deleted_user
Super User
I have ender 3 max, and just like it the 5 needs BLtouch and magnetic plate and spring steel with PEI coating if you want to print petg. Tape sucks.
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3D Printing - machines owned by members
- Thread starter Janger
- Start date
I recommend getting it running in stock form. I'm a member of a bunch of 3D printing fora (surprisingI know
) and there are many folks who get a new machine, mod the heck out of it and then when it doesn't work they have no idea how to correct it because nothing is stock any more.My Ender V3 is stone stock. I ordered new bed springs but never put them on. It prints great. In the short time I've had it I printed all the parts for my CNC, another set of CNC parts for a local fellow plus a whack of misc shop bits.
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ThirtyOneDriver
Johnathan (John)
I'd agree w/ that - if my loaner didn't start breaking (other than the silent board... do that anyways... you'll stay married longer and the dog will still want to hang out with you) I may/may not have modded it - once I did start modding it, there were times that the quality/design of particular components infringed on the machines capability to perform consistently/reliably.I recommend getting it running in stock form. I'm a member of a bunch of 3D printing fora (surprisingI know
There's a box of stuff in my office that are parts/pieces from the cheaper mods - I'm still glad I started there (at the cheap mods) because they were replacing actual broken components on this machine that I had to figure out... then I replaced them w/ products that worked properly. I probably put $250-300 into my friend's $250 printer to keep it up and running... good friend though, super good guy.
Which motherboard did you get? I have been looking at some Bigtreetech boards, they seem to get good reviews.
I bought a used ender 3 and it works but the board is so old I can't even add a leveling device so I want to replace it and I believe it will allow me to improve the interface with the lcd as well. I also have ordered a new aluminum extruder unit to improve on the plastic that is there now. Thanks
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+1 to that @David_R8 . I run a Ender 3 Pro, bone stock except for the print bed. It came with a magnetic base and used a magnetic/flexible textured mat, but I prefer the spring-plate/PEI coating. Other than that, print and go. I came from a Geeetech prusa clone (acrylic) and did every hop up imaginable (BL-Touch/volcano hot-end, blah blah). I learned a lot in 3 years and put hundreds of hours into the tuning, only to plug the Ender in and have all the functionality out of the box. The quality of these latest-gen printers (and Ender 3 is already long in the tooth) is pretty damn good.
I don't miss the BL-touch, and after torture testing/analyzing the map data I can say that the two I tested were so-so at best. I print PETG almost exclusively now, and don't intend to try carbon-fiber or other exotic materials. Speed is not a factor for me either, time I have as I am not using this as a revenue stream.
I find it comes down to a few religious decisions on material (temperature), print bed (glass/steel/other), print speed (bowden vs. direct drive) and print quality (nozzle). Pick your church on those and get printing I say. The litmus test is to measure how many hours you put into it only to have your six year old niece/nephew make you look stupid with the prints they are doing in the back of their grade-one class
Never tried a resin printer (yet). Some day.
ThirtyOneDriver
Johnathan (John)
I bought the Creality 4.2.7 mainboard and I upgraded to the aluminum extruder direct drive mount (Microswiss). The Dragonfly BMS Hot End doesn't mount directly to the aluminum mount I have so I'm still using the stock Creality Hot End (the spacing and shape don't fit; could likely be solved w/ some spacers or someone that takes a little more time to measure things and make a plan... I just wanted to print.
I'm using the CR Touch (Creality's version of the BL Touch).
Despite evidence to the contrary, I'm not a Creality fanboy; there's so many brands/manufacturers that I wasn't sure what fit what so I just went with what was easiest to figure out.
So far, Filaments.ca Econofil PLA (at Christmas, $17.99ish/kg) has been working well for things like tool holder holders (mounts to the back of the lathe), small parts sorting bins, race car interior items (hangers for things like removeable steering wheel, helmets), and the such... I haven't needed to print anything requiring much strength yet... turning the heat up (I'm running at 235°) and going to an 0.8mm nozzle has helped me a bunch... a little less resolution but still better than most of the prints w/ pictures on Thingiverse, etc.
I'm using the CR Touch (Creality's version of the BL Touch).
Despite evidence to the contrary, I'm not a Creality fanboy; there's so many brands/manufacturers that I wasn't sure what fit what so I just went with what was easiest to figure out.
So far, Filaments.ca Econofil PLA (at Christmas, $17.99ish/kg) has been working well for things like tool holder holders (mounts to the back of the lathe), small parts sorting bins, race car interior items (hangers for things like removeable steering wheel, helmets), and the such... I haven't needed to print anything requiring much strength yet... turning the heat up (I'm running at 235°) and going to an 0.8mm nozzle has helped me a bunch... a little less resolution but still better than most of the prints w/ pictures on Thingiverse, etc.
