AliExpress sellers just have stock of because nobody really needs them these days. I'm using them along with the aluminium spacers, which I'll talk about below.
Mysterious purple stepper drivers
From the same Aliexpress seller, I got these GC6609 stepper drivers. 8 of them. Other than the schematic on the and [this video], I couldn't find much about these drivers. However, the video told me all I needed to know -- they're actually as quiet as they claim. Translating the description and comments, it sounds like they follow the same protocol as, and work like, a TMC2209 without sensorless homing. That could possibly mean a better 2208 that costs less and requires less cooling, assuming pressure advance actually works. These 6609s have the same max working voltage of 36V but has a 2A RMS, 3A peak output compared to the 2208s 1.4A and 2A respectively. The steppers I'll be using take up to 3A RMS, but I feel like driving them with 2A 36V should suffice. The fancy CC PSU I bought years ago (but unfortunately can no longer find) allows me to test both 24V and 36V to see if there's a useful benefit, especially for high speed motors like the V, W and the SecSavr Select motors. (V = axis inside Slime, W = axis rotating bed)
M8 T Slots
I wasn't expecting the sides to be anodized, instead thinking it would just be a saw cut or something similar, going off their product page images:
These are planned to hold the bed plates similar to the Anycubic Kossel. I'm just unsure if it'll be effective.
Volcano nozzle adapters
The packaging looks pretty fancy for some "defective" parts. What's more interesting (and hilarious) is actually the newspaper themed product catalouge that shipped with it.
Melt zone extenders, otherwise known as aluminium spacers
After seeing the Rapido hotend, I set out to find something that could work as the melt zone extender. I didn't think TL would sell it at the price I wanted, and I was right. Eventually, I found these aluminium spacers.
It's so strange how light these spacers are, but it's very nice that the ends have a lot of flat surface area to allow thermal conduction. Speaking about thermals, I wonder how thermal expansion is going to play out.
Aluminium Nema 17 holders
These are going to be the plates for the tools. They look a lot better than I was expecting for sub 80p each. Also strangely light.
Springs
Magnets
These came later in the day and have quite the copious amount of packaging surrounding them.
They're D15 x 15mm in size, and they seem pretty strong. Strong enough to hold a spindle for plastic and PCB cutting? I'll have to find out.
Issues
Firstly, the 30mm alu spacers were really hard to screw in. I'm currently talking with the seller about it, but I had to clamp it and use a bolt to see if it was possible to screw it all the way in. it worked, but it didn't make screwing in the supervolcano nozzle any wasier. The 9mm and 6 also had noticable resistance when I was first screwing the 40mm nozzles on, and I was thinking it was the nozzles considering the thread didn't look that great.
Secondly, I tried the volcano adapters with the airbrush nozzles and it bottomed out. I then found out that the volcano nozzle that I tried with the CHC initially actually stops screwing in before its head.
Measuring, the thread of the heatbreak into the CHC is 1mm short, as expected considering I did a scale drawing from the product image. However, it seemed like I still had enough space in the CAD model.
[I forgot to 0 the calipers (it's 0.24mm shorter than displayed) but the 1.2mm difference would be the same]
Discussions
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Yeah, a while back AliExpress started consolidating packages from multiple suppliers ordered in the same session. Also they seem to have local forwarders now. Good idea, less packages to track, and reduces shipping costs.
The rest of your writeup looks great, but 3D printing is something for me to explore in the future.
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Thanks
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