3D Printing Thread

[Biowarejak]

Didn't see a thread dedicated to this yet, so I thought it might be a good time to make one hopefully it'll serve to show off prints and help those of us with a printer to compare notes.

 

[Kmpkt]

Anyone here own a printer? I'd be curious to see some price to performance ratios. I've been planning on getting the Markforged Mark Two for a while and have some pretty impressive demo parts printed on it.

 

[Biowarejak]

I have one! It's the Monoprice version of the Wanhao Duplicator i3, but I've invested pretty heavily into upgrading the components to improve my prints Most recently got the Z-Brace mod completed. I'd say that the price to performance ratio is pretty solid since I wound up getting it for half-price after Amazon had an inventory issue.

 

[3lfk1ng]

I have an 'old' Makerbot Replicator 2. I have designed a few custom computer parts in the past.

The lame flimsy aluminum fan mounting brackets that served this same function were being sold at $20/ea on FrozenCPU.com so I designed and printed them out for about $400 worth of my time instead, haha.

 

[msystems]

Didn't see a thread dedicated to this yet, so I thought it might be a good time to make one hopefully it'll serve to show off prints and help those of us with a printer to compare notes.

Excellent idea!!!


Here's my inaugural print... Hope you guys like it

If you want to print it: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2374640
(Note: Its upside down so flip it 180 in your slicer)

 

[iFreilicht]

Also check out this thread on reddit, they update it every month:
https://www.reddit.com/r/3Dprinting...m=front&utm_source=reddit&utm_name=3Dprinting

That is an awesome resource!

The lame flimsy aluminum fan mounting brackets that served this same function were being sold at $20/ea on FrozenCPU.com so I designed and printed them out for about $400 worth of my time instead, haha.

That's the spirit!

Anyone here own a printer?

Didn't @craigbru get a Delta printer? Or was that someone else from the LOSIAS crew?

I have one! It's the Monoprice version of the Wanhao Duplicator i3, but I've invested pretty heavily into upgrading the components to improve my prints Most recently got the Z-Brace mod completed. I'd say that the price to performance ratio is pretty solid since I wound up getting it for half-price after Amazon had an inventory issue.

I guess that's a Prusa i3 clone?

I've ordered an Original Prusa i3 MK2S yesterday! I know lead-time is 7 weeks right now, but it seems to be a golden baseline for all future purchases, and resale value will probably be quite high if I decide to upgrade quickly. In general it seems like such a well-rounded package, it's hard not to get it for your first printer.

Initially I wanted to go for something that could print wider than 300mm, because that allows to print 60% keyboard plates and cases in one go, but I wasn't ready to invest the money or time I would've had to, and splitting up parts and experimenting with that will be a good learning experience anyway.
I had my eyes on the Tevo Black Widow, but there was such mixed feedback on it, even for the updated and "fixed" version, I had no interest in going down the rabbit hole of constant replacements and fixing for my first printer.

 

[craigbru]

Yes, @iFreilicht, I do have a 3D printer. I bought an Ultibots D300VS delta. I'm pretty happy with it so far. It came with a lot of nice upgrades over comparable delta's, and has a pretty decently sized build envelope. It's easily expandable in height if more vertical build is required.

I'm currently working on dialing in my slicer settings (using Slic3r Prusa edition), and the print quality is pretty great. Any issues I've had were simply a result of being new to slicer settings.

I've got big (small) plans for it, and any mod I'm currently designing, or will design for the foreseable future has a good chance of fitting entirely inside the build envelope. If there are any downsides, it would come down to the circular build plate, as opposed to the rectangular. Even that isn't a huge issue of you choose to go larger in the future. Longer 2040 and magball arms for the extruder can fix that.

 

[wywywywy]

I had a heavily modded Wanhao Duplicator i3, and then I built a VORON core XY

Will probably build another bigger printer soon.

 

[iFreilicht]

I had a heavily modded Wanhao Duplicator i3, and then I built a VORON core XY

Will probably build another bigger printer soon.

Spoting an NF A4-10 on that Duplicator I really like the idea of CoreXY printers, seems like such a clever idea, but I don't really know if there are any benefits to it.

It's easily expandable in height if more vertical build is required.

Why do people want to build tall so much? I mean sure, that expands the build-volume without increasing footprint, but printing side-to-side seems much more stable for many parts.

 

[craigbru]

Why do people want to build tall so much? I mean sure, that expands the build-volume without increasing footprint, but printing side-to-side seems much more stable for many parts.

