I took the plunge and bought a 3D printer

[yogi-bear 2321]

I thought I'd share my successes and failures of owning my own 3D printer. Budget wise, like many people, I didn't want to spend too much, but the less you spend, the less features you get. However on the plus side, if can handle a very steep learning curve, you can gain a lot of experience from a cheaper 3D printer. I used this idea when I bought a small chinese cnc machine, and from what I learnt from that I built a better one.

On the 3D print side, I am a total newbie, having never done, let alone seen a 3D print and I can't do 3D modelling, I just know it looks really cool! As a technical person, I'm not too bad, I did manage to build my own cnc machine ( I sourced parts but wired and programmed it myself)  and a vac former. And I can use programs like illustrator pretty well. So I figured with enough perseverance I'd be able to master 3D printing and learn how to 3D model my own parts.

So after doing lots of online research and working out my budget was around $600 AUD I settled on a CTC printer. This is essentially a clone of a  Makerbot Replicator2. I bought this one for a couple of reasons:

1. It had dual printing heads and this looked really cool

2. It had a heated bed, many cheaper ones don't

3. It took a SD card

4. Matman also bought one, so I knew I have some else to chat about/trouble shoot with. I have a friend who has a wahoo printer and it meant I could also compare the two.

5. It reviewed very well in a number of places.

6. It had a decent build space for the money at 225 mm x 145 mm x 150 mm

7. Its capable of printing PLA and ABS (and probably some other materials too)

The CTC is a Fuse Deposition Manufacturing (FDM) printer, using heat to melt a filament wire and building up an object bit by bit. Setting it up was actually pretty easy, the biggest issue being many of the screws where loose. It also came with a 1 kg roll of ABS filament.

a bit more fiddling and I had my first test print.

 

After that I had an almost endless amount of issues getting it to print properly again. So my next post will dwell on the things that went wrong.

 

[MadInventor 3884]

Looking forward to seeing how you get on with this, as I'm thinking about a 3d printer myself

 

[firefoxussr 482]

This is cool.  My workplace will have me using one for product prototypes soon!

Is SolidWorks the ticket for designing?  Currently I'm only expert level in SketchUp.

[Pintopower 1456]

I have been thinking about one but having to deal with several here at the office, I just have no desire to fiddle with one at home. I just like pressing the "add to cart" on Shapeways. The problem is the 3 week wait. Ugh its like an eternity. This is where having one next to you is the ticket!

58 minutes ago, firefoxussr said:

This is cool.  My workplace will have me using one for product prototypes soon!

Is SolidWorks the ticket for designing?  Currently I'm only expert level in SketchUp.

I guess it depends on what you are designing. We use Pro/Engineer (Creo now). I started out of college with Solidworks for about 5 years and then moved to a new company that used Pro/E. I liked it but nothing beats the shear power and stability of Pro/E. That said, they start off around $5k+maintenance so unless you are using it for work work and not play work, then SketchUp is the way to go. It works great, easy to learn and the cost aspect is nothing to scoff at. 

[mr fog 22]

hi pinto

So are you saying that sketchup is good to use for 3d printing?

mr fog

 

[Pintopower 1456]

1 hour ago, mr fog said:

hi pinto

So are you saying that sketchup is good to use for 3d printing?

mr fog

 

I have seen people use it and actually have see remarkable designs out of that tool. Really anything that exports an STL will work. 

[yogi-bear 2321]

I found picking the right software difficult and so I just downloaded and tried whatever I could come across. I pretty much stayed away from anything that was expensive though (e.g. Solidworks) , however there are still lots of options these days, a few I looked at and tried:

Rhinocad - 

Sketchup

Blender

Auto cad Fusion360

Solvespace

 

I found Rhinocad was probably the best and for a while the beta version was free on the mac. But now its a 30 day trial only and to buy is over $900AUD, so too much for me. I liked Solvespace a lot too, it was very simple, but still had things like constraints and it was free. I ended up settling on Fusion360 though. Its free for students and hobbyists and it has a lot of advanced features like exporting to gcode that you don't get with say sketchup (well, thats not entirely true, sketchup has plugins and export to gcode is one of them, but its not built in).

