Reddit reviews Techflex PTN0.25BK25 Flexo PET General Purpose 1/4-inch Cable Sleeve, Black, 25 Foot

> The Folger Tech 2020 looks solid and does have dual z-motors, but it's a fair bit smaller than the Tevo (as I'm looking at getting the expanded bed), I've seen a few complaints about the hotend, and based on unboxing and assembly videos, it doesn't seem as user friendly to assemble.

So I have a Folgertech 2020 i3, and went through some struggles (mostly self-caused) with it. Overall I still highly recommend this kit because it's an amazing starting point for how much it costs. Even blowing up all the electronics on it, I'm still under $350 into this thing.

Assembly is a bit more difficult than other printers because it's completely made of lengths of aluminum T-slot extrusion. Aside from parts like the X-carriage and some L-brackets, there aren't really any obvious "this can only be assembled one way" parts. This is seriously overwhelming at first, but once it's together it means that the printer is extremely easy to modify since you can attach things anywhere.

The frame is sturdy as hell, as you would expect for being a bunch of aluminum bolted and braced together. You can pick the thing up by the bar that goes across the top, and nothing wobbles. The 8x8x6 build area is pretty standard, but with just a spacer on the Z-motors you can add another inch or so, and you can add lots of Z-height if you just replace 2 sections of aluminum extrusion and grab longer chrome rod and allthread.

Cable management is a bit of a nightmare (it will be with most reprap printers), and I highly recommend picking up some cable sleeving to at least keep all the multi-wire stepper and endstop cables together.


Rundown of my issues with it

• The set screw in the extruder was not tightened onto the flat of the stepper motor, and instead on the round shaft, allowing it to slip. Trivial fix, but something I didn't think to check since the extruder came assembled in the box.
  
  
• The Power supply had a floating ground, meaning the negative rail was not actually connected to the ground going into the wall. The power supply I replaced it with was the same way. Easy fix, add a jumper wire between AC ground and one of the negative rail terminals
  
  
• Because of the floating ground, there was a difference between the USB ground on my computer and the printer's ground, which caused a spark when I plugged in the USB. This may have actually damaged the internal power supply on my laptop's motherboard. I also killed a ramps board and two Arduino Mega's during troubleshooting.
  
  
• The power supply eventually shit the bed on me, likely due to being damaged by the short to ground through the USB of my computer.
  
  All electrical issues would have likely been avoided if I had just put the jumper wire between the negative rail and ground from the start
  
  I've replaced the power supply ($17 off amazon, because I broke the old one). I replaced the Ramps board (since the original one failed somewhere and kills the voltage regulators on arduino's) and one of the stepper drivers that went bad (it came with and extra one). The arduinos are repairable, just need to replace the voltage regulator (bought a 15 pack of them for like $7 on amazon)
  
  Configuring the firmware really wasn't a big deal. You download the Marlin firmware, load it on the arduino, and follow the instructions to set up Repetier-Host. Setting it up in a Linux environment is a bit more of a pain, since the default Marlin baudrate is non-standard and not supported by PySerial out of the box - I fiddled with it for a while, honestly just change it to anything else and save yourself the headache.
  
  With any kit, you're going to have similar setup and configuration (aside from the breaking things and letting the smoke out).
  
  Upgrades:
  
  I didn't bother with the out of the box spool mount, and printed this spool mount instead. The rollers use skateboard bearings, and the spool just sits up on top with almost no rolling resistance, and the extruder pulls filament off as it needs it.
  
  I also added this nozzle cooling duct. It works great.
  
  The printed endstop mounts will break if you tighten them too much. Print some new ones and spares ahead of time.

One potential solution is to get something like this - https://www.amazon.com/Techflex-PTN0-25BK25-General-Purpose-Braided/dp/B004UHJCFI
It expands like a Chinese finger trap so you can fit the micro USB plug through, is cuttable to size, and will both cover the white cord in black, but also protect it in a more durable wrapper.

Cable ties have sharp edges.

Use this:

Techflex PTN0.25BK25 Flexo PET General Purpose 1/4-inch Braided Cable Sleeve, Black - 25 Foot https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004UHJCFI/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_M.zoybYN5FAYS

Heres a good budget headphone option.

https://m.newegg.com/products/9SIA7NT5JX7120

Here's a mic, any mic will do as long as it's detachable.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B002EQ6E9E/ref=pd_aw_sim_sbs_23_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=FKTC7528BMW6EMA91NB1&dpPl=1&dpID=71jX0sibQ1L

And here's and audio and microphone splitter. Make sure the splitter you end up getting has a dedicated audio and dedicated microphone input.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B004SP0WAQ/ref=mp_s_a_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1501544553&sr=8-4&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=audio+and+mic+splitter&dpPl=1&dpID=41ifj0%2BHelL&ref=plSrch


This is the braided cable and heatshrink. The cable to manage the separate cables, also you can personalized the color, and it looks cool honestly. There's also some heatshrink it just seals the end of cable sleeves.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B004UHJCFI/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1501544947&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=braided+cable+sleeves&dpPl=1&dpID=41B4XLeDZpL&ref=plSrch

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000NI3LOQ/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1501545009&sr=8-2&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=heatshrink%2B3%2F4inch&dpPl=1&dpID=41wA38KfTAL&ref=plSrch&th=1&psc=1


And finally here's a video on what you'll be doing with the above cable and heatshrink.

https://youtu.be/xWR4yYGd3u4

One last remark, the price of all this starts at around $30 dollars or so. The rest of the price is up to you on what headphones you end up choosing.

Visit r/Headphones for recommendations and an idea of what makes good headphones...good.

Marine environments are tough, especially salt water. I did A/V automation for over a decade and always wanted to do a boat. I wanted to do a plane and an r/V also, but none of the opportunities presented themselves.

I always use velcro, but I don't really know how it handles the vibrations from a couple of engines and slapping against waves. Instead of using so many zip ties, you could use some cable snakeskin ( https://www.amazon.com/Techflex-PTN0-25BK25-General-Purpose-Braided/dp/B004UHJCFI ) and then just ziptie every foot or 18" it might give you a cleaner look while still giving you the permanence of zipties

I got some mesh sleeve from Amazon (something like https://www.amazon.com/Techflex-PTN0-25BK25-General-Purpose-Braided/dp/B004UHJCFI/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1483208770&sr=8-3&keywords=sleeve+cable ) and actually I really recommend it for the original 3-in-one cable. I electrical taped the edges instead of sugru and it's worked great. Biggest bonus is that it seems to get tangled and wound up less, stores much easier, protects the cable. I haven't noticed any stiffness problem.

To make it completely not noticeable while also making things even tidier, you could even move the joint to the middle of the wires, and then wrap the full length of all three motor wires in a braided cable sleeve (like this stuff).

Add a small ring of heatshrink on either end of the braided sleeve to hold it in place, and voila! Your joints are hidden under the braided cover, and you've also streamlined all three wires into one tidy bundle.