Attention 3d printer owners......................

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3 hours ago, Willy510 said:

If you're running around 250C for PETG  you may want to look at running calibration for your hot end heater.  250C is usually way to hot for PETG but a pretty common error for those starting out in printing.  Do you have issues with stringing or rice crispy crackling sounds when printing or pausing a print?

I am pretty sure my themistor is off a bit. Most of the petg seemed to run best around 245C. I wouoldnt be surprised if its reporting hotter than it is. Only time i hear crackling is when I used some wet taulman nylon. I also saw little wisps of smoke. Im assuming it was steam. After 2 days of drying, it stopped. My nylons are printing at about 245-248C, but Im barely getting any layer adhesion. I'm probably running things a little hot at times, so Im beginning to test lower and lower temps. Pla is so damn easy in compare to the others for sure. Fwiw, the petg does seem to string a bit more than pla. I also go too low at times with it and suffer bad adhesion. No worries, I'll get it dialed in. Hell tinkering and adjusting settings is half the fun, right? Next up, test my new ups to see how many minutes my power can go out with the printer still cranking. If its of any consequence, I'm running a .8mm nozzle from time to time. Seems I have to crank that temp so it can run thru at warp speed.

[Willy510]

59 minutes ago, ShanesPlanet said:

I am pretty sure my themistor is off a bit. Most of the petg seemed to run best around 245C. I wouoldnt be surprised if its reporting hotter than it is. Only time i hear crackling is when I used some wet taulman nylon. I also saw little wisps of smoke. Im assuming it was steam. After 2 days of drying, it stopped. My nylons are printing at about 245-248C, but Im barely getting any layer adhesion. I'm probably running things a little hot at times, so Im beginning to test lower and lower temps. Pla is so damn easy in compare to the others for sure. Fwiw, the petg does seem to string a bit more than pla. I also go too low at times with it and suffer bad adhesion. No worries, I'll get it dialed in. Hell tinkering and adjusting settings is half the fun, right? Next up, test my new ups to see how many minutes my power can go out with the printer still cranking. If its of any consequence, I'm running a .8mm nozzle from time to time. Seems I have to crank that temp so it can run thru at warp speed.

.8 nozzle is awfully big unless you have a volcano or super volcano in front of it.  Larger nozzles generally aren't a good idea unless you are printing very large and low resolution prints or are looking for superior strength at low resolution. 

What resolution are you printing nylon with ?

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Nylon is typically .4 nozzle at .2 height/.4 width. I deviate a little, but I dont try to push Nylon thru at much speed or the larger nozzle. Petg does okay with the .8, or at least until my hot end melted. I hope the micro swiss helps. I'm not looking to go production speeds tho. This is just the start of the hobby. I'd imagine if i have bigger plans, I'd have to look towards more quality in printer.

[RockyTop]

 

3 hours ago, ShanesPlanet said:

I'd have to look towards more quality in printer.

I have two "high quality" printers. I don't use them much. They are not as touchy and do not break as often yet for a better quality print,  I do better with a modified Creality printer. Watch the bearings and rollers and keep the belts tight. Get a good direct drive hotend.  ( life is too short to waste time with bowden tubes.) 

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3 hours ago, RockyTop said:

 

I have two "high quality" printers. I don't use them much. They are not as touchy and do not break as often yet for a better quality print,  I do better with a modified Creality printer. Watch the bearings and rollers and keep the belts tight. Get a good direct drive hotend.  ( life is too short to waste time with bowden tubes.) 

Im running an e3d titan direct. It makes racket so I have another plate and bearings otw. Not a problem running tpu and others. I've already installed toothed gears for the belts, anti-vibe mounts on the steppers and heat sinks on the backs. Mines the cr10 model with the supports that run top to front bottom. Pretty large build plate and gantry height. Ive also installed squash ball feet. My wheels are currently grinding into place, but once they quit fuzzing, theyll probably be good for a LONG time. My ups came in and looks like it will run about 1/2 hour if power goes out. So far Im having pretty good luck with color changes mid print and modifying the gcode. I'll wait until my new MS hot end comes in and I'll replace it with the extruder bearings at same time. THEN I'll try to run calibration testings. I wonder tho, what test first? Speed is reliant on temps, temps are reliant on speed and bridging is reliant on both. Hell, even the jerk control and retraction are based on speeds, materials and temps. Is it like everything else, you dial in one test, and do another. DIal that in and repeat, until you find the settings that overlap best? So many materials here, I may have to start a notebook. At least cura lets me store materials. Im happy to say, its NOT overwhelming so far. Success ratio is pretty low, but getting better.