However for doing basic stuff, I would thin just about anything that can export either gcode or a stl file would do. With advanced models, I've read that the way the mesh is made can matter and that may exclude programs like blender (as its more built for animation). But at the moment that beyond me. 

[matman 1499]

Had a play with my 3D printer . 

The right extruder was not playing the game , so i stripped it down . 

Now i know why Grr ... 

 

 

Small bit of plastic , behind the wheel ... 

Will have to have a play tomorrow now . 

But atleast i have found why it's not working , I hope   . 

[yogi-bear 2321]

1 minute ago, matman said:

Had a play with my 3D printer . 

The right extruder was not playing the game , so i stripped it down . 

Not i know why Grr ... 

 

 

Small bit of plastic , behind the wheel ... 

Will have to have a play tomorrow now . 

But atleast i have found why it's not working , I hope   . 

funny you should mention that small bit of red plastic, I found some in the left hand side extruder! I suspect its from test printing maybe? But how did it get up in there?

I managed to get to a 3D printer store today. I bought a 1 kg roll each of black and white ABS filament, as well as smaller roll of clear PLA filament. I also purchased a steel nozzle (they are meant to be more durable), some pins for cleaning the nozzles and a spring loaded filament feeder.

[yogi-bear 2321]

When researching into these cheaper 3D printers, it became apparent I'd quickly run into issues. The two common ones seem to be levelling the printer bed and getting the print to stick to the printer bed. These two issues I did run into, the levelling of the print bed being the bigger issue for me. One thing I found crazy was the lack of stiffness in the frame that holds the print bed, and surely one source of mis-alignment of the print bed. So this is one area I will look to upgrade. I did run into issues wth the print not sticking, but for me after lots of adjusting I think a lot of this turned out to be related to either the print bed not being level or the filament not feeding properly. With all my prints, the filament either stuck straight away and I could continue with the print, or it failed pretty much immediately.

Another issue I came across pretty early on was the settings on the printer itself. There are stepper motors that push the filament through into the nozzle. On my CTC printer, these are turned off by default!

Two other issues I encountered but didn't really expect where feeding the filament and the filament itself. Many printers come with a guide feeding tube an some sort of anchor, the CTC printer I bought did not, so I had to manually feed out the filament. So one of the first prints I tried was a filament feeder bracket, printed in two halves. The first side was fine, but the second side I ran into lots of issues. Firstly the filament was really brittle, this filament came with the printer and was a 1 kg roll of ABS.

It turns out brittle filament means thats it has absorbed lots of moisture and this can lead to printing issues including jamming and lower print quality. The filament I'd received was wrapped around the centre with a cling wrap like plastic with was difficult to remove. I've since bought filament locally and it comes vacuum packed to ensure its moisture free. You can dry out filament though, and I will try this. I also learnt the PLA can be a lot easier to print that ABS, and it one reason why its so common. However PLA is not very UV resistant, and ABS is stronger.

I didn't really solve my printing issues until I purchase some new PLA and switched to the left extruder on the printer. I found out that path of the filament from the top of the print head to the nozzle wasn't very well aligned and I think this was causing it to jam a little. As I was printing mainly at night, I also added some clear panels to the sides and front, so to keep the print area more thermally stable. My latest print was a wheel rim, not too bad, but a little rough on the sides.

 

here's a pic of a scale car jack stand mid print

and a car rim, this one took 3.5 hours! Both files where from Thingiverse. What I don't understand why yet, is that the jack printed really well, but the rim was rough, both having the same settings. One issue I did have is that I had to set the printer bed to 110C, which for PLA its recommend to be 60C. So either my temp gauge is out or there is some other issue.

