Month: September 2016

Filament recommendations 2016 (well this month anyway!)

So its 1.75mm PLA filament buying time and I’m on the fence between some Hatchbox or eSun. Both seem to have equal numbers of total fanbois or total haters, with nobody in the middle which seems really weird.Any other recommendations? Verbatim, Wanhao, Prima?Not interested in ABS. Printer is FlashForge Creator Pro 2016. I’m in the UK so no Microcenter posts thanks. Under £30/kilo really. http://ift.tt/2d7oiav

How do we move past the STL file format?

Right now it feels like multi-extruder and multi-material printing is the next big thing in FDM. But while we are all talking about awesome hardware solutions, no one seems to be talking about the fundamental software problem for multi-extruder printing which is the file format.We have all stuck to the STL format and it is complete crap for what we are doing in 3D printing. We are representing 3D shapes in the form of triangles, which then must be translated into linear 2D flat planes layer by layer. Now we are talking about using that file format which contains no textures, no sense of color, no way to differentiate one material to another for multi-materials?Madness!Looking this up, two solutions have been put forward to replace the STL format. The AMF file and the 3MF file, with 3MF having the most likely chance to take the spot.Why should you care? Because the 3MF file format is a standard made up of the 3MF consortium which is Microsoft, Stratysis, 3D Systems, HP, Dassault, Autodesk, shapeways and the like. Only Autodesk and shapeways gives any attention to hobbyists and consumers who have made 3D printing mainstream. The rest are held by large commercial interest who could really give a shit about what you think should be in the file format. No big names from the hobbyist community like Ultimaker, or even Simplify3D company who actually progressed slicing software has any say in this format.We can’t stay with the STL forever, its too limited for what we will end up doing, but how do we move forward without this ending up like our $100 desktop 2D printers with DRM ink cartridges that run out before they are really dry? http://ift.tt/2cGpv3Z

Hey there, was the leveling incorrect or the fact that i tried to reduce the extruder temp from 210° to 200°? I releveled the bed an set temp to 210°. Know the print is commin nice and smooth. Thanks

http://ift.tt/2cMGB4b http://ift.tt/2cVp6M4

Thank you u/Peazuz! You saved my print!

But of a long story.A few months ago I saw a post by u/Peazuz about Continuing a print after a power cut, and decided to save it in case I ever needed to resume a print form some failure, and today was the day.I use a Fabrikator Mini V1.5, so I can only print from tethering to a computer. I was running a two hour print(long compared to everything else I’ve print), and about 65% through the print, my computer crashed.I tried what Peazuz said, but was only able to zero my z and y axis with the print still on the bed. I raised the head to the very top of the print and went into the GCode and removed all the code before that height. I ran the code, but it raised that far over the print(Print was up to 35mm, head went to 70). I tried it again, but with the Z zeroed this time, and ran the code. Immediately the print rammed into the fan, and I hit the emergency shut off button. The X and Y axes had moved before the Z axis, so the head was in the way. I tried a few other positions and nothing worked, so I looked up some of the GCode commands, and wrote in a few extra lines at the very beginning of the code. I had the Y and Z axes zeroed, and the X was at about 75, and started the print. The new code I wrote was to first raise the head to the proper height, and once there it then zeroed the X and Y axes, then resumed the code as normal, and it actually worked quite well.The first resumed layer was shifted just a little bit since the extra plastic, but the rest was aligned well. When I removed the code before proper height, I guess it also deleted the code that told it where to start each layer, and defaulted to random start points on each layer, so the top of the print is a little pimpley, but I’m just really glad I could get the print to finish.TLDR: u/Peazuz helped me save my print with this post. http://ift.tt/2cV2Sd2

Carbon (3D). Good, bad, what gives?

I was amused when they decided to announce the M1 printer on April fools day. I was amused when I read about their ‘innovative practices’ (browser based software, Orwellian monitoring of the machine) showing contempt for their future users. I was also amused to learn that they’ve sold an entire ~53 units so far this year. I was amused today to learn that they talked even more investment money out of GE and others.I was not amused when it became clear that I was being voluntold to be the operator of one of these for my work. There are a few months to go before it’s in place but I’d like to know: Is there anyone out there who has actually used one of these M1 systems?I can’t find a review of practical user experience anywhere, to the point where I’m thinking that the licensing agreement probably forbids you from bitching about the machine in public.The damn internet is filled almost entirely with marketing and investor glip-glop about this machine, with no real substance.Case in point: It’s a SUPER fast process, until you account for the UV curing oven time that most materials require. (Oops. Bet the execs didn’t factor that in when they signed the check this time.) Also: You will sometimes read that their materials are super specialized and no one else has them, alternatively I’m also told that most of their materials are not terribly different from other SLA resins available.Those who know something about SLA didn’t seem terribly impressed when they first announced. Is it all marketing? Is there anyone out there who can give some honest feedback on the M1 and Carbon? Maybe one of you tech’s out at one of the ~6 job shops who have one can speak up? http://ift.tt/2cUDRim

If you haven’t tuned your stepper drivers yet, you owe it to yourself

The difference in noise and heat with the improvement in print quality that i’m experiencing from adjusting the factory voltages on my folgertech 2020 i3 are night and day.All it took was using a multi meter and some helpful youtube tutorials. http://ift.tt/2cCcwC6