[RockyTop]

6 hours ago, ShanesPlanet said:

Im running an e3d titan direct. It makes racket so I have another plate and bearings otw. Not a problem running tpu and others. I've already installed toothed gears for the belts, anti-vibe mounts on the steppers and heat sinks on the backs. Mines the cr10 model with the supports that run top to front bottom. Pretty large build plate and gantry height. Ive also installed squash ball feet. My wheels are currently grinding into place, but once they quit fuzzing, theyll probably be good for a LONG time. My ups came in and looks like it will run about 1/2 hour if power goes out. So far Im having pretty good luck with color changes mid print and modifying the gcode. I'll wait until my new MS hot end comes in and I'll replace it with the extruder bearings at same time. THEN I'll try to run calibration testings. I wonder tho, what test first? Speed is reliant on temps, temps are reliant on speed and bridging is reliant on both. Hell, even the jerk control and retraction are based on speeds, materials and temps. Is it like everything else, you dial in one test, and do another. DIal that in and repeat, until you find the settings that overlap best? So many materials here, I may have to start a notebook. At least cura lets me store materials. Im happy to say, its NOT overwhelming so far. Success ratio is pretty low, but getting better.

....... Log book. 
 

I am impressed. I like the Titan.  Some of the improvements are not necessary............. I will let you learn witch ones because people swear by all of them and I am sure that all of them helped someone somewhere. In the end a properly setup printer  with good settings is key. The rest Is how much quality at what speed with how many failures. ( you can bridge cold and slow, cooling makes the difference) 

When you have an average of ten of the things running all the time the noise isn’t so bad. It is loud but more of a drone. ( White noise) 

[davinche]

9 hours ago, ShanesPlanet said:

I wonder tho, what test first? Speed is reliant on temps, temps are reliant on speed and bridging is reliant on both. Hell, even the jerk control and retraction are based on speeds, materials and temps. Is it like everything else, you dial in one test, and do another. DIal that in and repeat, until you find the settings that overlap best? So many materials here, I may have to start a notebook. At least cura lets me store materials. Im happy to say, its NOT overwhelming so far. Success ratio is pretty low, but getting better.

For me i've always had success running tests in this order:

1. Extrusion Steps (calibrate steps/mm) - I only recalibrate this once in a while
2. Extrusion Multiplier with standard temps (200 for PLA, 240 for petg etc) - I do this one for each new roll of filament
3. Heat Tower - for each new roll
4. Retraction Test - for each new roll
5. Speed - for each new roll

I don't really mess with the jerk settings - I tested before what the highest my ender 3 could handle without layer shifting, then had it permanently set to something below that.

[RockyTop]

3 minutes ago, davinche said:

For me i've always had success running tests in this order:

1. Extrusion Steps (calibrate steps/mm) - I only recalibrate this once in a while
2. Extrusion Multiplier with standard temps (200 for PLA, 240 for petg etc) - I do this one for each new roll of filament
3. Heat Tower - for each new roll
4. Retraction Test - for each new roll
5. Speed - for each new roll

I don't really mess with the jerk settings - I tested before what the highest my ender 3 could handle without layer shifting, then had it permanently set to something below that.

Good practice! ..... Although I only do it once a month. About every two or three 5kg rolls. It is easier when you mostly use the same filament from the same batch. 

[davinche]

3 hours ago, RockyTop said:

In the end a properly setup printer  with good settings is key. The rest Is how much quality at what speed with how many failures. ( you can bridge cold and slow, cooling makes the difference)

This so much. So many people "quit" 3D printing thinking it's the printers fault. But they don't realize how many hours tinkerers have tinkered with their printers before things started printing right consistently.

