Random 3D printing chatter

[Hornblower]

I checked that link but could not see how it was relevant.
My budget is circa £500 - do they only come as kits or part-build? I just thought I would by a whole machine - just shows my ignorance!

 

[andy_mk3]

Most require assembly as it makes them much easier to ship. The ones that come in a cabinet are usually fully built.

 

[ElliorR]

Just thinking about getting into 3d printing and want to buy a decent machine to make bits for my sailing yacht. I am a print designer so have Illustrator skills and am learning Freecad but am at a loss as to where to start on hardware???

One suggestion I can give you regarding software is Onshape, imo, is better and easier to get to grips with than Freecad. You need to create a free account, with the only limitation being everything you design is public, and I have knocked up a few things easier than when I tried with Freecad.

With your budget one to look into is the Prusa Mini + but it depends if you need a bigger build volume. I plan on buying one as a second printer in the near future.

 

[Hornblower]

One suggestion I can give you regarding software is Onshape, imo, is better and easier to get to grips with than Freecad. You need to create a free account, with the only limitation being everything you design is public, and I have knocked up a few things easier than when I tried with Freecad.

With your budget one to look into is the Prusa Mini + but it depends if you need a bigger build volume. I plan on buying one as a second printer in the near future.

Thanks I will look at that software - I di need a large print volume and am looking at Creality 300 x 300 x 400 - also with all metal nozzle and a range of materials

 

[bulb66]

I checked that link but could not see how it was relevant.
My budget is circa £500 - do they only come as kits or part-build? I just thought I would by a whole machine - just shows my ignorance!

What link?

If you want to print items suitable for being outside and in the elements it's going to need to be printed in ASA or ABS both ideally need an enclosure. So you can either use your budget to get a cheap printer and enclosure or buy a Prusa and DIY an enclosure.

Personally I'd avoid Creality they are not a great company.

You have a few options from Anycubic or Elegoo and a good enclosure from Whambam.

 

[Scougar]

So what do you do when you are bored, and your printer isn't working the way you want. Spend more than the printer is worth on new parts of course!!!!

OMG V2 Extruder. I no longer even need this as I changed plans a few days later to go direct drive, and this is too heavy. /facepalm. $40ish down the drain lol. I haven't even received it yet LMAO.
Makerbase/MKS SKIPER board + Touchscreen. (Combined driver board and compute unit to run Klipper, very nice piece of kit).
Trianglelab CHC Pro Ceramic Nozzle (Volcano size).
Sherpa Mini Extruder to make the delta direct drive but light as possible. (I'm really just 'done' with bowden tubes at this point, even if I'm taking away the high-speed of the delta).

I'm considering changing the 8mm rods to either 10mm or 12mm, and getting the matching bearings. So that's probably another $100 to do that. I'll then have to make up custom mounts for them to attach.
After than, the only thing remaining is to potentially upgrade the arms and swivel bearings that attach the arms, which I guess will be somewhere around another $60.

I could literally buy an FLSUN SR for the price I would be spending if I keep going with the rods etc. (I just spunked 700 dollars (pre-sale) on a FLSUN V400 btw, so I have no need to buy an SR. I'm kinda just tinkering and having fun with the QQ-S Pro till it works the way I actually want it to. Its a bit of a pig right now).

EDIT: And I just found files for doing a 12mm mod lol. I'll print the sliders in PETG CF, and the Support brackets in PETG.

 

[Scougar]

OK, well wired in the extruder finally, and almost ready to give the upgraded delta a 'does it work at all' test run lol. Still lots to do. Cabling is a complete mess right now. I've ordered new fans as well, as I want more length on the cable, and the originals are a snap together design which is really inefficient. Threw on a very basic Klipper extruder config from 3DPrintBegineers page where they did a similar upgrade to an FLSUN SR. Helped me big time.

Waiting for my MKS SKIPR board to turn up as well.

Update: OK, well... it prints! Gotta redo leveling and delta calibration, but getting there. Printing a 200% cali cube right now.

Update 2: Bed Mesh seems to really mess up the prints for some weird reason, by not putting anywhere enough material down. Maybe probe isn't a accurate enough. I just commented out the bed mesh config for now. I still am running fanless at present. I have received my new fans of the same size just better sealed and longer cables. Will sort the fans and nozzles over the weekend I hope. I have been printing orders for people so busy with my main printer to be able to get the nozzles done.

Update 3: Ripped some of the coating off the glass bed /facepalm. I suspect I may be too close to the bed on the first layer causing issues. I have a spare brand bed and heater that I never installed so that's ok. I just ordered a textured PEI sheet as well as that may stop it sticking like glue. (I don't care for the blue tape approach).

 

[Scougar]

Not gonna lie... I'm getting really impatient on my FLSUN V400 delivery. Paid July 2nd, still waiting on any kind of shipping notification. All we (community) can get out of them so far is "We are shipping one by one". I suppose the assumption was that they would have built up some kind of stock.

The concern here is more that the people that paid for air shipping, will be getting all the allocation of V400's before the sea shipping even starts. We just don't know. I wish they would just say the deal so we know. (If I had paid for air, conversely I would expect to receive mine as priority as well, so I understand).

This is the fun of pre-sale's.

 

[Scougar]

Seems to be me chatting with myself in here LOL.

Tore apart my QQ-S Pro last night, and went to put the MKS SKIPR board in, and realized that there is no way it can fit along with the power supply in there LMAO. Opps. After going back and forth and semi designing a system of raising the bottom of the printer to get the clearance, I bit the bullet and decided to relocate the board to the top of the machine, and leave the PSU in the bottom. I have to run 3 driver cables, unroute the optical endstops cables, then run an earth for the bed, and 3 power wires.

