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Author Topic: 3D Printing - General Discussion  (Read 7372 times)

wraith808

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3D Printing - General Discussion
« on: May 27, 2020, 01:49 PM »
So, I'm getting into this sometime soon.  I figured I'd make a thread for people to discuss their own forays into it, and collect some knowledge.

A few videos I started with to see Resin vs Filament (I've decided to go filament- toxic waste as a material doesn't appeal to me)









Some of those are old, but all went into the selection of filament for my printer selection.

I've also decided on a printer- I really should have gotten it while Amazon had it in stock, but decided to wait.  Hopefully it won't be too long.

https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B08346QY9K/

Sovol SV01 3D Printer

My reasons for waiting
1. I don't have the models that I want yet
2. The person that's been helping me the most on it said that it was up priced $60 right now on Amazon (probably because a lot of people are buying them being at home with time on their hands).
3. I need to get the Silent board too, and wasn't ready to spent even more yet.
4. The things that I want to print haven't been released yet, so was hoping it would be back in stock by the time that I had the STL files.



wraith808

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Re: 3D Printing - General Discussion
« Reply #2 on: May 27, 2020, 04:56 PM »
So you've never really posted your thoughts about your printer.  We've seen the results, but not your thoughts.  How do you like it?  How would you compare it to that printer I linked above?  Any tips or tricks that you've learned that would be good for a beginner?

mouser

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Re: 3D Printing - General Discussion
« Reply #3 on: May 27, 2020, 05:00 PM »
I like my printer quite a lot, BUT I have no experience with any other printer, so I'm in a poor position to advise.

What I can say is that it is:
  • It's quite compact -- that was important to me since I am in a small apartment.  But there are some large models that I can't print because they are too big.  If I had more room I might get a bigger one, or with a built in fillament holder.
  • I like not having to glue things to the bed.
  • These printers seem to be improving so quickly, that it's hard to imagine that there wouldn't be a better one to buy at the same price point.
  • There's still a lot of fussiness that you need to expect.. especially I find at the start of prints.  It will require some hands on messing with.

wraith808

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Re: 3D Printing - General Discussion
« Reply #4 on: May 27, 2020, 05:37 PM »
What about the ventilation and noise?  Any problems with either of those?

mouser

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Re: 3D Printing - General Discussion
« Reply #5 on: May 27, 2020, 05:39 PM »
It's pretty quiet.. Noise level is something I would definitely look at in review of any printer I was considering.  Still, it makes enough noise that I wouldn't want to work in the same room as it while printing if I had a choice.
Ventilation, I guess I don't worry about it for normal PLA printer (maybe I should?).  It's one of the reasons I would probably avoid a resin printer.

wraith808

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Re: 3D Printing - General Discussion
« Reply #6 on: May 27, 2020, 06:26 PM »
I know that the printer that I'm looking at has a silent board that makes it really quiet.  I have a vent hood for my soldering, so was going to see if it was enough for the ventilation- but yeah, that was also one of the reasons I didn't want a resin printer, no matter how much better the print fidelity was.

Do you use an SD card directly with your printer?  What I did go ahead and get was a RPi4 to use octoprint with it.

https://octoprint.org/

What sites do you use?  I've used Thingiverse before (https://www.thingiverse.com/), but just found out about MyMiniFactory (https://www.myminifactory.com/).

I started looking at 3d printing seriously when I saw the Kickstarter for Hexton Hills (https://www.kickstar...p-campaign-map-tiles).  I've since backed a couple more- both on Kickstarter and MyMiniFactory.

mouser

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Re: 3D Printing - General Discussion
« Reply #7 on: May 27, 2020, 06:56 PM »
Thingiverse is the only place I've ever used to get models.
Yep, the Anycubic has an sdcard, so i copy files to the sdcard using my pc card reader and then manually move them.

Being able to go directly from pc to start printing without using an sd card to manually transfer it would be wonderful.

