New guy looking to learn

Hey everyone I'm Adam. I like to think of myself as a logical, physical science type of thinker. I have a few ideas for inventions, and few prototypes sitting around that I don't like enough to start pushing further ahead. I think I am tired of working for other people and ready to take a leap and invest my time and hard earned dollars into a 3d printer and my inventions. I have been kicking the idea around for a while, but this going to work everyday and leaving my family at home is wearing on me. I know I can do what I have to do to be successful on my own, and I am pretty motivated.

I have been drawing with cad software since I was about 5 or 6 on an amiga 500, computers and me are like peas and pods. I have a little college under my belt, so I am some what educated. I have also been working in the trades building and fixing things since I was a teenager. The pay is good, and I like the work but I want to work for myself from my home. That is my goal. I am pretty creative and intuitive and a good problem solver. My dream job would be a lab that I could fabricate anything I wanted and get paid. This is the kinda person I am, breaking from the mold is what I enjoy doing the most.

The 3d printer will give me the ability to create prototypes with good accuracy and time spent on the computer designing rather then playing with dangerous toxins. All a big plus for me! The cost will be a big saving in the long run from what I know of trying to pay someone to create a non patented invention. The last time I was trying was in the 90's and the fees prevented my mom from going through with her idea. But now you can buy the cupcake carrier at the store because the people we went to used it after the contract expired. My oldest sister invented big league chew, she played baseball with the boys and didn't want to chew so she wrote the company a letter. I don't want to talk to anyone about my ideas other then the person I need to fill out the patent papers with and my lawyer LOL! I am really serious about not wanting to work for anyone else.

I am here to learn, and I am starting with purchasing my first 3d printer. Do I buy off brand and flash the firmware, or go with a open source machine, 3d software to design with. These are the first steps and where I am at. I have been reading and watching different machines and reviews, trying to keep the cost down understandably. I don't need to print really large items, and I plan on printing over-sized and finishing so resolution might not be a large concern but the more precise the starting item, the easier it is to finish.

Well I will shut up now, but thanks for taking the time to read a bit about me. I look forward to any advice you might have to offer, and appreciate for taking the time to help. Nice to meet you!

Well I picked a printer, a Wanhao i3 Duplicator. I have been toying with sketchup, but when the printer arrives I will get the trial for cubify to see how I like it. I just need to make generic shapes, but I need precise dimensions to create my idea. Cubify software seems to be the easiest from the videos I watched to create dimensions, so I am guessing it will suit my needs the best. Plus if I buy it's affordable!

For what I need to design the dimensions are the most important part, and I kind of figure I will most likely have to print a bit large and trial and error for the shrinkage. I am awaiting a pair of digital calipers to measure out my design, you could say it is a glove or case. So the print needs to be as accurate as possible, and I am really kind of looking forward to the tinkering to get there.

Hope you are having a good day.

The experimenting is where all the fun is for me. Seeing a project slowly come to life and solve a problem or need is quite fulfilling.

Wow, what an adventure the last few days have been. First the machine is great, other then a bad fan, and non secure z rod. Minor inconveniences, that will only result in upgrades hehe.

My first two days were great, then the plastic stopped sticking to the bed. I was printing on the plate direct with good results. But after settling in it has some curves to it now. I tried tape and it stuck, but the bed was still not flat enough. I tried to source a piece of tempered glass locally only to be turned way. I could of probably got an off cut out of the trash and paid them for it, oh well.

I got some 8x10 from home depot, at under $2 a sheet it was in my hand and worth a try. Some binder clips, and trial and error with abs slurry, hair spray, and glue sticks here is my conclusion.

Abs slurry and hairspray even if they work, are messy hard to clean, and contain chemicals that like to burn. But glue sticks you can eat if you want to be that kid ;), and they clean off glass very quick and easy compared to hairspray and slurry. Although scrapping the slurry with a razor worked well, warm water washes the glue off the plate in no time.

I got pictures and prints, and ideas and a pretty good idea on how to dial in the machine.

I stopped using cura in favor of matter control. It has way more options and you can customize printing preferences into presets.

Also anyone have a link to Gcode commands and syntax for the duplicator?

Sounds like things are going pretty good, hope your having fun..

I will say if you are having problems getting hairspray off of glass then "you are doing it wrong".. :p Out of all the application chemicals I've used , hair spray has been by far the easiest. A single spray of Windex and 2 min. later it's clean and waiting for a new coat of hairspray.

I tried Windex, I think I am just to impatience. I sprayed and rubbed a glue mess lol. The gluestick wipes off with a baby wipe, or a shot of Windex. With print times being long I should realize I have plenty of time to clean the glass HEHE. The hair spray I used did not give me the same stick as the glue stick either.

I just read/watched about a bed pad to print on, zebra board I think it was called. No glue needed, and you can flex the board to pop prints off.

Fun is a total understatement! I have been printing from thingiverse a bit, making gliders, and creepers, batarangs, etc. I have my prototype printed out in abs, fully functional just needs more refinement in the operation. Then I can get that idea off the ground.

I am struggling to keep designing, all these free prints to download make it hard to focus...

i am the newest in 3d printing.
one month before, i was engaged in thermal mobile printer.
now i want to change my career.

hope to learn from each other.

Funny how things work, I knew when I got my first printer I would probably at least want one to do larger prints in the future. I have only had mine for a short time, and have just completed my list of upgrades I wanted to to yesterday. After all the effort I have put into the mechanical aspect of my printer, it goes and tries to start a fire. Right now I don't really feel safe with this machine running in my house and not sure of my future with it. I am trying to at least wait to hear back from customer support before ordering a new printer.

I am not sure of what to do, and this day is gonna drag...

Put it in your garage with patio bricks under it. Build a wall of concrete breaks around it. You can make it so you don't have to worry about it.

But with that said... Marlin has a lot of Thermal Protection options built into it and they all are available in Release Candidate #3. You might want to check out what is available.

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There is a good photo of said wire, and I am really confused as to how this would happen after 13 days of logged prints (maybe 2 months ownership). I was printing abs at 220 hot end and 100 on the bed, the control box got really hot and I shut it down as soon as I noticed. I googled the lcd screen turning off and found others same problem but with the heatbed wires. Clearly there is a wiring issue, others have shown the heatcore wires melting the filament before it gets in the extruder.

Overall I put most of my time into making this a better printer, and I am going to have to do a youtube review just to get a bit more honest feedback out there.

The build quality of this printer is dismal, my y axis belt was about 7mm out of alignment. Even so it printed right out of the box, pretty good too.

I went all out, z axis braces, new y carriage which I had to design offset bearing blocks to use. Converted to 3 point leveling, printed and installed the x axis blocks that allow the x axis belt room to move, toothed idlers, silicon thermal pad. Last two I never got to use....

Before the death of this printer I was blown away at the improvements in the quality of the prints. Now I am kinda thinking that many other brands would have given me these results much faster with less effort.