The Everything 3D Printer Thread

[AirMech#406]

My patience is starting to run thin. They haven’t responded in two days. This is a VERY expensive printer.

I dont blame you!

 

[ER70S-2]

My patience is starting to run thin. They haven’t responded in two days. This is a VERY expensive printer.

They didn't respond to a chat or phone call? I've chatted with them and it was quick and easy.

 

[slodat]

The chat conversations take forever. Well over an hour each time. They sent a replacement motor this morning. They don’t have instructions on removing and replacing the motor. They said to get in the chat when it gets here. I’ll have 10+ hours in this by the time the motor is replaced. They are definitely trying. It’s mostly disappointment and frustration, along with the time. They have not offered to replace the printer. Only for me to ship to them for repair. It took 14 days to get here. So, that would a month in travel time plus however long it takes them to repair. And, I’m not convinced it would make that round trip unharmed.

The longer it sits the more I realize how expensive it is. Kind of a head **** honestly. If it worked, that wouldn’t be how I was looking at it.

Anyway… short version is they have shipped a motor. It’s hard to tell how long DHL will take to get it here. My previous Prusa orders were shipped FedEx if I recall correctly, and they were quite fast in transit time.

 

[jfleisher]

I'm really thinking hard about this one: https://store.creality.com/products...KGDCjA2Y6yfL8rlgylAHkS28Rq8PK2fhoC0D8QAvD_BwE

 

[AirMech#406]

The chat conversations take forever. Well over an hour each time. They sent a replacement motor this morning. They don’t have instructions on removing and replacing the motor. They said to get in the chat when it gets here. I’ll have 10+ hours in this by the time the motor is replaced. They are definitely trying. It’s mostly disappointment and frustration, along with the time. They have not offered to replace the printer. Only for me to ship to them for repair. It took 14 days to get here. So, that would a month in travel time plus however long it takes them to repair. And, I’m not convinced it would make that round trip unharmed.

The longer it sits the more I realize how expensive it is. Kind of a head **** honestly. If it worked, that wouldn’t be how I was looking at it.

Anyway… short version is they have shipped a motor. It’s hard to tell how long DHL will take to get it here. My previous Prusa orders were shipped FedEx if I recall correctly, and they were quite fast in transit time.

Dang. Im glad they are working with you to try and make it right, but it sounds like quite a time consuming undertaking.
I'm certain they have not offered to replace the printer because they probably don't have one to replace it with.
They are working like mad to get pre-orders out, so if they replaced yours, it would knock someone else to the end of the line.

I dont have any personal horror stories with Fedex, (other than super-delayed deliveries) but have heard from others that they have the reputation of packages arriving damaged.

 

[AirMech#406]

I'm really thinking hard about this one: https://store.creality.com/products...KGDCjA2Y6yfL8rlgylAHkS28Rq8PK2fhoC0D8QAvD_BwE

Definitely do your homework. The original K1 was not a terrible printer, and is the most futuristic thing Creality has put out, but a lot of people have complained about some pretty big issues. The biggest issues being:

- Severe under-extrusion that can only be solved by modifying the print head to take a different extruder. Check out The Next Layer, The 3D printing zone, and Nathan Builds Robots channels on YouTube and look at their reviews.
- The app, one of its biggest features, is buggy and constantly trying to get you to upgrade to a "premium" account to get rid of annoying adds. It also sends hundreds of notifications to you on sales, contests, etc to try to squeeze every penny they can out of you.
- The K1 slicer is inferior/annyoing to work with compared to BambuStudio/OrcaSlicer.

If it was me, I would just get a P1P or wait until the P1S starts shipping and go with one of those options, this is all me assuming you can live without a large build area, which may not be the case.

Or, if you had your heart set on a large format creality machine, I would look at the Ender 5 S1. I hear its decent out of the box and can be easily modded. If youre into upgrading and tinkering that would be a stellar option.

 

[LeonardY]

It’s hard to tell how long DHL

The last thing I ordered that was shipped DHL arrived in less than a week. I was surprised because they said it would take up to 3 weeks.
Hopefully yours will arrive quick too.

 

[slodat]

The last thing I ordered that was shipped DHL arrived in less than a week. I was suprised because they said it would take up to 3 weeks.

It's quite possible the printer took two weeks due to its size.

 

[LeonardY]

It's quite possible the printer took two weeks due to its size.

I have a QIDI Xmax. The printers are here in the US but parts are shipped from China. I had to replace the main board. That was shipped from China so I paid for expedited shipping. It arrived in two days. But it shipped from Los Angeles and it came by regular mail.

