First attempt at 3d printing

Printed at 0.2 and 20%infill for a quick test. I’m now wandering around with a self-satisfied glow thinking I’m an engineering god!

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Not bad at all Robert for a test, don’t ask @callum for advice, especially if he offers to call around :zipper_mouth_face: :laughing:

If you are a hobby user you can get Autodesk Fusion 360 for free, and if you can put up with this bloke he will teach and guide you to master it.

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The poor guy is going to have to be without my company I’m afraid unless he has a Linux version of the software lying arouns somewhere. :frowning:

I began to dislikw windows when it started to name things My Pictures, My Documents and the like and got progressively pissed off with each version as it became more Fisher-Price alike. Changed to Linux several years ago and run Mint 19 on two of the desktops and a laptop and Centos 7 for Resolve on the editor.

But thanks for the heads up!

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:rofl:
My blood is boiling at the thought of it.

Off to find something to kick.

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:rofl:

You will need a bucket full of patience to get through the 3D printer headaches that follow. It will work fine one day and the next time you want to print something it will be a bag of shite!
My current project is a 200mm x 200mm x 200mm lithophane light box…

It’s only got 24hrs left… after 5 days of straight printing and doesn’t include the top part yet.

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My second and fourth attempts are in the bin. But I ha read a fair amount about them before commiting to buying one to know that they are as temperamental as a racehorse. Wouldn’t life be boring without petty frustrations/ :slight_smile:

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Well, that came round and bit me in the arse!

I’m a PLA god! And having all kinds of problems with ABS :frowning:

There are plenty of parameters to play with but at the moment no adjustment is stopping large pieces from warping or layers not sticking together. Flat stuff like motor mounts seem fine, DJI 550 arm substitutes warp like the USS Enterprise.

I’m moving the whole kit as print problems may be related to the dog opening the door to the room when deciding to go into the garden for a spot of late-night barking. I’m trying to reconcile “print ABS in a well-ventilated room because of the fumes” with “don’t use a fan, don’t allow draughts.”

Do I really have to build a tent to enclose the printer or is there something simple I’m missing?

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This is what you need…

Looks like it should fit my old Foden!

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Hi macspite, ABS can be a tricky little bugger to get right. Just putting a large cardboard box over whole printer can work. Cut a little window made with plastic to see progress. I don’t have the patience but print as slow as possible sometimes helps. PTEG filament doesn’t warp as much.

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Been printing a lot of ABS over the past year and large parts just won’t work well so far, made up a custom garolite print surface and the ABS sticks to it well but rather than warp it just cracks instead at some point under the stress. I can say that the garolite surface is really good for ABS, printed a pretty large item and it actually lifted the magnetic sheet off the plate rather than come unstuck but released no problem once cooled.
Have been trying in an enclosure heated to 60c which helps but it still splits eventually, I think if the enclosure temp was up near 90c it would prob work but the printer parts need to be swapped out first as they are PETG so will get soft at those temps (mine is Prusa MK3). Printed new polycarbonate pieces but the printer has been working so well generally that didn’t want to mess with it structurally.

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I’ve not looked into it yet but perhaps you experts could help me out.
I have been using PLA since day one and have been mostly happy with my prints.
I occasionally do get the odd failed print either due to the first few layers either warping or partially coming away from the bed in the middle of the object, sometimes they can be saved depending on what they are etc, the only other times I’ve had failures is if the print decides to let go on the bed or the printer has stopped mid-print, this only happened twice with the same STL from Thingiverse.
I would say that 99% of my prints I have been very happy with.

Anyway, back to my question.
I bought a spool of PETG when I bought the printer and have tried twice to use it but without any success.
I know all printers are different with different settings etc but how do your temps differ to PLA and is there anything else to do to get a successful print from PETG?

PLA is far more forgiving than ABS. Indeed, ABS is not ideal for 3d at the amateur level.

I would suggest that the biggest obstacle to ABS is the quality of the printer.

I have an ultimaker, thats probably about top level in the “cheap” printers. It will do ABS but its not great. Ive used a stratasys for ABS. Came out perfectly. 20k price tag though. Thats the difference.

My advice, if its wanted, don’t bother with ABS on toy printers!

These solved all my problems with 3D printing.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Caterpillar-Gravel-Black-Safety-Boots/dp/B00PEBY7DG/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?dchild=1&qid=1571223950&refinements=p_89%3ACaterpillar&s=shoes&sr=1-3

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For an explanation of the last post … go to …

https://greyarro.ws/t/my-introduction-to-3d-printing/5655/47

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Hi Mike, I’ve dropped the print speed and sheltered the printer from draughts. When I came downstairs this morning the print was almost perfect, well stuck to the magnetic bed cover and hardly warped. It was however a 175mm disc only 5mm high. The test will be taller prints …

I had seen your solution. And I wear steelies most of the time. But, for the moment, I’m continuing to try to get decent ABS prints.

I may get one of those machines that takes waste plastic and converts it into filament. With print waste and failed prints I could have an everlasting ABS supply :slight_smile:

As I said to Callum, I had seen that. But I also saw earlier posts of his where he was eagerly awaiting his new printer and looking forward excitedly to making stuff. I am slightly past that but not yet at the footwear/machine interface situation …

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All advice welcome and gladly received!

Some advice also seen as a challenge :slight_smile:

I’m not giving up yet!