Anycubic I3 Mega Zesty Nimble/SKR1.3/E3D V6 Conversion

Last crawled date: 4 years, 2 months ago

Hey guys!
This is pretty much my biggest upload.
In this post, I will be doing my best to detail how I managed to upgrade the Anycubic I3 Mega to include The Zesty Nimble (a remote direct drive extruder), the E3D V6 all-metal hot-end, two 4010 blower fans, the 32 bit SKR1.3, 5 TMC 2208 Stepper Drivers, and the TFT 35 V2.0 Touchscreen.
The benefits are amazing:
The printer is relatively silent
Print speeds are drastically faster and more precise
More marlin features can be enabled, giving more control over the printer with no chance of stalling or overworking the processor
More control is given over SD printing with a higher functioning touch screen
Z-height is improved with a smaller carriage
Rigidity is improved with a shorter hotend
Cooling is greatly enhanced, making overhangs easier/safer
Flexible filament printing is easily accomplished
Purchased Items:
SKR 1.3 Mainboard
TFT35 V2.0
5 TMC 2208 V3.0 Stepper Drivers
E3D V6 hotend (direct drive package)
Zesty Nimble (95cm cable)
Winsinn 4010 Blower Fans with Air Guides
Assorted test leads (for extending wires)
Heat shrink
Wire Strippers
Assorted M3 nut and bolt set (varying lengths)
Drill
Stepper bit (through 11/16" dia)
3mm drill bit
Printed Items:
V6 to Nimble Adapter
Extruder Adapter
Trigorilla to SKR Adapter
So, I pretty much did this build for my own printing abilities with the potential side goal of making this an actual Thing here, so some information may be hard to follow.
Reference all photos to make sure you properly understand what's been accomplished, and if you can't make sense, DM me or post a comment.
Steps:
Make sure you have all the purchased items.
Print all printed items in as high a temperature plastic as you can
Mount the SKR board on the Trigorilla to SKR Adapter using 4 screws and nuts
Assemble the motor, spindle, and drive cable to the Extruder Adapter
Place TMC2208 drivers into the SKR board, making sure of the orientation and ensuring jumper placement to enable UART
Change board voltage jumper to 5v and flash the firmware from downloads, then change the jumper back (Note: You will need atom to do this. Google search/youtube how to flash
-------This completes the basic setup of the electronics and major new components...
Remove the existing hot end, hotend metal shroud, temp sensor, and fan, noting all connections
Using the stepper and drill, drill the mounting hole for the old stepper until the hole is 11/16" dia
Mockup the mount of the nimble drive on the top plate of the carriage as in the photos and drill two holes through the nimble bolt holes and through the metal plate so that the two match
Assemble the E3D v6 (see E3D for proper assy) and mount it to the carriage using supplied nimble hardware and the V6 to Nimble Adapter. (Note: make sure to test fit before tightening, and ensure even tightening to prevent damage or inducing angle in the hotend alignment) Feed all wires through grating and strip/ heat shrink wires as needed from photos
Take a 4010 blower, put an air guide on it and place it on the inside of the metal hotend shroud and align it to roughly where it would blow air at the nozzle tip when mounted
Using the drill and 3mm bit, gently park the bottom two holes of the fan, then drill the housing out and "wobble" the drill bit up and down to make an ovular slot allowing for adjustment later, if needed.
Once repeated for the left and right sides of the shroud, go ahead and mount the fans using the 3mm bolts.
Cut and strip the leads coming off both fans, twist them together, and then twist and heat-shrink them to the leads of the stock fan connector. (Note: You'll need to cut and strip the stock fan connector's leads as well)
Go ahead and install the flex drive of the nimble to the extruder motor and the top of the nimble direct-drive and secure using the supplied hardware
-----This completes all of the mechanical setup necessary to get the machine running. TFT35 will come later on.
Carefully turn the machine on its side and remove the bottom cover.
Remove the trigorilla board and MAKE NOTE OF EVERY CONNECTION (Note: The wiring of the I3 Mega uses a lot of similarly colored wires and a few misc shared bundles)
Using the photographs to the best of your abilities (also commenting uncertainties to me), transfer all trigorilla wires to the new board. Some wires will need extending and at least one harness cable will need to be partially jumpered, but this is a working setup. Please disregard all bltouch wiring. (NOTE: I made a mistake when installing my main power connections and got the polarity reversed, so red will be black and black will be red for you, but the board is reverse polarity protected, so no major worries)
Making sure of all connections, route the main power from the PSU to the board and power up the machine.
Using the supplied USB cable, connect to the printer and check temperatures and end-stops (m119 while holding down the end stops). Make all necessary adjustments or corrections and consider gluing the leads in place so that they don't wiggle out over time.
Once verified as working, disconnect from the printer, turn off the power supply, and gently place the board to the side
Remove the stock LCD touchscreen by unbolting it and peeling it out of its housing
Attach the data cable supplied to the TFT35 and connect the other end to the board after running the wire through the opening in the front of the printer where the old screen used to be
Mount the screen temporarily with adhesive, or in my case, by aligning it over the old opening and using the drill and 3mm bit to make two holes in the metal case for long hardware to be used to clamp it down
Ensure the connection is proper and not reversed by powering up the unit and waiting for it to connect. (Note: This usually takes a few seconds, and if the connection is reversed, the screen won't turn on)
Bolt the plate back on to the bottom of the printer and flip it back over
Fully calibrate the printer... PID tune the bed, reset the gantry height using the screws on the Z-axis, relevel the bed with the four corners, and double-check all connections and hardware locations.
Print and test, consider using Cura and my supplied profile.
Consider liking and commenting for the effort and making a Paypal donation to offset costs and figuring everything out.
paypal.me/jbrow532
I genuinely hope this helps transform this platform for you all and that it at least inspires those who are maybe unsure of their machine to question what makes it work and what more it could do!
Thanks, everybody! Enjoy!