Z-Temp

™

Installation and Use

V 11.0

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Contents

Compliance Information

Introduction

Kit Contents

Extruder Control Installation

Extruder Control Test

Extruder Control Use

Temperature Monitor Output

Modified Extruder Head Cover

Low-Temperature Range Option

Bed Heater Switch Installation

Bed Heater Switch Use

Specifications

Warranty and Disclaimers

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Thank you and congratulations on your purchase of the Z-Temp™ temperature control system for the Zortrax™ M200® 3D printer. You are now free to use your choice of filament!

Why use the Z-Temp™?

Independence

The M200 is a fine machine, but users are limited to the temperatures specified at slicing time by a selected profile provided by Zortrax for their proprietary materials. With the Z-Temp™, users are free to select from a wide range of extrusion temperature for any material they choose to use in their printers.

Accuracy

Due to component variations, the M200ʼs temperature sensing and control system is accurate only to within approximately ±5-10ºC. Even when using a Zortrax profile, the final temperature may not be optimal; Z-Temp can compensate for these errors.

On-the-Fly Adjustment

Used per Zortraxʼs procedure, extrusion temperatures are fixed at slicing time – there is no ability to change temperature mid-print for fine adjustments or special part characteristics. With Z-Temp, extrusion temperature can be changed at any time during the printing process. Furthermore, there is no need to re-slice your model when you want to print it using a different material – just set the Z-Temp and use the same Z-code you previously generated.

Real-Time Temperature and Heater Activity Display

The M200 provides no operator feedback of actual temperature during printing. The Z-

Tempʼs patent-pending multi-color display confirms at a glance the approximate extruder temperature at any time, its Heater Monitor provides an informative display of power delivered to the hot end, and its Temperature Monitor Output can be used with an external meter to read exact actual hot-end temperature.

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Please visit our website at www.z-temp.co

to view samples of parts printed using the Z-

Temp, for many tips and settings for various materials, and for support from the user community. As we learn more about printing new materials with the M200® we will publish them on the News , Tips for Use, and Gallery pages of the site – those pages will be updated more frequently than this User Manual.

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Your Z-Temp kit should contain the following components:

• Z-Temp™ extruder temperature control module

• Bed heater on/off control assembly

• Temperature voltage output cable

• ColorTemp™ visual thermometer color-key sticker

• 0.5mm shim for increasing initial layer nozzle distance (see http://www.ztemp.co/tips-and-tricks.html

to learn about use of the shim).

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Switch the printer off. Move the print head to a corner to minimize stress on the guide rods. Itʼs not necessary to unload the filament before installation, but it does make things a bit easier.

Use the ejector levers to remove the ribbon cable. Remove the snap-on cover.

Plug the Z-Temp into the M200ʼs ribbon cable connector, making sure to line it up correctly.

Damage to the printer or the Z-Temp may occur if the connector is not aligned!

Snap the ejector latches into the Z-Tempʼs housing to secure it in place.

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NOTE: Zortrax makes occasinal changes to the design of the printed extruder cover and male headr connector on the extruder PCB. These have caused minor mechanical incompatibilities with the Z-Temp for some users. As of May 29, 2015, all Z-Temps have shipped with housing v13d, which we believe is compatible with all or at least almost all variations of the M200 shipped to date. If you have any compatibility issues please contact us with details and weʼll sort it out for you.

OK, back to installation! Open the ejector levers on the Z-Tempʼs ribbon cable connector and insert the ribbon cable. Support the back of the Z-Temp during this operation to minimize stress.

ANOTHER NOTE: We've learned that some of the most recent M200s are shipping with ribbon connectors having tabs at the edges of the female connector housing. If these tabs are found to prevent mating with your Z-Temp's male header, simply snip off the tabs with a pair of cutters.

You'll also note that the new ribbon connector has 24 pins, whereas the male header of the extruder (and that of the Z-Temp) has only 20 pins. The female connector should be centered on the male header, with one pair of unused sockets extending past each end of the header.