Although I must say though, I would still probably recommend a monoprice (I started with a select mini) to someone new to 3D printing. The select minis had a great reputation to just work out of the box. Only after they figured out all the settings and stuff would I recommend buying a chinese brand (creality, tevo, etc). Those require a lot more tweaking and understanding of how printers work... and also some luck on the QC side of things 😂

[davinche]

Just now, RockyTop said:

Good practice! ..... Although I only do it once a month. About every two or three 5kg rolls. It is easier when you mostly use the same filament from the same batch. 

True! I do keep a profile for each brand/color filament. But yeah, I would stick to one filament as well if I ever ran a 3d printing business haha.

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11 minutes ago, davinche said:

True! I do keep a profile for each brand/color filament. But yeah, I would stick to one filament as well if I ever ran a 3d printing business haha.

Give Kodak filament a try. Its made in argentina, but the colors are amazing(esun has a badass blue and pine green in pla+, along with my favorite purple in translucent petg). I like the esun, but the kodak seems to run smoother and has a little more flex. I have a roll or three of esun that seems to be a tad brittle. Im also having lots of luck out of the Tronxy branded tpu. Its so cheap, Im shocked it does as well as ninjaflex. Mika3d makes some great looking metalic pla that melts really smoothly too. I have noticed that the esun like a higher temp than the kodak, so I'm keeping profiles for each material. With enough patience, I'll have it reliable. Fwiw, I JUST got my ups in yesterday and last night it saved me twice, as I was sleeping and a power outage hit us twice during a print. A BIG thumbs up to the ups and the cr10's ability to change filaments mid print and/or restart a print if you run out thru the sensor. Not 100% reliable for estarts, but it somehow DOES work.

I'd imagine the pancake stepper heat sinks didnt do much. Not a big deal, as it was about $10 for those AND the antivibe mounts. The vibe mounts DID seem to quiet things a bit, but Ill have to get things dialed in better to make any claims that they do shit for quality in the end. At any rate, the parts are cheap and Ive wasted much more money on much less in the past. With about 50 rolls of filament in 5 types and numerous brands, I should have plenty of material to waste and practice on. Hell, it must be a disease, as I've 3 more rolls incoming this week.

Edited August 18, 2020 by ShanesPlanet

[RockyTop]

I guess It is time for me to buy a couple smaller printers. In the past having a small printer was a handicap. Now I have two 350 x 350 table printers printing small support items full time. What was once a part time backup power hitter is now a Full time space hog. They could be doing more important things. ......Time to spend! 

[davinche]

11 minutes ago, ShanesPlanet said:

Give Kodak filament a try. Its made in argentina, but the colors are amazing(esun has a badass blue and pine green in pla+, along with my favorite purple in translucent petg). I like the esun, but the kodak seems to run smoother and has a little more flex. I have a roll or three of esun that seems to be a tad brittle. Im also having lots of luck out of the Tronxy branded tpu. Its so cheap, Im shocked it does as well as ninjaflex. Mika3d makes some great looking metalic pla that melts really smoothly too. I have noticed that the esun like a higher temp than the kodak, so I'm keeping profiles for each material. With enough patience, I'll have it reliable. Fwiw, I JUST got my ups in yesterday and last night it saved me twice, as I was sleeping and a power outage hit us twice during a print. A BIG thumbs up to the ups and the cr10's ability to change filaments mid print and/or restart a print if you run out thru the sensor. Not 100% reliable for estarts, but it somehow DOES work.

I'd imagine the pancake stepper heat sinks didnt do much. Not a big deal, as it was about $10 for those AND the antivibe mounts. The vibe mounts DID seem to quiet things a bit, but Ill have to get things dialed in better to make any claims that they do shit for quality in the end. At any rate, the parts are cheap and Ive wasted much more money on much less in the past.

Are you running stock firmware? Or did you flash marlin on yours? If you go through the hassle of flashing Marlin, you get a lot more control over your printer. This would include the features you mentioned from creality (restarting print, etc). Regarding noise... you could also consider switching to a board with different drivers. Creality does sell a silent board which I have on my CR10 and it works great given that it was a simple simple swap. But there are alternatives out there that are "better" (features / $)

Edited August 18, 2020 by davinche

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1 minute ago, davinche said:

Are you running stock firmware? Or did you flash marlin on yours? If you go through the hassle of flashing Marlin, you get a lot more control over your printer. Regarding noise... you could also consider switching to a board with different drivers. Creality does sell a silent board which I have on my CR10 and it works great given that it was a simple simple swap. But there are alternatives out there that are "better" (features / $)

mine came with marlin and thermal runaway protection. I accidently set mine at 284C not 248C and thermal runaway kicked in. I've been looking at different firmware, but marlin seems decent. Still not convinced i need to run octoprint and buy into that system.  Biggest noise on mine is the clicking from the damn extruder bearings and cheap fans. If the new bearings and hot end go well, I may buy some quiet fans and call it a done deal.

