# Specific 3D Printers, Scanners, & Hardware > Peachy Printer Forum >  Delivery No.1 - Build blog of the first V1.0 Peachy Printer in the Wild

## thej

Hi everyone!! TheJ (Jason) here in beautiful BC Canada!

Two weeks ago, I drove from BC to Manitoba and back again during my holidays. On the way back, I had the opportunity to spend almost 10 hours with Rylan to see the printer in action, to talk to him about all things "Peachy" and of course... to pick up my printer !!!

During that time, Rylan was in the process of moving and when I meet up with him, most items had not been unpacked including the printer parts. So we literally found and unpacked those parts and got them arranged so that they were accessible. We found and rigged up his prebuilt Peachy and started going through the software, calibration and the dripper setup.

Toward the end of the evening we sat down and discussed a few highlights of our discussions throughout the day (with Nathan filming :-). So get ready for a new Peachy Update on the Kickstarter page !!!

This thread will be a blog of my progress and experiences encountered while building my V1.0 Peachy Printer.

I'm following the instructions outlined in the "PPKV1 Instructional Build Video".
Found here:  http://peachyprinter.ipbhost.com/ind...-instructions/
and here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZbAi0Scz5U

The build so far...

Starting out, I found separating the scanner parts (there are more scanner parts than printer parts it seems) from the printer parts and also getting the larger items out of the way, decluttered my work space and allowed me to focus on what I was actually building.

The build starts with the orange armatures. To each of these pieces, two crazy tiny magnets and a thread need to be attached. These 2 steps are probably the HARDEST and MOST IMPORTANT steps to get RIGHT!!! Pay VERY close attention so that you don't have to do this again. I botched mine (put the magnets on the wrong %@#*'n end and had to do it again. Wasn't happy :-(  It took about 30 minutes the first time and about 20 minutes the second time to get the armatures setup. These are tedious and time consuming steps.

There are two ways to glue the tiny magnets to the armature:
1) Crazy glue
2) Printing Resin

The video has instructions on how to use the resin to stick the magnets but I used Crazy glue instead. The instructions were 10 minutes long on how to use the resin and you had to assemble other items just to do it. As far as I'm concerned, so long as your crazy glue tube as a pointy tip, it will work just as good or better. Just use a torn off corner of a piece of paper to draw off excess glue.

PRO TIP
When you discover that bending the armature while trying to get the magnets on will catapult them to far off lands (and you will!), using a letter opener or a butter knife to wipe along surfaces will reacquire these microscopic little buggers with ease ! Working over carpet helps too as they can't slide.

I'm only 36 minutes into the build video so far so back to the bench !!

Jason

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## thej

Printer Complete !!
Well, almost. I still have to setup my container, the mesh base with handle and the drip system....but the printer itself is complete.

I had some fun with the mirrors. There are 2 protective layers over the mirror surface and they must be removed. The first blue layer is quite easy to remove by scraping the corner with one of the plastic printer legs. However, the second transparent layer has proven impossible to even find! I checked both mirrors repetitively and even the blue layer to see if they were stuck together... no dice! the build video says to use the plastic printer leg as it won't scratch the mirror. Never say never! I found a way! I made a few scratches from the corner I was trying to catch the protective layers. I'm not sure if the scratches are on the mirror or the clear layer. I will have to experiment with one of the spare mirrors. In fact, it might be a good idea to sacrifice a mirror just to be familiar with how to get the protective layers off and to know what kind of force will and won't scratch the mirror. As it is, the mirrors are so super shiny, I can't imagine there is another layer left there.

I found myself dissembling and reassembling several pieces in attempts to get things right. It all worked out good, just a lot of fiddling.

One item that I was constantly having problems with was the aluminum dampener in the armature. It just would not stay straight. I eventually just crazy glued them in place. I straightened them as perfectly as I could first. I think it turned out quite well! They are now secured and look very straight.

Adding the coils was easy but they refused to go on in the proper orientation first try. I pushed them in from the opposite side then took them out and put them in properly. That worked perfectly. I think there was a tiny piece of plastic in the way that needed to be cleared out first.

I have a very tiny pair of needle nose pliers and they came in handy in putting the jumper cables on to the coils. If it gets a but tough getting the jumpers on, hold the coil secure then grab the jumper with the pliers and pull it on. Works like a charm!

Once that's all done, you can plug the usb cable into your computer and into the printer board, then unplug it and plug it back in to get an armature test. A red light and a faint sound will pulse and the armatures will rotate back and forth through 3 positions forever until you unplug it. This lets you see that the coils are plugged in properly and that the armatures are able to move (no obstructions).

Awesome !!
Next up, Container Time !!!

Jason

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## amoose136

Photos next time would be great. I have my own (unofficial) parts now and will be building my own take shortly if some upcoming galvo tests are successful. Thus far I've spent under $50 USD in parts and can repurpose everything in other projects (I have many) if it doesn't work out.

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## harpo99999

thej, it is good that you have got to the same point that I have (I got to this point back in april, and have been focusing on the fff printers of mine since then, so you might get the first WORKING peachy v1

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## thej

Printer and drip system are fully assembled !!!
Here are some pics!!

(OK, the forum REFUSES to upload any pics. Is there a size/resolution limit ?!? I have several I will upload once I figure this out. I will keep trying)

I will be doing a proper calibration soon but I have tried a few test patterns already just to make sure the armatures are moving, etc.
I found that the galvo on the vertical armature is looser than I would like. If I move the printer, it needs to be checked and realigned (most of the time). I am considering glueing it in place or better yet, glueing a piece in it to keep it aligned better. There just seems to be too much play. I will probably make an alteration to the existing galvo DXF and print it :-> (Ooooh... the excitement builds!!!)

This one was interesting. I started a test pattern and saw that the *BEAM* on the glow paper was an "L" shape!! Checking the mirrors I noticed that the laser was hitting the corner of the mirror. I shifted the mirror down a bit and it is much better :-) I have a great pic but... I can't show you :-(

PRO TIP
The glow paper needs to be face-up to work! That would be the dull white-ish side.

More to come. Maybe even pics !

Jason

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## thej

I'm playing with the drip feed system now to get a good understanding of how it works (and doesn't :-)

I'm using a 2 litre pop bottle for my salt water source and a 4 litre glass cylinder as my print container. 
I found a problem with my dripper. I had made a small hole in the large tube that the print container hoses and drip detector go into. I made the hole to close to the top. What happened is that the drip came off the top aluminum wire, ran down the dripper tube b/c it was right beside it and then streamed over the bottom aluminum wire. Because the tube was so close there was a stream of water not drips. Fail.

I flipped the large tube over, put the drip detector and hose in, cut my drain hose hole BELOW it and the drain hose in the new hole. Solved.

Next issue was drip rate. I was still getting a full stream of water not drips.
I tried stuffing a plastic piece in the bubbler hose on the reservoir. I thought it would plug it but it almost had no effect. I then realized that the HEIGHT of the reservoir is what regulates it. The bottom of the reservoir should be a bit above the drip detector. You can adjust as required to get the drip rate you want.

Jason

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## CescoAiel

> (OK, the forum REFUSES to upload any pics. Is there a size/resolution limit ?!? I have several I will upload once I figure this out. I will keep trying)


Have you tried uploading elsewhere and just linking to them? I can do this: 

Just post them elsewhere, paste the link and uncheck the copy and reference locally checkbox...
(There seems to be an error in the config of the board software, it gives an error when you do not uncheck that checkbox!)
(UPDATE: Just sent a message to the mods about the error)

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## curious aardvark

all attachments to the forum have been deleted. No attachments are curently allowed. 

At no point has any explanation for this been given by a mod or administrator. 

Yes it sucks and it's no way to run a forum - but it's what we have.

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## jfkansas

tinypic works also. Upload and then copy the BBcode link to the image. 

I understand the board limiting the attachments. It is a huge use of storage and there is liability in the types of pictures posted and content.

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## thej

Thanks for the PostImage link and info about the check box!!

Here are a few images that I have taken so far.

Mirror Alignment fail:
The laser hits the inner corner of the mirror screwing up the beam. Easily fixed.



Here is my completed Peachy printer



Here is my reservoir (2L pop bottle), dripper and print container (~4L glass cylinder).
I made my print base a bit different. I like it better than the recommended one (so far. We will see after I do a print).



