Above 1200 Sq/FT Eastern Washington Workshop

[Andrew S]

That crack is at the layer were the thinner vertical walls start? Might want to add a generous internal fillet there and see if that cures the issue?

Also, I ran across my box of coolant nozzle parts, look me up next time you're in the big city...

 

[MadeByMiller]

Oof, do me a favor and stop posting the Bambu please...

 

[slodat]

Andrew - I was wondering the same thing. I'll give it a go. Bambu is currently trying PETG again, with similar settings to what I ran in the Prusa. It looks really good so far.

Austin - Nope. Not gonna do it. I had another Prusa in the shopping cart, ready to buy. I need to get the Bambu printing my part correctly. Part of why I had not ordered is I wanted to see how the X1C ddi when it got here. Ultimately, I'd like two printers for my little print farm that I can just crank my parts out of. The Prusa i3 with the stuff I'd want, including enclosure, is way too close to the same price as the X1CC.

I'm not kicking my Prusa to the curb, but it's pretty sad sitting next to the X1C. Zip ties and all that junk. It has done me well, for sure. And I have vehemently recommended them to anyone that asks for three solid years, as recently as a few days ago. It took me some effort to figure out PETG on the Prusa. What finally got it was 260/85C temperatures. I don't have a textured build plate for the Bambu yet. So, I'll be trying to make the engineering plate work in the meantime.

With all that said, I will still follow through with the Prusa XL pre-order when they get to them. I want the bigger build volume. Bottom line is the X1C is night and day better than the Prusa from an ease-of-use standpoint alone. The print quality is just on another level on the smaller bits. And that doesn't take into account the AMS. I have two partial rolls of PETG loaded. When the first runs out, it will switch to the other. Time will tell how it does with my big parts.

 

[MadeByMiller]

Andrew - I was wondering the same thing. I'll give it a go. Bambu is currently trying PETG again, with similar settings to what I ran in the Prusa. It looks really good so far.

Austin - Nope. Not gonna do it. I had another Prusa in the shopping cart, ready to buy. I need to get the Bambu printing my part correctly. Part of why I had not ordered is I wanted to see how the X1C ddi when it got here. Ulitmately, I'd like two printers for my little print farm that I can just crank my parts out of. The Prusa i3 with the stuff I'd want, including enclosure, is way too close to the same price as the Prusa.

I'm not kicking my Prusa to the curb, but it's pretty sad sitting next to the X1C. Zip ties and all that junk. It has done me well, for sure. And I have vehemently recommended them to anyone that asks for three solid years, as recently as a few days ago. It took me some effort to figure out PETG on the Prusa. What finally got it was 260/85C temperatures. I don't have a textured build plate for the Bambu yet. So, I'll be trying to make the egineering plate work in the mean time.

With all that said, I will still follow through with the Prusa XL pre-order when they get to them. I want the bigger build volume. Bottom line is the X1C is night and day better than the Prusa from an ease-of-use standpoint alone. The print quality is just on another level on the smaller bits. And that doesn't take into account the AMS. I have two partial rolls of PETG loaded. When the first runs out, it will switch to the other. Time will tell how it does with my big parts.

Yeah, they are really putting the pressure on Prusa for all of the reasons you've observed. I'm curious to see how the machine and company fare over time. I love the philosophy of Prusa and their dedication to an opensource platform that supports mods and repair, where as Bambu kind of seems like the opposite of that. Still, hard to ignore that print quality, speed, features, and build quality - especially for the price.

P.S. Don't let @nicholam77 know about these messages, okay?

 

[slodat]

What's a new forklift owner to do after successfully unearthing the beast?





For this guy it is accepting that the upholstery side of the shop is going to be repurposed. I will do upholstery for my own rigs. I need to let the space for the paying work I am doing. A truly difficult decision and sad thing to come to.

Pallets are for some of the things I will be selling to make room for what's next.

What's next is a lot of work. No new shop stuff planned for a while. Just work.