Either way, I had to get something to attach it somehow, and I started to design a case. My original plan was to mount it in the bottom of the printer as mentioned, so I ordered a 120mm fan (12v + voltage reducer), and thought stuff it, I'll use it anyway even though it will be outside the printer now. The 'bung' piece at the top will be printed in TPU. It's a definite work in progress and will likely get a little cover on top as well.

Update, maybe mostly done now. Having to add a space for a buck converter to reduce 24v down to 12v for the fan. I had forgotten quite how big they are so having to get creative. Looking at putting it either behind the tft, or underneath the main board. Still undecided so far.

Update2: Removed the old photo's. I finally integrated the buck converter for the fan. I swear it took longer to do that than make the rest of the case lol.



The top left has a slot to enable the voltage to me adjusted without opening the case. Have to remove the fan, but better than opening the whole thing. The main board is held in place by the clam shell then screwed through so squeezed together, and the buck converter is just held in place by the clam shell. The TFT is bolted to the main body. TPU feet and TPU cover for the voltage connections. I still need to do something to cover the buck converter hole (Although it will still vent some hot air from there.)

Update3 (I think) : I finally actually powered up the SKIPR board and TFT screen. Phew.. they actually work and my flash of the EMMC module appears to have worked. OK, it's not all wasted effort.

Update4: I'm sure it's all going to be worth it lol. So much darn rewiring just to put the box at the top:

 

[Scougar]

OH, the Delta. It's finally alive. About half a day of configuration to get it all up and running after the wiring was done, and the new MKS SKIPR board running. Was not that fun, but learned a few things.

Spent some real quality time doing the extended calibration on my Delta. https://www.klipper3d.org/Delta_Calibrate.html

After that was all done, now printing cali cube again to see if I'm closer to 20mm in all directions, rather than the 20.50mm to 20.8mm I was seeing on the X and Y.

Pretty darn surprised to see my arm length change from the stock 280mm, so 286 to 288 depending on the tower A, B or C.

 

[BeeP]

Love reading your updates but don’t have anything to add, sorry if you feel you are chatting alone but you are on a different level to me with your knowledge.

 

[Scougar]

Love reading your updates but don’t have anything to add, sorry if you feel you are chatting alone but you are on a different level to me with your knowledge.

I am absolutely a novice/amateur. I'm just a person that enjoys to tinker, normally spending money on experimenting for enjoyment that I could have spent on pre-made stuff lol.

Still struggling with dimensions even after calibration. (I.e 1mm on the model equalling 1mm in reality.)

EDIT: I finally swapped out the tired part fans on my Delta just now. I also printed new nozzles for it, as the others were not able to allow enough air flow. Printing some test pieces now to see if it helped. Still have it at 75% fan so will likely need to turn that down now since I think they actually work this time lol. Also... Hot glue to the rescue with attaching fans ahaha. Didn't have long enough screwed... so making do for now.

 

[Scougar]

Well... today has been amusing. I ordered some light brown PETG to print more single stack paintball magazines for sale. The colour is more like pink skin tone than light brown, so now my notches magazines look like a printed male anatomy lol. Don't think I'll be ordering it again, but for now they'll be 'special editions' and will print that color on request.

 

[Scougar]

I have been trying to get an ADXL345. First one went AWOL in the mail somewhere 50 miles from me. Second pack of three has been delivered..... but not really. I just want to do nerdy stuff darnit !!!!! Give me ma accelerometer man!!! lol

Edit: my wonderful Ukrainian neighbors brought it around, as it had been delivered to them by mistake. Tested one of the units and it appears to work, so solder just will occur shortly to get longer wires. If noise becomes an issue, I will sacrifice an ethernet cable for its shielding.

Edit2: great. It will only work so far with short cables. Long cables it is intermittent. I used a patch cable, but it is not shielded. Hmm.

 

[Scougar]

Overhangs with PETG. urgh. I am printing a single stack curved paintball magazine and I print it upside down. The bottom has a chamfered lip to retain a TPU cap/bumper that holds the spring in place. That lip when it prints that was 45 degrees in the design, is not physically almost 90 degrees in the print due to the magazine curve. This means I need support. So for the same of a 3mm lip, I have a tree support tower going all the way from the bed about 9 or 10 inches high, for this bloomin' lip.

I've spent two days trying to do away with the support and building one into the design. This does mean though that I need to cut it away after the print and sand back any remaining trash. It also means, that if I get any retraction issues (or if I use combing), then the long travels moves result in a poor surface finish.



I've been printing just the top few inches of this print for 5 iterations, until I managed to finally get good support, without the need for the sizable tree tower. Will be finally printing a full mag in a few minutes

 

[Monkeynut]

Got an Easythreed K7 off eBay for £60, couldn't understand why Benchy and any models I sent, no matter the settings, came out like incredibly weak string that broke apart in your hands. Then switched to Slic3r, problem solved, models come out nice. No idea why Cura no matter the settings is a mess.

 

[ElliorR]

This arrived today for my Prusa Mini+, which I’ll install this weekend. Going to do some test prints this week to compare them

 

[Scougar]

Nice! REVO right?

 

[ElliorR]

Yep, E£D Revo Micro. I’ve wanted to try different sized nozzles but after a huge blockage when I changed my Ender 3 S1 to an all metal hot end I had a huge blockage, caused by me being a n00b, which took me ages to sort out, so that put me off changing nozzles. The Revo system is ideal for me.

 

[bulb66]

Revo is great and a step forward, although you'll get those people who say I can change nozzles just fine the normal way and those people have totally missed the point. I was a late stage beta tester for Revo and love so much that I have many Revo hotends now. Once ObXidian nozzles come out it will really be a winner.