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VagabondStarJXF

Feedback on my 3D Printed Stuff, please. :)

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On 3/21/2019 at 8:51 PM, VagabondStarJXF said:

Thanks for your patience. I haven't had the spare funds to order test prints yet, lately every penny has been taken up with & for other commitments, but I can make them available for sale for you if you don't mind that I haven't tested them for myself yet.

Happy to try at least the gearboxes if you'd like :)

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6 hours ago, Tizer said:

Happy to try at least the gearboxes if you'd like :)

Cool... Here's some links for you:

Gearbox - Right Side

Gearbox - Left Side

 

And just in case you wanna try these too:

Custom Body Posts (For your M04RRXL if you wanna give 'em a shot!)

M04S v2 (LiPo Compatible) - Left Side

M04S v2 (LiPo Compatible) - Right Side

 

Like I said, I haven't tested any of these for myself yet so, if they need reworking, please don't hesitate to let me know what I can do to make them better. In the meantime, thanks for trying any of them. I look forward to hearing how they went.

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Just ordered :) Let's see if they'll fit. Need to figure out which colour I want them now.

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Great thread and amazing work !

I've ordered parts and was hoping to dye them black if they will take it.

Does anyone know if the Shapeways standard white versatile plastic will take dye ? 

 

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It will :) If you order Versatile Plastic in any other colour than white it's dyed as well

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Howdy all o' y'all!  :D 

Normally I'd hate to revive a necro-thread but, seeing as I'm trying to get back into the swing of doing the 3D thing, and being that it's a continuation of where I'd left off from over a year ago now, I didn't see any point in starting a new thread.

 

Firstly:

I'd like to do a quick thank you to all of the people who have purchased my parts via my Shapeways Shop. I've been unable to really do anything new to upload onto there over the last year and I've not been doing any upkeep for it either so I'm really appreciative of the sales, few that they generally are. As you'd likely suspect, any monies gained via my shop always helps me to buy more parts/supplies/etc. so, truly, thank you for your purchases/support everyone.

 

My 3D Printer:

I've been trying really hard to get my Tevo Tornado back up 'n running over the last 2.5 weeks. I was pretty disheartened when I'd lost all my slicer settings (and, as it turns out, firmware settings as well) due to a corrupted update so my printer has been sitting on my desk for the past year and a bit (year and a half, maybe?) as nothing more than an oversized paperweight. At the beginning of the lockdown (the last week(ish) of March 2020) I'd resolved to get on with it but, in true procrastinator style, I'd left it until the last week of April before I screamed at myself for not starting sooner.

The Tornado has proven to be a lot more difficult to re-engage with than I was prepared for but, and I do want to say this tentatively, I seem to have gotten things running a lot better than I'd had it running before. All carriages were really wobbly, something I'd failed to notice before, so they're all tightened up. The e3D v6 heat block & nozzle was assembled correctly but the settings went completely out of whack after a couple of prints so I really couldn't print anything taller than 2 or 3mm until I'd found a solution for that problem.

The stock BuildTak-like print surface bubbled up (a common problem with it) so before I'd lost my settings I was using a small 300x300mm mirror on top of it to get prints done. Coming back to my printer I'd decide to just strip that BuildTak-like surface off of there and get a genuine BuildTak print surface installed. To my joy (and to the sorrow of my ailing bank account) BuildTak not only produce their BuildTak FlexPlate system in the correct size for my printer but they also have an EU distributer so I don't need to buy & ship from the USofA. Once installed I was able to do a couple of nice prints which came free from the surface really easily... Until I had the aforementioned problem with the e3D v6 heat block & nozzle combo.

The BL Touch Smart sensor was fitted with relative ease. Getting it to work was the difficult bit. Unlike the version that would come out less than a year after I'd bought it, my BL Touch didn't come with all the wiring premade for me. Crimps & Plugs needed doing. Thankfully I had the correct tools to make that job easier but, unfortunately, I didn't have the talent or skills to go with it... Ruined crimps all over the place... Eventually though, I did manage to get the wiring done and the sensor powered up. It just wasn't powered correctly. After much fiddling I found that I had to replace the housing on one of the plugs because one of the points, a point that was singled out on its own for some unknown reason, was too loose to hold on its own. Combining it with a couple of other points inside a 3 point plug sorted that problem out for the most part. There is still an intermittent power issue that I can't seem to iron out. It's so sporadic that it disappears before I can start troubleshooting it.

