The Everything 3D Printer Thread

[BoilermakerFan]

My Biqu order has now gone past 2 months without delivery. And their customer service *****. So bummed. I had high hopes. The hardware seems decent based on reviews I watched on YT, but with shipping this slow and the lack of CS, I can't stress enough to stay away.

 

[Darby9]

Nice job on the battery holders.

Quick question. I'm going to be printing some speaker mounts for 4" speakers to be surface mounted to a kick panel in a Toyota pickup. The "tube" will be about 1.5" tall and the bottom will be screwed to the kick panel using nutserts. The speaker end needs to accommodate an attachment method. Ideally I would just run some heavy threaded screws into some pre-printed holes. I'm afraid the plastic will simply crack if I put too much pressure on the screw. I'm planning to use PETG. Any suggestions?

Print a few test pieces first, varying your as-drawn hole diameters (or the number of shell layers) by 0.010" or so, and see how they do. I use small threaded heat-set inserts often, and I do this every time I switch materials or printers. Better to crack a few 15 minute prints than one 6 hr print. Don't ask how I learned that lesson...

 

[Darby9]

Thank you for the response. My worry about precision is whether it can reproduce the texture on the battery. Here's a close up of the texture and detail I'd like to capture.

You'll be able to produce some kind of texture, but it won't match exactly off the printer. You'll see little layers and pointy bits that you'll have to smooth out. Might be a little tricky to model too, but after you get a section of it right, you can repeat that pattern. The ribs and lettering isn't hard, as long as you orient the print right.

Your best technology choice is to print it using an SLA (resin) or PolyJet machine in a material that can be acetone smoothed, like ABS.

And not to be a downer, but if you don't have access to CAD and a machine like that, this will get expensive. I just had a 5.5" x 6.5" x 1.5" shell printed w/ an SLA machine by one of the contract printing services, and it was $330. My customer will have $1500+ in the model by the time I'm done (my CAD hours, printing cost, my time to sand and spot putty and prime and wet sand and finish paint).

Another way to tackle your project might be an NC router to carve the panels with the ribs, letters etc, then assemble it and try to reproduce the skin texture with paint. That part probably started with a wood pattern back-in-the-day anyway!

 

[bdbecker]

If anyone is interested in what's going on in the industrial 3D printed scene, here's a free trade journal you might find interesting.

https://www.additivereport-digital.com/additivereport/Store.action

Don't let the "store" part of that link throw you off, its free.

 

[bdbecker]

We've been picking away at home improvement projects over the last few months and one of them was repainting the mailbox and post. In the process, we wanted to swap out the numbers for something a little more our style. I don't know of you've looked at house numbers, but they are surprisingly expensive for anything beyond the generic options. 3D printer to the rescue!

View media item 104696
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The numbers are printed with PLA and painted with a couple coats of high fill primer to hide the print lines, followed by antique white paint, and several coats of clear. I have a spool of PETG I could have used, but figured I'd give this a shot since I knew I was going to be painting. It'll be an interesting experiment to see how well it holds up to the weather and snow plows. Sometime in the near future, we're going to replace the box with something a little more suited to our style anyway, so no big deal if it only makes it a few years.

 

[caltemus]

I'm still reading my way through all 31 pages, but here's my Monoprice Maker Ultimate 3D Printer that I picked up in April. It's also known as a Wanhao Duplicator 6. I got a great deal on it at $320 shipped. It was open box, and as far as I was concerned, I was getting a decent pile of printer parts for a good price, and the fact that they're pre assembled into a working machine was just a bonus.

I'm still going through it and making initial adjustments, and I've got some modified parts printed to add to it. It's direct drive with a heated bed.

 

[Firebrick43]

Boilermaker fan, did you ever complete your railcore? Couple day ago I received my 300zl kit.

 

[BoilermakerFan]

Boilermaker fan, did you ever complete your railcore? Couple day ago I received my 300zl kit.

No, I never ordered any of the parts yet. I may go a different route for a large format printer.

I did order enough Annasstepper to be able to build it with closed loop on all the axis if I do build one.

Right now I'm still waiting on parts to upgrade my Prusa further. Even though I have the 320mm frame, my printer is still the stock Z height at 220mm. I want to get it running stock height before I order the longer Z screws.

I haven't even had time to get back to troubleshooting the stock upgrade to Mk2.5S. Prusa sent me a new P.I.N.D.A.2 probe to swap in. They felt it was the probe not fully working correctly. Maybe the week after next I can get back to it. Just too many higher priority projects to finish before then.

