daedalusminos
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I print ABS on clean Kapton tape with diluted PVA promoter at approx 90C, the parts rarely warp and can be removed when the bed cools.
- Thread starter Jacktegla
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I like my ultrabase, not sure how it works but stuff is well stuck when its hot, once it cools enough the prints lift off.
Bladevane
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On the subject of glass beds - pre-cut borosilicate is available from a number of sources in various sizes. Some square cornered, some with a hefty chamfer to miss the bed securing bolts. In my (limited) experience though it is best to leave the bed/job to cool thoroughly before trying to hack off the print. Delamination can occur and has happened to me. That's one of the problems with being too 'asty!! (As Bernard Cribbins tells us).
Onoff
In the land of the unfinished project I am King!
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What material are you using?
Didn't get chance to use anything apart from PLA before I took the printer apart
Onoff
In the land of the unfinished project I am King!
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Sounds like you have found out, like I have that printing PLA on the Ultrabase is a doddle. No adhesion promoter required and it pops off when the bed is cool.
ABS is proving a different story here.
tflnemesis
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Abs warps...
About 50% of my prints are Abs as I cba with sanding etc to smooth out my prints, acetone vapour bath makes it soo much easier.
When printing Abs the bed is 70-80 degrees (because it takes forever to get it above 90) and I use an Abs slurry painted onto a borosillicate glass bed also the part cooling fan is off unless I have a lot of bridging or overhangs then i run it at 25% maximum.
Small parts are fine and tend to hold their shape long thin parts will ALWAYS warp and even curl into a circle if left in the vapour bath too long.
The best way I have found to print Abs to minimise warping is make sure the part is glued to the bed, big rafts on long thin parts, slow print speeds say 25-35mm/s, no draughts (hence needing an enclosure) and wait till the part has reached ambient temperature before removing it from the bed. If a spindly part use a vapour bath in short bursts with a decent gap between. For one shot vapour smoothing I leave parts in for up to 90 minutes, for spindly parts 10 minutes max with at least an hour between. It can take up to 3 days for a dense(ish) part to 'dry' out, this can cause further warping as the acetone softens the part and the stresses in it will cause warping even at room temp.
I have many parts that have a large flat base that warped during printing but I left them running because they were still attached and had some disasters as well (nothing like a 4 day print thats 3 days in that has detched in the middle of the night
). To overcome this I print the first 10 layers slooooowly as in 10mm/s Maximum, this allows the plastic to cool to bed temperature slowly minimising the amount of stress building up. I love using Abs and until fairly recently I had never tried Petg because Abs does pretty much everything I want and is usually cheaper. I do like the mechanical strength of Petg especially along the layer lines but there is no way to smooth it easily without a lot of sanding and mucking about.
Oh! btw vapour smoothing Abs can help with layer strength post printing but it won't cure a seperation.
This is all on an Anet A8 thats been printing now for 120 days over about 20 minths and has used 18429m of filament
.
About 50% of my prints are Abs as I cba with sanding etc to smooth out my prints, acetone vapour bath makes it soo much easier.
When printing Abs the bed is 70-80 degrees (because it takes forever to get it above 90) and I use an Abs slurry painted onto a borosillicate glass bed also the part cooling fan is off unless I have a lot of bridging or overhangs then i run it at 25% maximum.
Small parts are fine and tend to hold their shape long thin parts will ALWAYS warp and even curl into a circle if left in the vapour bath too long.
The best way I have found to print Abs to minimise warping is make sure the part is glued to the bed, big rafts on long thin parts, slow print speeds say 25-35mm/s, no draughts (hence needing an enclosure) and wait till the part has reached ambient temperature before removing it from the bed. If a spindly part use a vapour bath in short bursts with a decent gap between. For one shot vapour smoothing I leave parts in for up to 90 minutes, for spindly parts 10 minutes max with at least an hour between. It can take up to 3 days for a dense(ish) part to 'dry' out, this can cause further warping as the acetone softens the part and the stresses in it will cause warping even at room temp.