Here is an orientation test. No calibration has been done (although this is part of the calibration itself).
I was expecting it to draw directly below. Some adjustments are probably required.



I will be doing more experimenting with the drip system tonight then doing the actual calibration for my print container. Because I'm using a larger container, the main tube (that contains the hoses in the print container) is too short for a full container print. The 2L bottle I'm using will need to be changed to a 4L bottle and I will need to make my own cap with holes for it. Easy. I will also need to make some mounts for the Peachy to securely rest on my large print container. I have some ideas stirring.
I will assemble the recommended 1L and 2L pop bottle setup too.
I also need to get some UV lights. Sunlight will have to do for now. I will just have to keep the cat from eating my print jobs ;-)

Stay tuned !!!

Jason

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## thej

Plastic tweezers would be AWESOME !!! 
I've been poking around fiddling with peachy parts with pens, wires, small screw drivers and if I'm not careful, they get stuck on the magnets. Then i have to get the tool out of the printer without yanking things out of alignment. Plastic tweezers. i need to find me a pair.

I'm also strategizing on how to find out if I still have the second protective layer on the mirrors. I will sacrifice a spare mirror in my research. I'm thinking Q-tips and crazy glue (I don't think that I've loved crazy glue so much !!)

Jason

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## thej

Dripper Oddity
Getting the drip system started seems to be straight forward and easily repeatable.
-(assuming all hoses properly connected) Have the Return hose and the short Purple hose (see pic above) securly crimped with plastic O's.
-Have your reservoir above the Print container
-Squeeze the reservoir until dripping starts. Sometimes it quickly stops so a second short squeeze gets it going.
-Change the height of the reservoir to change the drip speed.
-The drips stop when the reservoir is empty 

Now...to get the print container to drain back into the reservoir "should" be done like this:
-Lower the reservoir below the print container
-uncrimp both crimped hoses
-watch the reservoir fill
-Flow stops when the print container water level reaches the bottom of the drain hose (in the print container). The end of that hose should be the same as your print base.

Unfortunately, the return flow isn't working for me.

@Rylan
What am I missing here?

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## thej

Mirror update:
Sacrificing the mirror was a success!!
Turns out I still had the clear layer on BOTH mirrors!! I suspected as much as the beam was not very focused in the few tests I did on the glow paper.

Here's how to properly prep the mirrors during your build.

START with the mirrors. Really, step one.
Use a flat head jeweller's screw driver to scratch at the end of the NARROW part of the mirror.
The blue layer will come off with out too much trouble but the clear layer will need more effort.
If the clear layer is still on, scratching it with the screw driver will feel a little soft. You will notice a slightly rubbery tactile response (of course the mirror itself isn't exactly "hard"). You might start to see the clear layer start to stretch and distort before it peals off.
Once the layers peal back ***DO NOT REMOVE THEM YET *** !!!
FULLY removing the protective films will be done near the end of the printer build so the mirrors stay protected. With the the layers already propelled, you will have a MUCH easier time doing the final removal when the time comes.

Lucky for me, the scratches I put in one of my mirror was only a scratch in the clear layer !! All mirrors look shiny and new :-)

Jason

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## thej

Galvos and Alignment

You have noticed that one of my previous pics had the laser drawing very close to the side of the test container. It “should” be drawing directly below, so why wasn’t it?

I started to investigate several alignment issues last night:
-drawing off center
-“one” warped edge on square test (left side is bent)




I started by poking the Laser itself to see if it was pointing at the mirror straight.
The leads are long for the laser so it sticks out a bit from the PCB. I found it quite easy to eyeball the horizontal and vertical alignment of the laser and found that it was just fine. OF course, by poking it I misaligned it quite fantastically! I had lasers hit the wall occasionally and decided it was time to put on the supplied laser safety glasses. I will NOT be shooting my eye out with a 3D printer !! (Try explaining that to grandma !!)

Next was the galvos. Making sure that the galvo magnets are not touching the aluminum damper in the armature is important. What I didn’t realize yet was that the ROTATATION of the galvos around the armature is CRITICAL. The rotation sets where the laser is going to draw. This is why my test patterns were drawing off center.
(see second pic above. Top down view of vertical galvo)

Rotating the galvo on the vertical armature sets the Y axis (reference printer orientation is with the PCB facing the camera, See pics)
Rotating the galvo on the horizontal armature sets the X axis.

The galvo on the vertical axis is very loose on my printer. It doesn’t like to stay in its’ place. Eventually, I will have to do something about this. I would like to glue it but if I do, it had better be in perfect alignment or I’ll be stuck with it for good !!

So I have the patterns drawing in the center of the glow paper, I have a nice focused beam thanks to removing the clear layer from the mirror but I still have two odd problems.
-ONE side of the square is warped
-The square is not square (sides are not parallel)

I found the warped side problem. Earlier in the build I had to remove on mirror from the armature and stick it back on. Somehow I managed to get the thread under the end tip of the mirror. That curves the mirror surface at the end (..and where the laser draws). I still have to fix it but at least I know what’s causing it.

More to come…

Jason

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## quertz

Hey thej,

Could you post the images in a bigger resolution?
Currently, it's really hard to make out what is happening.

Thanks,
quertz

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## thej

This has been bothering me too. So... solution!
Here is a link directly to my PostImage repository so everyone can see the images in FULL resolution.

https://postimg.org/gallery/1v2m10jn8/

In the latest pics, notice the progression of change in the square test pattern pictures. See how it moves closer to the center as I rotated the Galvo. Image 126 shows the change really well (overlapping squares). 

Pictures 129 through 135 show the hourglass pattern as I increase the speed of the laser drawing. The first is at 100mm then I increment by 100 for each additional pic up to 500mm (132 & 133 are both set to 300). You can see the edges smooth out and the center pull apart b/c it's drawing too fast.  

Pic 136 is an interesting one using the spiral test pattern. The sides are clipped and there is a chunk out of the right side. I think I need to change the Height calibration in the software and the chunk is probably a thread getting in the way of the laser.

J

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## quertz

Works great, thanks!

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## dungdn93

Thus far I've spent under $50 USD in parts and can repurpose everything in other projects (I have many) if it doesn't work out

MODERATOR NOTE: Late post due to unexpected delay in obtaining moderator approval

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## curious aardvark

so at what point do you actually try and print something ?

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## rylangrayston

Just read this hole thread
Great work thej and yes it was great meeting with you in person. 
Just as thej mentioned in his first post in this thread we spent about 10 hours together going over all things peachy, 
It was great to meet some one from 3d print board in person! 
Its especially nice to see you pointing out both the frustrating and fun parts of your build. The pro tips are great. 
Im sure others will find this encouraging and helpful.

To answer you question about getting the drain hose to work, my guess is that there is air in the hose so the siphon hasent started. 
If you plug all the hoses except for the drain hose and then squeeze the bottle water should fill the drain hose. Then if you unplug the air relief hose the siphon should start.  Hope that helps. 

This is a great thread for anyone that is building a peachy.  thej has described many things in greater detail than we did in our instructions! I esp like the way you describe how the clear coating on the mirror feels tacky.  Also Because I spent a day with thej in person I was able to transfer all kinds of extra knowledge about the printer to him.  

There is another amazing thread like this one by Anuvin, here 
http://3dprintboard.com/showthread.p...ow-To-Megapost

... and last but not least.. thej texted me this morning saying he was banned from posting to this forum!!
Im guessing this is just a mistake? can a moderator respond to this... its esp bad timing to ban thej as he is on a role building his printer, and doin a great job of posting lots about his experience.  Whatever the problem is I hope it will be resolved quickly because Im dyeing to see prints posted by thej, which is the next thing after calibration.

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## rylangrayston

I was just looking thru the supper high quality photos linked to above( very nice!) 
Because the resolution is so high I was able to catch a possible problem. It looks like there is a fairly large ( as in 3mm) bit of thread coming of the knot of the galvo tie point closest to the laser.... you know after you tie the thread onto the galvos and then snip off the excess ... I think it should be snipped off a little closer to the knot. If that little bit of thread coming of the knot bumps into anything it will thro the galvo off. 

also noticed that you have  a 2 litre bottle for your top reservoir ... I have found that they can implode under the pressure of the dripper hose during a print.  If this happens the drip speed will suddenly rise. You may want to re enforce the 2 litre bottle. 