The set of TL Smoothers I’d bought have been fitted as well. They’re the 4 diode versions which, in hindsight, I shouldn’t have bought. Instead I should’ve bought the 8 diode versions. This being said, I did a test print of a model which has multiple curved surfaces and it turned out really well. I really couldn’t see the weird rippling effect that the TL Smoothers are designed to counteract. Then I thought “I’d bought them so I might as well fit them,” so that’s what I did. I fitted them and did another print of the same model only to find almost no difference… almost. The difference was so slight that they’re really not worth buying, I’d initially thought, but there really wasn’t much to correct in the first place so they’ve not got much to work with. All in all I’m still pleased that they’re in there to take up the metaphorical slack. I guess I just thought I’d need them more than I did in the end.

Filament… What can I say? I simply DO NOT recommend buying cheap generic stuff like I did. To begin with I have to say that I didn’t want to print in PLA. The whole point was to print in ABS (or possibly HIPS as well) in order to match the materials used in our hobby. I’d bought some cheap, generic, ABS right at the beginning but it was too difficult to print with, it likes to shrink and/or warp as it cools, so I figured I’d get some cheap PLA to get me started. I come back to my printer a year and a half after losing all settings and, unsurprisingly, I still have this cheap, generic, filament lying around. The ABS is still vacuum bagged so I haven’t bothered to touch that stuff again. The PLA hadn’t been stored correctly (read: not stored at all) so some of it had become brittle. I broke that brittle stuff away until I got to a nice supple piece and started printing. It still printed well but, just like when it was fresh & new, I had issues with bed adhesion. This cheap stuff kinda wanted to stick but kinda wanted to NOT stick, creating a mess of melted plastic everywhere around the nozzle whenever I tried to print. I’d hoped that the BuildTak would sort out that problem but, for all but one print, I’ve had to use a glue stick to get that primary layer down. After that the filament seemed to print almost flawlessly… almost… The issue I’d had with a weird ‘perforated’ layer randomly appearing/printing mid print (an issue which I’m not sure I’d mentioned anywhere on here), sometimes appearing several times in a print, still happens. I’m not entirely sure what conditions are causing it so I’ve been unable to troubleshoot that problem either. I’ve tried speed changes, temperature adjustments, changing layer heights, checking/adjusting stepper motor settings, but I can’t seem to figure out what causes it aside from when I’m doing something to affect the filament.

 

Things left to do…

I need to design and print a permanent enclosure system to allow me to print ABS properly. An enclosure will allow me to have better control over the ambient temperature, thus allowing the ABS to cool slowly enough to avoid those pesky warping/shrinking issues. I’ve ordered some samples of a newer “ABS-X” filament which is supposedly manufactured to not be so prone to these issues so, if they work as well as I’m hoping, I might not need an enclosure. In the meantime I've got a large portable photobooth to use as a temporary enclosure. I'm hoping it'll do the job.

I have the rest of the e3D v6 hotend to go with the heat block & nozzle combo I’d installed. I still intend to finish the direct feed conversion as it’ll better control the pressure inside the hotend. This’ll be handy, probably even necessary, when I start printing with the smaller size nozzles.

I have a really nice Olsson Ruby nozzle for when I can properly get printing but I’m not going to fit that thing in until I’ve got my printer dialed in right. I’ll probably leave it until I’ve finished the direct feed conversion.

I also need to reprint the nasty ABS parts I’d printed at the beginning. They’re poorly printed and suffering from delamination. I could also reprint the PLA parts at the same time so that everything matches.

After all these bits are done I can then move on to sorting out the wiring. I’d bought some of those drag chain things to house the wiring in a way to allow safe movement, movement without running the risk of undue wear & tear or catching wiring on something. It’ll also make things look nice and tidy.

 

Lastly:

Now this right here is a big deal for me… I’ve bought myself a 3D scanner to help things along. It’s an Einscan-SE from Shining3D. I’ve had it for about a week and I’ve only just managed to set it up today. I’m still testing it so I can’t tell definitively if it’s good or not. So far I can say that calibration was simple as its semi-automated. Scanning doesn’t seem as simple at this point. I’ve tried scanning a front wheel from the Blitzer Beetle but the back face is too deep past the supports for it to get a clear enough view. The rest of the wheel scanned rather nicely but without that data to close off things it's simply not a useable model. I’ve also tried scanning an ORV A Parts tree (Parts 5-8) but it’s too long for the scanner’s standard range and things wouldn’t align properly when scanned. I’m thinking that it’s my laptop that’s not got the processing power to work the scanner properly but it probably doesn’t help that the whole tree is too large to scan. Maybe if I cut it down to size, give the program less to deal with, then maybe that’ll work things out for me in the short term. In the long term, the 200x200x200mm standard advertised scanning range isn’t worth my time. The maximum advertised range of 700x700x700mm is what I’d bought it for so I need to figure out how to scan to that range, especially if something with the length of the ORV chassis tree is causing problems. Anyhow, I’ve got to redo the setup for my desktop PC as it has more processing power at its disposal.