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all good so far I have liked mine happy with the creality product, tons of support and info, my board is I think 1.1 so it would be nice to improve the interface and quiet the motors down. I bought a bunch from filaments at xmas as well same deal I loaded one up but since I bought my mill I have been busy with that and my printing has suffered and I never printed yet maybe today. I am still learning temps/settings, I found some of my best prints so far were in that range 230 240 but .4 but I need to experiment more, good to know about the .8 I had thought about going smaller for more resolution but never thought of going the other way.
deleted_user
Super User
Just be careful, Creality sold a bunch of CR10s I think it was that were supposed to have E3D direct drive extruders and then shipped normal bowden tube extruders and screwed customers.
You really need v2.1 or later of any model.
Case in point, Ender 3 max came with silent drivers, BUT only for x and y axes and not the z... I'd have to upgrade to the newest board to get that.
There is always something.
I'm looking at the Ender 5 Plus, mostly for the build volume, for the dual drive screws operating the Z axis, and the double-ended motor for the Y axis. I hear the CoreXY of the Ender 6 sytems is faster, but I'm not worried about speed as it's not going to be a production machine that I need. Don't really care about a silent board either as it will be in the shop, not in the house.
They are available on Amazon, but there is a local dealer nearby in St Albert who almost specializes in Creality and Prusa so at least I can get local support once I can pull the trigger and get it coming. As for mismatched equipment in the machine as shipped from the manufacturer (extruders as mentioned, etc.), they can make sure it is right before delivery.
They are available on Amazon, but there is a local dealer nearby in St Albert who almost specializes in Creality and Prusa so at least I can get local support once I can pull the trigger and get it coming. As for mismatched equipment in the machine as shipped from the manufacturer (extruders as mentioned, etc.), they can make sure it is right before delivery.
ThirtyOneDriver
Johnathan (John)
I wouldn't count the Prusa's out - that's what I would have likely bought if it weren't that my buddy was loaning me his Ender3 (Pro?) - for myself, I ended up buying the CR-6 MAX... I want to be able to make molds in the future for carbon fibre brake ducts (for the race car) but our rotors are 12.18" in dia... most printers available don't have a large enough bed to do them in one piece.
I love the CR-6... like LOVE it... really hassle free; I need to check that the bowden tube is fully seated in the hot end and against the nozzle about every 24 hrs of printing, but I just switched over to a Microswiss hot end today that should help w/ that. The retractions slowly push the bowden tube out of the nozzle.
I lost some resolution w/ the 0.8mm... but not very much - I've had to tune w/ the new hot end; same settings seem to be pushing A LOT more filament through... most stuff I've been printed lately is straight on the glass bed w/ no additives, no brim.. it looks way pretty but it's not uncommon for the very edges to shrink and lose contact w/ the bed... doesn't lose bed adhesion at all... actually, have a hard time removing things from the bed before I turned up the bed heat a little; now you can hear the print "crack" off as the glass cools.
CR-6 was more expensive, but, well for my purpose, it was worth it.
I love the CR-6... like LOVE it... really hassle free; I need to check that the bowden tube is fully seated in the hot end and against the nozzle about every 24 hrs of printing, but I just switched over to a Microswiss hot end today that should help w/ that. The retractions slowly push the bowden tube out of the nozzle.
I lost some resolution w/ the 0.8mm... but not very much - I've had to tune w/ the new hot end; same settings seem to be pushing A LOT more filament through... most stuff I've been printed lately is straight on the glass bed w/ no additives, no brim.. it looks way pretty but it's not uncommon for the very edges to shrink and lose contact w/ the bed... doesn't lose bed adhesion at all... actually, have a hard time removing things from the bed before I turned up the bed heat a little; now you can hear the print "crack" off as the glass cools.
CR-6 was more expensive, but, well for my purpose, it was worth it.
I started trying to 3D print with an add on nozzle to my JGRO CNC router.
That didn't work really well. Needed to heat the glass plate and with decent printing speed the router frame just shook too much. This was back in 2014.
Then I scored this printer in 2016 for $243 Cdn c/w shipping FedEx from Hong Kong.
I'm still using this with minor modifications and a RPi2 c/w camera and Octoprint. Not the best but it's been adequate for some fairly big projects like these GE-35 Christmas Light Retaining clips.
And lots of of other things including patterns for casting.
