Stay Away From Chinesium Printers

[Curious Pineapple]

1 minute ago, manikyath said:

congrats, you just explained every material on earth.

Warm is relative. I like PLA as it's a plant-based plastic (we need more corn based products, PLA and Ethanol being 2 major ones) and is workable at lower temperatures, but that's also it's downfall. It's brittle and softens too much at relatively low temperatures. I'm using it to build cases and stands for RepRap displays, but I prefer the mechanical properties of ABS as a general use filament.

[Hackentosher]

21 minutes ago, manikyath said:

PLA is stronger than you think, with a well made print you'll need to whack a hammer on a hollow print to do any damage.

Thick walls really help too. But I find that infill doesn't really help strength that much. I printed a handle for my ultimaker with 2mm walls and like 15% infill. Had to put my weight on it against my desk to break it. 

 

For the record, I print at 60mm/s at 0.1mm.

 

Lol, so much for my thread being an informative 3D printer buyer's guide and friendly discussion shitting on crappy printers.  

[manikyath]

2 minutes ago, Hackentosher said:

Thick walls really help too. But I find that infill doesn't really help strength that much. I printed a handle for my ultimaker with 2mm walls and like 15% infill. Had to put my weight on it against my desk to break it. 

 

For the record, I print at 60mm/s at 0.1mm.

 

Lol, so much for my thread being an informative 3D printer buyer's guide and friendly discussion shitting on crappy printers.  

from making cable management brackets that need to hold quite a bit of force, i've found infill would be a whole lot more useful if you could manually place infill lines in places where they're most needed.

 

i ended up printing them all at 1.2mm walls, and infill set to a pectentage where it'd lign up with the corners. i'm not very concerned about infill percentage, mostly because it's very little plastic in the grand scheme of things.

[Hackentosher]

5 minutes ago, Curious Pineapple said:

Warm is relative. I like PLA as it's a plant-based plastic (we need more corn based products, PLA and Ethanol being 2 major ones) and is workable at lower temperatures, but that's also it's downfall. It's brittle and softens too much at relatively low temperatures. I'm using it to build cases and stands for RepRap displays, but I prefer the mechanical properties of ABS as a general use filament.

You might want to try PETG filaments. They print easy like PLA, have PLA's rigidity, and is a hell of a lot stronger. Also tests have shown that ABS is more flexible and weaker than PLA. 

[Hackentosher]

2 minutes ago, manikyath said:

from making cable management brackets that need to hold quite a bit of force, i've found infill would be a whole lot more useful if you could manually place infill lines in places where they're most needed.

 

i ended up printing them all at 1.2mm walls, and infill set to a pectentage where it'd lign up with the corners. i'm not very concerned about infill percentage, mostly because it's very little plastic in the grand scheme of things.

What slicer are you using? I don't think cura let's you do that, but I'm not too likely to switch. It's a great slicer. 

 

I'd beg to differ. Maybe on small parts, infill percentage doesn't matter that much. However on larger, 12hr+ prints, 10% can make a pretty huge difference. 

[manikyath]

1 minute ago, Hackentosher said:

You might want to try PETG filaments. They print easy like PLA, have PLA's rigidity, and is a hell of a lot stronger. Also tests have shown that ABS is more flexible and weaker than PLA. 

for the little printing i've done with it, i really like colorfabb's "ABS replacements"

 

their XT clear material, which i got a sample of "for the luls", prints pretty darn strong prints and actually doesnt smell at all, strangely enough.

 

i should do some strength testing with my brackets to give any recommendation on this field tho.

[manikyath]

1 minute ago, Hackentosher said:

What slicer are you using? I don't think cura let's you do that, but I'm not too likely to switch. It's a great slicer. 

 

I'd beg to differ. Maybe on small parts, infill percentage doesn't matter that much. However on larger, 12hr+ prints, 10% can make a pretty huge difference. 

i'm using cura, not because i specificly like it, but because it works and i'm too lazy to find otherwise for those nitpicky details.

 

i honestly print most of my stuff at the exact same settings.

[Curious Pineapple]

1 minute ago, Hackentosher said:

You might want to try PETG filaments. They print easy like PLA, have PLA's rigidity, and is a hell of a lot stronger. Also tests have shown that ABS is more flexible and weaker than PLA. 

Depends on the use, a bit of flex may not be a bad thing depending on the usage. Parts right next to a heated bed and holding extruders in place are probably best in ABS.

 

I may look at using PLA for some of the mechanical parts of this printer after doing some temperature testing, don't want it going soft, already had that happen with the hotend carriage after a fain connection error.

[Hackentosher]

2 minutes ago, manikyath said:

for the little printing i've done with it, i really like colorfabb's "ABS replacements"

 

their XT clear material, which i got a sample of "for the luls", prints pretty darn strong prints and actually doesnt smell at all, strangely enough.

 

i should do some strength testing with my brackets to give any recommendation on this field tho.

I've thought about trying it, but I don't really need much strength for the personal prototyping I do. PLA is strong enough for me, but if I need more strength, I'll get some PETG (check out Tom's filaween episode on the rigid.ink PETG). 

 

3 minutes ago, manikyath said:

i'm using cura, not because i specificly like it, but because it works and i'm too lazy to find otherwise for those nitpicky details.

 

i honestly print most of my stuff at the exact same settings.

You can place manual infill lines? Or are you referring to adding them in CAD? 

