Random 3D printing chatter

pastymuncher said:
My Elegoo Centauri Carbon did indeed arrive on Thursday despite being pre-order with a dispatch date of 31st August. This thing is heavy and seems to be very well built. A half spool of PLA would have been nice rather than the stingy tiny amount you get but I suppose that's the same with all the brands and I had a few rolls delivered from Amazon anyway. I set it up this morning and updated to the latest firmware then let it do it's self test and calibration which took around 10 minutes and then I started it printing a test piece. The problem is that the unit I had it mounted on (old kitchen cupboard on wheels) just isn't sturdy enough and was bouncing around which of course messed the print up so I cancelled it and switched it off until I get something far more sturdier. What are you guys setting your printers up on?
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I have two on top of old filing cabinets, they are getting on a bit now but still doing what is needed of them so no point replacing yet.
As for drying PLA, I’ve never done it but I always put it back in the bag with the silica gel pack it comes with, more and more brands now ship with a sealable bag so I’ve never had trouble that way.
If I leave a reel on for a while it does tend to start snapping so that’s why I pack up after I’m done.
I bought the little sovol reel joining thing a few weeks ago, I’ve only used it a few times but it works a lot better than the other methods I’ve tried, I even managed to join a reel mid print without pausing which is very handy.
I’m using orca slicer with a pi4b running octoprint and some webcams hooked up to the pi, not the most elegant solution but it works quite well.
 
Got my P1S/AMS set up :) Just updating firmware to lock me into the eco system and I'm ready to print. Absolutely excellent packaging overall, the AMS unit being setup inside the printer out of the box was a big surprise.
 
Kainz said:
Got my P1S/AMS set up :) Just updating firmware to lock me into the eco system and I'm ready to print. Absolutely excellent packaging overall, the AMS unit being setup inside the printer out of the box was a big surprise.
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Looking forward to seeing some more prints on here.
 
BeeP said:
Looking forward to seeing some more prints on here.
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For the most part I'll be printing out GridFinity stuff for my draws at my place and my late fathers toolboxes in his garage so nothing special. Right now I'm printing out the common essentials like a poop bucket, scraper, hydro/dessicant boxes for the AMS!

At work I use BambuStudio a lot along with TinkerCAD for custom creations so I am hoping having the same printer setup at home will allow me to delve into the 3D printing world in peace and just learn more at my own pace.

Tad annoyed that there wasn't more filament in the box. I think probably 250 or 500g's worth so I'll have to buy some quite soon. So far the machine is whirring away without issue.
 
Kainz said:
For the most part I'll be printing out GridFinity stuff for my draws at my place and my late fathers toolboxes in his garage so nothing special. Right now I'm printing out the common essentials like a poop bucket, scraper, hydro/dessicant boxes for the AMS!

At work I use BambuStudio a lot along with TinkerCAD for custom creations so I am hoping having the same printer setup at home will allow me to delve into the 3D printing world in peace and just learn more at my own pace.

Tad annoyed that there wasn't more filament in the box. I think probably 250 or 500g's worth so I'll have to buy some quite soon. So far the machine is whirring away without issue.
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Still, I always like looking at what people have designed and made, always fascinates me what can be done with them.
 
This is all new to me and I am rather confused at the moment. Can you not print directly from the .STL file with the Elegoo Centauri Carbon? I downloaded some files from Printables.com and put them on a USB stick, plugged the USB stick into the port on the printer and held down the appropriate key as per the manual to read from the USB stick and get nothing. Either my printer doesn't like my USB stick or it can't print directly from a .STL file. Do I need to run it through the Elegoo slicer first and generate a G code file?
 
pastymuncher said:
This is all new to me and I am rather confused at the moment. Can you not print directly from the .STL file with the Elegoo Centauri Carbon? I downloaded some files from Printables.com and put them on a USB stick, plugged the USB stick into the port on the printer and held down the appropriate key as per the manual to read from the USB stick and get nothing. Either my printer doesn't like my USB stick or it can't print directly from a .STL file. Do I need to run it through the Elegoo slicer first and generate a G code file?
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I don’t have that printer but any one I’ve used needs a gcode, slice the stl file with your preferred slicer then print the generated gcode.
 
The STL is essentially the wireframe model, you load that into your slicer, which then uses various printer and filament settings, and then generates the gcode, that's the bit that the printer then uses to print the model with.
Can you can then save all of that into a 3mf file which is essentially the 'project' and remembers all of your settings and other info.
 
Right, I got my first print done from a USB stick thanks to you two guys. Now I have a .STL file for a two part poop chute, one part is the main outer bit and the second is a removeable drawer that collects the poop and makes it easy to empty. The problem I have is that I want to remove a large chunk from the front and back to save filament and also cut down on the print time but I can't find anything in the slicer to let me do it. I believe that Elegoo's slicer is based on Bambu's slicer but it looks the same as Orca as well. I could ask someone to do it for me but I would rather learn how to do it myself so I don't have to trouble anybody for assistance on what will probably turn out to be a easy process (when you know how). The Elegoo slicer manual is rubbish for anything like this as it only cover the basics so can you give me a pointer or point me towards a detailed guide on how to do it please?
 
Can’t help you with what you want to do and I’ll be interested to know if it can be done myself, however if it’s any help, most, if not all, slicers are Orca derivatives. Orca seems to be the base slicer that’s used by all the manufacturers who add their own bells and whistles and needless obstructions
 
Hi all. I was given a Creality Ender 3 V2, told it was not printing and had bed errors.