Looking great, Hope that saves you a bit of trouble shooting.

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## Builder1

*I'M BACK BABY !!!
*
 Fresh new name, styling' new IP. Encrypted to the core!
Builder1 can't be stopped ;->

In our last episode, Th...er...Builder1 was tinkering with calibration but had a thread stuck on the mirror of the vertical armature. This was warping one side of the square pattern and somehow getting infront of the laser causing a chunk to be missing from the square on the right side.

Removing the thread and trimming it down has resolved the missing chunk and improved the general shape of the square.
...but it's not quite right yet...

Here's a new image of the "Print Area" square (there is also a "square" test pattern but it is smaller)
https://s32.postimg.org/cw1j8euut/Not_Quite_Square.jpg

You can see that the left and right sides have a slight bend about the halfway mark.
The top and bottom sides have a pincushion effect where they are arched inward. I believe this is caused by the mirror being slightly curved. This is the vertical axis mirror that had the thread stuck under it. The arch is better now that the thread is gone but it appears the mirror needs some "reforming". 

Also, with aligning the vertical armature galvo. In the Peachy_OrientationTest image you can see the galvo is generally at a 45 deg angle to the frame. That is roughly ideal to centre the laser to the print area. Knowing that will make it much easier to quickly get your laser pointing in the right place :-)

I will be using my Lumix camera rather than my phone (4S) as I can get MUCH better pics, especially close up. I will also do some cropping before posting.

I want to get as perfect a print area as possible before I start doing print jobs b/c I want good prints.. Makes sense..no?

I will also be dragging it around to a few demos in the next couple weeks so I would like to have a few nifty prints to show off (uh oh... dedicating myself to a deadline !!!)

More to come...

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## rylangrayston

nice work! the...I mean Builder1... I wouldent worry to much about perfection... 
The Peachy Printer software is missing a few calibration features so untill that is done I would say that square is good and certainly good enugh to print 
with.  Even if you get the square to be perfect you will likely get imperfections in your prints from the drippers inconsistency and the current math in the calibration code.

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## curious aardvark

lol the banning was a mistake. They block banned a LOT of ip addresses. 
I emailed brian and got reinstated, seemed simpler than builder's solution :-)

So now you're back - go print something !

No way I'd have been able to spend so much time messing about without at least trying a print :-)

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## iDig3Dprinting

> lol the banning was a mistake. They block banned a LOT of ip addresses. 
> I emailed brian and got reinstated, seemed simpler than builder's solution :-)


Yes, what happened with all the IP banning?

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## curious aardvark

there was  LOT of spam last friday.

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## Builder1

Great!! The forum works without vpn now :-)

Your right! Time to stop tinkering.
I am working to tame Cura and finding time to do some prints.

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## Builder1

PRINT SUCCESSFUL !!  Sort of...

I have TONS of info and pics to post. It might take a couple days to get it all posted. I'm a bit time squished.
Epic fails, dripper triumps, chemistry curiosities.... It's coming !!

Get the sneak peak here:
http://postimage.org/gallery/1v2m10jn8/

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## Builder1

The full report !!

*Calibrating*
I performed all of the calibration sequences including using the grid (I made itmyself!!)
Once the Peachy is plugged in, the software allows you to see all of the options. Click on Settings. Now click on Laser Calibration. At the top of the screen is a row of buttons for calibration. Just go through them one by one from left to right.
I’ll do some screen shots of these screens once I get a chance.

*Slicing with Cura*
-I downloaded Cura(v15.04.6) on my MacBook Pro and read through the instructions for setting it up for the Peachy. This was all very straight forward. I then downloaded the Rook from Thingiverse and sliced it. I saved the .gcode file and looked forward to using it as my first test print.
http://peachyprinter.ipbhost.com/ind...-printer-cura/

*Standard Setup*
I decided to made a standard Peachy setup for testing (Pop bottles: 1L reservoir, 2Lprint container). My larger setup needs a few more parts as the printer sits VERY precariously on its top (you can see it in the pictures). Not practical at all.

*Where’s theSalt*
Not using enough salt = EPIC RESIN FAIL!!!
Add LOTS of salt to the water until it starts to collect on the bottom. Use warm water (to help dissolve salt). I’m not sure how the resin behaves with heat. My water was definitely on the warm side but not hot.

*@Rylan*
Are the resins temperature sensitive?

***Get your salt water ready in advance of starting a print***
If you get all setup and then decide to fill your reservoir, you will find yourself yanking your setup all over the place as everything is interconnected with hoses and dripper wires (drip switch to PCB) and a light/empty print container. 
I had a box of table salt that had a metal spout. This really helped to keep the mixing process clean and tidy.
Mix up the saltwater in a container not required by the printer.
Fill the reservoir (leave some space at the top). 
Add salt water to the print container up to “start” level (a bit below the printbase).
Once those things are done you can begin doing the rest of the setup. This will save you a lot of aggravation and time ;-)

*Adding the Resin*
I mixed up some salt water in my reservoir and my print container and added some resin into it. FAIL!!! You can see in the picture that most of it sunk to the bottom. I didn’t know what to think!!! Had the resin gone bad!?! I know these resins have a 6 month self life but I didn’t know how old mine was. I set that one aside by pouring it into an old slurpie cup. I really didn’t know what to do with this stuff. I can’t dump it down the sink or flush it down the toilet!! What do I do with this stuff???? It was late at night and no good idea’s came to me so I just put it aside.

Let’s try this again.
Rylan gave me two partial (roughly 1/8th full) bottles of resin to get started with(THANK YOU!!!). So with my first fail with green, and suspecting it might be “bad”, I grabbed the red resin and tried again. Same result!!! Crap! What going on!?! I went back to the green cup and dumped A LOT more salt into it and stirred it up with a wood skewer stick (Very useful tool with the Peachy!!).
SUCCESS!! I then added more salt to the print container with the red resin. Success again!!
Ok, time to get the rest setup and try printing!!

*Dripper Fun*
The plastic dripper part only has one “arm” that holds it to the print container. This causes it to tip to the side a lot. The weight of the hoses pulls on it too. Using the dripper when it’s at an angle will cause missed/unsensed drips because the drop falls too far to the side and does not touch the bottom wire.
I found a great and simple solution that decisively solved the problem.
I wedged the drip tube in front of the print base (you can see it in the pictures).That tube has no chance of moving anywhere now!! Worked like a charm!!

*Printing*
I was looking forward to printing that Rook! Print tests be Damned!!!
I pointed the Peachy software at the Rook’s .gcode file I made with Cura but there wasan error! I can’t remember what the message was but it wasn’t helpful for me to troubleshoot. I tried again with the same result. I have no idea why the software did not like my file and I did not have the patience to slice it again.
So I decided to print an item from the bundled “Library” of objects in the Peachy software. These are test files that are already in gcode format so setting up the software for a test print is quick and easy. (Why do I always miss the “quick and easy” ?!?)
Choosing the test file opened a Print Settings window. I made a couple changes to the defaults. I increased the speed from 80mm/s to 120mm/s. I thought, since there were no corners, I could speed up the laser without degrading the shape of the print. Seamed reasonable.
Next I changed the height of the print job. This was an accident. I misinterpreted this value to be the height of the print container. I t was actually for the height of the print! I had measured the container from the start level to the top to be 14 cm so I entered 140mm in as the value. Calk that one up to a late night. I “should” have put 20 or 30mm so that I could get a small and quick test print.


*The Blob*
In my first attempt I had set the water level too high and the print did not attach to the base. So as the resin level rose, the laser just kept drawing on a floating blob of cured resin.
I used my handy skewer stick to push the blob over to the side (without knocking my galvos out of alignment) and started a second attempt.
For the second print, I set the print base slightly above the resin so that it was not touching the resin. I started the print then got the dripper started.
Rylan shared with me on my visit that the drip speed should be about 6 drips per second (there is a drip counter in the software. See software pics). When I started the dripper (reservoir full) it was running at about 9 drips per second. To slow this down I would need to sit the reservoir lower. I didn’t have another box or other “thing” to sit it onthat would work so I just let it go.


*Curing*
-Hmmmm… Sudden realization. I don’t have a UV light source. There wasn’t much I could do about that in a pinch so I put everything aside. In the morning I put it all outside in the sun. Plenty of curing time while I’m getting ready for work (about 45min).

*@Rylan*
How long does curing really need?

