msurunner
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Posts posted by msurunner
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We've actually printed a few custom sample parts for potential customers already. So has Makerbot. Sometimes just a photo compare, which is tricky, as Makerbot is quite good at hiding flaws.
They printed an sample in transparent PLA for example, it took me a good look, but I could see scars of the raft and some other bad things that the potential customer didn't notice on his compare. As the transparent makes it hard to see flaws. The potential customer also said that they printed it without support material (which was impossible, and you could also see the scars from the support). As you can read, I'm not happy how Makerbot handled this compare. (I believe in honesty over pushing sales)
If you are getting at test print photo, I'd recommend asking that they photo it still attached to the build platform for that reason. That way you can see exactly what would need to be post processed and what their print settings have entailed.
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The quality on the UM is pretty darn good for a $1500 3D printer, especially with the newer upgrades. I've been toying around with the idea of mold making with other teachers in my building. I've seen some of the products of molds and they still do show some of the layer markings from the printing so you will want to spend some time either smoothing the print or the molded product. UM still sends out sample parts, I believe. If you are fairly mechanical, I think the newer upgrades allow for to use the printer fairly easily.
How are you planning on creating the models for the printer? Are you well versed in computer drafting/modeling or are you planning on creating scans? This too may impact what you decide on doing...
MY suggestion to you now would be to ask several companies for sample parts. Then consider what size things your are planning on making, what the requirements of those would be and what your plans would call for. If you are planning on doing a lot of prints with large overhangs, you are probably going to want to consider a machine that has some sort of support material capability beyond creating support structures if you plan on molding them. That basically requires a dual extrusion setup for a FDM printer (such as repraps and specifically the UM).
Again, the biggest thing you can do is ask for sample parts, especially if you plan on a one and done purchase. Spending $50 on having sample parts shipped to you can potentially save you a ton in the long run...
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Last night I sliced a 147meg STL file (the full fat yoda bust) with my Java slicer at 0.04mm layer height in 24 seconds. That's total time to read the file in and slice it into bsp trees.
Damn...
I would like the ability to go down to .05, but if that was achievable through a better halfskin then a half thickness wall printed twice, the .1 would be acceptable. That kinda ties into separating infill and skins to allow for either different print speeds or thicknesses.
15 cm would probably be safe, though I'm generally in the <=10 area as well at we are getting to a rather large build volume at that size...
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The frustration will ease, then come back, then ease again! You will get there though!
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Not to try to make you write 2 sequences, but perhaps a full and lite version?
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Yep, take that bad boy apart. You have massive leakage. Be sure to do so while the parts are all still hot, not just warm, but HOT to make sure that all that PLA that around your threads is liquefied enough to not snap the brass. Then, I'm betting things were not tight enough inside your hotend to provide a good seal. Your PEEK melting probably only exasperated this.
When you get everything apart, again, be careful to have plenty of heat, I would use a torch/lighter/heatgun to make sure you get everything completely cleaned up before trying to reassemble. I went through a heat, clean, heat, clean heat, clean process to get every bit of PLA I possible could out before trying to reassemble. Then, I would re-assemble it (again, use some heat) first on the bench before trying to assemble everything on the actual printhead because you are invariably going to have to heat it, screw it together, back it out, clean it, and repeat several times to get it to a point where it's not having any bits of PLA stuck in the threads and whatnot. When you are happy with it, then go ahead and reassemble it on the printhead. After you have reassembled it, I would heat and cool the hotend a couple times. After you have done that, heat it back up and carefully check to see if your assembly is still tight. Heat cycling it once or twice and checking "tightness" before you try to print should probably be in the Wiki for first assembly, but I would say definitely needs to be done if you are taking things apart that have had PLA in them. I would bet that's the source of your first leakage. Because your PEEK melted, you may need to put some Teflon tape in that section, but I would recommend NOT doing that unless it leaks. The tape just asks for an obstruction. With a V2, you shouldn't need any Teflon tape.