 

So that’s where I’m at coming back into things. Bit of a long read, wasn’t it? :D 

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I'll be interested in how your scanner pans out, I've often looked at that particular model and contemplated buying it!? (That's a few Tamiya kits to sacrifice though for me!).

I have always intended buying more shapeways items from yourself and others but their prices continue to remain expensive, deals are very few and far between....

Again buying £200+ of parts or a couple of Tamiya kits........mmmmm

Tamiya keeps winning at the moment.

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4 minutes ago, taffer said:

I'll be interested in how your scanner pans out, I've often looked at that particular model and contemplated buying it!? (That's a few Tamiya kits to sacrifice though for me!).

I have always intended buying more shapeways items from yourself and others but their prices continue to remain expensive, deals are very few and far between....

Again buying £200+ of parts or a couple of Tamiya kits........mmmmm

Tamiya keeps winning at the moment.

I know what you mean. Buying via Shapeways ain't cheap but the quality is really nice, not to mention the serious lack of hassle compared to printing at home. The scanner, I gotta say, is actually a big risk. It costs so much (I missed out on an offer to get one for just under £1000 a few months ago) so if it doesn't do what I need it to then I've wasted that money. I'm sure I'll post up on here if it goes well or not...

 

And I've just bought another 2 kits for another project as well. It was cheaper than trying to source the parts separately but, yeah, Tamiya wins again! :o;)

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Update:
I've stopped my Tornado from working again. It's a mess. That is all.
:D :D :D 
 
In all seriousness, though, it was working really nicely until I decided that I needed to fit in the rest of the e3D v6 stuff. Now I have a mess of wires and a dead printer (again :( ) but it's my own fault this time as I wasn't properly prepared. Now I'm waiting on a few bits to help me fix things (also again) and get things going once more. Hopefully I'll get it done (and done right) before my employer calls me back in from furlough. That's proposed for the end of May at the moment but might be extended until the end of June depending on the UK Government's Coronavirus Update announcements over the next week or so.
 
Using my 3D scanner is proving a little more difficult than I'd hoped it would be. I'd done a couple of test scans to get an idea of what I'm doing and here's what I've found.
 
Scanning is actually really easy, especially if the item is small enough to be just above the minimum (30x30x30mm) scanning area. Doing multiple passes to 'fill the gaps' just makes it a longer job, which isn't a bother if I'm honest. Getting a decent scan? There's the real challenge. The alignment system in the software works really nicely for the most part but, as I'd found when I scanned a small Snoopy toy, any adjustment to the orientation of one part in reference to another causes really weird artefacts. The feet of my Snoopy toy moved a little as I scanned so, while the rest of the body aligned correctly, the feet looked like they had started looking like an orange with some of its peel removed.
 
Another thing I'd discovered is that 'Shiny' and/or 'Black' read as 'Invisible' to the scanner. Snoopy, therefore, had no ears or nose when scanned. In fact there were gaping holes where they should've been. My other test model was a Judge Dredd badge that is a nice semi-shiny brass/gold (?) colour with black insets. That also turned up as mostly invisible when scanned. I managed to circumvent this issue by using talcum powder to lightly dust the surface of both models before scanning again. It took a few attempts (dust, scan, re-dust, rescan, etc.) until I could get a decent scan of the Dredd badge with the only remaining error being the one where I missed deleting an artefact before finalising the alignment.
 
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It's been about a week since I'd gotten all the bits for my 3d printer but I'd kinda fell into a bit of a mental rut. I've basically lost all momentum again and can't seem to get myself motivated... Then I'd got the call last Friday to say that I'm going back to work on Thursday this week! My 3D printer isn't going to be fixed until the end of the month, maybe, so I'm trying really hard to NOT buy more upgrades in the meantime. I really want to get the dang thing working but I also want to buy the Canvas 2 and Palette 2S Pro from Mosaic. The Canvas 2 is basically to enable wireless printing via the OctoPi system as well as controlling the Palette hardware to turn the 'single nozzle & filament' printer into a 'single nozzle & multi-filament' printer. That's pretty much another £1000 worth of equipment to go on a printer that ain't up 'n running. :( 

In other news... I'm thinking of giving up on Facebook. I barely post on there nowadays but it comes in really handy as they host the pics & slideshows that I can post on here. I've just figured out how to use Instagram in a similar way, albeit without slideshows because I haven't figured out how to do that on Instagram yet, so I might be closing down my FB in favour of this option.

