Author Topic: Nicely priced 3D Printer  (Read 16656 times)

Offline wagnmkr

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Re: Nicely priced 3D Printer
« Reply #15 on: July 13, 2016, 08:41:46 PM »
I have been following this thread and I am very curious. I note the pitfalls that you found and understand them. Do you think, for a rank amature whose last bit of computer manipulation was D.O.S. and enough c++ to make a square move across the screen, could figure out how to use and play with one of these printers?

Is it good enough to teach me, or should I say, let me learn the basics of 3d printing without buying a $1000.00 machine?

Tom
I was cut out to be rich ... but ... I was sewn up all wrong!

Offline b.lindsey

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Re: Nicely priced 3D Printer
« Reply #16 on: July 13, 2016, 10:17:49 PM »
Tom,
The learning curve won't be the printer, but rather learning whatever CAD package you favor. The printers these days are pretty user friendly IMHO.

Bill

Offline wagnmkr

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Re: Nicely priced 3D Printer
« Reply #17 on: July 13, 2016, 10:43:21 PM »
Thanks Bill, that is kinda what I figured and since I am hardly able to make a drafting program do a straight line I guess a 3d printer isn't on my horizon.

Tom
I was cut out to be rich ... but ... I was sewn up all wrong!

Offline b.lindsey

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Re: Nicely priced 3D Printer
« Reply #18 on: July 13, 2016, 11:02:23 PM »
You could always print from other's files, and I suspect many are available on the internet.

Bill

Offline wagnmkr

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Re: Nicely priced 3D Printer
« Reply #19 on: July 13, 2016, 11:22:20 PM »
Bill, I forgot about that part of it ... like the Toyota engine that has been used as an example. Who knows, It could even inspire me to learn cad finally. I will ponder it over some amber liquid of the Scottish nature.

Tom
I was cut out to be rich ... but ... I was sewn up all wrong!

Offline b.lindsey

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Re: Nicely priced 3D Printer
« Reply #20 on: July 13, 2016, 11:31:26 PM »
There you go Tom  :ThumbsUp: And the 3d technology keeps in getting cheaper and more capable day by day.

Bill

Offline Tin Falcon

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Re: Nicely priced 3D Printer
« Reply #21 on: July 13, 2016, 11:48:56 PM »
Tom
I have been messing with 3d printers for a couple years now.
There is a fair amount to learn but IMHO that is the fun .
Downloading a file from thingiverse is fine but to really use one as a tool a basic free 3d design program is a must.
I teach #D printing and design at the local maker space so can teach you enough to be dangerous LOL.  The cool thing about additive manufacturing is if the setup or programming is not right you waste a little plastic and have a small mess to clean up.
You can buy a decent usable printer to get started with for about $ 400 plastic to play with is about $ 20 a roll and serious make something plastic is more like $50 a roll.
Tom

Offline Tin Falcon

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Re: Nicely priced 3D Printer
« Reply #22 on: July 14, 2016, 01:28:39 AM »
And chuck what are you building ? I have done 1 kit build.
Tin

Offline nonort!

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Re: Nicely priced 3D Printer
« Reply #23 on: July 14, 2016, 07:50:28 PM »
My limited experience of 3D printing is that it becomes very absorbing very quickly. I have found that my eBay kit machine 'Aurora i3' is quite capable of producing the same quality of print as our 'maker space' Luz-bot Taz 4. It just takes longer, both machines are very heavily effected by the ambient conditions both temperature and draft. A great deal of detrimental effect can be over come by putting the machine in a simple enclosure (cardboard box with cling film window). My intention is to print patterns to build a model of a stationary engine that I own a 'Powell' 6 hp open crank engine weighing in at seventeen hundred weight. Even in quarter size it would have 9" flywheels.
If all the worlds a stage who's stolen the horses.

Offline wagnmkr

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Re: Nicely priced 3D Printer
« Reply #24 on: July 14, 2016, 11:08:42 PM »
Mainly what I want to do is learn. It is important that I keep the brain cells working ... use it or lose it, I think the phrase goes.

Once the sailboat season is over, I will get more serious about the printing.

Tom
I was cut out to be rich ... but ... I was sewn up all wrong!

