3d printer for rc parts

[CREEPERBOB]

My second printer is an A8, I just got a second one I enjoy it so much . I'm very cheap.

[Gramps]

Originally Posted by CREEPERBOB

My second printer is an A8, I just got a second one I enjoy it so much . I'm very cheap.

I'm still trying to figure out my 1st one

[whitrzac]

Time to get a kennel, the printer pooped on the floor...

[MasteroFlego]

Originally Posted by whitrzac

Time to get a kennel, the printer pooped on the floor...

Lol

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

[svt923]

So I got my CR10 mini going and have been working on test cubes.



These are the first 2 off the printer, I think they look pretty good to my noob eye.

The first (cube on the left) was printed at recommended settings in Cura.

200C extruder
60C bed
.1 layer height
30% infill

The gaps and thin spots on the top of the cube need some work. Based on my research, I guess it is either not enough top layers or undexstrusion. So I up the top and bottom layers from 6 to 8 and change the filament diameter from 1.75mm to 1.72mm (since the average filament diameter I measured wasn't quite 1.75mm) for the second cube.

It came out better but I can still see thin spots in the same places. Decided to look at the layers in Cura and it turns out Cura is creating the gaps with the tool paths and not filling them in. Apparently, Cura 2.7 would take care of this but not so much in the 3.3 version I have. Maybe I am missing a setting here? Running the same model through Slic3r seems to eliminate the gaps in the preview but I haven't tried printing through there yet.

The bigger issue I seem to be having is my 20mm cubes aren't quite 20mm. They come out 20.01mm on the Y (fine), 19.92mm on the X (not so good), and 19.64mm on the Z (pretty bad). Creality locks the firmware so the steps/mm can't be permanently changed through G code so how do I dial in the travel? Is there a setting that can be used to get these things to print in the proper dimensions?

[k7zpj]

Originally Posted by svt923

So I got my CR10 mini going and have been working on test cubes.

These are the first 2 off the printer, I think they look pretty good to my noob eye.

The first (cube on the left) was printed at recommended settings in Cura.

200C extruder
60C bed
.1 layer height
30% infill

The gaps and thin spots on the top of the cube need some work. Based on my research, I guess it is either not enough top layers or undexstrusion. So I up the top and bottom layers from 6 to 8 and change the filament diameter from 1.75mm to 1.72mm (since the average filament diameter I measured wasn't quite 1.75mm) for the second cube.

It came out better but I can still see thin spots in the same places. Decided to look at the layers in Cura and it turns out Cura is creating the gaps with the tool paths and not filling them in. Apparently, Cura 2.7 would take care of this but not so much in the 3.3 version I have. Maybe I am missing a setting here? Running the same model through Slic3r seems to eliminate the gaps in the preview but I haven't tried printing through there yet.

The bigger issue I seem to be having is my 20mm cubes aren't quite 20mm. They come out 20.01mm on the Y (fine), 19.92mm on the X (not so good), and 19.64mm on the Z (pretty bad). Creality locks the firmware so the steps/mm can't be permanently changed through G code so how do I dial in the travel? Is there a setting that can be used to get these things to print in the proper dimensions?

In Cura you can scale the print on each axis. Right click the model and the To calculate the scaling factor you can take 20 /19.92 x 100 to get 100.40 %.

In the newer versions of Cura you may have to enable scaling:
Access the Plugins menu > Browse Plugins > click on the Manage Tab, scroll down to the Scale Tool and make sure it is Enabled. You may need to restart Cura for it to take effect.

I would try dropping the infill to 20% and try changing the layer height to .2 to see if that makes any changes to the tool path in Cura.

You may need to calibrate the e steps for the extruder to fix the under extrusion problem.

It is a lot easier to do calibration prints in silver gray filament since it will show up imperfections and is a lot easier to get a good photo of it.

[whitrzac]

Cura can insert gcode before the start of the print, it's how they do the nozzle wipe/etc. I wonder if you could add the steps change In that section?

[CREEPERBOB]

Originally Posted by k7zpj

In Cura you can scale the print on each axis. Right click the model and the To calculate the scaling factor you can take 20 /19.92 x 100 to get 100.40 %.

In the newer versions of Cura you may have to enable scaling:
Access the Plugins menu > Browse Plugins > click on the Manage Tab, scroll down to the Scale Tool and make sure it is Enabled. You may need to restart Cura for it to take effect.

I would try dropping the infill to 20% and try changing the layer height to .2 to see if that makes any changes to the tool path in Cura.

You may need to calibrate the e steps for the extruder to fix the under extrusion problem.

It is a lot easier to do calibration prints in silver gray filament since it will show up imperfections and is a lot easier to get a good photo of it.

Great info for almost anyone

[Gramps]

Tried my 1st print using PET-G today and this was the result, when I noticed this I cancelled the rest of it.






Extruder temp 216
Bed temp 75
Had the fan on Auto 20%-100%
Sliced in Slic3r PE 1.4.0
Solutech 3D PET-G

When previewing it it sliced fine. The strange this to me was that it looks like it slid apart but when I checked it was still printing the circle even though it had slid off the lower portion. Other than the section that slid the adhesion on the other layers looks good.

