3D printer considerations

[3 minutes of fame]

If I can give my contribution, the models in the attached images are all made with my resin LCD printing.

I started with filament printers, but the surface of the pieces, with the characteristic lines, could not satisfy me, so I switched to an Anycubic resin printer, quite cheap, but with a 12 x 6.5 cm printing plate, a little too small.
I now use a Phrozen Mighty 4K printer, which I am very happy with (printing volume 20 x 12 x 22 cm).
As someone has already written if you use good quality resins, the smell of the print is insignificant, recently also resins that can be washed in water have come on the market, so you don't have to use isopropyl alcohol to clean pieces.
As 3D CAD design program, I started with Thinkercad, but it's a bit basic, so I switched to Autodesk's Fusion 360, which is very powerfull and get a license-free version for hobbyists; it's more complex, but it's really great, anything can be done.
Last thing as a slicing program to transform CAD drawings into printer-readable files I use Chitobox, of which there is a free version, simple, but complete and functional.
The models seem to be very stable for the moment, even outdoors they did not give me problems, for the duration I will know in 10 years.

Excellent stuff there!

My only caveat would be the running costs. The water washable resin is very expensive and tends to shrink slightly if left outside for any length of time.

I use the Elegoo standard resin in my Mars printer and it is still quite smelly! It also requires quite warm conditions, or it get quite thick and parts don't print very well. Increasing the temperature increases the smell, but more recent printers have filtered air extraction which reduces the problem somewhat.

Resin parts are susceptible to slight warping during printing and curing, so getting the orientation right to mitigate this can be trial and error. This all adds up to increasing the run costs even more.

For a first foray into 3d printing, filament is probably the right direction, as the learning curve is easier and domestic approval easier to gain!!

 

[luigi.gitto]

I didn't know that the water washable resin tends to shrink, thank you for info, I find it more flexlible and I use it for fence or other similar parts.
For my models I use normal resin Phrozen, It is more exensive than Anycubic, but quality is higher.
At the beginning I used a filament 3D printer (Prima), but I had several problems, apart the surface of objects, so I choose a resin printer, that gave me a lot of satisfaction with my models.
Probably my smell is not that good, but the smell of the resin doesn't bother me.

 

[GAP]

After much reviewing (SWMBO calls it procrastination) I am gravitating towards the Creality CR-6 SE, it is basically an Ender3 with a self leveling bed which is the biggest attraction for me.
Review from All3DP

https://all3dp.com/1/creality-cr-6-se-review-3d-printer-specs/

After some more research/review reading I am backing away from the CR6 as it looks to have quality/design issues with the power switch and the mother board that can cause fires. Creality recommend that it not be left unattended while printing.

So I am now back to square one on my search with the Ender3 V2 still in the frame. The manual bed leveling is what is giving me the greatest hesitancy but the BLtouch could overcome that.

As this is my one and only purchase I am looking for the least risk of wasting my money.

 

[3 minutes of fame]

I think you will do very well with the V2. Try it without the bed levelling and see how you get on.

As I said before, if you are running the printer in fairly stable conditions and you are reasonably gentle with it, you won't need to reset it very often.

Before you dismiss the V6, the power supply issues have been mainly resolved and the advice not to print unattended applies to all printers but frankly we all still do it!!

 

[JimmyB]

Before you dismiss the V6, the power supply issues have been mainly resolved and the advice not to print unattended applies to all printers but frankly we all still do it!!

I bit like not leaving your phone unattended whilst charging (or any other lithium battery device), it covers them, because "they told you so"

 

[muns]

Well I just (yesterday) ordered an Ender 3v2 with the BL kit as a bundle offer.

 

[Tanker man]

Have to say, my Ender 3 with BL touch , which I added is a joy to use now.
Dave

 

[GAP]

I have finally taken delivery of an Ender 3 V2, I had to wait till stocks arrived to fill my pre order.
I am slowly assembling it and should be up and running next week, if life would just stop getting in the road.
My first prints will probably some LGB type bogies, I found some files on Thingaverse, to replace the home made ones I have on 6 wagons at present.
I am thinking of using ABS filament.
Does anybody know what type of filament comes in the box with the printer?

 

[GAP]

Have to say, my Ender 3 with BL touch , which I added is a joy to use now.
Dave

When you assembled your Ender 3 V2 did you have left over hardware?
I have assembled mine following the manual and have 3 screws left over, not all the same 1 each of;
M5x45
M5x25
M4x16
Plus a spare bowden tube connector and a nozzle.
Hopefully the hardware kit is generic for all their models and I have not missed anything.

 

[mickb]

When you assembled your Ender 3 V2 did you have left over hardware?
I have assembled mine following the manual and have 3 screws left over, not all the same 1 each of;
M5x45
M5x25
M4x16
Plus a spare bowden tube connector and a nozzle.
Hopefully the hardware kit is generic for all their models and I have not missed anything.