 

[slodat]

Yeah, they are really putting the pressure on Prusa for all of the reasons you've observed. I'm curious to see how the machine and company fare over time. I love the philosophy of Prusa and their dedication to an opensource platform that supports mods and repair, where as Bambu kind of seems like the opposite of that. Still, hard to ignore that print quality, speed, features, and build quality - especially for the price.

P.S. Don't let @nicholam77 know about these messages, okay?

@nicholam77 the X1C is pretty good out of the box! I **** at this secret stuff!

I'm with you on who Prusa is as a company. They are also a large company and they have utterly failed at product development and release in the last five or so years. With that said, I think the XL is going to be amazing and I'm looking forward to getting one.

 

[MadeByMiller]

Can you take an update shot of the upholstery side of the shop? I'm curious what you're planning to add! Can the upholstery stuff go into the other building that you're renovating?

I can't say I'm beyond Prusa yet. Basically nothing I print is so critical that the Prusa isn't capable of handling, and with the second machine I just added the speed isn't really a major factor for me either. If I design a product that is an end-use printed part as you've done, or if I get a customer that requires it, I'd gladly add the Bambu to the stable. I ran it by my wife and she didn't take it very seriously ha.

 

[slodat]

The main bay of the shop is the "upholstery" side of the shop. I just took these photos. This is what it looks like when work is going on.

The whole right wall behind the folding tables with the black cases sitting open on them is a row of upholstery machines. Just in front of the stack of black toolboxes is a 6' x 8' upholstery table and a few more machines. This is the stuff that will go. I will keep two of the machines and the rest will be sold.






Like I said, this is what this bay looks like while I have work going on. The floor in this part of the shop is really bad. This is why I went with the tile - to cover the floor once I had a somewhat consistent surface. The idea is this is the clean area of the shop. It will continue to be the clean area of the shop. Just on the types of things I'm working on now.

 

[MadeByMiller]

Oh wow, there are going to be some big changes then to fill all of that space with new things. It's an awesome space, I love that you have a bay that is entirely separate for dirty work.

 

[Finallygotit]

Boy it looks bright in there!

 

[loganb]

Oof, do me a favor and stop posting the Bambu please...

+1 to Austin here!

Actually dont, but it's making it harder to wait till the bonus hits to order mine! How long ago did you order yours?

 

[slodat]

Oh wow, there are going to be some big changes then to fill all of that space with new things. It's an awesome space, I love that you have a bay that is entirely separate for dirty work.

It’s funny… today the clean bay is dirty. Like actual dirt and grime. Today and tomorrow are partial days off.. It's a weird part of being self-employed - is what I'm doing in the shop for me or for "work"? I've done a good job of keeping focused on my client work. This tooling order is ready to ship next week, which feels great. I have some other stuff coming in this week that I'd like to put in what I'll now call the "main bay". It will be a true flex space. And, there's a lot of it. Did you notice years back in the thread where it shows the small grinding/welding room? The roll up door at the end of the main bay opens into a grinding and welding room. It's about 9' deep x 15' wide. Drop the roll up door, and close the door to the store room and it's a closed space with an air filter. It works well at keeping the grinding dust contained. The machinery bay has chips EVERYWHERE when I run the ShearHog.

Anyway, as always, I really appreciate your participation and contribution to the conversation.

Boy it looks bright in there!

I feel like you've said this before! The lighting is so nice to work in. Especially with my 50 year old eyes not getting any younger!

+1 to Austin here!

Actually dont, but it's making it harder to wait till the bonus hits to order mine! How long ago did you order yours?

I was sending a buddy of mine videos showing how fast the X1 is. He let me know they are now shipping at the end of the month. When I ordered late last week, they were in stock. I have a feeling they are flying off the shelves. I believe I ordered Thursday, and it arrived Friday.

I've wanted to make magnetic indicators for the plasma table to tell me which consumables are loaded in the torch. I don't use it everyday and it would save some unnecessary effort if what I need is already in the torch.



There's a pocket on the back for a magnet.