Please post your build progress on your RailCore II here.

 

[Firebrick43]

View media item 104902
Here is where I am now. Waiting on a new z linear slide as it had a bad catch in it. I purchased the whole kit from filistruder and 2/3 of the aluminum upgrades from mandala Roseworks and a 713maker bottom plate.

Sorry about the glare. The shiny aluminum with bright overhead lights makes decent pictures hard.

 

[APEowner]

I ordered a Artillery Sidewinder X1 on Monday and I expect it here tomorrow! I'm looking forward to making some parts!

 

[Turborex696]

I love my Artillery Sidewinder X1. There are a few things to check when you get it. The 1 thing I had lots of issues with is getting my PETG to stick to the glass bed. It turns out the bed is not 100% level and bows down in the middle. Otherwise its a great printer.

 

[APEowner]

I love my Artillery Sidewinder X1. There are a few things to check when you get it. The 1 thing I had lots of issues with is getting my PETG to stick to the glass bed. It turns out the bed is not 100% level and bows down in the middle. Otherwise its a great printer.

Thanks for the heads up. I'll look for that.

I understand that these are cheap products built with suspect quality control and that there will be some tinkering required. While this is my first 3d printer I have a lot of experience with motion control and g-code. I thought seriously about building my own printer but I decided I have enough projects right now and that it would be quicker to tune in something that's close to working that it would be to build from scratch.

The hardest part is going to be to wait till the end of the work day today to bust into the package and start tinkering.

 

[C91x]

So glancing through this thread, it appears that the ender 3 is the go to budget printer. I notice on amazon that there are quite a few options under that name? Any recommendations?

 

[PCMusicGuy]

I think most of the Ender 3 clones are pretty much the same. Get the one with the best price at the time. I would probably get it from Creality direct through ebay. I've had good luck with their support after the sale.

 

[slim01]

I ordered a Artillery Sidewinder X1 on Monday and I expect it here tomorrow! I'm looking forward to making some parts!

Ive got 2 X1s (a version 3 and version 4 or V3/V4 as they're commonly known). Artillery does not officially recognise the different versions but when you're looking for spares it pays to know the differences as some PCBs cannot be changed individually on the V3 or earlier as the newer version, V4, is slightly different and that is what Artillery or their sellers will provide unless you specify an earlier version.

^^^ This shouldn't affect you as the V4 are the current model being sold but its good to know in case you are given an earlier spare.

A dip in the bed is not uncommon and it shouldn't really make much difference to your prints unless the dip is abnormally bad.

If you check out the support sites on fb you'll find answers to any queries you have. Do a search first as its likely your question has been asked and answered multiple times already:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/artilleryswx1

https://www.facebook.com/groups/365604387619398

The most common issue would be the 20pin ribbon cable to the extruder not being seated properly which will affect extruder temps (thermal runaway is the most common error), or the extruder motor not driving.

1st layer adhesion is normally either, unlevel bed, 1st layer bed temp set point, 1st layer extruder temp set point or first layer speed. Aside from leveling the bed, the rest are incorrect Slicer settings and not caused by the printer itself.

PETG requires higher temps (240-250C extruder and 90C bed works well for me). First layer speed as slow as 15mm and no cooling with 50% speed after that.

They are a great printer but the next few months will be character building if my experience is anything to go by.

 

[APEowner]

Ive got 2 X1s (a version 3 and version 4 or V3/V4 as they're commonly known). Artillery does not officially recognise the different versions but when you're looking for spares it pays to know the differences as some PCBs cannot be changed individually on the V3 or earlier as the newer version, V4, is slightly different and that is what Artillery or their sellers will provide unless you specify an earlier version.

^^^ This shouldn't affect you as the V4 are the current model being sold but its good to know in case you are given an earlier spare.

A dip in the bed is not uncommon and it shouldn't really make much difference to your prints unless the dip is abnormally bad.

If you check out the support sites on fb you'll find answers to any queries you have. Do a search first as its likely your question has been asked and answered multiple times already:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/artilleryswx1

https://www.facebook.com/groups/365604387619398

The most common issue would be the 20pin ribbon cable to the extruder not being seated properly which will affect extruder temps (thermal runaway is the most common error), or the extruder motor not driving.

