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flatpack  
#1 Posted : Monday, October 1, 2018 8:08:13 AM(UTC)
flatpack

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Anyone of you who has a 3d printer for prototypes and other such hobby-type projects (home use mainly), could you shed some light on a direction I might go to get one?

I am in the market for my first one and would appreciate some advice.

Looking to print using affordable materials.. ABS / PLA etc. Preferably easy set up and generally low(er) cost of operation.

This will help me take advantage of these fine Powerpack tools.


Thank you. :)

Edited by user Monday, October 1, 2018 8:09:49 AM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

posh.de  
#2 Posted : Monday, October 1, 2018 8:31:57 AM(UTC)
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a material which combines the advantages of ABS and PLA is PET-G but requires a heated bed similar to ABS too.

A great ressource for 3D printers reviews is the '3D Printer Guide'.
POSH GmbH
www.posh.de
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flatpack on 10/1/2018(UTC)
L. Banasky  
#3 Posted : Monday, October 1, 2018 8:49:06 AM(UTC)
L. Banasky

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The Grandchildren bought me this one as a Christmas present.
https://www.amazon.com/M...342_QL70_&dpSrc=srch
I've never used one before, but had no trouble using this printer.
It has a heated bed for ABS, and does PLA very well.
The included software is great, powerful and easy to use.
I think for small objects, and a first printer to learn on, it's great.
Larry
posh.de  
#4 Posted : Monday, October 1, 2018 8:56:05 AM(UTC)
posh.de

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and be aware that the XYZ printers do use dongled filaments, i.e. no choice in using other/cheaper filaments.

Edited by user Monday, October 1, 2018 8:56:39 AM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

POSH GmbH
www.posh.de
flatpack  
#5 Posted : Monday, October 1, 2018 9:58:32 AM(UTC)
flatpack

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Originally Posted by: L. Banasky Go to Quoted Post

The included software is great, powerful and easy to use.
I think for small objects, and a first printer to learn on, it's great.
Larry



Thanks! That's exactly what I'm looking for...first printer/easy to learn on. I've sent out files to be printed by 3rd parties mainly Shapeways, but no experience setting it up on my own.

So many great Powerpack tools - no sense not being able to incorporate them into my work/hobbies.
posh.de  
#6 Posted : Monday, October 1, 2018 10:11:46 AM(UTC)
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the included software is the freely available Cura open source slicing software which provides a beginner mode and can be used with allmost every printer (after configuring some specs.).
POSH GmbH
www.posh.de
flatpack  
#7 Posted : Monday, October 1, 2018 10:16:40 AM(UTC)
flatpack

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Originally Posted by: posh.de Go to Quoted Post
the included software is the freely available Cura open source slicing software which provides a beginner mode and can be used with allmost every printer (after configuring some specs.).



Thanks, is Cura something used instead of Powerpack? It is for beginners to set up their 3d file?

posh.de  
#8 Posted : Monday, October 1, 2018 10:24:26 AM(UTC)
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flatpack on 10/1/2018(UTC)
L. Banasky  
#9 Posted : Monday, October 1, 2018 11:10:34 AM(UTC)
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<<<<Thanks, is Cura something used instead of Powerpack? It is for beginners to set up their 3d file?>>>>

You can open any .stl from Shark or ViaCad, and Cura will do the rest.
Cura will allow rotation, scale and move.

Larry
flatpack  
#10 Posted : Monday, October 1, 2018 11:14:33 AM(UTC)
flatpack

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Originally Posted by: L. Banasky Go to Quoted Post
<<<<Thanks, is Cura something used instead of Powerpack? It is for beginners to set up their 3d file?>>>>

You can open any .stl from Shark or ViaCad, and Cura will do the rest.
Cura will allow rotation, scale and move.

Larry




Thank you Larry – does this include making a support structure?
L. Banasky  
#11 Posted : Monday, October 1, 2018 11:24:08 AM(UTC)
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You can choose a support, does it automatically.
Larry
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flatpack on 10/1/2018(UTC)
UGMENTALCASE  
#12 Posted : Monday, October 1, 2018 11:24:59 AM(UTC)
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Have a look at repetier host as well. Easy to use, will open a number of mesh formats obj, stl and so on. Uses cura as a slicer (and others with,additional set up) , easy explained options.
You can visualise the finished sliced model, helps you see and understand overhangs etc.