Did you check to see that you can easily slide the filament through the bowden, by the way? Not all the way through to the hot end, but just up to it? If you can, then we can eliminate the filament and bowden have too much friction for your feeder drive. If you can upload a picture of the filament showing the driven section and the ground section as well, that would be helpful!
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As Snowy said, I would definitely get into 3D printing before you decide to open a business. There are some smaller ones that you can build to start experimenting with if the price of the UM scares you. I have been mostly pleased with the UM. There are some things I would change, but I could never justify spending 10x's the money on a Dimension for what I am using it for (education).
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PLA shouldn't be a problem. First, I would flip that comb (black F-shaped thing) around so that the f is covering that socket and holding the temp sensor into the board so that if you do get another plug and bowden pop it doesn't pull the sensor with it. Second, can you post a picture of your hotend? There can be some confusion in assembling the hotend on the v2 (new ones) and if incorrectly done it will lead to a blockage and plug almost every time. Third, have you gone through the first run wizard in Cura? That will get you close enough on your steps per e that you shouldn't have any problems. You can get some issues with that as the extruder is either under or over extruding which will lead to plugs from the material not getting forced out quickly enough and thus flowing upward into the PFTE/bowden junction or grinding of the filament followed by a plug (respectively). If you can upload a pic of your filament, that can aid in the diagnosis. Also, you should be able to slide the filament (with a clean cut end, not a mangled end from a previous print) through the bowden with ease. If you can't, measure your filament with some digital calipers. If they are 3 mm or less, measure the inside of the bowden, if you still can. The bowden should be close to 3.1 mm. Sander at UM is going to probably want those measurements if he's going to send you another bowden. Chin up! You'll get it working !
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Get in touch with UM. I had a run away on mine that was a result of the same problem and they replaced the PEEK for me. Given your troubles, they may provide you with an additional bowden. Also, check to make sure you have the comb part on the top of the print head over the amplification board DIRECTLY over the three prong socket. I believe the Wiki had it reversed at one point (maybe it still does).
After that, figure out why the tube is popping. The most common instance would be plugs forming at the PFTE to bowden. I would be sure to check your retraction settings, if you are using retraction, as you may be pulling molten PLA up into the PFTE piece, thus creating plugs. The next thing I would check too is that you aren't over tightening the four cap bolts that hold the print head together. I think that's a VERY easy thing to do because we are all worried about it leaking. In reality, this can overcompress the bowden, which can create plugs. There is not a lot of force necessary in tightening those four long screws to provide a leak free unit. The other thing I would check is that you haven't applied too much pressure with the extruder to deform the PLA as that can cause a plug as well. This is much more rare on the spring and bearing extruders. Then, consider printing faster so as to push the filament out quicker, thus not allowing as much of a molten PLA build up. Conversely, you could lower the temp you are printing at. Finally, consider active cooling.
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I'm going to go out on a limb and say that in the very near future there will be. But I'm definitely for some beta testing beforehand in the PC world!
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PLEASE SAY YES!
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Understand, just remember that the more material you are trying to lay down at one, the more you can be at the mercy of filament diameter change (and shrinkage). If you do need a precise size, time and time again, you may not want increase your layer thickness too much. Even in bumping up from a .1 layer to a .25 layer, I can notice a difference in shrinkage on a bridged section verses a walled section. By keeping the layer thin, you limit your shrinkage differences. Joris is not going to have any issues with that as he's doing vases/other single walled things, thus not having a bridged section sandwiched in between some walled sections. Depending upon your prints, you may, hence why I recommended starting at .25 mm for a layer thickness. Test it, then try thicker. Point being, if size is truly important, I would definitely not recommend jumping to .6 mm or .8 mm and assume that nothing is going to change from a .2 mm.
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So in other words, play around with it on a test print, write down your settings, input them in the Marlin builder, then reflash the firmware?
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Editor's note for ya:
"Automatically, if you decrease temperature you have to decrease the temperature as well."
