What 3D printer...

[DAPPH]

Since fitting the replacement EinsyRambo control board the MK3s hasn't missed a beat. Some lovely results during shakedown printing in PLA and the generic ABS settings gave good results.View attachment 251437

Brilliant ... post , I was getting concerned about it not functioning . That's the advantage of the ready made ones. Joe & his team have run them for an hour or so.

 

[hooblah]

Take a look at Klipper. You can run it off a raspberry pi which takes over from the prusa or whatever firmware and allows you to do other 'things'. Not exactly sure what yet...

I'm just getting my bear conversion up and running so will report back.

 

[indy4x]

Oh well that's Fusion 360 off my list of software to invest time in.

It's late and I'm running on empty but for 3D printing I couldn't see any show stoppers, not that I use Fusion tho

 

[daedalusminos]

Autodesk currently have 40% off fusion - £710 for 3years

 

[brewdexta]

I've decided to go the Freecad route, I don't need or do much design, I'm not a pro so don't rely on it and I think my kids will overtake me soon so they can do it for me

 

[ukracer]

Autodesk currently have 40% off fusion - £710 for 3years

That's still 20 quid per month. Plus it has to be paid in advance.
15 quid monthly for Hobby use would be a fair compromise. 12.99 even better.
But it's not going to happen sadly.

 

[Screwdriver]

I've decided to go the Freecad route, I don't need or do much design, I'm not a pro so don't rely on it and I think my kids will overtake me soon so they can do it for me

Yep I just fired up my copy of FreeCad. Thank goodness for YouTube tutorials, I spent a good ten minutes staring at the baffling interface trying to figure out how to scribble anything!

Looks like it has pretty much the same workflow as Fusion, with all the bells and whistles except for generative design which I was really looking forwards to exploring.

 

[daedalusminos]

First real project on the MK3s. This part is about halfway through a 6hr print, about 90hrs total to complete the project.

Polymaker PETG on the Prusa textured sheet.

 

[Screwdriver]

First real project on the MK3s. This part is about halfway through a 6hr print, about 90hrs total to complete the project.

Polymaker PETG on the Prusa textured sheet.

View attachment 252497

Looks very neat. Is it a housing for a tool?

 

[daedalusminos]

Looks very neat. Is it a housing for a tool?

Definitely tool related....5hrs 35mins later...

 

[Screwdriver]

My spidey senses are detecting some rather conservative settings!

Go on, spill the beans, worrissit?

 

[DAPPH]

My spidey senses are detecting some rather conservative settings!

Go on, spill the beans, worrissit?

TIG Foot control switch housing & geared arm to take the components to vary the potentiometer ?

 

[Screwdriver]

So fresh off the boat from the land of Kung Flu:

Then over the course of a few days...

I love it when a plan comes together. Nice looking knife sharpening jig shown with the optional magnetic clamp fitted, the reversible clamp is the orange wedge on the left. Printed in solid 100% PETG.

It's not perfect but I liked the minimalist design.

 

[Bladevane]

How are you getting on with PETG? My printer copes with Ziro PLA easily and I am getting some lovely results. With Sunlu PETG I have reached a stage where I can get pretty good looking prints but which still require a bit of post processing like a blast with the heat gun to clean up a bit of stringiness. I am wondering if it is the filament rather than the printer.

 

[garethp]

I've printed a small amount of PETG (PETG 3D from Ooznest) and it was more stringy than PLA, I've not played with the settings much yet as I only got 10m of two colours but was going to look at lower the print temps a little bit first.

On a side note I've used some of their 'Bend' filament to make some rubbery feet for the printer, I was suprised how easy that was to use it with different infill and top/bottom layers to alter the stiffness.

 

[Bladevane]

Yes, stringing is the major difference between PLA and PETG. I found lowering the extrusion temperature to the bottom of the recommended settings (220C), bed at 85C, slowing down the feed travel rate to around 40 mm/s, fast travel of 120 mm/s, decent retraction speed and no buildplate fans. I'm using CURA slicer version 14.12.1. I tried Prusa Slicer and it was a disaster. Too hot, too fast, too stringy.

I spotted the Caribou Mk3S Rel 3 kit yesterday. Looks impressive (and pricey) but very little in the way of reviews around.

 

[Screwdriver]

How are you getting on with PETG? My printer copes with Ziro PLA easily and I am getting some lovely results. With Sunlu PETG I have reached a stage where I can get pretty good looking prints but which still require a bit of post processing like a blast with the heat gun to clean up a bit of stringiness. I am wondering if it is the filament rather than the printer.

Getting on pretty good I think but I haven't actually used anything else. I have some ABS to play with but I stick with PETG while learning so I can change one thing at a time. I find that stringing is generally 4-5 degrees too hot. A tiny change makes all the difference (so long as you're close!).

I bought my last two reels from PRUSA after seeing their setup. The orange was on offer and it prints beautifully. I also have some more black not tried yet. I use the settings they recommend, right smack bang in the middle of the temp range on the box.

I do a fair bit of tidying up but most if not all of my prints are practical useable items so I am less worried about looks. Some of the issues I have to deal with are "elephants feet", the slight flare at the bottom of a sharp edge and too much adhesion (because I run the first layer a bit "tight" to the bed).

I also do everything I can to avoid supports wherever that is possible. I hate supports. They always make a right mess.

 

[daedalusminos]

My favourite material is ABS, nice to print, good finish, easily sanded, takes paint, can be solvent welded (and vapour smoothed) , good heat resistance and strong. The one drawback is warping which to a certain degree can be minimised by the design but anything tall/sharp corners is likely to warp. An enclosure would no doubt help but I doubt it would totally eliminate it.
I see there's a material ABS X which is apparently warp free - I'll give that a try next. Also not tried ASA (or ASA-X) - might have to get an order in to Prusa and try some of there's.

PETG is a good all rounder but even that can have a tendency to warp....I had to tweak my previous post design to reduce the warping to an acceptable level.

I only use PLA for prototypes or decorative items, it soon starts to breakdown when stressed/heated.

 

[Bladevane]

A revelation has occurred. I recently moved my printer from the workshop to the house (I'm not as hardy - read stupid - as I once was). Within a couple of days I have managed to achieve pretty much perfect PETG prints. Same settings as before but I wonder if the drier and warmer conditions in the house are benefitting the filament. It was not damp in the workshop but hey, I'll take whatever is going as long as my prints turn out nicely. I even got adventurous by increasing the extrusion temperature from 220C to 240C. Virtually no stringing, no blobbiness, lovely adhesion, visually appealing, very little clean up required. I'm happy.

By the way has anyone experience of the Caribou (was Zaribo) printer?

 

[veesix]

I had to dry a brand new roll of PETG bought on Amazon recently. It came vacuum sealed with a dessicant bag but still had plenty of moisture in it.