General 3D Printing Thread


 
Seth RC has printed his MicroDamper in PETG. Haven't spoken with him in a while though.

Yes indeed. I switched my Prusa to an E3d V6 and then went on the mission to figure out PETG.. have been using it exclusively since, as I've been printing things that need the strength. Have not had the time to go back to ABS.

Have printed a few microdrampers in PETG w/ no issue
 
Im a proud, soon to be owner, of a new Makergear 3d printer M2. Now, I have to impatiently wait for it to arrive in the mail and figure out all neat stuff I can start to print.
 
Oh nice that's a seriously well built printer that is also really compact for its build area. And you can print both halves of a HeaterMeter case in one print, which I've found saves more time than you'd think. The combined print time is slightly longer but you don't have to go through a whole cooldown-reheat in the middle, and remember to go do it. That's where I lose the most time-- OH! I forgot to get that print an hour ago.

You're going to be very pleased with that printer, now you just have to wait for it!
 
Its has already shipped, :). Hopefully, I have by the end of the week. Going to use Optiprint and and Raspberry pi to be able to communicate with it via wifi.
 
Hey all, I just wanted to apologize to anyone that has sent me messages and I haven't replied over the last 6 months or so. Life has gotten in the way of my hobbies and I've only superficially checked into the heatermeter boards for a while. I'm starting to get back into things and just got my printer up and running after being down since October. That being said, I still won't have time to print things outside of any designing I do so I apologize in advance to anyone that sends me a PM for a request. It looks like I have a lot of catching up to do with all of the threads around here.
 
Im printing!!!!
It came this afternoon and after getting a few more tools, about a hour ago started to set the makergear up. Followed the auto-leveling app and I am doing a test print now. So far looks flawless. Can't be any happier.
 
After a few hiccups with the PLA material that I received with the printer, it kept breaking, I am doing better with the material I had bought from Fry's. I also have Octoprint and my video camera up and running. I had some problems with Octoprint hanging and not connecting very well, even when I had a very good wifi connection, changed out the brand new edimax adapter with my heatermeter edimax and its been great also. My wife is getting jealous, I'm paying more attention to the printer then her, lol.

I'm making my first heatermeter case in blue. I knew it took awhile to print, but now I actually understand and can appreciate all the hard work Tom and Byran, Ralph, and the others that have printed stuff for me in the past.
 
Had some problems with the corners warping up, i adjusted my bed heat down a bit, and started using Elmers glue on the glass. It works a little to good, I have to put the heatermeter case and the glass its stuck too into the freezer for a bit to get the thing to break away from the glass. I have some excellent prints though, nice and flat.
 
It is honestly worth the effort to put a good PEI print surface on the heated glass bed. PLA and ABS stick and remove flawlessly with that surface.

We are still waiting for some print pictures!
 
I had a kapton covering on the glass, when I first started testing, but I tore it a few places. I actually like the glue, though, it holds great. I have some 8x10 3mil kapton sheets arriving this Saturday.

When I get home tonight, I will get a picture, lol.
 
Here is a my latest print, looks great
14dzu5u.jpg


I'll fix the picture in the morning, kinda hard to rotate it on my phone.
 
Last edited:
I'm I cant stop printing stuff, lol. I'm doing a 17 hour print of a piece of a solder fume filter thingy. I still have another, atleast 17 hours for the last part of it. Anyways, here are some better pics of my first good case.

vgpky9.jpg


29pxk6w.jpg


149oa3m.jpg
 
I have tried two times to print the new 4.3 case with ABS and two times have had bad warping in the corners, both top and bottom. Had no problems with the 4.2 case. Have been using hairspray was going to try ABS glue next, but I have not found away to get it to spread evenly, I may just have it to thick to spread.

Bryan, the bevel on the top cover looks kinda odd and simplify3d even puts in supports below bevel, shouldn't it be about the same as the bottom bevel along the edge or have it like the 4.2 case, more rounded in the corners and a smaller bevel.

Other then that I like the display fits, screws and interior in general. I have not built a 4.3 board yet, I do have some custom 4.3s that work with the adapter board arriving soon from OSH
 
Tried again to print a 4.3 case and again had major warping in the corners. Never had this much problem with the 4.2 case and same material.

I lowered my extruder temp to 240°c and have bed heat at 110°c, I added an abs/acetone glue to the kapton layer, since the hairspray is not working to hold it enough. I also lowered the infill to 20%.

Hopefully this time it's flat.
 
That's interesting, I have to go 2 degrees higher on my bed when printing the 4.2 case so that the very tips of the edges don't lift slightly. I only print 15% infill with a 100C bed and 220C ABS.

Both the top and the bottom have the same bevel angle. The edges are all 45 degree fillets (top bottom and sides) however the top one is twice as tall (2.1*1.41mm vs 2.1*1.41/2mm). It might be because the contact area is a point rather than rounded. However I can't really make a rounded bead edge like on the 4.2 case in OpenSCAD-- I'm just not sure how to math out this profile.

One thing that would make me shut up about Simplify3D being way way way overpriced for what it does is if it would put mouse ears on external sharp corners touching the build plate automatically. No slider does this and it can be so helpful to prevent warping. I can add it as an option in the Thingiverse Customizer though, are you only having problems with the top or both?

EDIT: The Thingiverse 4.3 case has mouseears now that can be turned on in the customizer. If you set them to less then 1mm (which they should be I think) they sometimes don't show up in the preview except for some of the angles. They are there though if you download the STL. You can also add your own if you just make a STL model of a tiny cylinder and add it to your printbed in S3D.
 
Last edited:
Thanks, both top and bottom warp. The top or the warps more then the bottom, probably as it has more layers that are all cooling at different rates.

Right now though I'm dealing with another issue with my printer. The abs will extrude for a little while and then it stops. Sometimes I can get to about half way doing a case and then it will stop and jam.

I cleaned the whole hot end with actone and it still won't feed. Tried two different rolls of ABS. Once I get home going to remove the feed wheel and make sure that's nice and clean. I thinks that the issue and it's all clogget up.

And also, if you could, split both top and bottom into two files, if possible. That way somebody doesn't need to print both, if they only need a part of the case.

Thanks.

Simplify3d is pretty good, I tried the other free oneshipping and did not good results. Also it has a Makergear M2 settings to make things easier
 
http://myuds.servebeer.com/


I Cleaned everything took apart the drive and hotend and cleaned with acetone. After I replaced everything it still would not want to run at the recommended temp for my material, which is 3dxtech abs 230c. I removed the tubing inbetween the case and the printer and that may have been the cause of my extruding problems.

As of now my print looks really good, lets hope it last.

If anybody is up the top link is a print in progress, click on the control tab
 
And also, if you could, split both top and bottom into two files, if possible. That way somebody doesn't need to print both, if they only need a part of the case.

The SCAD file has the option in the editor to output top or bottom only, or both.

Also, if you're using simplify3D, you can also split it into 2 entities with the mesh/separate connected surfaces command.

Prin't looking good so far! Regarding your build surface, have you tried BuildTak? I use a Flashforge printer and they supply a similar surface. I have had NO lifting at all on 99% of my prints, regardless of size.
 

 

Back
Top