[ccoluni]

For anyone that doesn't know this - check your local library to see if they have a 3D printer and will print things for you for the cost of the plastic. I'm lucky enough to have one just down the street. It prevented me from impulsively buying a 3D printer..... for now at least.

[RockyTop]

5 hours ago, ccoluni said:

For anyone that doesn't know this - check your local library to see if they have a 3D printer and will print things for you for the cost of the plastic. I'm lucky enough to have one just down the street. It prevented me from impulsively buying a 3D printer..... for now at least.

We had them at the university library for a year. They are gone now. That was about 5 years ago and before I had much interest. What kind of printer are they? ( brand) As easy as it is to set a 3D printer to self destruct I am surprised that they are letting people off the street use them. They must have a middle man program that protects them. 

[ccoluni]

I emailed them back in January and they responded that they have two MakerGear M3 printers in the MakerSapce and 'several other printers' for their 3D printing service. They have (probably had now since COVID) a Maker Monday demo on Mondays and then people can just use the printers whenever they are free. Guy said no registration is needed. Anyways, this is in Cleveland if my Location hasn't already indicated that to those that are curious.

I've been trying to decide on some stuff I'd like printed, because I haven't used the service at all. I really want to try it out but when it comes down to actually needing something that can be printed I'm hard-pressed to identify anything. I'd love a stand for my V10F and soon-to-have V11 but I haven't found anything ready made that requires no tweaks or measuring. I'm definitely open to ideas.

Edited August 19, 2020 by ccoluni

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12 hours ago, ccoluni said:

For anyone that doesn't know this - check your local library to see if they have a 3D printer and will print things for you for the cost of the plastic. I'm lucky enough to have one just down the street. It prevented me from impulsively buying a 3D printer..... for now at least.

For me, most of the joy IS the printing itself. I'm wasting plastic and time, but some wierd feeling of accomplishment comes over me, when I design and successfully print something. Its quite amazing a local library wants the hassle of it and is willing to accept the risk.  I'm eyeballing these cheapo printer kits. Seems to me that there aint much to them and its all about how you set it up and if you hold your mouth just right.

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Moving on to designing things Ive wanted for years. I needed a shroud for atop my amp as to help keep the dual fx units cooler. I also needed to get a rack to hold the fx units, but allow them open air. So far so good. I didnt expect my first bracket to actually fit so well. Hell, it did, so I figured I'd see how to add printed holes for screws and to give lots of walls for bite. Amazingly enough, I got the 4 holes just right first try. These brackets are 1/4lb each. I found orange that matches so closely. Hopefully the shroud won't melt. If it does, I'll reprint in a translucent orange petg, instead of this pla+. Something quite thirlling about having an idea, thinking about how to make it. Thinking about how it would print, and then actually making it happen! Boring for you guys I'm sure, but its an odd sense of achievement for me.

[RockyTop]

It is good to have another practical use 3D printer hobbyist. 

[ccoluni]

I could totally get into 3D printing, but it's just such an expensive hobby and unfortunately I don't have any idea how to make or tweak models that would lead to printing. If you have any recommendations on tutorials to create models though I would certainly explore that stuff!

[.....]

 

On 8/25/2020 at 11:14 PM, ccoluni said:

I could totally get into 3D printing, but it's just such an expensive hobby and unfortunately I don't have any idea how to make or tweak models that would lead to printing. If you have any recommendations on tutorials to create models though I would certainly explore that stuff!

