I pulled the trigger on a CR-10S last night! It won't show up for a few weeks, but that works out well because I'm trying to knock out some garage projects and don't need the distraction right now. I'd already taken a vacation day for my birthday at the end of the month so I think I'm going to plan on spending the day setting up and playing with my new gadget.
The Everything 3D Printer Thread
- Thread starter BoilermakerFan
- Start date
PCMusicGuy
Well-known member
I've had my CR-10S for about a year now. It worked great for a while, then the power supply fan went out so I replaced that. Then the insulation got gummed up with an ABS ball. I took all the insulation off and switched to a silicon sock. It worked great again for another few months. Inexplicably, I started having trouble printing. Filament would not come out the hot end smoothly, so I completely disassembled the hot end, cleaned it up and got it working good again. After about a week or so of good printing, I now have layer shifting on the X axis. Doesn't seem to be the belt or the stepper, so I'm guessing a weak power supply at this point.
Cliff notes: 3D printers are not trouble free primetime devices yet. You will eventually have to fix them or spend time tinkering with them.
Cliff notes: 3D printers are not trouble free primetime devices yet. You will eventually have to fix them or spend time tinkering with them.
WoodsTruck
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jan 12, 2013
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My Ender-5 should be here tomorrow.
Thank you for the heads up on some of the issues you've seen PCMusicGuy!
The lack of cooling seems to be a fairly common issue. I've been researching the different fixes people have come up with and am leaning towards making a stand that uses a couple of 120mm fans to push/pull air through the control box. I also ordered the aluminum extruder upgrade at the same time as the printer. For $15, it doesn't seem worthwhile to mess around with some of the printed upgrade options out there.
That is a good point you bring up about having to fix and tinker. 5-7 years ago, I was looking pretty hard at printers but was ultimately scared away by the cost and the lack of print quality and machine reliability. Now we seem to be at a level of quality vs. cost that I am comfortable with. I imagine that in 5-10 years, we'll be looking back at these printers and laughing at how crappy, unreliable, and expensive they are compared to what will be available in the future.
The lack of cooling seems to be a fairly common issue. I've been researching the different fixes people have come up with and am leaning towards making a stand that uses a couple of 120mm fans to push/pull air through the control box. I also ordered the aluminum extruder upgrade at the same time as the printer. For $15, it doesn't seem worthwhile to mess around with some of the printed upgrade options out there.
That is a good point you bring up about having to fix and tinker. 5-7 years ago, I was looking pretty hard at printers but was ultimately scared away by the cost and the lack of print quality and machine reliability. Now we seem to be at a level of quality vs. cost that I am comfortable with. I imagine that in 5-10 years, we'll be looking back at these printers and laughing at how crappy, unreliable, and expensive they are compared to what will be available in the future.
banjopete
Well-known member
I've had an ender 3 now for about a year and it's been just as advertised. Prints out of the box were really good, and it's just printed and printed since with no needs for fixes and tweaks. I bought mine to build a lowrider2 CNC which is comprised of tons of printed elements. Another rabbit hole for sure but really cool and mostly all thanks to 3d printing.
Sent from my SM-G960W using The Garage Journal mobile app
Sent from my SM-G960W using The Garage Journal mobile app
Pete - I did not need to know about that Lowrider CNC router setup... thanks for another rabbit hole!
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A thought just occurred to me that I figured would be worth sharing - McMaster-Carr's website has large library of 3D files for all sorts of items that one might want to use on projects. Instead of having to model something or trying to track it down on a website like Thingiverse, things like gussets for aluminum rail, tube caps, knobs, gears, etc. can all be found there. They may require a little modification/optimization 3D printing, but a lot of the legwork is already done.
A few examples...
https://www.mcmaster.com/5537t971
https://www.mcmaster.com/9565k62
https://www.mcmaster.com/7921k41-7921K416
https://www.mcmaster.com/6832k57
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A thought just occurred to me that I figured would be worth sharing - McMaster-Carr's website has large library of 3D files for all sorts of items that one might want to use on projects. Instead of having to model something or trying to track it down on a website like Thingiverse, things like gussets for aluminum rail, tube caps, knobs, gears, etc. can all be found there. They may require a little modification/optimization 3D printing, but a lot of the legwork is already done.
