Random 3D printing chatter

[Cenedd]

I know it sounds mad but concrete.

Doesn't sound mad...but those default 0.2mm layer heights you're using might be why it takes months to print a building! Hope it's got power-failure resume and a decent webcam for watching it overnight!
Ventilation's no issue but do you need an enclosure for printing concrete filament?!

 

[Cenedd]

Nah, it's easy, you just flex it and your house pops right off
Kind of interesting that the layer height is still about half the nozzle width even at much larger scale and very different material.

 

[Cenedd]

I swapped the hotend fan for a Noctua and ran that off a buck converter. That's pretty quiet and doing that wasn't a problem as it's on all the time.
I did similar for the layer fan but left it controlled by the board. It's sort-of PWM but weird. The positive is direct so that's now on a buck converter too. The negative is what is chopped by the board but very roughly and that's what causes the noise. It makes it sound like there's gravel in the bearing. The answer is to swap the controller but I got as far as buying one and then bought a new printer when I realised I was never going to get round to it!
I stuffed a Pi into the original electrics case, two bucks (12V for fans and 5V for Pi), a network port, a switched outlet to run better lighting (24V COB LED strips on aluminium backing plate) and a 92mm slimline Noctua to keep it cool.

New printer is a Bambu and the 0.4mm nozzle is hardened. I do have a 0.6 that also hardened but haven't needed it so far. Tried it once and was disappointed that the print time was pretty much the same.

I've got a Filadry S2 and just went for the Kickstarter for the S4 that will dry 4 concurrently.

 

[Cenedd]

Pretty much what you've found to be honest. It does help and some moisture may be able to get out the Bowden tube holes but maybe not a lot. I printed the desiccant holders that fit in the middle of the spool and half fill them with colour-change desiccant, then I spin the spool about every hour (or when I think of it!). Drying a few and maybe using it like a dry box seems like a good plan. Tried the vacuum bags and they're a bit hit and miss; some stay vac'd and some don't.

 

[Cenedd]

Cheap DTI (Dial Test Indicator) from online site and a printed mount to the hotend? Less (mentally) painful than finding the other one.

Been there with the glass chip. Same way too.

Accident sucks. Been there too. Nothing really fixes it. It's more annoying though when the Police breathalize you as the lazy option to see if they can at least charge someone

 

[Cenedd]

Anyone got any clues on this? PETG, 0.4mm nozzle. PERFECT in every detail except the overhang which went weird. I say overhang but it's only 45° so nothing that ought to be taxing. Printed again (it's functional but I needed two) and the same sort of thing happened but not identical - ie it's not printing what its told to, it is a fault.
It's Tinmorry Eco PETG which did previously work well...unlike their non-Eco stuff. Bad filament or something need tuning?

 

[Cenedd]

Seems odd it doesn't have a crossbar at the top front. Convenient for getting to the bed but would have thought it'd make it less rigid.

 

[Cenedd]

Not entirely my field but in the absence of any better answers A few things that spring to mind:
1. The bed is not flat - either it's bowed or just off-level - to the extent that the hotend hits it before it gets to the range that it starts listening to the sensor to see when to stop.
2. The G-Code for the probing routine is naff.
3. Is there an endstop for the bed height (or hotend height depending which moves on yours) that might be misadjusted so the bed comes up too high?

Can you move the head about manually (with the power off if necessary to unlock the steppers) and adjust the bed using a piece of paper under the nozzle - should just drag when the gap is correct but be careful you don't assume you can move it from where it is adjusted to the next point without it gouging the bed. Might even be worth checking with something thicker first to give yourself more margin for error.
Auto-leveling does work but ideally you want it to be just compensating for a little bow in the bed or if the bed goes a nat's off kilter. Otherwise you see it going up and down the entire time it's doing just a flat layer (no prizes for guessing who's bed is more warped than a politician's morals!)

G-Code if that's a problem could be an update either to software or firmware - depends what does the probing.

 

[Cenedd]

Are you trying to get someone to print it for you and post it to you? Or advice on how to do it yourself?
There are pay-per-print services available if you want to try checking the price.

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[Cenedd]

You might want to just check how much air it shifts as it may be thicker but it's only 60% of the power. Unless, of course, quietness is the criteria.

 

[Cenedd]

Well I pulled too hard to get a print off and it peeled some of the coating, so I also got a PEI one and seems much better/easier to use but also have only printed a handful of things.

I think that PETG can stick too hard to PEI unless you use glue - ironically - as a release agent.
I've had good results with the Lightyear 3D G10 (aka Garolite) bed on an X1C. Also seems to be available for Creality. Haven't used glue since for PLA, PLA-CF, PETG, PETG-CF, PET. Haven't tried ASA yet but I think I may have just found an excuse to crack open a spool.

Just got started on this hobby.

My, this is a deep rabbithole.

Yup. You want to try machine tools as a hobby...makes this rabbithole look positively shallow!

Which is causing major problems as I have orders backing up for these Red Dwarf heads I sell.

If it's any good, I'll sell all my other printers and just have the one.

Won't you then be back to a situation where if it fails or has problems, you're in trouble?