 

next I'll talk about the upgrades I am doing to the printer.

[matman 1499]

I have the clear PLA , Mind you it was to be black < was next to the black . 

What did they say about the 1kg stuff ?.  Spring loaded filament feeder / steel nozzle < Ok Wheres the pic's . 

Did they much to say ? for info / ideas  or help of sort !!. 

I didn't have this before , when i pulled it apart last time . I think it's when we remove the filament . It stretches as

it's hot , so it may come off then . The motor gear had alot on it as well . << but that was the same as last time on the gear .

Just some thing to look at .  Mind you it's funny we have it at the same time  .  I should pull apart the left side & see ?? . 

[mr fog 22]

I do think that trying to find the right  programs is a problem. I guess that it is try and see what works.

Ok here's one is there anyother 3d printing service other than shapeways that might have printers in europe and USA ?????

 

mr fog

 

[LongRat 616]

There are hundreds of printing service companies (usually called a bureau).  Shapeways might be the best known.  I have had good results from 3DPrintUK.   

[yogi-bear 2321]

5 hours ago, mr fog said:

I do think that trying to find the right  programs is a problem. I guess that it is try and see what works.

...

mr fog

 

the approach I took was just that, download and try a program see how it works.  Even if you don't ultimately end up using that program, it can still be an useful experience. I found Solvespace pretty good to start with as it was very simple to use. This allowed me to get my head around some basic concepts like constraints. I also tried sketchup, but realised that it probably wouldn't suit my ultimate goal - drawing 3D car bodies.  I settled on Fusion360 as it had a lot of tools I needed and it was free for hobbyists. Plus it also had built in exporting for things like code etc, but that doesn't mean Fusion360 is the best.

[yogi-bear 2321]

18 hours ago, matman said:

I have the clear PLA , Mind you it was to be black < was next to the black . 

What did they say about the 1kg stuff ?.  Spring loaded filament feeder / steel nozzle < Ok Wheres the pic's . 

Did they much to say ? for info / ideas  or help of sort !!. 

I didn't have this before , when i pulled it apart last time . I think it's when we remove the filament . It stretches as

it's hot , so it may come off then . The motor gear had alot on it as well . << but that was the same as last time on the gear .

Just some thing to look at .  Mind you it's funny we have it at the same time  .  I should pull apart the left side & see ?? . 

I didn't ask about the 1 kg stuff, but I looked at what I was using on the 250gram roll and decided I be printing enough black or white to justify a full roll. I did only buy a 250 gram roll of clear PLA though.

The girl at counter didn't really offer any tips etc, but they do offer a repair service. I'll try a lot more before I take them up on that though!

 

So these are the parts I bought. The replacement extruder upgrade I don't have yet as it wasn't in stock, but this is the part

https://www.bilby3d.com.au/DispProd.asp?CatID=11&SubCatID=131&ProdID=ptR2ExtUpR

it spring loads the filament making it easier to remove and is apparently a better design. I could have printed one a lot cheaper, but I figured for the amount of stuffing around I'd do finding the right spring and getting it all fitted etc, I might as well just buy it.

 

This is is an example of a roll that has been vacuum sealed. I did noticed they also offered a drying service for rolls, something like $4 per roll.

 

 

This is a steel nozzle. Steel nozzles are also coated and can withstand hi-abrasive filaments like carbon fibre versions. I went with the steel version as thats all they had for my sized nozzle.

 

And here is a cleaning pin to help unblock nozzles. It came with a heap replacement tips too.

[matman 1499]

I have been trying to get my printer to just do some thing . 

Not going to well  . 

So i reline bed again !!! becoming a thing we need to do Alot ...

 

So now i think it's going well  , no it don't .

The nozzle was pushing into the print ? . as above pic & thing one Below .

 

I have no idea why , Yet . I have now changed the settings on G code , was 0.10 high , I am now using 0.15 high .

It seems better this time . I hope   . 

