The Everything 3D Printer Thread

[jeepxj]

Wow! Is this all for the Farm Sip Supreme business? Or are you making other parts too?

currently in the shop are 63 sku's with 130 total variants. so effectively 130sku to deal with. sometimes color, sometimes left/right.

all FSS.




what i want to get is going from order to machine without me having to do anything. it just queues up what is needed, once the plate is cleared just do the next thing it needs.

 

[Black300zx]

@jeepxj wow, that's impressive. I remember your initial posts about the idea. Awesome to see it's taken off. Are any of those components shared across multiple SKUs? Seeing the volumes of filament you're sourcing, have you considered looking at ROI on aluminum low-volume injection molds for yoir higher volume parts?

5years or so ago we'd pretty routinely get aluminim molds made through ProtoLabs with starting costs in the 3-4k range for small simple molded parts. They'd be good for 5-10k shots or more depending on what type of resin you were using.

 

[jeepxj]

@jeepxj wow, that's impressive. I remember your initial posts about the idea. Awesome to see it's taken off. Are any of those components shared across multiple SKUs? Seeing the volumes of filament you're sourcing, have you considered looking at ROI on aluminum low-volume injection molds for yoir higher volume parts?

5years or so ago we'd pretty routinely get aluminim molds made through ProtoLabs with starting costs in the 3-4k range for small simple molded parts. They'd be good for 5-10k shots or more depending on what type of resin you were using.

not really which is kinda the perk? and curse of it being printed. versions are easy to upgrade/update/do custom inlays. I don't have anything sunk into tooling and committed to making a single version into the thousands to recover tooling cost.

I actually designed this model with a simple 2 piece mold, no retractions in mind. My cost to print with material and electric is 2.25 a unit. i'm not sure how to factor on printer depreciation. so lets say a printer can run for a year only making these. 3 per day. 300 days printing to account for life. 900 units a year from that printer. P1S is 700 plus shipping/tax. Nozzle is $75. Lets call it 900 for printer outlay all told.
so with printer cost a unit is 3.25 a unit.






I knew of these people before so i just tossed it up to see. double and change my cost on a 900 unit run never mind adding shipping on top.



now if i had to upfront up enough plastic for 900 of them at once im sure i could get raw material cost down slightly.



even going to 2500 units


still not there.



you get the point.

 

[jeepxj]

ok who jinxed me? that extruder on the original machine giving me issues.

 

[Black300zx]

Good stuff! I guess my main thought was capacity, depending on what types of volumes you're looking at. For what you're doing, looks like AM is the ticket

 

[kaymccampbell]

ok who jinxed me? that extruder on the original machine giving me issues.

Eenie, meenie, chili beenie, the extruder is about to puke.

 

[jeepxj]

Good stuff! I guess my main thought was capacity, depending on what types of volumes you're looking at. For what you're doing, looks like AM is the ticket

i'll run out of space in the basement before power. and probably the mailmans patience.

I could readily fit 20 machines down there without the wife murdering me.


1009kg is the magic number to 5.80$ a KG

 

[jeepxj]

Eenie, meenie, chili beenie, the extruder is about to puke.

just ordered 2 replacements.

 

[kaymccampbell]

i'll run out of space in the basement before power. and probably the mailmans patience.

I could readily fit 20 machines down there without the wife murdering me.


1009kg is the magic number to 5.80$ a KG

A long ton of filament would break your mailman's truck.

 

[loganb]

i'll run out of space in the basement before power.

I haven't bothered to put an amp meter on any of my printers....what is one of your Bambu's actually pulling for power while running?

 

[jeepxj]

I figured it out. Oopsies had the wrong filament profile loaded. Turns out 40 cubic mm max is too much for the nozzle to handle.

 

[moab11]

I haven't bothered to put an amp meter on any of my printers....what is one of your Bambu's actually pulling for power while running?

I've watched the power meter on my UPS that my X1C is plugged into, running bounces between 40 and 300w (spikes for the rapid movements of the toolhead). Heating the bed and nozzle can get it up to 300w also. I'd say an average through a print would be in the 75w range from what I've seen.

 

[moab11]

i'll run out of space in the basement before power. and probably the mailmans patience.

I could readily fit 20 machines down there without the wife murdering me.


1009kg is the magic number to 5.80$ a KG

Having to haul hundreds of KG of Filament down to the basement on a monthly basis sounds like a good workout!

 

[jeepxj]

Having to haul hundreds of KG of Filament down to the basement on a monthly basis sounds like a good workout!

and up as products lol

 

[jeepxj]

I haven't bothered to put an amp meter on any of my printers....what is one of your Bambu's actually pulling for power while running?

generally under 100w. once the build plate is up to temp. what's interesting is if I had them on 240v the build plate would pull 1000w to heat up at full pop.