A few examples...
https://www.mcmaster.com/5537t971
https://www.mcmaster.com/9565k62
https://www.mcmaster.com/7921k41-7921K416
https://www.mcmaster.com/6832k57
WoodsTruck
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- Jan 12, 2013
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You guys are killing me. My Ender 5 just showed up last night and I don't even have it out of the box yet. Now it needs a CNC to go with it?
Thanks for the links to McMaster 3D items. Do they have many other items with diagrams like that?
Thanks for the links to McMaster 3D items. Do they have many other items with diagrams like that?
Yes, a lot of McMaster's hardware type items have free CAD models available for download. Super handy when designing a fixture because I can just track down the item I need on the website, download the file, and import it into my assembly. When the fixture gets routed, all those components get purchased from them.
I suppose using those files for 3D printing kind of goes against the business model for them, but at the same time, I'm not going to lose any sleep over it because of the many thousands of dollars worth of items I and my fellow engineers order from them each year.
2manytoyz
Well-known member
I have a Creality CR-10S 3D printer for home ($458 - $25 instant coupon):
https://amzn.to/2KpXlOy
At work, I have the Creality CR-10S5 ($769 - $40 instant coupon):
https://amzn.to/2GXcCo6
Both work extremely well, but there is a learning curve. I'm using the free version of Fusion 360 (CAD program), and purchased Simplify 3D (slicer program).
I've made a number of projects for home and for work. A few examples:
Carlon Electrical Box Templates Single & Dual Gang: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3558057
Tactical Flashlight Wall Mount:
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3241135
MRAP Radio Antenna or LED Light Bar Mount :
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3292044
https://amzn.to/2KpXlOy
At work, I have the Creality CR-10S5 ($769 - $40 instant coupon):
https://amzn.to/2GXcCo6
Both work extremely well, but there is a learning curve. I'm using the free version of Fusion 360 (CAD program), and purchased Simplify 3D (slicer program).
I've made a number of projects for home and for work. A few examples:
Carlon Electrical Box Templates Single & Dual Gang: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3558057
Tactical Flashlight Wall Mount:
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3241135
MRAP Radio Antenna or LED Light Bar Mount :
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3292044
2manytoyz
Well-known member
Last edited:
PCMusicGuy
Well-known member
Thank you for the heads up on some of the issues you've seen PCMusicGuy!
The lack of cooling seems to be a fairly common issue. I've been researching the different fixes people have come up with and am leaning towards making a stand that uses a couple of 120mm fans to push/pull air through the control box. I also ordered the aluminum extruder upgrade at the same time as the printer. For $15, it doesn't seem worthwhile to mess around with some of the printed upgrade options out there.
I would run the stock fans until they die or make noise, but have some on hand from day 1. lol.
And I did figure out my issue. It turned out that the hotend screws had come loose from the cradle. Very simple fix.
So much for the multi-week lead time. With this box sitting in the corner, its going to be tough to stick to my plan of wrapping up some garage projects before digging into this. Not complaining, just sayin...
View media item 95735
EDIT:
Yeah, I lack discipline...
View media item 95742
I did get a nice surprise when I opened the box. Instead of the CR-10S that I ordered, I actually got a CR-10S4! I thought the box seemed box seemed a little big.
EDIT 2:
How long does it take to print a cat? Too long apparently...
View media item 95735
EDIT:
Yeah, I lack discipline...
View media item 95742
I did get a nice surprise when I opened the box. Instead of the CR-10S that I ordered, I actually got a CR-10S4! I thought the box seemed box seemed a little big.
EDIT 2:
How long does it take to print a cat? Too long apparently...
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PCMusicGuy
Well-known member
That is a nice surprise on the larger machine. If you haven't already made a plan for it, buy a raspberry pi 3, load it with octoprint (octopi) and ditch ever printing from the SD card. You will be so much happier.
Funny, I was just reading about Octoprint last night - that is going to be on the short list of future mods.
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After dinking around with the printer the last few days, I'm very happy with it even though I need to address some of the common issues with the CR-10 family of printers (warped print bed, firmware update, wire strain relief and management, etc). In the motorcycle/Harley-Davidson world we call it "paying taxes" - basically modding your brand new bike to make it what it should have been from the factory. I'm glad I didn't wait until my birthday to set it up. Now I have some time to get my ducks in a row so I can spend that day tuning the printer. I have a feeling that this is going to be a really fun project to mess with throughout the winter.