*Cleaning up*
-Getting the unused resin back in the container was interesting. Pouring it back only worked for about half of the resin. When the resin is thin enough, the salt water goes under the resin and pours in the container.
Solution: (wish Ithought if it that night ;-) 
***Use the cut off top of the 2L bottle with the cap on. Poke a small hole in the cap and use it as a funnel (I didn’t want to ruin my kitchen funnels). Pour the print container contents into the funnel with the hole plugged. Let the water/resin resettle to separate layers then open the hole and pour off the water. Once it’s down to the resin, just pour that into the resin container.***

*The Print*
The print job has a definitive odor. Strangely, it smells more that the entire bottle of resin. Even after several days, it still feels wet the touch and has an odor. It's not too intense but easily noticeable. I even tried putting it on the dash of my car over my lunch hour. 4 days later I can still faintly smell it in my car and it didn’t even make a difference!

*@Rylan*
Any thoughts on thesmell and wet surface!?!

The print is hard but flexible. It flexes when squishing it and bounces back when I let go. Kind of like squeezing a plastic pop bottle.

*Summary of PrintQuality Fails*
-Set the height ofthe print waaaaay too high in the print settings
___-Stretched the print, took too long.

-Set the laser speedtoo fast
___-The print was not cured enough to stand up on it’s own.
___-It fell over while the water was being drained

-Drips were too fastat the start (started at over 9 and ended at less than 4)
___-Stretched the print (possibly made the top a bit heavier than the bottom)

-Bubbling and imperfections on surface
___-Not sure. Maybe something with how I mixed the salt water or how I poured them together???
___-I added salt after the resin was in the container then stirred the hell out of it. Bubbles could be caused by trapped air (er...bubbles I guess) and/or possibly undissolved salt particles.

-Print Leaning forward
___-I think my vertical galvo was sliding slightly. This made the top part that broke off have a rippled surface. Other parts were straightup and quite smooth. I’m gluing that *@%$er.

-Improper curing after finish
___-Time to buy a UVlamp ;-)

----------


## rylangrayston

how dose temperature affect resin?
We have not tested this so I dont know, but if I had to guess I would say it lowers the viscosity and makes it more sensitive 
Both of which would be good for printing faster. 

"I wedged the drip tube in front of the print base (you can see it in the  pictures).That tube has no chance of moving anywhere now!! Worked like a  charm!!"
nice! I hadent though to that ... thats perfect solution since it cost nothing more and the stuff to do is already in your kit.. and as simple as it seems that was actually a really annoying thing about the dripper. 

How long dose it take to cure resin in the sun?
First of all I should warn against doing this with to much uncured resin, and always do this out side as the resin can get hot and start steaming fumes.
having said that for most shell prints I leave them out for around 30 min which is probably way to long, resin cures in the sun in less that a second. 
next I wash them off with warm soapy water

"Solution: (wish Ithought if it that night ;-) 
***Use the cut off top of the 2L bottle with the cap on. Poke a small  hole in the cap and use it as a funnel (I didn’t want to ruin my kitchen  funnels). Pour the print container contents into the funnel with the  hole plugged. Let the water/resin resettle to separate layers then open  the hole and pour off the water. Once it’s down to the resin, just pour  that into the resin container.***"

wow so simple .. I hadent though of this ether!  This makes me want to just have a wiki version of the Instructions. 

Thoughs on the smell of a print and the wet surface. 
I dont know why the surface stays so wet, perhaps the oxygen in the air is preventing the resin from curing even in the sun or perhaps there is some liquid that dose not actually crystallize during curing.  Ether way washing off the print with warm soapy water takes it off so dose rubbing alcohol.  Washing will help with the smell alot. painting also reduces the smell.  

A Few more thoughts for you. 

-The firmware will cap out at 10 dripps per second ... so even if you get your dripper to do 15 drips per second it will only send 10. 

-After making an adjustment to the drip speed it will take a few seconds to settle at the new speed however if the speed changes slowly over say 10 min 
this is a sign that air is leaking into the bottle at one of the 4 hose ports in the pop bottle lid. A quick way to fix this is to drip so water on the pop bottle lid. 
and a more long term solution is to make something to support the hoses. 

- Dripping fast can cause the surface of a print to look ruff, because the resin dose not have time to flow over the print wall for each layer. 

Awesome and informative post with 2 great solutions. Thanks for making the peachy Printer even better than it was when you got it Builder1!

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## amoose136

Re: the wet prints, if you're using makerjuice resin, I have some and had the same problem with the finish in my first tests of it. If its oxygen causing problem as Rylan suggested and as it may well be, here's something I'll be trying as soon as it's sunny here again: dissolve vitamin c in tub of water, submerge print in tub of water, place tub of water containing print in direct sun for 30 minutes. Vitamin C dissolved in water should form weak absorbic acid which is a reducing agent to remove any weakly bonded oxygen that may be at the surface layers (a few microns probably). The water also keeps it oxygen free so it can now cure in the sun. If this method doesn't fix it I suspect the problem is something else beside oxygen.

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## rylangrayston

wow cool great idea ... on this topic we once placed a glass plate over the bottom container and then filled the aria above the resin with propane... an wow The resin was many times more sensitive! ... yet when we placed pure oxygen gas above the resin we could hardly get it to cure at all.

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## Builder1

I did a talk today on 3D printing with a focus on the preachy printer. It went great!!

I did a small demo as well. In order to have it go well, I decided it was time to crazy glue the y-axis galvo. I used the tiniest amount in two spots. It should be easy to break it apart if required.
I didn't do a print job (too much stuff to drag around and setup/tear down) but I did run the test patterns on the glow paper.

Proof positive: This printer works !!

I will be doing some more prints, designing some new parts and exploring the design of an add-on.

As always... more to come ;-)

----------


## CescoAiel

> wow cool great idea ... on this topic we once placed a glass plate over the bottom container and then filled the aria above the resin with propane... an wow The resin was many times more sensitive! ... yet when we placed pure oxygen gas above the resin we could hardly get it to cure at all.


You could also try to use a heavier than air (semi)inert gas like CO2, as that would remain in the container (assuming not too much draft/wind across the container) by itselft, and have less of a chance of explosions!   :Wink:

----------


## Builder1

I spent some time last night and today creating a couple 3D models with Cheetah 3D v7b16 using primitive shapes connected together (I'm a total nubie at 3D modelling).


From there, I exported them to an STL file and opened it in Cura.
I haven’t been impressed with having to fudge Cura with 10x scaling and tilting the model to get surfaces. Cura has proven to be a total pain in the @$$ !! The missing surfaces problem plus bugs in/poor design of the drawing path have forced me to find a new slicer. I’ll get to that in a bit.


I have my Peachy setup on it’s mount over glow paper. I’ll slice a file and open it in the Peachy software and “print” it to the glow paper. This is proving to be a fantastic way to test the printer quickly with no mess or fuss.


I had to do numerous iterations between my modeller and the sliced file in Cura. Cura kept doing weird stuff to certain parts of my model. I had one spot where I used a boolean subtraction using 3 cylinders to cut a hole through three overlapping parts (1 cylinder per part. There’s probably a better way to do this). When opened in Cura, this hole would be mangled. the inner surface would look like it was a badly scanned point cloud. Not much of a surface !


Back to the modeller.  I replaced a primitive, a boolean & a cylinder, with a tube primitive. I then set the inner surface of the tube to be slightly smaller than the other cylinders used in the booleans. Opened that up in Cura and I now had a nice smooth inner surface :-)


I exported this gcode file from Cura and printed it out. All I got was overlapping shells of each part (in their appropriate places). I forgot to tilt it in Cura so the surfaces were dropped. I reopened it and tilted it. Back to Peachy software for the print. WOW !!! Totally mangled !!!! 2/3rds of my model DIDN’T EVEN PRINT !!!! …and the routing was redonk-ulous !! Successive adjustments and rotation changes did not make this any better. That was it. I was done with this crap…. Time for a new slicer. (Remember....this is a BRIEF recount!! I F$@&$D with this a LOT !!)


Slic3r
http://slic3r.org
I downloaded a couple slicer programs and tried them out quickly. I didn’t do a print with them as there were things I didn’t like and tried another programs…. until I found Slic3r. It is free and open source. It also runs on Mac, PC and Linux. It’s interface is straight forward like Cura's.


