Random 3D printing chatter

Soldato
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Which one are you looking at? I'm interested myself but given I still haven't fully explored what a standard printer has to offer I just don't know. Are they really that much better?


The elegoo saturn.
It's supposed to be on sale on amazon from Oct this year.

But that's if the none toxic resin is really no toxic.
 
Associate
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The elegoo saturn.
It's supposed to be on sale on amazon from Oct this year.

But that's if the none toxic resin is really no toxic.

I have the MARS, it's a good machine so I'm sure it's bigger brother will be too.

I'm not sure ANY UV cured resin could be fully non-toxic, and you'll always need gloves and possibly a mask.
 
Soldato
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Evening guys. Thought I'd mention some progress. You know, make it look like I'm doing something productive! :D So far, I have the Ender 5 in pieces - kinda the opposite to what I was hoping but such is life. It's the PSU box I've got unbolted, upside down and with the lid off. There's a Pi 3b+ just dropped in there with an SD card loaded with OctoPi (Octoprint for Pi). I've got a multi-pack of buck convertors and one of them will run the Pi. I've soldered wires onto the appropriate PP points for 5V and ground because I want to run it through the protection of the onboard polyfuse but don't really have the room for a micro USB plug. I'm currently waiting on some crimp-on forks so I can attach the buck convertor to the PSU and adjust the voltage before soldering the Pi's wires onto it. Also waiting on the standoffs for the Pi....which are conveniently M2.5 when everything I have is M3 or higher. Then, of course, I found I don't have a tap for an M2.5 thread so that's in the post too. Tap? Yes, my plan is to make a steel plate that I can drill and tap at the right places (according to the schematic) to hold the standoffs. I can then stick that into the PSU box which mounts with everything upside down. Should make everything removable without drilling holes through the reference sticker on the top of the box. I'm also thinking another buck convertor to run a replacement quieter (Noctua) fan or two. Definitely the hot end fan and somehow the PSU fan too - although getting the PSU out of the box to get at the fan without wrecking the reference sticker may be impossible.

Wondering about plugging OctoPi in by USB to the Creality control board. I've got a few choices there: try to solder onto the header on the Creality board (tiny pins/traces), run a cable out of the box and plug it in (fugly) or relocate the creality board so the connection is inside the box. If I do the last one, I'd lose access to the micro SD card slot on the Creality board. Options there are to feed it jobs through OctoPrint or extend the micro SD slot with a ribbon cable that plugs into the micro SD slot, runs 15-48cm and terminates in either a Micro SD slot or an SD slot. Has anyone got any experience with feeding the jobs in through OctoPrint? Am I going to cause myself unnecessary pain if I go that route....or the other?
 
Soldato
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I have the MARS, it's a good machine so I'm sure it's bigger brother will be too.

I'm not sure ANY UV cured resin could be fully non-toxic, and you'll always need gloves and possibly a mask.


I'm reading about the washable resin.
Using that will be cheaper as IPA prices have gone through the roof.
 
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Just had an Ender 3 Pro delivered to home.
Shame I'm stuck at work, can't wait to start playing with it. Had looked into 3d printing a while ago but, now the prices for the machines have really come down, thought it was time to have a go :)
 
Soldato
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Make sure you have some IPA (Isopropyl Alcohol) to wipe down the bed before printing. (Unless anyone more knowledgable can recommend anything else). Mine printed the first couple of parts flawlessly but then nothing would stick to the bed until I'd cleaned it.
 
Soldato
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Interesting, because my bed is like a well-loved wok. Every print has seasoned the bed improving adhesion over time. I did give it a wipe down with IPA a few days ago cleaning up a horrendous print failure, and for the next few prints adhesion wasn't fantastic.

YMMV
 
Soldato
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Perhaps I'd just greased it up with my hands in blissful ignorance of the problems I was creating :D
Some Noctua goodness has arrived from OCUK this morning. Now trying to shoehorn a 20mm thick fan into a 10mm space....cos the 20mm version was quieter and pushed more air. If only I had something to make a new cowling with :eek: They should suggest buying these things in pairs so you have a working one to make parts for the one you have in pieces.....otherwise you'd have to plan ahead! :D
 
Soldato
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Actually, that just gave me a thought. It would have been far easier (and cheaper!) to just print some earplugs for the wife! ;)
Mounting screws for a 10mm thick fan, aren't long enough for a 20mm fan. Told'ja that planning ahead lark was never going to work!
 
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Make sure you have some IPA (Isopropyl Alcohol) to wipe down the bed before printing. (Unless anyone more knowledgable can recommend anything else). Mine printed the first couple of parts flawlessly but then nothing would stick to the bed until I'd cleaned it.

IPA I do have :)
Just hope bed levelling isnt the nightmare I've read about ;)
 
Soldato
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Just hope bed levelling isnt the nightmare I've read about ;)
Take your time with it.

As you've not built your Ender yet, I STRONGLY recommend you upgrade the bed springs and add M4 nuts to the bed screws IMMEDIATELY. Everything else is a nice-to-have.

And follow the build guide to the letter
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjv-eOZsiENCPPndxiiNWceRdjKbDXutc

(except the part where he upgrades the bed springs and nuts half way through the video :p I did it at the very beginning when I didn't have half the printer made up)
 
Soldato
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Just check it doesn't have upgraded springs already. I just bought an Ender 5 Pro and it seems to have them already - they're orange/yellow instead of silver and quite stiff. Not certain these are the same or if they've bothered to apply the same to the 3 Pro but just a heads-up as I've already bought a silicone sock (that a guide said I needed) for mine only to find it already had one :rolleyes:
 
Associate
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Got busy building the printer last night on the dining room table (it's 30c over here and I have no aircon in the attic where my PC is so didnt fancy doing it up there yet). All fairly straight forward, just the belt was a bit awkward and had to google how to tighten the carriage.
Elected to not use the glass plate I'd ordered and just go with the magnetic bed.
Used Chep's bed leveling gcode to set the bed up. Simple and done in 10mins (seems I have a nice flat bed :))

Started a supplied sample print. Was going nicely but then noticed the bowen tube kept slipping off. Didn't realise that there were 3 different sized blue clips available and I'd used the wrong one.
Had to pause the job to refit the tube a couple of times. Looks like the printer doesnt like to be paused as, on the second resume, the filament coiled up and went everywhere.
Not too worried as I still need to dial in the temp settings and it was bed time anyway.

So far, I'm cautiously optimistic that this is going to go well. Will try the boaty test bench tonight and see how it goes.
Can't wait to fire up 3ds Max and start designing stuff :)

@Cenedd it has the standard springs on it, will probably upgrade those fairly shortly but seems ok so far.
 
Man of Honour
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Cheers, ill pop a link up next time I power up the desktop.

Its essentially this with two 14.5 mm holes for hard tubing.

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2860818/remixes

What colour you want it? Also for clearance you only really need to add 0.2mm depending on what nozzel size you are using. Anyway if you aren't in a major rush I could probably print you one off some time next week. Have to go to France for a wedding next week and am busy as they come right now.
 
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