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Switch the printer on. The Z-Temp will light up blue (assuming the extruder is cold).

Set the Z-Tempʼs control knob for 0 degrees temperature offset.

Use the M200ʼs front panel interface to manually heat the extruder (Maintenance->Heat the

Extruder).

A small red dot appears on the M200ʼs panel, monitoring extruder heater power.

As the temperature of the extruder rises, the Z-Tempʼs color will change to indicate the current temperature as shown in the chart below. As the temperature approaches the M200ʼs setpoint, the heater power monitor will begin to flicker as the printerʼs pulse-width modulation and PID control loop kick in.

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Extruder Control Test (continued)

Change the Z-Tempʼs temperature offset setting and observe the effect on the heater power monitor and the temperature indicated by the Z-Tempʼs color. The Z-Temp updates its display many times per second, but due to thermal inertia of the hot end and the M200ʼs PID control loop, it will take some time for changes in extruder temperature to occur.

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Please visit our website at www.z-temp.co

to view samples of parts printed using the Z-Temp, for many tips and settings for various materials, and for support from the user community. As we learn more about printing new materials with the M200® we will publish them on the Tips for

Use and Gallery pages of the site – those pages will be updated more frequently than this User

Manual.

Measured temperatures for Zortrax material profiles appear in the table below. The Z-Temp

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“offset” is relative to whichever of these is chosen at slicing time.

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Notes:

1. Values measured using Z-Suite 1.0 profiles

2. All materials perform “Load” and “Unload” at 260C. Loading and unloading should generally be done with -20º - 0º offset.

3. Temperature can vary as much as ±3-5 degrees during printing due to PID error, fan speed changes, etc.

4. Zortrax has a history of changing these values with each new revision of Z-Suite: UltraT extruded at 280ºC in version 0.0.9.6, for example. Itʼs a good idea, therefore, to remeasure them or check the Z-Temp website for updated values whenever Z-Suite is updated.

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On the left side of the Z-Temp is a 2-pin JST-XH connector to which can be connected an external multimeter or voltmeter. The Z-Temp is shipped with a conductive anti-static cap in the

Temperature Monitor Output jack; this must of course be removed in order to use the Monitor

Output, but we recommend keeping it in place whenever the output is not in use in order to minimize the chances of your Z-Temp being damaged by accidental static discharge.

The signal on this connector comes directly from the M200ʼs temperature-sensing electronics, and will provide a real-time indication of the actual nozzle temperature (within the accuracy of the M200ʼs thermocouple its signal-conditioning circuitry on the printhead PCB, which is typically about ±5ºC). The scale factor is 200ºC per Volt, so to get the temperature you simply multiply the voltage reading by 200: for example in the photo below the voltage is .953 volts, so the indicated nozzle temperature is 190.6ºC.

Because actual hotend temperature may be affected by motherboard converter errors, slicing parameters, fan speed, ambient temperature, etc., this feature is useful for verifying the actual temperature at any moment and for measuring nominal temperatures used by the Zortrax profiles.

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If desired, an extruder cover having a lower façade may be printed and installed in place of the original Zortrax part. This provides better access to the ejector levers, and better visibility of the illuminated front face of the Z-Temp.

Installation is simple, requiring removal of only the two screws holding the cover and extruder

PCB to the stepper motor saddle. The STL for the low-façade part can be downloaded from: http://www.z-temp.co/low_extruder_cover_v5.stl

and the z-code from http://www.z-temp.co/low_extruder_cover_v5.zcode

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In order to facilitate experimentation with new low-temperature filaments such as wax, the Z-

Temp includes a low-temperature range option that can be selected by bridging a small “jumper” on the underside of the PCB with solder.

Normal Temperature Range - jumper open: Low-Range - jumper shorted:

When the low temperature range is selected, the offset switch settings go from -140 to +10ºC instead of -90 to +60ºC. There is also an additional color range shown on the ColorTemp display: the “icy blue” color zone ends at 120º instead of 190º, and the zone between 120º and

190º is indicated by a deep blue color.