 

[jeepxj]

not sure if this is gona work but printing a test case in a little bit here. embedded a LED strip into the print. going to have it pause for a part cut then print right over it.


just laying the strip down on the inside lets me know at least something is gona happen.

 

[jeepxj]

well its certainly a vibe.

 

[jeepxj]

 

[jmdirk]

really liking the P1Ps. the on board cameras are the clincher for me. it allows much easier remote monitoring as I can't babysit the print farm all day.

I've been considering getting a 3D printer. The Bambu stuff seems like it's got a ton of good reviews.

Good to see it's not just a bunch of You Tube schills.

 

[jeepxj]

I've been considering getting a 3D printer. The Bambu stuff seems like it's got a ton of good reviews.

Good to see it's not just a bunch of You Tube schills.

P1S just got released.

P1P had a price drop.

at this point i'd just get more P1Ps as FSS needs.

 

[slodat]

Lots of 3D printing stuff going on in the shop. I tossed one of the 5" grinder disc cases in the front seat of the truck yesterday when I went to work in Seattle. I was taking it to a good friend. Whelp.. it deformed, melted, and otherwise turned to a glob of shite in a few minutes in the mid-day sun. I had not seen PLA in the direct sun or high heat. I set a few other parts in the sun and this is the result:





That got me really concerned about my hardware kit boxes I've made. So.. I ordered some ABS:



The X1C does a GREAT job printing the ABS. My first box top failed..


This is not a big deal. Most likely caused by the hard line at that layer transition. I added a fillet and it's printing now. Aside from that, the ABS version is silly strong! I'll throw it out in the sun tomorrow to see how it does. As I inch closer to getting the YMC/Supermax VMC online, I decided to print CAT40 tool tags in different colors for each machine. Since the Prusa i3Mk3s is dialed in on PETG..



When this machine is dialed in, it does a great job. It's slow compared to the latest tech, but it's solid and the parts are nice.



Lastly, the new Z axis motor for the XL arrived today. Turns out the screw is integral to the stepper motor shaft. So.. I wrapped the jaws of a pair of pliers with a microfiber cloth and put some *** on the seized Z axis screw on the XL. Of course it turned. After a couple hours of back and forth with their support chat folks, the XL was up and running. The toolchange setup is REALLY slick. The first print was a small calibration cube:





Coffee cup for scale. I'm not really impressed or happy with the support process. And, initial impressions of the XL are really good! This is where I left it when I went home this evening..



Current print status:

 

[LeonardY]

I had not seen PLA in the direct sun or high heat.

Ah... Yeah PLA is not recommended for outdoor or heat applications.

ABS, ASA and PETG are rated for outdoor and heat applications.

 

[slodat]

Ah... Yeah PLA is not recommended for outdoor or heat applications.

ABS, ASA and PETG are rated for outdoor and heat applications.

I have read this over the years. I accidented on the reality of it.

 

[slodat]

The old Prusa had an issue with bed adhesion it seems.



Gave the build plate a good cleaning and it's back in business. Looks like the fillet on the vertical wall transition took care of the issue with the ABS version of the hardware box top. I also turned ironing off on this one. It turned out really nice.



Saving the best for last..


14" wide, 4" deep, 2" tall. Zero lift in the corners. NONE.







First real print on the XL was as good as I feel a person can hope for.

 

[MadeByMiller]

Man you've got me chomping at the bit for my XL arrival! Can't wait to have the tool changer setup, I feel like it will be just as much of a gamechanger as the AMS was to my work.

 

[jeepxj]

humm thats a lotta overhang weight.



snuck it in

 

[LeonardY]

This just came out from Clough42.

I personally like Qidi printers. I own an XMAX and it's been great. Couple of issues here and there but support jumped on it right away.
I might consider one of the high speed printers now that they have addressed the problems originally reported.

 

[slodat]

More XL photos:



I like the little screen UI and the PrusaLink. The first layer is really, really good.



And it's doing a great job on these big flat parts.


That is a small tray for my calipers and other stuff on my desk.

Now I have it working on a big, and LONG job. It's printing the hardware box top and bottom.






It's a 25 hour print for both parts with a 0.6mm nozzle and 0.3mm layer height. About twice as long as the X1C to make the same parts. But, it can make them, even slower and contribute to the production effort. I'm excited to see how they turn out. These are in PETG.