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After dinking around with the printer the last few days, I'm very happy with it even though I need to address some of the common issues with the CR-10 family of printers (warped print bed, firmware update, wire strain relief and management, etc). In the motorcycle/Harley-Davidson world we call it "paying taxes" - basically modding your brand new bike to make it what it should have been from the factory. I'm glad I didn't wait until my birthday to set it up. Now I have some time to get my ducks in a row so I can spend that day tuning the printer. I have a feeling that this is going to be a really fun project to mess with throughout the winter.
PCMusicGuy
Well-known member
Cable strain-relief was built into the CR-10S and I haven't had any issues with it. I would certainly buy the 3 meter cable extensions at your favorite online retailer. They are are definitely handy, especially if you end up putting your printer in a hot box. I'm also still running the stock firmware with no issues.
I generally use Cura to slice although I have used Slic3r and Simplfy3D too. I have been eyeballing this, but I haven't tried it yet: https://github.com/trouch/CreawsomeMod
I'm mostly in the place where I have my printer working again and I don't want to touch it, lol.
OP
BoilermakerFan
Well-known member
Ah, that's cool!
I know I've been AWOL for a bit... I'll post an update in my Killing Time thread, but I haven't moved forward with any new 3D printers yet, store bought or home built. Way too little time and too many other projects on the list fighting for my limited time right now.
Lol... I think there are more than a few people on here who can relate.
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I took Friday off and celebrated my birthday by just tinkering around with some projects. One of those projects was setting up my new-old CAD PC and spending some time digging into the bed leveling on the CR-10S4.
As far as the bed leveling is concerned, I was dealing with the typical "warped" build surface that everyone seems to have issues with. I'd noticed that the steel frame the heating bed mounts to was warped. Looked like it was just the natural curve of the sheet steel the part was cut out of. So I pulled the heating bed and, using a straight edge to check my progress, pried up on the corners to get them on the same plane. With the heating bed reinstalled, I still had a little bit of a low spot in the center of the build area. I think this is just natural sag due to the large span between the mounting points. My solution to this was a few layers of aluminum foil between the heating bed and glass to shim the center. Checking the glass build area again with the straight edge, no matter which way I check it, the glass seems to be as close to perfectly flat as I can manage. A little redneck, but it seems to be working very well.
I've mentioned the PC in a previous post, but the quick refresher is that I'm running an older HP P6 series desktop I inherited from my Mom and wasn't sure if the older machine was going to be up to the task of handling CAD software in its current configuration. I'm happy to report that Fusion 360 runs well on it. I'm also pretty happy with how similar F360 is to Inventor (the modeling software I have the most experience with) because there is almost no learning curve to deal with. I also got Cura installed - now I'm set to design and slice my own parts, which I promptly did...
View media item 96531
Wife gets annoyed when I empty my pockets after work on the side table in our sunroom. So I drew up and printed an organizer. I measured my wallet, phone, sunglasses, and car keys to make sure I gave the right amount of space to each item (hopefully I don't need a new phone anytime soon). While its hard to see in the picture, the top edge is also at an angle, making the front is shallower than the rear. I just really like the overall shape/style of the organizer. Wife does too, which is probably most important. I even monogramed it to give it a little flair.
The organizer did take almost a whole day to print. I can see where it might be good to play around with the default settings in Cura to help make my prints more efficient, but at the same time, the organizer did come out better than I expected - very stiff/strong and the print quality seems very nice - so maybe its better to leave well enough alone. I guess I'll have to screw up some prints to figure out where the threshold between efficiency and quality is.
OP
BoilermakerFan
Well-known member
We've been investing a lot of time and money in our house... new LR furniture on order; new custom area rugs in the LR, DR, and Sunroom; started installing can lights this weekend, and picking out new paint are some of the bigger changes. Bathroom remodels will be next summer.
Anyway, we had a small rolling cart that folds up that we used in our kitchen for a couple years. After I finished painting the new little table and chairs for the kitchen, the cart was just put in the basement. My wife decided she didn't have room for it in her classroom and suggested I put the 3D printer on it for now.
I need to tear apart the crappy Geeetech i3 that's on the middle shelf to make more room for my spools, but the Prusa sits on top nicely. I haven't printed anything on it lately so I don't know how loud it will be on the cart. Eventually it will be installed inside a cabinet to really cut down the noise, but for now, the cart was an upgrade.
Anyway, we had a small rolling cart that folds up that we used in our kitchen for a couple years. After I finished painting the new little table and chairs for the kitchen, the cart was just put in the basement. My wife decided she didn't have room for it in her classroom and suggested I put the 3D printer on it for now.