 

[Cenedd]

Buy a better base machine to start with to avoid a lot of frustration and headache. I would say 4 or 5 hundred is the minimum pricing you want to be looking at

Agreed on the better base machine. Unless, of course, building it, tweaking it etc is what interests you more. Assuming you want to actually print stuff, a decent machine makes it a lot less painful.
A Bambu X1C is my 2nd machine...so I've done both. Still have some upgrade parts for my old one that I was going to install but never got round to.
I'd argue that 4-500 is excessive for most people though. I went X1C for the same reason you hold out for the 4080Ti when the 4080 would be more than enough....you guys understand, I'm sure
I wanted to be able to print ABS so needed the chamber etc. I've got a spool of the stuff and still haven't printed any. Ditto with ASA. I don't need the fumes and PETG is easier, cheaper and does most of it at least as well. I think impact resistance is the only benefit. That said, I have printed a lot of carbon fibre filament so a hardened nozzle and extruder gears is probably worth having. Also printed some PET-CF (note lack of G) as that will handle nearly 200°C once printed. Pricey but if you need the temp resistance...
For that reason a full metal hotend is of benefit too.
If you don't want to do those, definitely have a look at the Bambu A1 mini. Either with or without the changer. It's a smaller print volume but that may not be important to you.

 

[Cenedd]

I'm running a Sunlu Filadry S4 that I picked up on their Kickstarter campaign. 4 roll capacity and fans. So far so good...although I've not yet put anything more hygroscopic than PETG-CF through it. I hated the glue aspect of the initial Bambu setup. Just couldn't get a consistent layer of glue down that wouldn't affect the bottom of the part. Maybe I'd been spoiled by running a glass plate (with a reeeeeally slow first layer) but it annoyed me. Switched to a G10 (aka Garolite) bed and haven't used any glue since. Highly recommend it as a surface. The only gotcha's I've had (and this was on the glass too) is that if you get it good and PETG'd and then switch to PLA, it's not going to stick despite wiping it with IPA. Wipe it with Fairy/Dawn (and rinse or wipe with just water) and the only issue you'll have is getting it back off when it's done! Right, back to the task at hand of seeing whether the print will finish before the roll does!

 

[Cenedd]

I guess the S stands for Sunlu or an expletive).

Odd that. Their PETG I've found to be one of the best. I've got a roll of their high speed PLA and I think another type of PLA (there were offers ) but I've not got round to trying them yet. The AnyCubic PLA came out alright.

 

[Cenedd]

I've run through nearly a whole 1kg roll of their SPLA and it prints fine until the top layers then it starts to bubble

Couldn't be something like top-layer ironing that it doesn't like (or is too hot for) could it?

The Eryone PLA reels I have used since have been stupidly easy to work with in comparison, maybe I got one from a bad batch?

I think different printers seem to get on better with different filaments. I've had some by respected brands that I thought sucked and clearly I have good results with ones that others think suck.

@Scougar The cardboard spools would put me off as I use an AMS changer and they don't play nicely. Bit of a pain to re-spool and the outriggers seem a bit hit and miss. I'd be curious as to what PETG-CF filaments you've already tried and what you thought. I've gone Eryone black PETG-CF at £17/kg. It has a tendancy to ooze and foul the start but a brim seems to fix that. Not sure it's a 100% consistent extrude either but it seems to be reasonably strong. Didn't want to pay twice as much for the Bambu version and other options were out of stock for the colour. Cardboard spool but I've already got some outriggers that seem to work ok for it.

 

[Cenedd]

@5abr3 If it's any consolation, I've just loaded that brand new spool of PETG-CF of the same brand as the last that was printing acceptably. Printing the same? No, not even close. Dribbles and strings ruining the first layer. Calibrate it "successfully" and now it won't even stick to the bed. Going to wash the bed in the morning and let the filament bake overnight and see if it's just wet despite being really well vacuum sealed. Sometimes this hobby's great....and other times it really sucks! *Sigh*

 

[Cenedd]

Ok, partly for interest and partly so I don't lose track of things....gotta love a little self-interest, right?!

Old Roll	K0.024	Flow Ratio: 0.95
New Roll - Undried	K0.037	Flow Ratio: 0.791
New Roll - Dried	K0.029	Flow Ratio: 0.893

Acid test, of course, will be if I can now print these damn parts!

 

[Cenedd]

Could be damp but first thing to try would be a wash/wipe with Fairy liquid/Dawn dishsoap followed by a rinse. Either in sink if suitable removable plate or wipe with damp kitchen towel with a dab of fairy if not and then just water. I've had PETG leave a residue that PLA just won't stick too and IPA doesn't get it off.
Could also be not enough squish (initial height/levelling) of the first layer but I'd try dishsoap first.

 

[Cenedd]

....and we have.....PARTS! Yay! Still some issues on the first layer caused by blobs where it oozed on travels....but it's a functional part at least.



These will hold up some bits of dead tree to form another one of these....that I badly need as you can see



Now to further destroy my sanity by printing something with threads using the stuff.....and I think we may be printing air already *facepalm*

 

[Cenedd]

If all else fails, my son is just going to have to make do with a white dinosaur instead of a red one...

Oh, I've been there!

Hair spray can help but like glue it's a bit messy. Your other option is blue painters tape (I think any kind of masking tape would probably do). You need to try to get it nice and close without overlapping unless the bottom of your part doesn't matter. Doesn't leave the residence unless you properly bake it on.

Very slow first layer can also help. Had to do that with PETG on a glass bed.