I made the 45a Fine Cut tag first. The two color stuff is a total game changer with 3d printing. I used read and black because that's what I have in PLA right now.



That is completely untouched straight off the X1. When I left the shop the remaining three were printing. Just checked the Bambu app and they are waiting for my return.



While I am definitely happy with the X1, I have not figured out how to get my hardware box lid to print right. The walls are great, the corners don't lift.. it looks good in PETG. The issue is the 5% gyroid infill is... weak/loose. You can crunch it. The rest of the print is really good. I'm not sure why the 5% gyroid infill isn't working. For now, I'll stick with the Prusa once I get the replacement Revo Six heater.

 

[loganb]

Thank you for the info! I didn’t think of using the tilt cylinders!

Cribbing up the mast is also a trick to unload something that's over the machine capacity. Now it only works if lifting straight up then back down, but if unloading from a trailer or something similar and the tail keeps coming up this is a quick trick to increase lift capacity without hanging weights off the **** end.

 

[slodat]

That makes sense. One of the reasons I went with the 9000 lb lift is it will lift anything I own and anything I’m willing to move without riggers.

 

[loganb]

That makes sense. One of the reasons I went with the 9000 lb lift is it will lift anything I own and anything I’m willing to move without riggers.

Yeah, the cribbing trick is much more common on a 3k or 4k lb lift where it's not such a challenge to overload it. Overloading a 9k lb lift gets a bit more serious

 

[loganb]

The issue is the 5% gyroid infill is... weak/loose. You can crunch it. The rest of the print is really good. I'm not sure why the 5% gyroid infill isn't working. F

What nozzle size are you using and how many top and bottom surfaces?

For larger flat items like the lid I have had similar issues that the 5% infill just left too much space between the supporting lines and it didn't feel as "nice". I personally thought it was worse on .4 nozzles, but I run .6 almost exclusively now so that may be bias. Other things I've done to improve was boost infill up(15% often seems to improve feel but was an experiment to see) or increase top and bottom layer counts. I really like gyroid infill so I haven't tried a different pattern for fill to see if it would help

 

[slodat]

Currently running 0.4mm nozzle on both printers. I changed the X1 settings to mimic the Prusa for the Overture PETG- 260/85C, flow of 8, 1mm (5 layers) top and bottom, 3 vertical shells minimum, 5% gyroid infill. These settings produce a very nice part on the Prusa. It may be that the Bambu slicer is thinning something that I’m not seeing yet.

I did some reading last night and was thinking the same- up the infill to 15 or 25%. At this point, I’m going to move on and keep using the Prusa for this part. I’ll see how the X1 does on the box bottom.

 

[slodat]

It is so satisfying to walk into the shop and have parts waiting on the printer. These will help me keep track of what consumables are loaded in the plasma torch. I've wanted to do something like this for way too long. The fine cut part looks like it fractured the surface or something when I pressed the magnet in the back. Looking closer, the other three are supported in the middle by the letters, where the 45FC is not supported. Makes sense. It doesn't affect function, so I'll run it.

 

[gte718p]

Currently running 0.4mm nozzle on both printers. I changed the X1 settings to mimic the Prusa for the Overture PETG- 260/85C, flow of 8, 1mm (5 layers) top and bottom, 3 vertical shells minimum, 5% gyroid infill. These settings produce a very nice part on the Prusa. It may be that the Bambu slicer is thinning something that I’m not seeing yet.

I did some reading last night and was thinking the same- up the infill to 15 or 25%. At this point, I’m going to move on and keep using the Prusa for this part. I’ll see how the X1 does on the box bottom.

5% infill is pretty low for a “solid” part. I bet you are right it is the slicer. I have noticed differences in SuperSlicer, Cura, and Prusa slicers. I generally use 15-20% for parts. Watching it print, the three slicers have very different ideas what 15% is.

 

[slodat]

5% infill is pretty low for a “solid” part. I bet you are right it is the slicer. I have noticed differences in SuperSlicer, Cura, and Prusa slicers. I generally use 15-20% for parts. Watching it print, the three slicers have very different ideas what 15% is.