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I keep looking at an Ender3 and doing the "shall I shan't I" thing. I think 3D printing is another money pit ! but the ability to make parts (once I've learnt the modelling & slicer) is very appealing...

I deleted facebook ages ago, its tripe. I use imgur to host pictures, just upload from phone then on desktop view the picture, "copy image location" and there you go. Dead easy. You can size the image by changing the filename, e.g. instead of putting https://i.imgur.com/lmk4meo.jpg in the [ IMG ] tags if you put an l before the dot like: https://i.imgur.com/lmk4meol.jpg the image only appears as 640px wide, you can use h to get a 1024 image too.

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7 hours ago, Mark_C said:

I deleted facebook ages ago, its tripe. I use imgur to host pictures, just upload from phone then on desktop view the picture, "copy image location" and there you go. Dead easy. You can size the image by changing the filename, e.g. instead of putting https://i.imgur.com/lmk4meo.jpg in the [ IMG ] tags if you put an l before the dot like: https://i.imgur.com/lmk4meol.jpg the image only appears as 640px wide, you can use h to get a 1024 image too.

Thanks for the info. 👍

7 hours ago, Mark_C said:

I keep looking at an Ender3 and doing the "shall I shan't I" thing. I think 3D printing is another money pit ! but the ability to make parts (once I've learnt the modelling & slicer) is very appealing...

I think that if you can resist the temptation to upgrade your 3D printer like you'd upgrade your RC models then it should be a brilliant tool. Unfortunately, I've fallen off the deep end and trapped myself somewhere down this particular rabbit hole. The Ender3 does look good but wait for Creality's new machine, the CR-6, which looks very promising. 

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And... another year has passed. :angry:

Last March I’d set out to rebuild my Tevo Tornado but, a year later, it’s still not running. I had to finally concede a temporary defeat and look for another printer with which to print the parts I need for my Tornado. This is probably the wrong way to approach this problem being that I’ve got little to no experience in actual 3D printing (seeing as my printer has spent more time as a “modern art” piece than as a working 3D printer). Anyhoo...

 

I’ve recently bought myself a Creality CR200B. It’s a “fully enclosed” 3D printer that is pretty much the printer I’d wanted when I’d bought my Tevo Tornado 3 years ago, albeit with a smaller print bed size. The enclosure has a transparent door and LEDs to light up your printing area. Using the heated bed to bring the ambient temp inside the enclosure takes a fair bit of time. After watching a few YouTube vids I’d come to the conclusion that, when printing with ABS, I’d need an ambient temp of approx 40oC before I start the print. Reaching that temp takes a good 30mins as there’s two fan holes on the back of the enclosure and a big y-shaped slot in the cap to let the wires and Bowden tube in. Covering the fan wasn’t an issue (Masking tape to the rescue!) and the top slot has been partially covered with a cloth just to stop cold draughts from being too much of an issue. This helped to keep the temp up but then, as is my prior issue with the Tornado, I’ve struggled to get decent & consistent bed adhesion with the generic ABS filament I’ve got. I think, at this point, I’ve used about 5 times as much filament on failed test prints as I have on successful prints. So far my successes include a single Benchy and a ring for my tumble dryer... and that’s all... nothing else has worked, either failing to adhere to the bed in the first place or failing mid-print.

I was on the verge of calling it quits on home 3D printing before I bought the CR200B but I refuse to give up now. Buying a 2nd printer is simply an expense that I shouldn’t have gone for so I have to fully commit or these 3 years of 3D ‘Stuff’ expenses will be a complete waste.

 

My Basic Settings for ABS:

  •       CR200B – 200x200x200 print area
  •       Print Temp – 250oC
  •       Bed temp – 100oC
  •       Layer Height – 0.2mm
  •       Initial Layer Height – 0.3mm
  •       Line Width – 0.36mm
  •       Shell – 2mm
  •       Top/Bottom Thickness – 2mm
  •       Top/Bottom Pattern – Lines
  •       Bottom Pattern Initial Layer – Zig-Zag
  •       Infill – 15%
  •       Infill Pattern – Gyroid
  •       Print Speed – 55mm/s
  •       Initial Print Speed – 30mm/s
  •       Travel – 100mm/s

 

I honestly have no clue as to why I still can’t get consistent bed adhesion but 2 printers have come into play now and I’ve now had the same problem with both so I know it’s something I’m doing and not the printers being ‘bad’ or faulty. The bed is properly trammed/levelled, it’s cleaned properly with either isopropyl alcohol or PrintaClean, I’ve tried both with and without the glue stick, with and without masking tape, printing on the patterned surface or on the slick side of the glass... I just don’t know what I’m doing wrong. I might have to buy some branded ABS filament, supposedly higher quality, to see if that solves the issue. I’ve tried ABS-X on my Tornado, which worked ok(ish), but still had the same issue, albeit slightly less, whereas the generic ABS is actually usable on the CR200B, much to my surprise, and can print remarkably well but only when I get decent bed adhesion.

