The 3D Printer Thread

[Scabutz]

Are more expensive printers faster? I got a Ender 3 V2 because it was cheap and my first printer. It's fine, works well, but to me it seems very slow.

Maybe my expectations are too high, not sure what I was expecting. I'm printing some rudder pedals, the actual pedals part is 3 bits, each bit has taken 10 hours. Taken me all week.

[Sway]

Scabutz said:

Are more expensive printers faster? I got a Ender 3 V2 because it was cheap and my first printer. It's fine, works well, but to me it seems very slow.

Maybe my expectations are too high, not sure what I was expecting. I'm printing some rudder pedals, the actual pedals part is 3 bits, each bit has taken 10 hours. Taken me all week.

Depends on the tech.

FDM printers like the E3 are slow - there are things that can be done in settings/model setup to increase the speed (depending on material, quality and structural requirements of the finished piece) but it's never fast.

SLA printing is faster, as it does an entire 'layer' up to the size of the whole print bed in a single hit that lasts a few seconds. So the only factor is the height of the printed item.

I've been working on a hobby project of sculpted wargaming 'tiles' with walls sticking proud. Think a reconfigurable spaceship corridor layout. Each tile takes 19-23 hours depending on the design and I have 64 to do... Along with other things I want. It's necessarily a multimonth project of kicking a tile off in the morning as often as I remember, after taking the old one off from the day before.

[Caddyshack]

My sidewinder can print about twice as fast as my ender 3. It is super quiet too.

[Brad Smith]

Is anyone good at creating the models required for a 3D printer. Want something printing but I have no clue where to even start with making the models.

Thanks in advance.

[Caddyshack]

Brad Smith said:

Is anyone good at creating the models required for a 3D printer. Want something printing but I have no clue where to even start with making the models.

Thanks in advance.

Depends on what you want making. It is free to download fusion 360 and loads of tutorials on YouTube....it is simple to learn and quite satisfying. Or you can do a drawing and get a company to model it...or get a 3D scanning company to copy something.

[Brad Smith]

This is what I’m looking for.

[Crafty_]

If you have that 3d model in tinkercad or whatever can you save it out as a .stl file ?

[ReverendCounter]

Scabutz said:

Are more expensive printers faster?

I wouldn't say so. I did a large print that took over 5 days solid on my prusa mk3s. Obviously you've got the usual variables like the amount of infill and layer height, but you can increase the print speed and get your prints finished quicker, but there'll likely be a speed at which quality degrades.

[Caddyshack]

Brad Smith said:

This is what I’m looking for.

Looks like it has already been drawn, if it can be converted to a .Stl then it is simple to run it through a slicer program and print it.

See if you can get it saved as .stl I am playing with settings on my printer still but happy to run it off for you.

[Catatafish]

ReverendCounter said:

Scabutz said:

Are more expensive printers faster?

I wouldn't say so. I did a large print that took over 5 days solid on my prusa mk3s. Obviously you've got the usual variables like the amount of infill and layer height, but you can increase the print speed and get your prints finished quicker, but there'll likely be a speed at which quality degrades.

A larger diameter nozzle is the best option IMO for speeding things up, but you are always limited by how fast you can melt and re-solidify plastic, so there are limits. Printers with core xy mechanics or deltas tend to have the lowest mass moving parts and can move extremely rapidly. If you get artifacts from resonance and vibrations in your print, you can try the open source klipper firmware for free and do some experiments with 'input shaping'

[Brad Smith]

Caddyshack said:

Looks like it has already been drawn, if it can be converted to a .Stl then it is simple to run it through a slicer program and print it.

See if you can get it saved as .stl I am playing with settings on my printer still but happy to run it off for you.

It has been drawn. But the person who done it wouldn’t release the model.

[Scabutz]

I noticed there is a fairly cheap laser attachment for the Ender 3. Anyone used it? I want to make some back lit panels so was thinking of a few layers of paint on clear acrylic, then laser off the top layer. Would it be too powerful for that?