Using the Z-ABS profile, -140º offset will result in ≈135º extruder temperature, while using the Z-

Glass profile will yield ≈110ºC.

When the low-temperature range is selected, the standard dial markings will of course be wrong. You can download a PDF of the low-temperature markings here and print your own label:

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The bed heater switch is not necessary for printing with ABS or other materials requiring a heated bed, however in order to successfully print PLA or Colorfabb PLA+PHA with the M200 it is necessary to disable the bed heater, otherwise rafts will be inextricably welded to parts.

Switch the printer off and remove the bottom cover. This entails removing of four flat-head screws around the perimeter; instructions are available on the Zortrax website here (the support article is about changing the ribbon cable, but you do NOT have to change the ribbon cable to install the Z-Temp modifications, just take off the bottom cover). Take care when removing the bottom cover not to pull the cooling fan cable. Use pliers to disconect the cooling fan cable from the motherboard.

Identify and disconnect the bed temperature sensor cable. It is strongly recommended to use pliers to grip the connector housing rather than pulling on the wires.

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Insert the bed heater switch wiring harness through the third slot from the front on the printer chassisʼ right-hand side.

Connect the temperature sensor cable to the wiring harnessʼs male connector and the wiring harnessʼs female connector to the motherboard, where the sensor was formerly connected.

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Snap the switch housing into the chassis, ensuring that the lettering is right-side up.

Re-install the bottom cover of the printer, reconnecting the cooling fan power cable in the process.

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The M200ʼs firmware (as of v0.0.5) polls the temperature sensor once at the start of a print, and infrequently or not at all thereafter.

It is therefore necessary to set the bed heater switch to the desired position (up for On or down for Off) before launching a print. Changes to the switch position once a print operation has been launched may have no effect or may even prevent a print from ever starting. It may also be necessary to switch the printer off and back on again in order to cancel bed heating once itʼs begun.

Bed heater operation can be monitored via the blue LED under the M200ʼs print bed; if the Z-

Tempʼs bed heater switch is set to “OFF” prior to launching a print, this LED should remain off. A sheet of reflective mylar or other “mirror” type material laid in the bottom of the print chamber provides a convenient way to monitor this LED without having to bend down.

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Temperature Error: Typically < 1ºC, maximum 2ºC (This is the accuracy of the Z-Tempʼs temperature offset settings – it does not include any errors in the M200ʼs sensor or electronics)

Temperature Offset Range: -90 to +60ºC offset from M200 nominal, in sixteen 10-degree steps in normal range; -140 to +10ºC when the low-range option is selected.

ColorTemp™ Indicator Transition Temperatures (±2ºC, excluding any errors in the M200ʼs sensor or electronics):

• < 190ºC - Blue

• 190 - 230ºC - Green (PLA)

• 230 - 240ºC - Yellow (Generic ABS)

• 240 - 260ºC - Orange (Generic ABS, Nylon)

• 260 - 280ºC - Red (High-temperature ABS)

• 280 - 290ºC - Pink

• 290 - 300ºC - Purple

• 300+ºC - White

Weight: 31g

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The Z-Temp™ is warranted to perform as described when used as specified herein with the

M200 printer together with Z-Suite 1.0 or earlier and M200 firmware 0.0.5 or earlier. No warranty is made as to its operation with future versions of Zortrax software or firmware.

The manufacturer and/or seller of the Z-Temp assumes no responsibility for damage to any 3D printer it is used with or any consequential damages of any kind resulting from its use. All risks are assumed by the user.

Use of third-party (non-Zortrax) filament will void the warranty of your Zortrax printer. Use of the

Z-Temp may do so as well.

“Zortrax”, “M200”, and “Z-Suite” are copyright and/or trademarks of Zortrax Sp, Olsztyn, Poland

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