Offline Pete49

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Re: Nicely priced 3D Printer
« Reply #25 on: July 15, 2016, 06:09:38 AM »
Tom I suggest you go for it as it is a fun hobby. Learning cad is on my list but at the moment can find most of what I print on thingiverse and others. I built a kit printer from ebay and it cost $Au309 so nicely priced and very easy to get going. I'm sure you would enjoy it and the fun of learning cad. Who knows were you will end up  :ThumbsUp:
Pete
I used to have a friend.....but the rope broke and he ran away :(....Good news everybody I have another friend...I used chain this time :)

Offline wagnmkr

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Re: Nicely priced 3D Printer
« Reply #26 on: July 15, 2016, 10:16:17 AM »
Thanks Pete ... I have pretty much decided it is a go.

Tom
I was cut out to be rich ... but ... I was sewn up all wrong!

Offline GordonL

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Re: Nicely priced 3D Printer
« Reply #27 on: July 15, 2016, 01:26:43 PM »
I purchased one of the Monoprice printers with the idea of learning something without investing a fortune. I have only had it a few days but so far it has been interesting and I have made the usual dumb rookie mistakes. I have been using Visual CADD for the last 20 years but it is a 2D program so I had to try something else. I have been playing around with Sketchup and I am not sure if it is the best or the easiest. It is at least free for limited use and produces a STL file which can be loaded into Cura to generate gcode. One of my first mistakes was to export the Sketchup file using the wrong units. I drew the part in inches and exported it in mm so when I tried to print the part it was 25.4 x actual size.

Some of my problems have been using the micro SD card. I have a SD slot on my computer but it requires an adapter for the micro card and the one I had did not work so I got another one. Then I purchased a 32 GB micro SD card only to discover that the printer would not read anything over 4 GB. This is not mentioned in the manual. Using a micro SD card seems kind of a poor way to transfer files from the computer to the printer. I was hoping for something like a flash drive.

Lots to learn yet but hopefully a fun trip.

Any thoughts from anyone on CAD programs. This is a hobby so free or cheap is good. Easy to learn is also good. I am not anticipating building rocket ships but simple parts for my model engines is good.

Gordon

Offline cfellows

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Re: Nicely priced 3D Printer
« Reply #28 on: July 15, 2016, 06:17:21 PM »
Sorry I haven't dropped in here in a few days.  I've printed a couple of items on the Monoprice mini, but have been mostly focused on the 3D printer I'm building from scratch.  I had it working with an Arduino Mega/Ramps board, but took it apart to solder a header on for connecting a fan.  I put it back together and now it won't work.  Two new Ramps boards and 1 new Arduino Mega and it's still not working.  The steppers won't move and the Arduino repeatedly reboots.  I'm guessing there is a short somewhere, but it's hard to figure out where.

I've now pretty much decided to abandon the Ramps setup and go with a newer, integrated technology.  I'm trying to choose between a Smoothie Board and an Azteeg X5 Mini.  The Smoothie Board has a 120mh Cortex-M3 processor and the Azteeg X5 has a 120mh Arm processor.  The Smoothie Board has been around longer but the stepper drivers are soldered in place would would be difficult to replace.  The Azteeg X5 does have plug in stepper drivers but the board hasn't been around as long and doesn't have as big a following.  Decisions, decisions...   Both boards use the same, Smoothie 3D printer firmware.   The Smoothie firmware uses plain text configuration files so there is no need to recompile it for configuration changes.

Back to the Monoprice mini... I'm still troubled by the anemic heater on the build plate.  The resistance of the build plate is 3.6 ohms, so the maximum heating power at 12v is 40 watts.  I could use a power supply with higher voltage, say 15v, and boost the power to 62.5 watts, but I'm not willing to risk burning up the controller board with the higher voltage.

Alternatively, I've heard and read that ABS sticks really well to a Build-Tack surface without heating the bed.    Build-Tack costs about $14 for 5 sheets the size of the printer bed and apparently each sheet will last for quite a few prints.  Don't know if it also works with Nylon and other filaments, but I'm sure a little research would answer that.

Chuck
So many projects, so little time...

Offline sshire

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Re: Nicely priced 3D Printer
« Reply #29 on: July 15, 2016, 06:56:46 PM »
Chuck
I've had great success with the Uhu glue sticks on my glass bed. (DaVinci 1.0)
Amazon. Box of 12.(the glue, not the printer :lolb:)
Not sure how my heated bed plays into the glue stick equation but worth a try.
Best,
Stan

 

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