I would think you meant something along the lines of:
"Alternatively, if you decrease temperature you have to decrease the speed as well."
Quick question for you. In the motion control menu, you have the ability to alter the jerk settings. Is that temporarily stored or is that flashed to the firmware? Meaning, if it's altered once, is it held for the current print, the time the printer is turned on, or until altered again?
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bit quiet on this topic - I confess I had expected more 'wants' and such.
just as an update - I've written the core code now. it loads 85MB of stl in about 20 seconds and slices it almost as fast. am working on support, interior fill and g-code generation next.
you've still got a chance to throw in your 'wants' before I release something!
Nice job on the slice speed! Keep it up! You da man! Chest bump!
If you can get all of the wants we've got here I think we are going to be golden.
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I was waiting for a Joris update... I've been printing with a nozzle in that size range and .25 has been a good layer thickness as far as not having to switch up too many settings and still getting good layer adhesion and print speeds. Anything really larger than that would seem to begin delving into the realm of individualized setups, but I could be wrong. Maybe it's still easily tune-able at the larger layer thicknesses, I just was trying to give a frame of reference.
Which slicer are you using? You are really going to be wanting one that allows for you to edit the printing profile because the layer thickness is how you are going to save time. Most detail/normal settings are adjusting that value, but if you are using one that doesn't have a "rougher" setting than the normal, you are not going to notice any significant savings in time to print. Cura and KISSlicer (2 most popular slicers it seems right now) both allow you to manually set your layer thickness.
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You can up your layer thickness to something like .25mm with a nozzle setup like that and not experience too many issues, though you will likely want to slow down your first layer so it has a chance to stick. Going with a .25mm layer thickness will theoretically cut your print time down 20% over a .2mm layer, down 60% over a .1mm layer. Adjusting nozzle size will not adjust layer thickness, you have to do so in the slicer. It will, however, allow for a greater amount of material to be extruded, thus your lines will be thicker. This can save you a little time, maybe one perimeter/loop per layer.
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Keep me updated! I may get antsy and start something but at this time I have so many other projects going on in the classroom that I'm no where near able to sit down and devote the time to re-create everything (stupid priorities...)
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Sorry in advance for perhaps a lazy reply, but it's the end of the workday and I'm a bit fried.
Did you guys create the app the phone is using to power the Ultimakers? If so, can you post it somewhere (I'd rather not re-invent something)? For that matter what's your firmware flashed to the router look like? Is the phone transferring the file to the Ultimakers or do they each have the file stored on the UltiControllers? What's your wiring setup look like from the router to the machine (I could probably find more than several tutorials on setting up one, but again, I'm being lazy I suppose)?
Please and thank you in and advance!
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Has anyone played around with a firmware tweak to incorporate Wi-Fi shields such as this one?
https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11287
For that matter, as we start getting more and more powerful Android phones, could we see at some point a slicing software with a small enough appetite to be powered by a phone/iPad? If so, wouldn't it be awesome to integrate something like one of these? Talk about the ultimate UltiController...
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I would add to the desired list concentric infill!
I think I understand that as a spiral from outside to inside right? that's a good idea, I was pondering better ways to do infill last night.
Yep! Or vice versa, inside to out...
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http://students.autodesk.com/?nd=download_center
If you can fall into their student parameters you should be able to download anything Autodesk creates, including AutoCAD and Inventor which have STL export capabilities.
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And those assembled wrong require tweak after tweak if not reassembled correctly as the tweaking usually exposes another problem. Congrats!
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If you do so, please include the settings you used (temp of printer, print speed, fan speed, etc) and time in print. I would also say calibrating the camera would be recommended, though not as necessary if you can give us the print temp.
Bowden tube pop unplugged the temperature regulator
in UltiMaker 3D printers
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You definitely have some issue with grinding the filament. That to me looks like it's facing an obstruction and trying to push through it, thus chewing bits and pieces, which will generate more friction in the bowden and create the plugs. We may need to take a look at your extruder settings if the problem persists after you reassemble.