Hi GAP yes quite normal to have a few extra bolts ect

 

[3 minutes of fame]

Good stuff.
I suggest you start with PLA and some simple prints, as these will get your confidence up while you consider things like printing with and without rafts, orientation and supports.

 

[GAP]

Good stuff.
I suggest you start with PLA and some simple prints, as these will get your confidence up while you consider things like printing with and without rafts, orientation and supports.

In the long term how does PLA stand up in a high UV/Temp environment compared to ABS , planning on printing building in the future.

 

[GAP]

Hi GAP yes quite normal to have a few extra bolts ect

Thanks for that, after working in aviation for over 25 years left over hardware starts alarm bell ringing, hence the question.

 

[ge_rik]

In the long term how does PLA stand up in a high UV/Temp environment compared to ABS , planning on printing building in the future.

I too would suggest starting with PLA - that's probably the filament that they supplied. PLA is a lot easier to work with than ABS and you can be up and running almost as soon as you switch it on for the first time.

ABS is a very different kettle of fish. It takes quite a while to find the perfect settings. I'm currently experimenting with PETG, which seems to be a half-way house between PLA and ABS. It prints at a higher temperature, so should withstand your climate better than PLA.

Trevor on GRF is a great fan of ABS and uses it for all his printing. I'm sure he would be happy to advise if you want to try ABS.

Rik

 

[3 minutes of fame]

PLA gets a bit of a bad press, but it is a fairly stable material.

I made some fence toppers out of it last year and other that a bit of fading, they are all exactly as printed. I've also got a fan outlet cover made from ABS and a birdbox in PETG and they are also surviving well.

ABS needs a really stable, relatively warm temperature to print without warping. As it's also a bit smellier than PLA, you need to consider where you will site the printer. My unheated summer house is fine for PLA but I would not want to chance a large ABS print out there.

 

[GAP]

I searched the net for videos of assembling the printer as the instructions did leave a bit to be desired (a picture speaks 1000 words for me) and the presenter mentions, at around the 19 minute mark, some G-code for levelling the bed. The code running is shown at around the 23 minute mark on this video

The levelling file is located on Thingaverse.

Creality Leveling Cycle GCodes by psdesign

Here are my files to run an automated cycle for leveling, just run gcode as a print and the nozzle will home then touch the bed at all 4 corners then center stopping for a few seconds, then repeat speeding up each time.If you want to learn how I use these for perfect bed leveling see...

www.thingiverse.com

I think I will try this to see how it works.

 

[GAP]

Finally got my bed leveled and have done 2 test prints, all is going good.
I ended up manually leveling it after watching a couple more youtube videos.
I have found PLA+ which is supposedly less brittle than normal PLA and easier to work with.
I am also looking at PETG as a more robust alternative, time will tell on that one.

 

[mike]

In the long term how does PLA stand up in a high UV/Temp environment compared to ABS , planning on printing building in the future.

Nothing has melted this year ...pla bridge ,crossing gates ,phone boxes .control boxes , boxes ect all good

 

[GAP]

Finally got my bed leveled and have done 2 test prints, all is going good.
I ended up manually leveling it after watching a couple more youtube videos.
I have found PLA+ which is supposedly less brittle than normal PLA and easier to work with.
I am also looking at PETG as a more robust alternative, time will tell on that one.

Bit more experimenting yesterday.
Another bit of trial and error resulted in me learning about how the Z axis offset worked (I think) the pictures below show the same file printed with the offset at 0.1, 0.13 and 0.00, I am surmising that a positive number moves the nozzle closer to the print so conversely a negative number will move it away.

This with a 0.1 setting

This with a 0.13 setting

And with a 0.00 setting

Overall I am fairly please with how this is coming along, except for the fact the Creality Slicer that came with the printer will not open on my newer (hobby) laptop but will on my old one (used as a desk top), bit of a pain having to go back to the house every time I want to slice something that I have downloaded in the shed.
Cura on which the Creality one is based will not work either I really like the Creality one as it so simple to use, maybe I will have to look at others in the future.

I have bought a roll of PLA, so will go with that for a while before experimenting with other filament materials.

 

[3 minutes of fame]

In all honesty, none of those prints are very good. It looks like the orientation of the part is wrong - or the part was not flush to the build surface when it was imported, the bridge or possibly just the print speed needs reducing and some more support adding. You could probably reduce the print temperature 5-10 degrees and see an improvement in surface finish as well.

In terms of the slicing software, give Simplify 3D a go. It has lots of options and the Creality presets are very good.

I would urge you to do some more calibration prints before you tackle complex prints requiring bridging and significant overhangs. It's very easy to end up down a rabbit hole of tweaking the wrong things trying to get a specific part to print ok when actually the problem is something simple that a calibration cube and simple bridge tester will reveal.

You shouldn't need to "tune" the printer once the bed height is set. Altering the bed offset is only really required where a part is so large, less "squish " is required to get it to successfully adhere or if the temperature of the ambient surroundings has changed enough to affect the dimensions of the printer.