I'm back to it. 12V vs. 24v upgrade

[advsign]

Hello all,

I have dusted off my M2 and started PLA printing after a year. All going strong, but I now see there is a 24v upgrade available. What will I get with this that the 12V cannot do? Speed or what?

Also see the dual extruded option. I don't have a need for dual color so I assume this is the only advantage for this.

Regards,
Ken

[Tim]

There is definitely a strong argument for "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". Downsides of the 24V upgrade: (1) If you have a particularly old RAMBo (pre-revision E), with a solid-state circuit breaker instead of an automotive-grade fuse, then you either have to replace the electronics board or do a particularly messy replacement job on the circuit breaker (as the board does not have holes or solder pads compatible with automotive fuse sockets). Otherwise the circuit breaker, which is rated to something like 18V maximum, can catch on fire; (2) If you have a Z-axis stepper motor with a high (32 ohm) winding resistance (also appeared on early M2 models), the 24V supply appears to severely shorten its lifespan.

Since the quality of the M2 lies in its rock-solid frame and linear rails, you won't get any better quality for your upgrade. What you will get is an extruder with a nice, neat heater block instead of the ceramic blob (is the 24V upgrade shipping with a v4 extruder now? If so, then even better). Is that worth the price of the upgrade, plus possibly the price of a new electronics board and Z-stepper motor? Probably not, but that decision is yours to make. I did the upgrade mostly because I wanted the dual extruder.

[mathisyourfriend]

Thanks for the summary of pros and cons Tim. I have a 12v (shipped 5/1/13). I've toyed with the upgrade but "...ain't broke don't fix it" is one of my defaults in life.

Joe

[innkeeper]

in my opinion,

if you don't need wither dual colors on the same layer, or need to use some kind of desolveable support material, then there is no need for dual extrudes.
in fact, the second extruder can be a pain in the buttocks. because it will drag across the print under some conditions.

Theres no strong drivers for going 24v especialy if you are not a tinkerer nor wish to run any hi temp plastics

pro:
the hot build plate heats up faster on the 24v setup.
most hotends are 12v or 24v so 19v is not a standard for most cartridge based hotends. that being said, i never had a problem driving a 24v htoend with 19v.
brings you up to spec with the current generation m2.
its nice to have a single supply in a nice case and a single wire to the m2 - it's cleaner.


con:
you need to also replace the hot build plate.
you need to either series wire the 12v fans or replace them with 24v fans
the 24v ps has its own fan and increases noise.