Its financially inexpensive. The real cost is in the hours of your life it is taking from you. There are some printer kits that are REALLY cheap. After having spent a lot on the latest version printer and replacing stuff on it anyhow, I'd be more likely to buy something used or crap and just toss some $$ in upgrades. Like all this chinese junk, you can find the parts everywhere. Unlike euc's, printer junk parts are cheap. The design and cad software can also be free. Well, itll cost some damn brain cells anyhow. Of course, you can become a filament addict and spend a mint on that for sure. Each color cube represents a a $20-$40 roll of plastic. Its easy to do the math of it.  Pretty sure I have about 9 mos of 24hr printing in plastic atm. Of course I blister thru it sometimes with a .8 nozzle.  I print useful and useless shit, both. One thing I refuse to do, is want to make something and have to settle on choice of color/material. I've headphone stands, euc stands, rack gear stands, boxes, figurines, and all sorts of mindless shit already. My printer never stops and my new ups works a treat. Im printing another headphone stand atm in clear that glows green with sparkles in the dark. $3 worth of filament, 7 hrs of my life... gone! Safer and cheaper than hookers tho..

 

 

 

Edited August 27, 2020 by ShanesPlanet

[RockyTop]

YOU PRINTED ROOT!! ........... you are dead to me........      LOL 

[Willy510]

On 8/26/2020 at 11:24 PM, ShanesPlanet said:

 

Its financially inexpensive. The real cost is in the hours of your life it is taking from you. There are some printer kits that are REALLY cheap. After having spent a lot on the latest version printer and replacing stuff on it anyhow, I'd be more likely to buy something used or crap and just toss some $$ in upgrades. Like all this chinese junk, you can find the parts everywhere. Unlike euc's, printer junk parts are cheap. The design and cad software can also be free. Well, itll cost some damn brain cells anyhow. Of course, you can become a filament addict and spend a mint on that for sure. Each color cube represents a a $20-$40 roll of plastic. Its easy to do the math of it.  Pretty sure I have about 9 mos of 24hr printing in plastic atm. Of course I blister thru it sometimes with a .8 nozzle.  I print useful and useless shit, both. One thing I refuse to do, is want to make something and have to settle on choice of color/material. I've headphone stands, euc stands, rack gear stands, boxes, figurines, and all sorts of mindless shit already. My printer never stops and my new ups works a treat. Im printing another headphone stand atm in clear that glows green with sparkles in the dark. $3 worth of filament, 7 hrs of my life... gone! Safer and cheaper than hookers tho..

 

 

 

It gets really expensive once you jump up to industrial sized printers and some manufacturers charge a ton for the materials.  I printed this full size mechanical mock up of some super magnets for a advanced light source beam line,  everything except the pipe and fixtures is printed, the metal pipe in the middle is the actual 2 inch beam line and the printing took about 2 weeks solid printing.  That printer is $180k to buy and $26K per year for the medium level service plan. This is also the most expensive printer to print with that I have even come across, there's a few thousand $ worth of plastic in just this pic.  The material rolls are about 1.5kg and run from $450 to over $1200 per roll and you need a support roll to go with it that costs about the same and each single use build sheet can cost up to $15 each.   

Edited August 29, 2020 by Willy510

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On 8/27/2020 at 8:22 AM, Willy510 said:

It gets really expensive once you jump up to industrial sized printers and some manufacturers charge a ton for the materials.  I printed this full size mechanical mock up of some super magnets for a advanced light source beam line,  everything except the pipe and fixtures is printed, the metal pipe in the middle is the actual 2 inch beam line and the printing took about 2 weeks solid printing.  That printer is $180k to buy and $26K per year for the medium level service plan. This is also the most expensive printer to print with that I have even come across, there's a few thousand $ worth of plastic in just this pic.  The material rolls are about 1.5kg and run from $450 to over $1200 per roll and you need a support roll to go with it that costs about the same and each single use build sheet can cost up to $15 each.   

thats a long link I can't see. I have no doubt that it can be very expensive. Hell, industrial use is a far cry from the requirements of most small home hobbyists. The good news is that it doesnt have to be overly expensive to just play in it a little bit. Its not the cheapest hobby I've ever picked up, but its far from the most expensive. It really is quite amazing at the sheer scale of some of these big badass printers. Just like my pickup that was a mere $4k, a bulldozer is $400k. No surprise the BIG equipment that is made to perform and designed with stability and durability in mind, are far more expensive. I'd gather your printers arent made in some sketchy chinese warehouse/sweat shop either.