I have many parts that have a large flat base that warped during printing but I left them running because they were still attached and had some disasters as well (nothing like a 4 day print thats 3 days in that has detched in the middle of the night
). To overcome this I print the first 10 layers slooooowly as in 10mm/s Maximum, this allows the plastic to cool to bed temperature slowly minimising the amount of stress building up. I love using Abs and until fairly recently I had never tried Petg because Abs does pretty much everything I want and is usually cheaper. I do like the mechanical strength of Petg especially along the layer lines but there is no way to smooth it easily without a lot of sanding and mucking about.Oh! btw vapour smoothing Abs can help with layer strength post printing but it won't cure a seperation.
This is all on an Anet A8 thats been printing now for 120 days over about 20 minths and has used 18429m of filament
.
badabec
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Here is my M3D Micro printer, given to me by my son.
Do you think I can get the thing to work?
There is even a facebook group 'survivors of the M3D Micro'
Given up, back in box, in garage, right at the back.
Any one on here got one? Did it work?
Do you think I can get the thing to work?
There is even a facebook group 'survivors of the M3D Micro'
Given up, back in box, in garage, right at the back.
Any one on here got one? Did it work?
Bladevane
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Regarding filament, based on a very positive comment from someone on this forum I purchased 3 rolls of PLA from 3DQF and very pleased I have been with the result. The filament is well packaged in a vacuum sealed bag inside a cardboard box and has a cardboard and metal spool. Delivery was within a couple of days. Print results have been excellent so from my experience I would totally recommend them. Also the filament is manufactured in the UK and is cheaper than I have seen on Amazon or elsewhere.
Regarding printers, I have a RepRap from 3DFactory (again following a good review from someone on this forum). I also have a Prusa i3 Mk3S. The RepRap is great but the Prusa is even better with more features such as bed level mapping, filament sensor, quietness and a general good feeling of things being well thought out. Their Knowledge Base is incredible and has covered everything I needed to know about. You pays your money............
Regarding printers, I have a RepRap from 3DFactory (again following a good review from someone on this forum). I also have a Prusa i3 Mk3S. The RepRap is great but the Prusa is even better with more features such as bed level mapping, filament sensor, quietness and a general good feeling of things being well thought out. Their Knowledge Base is incredible and has covered everything I needed to know about. You pays your money............
As a mate who's been into 3D printing for a while summed it up, the Ender 3 is probably the best option for the price that'll just work out the box, and there is a huge community to help you out with lots of upgrade options.
Cheaper printers tend require far more fiddling, questionable support, and just take more effort in general.
More expensive, you really have to spend a good bit more, before your money really gets you any major benefits over an Ender 3. Prusa are brilliant printers, and have excellent support, but you're paying 3-5 times the price of an ender for a similar work area. You could buy 2 or 3 Enders and upgrade them to a similar capability for the money of one Prusa printer. However the Prusa would work straight out the box, so it all depends on how much you value your own time.
Screwdriver
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Yes and I'm with @m_c on this, difficult to beat for the money and a really good machine if you get a good one and spend some time putting it together. I think (not sure tbh) I got "lucky" with mine and it has given me no problems at all. Then again, they sell them by the 10's of 1000's and people generally only moan about problems online so you do tend to see a fair few problems. Most of them relate to people who decided to "upgrade" their ender to a non working version...
I have only ever printed with PLA and recently decided to buy "premium" filament from PRUSA direct. Not that much more expensive and some piece of mind with their quality control. with the Ender3 my only concern would be because this machine is "a kit of bits" those bits will vary over time between different suppliers etc. so it's not really possible to say they will all be good machines. Plus at that price, you're not paying for a robust quality controlled product or aftersales support!