I need to tear apart the crappy Geeetech i3 that's on the middle shelf to make more room for my spools, but the Prusa sits on top nicely. I haven't printed anything on it lately so I don't know how loud it will be on the cart. Eventually it will be installed inside a cabinet to really cut down the noise, but for now, the cart was an upgrade.
Stand and mountings for four LED matrices. Nine prints and 36 hours of printing with Amazon Blue ABS.
Extruder - 253 deg
Bed - 90 deg
Speed - 55 mm/s
Fan - 0%
I have two rolls of Amazons filament Blue ABS and Clear PLA+. For the life of me I can't get either of them to not string. Print takes a good bit of clean up, but I'm very happy with the results.
Extruder - 253 deg
Bed - 90 deg
Speed - 55 mm/s
Fan - 0%
I have two rolls of Amazons filament Blue ABS and Clear PLA+. For the life of me I can't get either of them to not string. Print takes a good bit of clean up, but I'm very happy with the results.
Attachments
mbaulfinger
Member
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- Aug 27, 2012
- Messages
- 17
gte718p, cool project. Any more details or pictures of the display in action?
I have video but no real pictures. I don't have it setup to to anything particularly interesting. It displays text. It is basically a programmable street sign, think micro version of the giant construction signs. The neat thing, to me anyway, is it is internet connected with a database and you can control it from anywhere in the world. I don't do a lot of graphical user interfaces so building the front end was the most interesting part. Front end, backend, and sign are all written in python with MySQL database.
It is a:
raspberry pi zero
Adafruit LEDmatrix bonnet
4x 64x32 HUB75 style Matrix
12v to v volt converter.
perolere
Member
Dreaming of owning a 3D printer!
gtae07
Well-known member
Someone actually has a term for that?! I sometimes thought I was the only weirdo who did such things...
On my Ender 3 the biggest difference mods I made were:
Printing one of the Bullseye cooling duct assemblies for the stock fans.
Printing a bearing-equipped roller for the filament spool and a roller guide for the filament feed into the extruder.
I bought the equipment for auto-leveling and Octopi but haven’t yet gotten the time to sit down and figure out how to do it. Like rooting a phone, almost every guide I find assumes you know how to do a lot of intermediate steps; usually with hardware I can figure it out but software often eludes me.
J.C.
Well-known member
Have had my i3mk3s for about four months and have put about 300 hours a month of printing through it and have had zero issues. The only print failures I have had have been my fault for not cleaning the bed properly. Has required zero maintenance in that time.
Very pleased.
Adding ABL and octopi are game changers for the Ender 3. I find that Teaching Tech on YouTube has just about the best walkthroughs of anyone on the internet. He has a couple that literally walk you through every single code change in the firmware to add ABL.
Sent from my Pixel 3a XL using Tapatalk
slodat
ALLIANCE MEMBER
I've spent way too much time looking at 3d printers over the past few weeks, including 10 hours today.. I'd like something that works out of the box, is of good quality and in general I won't have to tweak upgrade a bunch to get good prints. I'm willing to spend up to $1500. I've "narrowed" it down to these:
Original Prusa i3 MK3S (assembled)
Qidi Tech X-Plus/X-Max
Flashforge Guider 2
I'd love advice, experience, others to consider, etc. I really like the magnetic removable trays and assisted/auto leveling.
Thank you!
Original Prusa i3 MK3S (assembled)
Qidi Tech X-Plus/X-Max
Flashforge Guider 2
I'd love advice, experience, others to consider, etc. I really like the magnetic removable trays and assisted/auto leveling.
Thank you!
WoodsTruck
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jan 12, 2013
- Messages
- 1,019
I bought an Ender 5 a couple months ago for $350, my 15 year old daughter helped me assemble it, I leveled the bed and hit print.
I am using free software and haven't had any printer issues to speak of and am having fun drawing things up and trying things out.
I am using free software and haven't had any printer issues to speak of and am having fun drawing things up and trying things out.
I recently received a XYZ Printing printer. The previous owner upgraded when the "Hot End" went bad on this unit. He said that it would work if I replaced the Hot End. So I figure that is a cheap way to try 3d printing.
So I have started trying to find a suitable replacement. From what I have found I would probably want a E3D V6 Hot End. Anybody have a favorite supplier for these? As well as other needed items. I will need everything it takes to start.