I'm not sure to be honest. It's an option with very little added expense, but at least for me, I'm not sure how practical it is. The D300VS already has 445mm (17.5") of vertical build height.

 

[Matt3D]

I'm an owner of Zortrax M200 Print quality is awesome. With recent announcement of opening the system to external materials it can be cost effective as well.

Printing parts bigger than 300mm isn't a good idea. Warping would result in damaging 90% of prints. 300mm is already a lot even for materials like PLA.

 

[wywywywy]

Spoting an NF A4-10 on that Duplicator I really like the idea of CoreXY printers, seems like such a clever idea, but I don't really know if there are any benefits to it.

With a core XY compared to an i3-style, you can print much much faster without losing quality. Especially with regards to the Y axis ringing effect.

My VORON produces better quality at 70mm/s, 3000 acceleration, 20 jerk, than the Wanhao i3 at 45mm/s, 800 acceleration, 8 jerk.

Can you tell what fan is it on the control box of the VORON? I bet you can't

 

[Biowarejak]

I guess that's a Prusa i3 clone?

Pretty much, but of the earlier version. I was tempted to get the new one straight from Prusa but for $200 this was a steal

Why do people want to build tall so much? I mean sure, that expands the build-volume without increasing footprint, but printing side-to-side seems much more stable for many parts.

You're not wrong! But some parts definitely take advantage of that extra vertical space. I've only needed it a few times, but I'm glad I had it when I did.

 

[iFreilicht]

Printing parts bigger than 300mm isn't a good idea. Warping would result in damaging 90% of prints. 300mm is already a lot even for materials like PLA.

Doesn't that largely depends on the quality of the printer and the print settings? There are quite a few large printers like the gMax with a larger than 400x400mm build plate.

With a core XY compared to an i3-style, you can print much much faster without losing quality. Especially with regards to the Y axis ringing effect.

Ah thanks for the info!

 

[Matt3D]

Doesn't that largely depends on the quality of the printer and the print settings? There are quite a few large printers like the gMax with a larger than 400x400mm build plate.

It does but there are other important factors as well. I was printing some concept designs of Dan's Case sized case on Zortrax M300 - $4000 printer with the build volume of 300 x 300 x 300 mm and closed chamber. I used HIPS filament for it's low shrinkage. Here are some pictures of the side panels. They are roughly 330mm x 180mm.

First design. Just a flat side panel, no venting holes. All 4 edges should be straight. You can see on the picture that they are significantly bended.

Second design. I have divided the panel into 3 surfaces to reduce warping. The result was better but still not quite what I was looking for.

Third design. I have divided the panel into 12 columns connected with two bars on the back. Just some small warping occured but the panel isn't as rigid as it should be for a functional part.

 

[iFreilicht]

It does but there are other important factors as well.

And what would those be?

BTW, finished my keyboard plate design today, split up to be printed on a 250x210mm bed. Now I just need to wait 7 weeks for my original i3 to ship... on the upside, the keyboards PCB won't be here before that either.

 

[msystems]

Are you making a keyboard from scratch?? Switches and the controller board and everything?

 

[Matt3D]

And what would those be?

1. Part design itself - the general rule is to avoid large flat surfaces.
2. Material selection - PET-G, PLA and HIPS are great, low-shrinkage materials. PET-G is difficult to finish after the printing but otherwise awesome, PLA has low temperature resistance so it's not the best choice for a PC case. HIPS seems to be a good compromise but it has a bit higher shrinkage than those two.
3. Keeping temperature differences as low as possible
a) Using the heatbed
b) Using closed or even better - heated chambers.

Printing parameters are very important as well. Choosing the right temperature could affect layers adhesion. Finding the right balance between sticking the model to raft/support and the ability to remove them after printing is a tricky thing.

My point is - just be carefull when it comes to high volume prints. The reality isn't as colorfull as printer manufacturers paint it

 

[msystems]

Something I'm working on today (fan duct). Just in PLA.. to see how it comes out.

This is only the 3rd print I have done so I wasn't sure how to handle the overhangs. There is a 90 degree part of my model where the fan must screw into the hole so I put supports there. Cura's supports are... strange. It was printing garbage strings for two of the supports which I had to cut off with a razor blade a few times.

A little warping on this section where there was a steep overhang.

Will post another pic when its done

What software do you guys use for slicing??

 

[Matt3D]

@msystems Nice fan duct Which software do you use for modeling? Print quality looks good so far. Sometimes supports for small details aren't printed well.