Hello from Northampton, UK

[chris_uk 0]

Hello Ultimakers!

I have been researching into the 3D printing world for some time now. It has pretty much come to the time where I just have to purchase one for my future projects. I originally started out looking for smaller printers but soon realised that it would be better to go larger for my functional pieces of work. The UM2 looks very tasty right now!

Having seen what is possible and learning to use the 3D modelling design software (Free Trials) has been a very interesting learning curve. I can barely contain the excitement!!

The 3D printing and design world is a completely new area for myself so definitely a lot of studying in my spare time.

I am not an engineer or designer by trade but self employed as a property proprietor and run a fairly new chip shop of 3 years. If you're in the area I won't be able to print anything amazing just yet but can cook you up one of the best fish and chips you have had in a long time!

I'm glad there are a lot of helpful and friendly people on the forums which helps calms the nerves of investing into a long term printer like this. Hopefully, the purchase will be made this coming weekend.

I look forward to your advice and feedback on my future projects.

Chris

[illuminarti 18]

Welcome, Chris!! Access to a 3D printer AND a chip shop. That sounds like heaven. As an ex-pat Brit, proper fish and chips is something I miss the most.

[chris_uk 0]

Cheers illuminarti !

As far as I'm aware, all Brit expats say the same thing lol. We're definitely stirring up a bit of a craze here that for sure

As your across the pond I'm sure you have found a wide range of culinary substitutes to tingle your taste buds that's not so readily available here in the UK!

[thirty6 3]

Hi Chris

Welcome to the forum

[skint 61]

Welcome Chris. Can`t wait to see your 3D printed fish and chips and see if PLA is as tasty as the real thing 10:16 am and now I want fish & chips!

 

[chris_uk 0]

Thanks Thirty6 and Skint.

I don't think pla will ever be tasty although I would rather print with it than a 3d food printer.

[chris_uk 0]

Printer ordered last Sunday and arrived Tuesday afternoon.

I only just finally had time to set it up and run a few test prints from the SD card, the robot and the earring circles. This printer looks awesome and I'm amazed at how fast it prints!! I sat down watching the first whole 35 minute print with my head almost stuck right inside haha.

Few hiccups on startup. A screw was out loose from the front left bed clip? Simple fix. Had to calibrate the bed a few times but think I got the knack for it now. The feeder stopped feeding the filament during the print but sorted it out by giving it a bit of a helping hand. All in all, it's working perfectly and needs some fine tuning.

I was wondering though as I have not connected my laptop to it yet.

What resolution is the robot print on the SD card with the standard settings?

I only ask because on the front right lower belly where you have the over hang there was a stringing effect horizontally but still held in place for it to complete. (Will post photos later) The legs came out great.

I'm assuming this is down to not fine tuning the bed calibration or possibly it's almost on a rapid prototyping print setting. I will keep testing but would like to hear your expert opinions before moving onto the 10mm3/s test.

Chris.

[illuminarti 18]

Overhangs like the belly are tough. Most likely you need to lower the bed temp a bit - the default setting in the printer is 75º, which is a bit on the high side - especially for small, short prints like this. 60 would probably work better; keep everything a touch cooler.

You also want to make sure that the plastic has time to cool between passes; printing two robots at once helps quite a bit with that, as the layer on one can be cooling while the other is printing.

Usually you can use Cura's 'Load profile from gcode' setting to see what settings were used to create a gcode file. Sadly, however, the necessary info to do that is stripped out of the robot file that comes on the SD card, afaik.

 

[chris_uk 0]

Thanks for the info illuminarti.

It has helped a lot with the small test prints.

Also found that facing the detailed parts to the left 90 degrees has helped a lot. Probably because the left fan is closer to the nozzle for better cooling than the right. Currently im experimenting with some figure models.