Anybody have a Hot End to sell? Maybe someone has upgraded and has something that I could use to get started and make sure that this unit is worth the coin to make it work.
It is an XYZ Printing Da Vinci 1.0A
So I have started trying to find a suitable replacement. From what I have found I would probably want a E3D V6 Hot End. Anybody have a favorite supplier for these? As well as other needed items. I will need everything it takes to start.
Anybody have a Hot End to sell? Maybe someone has upgraded and has something that I could use to get started and make sure that this unit is worth the coin to make it work.
It is an XYZ Printing Da Vinci 1.0A
slodat
ALLIANCE MEMBER
After way too much watching videos and reading online I placed my order for an Original Prusa i3 MK3S assembled this morning. I also ordered a Raspberry Pi 3 b to run OctoPrint on.
WoodsTruck
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- Jan 12, 2013
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My printer came with PLA filament. I ordered a larger spool of PLA and then found out the PETG is a more stable molecule so that is what I am running now. No long term experience for me yet but so far things are working out good.
I debated on the Prusa as well, but pulled the trigger on the Ender 5 anyway.
I debated on the Prusa as well, but pulled the trigger on the Ender 5 anyway.
kf4zht
Well-known member
Any of you guys messing with sla printers?
Picked up an elegoo mars on a whim and have been blown away with the quaility it can produce. Layers are barely visible and it can print very good quality things like threads. This is a part I made with m26x1.0 threads. They initially came out a little oversized by about 6 thou, but the pitch was spot on first try.
The build area is somewhat limited and post print is more work but I'm extremely impressed. I want to try the castable resins at some point. The option to print an out of production part and then cast it in metal could be a huge advantage in rebuilding stuff
https://imgur.com/tXb2V1x
Picked up an elegoo mars on a whim and have been blown away with the quaility it can produce. Layers are barely visible and it can print very good quality things like threads. This is a part I made with m26x1.0 threads. They initially came out a little oversized by about 6 thou, but the pitch was spot on first try.
The build area is somewhat limited and post print is more work but I'm extremely impressed. I want to try the castable resins at some point. The option to print an out of production part and then cast it in metal could be a huge advantage in rebuilding stuff
https://imgur.com/tXb2V1x
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mbaulfinger
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Kf4zht, Do you have to take any special cautions with the fumes? Think I've read somewhere that you need to have good ventilation? That part is definitely nice! I've been pondering an SLA printer myself after I get more experienced with my current machine
mbaulfinger
Member
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- Aug 27, 2012
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- 17
All, To all you folks that are experienced 3d printers. I have a Creality CR-10. Having the issue where my thermistor doesn't last for very long. Perhaps 10 hours? Is this normal or am I doing something wrong? How long are you all running on your thermistors and ceramic heaters before they need to be changed out?
I had my printer on a folding table that was vibrating alot. Maybe too much jerking around for the delicate glass and fine wires? I'm thinking of a crimped wire hook up to make the swap of components quicker.
Thanks for any replies,
Mark
I had my printer on a folding table that was vibrating alot. Maybe too much jerking around for the delicate glass and fine wires? I'm thinking of a crimped wire hook up to make the swap of components quicker.
Thanks for any replies,
Mark
Guster
Well-known member
How are they failing? Never had one fail myself.
The screw that holds it to the heaterblock should just be finger snug and good to tape the leads together to the heater cartridge wires and strain relief it off the carriage there shouldn't be any movement in the wires at that part.
kf4zht
Well-known member
I only notice the smell when I take the lid off and its not that bad. Some resins are stronger than others, but none are that bad to me. Honestly the alcohol for post processing annoys my nose more.
The community behind these printers has a lot of whiny people in it. Seems you can't go a day without someone posting that they got resin on their hand and are now going into cardiac arrest/stroke/gluten intolerance or some other garbage. I wear gloves, but when I've gotten some on my skin I just wash it off.
If you are used to working on garage type projects and gear oil, welding slag, grinding wheel smell, epoxy, etc the resin fumes have nothing on any of those. I do think there is an environmental impact of the resin that is not adequately known and attempt to ensure that I don't do anything irresponsible with the waste.
It's disappointing with the mechanical and engineering capabilities these printer have that 99% of the posts on groups for these are people making little figurines to put on a shelf. Trying to do my part to push what these can do.
slodat
ALLIANCE MEMBER
The figurines seem to be the norm. Any online resources for people making useful/functional items with their 3d printer? I’m pretty sure an SLA printer is next for me.