As would a webcam pointing at the printer so I could check on progress from another room or away -- its not infrequent that the print fails and needs to be aborted.. I can't wait for the next generation of printers that can detect when a print has become dislodged, or the print head clogged.  That would save a lot of hassle.

Shades

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Re: 3D Printing - General Discussion
« Reply #8 on: May 28, 2020, 12:49 AM »
My boss bought a 3D printer in kit form, which was designed by some Tsechian person or Romanian person, who is known to design quality printers for low prices. I forgot, it has been quite a while since.

Anyway, It is a pretty good device, has a bed of 25x25 centimeters. Which is the limiting factor in object sizes to print. In the beginning, my boss used the parts as described in the kit, and started to create parts to improve the capabilities of the printer. Last time he was busy with a print head that can take 4 different colors of PLA/ABS at the same time and print objects in multiple colors, making/adjusting print heads that block much lee frequently, etc. But also a higher frame (to print taller objects), continuously finding ways and objects to improve automatic alignment and making the printer more stable for less "bumpy" prints.

The model he has, doesn't make that much noise, but it is far from silent. The sounds it makes do not sound irritating to me, but I might be weird about that.

Resin printers are more silent, but have a fan that can make noise. Resin is nasty to work with and printing must occur in well ventilated rooms. However, any resin that was not used in the print, you can pour back into the resin bottle and use for the next print. Also, you can reach a much higher level of detail and smoothness on 3D resin printers. That is a seriously big difference when compared with PLA/ABS printers.

Resin printed solid objects are less strong when compared with standard 3D printers. Resin prints are affected by sunlight and resin printers come with a encasement that filters the most troublesome UV light, so the resin isn't hardening when it is not supposed to. And once a resin print is done, you have to put it out in UV light for a while to harden it.

If you want to spent time tinkering and improving your 3D printer, by all means go and buy the kit my boss bought, if you don't then spend a boatload of money and get a 3D Maker printer, which have most, if not all of their kinks already worked out. Those can also be used for semi-professional work, more or less automated, so could be tax write-off if you have your own maker shop or something.

Get a resin printer if you wish to print models/puppets/figurines. The level of detail weighs up against all the disadvantages of resin. For general purpose things, get a standard PLA/ABS printer. Also, don't skimp on the quality of filament, because there are many who sell you crappy quality filament. Using good quality prevents a lot of clogging in the print head and less failed prints means a roll of filament lasts you a lot longer.

My boss got so fed up with the quality of filament he could get here in Paraguay, he now imports filament himself and started a store where he sells filament online.  Even though he lives in a location that is out of the way of anything, he sells more than enough to make a profit of this hobby.

Deozaan

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Re: 3D Printing - General Discussion
« Reply #9 on: May 28, 2020, 02:17 AM »
Since you seem to be regretting your decision to wait, this seems to be the same thing, but is in stock now:

https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B07TMLJS8Z/

wraith808

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Re: 3D Printing - General Discussion
« Reply #10 on: May 28, 2020, 09:32 AM »
Since you seem to be regretting your decision to wait, this seems to be the same thing, but is in stock now:

https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B07TMLJS8Z/

Thanks!  That one doesn't have the extra nozzles, but I can work with that.  Thanks again!

wraith808

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Re: 3D Printing - General Discussion
« Reply #11 on: May 28, 2020, 12:35 PM »
So, I pulled the trigger.  More to come...

Ath

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Re: 3D Printing - General Discussion
« Reply #12 on: May 28, 2020, 02:21 PM »
I've been looking at 3D printers lately too, and I've been attracted by the to-be-released Creality cr-6-se (kickstarter link) 3D printer. It seems to be an improved successor to their quite popular Creality Ender-3 model.

Advantage of the Sovol SV01 model linked above is it's slightly larger printing range, but having to add the 'silent steppers' upgrade to the Sovol makes the Creality model quite attractive to me.

Now only to convince myself I really, really, need it...  ;D ;D ;D

wraith808

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Re: 3D Printing - General Discussion
« Reply #13 on: May 28, 2020, 09:18 PM »
Yeah... that's the reason I was going to wait.  But I'll just wait on the silent board.  Installing it seems to be quite involved though!