Now I didn’t explore Cura that much but there were a few things i didn’t see in Cura that I wanted. My list as such: No more tilting!, Intelligent path routing, no more over scaling, Infill and adjustable Rafts. I got all of this with Slic3r and a simple UI too. As a bonus, Slic3r finds and auto fixes geometry problems with your STLs. Opening my file in Slic3r showed 64 errors fixed! Sweet !


Using the setup instructions for Cura on the Peachy forum  ( http://peachyprinter.ipbhost.com/ind...-printer-cura/ ) I configured Slic3r.


Once configured, I opened my STL in Slic3r and exported the gcode. Opening it in the Peachy software worked as expected. I reset the scale option in the Peachy software back 1.0 rather than 0.1 as it was compensating for Cura’s goofiness.


Print Success !!!
As far as test prints on glow paper are concerned, this was the best test i did all day !!! And what a HUGE DIFFERENCE too !!! I had a properly scaled model, surfaces that printed, infilled spaces, a small raft for anchoring to the print base and REALLY Intelligent path routing !!! The best quality test I had ever seen so far AND it only took 6 minutes to print !!! There may still be settings to adjust but it’s looking really good so far !!

I'll have some pics up when I get to it.
More to come…

----------


## curious aardvark

weird how different cad programs produce stls that behave differently with different slicers. 

Got to say that so far openscad has just produced perfect solid models that work in all the slicers I've tried. 

Mind you i can see how people can get the idea openscad is  complicated.

Looked at a script on thingiverse this morning. Was very long made abslutely no sense at all to me and produced a model I can do in about six lines of script with nothing but simple arithmetic. 

Does slic3r come with a proper 3d interface yet ? 
have to admit the standard 2d layout didn't work for me and having to launch a seperate window every time I wanted the 3d view was really annoying.

----------


## Builder1

Slic3r's UI is quite simple and elegant and has "3D" , "2D", "Preview" and "Layers" tabs for viewing. I'll post pics very soon.
I found it VERY useful while trying to setup the "Print Settings". I could made a change or 2 and then click "Plater" and see exactly what changed. It made it super easy to explore the options for infill and rafts especially.

Slic3r_In_Action
https://s5.postimg.org/whh1mb0wj/Slic3r_In_Action.png


Filament_Settings
https://s5.postimg.org/pyo79dopf/Slic3r_Filament_Settings.png


Print_Settings
https://s5.postimg.org/b3zlv7f4j/Slic3r_Print_Settings.png


Printer_Settings1
https://s5.postimg.org/qqqv8kswj/Slic3r_Printer_Settings1.png


Printer_Settings2
https://s5.postimg.org/x5pw58zmb/Slic3r_Printer_Settings2_png.png

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## amoose136

Try giving Craftware a shot.

----------


## quertz

Hey guys
As far as I know Slic3r and Cura are the most used Slicers.
Slic3r is "the original" slicer that was developed with the first 3D printers and has just about every setting that exists => might be confusing
Cura should be simpler but with more hidden options.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USA29CuYOvk

This is a video from Maker's Muse comparing the most popular silcers, its very good!

quertz

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## Builder1

I added some more pics.
These are pictures of an actual model I made in Cheetah 3D, sliced in Slic3r and "printed" on glow paper with the Peachy.

Print 1

https://s5.postimg.org/osbxlujir/Print_1.jpg


Print 2

https://s5.postimg.org/hqilde5ar/Print_2.jpg 


Print 3

https://s5.postimg.org/878wjxhsj/Print_3.jpg 


Print 4

https://s5.postimg.org/8y1mppk5v/Print_4.jpg

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## quertz

The gallery still works for original resolution
https://postimg.org/gallery/1v2m10jn8/  :Cool:

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## Builder1

I want to do an ACTUAL print soon. I am still making modifications to my 3D model and exploring Slic3r a bit more but once that is done I will be printing it. i don't want to print just anything. I want it to be printing something that has purpose and also has to print accurately enough to be usable. This will be a real world test of the Peachy ! (..even if it is somewhat simple ;-)

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## curious aardvark

trolley tokens are a good test. 
Light, useful and quick to design and print.

I make them like rings with a hollow centre.
And if they're not dimensionally accurate - they won't work.

they're my main 3d printed giveaway to people :-)

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## CescoAiel

> trolley tokens are a good test. 
> Light, useful and quick to design and print.
> 
> I make them like rings with a hollow centre.
> And if they're not dimensionally accurate - they won't work.
> 
> they're my main 3d printed giveaway to people :-)


Just make sure you print them in the appropriate dimensions for the recipient (Pounds are different than Euro's or €0.50 coins, etc.)   :Big Grin:

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## CescoAiel

> Just make sure you print them in the appropriate dimensions for the recipient (Pounds are different than Euro's or €0.50 coins, etc.)


????  :Confused:

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## curious aardvark

he's a spammer. 

And obviously you make them the correct size for the relevant country. Over here it's £1 coins.

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## Builder1

Hey everyone !!
It's been a bit since my last post. I've been kept busy with the usual life things but I have managed to get some time in learning 3D modeling.
I'm using Cheetah 3D v7b16. It's a very competent modeler and also has fantastic animation and rendering capabilities too! 

I've been modeling some new and even "replacement' parts for the Peachy. I will have a bevy of pics available once I actually print them...not quite ready yet.

I've been experimenting with rafting options for prints too. With short flat prints, having them attach to the mesh is a problem as your whole print could be destroyed removing it. Using a small raft would give you something that can attach to the mesh and leave your print unharmed. 
So far, the rafts appear to be too thick and could be difficult to remove from the mesh.
I will also experiment with adding a vertical plane or two underneath the print by adding it directly to the model before it even gets to the slicer.
This way, there is very little to remove and the print gets supported. Again, I will have pics of everything once I find time to do some prints.

I will likely contact the Slic3r developers and see if this "light rafting" can be added as an option to Slic3r. We will see what happens.

My updates for the next month will likely be sparse but there is always more to come...

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## Builder1

I forgot to add this to my last post.

Hackaday has a really great article on "Lessons in Small Scale Manufacturing". 
It's a really excellent read (as are the comments!)

Check it out!
http://hackaday.com/2016/08/10/lesso...ll-shop-floor/

Jason

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## Builder1

I managed to find some time to do more testing.
As I mentioned, I have been learning 3D modelling while creating a few models to try out on the Peachy. My models are now in a state where I feel it is time to print them.

Being the paranoid (lazy!?!) person I am, I ran the prints through the printer using the glow paper to see how they would print.

My biggest concern is that my models are very short and flat. In other words, several layers have a lot of surface area. Test prints done by Peachy Inc have been “shells”. The Venus de Milo and Yoda models were hollow. They had very tiny surface area per layer and were basically just outlines. My models have surfaces that cover about 20% (educated guess) of the print area that the Peachy can print in. That’s a LOT more drawing per layer than Yoda !!!

Why is this a problem?
It’s a problem because the Z-Axis will raise at a CONSTANT SPEED. If that speed is too fast for the layer to be drawn, the layer will be SKIPPED. An entire surface could be skipped making the real world usefulness of the print….questionable. This was never really a problem for “shells”.

So…todays test was to discover how to get EVERY layer to print.
When printing shells or slightly more surface area dense prints, Rylan recommended 6 drips per second. He has seen good results with this… but will that work for mine?

To do tests without the actual dripper, I have been shorting out the dripper wires with a paperclip. This yields a solid 10.6 drips per second. That’s way to fast to get every layer to print but good enough to see things print (and what I have been doing up until now). With this setup, 50% of the layers are skipped on my models. There just isn’t enough time to print them.

Digging through the settings of the Peachy software I noticed an interesting feature I hadn’t noticed before. In the “Advanced Settings” under “Dripper”, there is an option called “Z-Axis Stuff”. This offers 3 options: 1)Emulated  2)Photo  3)Circuit
Circuit is what you want it set to when doing a real print (it will use the circuit board to count the drips). It’s “Emulated” that perked my curiosity.

When selected, it gives you a “Drip Speed” slider in the print window when printing. The slider lets you select from 0 to 20 drips per second and can be changed while printing!!

Awesome!! This let me continually reduce the speed until the layers stopped being skipped.

Result…
2.25 drips per second until no additional layers were skipped.
Sweet.

I will also have a Super Special Treat to be revealed early this week !!!