 

[Citation]

I've used it quite a bit over the time that I've had it and been impressed. I haven't spent a ton of time working with adjusting slicer settings, and I have stayed with the Qidi slicer software when using this machine, mostly because its dead reliable and I have no issues with it either. I am running the high temp head and Qidi build plate on it, almost always with ASA filament and I only have adhesion problems if its a large print that gets close to edges of the plate, which a glue stick resolves easily. I try to keep the firmware and software versions current. I occasionally do a "fast level" using the Qidi "calibration tool" (a think sheet of plastic that sets the spacing between the build plate and nozzle) and I don't have print failures too often.

I haven't stressed about print quality on the Qidi much as the stuff I print at home rarely needs me to be that fussy and that typically slows the print jobs way down on it, the parts that I want better print quality on usually just go to one of the Bambu's at the office since they are already set up that way and they print MUCH faster.

Build quality of the Qidi is very good, imo and its componentized so working on it would be simple. Set up when I got it was pretty just open the box and turn it on. I didn't spend any time leveling the bed or have to adjust anything aside from doing a fast level on it. If its just a power supply, that's super easy to deal with. I wouldn't be surprised if Qidi wouldn't give you help with it if you contacted them, even if you weren't the original purchaser, altho I wouldn't guaranty that.

Thanks for the feedback. Since posting this question someone has already bid on the printer. Net result, I'm going to pass. I recently bought an Ender 3 V3 SE so the Qidi would be a second printer (assuming an easy fix). Currently I'm not messing with the more advanced materials that would benefit from the closed housing and higher temp extruder. My space is also really limited (in my already crowded home office vs in a workshop) so I'm not sure where it would go even assuming the fix was cheap and easy.

As an aside, I'm going to come back with an Ender review later. So far I think it's a good but not perfect starter printer for someone who is willing to tinker a bit.

 

[rslaback]

Designed some brackets the other night to hold pieces of fiberglass driveway marker to hold up the roof of my Ender 3 enclosures. My cats like to sleep on them which has been causing problems.

 

[jeepxj]

135 * 3 = 405kg net of PETG coming now. hopefully that lets me build some inventory up for a change. then i can gauge volume heading into summer for a big 120 day order to get thru holidays.

 

[moab11]

the prusa's had an hour meter in their firmware that was nice.

I think i need to get this stood up for my farm:

Are you using the TFyre web UI? Or is that a screenshot you found?
I was intrigued and looked it up and it seems interesting, but needs extra work for an X1C and I only have the one printer right now.

 

[jeepxj]

Are you using the TFyre web UI? Or is that a screenshot you found?
I was intrigued and looked it up and it seems interesting, but needs extra work for an X1C and I only have the one printer right now.

I am not yet. i do plan to stand it up. I'm at 5 machines total currently. will post about my experience here.

 

[jeepxj]

@jeepxj
5years or so ago we'd pretty routinely get aluminim molds made through ProtoLabs with starting costs in the 3-4k range for small simple molded parts. They'd be good for 5-10k shots or more depending on what type of resin you were using.

to close this out:

one thing of note I should redo this with much thinner walls configured specifically to injection molding/drafts/etc. that'd prolly bring the part cost down a bit. no need for 3-4mm wall thickness with abs. can do 1.5 i'd bet. but again a mistake there would be costly.

 

[slowtwitch73]

Is it the farm sip keeping you busy?

 

[jeepxj]

Is it the farm sip keeping you busy?

thats 99% of my print jobs.

 

[Black300zx]

to close this out:

one thing of note I should redo this with much thinner walls configured specifically to injection molding/drafts/etc. that'd prolly bring the part cost down a bit. no need for 3-4mm wall thickness with abs. can do 1.5 i'd bet. but again a mistake there would be costly.

Good info. It's always interesting to look at these types of trade-off analyses for parts like this, and it really underscores how AM can be a really smart choice for a lot of products.

 

[jeepxj]

Good info. It's always interesting to look at this types of trade-off analysis for parts like this, and it really underscores how AM can be a really smart choice for a lot of products.

just got off the phone with them. going to simplify the part to make the mold even simpler. i did the lazy thing and just uploaded what I had. ill take a minute this weekend to thin up the walls, remove any extractions needed for mold split and see what we can do price wise. the biggest issue is the huge void needed in the base to hold the yeti cups the right height.

 

[jeepxj]

3200 hours is the limit of the factory gears.




brand new:



going to order hardened gear kits to have on hand for the next time this happens.

Hardened Steel Extruder Gear Assembly

The Bambu Hardened Steel Extruder Gear Assembly is one of the components of the Bambu Hardened Steel Extruder Unit. Consisting of the driven gear and the active gear, the extruder gear assembly can feed filament into the hotend. Although it is constructed with heavy-duty parts for a long service...

us.store.bambulab.com

 

[LeonardY]

3200 hours is the limit of the factory gears.




brand new:



going to order hardened gear kits to have on hand for the next time this happens.