Round 12 or was that 13 , who knows   . 

 

[matman 1499]

Ok , after many hours ! I have got some thing to print ( & i can use it ) . Now this is only PLA , As ABS still wont stick .   .

Got both sides done & a little fiddling to get it to fit . 

My filament holder   , Needed to get it to work & it does . I still have to turn the filament here & there , But it works .

Different size on the New filament .

  

At least i have made some thing , I can use i hope . 

[matman 1499]

Now after some time & talking to yogi-bear & i now have PLA filament . I have been able to work out things & bugs .

The bug was me   , I had changed a setting & that was not good . 

These are my mistakes , the Red box is the 1st thing i got to print & the only time ! . It is ABS .

The yellow is PLA , user friendly ( well so far ) ..  These didn't work out to well & that's when i had too look at 

what i had done wrong .

 

Alot more  , But this seems a learning curve .. 

Ok , now i have got it printing . I have printed some upgrades . 

finished print .

2nd print of the day  , filament holder on the extruder side . 

finished print . 

I'm onto the 3rd print , the same as the 1st , but the other side .

So thanks Yogi-bear . Oh , i need to print out that jack stand , as well . May do that tonight as well . 

Now a 3D printer junky  .. 

[matman 1499]

The printed objects  With Makerbot softwear . 

The axle stand , was printed , With raft &  ( support < sort of didn't do much . ) 

No heat on Bed << Even it does say on the 3D printer 39 deg's .

Extruder temp 200 deg's .

Build height 0.05 mm .

15% fill-in this is standard setting    << i should have used more on the filament & cable guide . 

With no bed heat , the raft prints better ? not to sure why & it came apart easyer of the axel stand .

I will print another , with out raft & will do no support . But i need to finish the rest of the axel stand .

The CTC Dual Extruder fan mount's . This helps getting to the Extruder Allen key , to adjust it .   

There is a left & right side .

The filament & cable guide for CTC , is a must i recon . Or some similar . I still have to get parts for this , so i can run

the tube from the filament rear guide to the extruder , should help  . 

 

[yogi-bear 2321]

6 minutes ago, matman said:

The printed objects  With Makerbot softwear . 

The axle stand , was printed , With raft &  ( support < sort of didn't do much . ) 

No heat on Bed << Even it does say on the 3D printer 39 deg's .

Extruder temp 200 deg's .

Build height 0.05 mm .

15% fill-in this is standard setting    << i should have used more on the filament & cable guide . 

With no bed heat , the raft prints better ? not to sure why & it came apart easyer of the axel stand .

I will print another , with out raft & will do no support . But i need to finish the rest of the axel stand .

The CTC Dual Extruder fan mount's . This helps getting to the Extruder Allen key , to adjust it .   

There is a left & right side .

The filament & cable guide for CTC , is a must i recon . Or some similar . I still have to get parts for this , so i can run

the tube from the filament rear guide to the extruder , should help  . 

 

 

Nice to see you printing now Matman. I think these issues we were having really highlights how picky these lower end machines are to the settings. Get them a little wrong and you'll have no end of trouble.

Below is my version of the car jack stand, with 0.1 mm build height and 100% infill, no raft or support and 110C heater bed, 205C nozzle temp. I like these axle stands, I think I'll print a heap of them   plus some other garage tools I've found on thingiverse. When I get home tonight I'll take a pic with it under a car. Its good that even without too much skill at 3D modelling, I can still print off a heap of things.

I also bought some teflon tubing to help feed the filament, will hopefully set it up in the next day or two. Although testing the entire tubing it seems a bit sticky even though it was 1.75 mm filament.

[matman 1499]

46 minutes ago, yogi-bear said:

Nice to see you printing now Matman. I think these issues we were having really highlights how picky these lower end machines are to the settings. Get them a little wrong and you'll have no end of trouble.