Stay Tuned…..

----------


## Builder1

A short update...

First, an apology for teasing with the "Super Special Treat"...
I was interviewed about 3D printing for a podcast at the University I work for. I was "promised" that it would take only a few days for it to be posted and available online for the world to hear. Well, it's been more than a few days and it's still not up pending "approval". I'm not really sure what that means anymore. Oh well... may be some day it will be available. I will post a link when (if?) it is.

I found some time to make some important tweaks to one of my models I've been working on. As I learn how to model, I'm coming to the conclusion that Booleans can be more trouble than their worth. After my tweaks (looks great in the CAD software!), slicer could no longer see significant portions of the model !!! So, I reworked my model taking the boolean operations out and I now have a model that represents what I want AND slices beautifully !!!

I also ordered a UV nail polish dryer. Very small, $15, shipped in 3 days. Sweet. No excuses left.

Next stop: PRINT $#!T !!!

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## CescoAiel

> Next stop: PRINT $#!T !!!


Well then! Go ahead and finally print something!  :Roll Eyes (Sarcastic):  We're all waiting to see your result already!    :Wink:

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## Builder1

New Print, New Pics
I did a print a couple days ago.
I have posted new pics in a new gallery called “Peachy-Print 2”. Here’s the link

http://postimg.org/gallery/iqedknx0/

Quicker Setup
-Having the Salt premixed in the Drip bottle and a bit more in a second bottle helped make setup much quicker and cleaner. Not a single drop of water got on the table this time! Last time I had a small mess.

Drip system
-Use clips !! I got these white clips at the dollar store. 10 for $1.50. There bigger than I wanted but they are working out really well! MUCH easier to put on and take off than the plastic “O”s.
-I finally got the siphon down pat!! This system really does work fabulously !!
-I used DVD cases as my drip bottle stand. This allowed me to easily increase or decrease the height to get the drip rate I wanted. It worked really well !!

My One Mistake
-Zoom in on pic P1010462.
-I set the mesh to be, not over, not under, but just barley attracting the resin via surface tension. I thought this would be the perfect height. N0pe. The print did not adhere to the mesh and just floated up on the surface. It is VERY hard to see if this is happening until the print is done and your draining the salt water.
-Another oddity, my print is about 4 times smaller than it should have been?!? You can see a test on the glow paper in pic P1010454 showing the start of the print and the three base cylinders. They are almost as wide as the container (about 8cm between the 2 closer cylinders). This is the size it should have printed but you can see in P1010474 that is much smaller. I’m filing that one under “WTF” and will retest everything later (with manually added rafting).

Clean up and odor management
-Washing everything that touched resin with dish detergent, completely eliminated the smell of the resin. Also, I think the green resin has less odor than the red. I could hardly smell it while doing the print! I still had to do a 5 minute airing of my room.
-As an added precaution, I UVed EVERYTHING that touched resin, including the paper towels and my hands (having gloves is HIGHLY recommended). Even after violently scrubbing my hands with soap I still had a significant number of resin speckles all over my hands. Shining the UV light on my hands was like revealing some kind of “resin murder scene” !!! I couldn’t believe how much got on my hands! Curing the speckles with UV hardened them and they easily wiped off. However, I really don’t want to be breathing that in later. Use gloves.

Continuing problems
-The peachy software will NOT print the rafting I’m creating in Slic3r. I discovered by accident that it will print the “Skirt and Brim” (which are completely useless for the Peachy). I NEED RAFTING !!!! I do not want my print to be embedded in the mesh, even a little bit. Why would I want to destroy my print by ripping it out of the mesh !!
-I think the Peachy software is ignoring the rafting gcode. It does ignore the gcode for laser movement speed and for this it makes sense.
-I will do more experimentation with rafting settings and also manually adding thin rafting into my model directly. A thin extruded circle or triangle that touches several places on the bottom of the model will work perfectly and be easy to add. Also, if I make it about 10 layers deep, I can have the resin fully under the mesh and start my print and be confident that my model will adhere to the mesh but not be embedded in it.

The Future
As I stated in my previous posts, MY TIME IS LIMITED. As much as I want to build crazy cool stuff with the Peachy and share my experiences with all of you, it has to fit into my schedule.
“Good news everyone!”
Several personal and work schedule changes are happening right now for me. This should give me time to do prints and experiments at least once a week. I’m excited !!

More to come!

----------


## Builder1

Just did a test on glow paper testing out:
1) Why was it small?
2) Where's my freakin' rafting!

1) As for the size... I still have no clue why this happened. It was "actually" only about 20% smaller than it was suppose to be. 
My test on glow paper printed at the exact size it was suppose to be.

2) I decide to generate some new gcode and slic3r crashed on me. I restarted slic3r and reset the print settings (they go back to defaults when you restart the program). That's "print settings" not "Printer settings" just to be clear. I then created my gcode, opened it in the Peachy software and ran the print. 

The rafting printed !

My guess is that 3lic3r was misbehaving as I had it open for about a month on my laptop. 
Mental note: Restart Slic3r before generation gcode ;-)

more to come...

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## CescoAiel

> Just did a test on glow paper testing out:
> 1) Why was it small?
> 2) Where's my freakin' rafting!
> 
> 1) As for the size... I still have no clue why this happened. It was "actually" only about 20% smaller than it was suppose to be. 
> My test on glow paper printed at the exact size it was suppose to be.


Gotta remember that you are projecting in a cone, so the higher the resin starts, the higher you are on that cone, and thus the print will be smaller in the X/Y ranges, but not in the Z...
It'll probably be resolved by making sure the software is set correctly for that height, so it can compensate...

----------


## Builder1

I did another print last night and it was another failed print.... but now I know why!!
The resin has gone bad.

As a test, I took my entire print container and shone UV (9Watts) directly in it about 6 inches above the resin.
after about 20 seconds, a thin slime started to form... and that's it. I zapped it several more times but it would not cure anymore.

To remedy this problem I have a bottle of Fun To DO Snow White on its way with overnight shipping !!!
Why the rush? My usual schedule has changed for tomorrow and I will have lots of time to do prints but I need resin to do prints. Tuesday may be the only day I get to use the printer this week so I wanted to be sure I got it on time.

On the plus side:
-the model printed at the correct size
-the rafting printed as it should but I will make the rafting much taller next time.

Before I did my print, I redid all of the printer calibration as well. I think that took care of some of the oddities in print size.

Come on FedEX!! Don't fail me now !!

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## amoose136

What kind of resin? Depending on the resin it could either be the polymer itself or simply the photo activator that went bad. If it's the activator you might just be able to find out which activator it uses and add more.

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## Builder1

MakerJuice G+
I have very little left anyway. I don't think it's worth saving.
Great idea though. I haven't dug into the chemistry of these resins.

While were talking about resin chemistry; I noticed that the FTD resins are acrylic based.
Is this typical of other resins?
The MakerJuice web site doesn't say say much about their resins, chemically speaking.
 Any thoughts?

----------


## amoose136

I contacted a Makerjuice chemist and asked what happens chemically when resin goes bad but all he said was "Typically what you will see is the viscosity slowly increase and/or the resin will become less reactive when it reaches the end of its shelf-life.  We normally give our products a 1-year shelf-life, but that's not to say that it could be perfectly fine after 1 year."  So I still know nothing  about what actually is happening.

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## Builder1

I got my FTD Snow White resin last Tuesday and promptly did a print.
The resin was described as "low odor" and it certainly was less scented than either of the Makerjuice resins (I can't be sure what the MJ resins are suppose to smell like when new). It is also thicker than the MJ resins. During the print there was one square in the base where the resin did not want to go through and it just happened to be in the middle of my print. Figures.

This print was not a success HOWEVER, it did cure properly under the UV lamp where the MakerJuice I have wasn't.
All the recalibrations that I did have proved a success! What I did get printed at the correct size. I have an 8.2mm hole in one part of the model and with my caliper, it measured 8mm.
For this resin, I will need to slow the laser draw speed down from 100mm/s to as low as 50mm/s and crank the laser power from 65% to maybe 100%.

I made a new gallery for my FTD prints:
http://postimg.org/gallery/2g96zxbtg/

@Rylan: Did you test FTD resins? If so, what settings did you use?? Where there any other items of interest that you discovered with the FTD resins?