I've printed about 8 of the hardware case parts in ABS on the X1C. I'm really happy with how they are turning out. They are as close to flat as anything I've printed on any of my printers. The quality is awesome, and they are stupid strong. The X1C is printing these in about 6 hours. I'm not noticing any fumes to speak of.







The texture from the texture build plate is awesome. I think this is about as good as one can expect from 3D printing. I'm really happy with these parts!

 

[slodat]

More XL photos:







Corners are not lifting thus far. I haven't achieved this on any other combo yet. Excited to see how the corners are when the prints are done.

 

[slodat]

Comparison shots of the XL and X1C. The XL is the shinier finish, X1C is more of a matte finish.



No corner lift on either part..


X1C in the foreground:


The XL box bottom has a ghosting effect through the outer wall. Never seen this one before..






XL box bottom:




The streaking effect on the bottom part (X1C) is from the glue stick I tried on the X1C textured build plate.

Overall thoughts.. the XL parts look "3d printed" whereas the X1C parts look more polished and less like they were 3d printed. The fact that the corners don't lift on the XL is pretty awesome. The ghosting through the side of the XL part is bad enough I wouldn't want to ship those with my tooling kit.

Overall, X1C wins all around: SPEED for sure. It's under half the time to print. Print quality on the X1C is significantly better in my opinion. Where the XL shines currently is build volume for me.

 

[kaymccampbell]

@slodat - You can see the sort of ringing effect in the top view. Are you printing the box perimeter first or last on the XL? Are both printers following the same tool paths as they print the object?

 

[slodat]

Yes, outside perimeters, then infill.

 

[Jehannum]

Made a dial gauge mount for the quick-change post to help me align the 4 jaw chuck on my lathe.

 

[jeepxj]

man thay XL is pumping parts out

 

[slodat]

man thay XL is pumping parts out

The X1C pumps out parts. The XL slowly makes parts. At half the speed.

 

[jeepxj]

The X1C pumps out parts. The XL slowly makes parts. At half the speed.

I cant wait for the next generation to speed things up even more.

I dont understand why they dont run a counter weight to balance out the head weight. like a counter weight for an elevator but horizontal.

 

[slodat]

If Bambu were to come out with a bigger work envelope printer that performed even close to as well as the X1C, I'd have no reason to keep the XL.

I had incorrectly assumed the XL would switch to the other toolhead when it ran out of filament, provided they both had the same filament loaded. That's not the case.

 

[jeepxj]

If Bambu were to come out with a bigger work envelope printer that performed even close to as well as the X1C, I'd have no reason to keep the XL.

I had incorrectly assumed the XL would switch to the other toolhead when it ran out of filament, provided they both had the same filament loaded. That's not the case.

500x500x500 bambu. dual heads. 1,400$

that seems silly. software fix i'd hope.

 

[shoot summ]

Just ditched my Ender 3 for a Bambu X1 Carbon. All I can say is WOW, completely different print experience. The only issue is my wallet is WAY lighter.

 

[cycle61]

I want a Bambu X1 badly, but unlike @slodat my printer is essentially a toy, with no actual return on investment other than I get to make nifty doodads once in a while. Current project has been a couple dozen of these little cable saddles for cleaning up the wiring in my van conversion. They're much stronger than regular stickybacks, and the color matches my electronics because that matters.

 

[LeonardY]

I dont understand why they dont run a counter weight to balance out the head weight.

Because a counter weight is more weight. It balances something heavy and smooths out the motion. They are trying to control the inertia on the print head. So the lighter the head the better.

Think about a garage door. You want to counter balance the weight of the door so it can be easily lifted. But you wouldn't want to open and close the door at high speed.

 

[jeepxj]

Because a counter weight is more weight. It balances something heavy and smooths out the motion. They are trying to control the inertia on the print head. So the lighter the head the better.

Think about a garage door. You want to counter balance the weight of the door so it can be easily lifted. But you wouldn't want to open and close the door at high speed.

double the motors on the belt. or their size. now you got more inertia but way less vibration.

I know just the guy for the job

 

[draco_1967]

More XL photos:

What is your infill percentage on those? That looks pretty dense. Does it need to be so dense? You can speed up print time quite a bit with less infill.

 

[slodat]

30%. It’s slow even with 0.6mm nozzle and 0.3mm layer height.

 

[slodat]

And then there were two.



What to do with the i3MK3s…

 

[loganb]

Acquired some additional files and out of handles so couple different ones from printables, each has a different tang size. Haven't used them yet but they all fit and feel ok in the hand






Printed in Prusa PLA as it was what was loaded up. 15% infill, 4 perimeters, .6 nozzle, .2mm layers