[Hackentosher]

3 minutes ago, Curious Pineapple said:

Depends on the use, a bit of flex may not be a bad thing depending on the usage. Parts right next to a heated bed and holding extruders in place are probably best in ABS.

 

I may look at using PLA for some of the mechanical parts of this printer after doing some temperature testing, don't want it going soft, already had that happen with the hotend carriage after a fain connection error.

If I remember correctly, PETG can take over 100c before it starts to soften. Idk, check out that video I just recommended. 

[manikyath]

1 minute ago, Curious Pineapple said:

Depends on the use, a bit of flex may not be a bad thing depending on the usage. Parts right next to a heated bed and holding extruders in place are probably best in ABS.

 

I may look at using PLA for some of the mechanical parts of this printer after doing some temperature testing, don't want it going soft, already had that happen with the hotend carriage after a fain connection error.

the air duct on my print head is from PLA, and it's defenately not ideal, and IMO for all the weight that is my 100% steel printer, the extruder assembly is one of the things i want to keep completely metal, all the way up to the bearings.

[manikyath]

2 minutes ago, Hackentosher said:

I've thought about trying it, but I don't really need much strength for the personal prototyping I do. PLA is strong enough for me, but if I need more strength, I'll get some PETG (check out Tom's filaween episode on the rigid.ink PETG). 

 

You can place manual infill lines? Or are you referring to adding them in CAD? 

what i do is just apply magic by manually adjusting the spacing between lines, rather than the percentages, and just trial and error until i like where the infill is (combined with shifting around the model on the build platform.)

[Hackentosher]

1 minute ago, manikyath said:

what i do is just apply magic by manually adjusting the spacing between lines, rather than the percentages, and just trial and error until i like where the infill is (combined with shifting around the model on the build platform.)

Yeah I know that the infill is generated as a fixed pattern and what is laid into the model depends on orientation and on the bed. 

[manikyath]

1 minute ago, Hackentosher said:

Yeah I know that the infill is generated as a fixed pattern and what is laid into the model depends on orientation and on the bed. 

if i could be bothered (and rather, if it proves to be necessary in a very high strength print) i could manually draw the internals in sketchup, but at that point it's honestly easier to just print solid, and suck up the extra plastic and print time.

[Curious Pineapple]

Here's a short video of it printing a PLA case for the RepRap graphic controller

printyface.mp4

[manikyath]

adding this one here as an example why "it works" is NOT good enough

[Hackentosher]

12 hours ago, manikyath said:

adding this one here as an example why "it works" is NOT good enough

This is why I wrote this guide

 

[VoyexTech]

On 1/5/2017 at 1:30 PM, manikyath said:

that's also not a terribly hard object to print, from my expeirence.

 

oh, and the quality is quite visually worse than my wanhao duplicator shitbox ++ which comes assembled out the box, and has some honestly pretty nice features for its budget range like a heated bed powerful enough to make waffles

(if they even have heated beds on the cheap end, you're gonna be putting cardboard on them to even get them to an acceptable temp)

The printer I have has a pretty good heated bed in my opinion. It can get up to 110°C on about 2 and a half min and 60° in a min. It is a 12v heated bed FYI

And yes it is printed in vase mode. It is not the best printer but for $180 it's great for its price. 

[VoyexTech]

I have to say that I agree that Chinese printers are A LOT of work but if you are willing to deal with the assembly and headache of messing with and upgrading it Chinese printers can be quite nice.

[manikyath]

3 minutes ago, VoyexTech said:

I have to say that I agree that Chinese printers are A LOT of work but if you are willing to deal with the assembly and headache of messing with and upgrading it Chinese printers can be quite nice.

my wanhao is working beautifully with fans EVERYWHERE keeping things from overheating, a noise dampening box, and a better nozzle

[VoyexTech]

3 minutes ago, manikyath said:

my wanhao is working beautifully with fans EVERYWHERE keeping things from overheating, a noise dampening box, and a better nozzle

Awesome! I'm working out installing a 3mm e3d Bowden setup for my printer

[Hackentosher]

11 minutes ago, VoyexTech said:

I have to say that I agree that Chinese printers are A LOT of work but if you are willing to deal with the assembly and headache of messing with and upgrading it Chinese printers can be quite nice.

One of my points is you shouldn't have to upgrade and work on the thing. Especially if you are a beginner. 

[VoyexTech]

1 minute ago, Hackentosher said:

One of my points is you shouldn't have to upgrade and work on the thing. Especially if you are a beginner. 

Yes but as a beginner it was extremely helpful to build a reprap printer because it made me understand how things work and allows me to easily identify issues with my printer and others (even high end printers). While this might not be a good idea for someone who is not good with technology, if you are good with technology I believe that it can be extremely beneficial to build your first printer.

[VoyexTech]

Spoiler

You cannot use 1.75mm filament in a 3mm hotend. Please stop asking. If you think you might be able to use 3mm filament in a 1.75mm hotend you shouldn’t be modifying or building a 3D Printer. Put the screwdriver down.

Favorite line from the e3d support page

 

Sorry about off-topic post

[Hackentosher]

14 minutes ago, VoyexTech said:

Yes but as a beginner it was extremely helpful to build a reprap printer because it made me understand how things work and allows me to easily identify issues with my printer and others (even high end printers). While this might not be a good idea for someone who is not good with technology, if you are good with technology I believe that it can be extremely beneficial to build your first printer.

Oh yeah, as a beginner, it's incredibly helpful to build your first machine, but a cheap reprap kit is why my first printer never worked.