 

If there’s anyone here on TC that has had better luck printing with ABS, please chime in. I could really do with some advice on how to get ABS printing done right.

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Tiny update... Late on Saturday night I'd got my Creality CR200B printing with that cheap, generic, ABS! I had to use the 'raft' option (where filament is laid down until there's a relatively thick platform for the model to 'stick' to before it begins the main print) and, despite the base not laying down particularly flat, I've managed to get a couple of prints done. The chamber, after I pre-heat it above 36oC, seems to have been enough to stop my prints from warping or delaminating during printing or afterwards as it cools down. Admittedly, I've yet to do anything 'tall' yet. I've only printed off my VagabondStar logo and some replacement adjustment knobs, both designs are less than 1cm tall, but that's more than I was able to print in ABS with the Tornado. Notably the knobs I'd previously printed for it delaminated at several points/heights across all four whereas the new ones are almost completely fine with only the first couple of layers (which likely won't be seen after fitting) being a little disappointing. I'm not sure how I can correct these first layer issues (not sure... yet) but the raft option seems to have, at the very least, allowed me to begin to actually print in ABS, which is nice. :) I can now get back onto Fusion360 and redesign my Tevo Tornado upgrade parts (again) with at least a little hope that I'll be able to print them off. Once my Tornado is back up and running (and fully enclosed) I can get back to designing stuff for my RC related projects.

 

Again, though, if anyone here on TC has any hints & tips about printing (or improving prints) with ABS, please feel free to chime in or PM me.

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Abs is a pain to use , UHU stic ( Blue ) is what i used . On glass bed . But Raft is good also . and both can be applied if needed .

I try not to use raft , as more to clean up , of course . But some times needed ( i use as last resort ) 

I also use ( 3DLAC Plus) it's an Adhesive spray for 3d printers to prevent warping great stuff .

Mind you not cheap , but works . Hair spray is some thing other people use , not sure what brand ?

As i have not used it , But the 3dlac smells like it of sorts .

Maybe google it and see what you have in your country ? .. 

I have some prints look great and then start to warp :( sadly .. Nothing worse , as it can screw the hole print .

So give them a go ?.

I have CTC printer that i used the UHU Blue on and worked , with glass on bed .

Inventer , i don't have glass bed . But i use 3dlac .

Ender 5 pro not glass bed , but i use 3dlac .

Let the print and bed cool and most of the time the come off , some times i have to tap it to get it off lol .

But they do come off , NO warping :D ..

Good luck .

Ok , uk site for 3dlac

https://www.amazon.co.uk/3D-Adhesive-Anti-Warping-Spray-Printers/dp/B01HQ4KXZ4

 

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Been looking into printing ABS or ASA as well. Only printed PLA and PETG before. Have to build an enclosure first and also sort out some ventilation system hmm... is it worth it? I’ll see how the rear shock tower I’ve recently printed in PETG holds up..

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Forget about ABS/ASA. Its more frustrating then benefit. There are much more modern materials, easy to print and durable.

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25 minutes ago, Collin said:

Forget about ABS/ASA. Its more frustrating then benefit. There are much more modern materials, easy to print and durable.

Thanks for that. What materials would you suggest?

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PETG, PC & Nylon. First is easiest to print, PC also very easy but is not oil resistent. Nylon is great but must be really super dry when printig.

 

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The famous Benchy  , there Are more different versions of this now . Looks like it came out great . 

Nice and clean ..

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On 11/21/2016 at 11:46 PM, VagabondStarJXF said:

Hi all,

I've recently got a few quid from Shapeways. I was actually a bit surprised by this, probably because I'd turned off my notifications, so I was wondering...

 

I don't know if anyone on here bought the chassis braces for their CW01s but, on the off chance that the few that did are on here, can you tell me how they handle under use? I don't get out with my RC's much lately so any feedback would be appreciated.

CW01 Chassis Brace - Front.jpg

CW01 Chassis Brace - Rear.jpg

Had this brace for a while now: great job man, it works and fits great!

IMG_20230203_214921.jpg

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