Well, the filament gear was loose on the shaft. Probably my fault, I took it out to clean it yesterday after I had a problem and most likely I didn't tighten the set screw enough. It is working now.
....and 1 day to the 1st mod. I think thats some sort of record.
TDA recommended that part and all of my troubles have involved that gear. If the filament isn't moving for some reason, the gear will grind it to a fine powder. With this open lid, I will be able to see trouble instantly.
It's the tension on the arm. Dunno if that machine has an adjustment screw, but most extruders have some way of increasing or decreasing the pressure on the deed gears. Grinding is telling you either too much pressure or feeding too fast. Or a clog/blockage.
On a normal machine I'd suggest pronterface and check the e-steps, but dunno if you can use it with that system.
[This message has been edited by MidEngineManiac (edited 09-17-2022).]
It's the tension on the arm. Dunno if that machine has an adjustment screw, but most extruders have some way of increasing or decreasing the pressure on the deed gears.
The first problem I had Thursday was a clogged tube. The filament stopped moving and I kept trying to load it because I didn't know any better. The second problem happened when I tried to remove the filament. It was misshaped on the end and jammed in the tube on the way out. Both times, the problem was that the filament wasn't moving in the tube so the gear just ground a notch in it. I took the gear off both times to clean out the shavings and didn't want to over tighten the tiny set screw so today it was slipping.
[This message has been edited by williegoat (edited 09-17-2022).]
There are little "flags" you can make to put on the extruder so you can tell at a glance if it has stopped. Cant find one specifically for the Sculpto, maybe TDA has something. For a simple design program to modify other people stuff or your own (simple) designs, I use 3D builder. (free with Windows). Dunno how it will work on Linux.
Did find some neat top-mount spool holders for it, though.
I knew I was going to do this. I just lost the little blue C-clip for the collet where the bowden tube goes into the hotend. I ordered these on Amazon. Please tell me they fit.
I am not the most "delicate" guy on the block.
[This message has been edited by williegoat (edited 09-17-2022).]
There are metal teeth inside the fitting that grab the tube. The clip just makes sure it doesnt vibrate down and loosen. Built like a shark-bite plumbing fitting.
Printing without it, especially on a new fitting, is no problem.
Good idea to have a few spare fittings on hand though for when one does fail. Fittings, nozzles, spare tube. I keep a couple complete hot-ends on hand. Spare print beds too, those get destroyed.
Everybody and their brother is going to recommend Capricorn tubing, but I've had nothing but problems with the stuff. Plain old white PFTE works fine.
[This message has been edited by MidEngineManiac (edited 09-17-2022).]
There is another printable MOD which has a latch that pulls the spring and plastic bits away from the extruder gear which probably makes loading and unloading much easier.
The filament sometimes goes the wrong way (gets stuck instead of going into the other part of the PFTE tubing.)
Our printer came with what seemed to be a little PLA in the hot end - when we first loaded the filament, it was grey first, then became the color of the filament. Not sure if they test the hot end or something...
Loading and unloading the filament isn't too difficult, If it doesn't fully load the first time, you can do it a second time (don't need to "unload it"). Can also tell it to print and then cancel it once it starts comin' out. I dunno, things kinda make more sense after ya mess with it some. I hate to oversimplify, especially here, where folks swap freakin' care engines and whatnot.
I recommend printing the "top mod" (there are two - I like the "open" one) https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4579082 it allows you to "get at the filament" a bit if ya need to...
This may be worth getting just for the peg board stuff.
This may be worth getting just for the peg board stuff.
That's my mindset - its good for at least 2 things -
1 Learn the basics of 3D printing 2. Print some useful stuff.
We've printed some custom pegboard stuff (using TinkerCAD) and printed some stuff that were MODs for various other tools/machines that we use. Some would have cost 30+ bucks if we had a place print them.
I need to grab some "fun filament". 3D max has a 10 for $200 deal on PLA+ (which is cheap for Canada, I usually pay around $25-40 a roll) so I might stock up. Went a little overboard with the bikes this summer and all the mad-money has been going in that direction.
I'm ok paying around $25 a spool for the kind of prints I'm doing. PLA+ is typically the recommended material for the kind of print above. In Texas it's a little comical, I've got about 500 round through the orange one, but a few hours in a parked car could completely ruin it.
I did a stepper bracket in PLA+ a while back for the E3. It lasted about 6 weeks until the sag was bad enough I couldn't use it anymore. It was part of a mod to get rid of the eccentrics on the Y bar.
Here's another I did, the stock was done in 6 pieces. The barrel is off the shelf but like the orange one(not the easiest to see in the picture but it's not an off the shelf part), I'm thinking about making one for it. The printed barrels consist of a rifled steel liner, a carbon fiber tube over the liner printed ends and a larger carbon fiber tube over all that.