Checked the troubleshooting page at Simply 3D it appears that it could be a speed issue. I did up the travel speed to 5000. I think it was Makers Muse that said to set it high as the printer will only go as fast as it is capable of, I think the top speed on my Power Spec Duplicator i3 Plus is 70. I'm going to change it back and see what happens.

[k7zpj]

Originally Posted by Gramps

Tried my 1st print using PET-G today and this was the result, when I noticed this I cancelled the rest of it.






Extruder temp 216
Bed temp 75
Had the fan on Auto 20%-100%
Sliced in Slic3r PE 1.4.0
Solutech 3D PET-G

When previewing it it sliced fine. The strange this to me was that it looks like it slid apart but when I checked it was still printing the circle even though it had slid off the lower portion. Other than the section that slid the adhesion on the other layers looks good.

Checked the troubleshooting page at Simply 3D it appears that it could be a speed issue. I did up the travel speed to 5000. I think it was Makers Muse that said to set it high as the printer will only go as fast as it is capable of, I think the top speed on my Power Spec Duplicator i3 Plus is 70. I'm going to change it back and see what happens.

Layer shifting is often caused by a slipping belt or pulley on an axis. I recommend checking the belt tension and that the pulley isn't slipping on the shaft.

[CREEPERBOB]

Originally Posted by k7zpj

Layer shifting is often caused by a slipping belt or pulley on an axis. I recommend checking the belt tension and that the pulley isn't slipping on the shaft.

I agree, I had this issue and changed out to fiberglass reinforced belts and never happened again.

[Gramps]

Originally Posted by Gramps

Tried my 1st print using PET-G today and this was the result, when I noticed this I cancelled the rest of it.






Extruder temp 216
Bed temp 75
Had the fan on Auto 20%-100%
Sliced in Slic3r PE 1.4.0
Solutech 3D PET-G

When previewing it it sliced fine. The strange this to me was that it looks like it slid apart but when I checked it was still printing the circle even though it had slid off the lower portion. Other than the section that slid the adhesion on the other layers looks good.

Checked the troubleshooting page at Simply 3D it appears that it could be a speed issue. I did up the travel speed to 5000. I think it was Makers Muse that said to set it high as the printer will only go as fast as it is capable of, I think the top speed on my Power Spec Duplicator i3 Plus is 70. I'm going to change it back and see what happens.

Found the issue or maybe I should say it found me. Changed the travel speed to 70 mm/s which I think is the max for my printer & set the fan speed to 20-35. Started the print looked good (4 hr print) so after an hour or so without any issues I went to lunch with some friends. When I returned there was filament everywhere, the hot end had fallen out of the aluminum block. When I went to fix it the set screw hole that holds it was stripped.



Took it back to Micro Center and exchanged it for another one, as they had no means to fix it. Nothing like starting from scratch, well sort of :-)

[JohnRobHolmes]

Yep, your hot end was slipping and hitting the parts, causing missed steps. No feedback stepper systems are finicky.

[Gramps]

My printer sits on a wooden desk. I have some fatigue mat and thought about cutting a piece to set the print on. Good or bad idea?

[k7zpj]

Originally Posted by Gramps

My printer sits on a wooden desk. I have some fatigue mat and thought about cutting a piece to set the print on. Good or bad idea?

If you place the printer on a too soft surface, it will transfer vibrations back into the printer and cause visual artifacts.

If you want to protect the surface of the desk, you can use a melamine shelf board like this: https://www.homedepot.com/p/3-4-in-x...2297/202089063

[Robbob]

Theres things in life you wish you done earlier and wonder how you did things before you got them ...... this auto level sensor is that thing for me lol.

Clean my glass with some alcohol, let it run its 9 point level and away I go. Its so nice now just watching the brims lay down and not worrying if the first layer is gonna go down right.

The round part is .90'' by design, pretty impressed that 4 Ive printed have all been within .001 of themselves. (still tweaking my retraction settings for the stringies)

[whitrzac]

Is there a collection of driver figures on thingverse?

Their search is really bad...

[Gramps]

My new PowerSpec Duplicator i3 Plus seems to have more temperature swing that the old one. The old one would only swing a few 10ths up or down. The new one swings maybe 2 degrees up or down. Doesn't seem to be effecting the prints but I've only done 2 test cubes and a sink strainer. Should I be worried about this?

[CREEPERBOB]

Originally Posted by Gramps

My new PowerSpec Duplicator i3 Plus seems to have more temperature swing that the old one. The old one would only swing a few 10ths up or down. The new one swings maybe 2 degrees up or down. Doesn't seem to be effecting the prints but I've only done 2 test cubes and a sink strainer. Should I be worried about this?

Search how to do a PID tune, I had a few degree swing on my printer and this settled it out for me.

[CREEPERBOB]

Originally Posted by whitrzac

Is there a collection of driver figures on thingverse?

Their search is really bad...

Ya might be able to do something with this one. Might have to scale it to fit your needs.
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:116571
70 points of articulation