[paulrockliffe]

Scabutz said:

I noticed there is a fairly cheap laser attachment for the Ender 3. Anyone used it? I want to make some back lit panels so was thinking of a few layers of paint on clear acrylic, then laser off the top layer. Would it be too powerful for that?

I keep meaning to buy that, it looks worth having to me. There's a really powerful one too that's mega money, but cuts through stuff.

I'm waiting for a better setup for printing in chocolate for mine.....

[ReverendCounter]

paulrockliffe said:

I'm waiting for a better setup for printing in chocolate for mine.....

Are you already printing with chocolate?

[paulrockliffe]

ReverendCounter said:

paulrockliffe said:

I'm waiting for a better setup for printing in chocolate for mine.....

Are you already printing with chocolate?

No, I Googled it and watched some videos and it looked like a total pain in the arse! Or there was a mega expensive option that looked like it might work occasionally. Would love to be able to do it though.

[Graham]

OOH just swapped the stock ( noisy) board and display on my ender 5 for a SKR Mini E3 v2.0 and the TFT35 display.

slots in nice and neat, and the display has a handy full size usb and sd card slot on the side. ( got to print a new cover now !)

compiled a version of marlin with the config files from bigtree bunged the sd with the new firmware in and off we were printing..

first calibration qube was 2x height as there are 2 pitch rods 400 and 800, so tweeked that and we're back printing.

The difference in noise is amazing the motors are almost silent now and the only noise is the psu fan !!!

the touch screen is nice and easy to use, better than the stock text marlin, but you can always switch between the 2 if you want.

worth it just for the difference in noise..

Just need to rebuild my pi with octoprint as i knocked it off the mount the other day and now it doesnt boot properly must have buggered the sd

[Ambleton]

Trying Prusa Polycarbonate blend for the first time today.

I've had it on my shelf for a while, sealed, I bought it for a project I sidelined, but decided now was the time. Inlet stubs for my engine, they're not directly in tough with the head. There's an aluminium casting that goes to the head, then a rubber collar. This is purely an extension to move the carbs.

I already made a few pairs in PrimaSelect carbon filled PetG and they worked amazingly but I broke one of the connecting tabs so I'm remaking in PC, which I'll be happier about anyway for temp purposes. Under bonnet can be treated as open as its a vintage type open car.

Seems to be printing lovely. Used the Prusa off the shelf settings in slicer but knocked down the speed a bit so maxes out at 50mm/s. 80 feels too fast for my liking.

My Lack enclosure is hovering about 41°C internal temp. Bed temp 115, nozzle 275.

Once printed I'll anneal in the oven for a few hours at 100-110degC

[Baron Greenback]

For some reason I have been watching YT on dimple die tooling using 3d printing and I don't have a press or 3d printer but good to watch!

[S13_Alan]

Well since my last comment I've...

Built a lack enclosure with a hole in the base to totally separate the hot part from the electronics, upgraded a whole bunch of crap on my i3Mega, fitted a bltouch, got very annoyed at flashing Marlin firmware, discovered Klipper, liked it a lot, converted all my 2208s to use UART, tried ABS for the first time, got more annoyed, discovered using abs melted in acetone to help prints to stick, got further annoyed at the state of the prints before getting the slicer settings correct and configuring pressure advance for Klipper.

amongst other things, it's been a good learning experience.

Finally, it prints perfectly with no warping and super happy Getting 40-45 degrees in the enclosure and totally flat layers, no blobbing, under extrusion or anything like that.



Just put together an abs version of the Voron M4 extruder. Need to design a mount for it to fit my printer, and wait on a thumbscrew and Bowden adapter arriving.

[S13_Alan]

Got my remaining parts for the M4 extruder yesterday.

Took the cad model for the extruder and also the stl for a cable chain mount I was already using that fitted around the default one and set about making a mount that could hold both in the original mounting position, allowing enough clearance for the enclosure at the side.

Think it worked out pretty well

Edited by S13_Alan on Friday 12th March 22:22