INDX 8TH upgrade kit for CORE One - thoughts
yet another INDX FE post, but I think founders should share their experiences and thoughts so that the product can be further improved. I'm also indebted to all the useful comments in the manual, pointing out useful differences and shortcuts.
I'm sure some of the annoyances will get sorted out soon.
It took me about 12h to do the upgrade while skipping the steps for 8 spoolholders (because I have other plans). Not the fastest because it's 8TH plus I had some trouble along the weekends.
At this stage, I've only completed the upgrade, performed calibrations and done one test print with 2 tools/colours. A panda keychain with 162 tool changes over 1h print.
🟡 Tapping Threads
I don't recall having to tap that many screws building the CORE One - we had more M3nN nuts to help out with the build. In the INDX kit, there are MANY holes to tap, and they are not easy to work with, especially those holes that are printed in the same face as the build plate. Some of the screws heat up and would melt the plastic slightly which increases the tapping resistance.
🟡 Torx countersunk screws
The M3x12cT is unfortunately a pain the work with. The screws get stripped off very easily, especially when you need to tap 16 screws on the front profile (and when it's hard to tap, missing it means scratching the front profile). The torx screw gets stripped very easily, and I had a number of screws that got stuck, stripped and had to be extracted.
I will definitely replace ALL the 16x M3x12cT screws on the tool holders, especially learning that you'd need to turn them during calibration.
It helps to have a ratcheting screwdriver to reduce chance of stripping the screw head.
🟡 Flush cutter a MUST have
There is a need to cut a number of cable ties, so having a flush cutter is not a good to have, but rather a must have. I cannot imagine doing without one.
🟡 Reusing screws
Along the way, some steps require you to reuse screws taken out of the Nextruder. So take note and keep your screws well.
🟡 Calibrate the PTFE tube lengths on both side together
If you go step by step through the manual, it'd ask you to prepare two 300mm filament to measure and adjust the length of the PTFE tube. You'd have to cut the filament to shorter lengths to measure the 4 tubes. Instead of preparing two pieces of filament, it's possible to just use one, measure tubes 1 and 8, cut, measure 2 and 7, cut, measure 3 and 6, cut, measure 4 and 5.
🟡 Smoke from nozzle on first use
This is more of an observation than a concern. I wanted to write this down so that others wouldn't get a shock like I did. On the first time you head up your nozzle, the manufacturing oils on the nozzle will burn and smoke up. It produces some smoke and will be gone after.
🟡 Remove mods before upgrade
The upgrade assumes that you're on stock CORE One/+. It helped to remove mods especially at the top of the printer before starting the upgrade.
🟡 The end of the manual
It becomes clear that towards the end of the manual the steps became less granular and there's fewer zoomed in pictures of the parts.
🟡 Custom filament profiles
It's nice that when the factory reset happened, the filament profiles were preserved into the INDX version. However, I kind of lost the profiles on my PrusaSlicer (because they were filtered out for the Nextruder). I needed to make some changes on PrusaSlicer before I could get the prints going.
🟡 Area above LED light becomes dark
It became difficult to see the print for the first few layers without opening the lid. I might consider adding LED strips to increase visibility.
🟡 Conclusions
Overall, it's a piece of art and marvel in engineering. I was about to start printing well right after calibrations are done. The purge is indeed minimal, and there's no need for wipe tower - as promised. It was amazing to see the heat up go from 25°C to 290°C in order of 5s (coming from the Nextruder).
It was an enjoyable upgrade despite some challenges along the way, but I'd recommend buying the CORE One+ straight with the INDX if you plan to use multi material from the statt - the upgrade kit requires you to undo some steps from the original CORE One kit.
Feel free to AMA and I'll be happy to answer.