LePaul

The reason I ask is, somehow, the plastic explodes from the spool like a spring. I've had to resort to placing the spool on the floor in an effort to defeat the "tangles" that always seem to happen. If I don't, I wind up with a curly mess of PLA wrapping around the extruder gear wheel and forming a knot where the PLA goes into the extruder. Look forward to seeing how you guys control the "tangle" Paul

Nick, I suspect sometime during that print, the connector on the print head popped off, so the remaining passes were done with no heat...so this time around, plus the changes you suggested, should give a better part

Weird, my nozzle wouldn't heat...it looks like the connector on the print head wiggled loose even though it was in the retaining clip. Quick fix...but not a good omen for this print!

I wonder, is changing the bottom/top thickness the reason the parts have no top layer (as the bottom does)?

Yes completed items, I was wondering why it did the bottom fine but no top, even those those are checked on in the Expert Settings I'll change that to .8 on the Bottom/top thickness

Now for some humor... Nick....I've been bald for years. I haven't owned a hair dryer since the 90s

I think the marketing for the new product has been poor, at best. If this is how they intended to build hype, it sure has failed. I've been in Software and Hardware for a very long time and to drop a new product with vague hints on a blog 5 days prior to release...that's a first. I would've expected the forums to be a great launching point, showing photos a few weeks in advance of the new nozzle, frame, etc. You know, build the excitement. And for recent customers like myself, had I known a significantly updated machine was due out in mere weeks....I would've waited. As would others. It looks like a beautiful machine. However the video of a guy coming home with flowers and printing a vase for them? How many hours would that vase take to make? Unless its a matter of minutes, the ad is misleading.

And here is how the parts came out Looks pretty good, now if I could make the lights fit!

Ok I measured the opening of the part and it shows as 8.4mm The IKEA light bar is over 9mm Here's the settings I printed with, would that be part of the problem?

How are you getting those LED bars to fit the mounts? It says to slide them in from the side...well with the plastic casing, I don't see how you can do that without a lot of filing or breaking them

No I haven't messed with that yet...but right now I am printing out the set piece and so far its looking pretty good. I'm recording it on video so I can fast forward and review. There were a few passes that had me wondering...hoping for the best!

I measured my PLA and noticed it was exactly 2.8 so I changed it in CURA from 2.85 (I didn't think this would matter much...but why not try) I did the .4 bottom/top thickness Infill was already checked Part sticks very well to the tape...I wipe it down with the rubbing alcohol. Scraping, CO2 blasting...I'm stll ripping the tape...so I'm fine with just replacing it I have an errand to run, but when i get back, I'll try making that entire set...and finally have some nice lights

Actually I think its the lighting and all the blue, in hand, it looks fine I printed one of the IKEA light holders you referenced and made the tweaks gr5 suggested I also went back to Silver PLA

Here's how this one came out... So now that we have the basics working (again!)....I want led light holders!

Pulleys and motors checked Test printing the robot now. Maybe this is from the extruder not being locked in all the way...but now...I have a very noisy printer...lots of creaks and so on... (Blue PLA on Blue tape...hard to see....but listen...)

No! Good ! I wasn't fully pressed in (re-watched the video) Also, when I feed in the PLA, its a struggle to get past that coupler! Now I thought I would tighten belts while I had the tools handy My test print is all shifting to the left side. Checking the X pulley now

Still nothing extrudes....but this time, I put a zip tie around the feeder and turned it manually a few times...and got a nice blob Trying a print now @220 with the suggestions GR5 made

Locked? I just added washers to the bottoms Heating the head now to level...again.

Back to this part.... Here's the extruder picture you asked for

I have tightened the extruder to the 11mm distance. I have removed the silver PLA and put in the nice blue stuff I bought with the kit. When I pre-heat the PLA, it flows When I try to do a sample part (robot) to check things out, I can see the distance to bed is a bit too high...but no material is flowing. So it looks like I am stuck back at the basics, bed leveling and now getting the PLA to flow properly on even the basic robot test print.

I'm still having problems and am starting to get very frustrated. I've had this together for a few weeks, made two or three cute prints...but that's it. The parts I try to make for things like the light holder fail. I've spent more time debugging and troubleshooting than enjoying.

Interesting thread, I am still refining my bed leveling on my Ultimaker. I noticed one of the springs slid between the nuts at an angle, so its not allowing me to level with the other ones correctly. I'm noticing close to no extrusion at lower temps (under 200) but at higher, I flow fine. I'll have to check a few things you pointed out.

That was a quick reply Very cool

This was a printer a friend of mine was leaning heavily into buying until he saw this review. He went with the Solidoodle 3 and has had great luck with it

Exactly. In my case, I bought mine Aug 26 and specifically asked if something new was in the works. I work in the IT field and know how things go, as you mentioned. I was pretty frustrated this week seeing an obviously well developed product being released today.