I'd buy another one in a heartbeat but after a flurry of activity when I first got mine, it's now just another tool in the arsenal and I'm not hammering it 24/7.
Thanks very much for the feedback
@Bladevane @m_c @Screwdriver
I’m essentially contemplating buying a “Dacia” so shouldn’t expect a “BMW” , I understand that, your advice has been most reassuring.
Thanks also for the filament advice.
Thingyverse is also an eye opener! I own a VW California campervan, so for fun, I put that in the search field and was amazed at what I can print!
If anyone else has anything to add I’d love to hear
@Bladevane @m_c @Screwdriver
I’m essentially contemplating buying a “Dacia” so shouldn’t expect a “BMW” , I understand that, your advice has been most reassuring.
Thanks also for the filament advice.
Thingyverse is also an eye opener! I own a VW California campervan, so for fun, I put that in the search field and was amazed at what I can print!
If anyone else has anything to add I’d love to hear
Once you get it printing a decent upgrade is a new hot end duct.
Screwdriver
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Interesting analogy with the car brand but while I was tempted to suggest more like a Skoda (not a great name but a great cheap vehicle) that’s not quite right either. This is cutting edge technology combined with state of the art manufacturing and design.
The Ender may be made up from low cost materials etc. but there’s a very good chance the high end printers get most of their parts from the same factory, from the same production line as everyone else. The firmwares and softwares are the same, Thingiverse works for everyone and (while the precise terms have changed recently) you can even use Autodesk Fusion for free. That’s a top class design suite. Free.
Really the only thing you don’t get for your money is a robust quality control (I didn’t need it) and (I am led to understand) there’s not a particularly good after sales service either. You pays your money and takes your choice. If my Ender bursts into flame tomorrow, I’ve still had my money’s worth and I’d still buy another.
Hopefully it won’t do that! Once it hit the price point it did around the £150 mark, I grabbed it before they could change their mind. I couldn’t believe anything could be so cost effective. Chances are though, things will get a lot better and a lot cheaper as this technology develops over time and economies of scale really kick in.
won’t be long before we start to see affordable metal printers and that’s going to be a real game changer for the home creator.
The Ender may be made up from low cost materials etc. but there’s a very good chance the high end printers get most of their parts from the same factory, from the same production line as everyone else. The firmwares and softwares are the same, Thingiverse works for everyone and (while the precise terms have changed recently) you can even use Autodesk Fusion for free. That’s a top class design suite. Free.
Really the only thing you don’t get for your money is a robust quality control (I didn’t need it) and (I am led to understand) there’s not a particularly good after sales service either. You pays your money and takes your choice. If my Ender bursts into flame tomorrow, I’ve still had my money’s worth and I’d still buy another.
Hopefully it won’t do that! Once it hit the price point it did around the £150 mark, I grabbed it before they could change their mind. I couldn’t believe anything could be so cost effective. Chances are though, things will get a lot better and a lot cheaper as this technology develops over time and economies of scale really kick in.
won’t be long before we start to see affordable metal printers and that’s going to be a real game changer for the home creator.
Bladevane
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@fatfranky To continue your motoring analogy, when you get your printer I suggest going for a spin round the neighbourhood rather than entering for the Mille Miglia. Get to know, understand and set up the machine to get reliable first time prints before you go crazy with day long prints. The most critical element is the first layer. Get that consistent and correct and you’re well on the way to successful printing.
Screwdriver
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oh and in case this hasn’t been specified, you want the Ender 3 V2. NOT a 3x or 3pro, they are different. The 3V2 is the new kid on the block. £180 from https://www.creality3dofficial.com/
Choose ship from Croatia (imho). Website suggests it’s on sale from £145 but I can’t find that price. If I could, I’d probably buy it so I am not looking too hard....
Screwdriver
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what are the dimensions?
daedalusminos
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One thing to be aware of is that the Ender 3's are bowden extruders meaning that out of the box you won't be able to print flexible filaments.