Below is my version of the car jack stand, with 0.1 mm build height and 100% infill, no raft or support and 110C heater bed, 205C nozzle temp. I like these axle stands, I think I'll print a heap of them   plus some other garage tools I've found on thingiverse. When I get home tonight I'll take a pic with it under a car. Its good that even without too much skill at 3D modelling, I can still print off a heap of things.

I also bought some teflon tubing to help feed the filament, will hopefully set it up in the next day or two. Although testing the entire tubing it seems a bit sticky even though it was 1.75 mm filament.

 

Yes , Even your settings are different to mine . I have found out that my Bed setting are 20 deg out . Not to sue

on the extruder setting , as the temp gauge only goes to 110c . so i know it's doing that temp at least .

OK 0.1 or is that 0.01 ? as 0.1 would be this 0.10 ? . Thats what i have printed it at , But the top part 

i'm in the middle of printing now , i have done the same 0.10 & i should have do it at 0.02 about ,

even that it is working all right   . 

WOW !! Your right with these axle stand  , i'm sure i will be printing more ! . now 4 axles per car x the amount of cars i have 

 OMG!! i will be here for years  . 

Ok , so it was to fit the 1.75 filament , so it should be smooth . Is it tight ? . I also think the filament we have was not that great

& rough .

[matman 1499]

@yogi-bear Not sure now i'm going to fix this problem . I have had this from the start , warped bed .

As it is getting worse , i have the right side front butterfly screw tight now & i need to do it up more  . 

This is some thing you may need to look out for as well . 

I may have to buy another bed ?. I was thinking for water on the wood to soften it & then put weight on it 

to flatted it out ( maybe ) . Then put insulation on top ? . 

 

It was printing well till i got to do the top of the raspberry Pi case , with clear filament . I started to lift .

Was thinking it was getting cold in the room , so i put on heater again ( as i did in the morning ) & lowered the height

to 0.05mm & it was going well , but did the same again , Lifted . The bed temp was also not on at all , not sure why . 

So i was going to reset the bed & redo the thing again today , but i came into this problem . I was going so well  .. 

May look at a different bed , or an upgraded bed .

"" AH"" The joy's of 3D printing  . 

[yogi-bear 2321]

yeah, a warped heater bed seems to be a semi common issue. You could try and flatten it, but if its getting worse there must be another issue. Its only an aluminium plate, so if you want I should be able to cut you a new one. I have plenty of 2 mm sheet pieces.

The frame that holds the heater bed is quite flimsy and thats where I'd start. Indeed I want to reinforce the one I have, by either making a new frame for it or just bracing it. My heat bed seems pretty flat though.

[matman 1499]

My bed is fine & good , it's the frame & board ( more the board ) that the springs go on that is not so great . 

I have turned it up side down & i have got it level ( for now ) .  I'm thinking i may have to push the extruder up 

more ? & then i can release the spring tension on the board & bed . On the next level the bed time , Or

 i will just do it anyway .  As the springs have alot of tension on them , Mainly the front . But an alloy brace

under the board that the springs go on ( where the butterfly nuts go onto ) , May help ! ..  

I am , going to try & print something to see how it goes . 

[yogi-bear 2321]

now that I am back from my trip I can get back into trying some prints again. Before I do, I upgraded how the filament feeds into the extruder. 

This is a before shot. I am surprised they sold it like this with no feeding mechanism.

 

and now I have the same filament holder that Matman printed, but some PTFE tubing. I thought initially it was a little sticky, but its feeding well.

and to test it, I printed 3 more scale car jacks.

Each print was 46 mins and I did one after the other without any adjustments. I then tried something bigger, a lego figure holder, which is stackable. Lots of issues with bed alignment, and as it was bigger it needs to be really flat all over. My initial problem was the other nozzle would often hit the print, knocking it off. It also turned out I needed to print this with 'rafting', which is where it lays down a disposable layer first. This will take most of the night to print (I think I could have used a much faster print setting though), but it will be a good test for overnight printing.