My next steps will be to:
-Try new Speed and Laser settings for the FTD resins
-Use the test models included in the Peachy Software to test the above settings until I get them dialed in
-Buy some new MakerJuice resin too

If anyone has seen any details on the forum of what settings to use for the FTD resins , PLEASE let me know !

J

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## Builder1

Quick update...

SUCCESS !!!!

I set the Laser to 100% and the print speed to 80mm/s.
For my test I used on of the models in the Peachy Software "Library" (they are there for testing purposes).
I will post a picture when I get a chance :-)

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## CescoAiel

> I will post a picture when I get a chance :-)


Yes please!  :Smile:

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## Builder1

Ok. I've uploaded the latest pics.
With the laser set to 100%, the print was solid but still slightly rubbery. That actually made it a bit easier to get it off the mesh without totally destroying the bottom of the print. Just a little mangled instead :-)
http://postimg.org/gallery/2g96zxbtg/

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## CescoAiel

> Ok. I've uploaded the latest pics.
> With the laser set to 100%, the print was solid but still slightly rubbery. That actually made it a bit easier to get it off the mesh without totally destroying the bottom of the print. Just a little mangled instead :-)
> http://postimg.org/gallery/2g96zxbtg/


Are those artifacts at the top?

Looking good though! Too bad it never actually made it to market!   :Frown:

----------


## Builder1

Not sure what you mean by "artifacts".
Which picture you referring to? Can you be more specific as to where the artifact is?
I will take better close-up pictures and post them when I can.


*Printing G-Code Files
*I've been encountering some oddities when I would try to print my own model from g-code.
After a long chat with Rylan last night, I have resolutions to at least 2 of them !!

Oddity #1
Every print from ANY g-code file, the print would not start until the "Current Height" equaled 5. I scoured the settings in Slic3r but could not find a reference to a height of 5. That is until yesterday when I started digging through the g-code itself. 
In Slic3r, I found the g-code "beginning" had “G1 Z5 F5000” in it. This translates to Draw straight lines (G1) at the Z-Axis location 5 (Z5) with a Federate of 5000mm/min. So I tried changing Z5 to Z0. This produced NO DRIPS in the Peachy software. It would NOT print. Ok then, I changed Z0 to Z1 and it worked fine and the print started at “Current Height” of “1.0”.
Cool !! That will shave time off my prints :-)  Still having a small time buffer allows for final base height adjustments.
In Cura, Rylan recommends deleting the "Begging/End" gcode entirely.

Laser Power
The setting for the laser power would not stay at 1.0 when I set it for my prints. I only had it hold it’s 100% setting with the “library” print.
When I was going into the Advanced Settings, I was setting the value to “1.0”. Last night I tried “0.99” and it is holding the value even after closing and reopening the program !!! That's close enough for me!! Solved !!

Layer Counting & Compressed Layers
Something is still quirky here. I ran the print and the "layer counting" jumped from layer 1 to layer 10. During those layers (maybe a bit longer too), there was no time where the laser stopped drawing between layers. I even had the drip speed set to 3. After around the 15th or 17th layer (not entirely sure), there were laser drawing pauses even though the layers were the same shape/area coverage. Why the change in behaviour??

Rylan and I talked about how we can get some bugs fixed in the software. We will continue that conversation (and I will continue testing!) and see what can be worked out. It will depend on many things including programmer availability but I'm hoping a new release can be brought out sometime in the future. It's all "good intentions" right now but we will see what can be done :-)

More to come...

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## CescoAiel

Last picture, near the top of the indented ellipsoid, there seems to be some irregularities in the print?

----------


## Builder1

I added 2 close ups.
http://postimg.org/gallery/2va5pcaj8/

There are a few "imperfections" in the print and they were all caused by me. The most obvious two are near the top and near the bottom.
During the print, I move the dripper bottle up or down (usually up) to change the drip speed. I have the bottle on a stack of DVD cases and add cases to the stack as the bottle empties. The less water in the bottle and the higher the level in the Build container, the less effective your syphon will be.

I *really* didn't need to move the drip bottle for this print but I couldn't help myself from tinkering ;-)

Moving the dripper bottle makes sense for print jobs that have large surface areas (slow drip required) that change to very small surface areas. With small surface areas, the laser sits around doing nothing waiting for the resin to reach the new layer. The waiting can be a lot more time than the drawing. This is when you want the drip speed to be faster and thus... raise the bottle to a higher position. 

I grab the bottle by it's top (don't squeeze it in the centre!), lift gently, slide DVD case under it and slowly place down. This will cause a brief peak in drip speed. Raising it speeds the drip up and placing it down causes it to sink into the DVD case and thus drop down a bit. If you pick it up too high then put it down, you can create a rapid spike in drip speed and if it is near the end of the wait cycle, the resin will break over the already cured print and cause a distortion in the print.

:-)

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## CescoAiel

> I added 2 close ups.
> http://postimg.org/gallery/2va5pcaj8/
> 
> There are a few "imperfections" in the print and they were all caused by me. The most obvious two are near the top and near the bottom.
> During the print, I move the dripper bottle up or down (usually up) to change the drip speed. I have the bottle on a stack of DVD cases and add cases to the stack as the bottle empties. The less water in the bottle and the higher the level in the Build container, the less effective your syphon will be.
> 
> I *really* didn't need to move the drip bottle for this print but I couldn't help myself from tinkering ;-)
> 
> Moving the dripper bottle makes sense for print jobs that have large surface areas (slow drip required) that change to very small surface areas. With small surface areas, the laser sits around doing nothing waiting for the resin to reach the new layer. The waiting can be a lot more time than the drawing. This is when you want the drip speed to be faster and thus... raise the bottle to a higher position. 
> ...


That actually explains a lot!   :Smile: 
That is why we (as in several people in the community) were looking at things like moving platforms and peristaltic pumps: better control on Z-speed!

Dang, seeing this stuff makes me want to have one too!!!   :Embarrassment:

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## rylangrayston

Hey Builder1
It was great chatting with you on the phone the other day! Just getting caught up on this thread here.
Thankyou  so much for posting in detail. There arnt alot of built and working  peachy printers out there in the world right now. Your really carrying  the torch here!  So cool to see that print with the FTD Resin .... We  have tested with that resin to and we loved It! We got it to print sooo  smooth ... here ill see if I can dig up a pic..
yep here it is:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-a...ew?usp=sharing

Thanks  for posting your pics in supper High res! ... your FTD snow white test print  looks good but my hunch is that if you turn laser power down just a  little bit it will get even smother. It looks like its suffering from  break over. 

Another resin that I really loved was the Maker Juice resin for the little RP 
Pic:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-a...ew?usp=sharing
https://makerjuice.myshopify.com/col...erp-compatible

This print was so smooth I couldn’t even find layers under a microscope! 
It takes some experience to get your printer to do this, and from what I can tell your really close! 
Since your printing now I think you will find this to be a very interesting read.
http://peachyprinter.ipbhost.com/ind...yers-are-made/
There are lots more articles and info in that form here is the root url http://peachyprinter.ipbhost.com/index.php?/

Looking  forward to more posts! Lets chat on the phone again soon.   On the plus  side with this few people using the peachy printer one on one Tech  support with the founder is possible, so call any time Builder1.

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## Builder1

*It’s BIG PRINT time !!*
I spent some time prepping and testing the traditional "test print" Rook file from Thingiverse for printing. I prepared it in Cura according to the recommended Peachy Cura settings with a 2% Fill.

*Results !!*
Mixed.
Due to difficulties maintaining drip speed, the print looks quite mangled. …but is it?
Ok, yes. It's totally fubared but what's important to know is that it was only few minor settings that made it this way.

This print took over 4 hours and 20 minutes to print. Since it was "averaging" about 1.2 drips per second this isn’t surprising.

Due to slightly weak curing (more below) and drip speed spikes that caused skipped layers (7.8% of all layers were skipped), the print kind of looks like a spring. Also due to this weakness, the rook leaned over while draining the water which caused even more splits.

*A bit about Slic3r and Cura*
I’ve discovered that Slic3r is only 32bit. This means that prints with very large areas or 10X the Z resolution (..of a typical FDM printer), the data buffers overflow and crash Slic3r. Cura handles this fine, so I’m back to using Cura. The Slic3r team is aware of this issue and is investigating a fix.
Some important Cura settings that are not detailed in the Peachy Cura Setup video are the “Start/End Gcode” settings.
Super simple. Go into the “Start/End Gcode” tab and delete ALL Gcode in the Start and End text areas. NONE of that gcode is applicable to the Peachy and has actually caused me problems. Just get rid of it !

