UP BOX Mod * run out of filament pause! :)

[wackojacko]

For those of you with an UP BOX, you have probably come across the same frustration as I have had with opening up the front door in the morning and finding during the night the BOX decided to use more material than what my expert opinion was on how much material I had on the spool before I started. For me it is a guessing game as to how much filament is on a spool to how much the software says it is going to use. As I have so many spools with small amounts of material left on them, that never seem to get used and end up piling up. Finally a solution!

Another annoyance that I disabled within the first day of receiving my UP BOX was the door pause feature. I can understand this is great in an education or home environment if you have small fingers poking around, but for me I disabled it. As I like to remove any dags from the nozzle, just before printing starts, especially when printing raftless.

Chatting to a friend who also has a BOX said why don't you use the Door pause feature and replace it with a filament switch, so when you run out of filament it will pause the printer. Bang!! What a great idea!!
After a few hours tinkering in Tinkercad.com and printing several versions, 5 minutes of soldering I had a switch that pauses the BOX when it runs out of filament. I have now given the BOX pause switch to a few to friends and they love it! The design does need an improvement, so you are welcome to improve it and please share yours here.

**** Fixed link with improvments ****
http://3dprintingsystems.com/download/U ... switch.zip

* Edit : this will disable your door pause switch as well!

[amd-tec]

I think the link doesn`t work? Or is it just me?

[pp3dp.nl]

It has been removed.. I looked on the 3D Printing Systems forum and there is only a question if anybody wants to see the mod.

Could I please see it? I think it's brilliant! I only disabled my door safety by glueing a magnet on the housing where the door's magnet is. That way I can always open the door.

So Bruce, please let us know more about this solution.

[wackojacko]

@pp3dp.nl Thanks, the link is now fixed. Let me know how you get on?
@amd-tec Link is fixed - enjoy

[pp3dp.nl]

Thanks!

I'm no electronics hero but I may give this a try, it would be great to have this feature. I can see TierTime adding this to future Boxes. THEY SHOULD

[wackojacko]

Yes it is very easy to do. If you have a dead UP Plus printer you could grab the limit switch and plug out of it, but you will need to change the wiring. Let me know how you get on.

[pp3dp.nl]

I had a limit switch as spare part and made the mod - it is AWESOME!

I just started a print with a small piece of blue ABS I had, one bleep and the Box paused, now I continued the print with a small piece of yellow

Finally some use for all those leftovers.

I can see, and hope that this will be standard for all Ups. The main board of all Ups still have contacts that read ''door check'' just not the headers anymore.

If TierTime is reading this, this would be a great feature that few machines have. It would be a shame if this would not be implemented

[Tiertime-Edward]

Thanks to @wackojacko for sharing this change to the UP community.

Any one else is interested in the UP BOX run out of filament pause? We will have an improvement to enable both door pause feature and run out of filament pause feature on the UP BOX. Come on to talk if you are interested!!!

We are working on it, will disclose it in a couple of days.

[steelmans]

I have already done my own but this is the kind of thing that should be install from the factory anyway. Great feature for hardly any cost.

[pp3dp.nl]

@Tiertime-Edward:

Now that is great news! I really like this feature and I know people will love it when this is standard on Up printers. A lot of people ask me why the printer doesn't tell when the ''ink'' is out because they are used to paper printers.

I hope you will also consider to make this available for the Mini and Plus machines as they have the option on the main board.

[JWA]

This is great mod! Perfect one would be if it could pause printing while it stops feeding the filament due to many other factors like nozzle clogged, tangling, wrong filament diameter, etc.

[wackojacko]

That's great that this will become a standard feature in the future

[pp3dp.nl]

I just had my first ''filament sensor' rescue''!

I had a new material test (a wood PLA) that took quite some time. I was sure I had enough on the roll but weight/volume is different. I heard a beep and had to put a lighter shade of WoodFill on the machine but that's better than to throw the model away

Thanks again Bruce for the great idea and tutorial!

[wackojacko]

Your welcome, anyone else try this. Anyone in Australia or New Zealand want a free switch...

[printman]

Keen to try this switch if there's any floating about still!

[wackojacko]

Yes, I still have a couple left, please get in touch with me.

[Manny]

Yes, I still have a couple left, please get in touch with me.

Keen on one of these filament pause mod. How much wackojacko?

[Owen Sparks aka Marksman]

Thanks to @wackojacko for sharing this change to the UP community.

Any one else is interested in the UP BOX run out of filament pause? We will have an improvement to enable both door pause feature and run out of filament pause feature on the UP BOX. Come on to talk if you are interested!!!

We are working on it, will disclose it in a couple of days.

Nice mod but this really should be included as standard. @ Tiertime-Edward, I see you mentioned a disclosure "in a couple of days" last year, did anything come of it?

Cheers,

Owen S.

[Alexkara]

Yes, I still have a couple left, please get in touch with me.

Have come in a bit late into this forum, however, if any are available for sale I certainly would not hesitate in parting with some shekels for one. Not being electronically oriented and my soldering resembles an elephant with a brush in it's trunk, I would be happy to commission the manufacture of one for me.
Alternatively is it commercially available?
Alex,

[Owen Sparks aka Marksman]

I wonder if we could also throw in a rotary encoder into this mod?

Doing so could give us an indication if filament is present but not moving, that is to say the nozzle is jammed...

As the printer allows the print to be paused and filament to be withdrawn or extruded this could allow us to rescue long prints where a nozzle clog has occurred.

A controller would be needed and a method of determining if the extruder is meant to be "not extruding" to prevent false pauses.

Owen S.