Thank you for some confirmation on my suspicions. I will try the part again in the X1. It is currently printing a poop shoot for itself. (this catches the little filament spirals it sends out the back of the printer.

Then, I think I FINALLY sorted out how I'm going to do drawer labels. Much like the plasma consumable indicators above.. More to follow.

 

[ODIS]

Watching Clough42 on Utube where he has a method of 2 color 3d printing for labels. Was interesting and he has also used a printer that heats the entire chamber to reduce/eliminate warp on most larger parts. Anyway, might be a good place to take a look at printing issues.

 

[slodat]

Watching Clough42 on Utube where he has a method of 2 color 3d printing for labels. Was interesting and he has also used a printer that heats the entire chamber to reduce/eliminate warp on most larger parts. Anyway, might be a good place to take a look at printing issues.

While I'm not much of a YouTube (or tv for that matter) watcher, James' channel is one of my favorites! The new printer is enclosed, and it definitely helped with the corner lifting issue I was having on my hardware box lid.

 

[slodat]

Good buddy of mine sent a text- "do you have a 7x7" chunk of 1/2" mild steel?" He brought over his CAD drawing and we went to work. Here's the part on top of the CAD drawing:





First time cutting 1/2" on the plasma table. I used 85A consumables and it cut great! Used the drill unit to spot four holes that he will pick up in the milling machine. It is for a 24v Cummins engine stand mount he's making. I'm REALLY happy with the results. Very little dross and nice quality.



Printed a poop shoot for the X1. This is a tall part and it turned out nice.



And, the drawer labels.



I am so happy with these. I used red for the contrast color because it's the only color I have in PLA. These are nice. On the build plate fresh out of the printer:



This shows the magnets on the back.



And, installed. I will be making a lot of these over time.

 

[MadeByMiller]

Very nice, both the plasma cutting and the drawer labels!

 

[slodat]

I’ve known I’ll need an exhaust for the fiber laser. After engraving some of the parts for my tooling kits there was a noticeable amount of very fine dust in the area. That’s all I needed to see. I’ve had an exhaust blower for the CO2 laser since it was installed. I added a wye and blast gates so it can also exhaust the fiber laser. The only thing remaining was a way to hold the 4” woodworking dust collection hose in position.

A few minutes in Fusion, and overnight for the robot to make the parts. There are slots that hold nuts and screws for the other half. This worked out remarkably well.






The part could use some refinement. I’ll get to it when I have a few minutes to dedicate to the task. In the mean time it does the work and I’ll get an opportunity to see what other changes I’ll want to make.

I used the forklift for its intended purpose today- to material handling for the business. I am really glad I had it. These freight companies are something else. This was shipped vertical.

On the trailer prior to unloading:



I got it on the ground.


At that point had to unstack before I could move inside. Safe and sound in the shop.



1950’s design circuit breakers. I’ll be fabricating the parts needed to make a modern replacement. These are for reference.

A friend was over for coffee this morning and gave me the push I needed to start transforming the main bay of the shop. We lifted the machines that will be sold onto pallets. I started bolting down and strapping the heads, etc. I moved some to the other building. Should finish in the morning.





This is a hell of a deal on PLA+ filament. 30 rolls for $10.99/roll. A buddy of mine has run a lot of it and recommended it. 30 more rolls should last a while!

 

[loganb]

Great progress! As others have said, also excited to follow along on the transformation of the main bay to better enable efficiency and money making potential!

This is a hell of a deal on PLA+ filament. 30 rolls for $10.99/roll. A buddy of mine has run a lot of it and recommended it. 30 more rolls should last a while!

Dang....I'm normally hesitant of dirt cheap filament but this looks legit. They also have some other offers and volume discounts:

https://llldmax.com/product-category/offers/

May have to try one of the smaller lots and see what I think...thanks for sharing!

 

[slodat]

Very nice, both the plasma cutting and the drawer labels!