I have a Raspberry pi controlling my printer which is Octopi, which has built in slicers etc. But I just use it as a controller now and Repetier host as my slicer software.
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flatpack on 10/1/2018(UTC)
L. Banasky  
#13 Posted : Monday, October 1, 2018 11:35:57 AM(UTC)
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Repetier host is also included with the printer, although I've never used it.
Try to avoid too many supports, they are somewhat difficult to remove.
Larry
flatpack  
#14 Posted : Monday, October 1, 2018 12:19:13 PM(UTC)
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Thanks – when I used to have models printed in college several years ago, I remember the guy in charge of the shop would soak the model in some sort of liquid to separate the support (or something).. Is this still applicable today?
L. Banasky  
#15 Posted : Monday, October 1, 2018 3:01:25 PM(UTC)
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Someone with more experience will have to answer that question, about the liquid.
I make simple things in Shark, like name tags, spacers and brackets.
The other things I make are dinosaurs and action figures for my
grandchildren, kind of like a job shop for them.
They pick out the things they want from Thingiverse.
https://www.thingiverse.com/
and I do my best to print them.
But for starting out, the Monoprice has been a good printer.
I put blue painters tape on the print bed, and the parts come off
without too much trouble.
Pull out the filament before the print head cools when you are done, or it's hard to remove.
That's about it.
Larry
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flatpack on 10/2/2018(UTC)
murray  
#16 Posted : Monday, October 1, 2018 11:02:27 PM(UTC)
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My employer and I are on this learning curve right now, too. We've bought a Creality CR-10 S5, Creality make generic printers and other more specialised, this one's part of a CR-10 series that uses much of the technology developed by the Reprap community on a 2020 aluminium section frame, trolleys supporting the table and extruder. It's got a 500mm x 500mm x 500mm envelope, but the bed heater's only 300mm x 300mm, so elevating the temperature for ABS can take three hours. We usually use PLA because the bed heating's faster and it doesn't give trouble. My boss is more tolerant of tolerances than me, so he tells me to leave out supports, and maybe he's right, since our overhangs so far have been only 20mm or so and there's not been sag with 60 degrees of overhang. The machine came with Cura, but we downloaded Ultimaker's development of Cura and have been using that. I don't know if it's significantly different to others' evolution, but it does the job well. I used to send stuff for SLA prototyping in years gone by, and the bureau we used was very fussy about .stl errors, they tested and corrected what errors they found with MiniMagics and charged us a lot to do that, when Netfabb came up we started using that, very satisfactorily and saved what they'd been hitting us for with MiniMagics. Since we got this printer, it seems to me that Cura is very tolerant of .stl files, probably because it also handles and slices VRML and obj models too. I've never had it spit the dummy and refuse to cooperate, it doesn't even complain about anything. In my experience, it's getting easier and more reliable.
FWIW, it's got a glass bed and we spray it with hairspray, there's a bit of warp lift because we've been doing 400mm lengths with 20x30mm sections, but PLA's better for that than ABS. Others say on the net that Ikea's mirror glass is great for sticking stuff down, so I expect that that's an avenue we'll be going down sooner or later.
The supports generated by Cura are single-extrusion-thickness blades or a cellular lattice of blades of the same material, it has to be separated mechanically, so soaking's not part of the procedure. Soluble supports can give 100% surface support, fused filament extrusion can't. It can be a bit of a grind to make surfaces smoother after support's removed.

Edited by user Monday, October 1, 2018 11:14:33 PM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

UGMENTALCASE  
#17 Posted : Tuesday, October 2, 2018 12:08:11 AM(UTC)
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A lot of warping comes from speed and sticking down too much material on large flat areas, too fast. You can do little trick like instead of a large flat base have no base at all, so it'll put the fill material down instead (grid or line patterns) and the walls.
Speeds as well, it's all about making sure the filament is down, properly, before it moves to the next bit.

Experiment with nozzles. If you are doing prints which are large shapes without much finer detail get some bigger nozzles in there, tell the slicer the nozzle size and the print time drops, but again watch the speeds and temp. I've printed using 1mm nozzles and it's very good, as you'd imagine the fill is faster, still just as strong but you can loose detail on things, so like I say, just experiment.

Everytime I print I heat the bed and nozzle for at least 15 mins, let it all warm up and settle. Recheck the nozzle to bed height with a 0.02mm steel shim, that first layer is critical. Adjust z stops if need be.

Check the settings too, as repetier has a function to wedge the first layer into the bed, with this it works say if you have set the nozzle 0.2mm off, it'll move it closer for that first layer, but if you have it too close the nozzle will jam, so consistency is key as well.
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