Definitely doesn't get as hot as an E3. Really some easier to obtain and use high temp and impact resistant filaments would be a game changer for this type of stuff. It's a little amazing it's gone as far as it is considering the plastics we are using.
I havent had the nerve to try anything under pressure or tension with the 2A stuff. Just stocks, grips, mounts ect. ONE of these days I'd like to do an Baraba with a folding stock. Maybe this winter.
Biggest issue with crossbow-type stuff is the string catch in the trigger mechanism doesn't last for **** . Might try making that out of CF filament next time.
For the longest time, I had no interest in 2a stuff, especially when it was mostly just the AR15 lower people were obsessed with and it wasn't like you were saving much by printing that, or ending up with a great rifle, but that has changed as they've come up with some very strong AR lower designs and are now printing much more of the rifle. I still don't care for the AR design printed/cheap or not, but I may put up with all the things I dislike about the AR platform for an AR10 built off a printed Hoffman tactical lower.
I just ordered one. I've been wanting to try 3D printing, but just didn't want to spend the money. The ebay link you gave had a price of $80, but you could also make an offer, so I offered $70 and they accepted. Waiting now for it to arrive. Do you still recommend ordering the magnetic bed sheets, as this seems to come with that.
[This message has been edited by litespd (edited 10-10-2022).]
Do you still recommend ordering the magnetic bed sheets, as this seems to come with that.
Speaking as a complete amature/newby, I have had no problem with the parts sticking when they are supposed to stick and releasing when they are done, using only the supplied bed.
Also, I have bought filament from two different brands chosen for their low price with good results.
So far, it has been a relatively trouble free experience once I got past the initial problems that I mentioned above. You just upload a file and tell it to go to work.
[This message has been edited by williegoat (edited 10-10-2022).]
I just ordered one. I've been wanting to try 3D printing, but just didn't want to spend the money. The ebay link you gave had a price of $80, but you could also make an offer, so I offered $70 and they accepted. Waiting now for it to arrive. Do you still recommend ordering the magnetic bed sheets, as this seems to come with that.
I have several of these printers, and the last few (the "+" model) all came with a magnetic bed. so you don't really need the magnetic bed sheets.
But I might plop a "regular sheet" on over the flexible one, and then remove that one very hundred prints or so...
I dunno, the flex plate has been goin' just fine so far, and I've been printing a ton of prints for some special needs kid's art supplies... (about 3 dozen prints) and I haven't seen any indication that the surface has been 'compromised' at all... Thanks for the tip about the "offer 70 bucks"...
Sold one of mine, the other 2 have been in storage for a couple months. Come fall might sell them too and pick up something a little updated from the E3.
Honestly, not much money at all in it around here anymore. Even custom stuff. Too many people jumped in and it's just price warz. LMAO, the last couple pieces I needed for ebike stuff I did up the STL myself then farmed out the actual printing. Cheaper and easier than ordering filament and effing around with it myself. Let somebody else deal with the problems and waste.
I shelved mine too. I can't get it to finish any prints after only a few successful ones when I first got it. I've tried every suggestion, calibration and filament that everyone said or suggested. I must have tried well over 100 times, probably 200, and it fails each and every time.
People in the 3D community says just chuck it.
It was an Ender 3 Neo. Though it was only like $200 bucks. I don't want to go through that wasted time ever again. I don't mind having to do a little calibration, but if it can just freaking finish a print now and then, I would be happy.
I'm up for maybe spending more money on a good one, but it MUST work and be reliable. I'm sort of burned on my first experience in 3D printing. I sort of don't even trust the high end ones, because people report issues with them too.
[This message has been edited by Wichita (edited 06-29-2023).]
Yup. Enders are for people who want to screw around with machines, not for people who want to print
My old Anycubic was pretty much trouble free until the harness burned up, then I got such a run-around trying to get replacement parts I eventually just trashed it. Good printer, absolute crap customer service unless you are the original purchaser and have invocie #, order number, which vendor you got it from ect, ect. They dont wanna deal with stuff from secondary sellers.
Yeah, ours are mostly collecting dust on a shelf... I guess one of the things that got us so psyched about it early on was the environment - my son built a delta printer around 2014, and he brought it to Makerfaire. There was a whole "printer village" there and a few companies brought some really cool things - pieces for F1 cars and rockets and such. Even a 3d printed car. Lots of cool potential, but It never really got past the "print out trinkets and small practical prints" for most. Some used theirs to print cosplay stuff... Iron man costumes, etc, but things kinda didn't go the way we thought it would. Oh there's been huge exponential increases in innovation and all that, but so many folks just made their little board blink an LED or print "hello world" on a little screen.
We did use ours to make some fun stuff. Maybe need to break a few of them out and do somethin' with them. Have a good one.