1st layer adhesion is normally either, unlevel bed, 1st layer bed temp set point, 1st layer extruder temp set point or first layer speed. Aside from leveling the bed, the rest are incorrect Slicer settings and not caused by the printer itself.

PETG requires higher temps (240-250C extruder and 90C bed works well for me). First layer speed as slow as 15mm and no cooling with 50% speed after that.

They are a great printer but the next few months will be character building if my experience is anything to go by.

I've got it setup and ready to print. I just need to wait for filament to arrive. It should be here sometime today.

Mine seems to be a V4.

The bed leveled really easily and seems to be quite flat. If anything it bows up a tiny amount in the middle. There's just a tick more drag on the paper in the middle than on the corners when I set the bed level.

I've got one roller on the X axis that had flat spots on it from being over-tightened for shipping. Last night I could feel just a slight bump when I moved the carriage by hand but this morning it seems to be better. I can still feel it but it's very subtle. If it effects the print I'll replace it with one of the spares that shipped with the unit.

I've got my PC talking to it and I've messed around with both the Repetier/Slic3r software and Cura. So far I think I like the Repetier/Slic3r combo better because I find the interface a little more intuitive and I like being able to control the printer from the PC. The real test will, of course be how the sliced files print.

 

[slim01]

Im currently using Slic3r and Pronterface as my computer interface program. Repetier host is good but I went to Pronterface after watching a couple of Youtube tutorials. A PID tune of your hotend might help stabilise temps if it hunts too much:

PID tuning your hotend using Pronterface

Consider a magnetic build plate for your bed, Ive just received a Wham Bam system this week. It'll protect you bed from chipping when parts stick and you can remove parts while the bed is still hot so you can keep printing rather than waiting for the bed to cool first, remove print, clean bed, re-heat........

https://whambam3d.com/collections/flexible-build-system/products/flexible-build-system-310-x-310

 

[APEowner]

I printed a test cube using Repetier/Slic3r and it wasn't great. I'm sure it's a settings issue. The customization of the software also means that there are more opportunities to mess stuff up. I printed the same part using the Cura slicer and I'm quite happy with it. The printer is now working on a transponder mount I designed for my Formula Ford. We'll see what that looks like in the AM.

 

[Earp69]

hey guys ive been lurking in this thread for awhile now. Ive had an anet a8 for over 3 years now and i have been amazed at the amount of quality/repeatability i have been able to maintain with this machine with a small amount of upgrades,i think my longest print is 38 hours! anyways i know there probably isnt a easy answer to this but what are you guys doing to learn the design aspect? i have been spent a decent amount of time watching tutorials on fusion360 but i have ADD pretty bad and have a hard time staying focused since theres so much complexity to it. which really ***** because i love designing stuff and im not half bad at it either. is there any design software thats easier? or how are you guys learning?

 

[APEowner]

My first useful print! It's a transponder mount for my Formula Ford. I'll want to do some tuning at some point to refine the aesthetics but I'm pretty pleased with how this came out.

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[penright]

I was looking to do something for pegboards. I ran across this video.

He is working in Fusion 360 and includes the base peg in the show notes so you can download them. When I get some time I am going to see some of the other videos he did. I learned a lot about F360 in the short videos.

 

[850xpeps]

hey guys ive been lurking in this thread for awhile now. Ive had an anet a8 for over 3 years now and i have been amazed at the amount of quality/repeatability i have been able to maintain with this machine with a small amount of upgrades,i think my longest print is 38 hours! anyways i know there probably isnt a easy answer to this but what are you guys doing to learn the design aspect? i have been spent a decent amount of time watching tutorials on fusion360 but i have ADD pretty bad and have a hard time staying focused since theres so much complexity to it. which really ***** because i love designing stuff and im not half bad at it either. is there any design software thats easier? or how are you guys learning?

I’m similar to you. Best to just keep using it and write down the shortcuts. In basis it’s very simple. And I have a hard time getting around that. It needs something to build with. You can’t build in space, it it can do pretty much anything lol hard to figure out how to do something. And most likely us newbs are making something more difficult than it should be.

 

[Earp69]

I’m similar to you. Best to just keep using it and write down the shortcuts. In basis it’s very simple. And I have a hard time getting around that. It needs something to build with. You can’t build in space, it it can do pretty much anything lol hard to figure out how to do something. And most likely us newbs are making something more difficult than it should be.

