I would like to upgrade my k8200.
I was thinking about a bulldog xl extruder with a magma hotend. This bundle comes with an NTC thermistor and heater: would they connect straight in to the printer? Should I use k8200 default heater and thermistor?
What do you think/suggest about that? Keep in mind that where I live it is hard to find other products 
The second modification would be a 18V power supply in order to make the bed heat up faster. It would be driven trough a 12V car relais connected to the controller board.
The third and prettiest mod would be to put close to the extruder (but vertically separated) a laser cutter/engraver. I was thinking on a switch that could select laser or printer, that makes the machine work as wanted.
Anyone that could help me or suggest better solutions?
If you change the power supply for the heatbed consider going to at least a 24V supply.
I did the same switched over a relay.
I Donāt know much about the bulldog and the magma hotend.
What type of thermistor and heater cartridge do they use?
I recently put a EĀ§D V6 hotend on and use the thermistor and heater supplied with it.
As the heater is a 12V type i lowerden PID_MAX to 180 to prevent large overshoot wehn heating.
The thermistor that came with the hotend was same type as the stock one, so no change needed there.
You mention a laser cutter, what type is that, and weher did you sourece it?
Would be an interesting upgrade for mee too.
Hello,
so, I have done the small upgrade for the heating bed. It works like a charm, even if the power supply used for it is not very powerful (18,20,22 or 24V DC but limited to 90W). During the first prints I had to wait for the heating bed to reach its temperature (if nozzle and bed were switched on at the same time) for a while, but now the nozzle is slower: perfect! No more huge delays before printing!
The hotend I am looking to is this one:
http://shop.deltatower.ch/Extruder-und-Hotends/Trinitylabs-Magma-Hot-End-for-3mm-Filament-12V::330.html
It has a thermistor of 100k but how can I know if its behaviour is comparable to the Vellemanās one? What do you think? Giving it a shot or keep the Velleman thermistor?
Last but not least important: laser cutting upgrade. This upgrade would be great, but it is dangerous so I am planning everything in advance.
The product I am considering buying is this one:
http://jtechphotonics.com/?product=new-2-8w-laser-and-2-5amp-safety-compliant-driver-kit-with-international-style-power-adapter
Obviously I will buy protective shields to cover all 3 exposed sides of the printer and a pair of extra goggles.
I am aiming for a multi purpose machine, wich can go from cut to print only by touching some switches (plus security switches like āare you sure you want to use laser?ā and āare you completely sure what you want to do?āā¦ 
). I will also study a mount that allows me to get the beam as close to the nozzle as possible: this will give me the ability to reach almost 20x20cm of cutting area. In order to achieve that I thing I have to mount it above the printer extruder.
My mind is fƧ%ked 
As far as i can see on the Page you posted the Termistor type of the Magma hotend is the same as the velleman,
so it should be no problem to use it.
The LASER seems quite interesting, but quite costly too 
What cutting power can you expect from it?
Will it cut plywood or thick plastics too, or just āengraveā surfaces?
What kind of software can be used to generate the G-codes?
The laser seems very interessting indeed.
It seems that itās already been implemented on a K8200: http://jtechphotonics.com/?page_id=1016
What do you need on the heatbed to protect the surface?
However, itās also a very dangerous modā¦
[quote=āDeskstarā]
However, itās also a very dangerous modā¦[/quote]
That for sure!
Would be nice if someone had uploaded some pictures of the mounted laserā¦
The laser cut trough plastic and balsa wood up to 1/8" (4mm) for sure, more than that itās a mistery to me!! But balsa and plastic is more than enough for me (engraving metal may become useful in the future).
Of course it is a very dangerous modification, thatās why safety is my first concern. It is more challenging due to the fact that I want the two systems to coexist.
While going from a cut to a print is fairly ease (press a button), you must be 10000000% sure that the laser is disabled. I am thinking about a plastic cover that will manually or automatically (with servo motor) cover the laser and some power supply switches to cut it completely off.
It will be my first time using the laser technology to cut or engrave (and not just to point things on a school white board) and as far as I understand the protective shields (or glasses) will provide sufficient protection to what or who is on the other side.
This mean that I will be buying quite a lot of protective shields. One for the heating bed, one in front of the laser, some panels to cover the 3 exposed faces of the printer. Then a shield on the plastic cover for the laser, two high power blinking lights (yellow) with warning signs (one inside and one on the door outside the choosen room) that will automatically light up if the laser receives power.
I wonāt do it anytime soon (before may 2015 I hope) but I will post pictures if I am succesful.
). I will also study a mount that allows me to get the beam as close to the nozzle as possible: this will give me the ability to reach almost 20x20cm of cutting area. In order to achieve that I thing I have to mount it above the printer extruder.
