3D printer supplies

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peterwaller
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Re: 3D printer supplies

Post by peterwaller »

The PVA plastic doesn't seem to softening up much so I have been looking for a better way to dry it out.
The problem is the oven I got is 100 C minimum so not really suitable but I have found a range of products that look much better.
Instead of searching for ovens I looked for dryers and found there are a range of fruit / food dehydrators that look ideal.
They are thermostatically controlled between 35 C and 70 C and mostly being round and a bout 30 cm diameter are ideal for lengths of filament taken off the spool.
I have ordered one of these and will let you know how I get on.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/201363508426? ... EBIDX%3AIT
Some what unrelated but a real fun looking item is a 3D printer spool holder on thingiverse.
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1234760
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peterwaller
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Re: 3D printer supplies

Post by peterwaller »

I have for about a year and a half been drooling over documentation and video's of the Sigma BCN3D printer and quietly saving up my pocket money as they are a rather pricey £2400. Yesterday while checking out their UK distributor Hawk3D for about the 50th time I saw the were having a closing down sale and the printer was offered at £681 off so I finally bought one. There are at the moment 2 left if any one is interested its main advantage is that it has two independent extruders the one not in use is parked to the side so you don't get it dribbling on the work. It arrived today and in around an hour I got it up and running and calibrated and so far it is looking good. I do some testing and let you know how I get on.
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peterwaller
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Re: 3D printer supplies

Post by peterwaller »

It has taken a little while to get it all up and running as the version of Cura modified for use with this printer is version 2 and it has taken me a while to work my way through it. I still haven't got it working properly via the USB port but I am gradually coming round to the idea of using the SD card that seems to be the norm. On my old PC when you made the SD card safe to remove you had to reboot the PC to get the card reader working again which made it very difficult to use. That doesn't happen on my latest PC and with Cura 2 if you have the SD card plugged into the PC it defaults to saving the G-code to that disk and even allows the making safe with a single button press. The quality of printing particularly with Nylon is considerably enhanced and the final print is noticeably more dense, stiffer and slightly heavier.
See chassis below of my current design project new printer / Prusa i3
Image
It also come with cool purple lighting
Image
So far the only dual head print I have done was an alignment target they supply with the machine and that came out well all be it in PLA.
Image
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EddieJ
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Re: 3D printer supplies

Post by EddieJ »

Awesome with the dual extruders, i guess you will load one with PLA for a nice melt away support?
The print on the right looks like the flow rate may be a little high?

I know your problem with Cura, for fdm im running an ultimaker which also only wants files through the SD card. Good luck with the next prints :)
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AntRoboteer
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Re: 3D printer supplies

Post by AntRoboteer »

Looks great Pete. Looking forward to seeing your new machines printed with this. :D
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Shakey
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Re: 3D printer supplies

Post by Shakey »

Now that is a nice and fancy printer! I'm interested to see what you can do with that.

Now my old prusa is prone to jams via over-torquing filament and has to run a bit slow to compensate. It's had some upgrade over time but I have now lined up the next one. Along with a few other things I'll be attatching this bondtech filament drive which drives the filament between 2 gears not a gear and idler bearing meaning it can put twice as much torque in. I'll report back the results of this and how fast/reliable it can get my printer.
Image

I've also added a Wanhao Duplicator i3 V2.1 to my printer lineup to help keep up with demand for the store and it is performing admirably, there were some teething issues and yes it isn't as polished but I think it is the best budget option going right now. One thing to note, on mine I had to bump the extrusion % to 120%, I suspect they may have miscalculated their filament steps/mm in their stock firmware as another roboteer running a Wanhao got a GREATLY improved print quality when I gave them that setting to plug in.
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peterwaller
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Re: 3D printer supplies

Post by peterwaller »

Having looked at the Prusa i3 printed chassis and compared it with others I have printed before on that machine it looks like it is definitely under extruded. I have always had to set the i3 to 75% as it normally over extruded but I have had this problem before when running around 255 C the PTFE insert in the head deteriorates and limits the flow. Looks like it is time to replace it.
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Shakey
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Re: 3D printer supplies

Post by Shakey »

I had to do a replacement of my PTFE when I accidentally plugged the hot end cooling fan into the print cooling fans slot after a rebuild. My printer was set to print with no hot end cooling resulting in one very sad section of PTFE!
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peterwaller
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Re: 3D printer supplies

Post by peterwaller »

My local 3D printer shop had some interesting items they had printed.
It appears there is a site http://3dp.rocks/lithophane/ where you can upload a photo and it will generate an stl file suitable for printing where the thickness of the material is proportional to the darkness of the image.
This produces a print which looks like rubbish to start with.
Image
But when you hold it up to the light you get a passable image.
Image
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DieGracefullyRobotics
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Re: 3D printer supplies

Post by DieGracefullyRobotics »

I need a Pete print in my robot room, looking over me as I build so I can imagine him saying "don't do that".
Dave
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