As far as that Creality, putting on my Kicksnarker hat:

1. The Target was $100,000.  They're at 3 mil.  I've found that to be a red flag.  More money doesn't mean that they will use it better in my experience.
2. Delivery September 2020? With Covid and all?  And that's not called out in the risks section?
3. The above with the stretch goals that include changes to the mainboard?  Their stretch goals make this a lot riskier, and definitely not going to hit a September 2020 timeframe.
4. 1st Created Zero Backed.  Not necessarily a con in this case as they are an established company, other than the fact that they might not know the ins and outs of Kickstarter and the communication might be spotty.
5. In the text they say, "We hope that they can actively participate in the research and development of our product."  This makes that timeline even more wonky.

Pros
1. Looking at the videos, $319 seems to be a good price for what you get- if that's what you get.  The reviews were only looking at betas, and I've been burned a couple of times with betas not being anywhere similar to the end product.  It's one of the reasons that I rarely back electronics type products.  Well actually for full disclosure, it will be around $350 including shipping.
2. They've released a product prior, so they have a proven track record in creating a product.

Final Verdict: I'm backing for $1 to follow the updates.  The wonky timeline, the fact that they say something about R&D and the stretch goals, the number of backers, and the investment put me off it.  That and the fact that I just got the SV01.  But even if I'd not gotten that, I'd not back it for the product.


Some of the Videos for those that haven't seen them since the markup is screwy.






« Last Edit: May 28, 2020, 09:53 PM by wraith808 »

Nod5

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Re: 3D Printing - General Discussion
« Reply #14 on: May 29, 2020, 03:20 AM »
My boss bought a 3D printer in kit form, which was designed by some Tsechian person or Romanian person, who is known to design quality printers for low prices. I forgot, it has been quite a while since.

Prusa ? Very user friendly printers. They also make the software PrusaSlicer and the Thingiverse alternative Prusaprinters 

A fun thing is that they have a farm of 3D printers to manufacture parts for their 3D printers.

wraith808

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Re: 3D Printing - General Discussion
« Reply #15 on: June 04, 2020, 07:48 AM »
So, more in the 3d printing department.  I have everything except for the printer now.  I purchased two spools of filament - https://smile.amazon.../product/B07PDW8QWJ/ and https://smile.amazon.../product/B00J0ECR5I/.

I also purchased a RPi kit from CanaKit and a 256 GB card to go with it: https://smile.amazon.../product/B07XPHWPRB/ and https://smile.amazon.../product/B07FCR3316/

The 3d printer won't be here until Friday, so I started setting up my RPi so it would be ready.  I first tried to use the card that came with it, since it had an OS on it, just to make sure that everything worked.  I have a display attached though not strictly required, and was messing around with getting an image on it, and decided if I had to do the configuration for it, I might as well do it on the 256GB card.  I had a bit of a struggle with that, but got it working. 

Then I actually looked at OctoPrint, and saw that they had an image to use instead of the standard one.  So I'm getting that done today, hopefully.

mouser

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Re: 3D Printing - General Discussion
« Reply #16 on: June 09, 2022, 05:47 PM »
A tip for 3d printing folks: For most 3d printers you can get replacement nozels and parts where the fillament gets heated and comes out of, very cheaply, and install yourself quite easily.
I recently replaced mine for like $15 and the difference has been huge in terms of less problematic prints -- it's clear to me that my old nozzle/head had started to perform quite badly due to being dirty or whatever.
Feels like I have a new printer now, much more reliable.

Just a tip!

Deozaan

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Re: 3D Printing - General Discussion
« Reply #17 on: June 09, 2022, 10:35 PM »
Yes, a nozzle is just a tip. ;D

Shades

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Re: 3D Printing - General Discussion
« Reply #18 on: June 10, 2022, 01:13 AM »
A tip which is nothing to snout at.