Thank you. You have a critical eye for detail. I appreciate the feedback. I was really impressed with the plasma cut. I think I need to increase my lead in. I changed to a 90 degree lead in, but only .25”. I think more lead in would give a little cleaner result.

Great progress! As others have said, also excited to follow along on the transformation of the main bay to better enable efficiency and money making potential!

Thank you. It’s bittersweet moving the machines out. I’m exited for where things are headed!

Dang....I'm normally hesitant of dirt cheap filament but this looks legit.

Me, too. I placed an order for the 30 rolls. Mostly black. Here’s hoping it’s good stuff!

 

[slodat]

I had a deal setup for a nice granite surface plate. Seller had it listed multiple places and ended up not getting it. (I'll keep an eye out for a good deal on a surface plate.) During that time, I found what looked like a great deal on a Mitutoyo surface gage. Seller accepted my offer, and I asked them to make sure they packed it really well. I offered to pay extra for good packaging. They replied, "I'll do my best."

This is how it arrived:




I'm glad they did their best. I'd hate to see their version of half ***.. Much to my surpise the wood case, and the height gage itself arrived completely unharmed!





I also received these guys.. @MadeByMiller will recognize this as the materials needed for the Prusa nyloc mod.



The fiber laser is at the other end of the bench from my shop computer. This results in a lot of walking back and forth when setting up a job. I came across this little Stream Deck and I had an idea..



It lives over by the laser. Now I can nudge the design on the work piece, frame it, stop the frame, and I've already been able to start the job from the foot pedal that came with the laser. This sort of thing is a huge quality of life/worth the expense for the smiles sort of thing.

I've continued to get to know the forklift. A nearly six-ton forklift on gravel is interesting to say the least. I'm starting to get some stuff down. That feels good. The last sewing machine to move has square feet and there's not a built-in provision to bolt to the pallet. Perfect exercise for a quick sheet metal job.

This was what I came up with in Fusion:



Plasma table did a great job cutting the parts with the Fine Cut consumables. Again, very little dross and nice edge quality. Using the desktop version of the press brake control and it shows a part collision with the punch on the fourth bend. I'm going to need to get a gooseneck punch for stuff like this.



For that fourth bend, I only let the punch go down until the part made contact with it, and then released. Hand bent the rest. Not perfect, but perfectly fine for the application.



And, in place. Will do a great job.

 

[MadeByMiller]

Always enjoy seeing your updates and your constant quest for improvement! Speaking of the nylock mod, I think today is the day I finally start assembly of my new printer. I'll be implementing the mod in the build rather than hoping for the best and doing the mod later. I kind of wish I would have ordered a second Revo Six hotend for this printer as well, but it's not a big deal to add later I guess.

 

[nicholam77]

Wow, the dual-color prints look amazing, and I LOVE the drawer labels! So clean. I experimented with dual-color prints on my Ender and it's definitely a lot trickier than the sweet machine you've got! I can see that being super useful.

 

[slodat]

Always enjoy seeing your updates and your constant quest for improvement! Speaking of the nylock mod, I think today is the day I finally start assembly of my new printer. I'll be implementing the mod in the build rather than hoping for the best and doing the mod later. I kind of wish I would have ordered a second Revo Six hotend for this printer as well, but it's not a big deal to add later I guess.

Thank you for following along and contributing to the conversation. As I'm sure you know, this solo shop thing can get low on the social interactions. I truly appreciate GJ for this. As far as the Revo Six goes, I can't imagine going back to the older hotend. I do recommend getting a spare HeaterCore. It will be ten days all told before I am back in business. Three-day weekend and a following weekend make up half that time. I'm ready to have the Prusa back in business. It's a great printer and it has work to do!

Wow, the dual-color prints look amazing, and I LOVE the drawer labels! So clean. I experimented with dual-color prints on my Ender and it's definitely a lot trickier than the sweet machine you've got! I can see that being super useful.

