Good workshop printer

[BelgiqueB]

Hi,

I'm looking for a good workshop printer, not looking for the smoothest finest detailed prints. Just a trustworthy printer with a large buildvolume which doesn't break down every 5 prints and works without having to put in a lot of time. I have an anycubic chiron which was an ok printer for the price (250 i think), but after 5 years of use came to the end of it's life.

Reading on other forums it seems that the prusa is the way to go, but the build volume is too small for what I want to do, the anycubic i had was 400x400x350 which was perfect size for me.

Any suggestions, somewhere between 500 and a 1000 euro's?

 

[ajlelectronics]

The Ender 3 V2 is on offer at the moment. I would recommend it.

 

[Mr Fro]

The Creality CR10 max which gives a passable print but nowhere as good as the Prusa.

The Prusa XL was due the back end of this year but has been pushed back to late next year. *Drumming fingers in anticipation*

 

[ChrisBailey]

Voron?

 

[choco]

Can't go wrong with the cr10 or Ender's

 

[BelgiqueB]

Went with a CR10 printer, if this turns out to be a high maintenance unit I'll try to re sell it and buy a large Prusa when they come available. The CR10 does come with direct drive and a bl touch type leveling probe so I have high hopes :-).

 

[choco]

That's a nice printer

 

[BelgiqueB]

6 prints, 3 fails , expected more from a 700€ printer. Playing around with different temperatures but will probably send it back, upgrade to a prusa and learn to live with the smaller build volume.

If it does finish a print it is flawless though.

First fail



2nd fail, the bottom layer didn't stick probably, bed temp was only set at 50° so hoped that was the issue



3d fail, upped the bed temperature to 80° as per filament instructions, looks like it's way too hot now:



Guess my plan to invest some money into troublefree 3d printing failed, at least for now.

 

[cr500dom]

We have a cr10 max at work, we had a few issues to start with, feed tubes etc were not great, but now it’s spot on.
Just completed a 127 hour print on it.
I’ll ask Peter when I get in how he sorted it

 

[ajlelectronics]

You can't just guess the settings! If you are printing PLA, the start point is 200/60 and careful bed alignment to about .9mm (about the thickness of a sheet of A4).
Clean the bed carefully with soap and water, with a nailbrush, rinse in hot water and allow it to air dry. Then don't touch the surface. Your issue is bed / nozzle distance (Z offset) I would guess.

 

[BelgiqueB]

I did follow the instructions to the letter, i'm trying to reprint now with the temps set at 60/200 and redid the Z offset as suggested ( was a couple of hundredths off so i don't think that was the issue). If that fails, i'll reset to factory settings and start from scratch again.

 

[ajlelectronics]

I did follow the instructions to the letter, i'm trying to reprint now with the temps set at 60/200 and redid the Z offset as suggested ( was a couple of hundredths off so i don't think that was the issue). If that fails, i'll reset to factory settings and start from scratch again.

What is your bed made of and what material are you printing?

You will be surprised how a little change in Z offset can affect adhesion.

 

[ajlelectronics]

That print looks like it has some extrusion issues too, that isn't bed temperature.

 

[Mr Fro]

Our CR10 max is now running okay... ish.

I found that adding a raft really helps and you've got to watch the first layer go down & adjust the z height on the fly. Also, I've dialled down the extrusion flow (can't think of the correct term at the mo) to 85%. That helped get rid of the whispy stuff although there is still a bit due to the indirect drive.

 

[armalites]

I have a Prusa and it works well. We do get failed prints but that seems to happen more when we have to create our own settings. If we print something that was originally set up for a Prusa it generally works well.

We built ours but I would be tempted to buy a ready built one. One thing I found that wasn't brilliant were the instructions for calibration. I went through it many times and it was only when I watched a video I found out you had to press a button to store the setting. That was not clear from the instructions.

 

[carbon]

I found that adding a raft really helps

If this helps it suggests to me that the first layer is to high from the bed and the z offset needs adjusting.

Also, I've dialled down the extrusion flow (can't think of the correct term at the mo) to 85%. That helped get rid of the whispy stuff although there is still a bit due to the indirect drive.

Checking the extrusion is fairly straightforward remove the Bowden tube from the extruder, mark the filament where it exits the extruder, then through the menu extrude 100mm or 10cm of filament and measure the actual extruded amount. When that’s done you should be able to either set it on the printer or in the slicer to extrude the correct amount.
‘Whispy stuff’ can be reduced by adjusting retraction settings in your slicer both speed and distance if possible. It is possible to eliminate this even with indirect drive extruders but you may need different setting for different materials and can take a while to find the correct settings

 

[ajlelectronics]

Whispy stuff’ can be reduced by adjusting retraction settings in your slicer both speed and distance if possible. It is possible to eliminate this even with indirect drive extruders but you may need different setting for different materials and can take a while to find the correct settings

I have just put a roll of Sunlu white PETg on to replace transparent Overture filament. The transparent prints perfectly at 235C but the Sunlu strings horribly at that. It seems OK at 230C though.

 

[Newlands]

My Ender 3 printed it’s first reel of eSun PLA+ filament perfectly using the default settings. When that filament ran out I put a new roll in, exactly the same PLA+ apart from the colour and I immediately got adhesion problems. I had to start using a raft on every print, and still sometimes had problems getting the first layer to stick. I always clean the bed, with brake cleaner, between prints.

 

[ajlelectronics]

I always clean the bed, with brake cleaner, between prints.

Therin may be your problem. I was using Acetone, IPA, brake cleaner, thinners etc to no avail. It was only when I caught the light on the glass that I realised that there were deposits on the glass from the paper towel. I hadn't realised that paper was actually plastic!

I now only use water and washing up liquid, giving it a good scrub with a nail brush. Then a hot rinse and left to dry.
If you need a raft, your Z is too high.

 

[carbon]

3d fail, upped the bed temperature to 80° as per filament instructions, looks like it's way too hot now:

From the picture, it could be under extruding and possibly trying to print the first layer to fast. Slowing the first layer helps with adhesion and helps prevent lifting of the extruded filament when the print head changes direction rapidly