Yeah there's just so many little things I can do like 90 percent in it, I've been working at it the past week or so am hour each day and have been making good headway. I just need to keep doing that

 

[slim01]

hey guys ive been lurking in this thread for awhile now. Ive had an anet a8 for over 3 years now and i have been amazed at the amount of quality/repeatability i have been able to maintain with this machine with a small amount of upgrades,i think my longest print is 38 hours! anyways i know there probably isnt a easy answer to this but what are you guys doing to learn the design aspect? i have been spent a decent amount of time watching tutorials on fusion360 but i have ADD pretty bad and have a hard time staying focused since theres so much complexity to it. which really ***** because i love designing stuff and im not half bad at it either. is there any design software thats easier? or how are you guys learning?

I use Fusion 360 and its been the only program I've used. The best way Ive found to learn it is to create projects and as I get stuck at a certain point whether its creating a Loft, a simple Cut & Paste, why a Fillet command wont work etc I do a Youtube search and save the link in a bookmark tab for future reference. I find there is no substitute for building a specific project, 'general' learning/study without a practical reason just doesn't sink in for me, I need a reason to know it.

 

[bdbecker]

I use Fusion 360 and its been the only program I've used. The best way Ive found to learn it is to create projects and as I get stuck at a certain point whether its creating a Loft, a simple Cut & Paste, why a Fillet command wont work etc I do a Youtube search and save the link in a bookmark tab for future reference. I find there is no substitute for building a specific project, 'general' learning/study without a practical reason just doesn't sink in for me, I need a reason to know it.

+1

That's how I originally learned how to model in CAD as well. If I don't have a reason to learn something, my brain soon wanders off into La-la Land. Actually modeling things I was interested in has always pushed my skills further than just following along with some textbook or coursework.

 

[gte718p]

I use Fusion 360 and its been the only program I've used. The best way Ive found to learn it is to create projects and as I get stuck at a certain point whether its creating a Loft, a simple Cut & Paste, why a Fillet command wont work etc I do a Youtube search and save the link in a bookmark tab for future reference. I find there is no substitute for building a specific project, 'general' learning/study without a practical reason just doesn't sink in for me, I need a reason to know it.

+2

I have 26 years of CAD experience going back to AutoCad R14 1996. I still learn new things, new short cuts, and better ways to do things watching YouTube. I do better having a purpose, so I tend to develop projects that are unnecessarily complicated to keep pushing my skills.

 

[bdbecker]

...I have 26 years of CAD experience going back to AutoCad R14 1996...

Oh man, time does fly... I learned on a mix of R14 and 2000. We had 2000 at college, but the first few companies I interned/worked at were still running R14.

 

[gte718p]

Oh man, time does fly... I learned on a mix of R14 and 2000. We had 2000 at college, but the first few companies I interned/worked at were still running R14.

I did the math wrong it is only 25 years, well 24.7.

I still have a copy of R14 that I won in a drafting contest and a copy of 2000LT that was the first software I purchased in college for work. I think I payed $450 dollars for 2000 and though it was outrageous. I had the boxes and dongles on my shelf in Hawaii to remind me of the good old days.

 

[WoodsTruck]

I started CAD in 1988... don't remember the version.

 

[bdbecker]

I started CAD in 1988... don't remember the version.

R9 or R10 maybe?

https://autodesk.blogs.com/between_the_lines/autocad-release-history.html

 

[BoilermakerFan]

Supposedly my Biqu order is finally here, waiting for me at the post office. We were out of town so I had our mail held. Fingers crossed it's actually there and it works!

 

[4 FN 27]

Received in one of our first 3D Metal Printed Press Brake Tools.

Makes an offset form.

Held up for thousands of part and is good to go for thousands more.

 

[BoilermakerFan]

Received in one of our first 3D Metal Printed Press Brake Tools.

Makes an offset form.

Held up for thousands of part and is good to go for thousands more.

Very nice!

 

[BoilermakerFan]

My parts FINALLY arrived.

The control board is a direct drop in replacement for the Prusa board but is socketed for stepper drivers and runs Marlin 2.0.

The heated bed is a Mk52 clone in 24V for the next phase of upgrades once I get the printer running again.

Biqu direct was a PITA to deal with, but they do have an Amazon store and I was told shipping is significantly faster from the Amazon store because the product is supposed to be in stock in the US.

So if these new components work, I will be ordering the 7" TFT display and hotend from the Biqu Amazon store.

I haven't had a chance to wire up the new board to see if it works yet.