Like I said, I've been wanting a solution for years. I looked at a magnetic backed laserable acrylic, various tapes for label makers, at one point engraving MDF with magnets, and so on. These two color 3D printed labels are exactly what I've wanted the whole time. I have a few partial rolls of PLA that I'm running out printing a few of the labels at a time while I'm doing other things in the shop.

This was waiting for me when I got here this morning.


I was originally a little annoyed about the glue stick on the cool plate. It's not as time consuming as I thought and the results far outweigh the slight inconvenience.

Again, thank you for contributing to the conversation. I really appreciate it.

 

[Maxcustody]

I am amazed from the start of your shop to where it is now................ Truly impressed by all the projects you have completed. I really enjoy seeing all the different equipment you have acquired and your skills utilizing them .

 

[rvieceli]

@slodat

Have you quit your day job and going full time/full blast on your shop projects?

Everything is looking great.

Ron

 

[slodat]

I am amazed from the start of your shop to where it is now................ Truly impressed by all the projects you have completed. I really enjoy seeing all the different equipment you have acquired and your skills utilizing them .

Thank you!

@slodat

Have you quit your day job and going full time/full blast on your shop projects?

Everything is looking great.

Ron

Yes, I am making a go at being self-employed. Going well so far. It's amazing and scary as all hell at the same time.

 

[Andrew S]

Do you have a set of flat top and bottom dies for your press brake? Narrow parts like that you can add a "back break" down the center of the part, which allows you to complete the other bends. The part looks like a "W" with ears at this point. Then use the flat dies to press the back break bend out flat again.

If you need a sketched example to make sense of this, just let me know.

Andrew

 

[slodat]

Do you have a set of flat top and bottom dies for your press brake? Narrow parts like that you can add a "back break" down the center of the part, which allows you to complete the other bends. The part looks like a "W" with ears at this point. Then use the flat dies to press the back break bend out flat again.

If you need a sketched example to make sense of this, just let me know.

Andrew

I definitely need the sketched example! Thank you!

 

[bugnut]

Steven, every time you show those dadgum labels I watch my checkbook twitch! I really wanna do that but can't justify the expense, unless I think of something else to do with the printer.

I use the walmart lense cleaners, which are just alcohol wipes, to clean the glue stick off the platter on the prusa. Less mess than pouring alcohol on it!

 

[slodat]

Steven, every time you show those dadgum labels I watch my checkbook twitch! I really wanna do that but can't justify the expense, unless I think of something else to do with the printer.

I use the walmart lense cleaners, which are just alcohol wipes, to clean the glue stick off the platter on the prusa. Less mess than pouring alcohol on it!

The drawer labels demonstrate a whole new dimension to 3D printing, at least for shop stuff for me. The multi-color printing will make it into my products. This is the real reason I got the Bambu. The labels are perfect for learning the printer, process, etc.

I bought a box of IPA lens cleaners when I first got the Prusa. Like you said, they are great for cleaning the print beds.

 

[MadeByMiller]

Do you have a set of flat top and bottom dies for your press brake? Narrow parts like that you can add a "back break" down the center of the part, which allows you to complete the other bends. The part looks like a "W" with ears at this point. Then use the flat dies to press the back break bend out flat again.

If you need a sketched example to make sense of this, just let me know.

Andrew

I definitely need the sketched example! Thank you!

This is an excellent suggestion if the part allows it! Here's my interpretation of what @Andrew S was suggesting:
Add a brake in the center on the opposite side to open up the part for die clearance:


Then flatten that bend out when you're finished:


Hope you don't mind me answering for you Andrew, but that's a brilliant solution until you get a set of gooseneck dies!

 

[ptt49er]

This is an excellent suggestion if the part allows it! Here's my interpretation of what @Andrew S was suggesting:
Add a brake in the center on the opposite side to open up the part for die clearance:


Then flatten that bend out when you're finished:


Hope you don't mind me answering for you Andrew, but that's a brilliant solution until you get a set of gooseneck dies!

This method is used pretty frequently in the fab shops I've worked with. It works a treat when you don't have the dies for the profile as long as you can live with the flattened bend line running down the center of the part.