But... I've been trying to do some PETG and it feels like a losing battle. The cup gear for my harmonic drive has very thin walls and I want the flex of PETG compared to PLA. I'm having to fill the gaps between layers with epoxy or the 1mm thin sections crack. STEP file attached. Could be I'm trying to do something that just isn't technically possible with PETG or even 3D printing.
So I'm looking for suggestions on what sort of printer could do a good job of this.
Thanks.
John
That didn't work really well. Needed to heat the glass plate and with decent printing speed the router frame just shook too much. This was back in 2014.
Then I scored this printer in 2016 for $243 Cdn c/w shipping FedEx from Hong Kong.
I'm still using this with minor modifications and a RPi2 c/w camera and Octoprint. Not the best but it's been adequate for some fairly big projects like these GE-35 Christmas Light Retaining clips.
And lots of of other things including patterns for casting.
But... I've been trying to do some PETG and it feels like a losing battle. The cup gear for my harmonic drive has very thin walls and I want the flex of PETG compared to PLA. I'm having to fill the gaps between layers with epoxy or the 1mm thin sections crack. STEP file attached. Could be I'm trying to do something that just isn't technically possible with PETG or even 3D printing.
So I'm looking for suggestions on what sort of printer could do a good job of this.
Thanks.
John
Looking at your step file John - what are you print settings? nozzle size? filament width? solid infill or something else?
Those are basic questions - my best idea though is have you tried printing with polycarbonate? it's much stronger than PETG.
https://help.prusa3d.com/en/article/polycarbonate-pc_165812
Apparently it is supposed to be difficult to print with - however I use the PRUSA slicer and just go with the defaults on my prusa MK3. It works for me. The parts are stronger and I've had no real problems printing with it. I have printed some delicate and thin replacement parts to go in an electronic scale with polycarbonate - those parts are still working several months later.
I use the stuff from spool3d.ca
Those are basic questions - my best idea though is have you tried printing with polycarbonate? it's much stronger than PETG.
https://help.prusa3d.com/en/article/polycarbonate-pc_165812
Apparently it is supposed to be difficult to print with - however I use the PRUSA slicer and just go with the defaults on my prusa MK3. It works for me. The parts are stronger and I've had no real problems printing with it. I have printed some delicate and thin replacement parts to go in an electronic scale with polycarbonate - those parts are still working several months later.
I use the stuff from spool3d.ca
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This guide is good to compare filaments.
help.prusa3d.com
You can see polycarbonate has more impact resistance and tensile strength than PETG.
Prusa Material Table | Prusa Knowledge Base
Our filament guide table includes all sorts of supported…
You can see polycarbonate has more impact resistance and tensile strength than PETG.
The plastic has to be flexible for this use.
https://canadianhobbymetalworkers.com/threads/harmonic-drives.4381/#post-69660
After all something really strong when bent a few times snaps. I remember bending some aircraft aluminum for my Dad's Osprey-II. Without the proper radius on the bend it snapped in half on the first bend. From what I have read it's better at repeated flexing than polycarbonate but I may be wrong there. So far the PLA tends to work harden and break after a certain amount of time. Again, that could be more due to my printer just not doing a good job.
Here's the GCode Header/Footer (without the code) for the 0.4mm nozzle with PETG. Should give an idea for printer parameters.
https://canadianhobbymetalworkers.com/threads/harmonic-drives.4381/#post-69660
After all something really strong when bent a few times snaps. I remember bending some aircraft aluminum for my Dad's Osprey-II. Without the proper radius on the bend it snapped in half on the first bend. From what I have read it's better at repeated flexing than polycarbonate but I may be wrong there. So far the PLA tends to work harden and break after a certain amount of time. Again, that could be more due to my printer just not doing a good job.
Here's the GCode Header/Footer (without the code) for the 0.4mm nozzle with PETG. Should give an idea for printer parameters.
There's also been discussions on the LCNC group about using a form of rubber filament. I thought I'd start with PETG. Although the above chart doesn't say a cabinet is required maybe it's too cold and or something else in the slicing causes the poor interlayer connection. Or maybe for something with a wall thickness of 1mm that is curved, the 0.4mm nozzle is way too big.
And John what material do the commercial versions use?
From the pdf that I linked in the harmonic drive thread:
Since I'm not a mech eng and haven't taken any courses on all that it's mostly over my head. What was interesting is, I asked one of the LCNC people who has a harmonic drive with internal splines like the one I have, along with a broken one, to measure the wall thickness. It is 0.2mm.
The external wave generator cup doesn't flex as much under pressure from bearings and assumes a natural curve when pressed against the round gear for the smaller OD of the ellipse so there's less bending stress on the cup. However that doesn't help the 3D printing layers adhesion.