Hardened Steel Extruder Gear Assembly

The Bambu Hardened Steel Extruder Gear Assembly is one of the components of the Bambu Hardened Steel Extruder Unit. Consisting of the driven gear and the active gear, the extruder gear assembly can feed filament into the hotend. Although it is constructed with heavy-duty parts for a long service...

us.store.bambulab.com

Is that a known issue?

 

[Cc_windsurfer]

3200 hours is the limit of the factory gears.




brand new:



going to order hardened gear kits to have on hand for the next time this happens.

Hardened Steel Extruder Gear Assembly

The Bambu Hardened Steel Extruder Gear Assembly is one of the components of the Bambu Hardened Steel Extruder Unit. Consisting of the driven gear and the active gear, the extruder gear assembly can feed filament into the hotend. Although it is constructed with heavy-duty parts for a long service...

us.store.bambulab.com

Impressive. The extruder on my k1 needed replacement at 500 hours.

 

[jeepxj]

Is that a known issue?

im not sure. i bought 2 whole units the other day so i just swapped in a normal toughnesss since thats what the whole units came with.

ill swap in these two units with the normal gears. then have the 2 sets of hardened gears for when that time comes.

 

[moab11]

Sounds like the standard extruder should last most people a very long time!
I just checked and the X1 comes with the hardened gears already, good chance I may never wear it out.

 

[niget2002]

Got my new extruder mounted on the 'old' 3d printer. Really surprised how much smaller the new one is.



I had to mill (poorly) an adapter plate to bolt the new extruder onto the original metal mounting plate. I need a new 1/4" end mill. I borked the tip on this one at one point and it leaves that weird 'step' in the parts now I didn't realize I had damaged the end mill until making this part.

 

[slodat]

Ironworker tooling storage trays. I made a small test part to check fitment.


Worked out well.


The first tray complete and populated.





The text is 0.20” tall. I’m okay with the small anomalies in the text.

 

[big_bake]

First time finding this thread. I have 2 vorons, a v2.4 and a v0. I also have 2 enders, an ender 3, and an ender 5 plus. V0 needs a rebuild and update, it keeps shredding belts, the ender 3 is in pieces because I'm relocating the electronics outside of the enclosure and the v2.4 was down for over a year, I got it going again about a month ago and it's been printing amazing.

I have recently found this thread myself. I have been using my Prusa Mk3s+ to print off all the parts for a Voron Trident Build. Nice prints btw, I like that legend in the lid of the box a lot.

 

[not-required]

I have recently found this thread myself. I have been using my Prusa Mk3s+ to print off all the parts for a Voron Trident Build. Nice prints btw, I like that legend in the lid of the box a lot.

The trident is a great printer. As cool and the flying gantry is on the 2.4, if I was to do it again I'd probably build a trident instead. It just a much simpler printer that just as capable.

 

[loganb]

The trident is a great printer. As cool and the flying gantry is on the 2.4, if I was to do it again I'd probably build a trident instead. It just a much simpler printer that just as capable.

As someone who has a Voron 2.4 currently in need of repair....he's not wrong

Now mine is down due to couple printed parts that failed on the extruder, not the motion....but yeah....when a 350 mm cubed print area Bambu X1/P1 type machine comes out, even with a speed reduction compared to an X1/P1, the Voron is gone.

 

[big_bake]

The trident is a great printer. As cool and the flying gantry is on the 2.4, if I was to do it again I'd probably build a trident instead. It just a much simpler printer that just as capable.

I agree. As cool as a 2.4 is, I really liked how much simpler a Trident is. The only pro I will miss from the 2.4 is a lower center of gravity, but I'm really not trying to be a speed benchy guy.

As someone who has a Voron 2.4 currently in need of repair....he's not wrong

Now mine is down due to couple printed parts that failed on the extruder, not the motion....but yeah....when a 350 mm cubed print area Bambu X1/P1 type machine comes out, even with a speed reduction compared to an X1/P1, the Voron is gone.

What parts failed on the extruder? What material are they made of?

 

[loganb]

What parts failed on the extruder? What material are they made of?

A couple of the holders with idler wheels had layer separation. It's a printer I bought preassembled from another guy who just likes building them so not sure if it was ASA, ABS or something else. I'll reprint the parts at a 45 degree angle off the bed to hopefully improve part strength. Just have to get some time to work on it as the files I've found for the extruder aren't exactly right so some modeling will need done.

 

[jeepxj]

nesting away

 

[loganb]

nesting away

Well done!

 

[Jehannum]

Wanted a hole plug with an O-ring seal for the hole in the back window of my Audi where I removed the wiper, so I'm making one.