 

[BoilermakerFan]

I finally got the printer to calibrate on the old board with the new PINDA probe!

So I'm not messing with any other electronic upgrades until I get more parts printed that I need for the Zaribo/Bear frame upgrade. Plus a few other things that I've needed to print for a while now.

After all those parts are printed, I'll start messing with the Marlin 2.0 BTT-002 motherboard with the TMC-2209 drivers.

 

[gte718p]

I finally got the printer to calibrate on the old board with the new PINDA probe!

So I'm not messing with any other electronic upgrades until I get more parts printed that I need for the Zaribo/Bear frame upgrade. Plus a few other things that I've needed to print for a while now.

After all those parts are printed, I'll start messing with the Marlin 2.0 BTT-002 motherboard with the TMC-2209 drivers.

If you are upgrading from A4988 stepper drivers, the TMC family is a great upgrade.

 

[11b30b4]

New here on the forum. I did not expect to find a 3D printer thread here but glad that there is interest. So, I am on my second 3D printer. My first printer was a Plastic Scribbler Asterid 2100 (2014 ish) and I do not recommend it. In 2017 I got a Prusa I3 Mk3 and I love it. So, I am sure that all the CR printers have a lot of these features now but for me Moving from the extremely basic PS to the Prusa was like going from a Big Wheel to a Tesla.
I have a good amount of experience printing in ABS, PLA, and PETG. I have a basic knowledge on modeling and use a variety of programs such as Fusion 360. Anyway, just wanted to chime in and if I can be of any help to anyone, fell free to reach out.

 

[BoilermakerFan]

If you are upgrading from A4988 stepper drivers, the TMC family is a great upgrade.

I don't know what drivers are stock on the Prusa Mk2 Rambo board... but putting the exercise floor mat on my cart made a HUGE difference in the noise level. So much so that my wife isn't annoyed by it printing now. I'm still going to build a small enclosure to sit on top of the cart, but I'm glad the mats worked so well.

 

[BoilermakerFan]

While the printer finally passed initial calibration, I've still had some issues. I thought I had the Live Z dialed in, but it was still off. I had printed a new spool holder. The entire first layer and parts of the second layer peeled off the part when I removed it. It's ugly, but functional. It will do for now.

Took a few hours of printing calibration test pieces and dialing it in the Live Z.

Got it dialed in for both the smooth sheet and textured sheet so I made a file of a lot of little pieces to print and had a print failure after about an hour. The printer stopped because the hotend temp dropped and it didn't recover. Doh! I forgot to run the temp calibration and PID tuning.

Tried again. Faulted out again. So I lowered the bed temp to 50degC and dropped the extruder to 205degC. Things were looking good. 3-1/2 hours into the 7 hour print and I discovered a part had come loose which trashed 3 other parts.

I separated all the different parts into their own files to print. At least the end caps and clips all printed successfully. I'll try the new LCD cover again on Friday.

After some research I discovered the stock PSU is prone to issues and failures. It's also a little under sized at 240watts. So I'll be upgrading to a Meanwell 350Watt supply before I attempt to print PETG parts.

I'm now seriously considering grabbing the Mk3 24V control board for the Bear frame to make it a full Mk3 upgrade instead of a Mk2.5S. Then I'll use the Meanwell 12V 350W supply with my original Mk2 board or the Biqu BTT002 board.

I'll have almost all the parts I need to build a second Prusa printer after I upgrade the hotend. I just need an extruder and a couple rods. That said, I might just buy an Ender 3 v2 or Ender 3 Pro. It would only be a little more money. I'll have to mull it over. The Prusa Mini is also on the list, but it's a fair bit more money and needs a few mods out of the box.

 

[Cryptic1911]

Are you prepping the bed at all? I had a hell of a time getting anything to stick to my tevo tornado. Its a ***** to level, so I would have to really fight with it to get it level, but still had issues with things popping loose, or the first layer not sticking enough to get started. I had to make sure I got it as level as humanly possible, and also found that using megahold hair spray is a game changer. I went from basically nothing sticking and being frustrated to it, to everything sticks and I gotta fight to get it off the glass now. I basically gotta smack it with a delrin hammer to break things loose most times. Also found that my esteps on the extruder were under extruding by like 11%. I fixed that, and also changed slicers, and found that slic3r worked better out of the box than cura. I think it defaults to like 150 or 200% extrusion for the first layer.. so basically I've got a lot more material coming out, and with the hairspray it's got something to grab onto