1 evening and all it took was a reset config. 2 prints done.
2nd evening, bed level lesson that was a steep learning curve but got 3 prints done.
This evening the extruder got gunked up so it was a disassemble, clean and reassemble. On my 3rd print now.

Next is to learn the art of the settings to understand how to get the print right. Must say it's very addictive this 3d printing!
 
pastymuncher said:
Right, I got my first print done from a USB stick thanks to you two guys. Now I have a .STL file for a two part poop chute, one part is the main outer bit and the second is a removeable drawer that collects the poop and makes it easy to empty. The problem I have is that I want to remove a large chunk from the front and back to save filament and also cut down on the print time but I can't find anything in the slicer to let me do it. I believe that Elegoo's slicer is based on Bambu's slicer but it looks the same as Orca as well. I could ask someone to do it for me but I would rather learn how to do it myself so I don't have to trouble anybody for assistance on what will probably turn out to be a easy process (when you know how). The Elegoo slicer manual is rubbish for anything like this as it only cover the basics so can you give me a pointer or point me towards a detailed guide on how to do it please?
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You could load the stl into Tinkercad website and edit it through there, not quite sure what you are trying to achieve as not seen the model.
 
pastymuncher said:
Right, I got my first print done from a USB stick thanks to you two guys. Now I have a .STL file for a two part poop chute, one part is the main outer bit and the second is a removeable drawer that collects the poop and makes it easy to empty. The problem I have is that I want to remove a large chunk from the front and back to save filament and also cut down on the print time but I can't find anything in the slicer to let me do it. I believe that Elegoo's slicer is based on Bambu's slicer but it looks the same as Orca as well. I could ask someone to do it for me but I would rather learn how to do it myself so I don't have to trouble anybody for assistance on what will probably turn out to be a easy process (when you know how). The Elegoo slicer manual is rubbish for anything like this as it only cover the basics so can you give me a pointer or point me towards a detailed guide on how to do it please?
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In Orca you right-click on the model in the 3D viewport and 'add negative part'. Choose the most suitable shape and position it appropriately, when you slice that portion will be removed.

Aligning things in the 3D view can be tricky, but using the cube in the lower-left corner to set top/front etc. helps. I also prefer to have 'auto perspective' checked in the view menu (top left next to the file menu) because that switches to orthogonal views when appropriate.
 
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Basically two paths (as you've just been told).
You can try to bodge* it with modifiers in the slicer, or you persuade a modeling package to edit it. I believe TinkerCAD can handle STLs reasonably (though I've not tried). Others such as Fusion 360 are good for other things...but STLs are a pain. If you can get a STEP (STP) file or something specific to the CAD package you're using (Fusion, Solidworks etc) you'll probably find it easier to edit...it maybe just what I'm used to is the 'only easy answer' *shrug*

*Nothing wrong with doing it in the slicer. If you can get it to do what you need, that's a win.
 
Some modelling software can cut and extrude onto .stl files, fir me though the .stl is an end product I o it use to print, I use solidworks to draw what I need and then output that as an stl, the solid works file is very easy to change once drawn so if I need a change I just edit that and output as stl again.
Solid works is very expensive so I use my copy at work, I’ve read good things about fusion 360 and it’s free copy, also tinker cad is meant to be decent, I don’t mean to sound preachy but to get the best out of your printer at some point learning cad is almost a must, it really opens it up.
 
Free version of Fusion 360 is worth doing (assuming non-commercial use) and there are plenty of tutorials on YouTube. There used to be an irritating renewal process with some hoops you had to know to jump through but I don't think I've been asked to do that for a while now.

It's fiddly to set up but you can make PCBs with Fusion too and they cost pennies to get made in China. Quality is really good too.

If you output to STEP file, your slicer may well do a smoother job of curves.
 
Thanks for the pointers guys, this is a steep learning curve for me as I have never used any software like this before. I have given up on that idea as I just couldn't get it to do what I wanted, I couldn't even do the "cut" tutorial in Tinkercad despite following the steps exactly. I have found a better poop chute design anyway but I really need to get my head around all this software if I ever want to make the most of my Centauri Carbon.
 
pastymuncher said:
Thanks for the pointers guys, this is a steep learning curve for me as I have never used any software like this before. I have given up on that idea as I just couldn't get it to do what I wanted, I couldn't even do the "cut" tutorial in Tinkercad despite following the steps exactly. I have found a better poop chute design anyway but I really need to get my head around all this software if I ever want to make the most of my Centauri Carbon.
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It is a bit of a leap, I got two for work and got pretty much left to figure them out, so many variables that can go wrong and often did. For me if I get the first layer down and sticking I’m usually on the way to a decent print.
Stick with it, even if you only get things on thingiverse etc and print them it is a very handy thing to have, they get better all the time too.
 
pastymuncher said:
Thanks for the pointers guys, this is a steep learning curve for me as I have never used any software like this before. I have given up on that idea as I just couldn't get it to do what I wanted, I couldn't even do the "cut" tutorial in Tinkercad despite following the steps exactly. I have found a better poop chute design anyway but I really need to get my head around all this software if I ever want to make the most of my Centauri Carbon.
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If this is your first 3D printer then don’t worry about designing your own models. Download whatever interests you from Printables, Thingiverse and Makerworld and just print them. That way you learn how your printer works, see and experiment with all the options available to you and generally enjoy using the printer. Designing and/ or altering 3D models is a whole different skill set from 3D printing.
 
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