*Some Peachy Setting Changes*
I changed the laser speed and power to be 100mm/s and 95% power (previous successful print was 80mm/s & 99%) since it was set a bit too high for that print. The Rook was wobbly once the water was drained and since it was printed on a 15 degree slant, it warped slightly from its weight. Using a higher laser speed was essential as I needed each layer to print as fast as possible but I will be raising the power back to 99%.

*Propping up the Reservoir Bottle*
This was really tricky. Since the drip speed had to be at about ONE drip/s, I had to use very thin books/magazines to prop up the bottle. I started with 2 DVD cases. That set the speed at about 2.5 drips/s which was fine for the start (small surface area). Once the speed dropped down (because the water levels in each container are now different) I added another DVD case. This increased the speed to over 3 and I started getting skipped layers. I removed that case and scoured the house for thinner alternatives. On top of the 2 DVDs, I added 8 CDs, 6 MAKE mags and 4 very thin books equaling 18 increments during the print. Each layer added caused Skipped Layers. If the drip speed required would have been in the 4 to 6 range then it would have been easy to just let the speed drop low then add a new layer that did not put it over the top.
Unfortunately, complex prints take too much time to print each layer and the required drip speed can’t be easily maintained.

*Solutions*
I see a few ways to SOLVE this issue:

1) Make the print simpler.
In other words, print it smaller and don't use fill. This isn't really a solution but rather just a compensation. I want a way to be able to do BIG complex prints!

2)Abandon the dripper completely.
The Peachy team made a Z-Axis system utilizing a stepper motor for the Peachy and the design files are on the github repo. The Peachy software is also setup and ready for this system.

3)Use a larger build container.
A 2L pop bottle simply can’t be beat for low cost and ease of availability. LOW COST was the primary goal of the Peachy printer and the dripper system allowed that to happen. All things considered, the drip system really is quite slick and does a fabulous job given what it is. Unfortunately pop bottles don’t have a very large surface area. Increasing the surface area would allow for much more resolution with the drip speed and thus significantly reduce or eliminate print problems due to drip speed spikes and “skipped layers”.
I already have a design drafted. 150mm X 150mm X 200mm (5.9”x5.9”x7.9”) with a lid (with glass top) and external drip input and drain output (simplifies cleaning and reduces smell). There are a couple parts for this that I wanted to print. Thankfully they are small and should print beautifully! I consider this a more reasonable build area for 3D printing. It’s on the small side but still small enough to have on your desk and print items of a useful size.

4) Stepper-based Z-Axis **AND** Larger build container !! Why not have it all ;-)

You can see the print here: Rook1 Image Gallery
https://postimg.org/gallery/2bd73bb4k/

*What’s Next ?!?*
There are a few things I have in the cue:

*Create new build container*
    -Finish 3D modelling some small parts
    -Print them
    -Laser cut clear acrylic and glass parts
    -Design and cut Peachy mounting legs for lid
    -Put it all together
    -Calibrate new container with Peachy software

*Cura*
-Explore Rafting in Cura

----------


## Builder1

I also did another rook print and I'll post about it soon.

Images for Rook2 are online :-)
https://postimg.org/gallery/lux3rgno/

More to come...

----------


## MemorianX

for the height adjustment something like this could be used 
http://www.eyecareandcure.com/ECC-Pr...-Support-Stand

it might even be possible to automate with some gears and a motor

----------


## Builder1

A scissor jack would work great.
However, for the cost of the jack (or less!!!) you could have a stepper motor based Z-Axis system and have all your problems solved.
It's just not worth turbo-charging the dripper system.

----------


## dezi

couldn't you combine both?
that scissor jack table with a stepper motor instead of manual adjusting the hight?
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1077164
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:925556
I haven't checked what it would cost me to print it, but shouldn't be much more than 10-20€?
I think i will try to build a peachy after i have all my fdm printer working perfectly  :Smile:

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## Builder1

This would be worth it if you could get the scissor jack for *cheap* and adjust it *manually* during the print.

As soon as you start down the road of using a stepper motor (with stepper controller and Arduino), your 70% of the way to a proper motorized Z-Axis and the drip system becomes irrelevant. When I talk about a "proper Z-Axis" system, I'm referring to a system that will move the build plate ONLY once a layer is finished being printed. This is what you want. Now every layer gets printed *and* your not waiting for the resin level to "catch up" to the next layer.

----------


## dezi

Just use drip system as power switch maybe? So everytime a drip falls the motor gets power for a extremly low amount of time? Don't know if it could work  :Big Grin:

----------


## Builder1

I have a lot on the go these days so I'll be a bit briefer than usual. Feel free to ask questions !!
All images for this print are already uploaded to the usual place.

I used different settings for this print.
-100mm/s laser speed and 99% laser power

There are still some oddities with this print and they are exclusive to the laser speed being too fast. These settings still do not give enough time for this resin to cure properly. I will need to go back to the 80mm/s speed as that worked very well with the Peachy Test Library print.

You can also see in the software screenshot (Rook2 Results) at the bottom that there were ZERO Skipped Layers.

Most (all?) of the splits in the print were created when the print leaned over when I was draining the water. Getting the print to stand on it's own is really important.

Again, getting good prints comes down to centring the resolution of the printers' functionality. With Rook1, I was operating at the bottom end of the dripper's range. With this print, I'm operating at the top end of the laser's capability to solidly cure the resin while printing at a reasonable speed. 

I plan on eventually getting some MakerJuice resin as I believe it's ideal settings are 100mm/s @65% laser power. That gives the opportunity to print at faster speeds if tight corners are not required (over 100mm/s you quickly start to lose the sharpness of corners).

----------


## Builder1

I spent last evening at the local Makerspace. I chatted with those there about the issues with the drip system and the Peachy in general. MANY ideas flowed back and forth. It was a great night !!

The one thing that struck me about all the conversation is that everyone wanted to keep the drip system. Why? Because of the crazy high Z resolution it enables. I STILL want a stepper based system where there is NO specified time span per layer and I believe that a similar or same resolution can be achieved. We will see.

What's apparent is that there's lots of room left in the dripper system!
 I sat down and outlined a bunch of stuff around this today. Here it is for your enjoyment ;-)

*Peachy Z-Axis Dripper Thoughts*


*Dripper Problems*


Layer Draw Time
  -Limited by time to cure resin
  -Limited by speed of rising Z-Axis
Drip Speed slows over time
  -As the water levels change in the two bottles, the siphon strength drops
Drip Spikes when raising drip bottle
  -Placing objects under the bottle to raise it 
Drop size inconsistent with drip speed
  -Fast drops are smaller
  -Slower drops are bigger
Wasted time on simple layers
  -Drip speed must be low enough to allow printing the most complex layer. All other layers will have to wait for the resin level to finish filing before the next layer can start.

*Dripper Advantages*


Super Inexpensive
  -Readably available parts
Simple
  -No electronics required
Insanely thin Z layers (0.02mm)

*Possible Improvements for the Dripper System*


*Build Container*


Increasing the surface area of the build container will dampen (but not resolve) Drip Spikes(2) and increase Layer Draw Time(1)

A Look at Surface area change

2 Liter Pop bottle (4" diameter)
    Area = Pi * R^2
    Pop bottle area  = (3.1415 * (10.16cm / 2) ^ 2)
    = 81.07 cm^2

Glass cylinder I just happen to have ;-)  (5 5/16" diameter)
    Area = (3.1415 * (13.4cm / 2) ^ 2)
    = 141.03 cm^2

    That's 1.74 TIMES more surface area !! Quite a difference !!

*Drip Bottle Lift*

What's required is a way to SMOOTHLY lift the drip container to maintain / control drip speed.

Using a scissor jack (as mentioned on 3D Print board by Dezi) would allow the dripper bottle to be raised/lowered smoothly. 
The jacks height may be an issue if it is too short.
Wasted time on simple layers could be reduced by raising the dripper bottle even more to speed up the layer. You just need to be aware of any complex layers coming up so that the drip speed is appropriately reduced for that layer. This would be a manual process.


I think that just these TWO changes could substantially improve the functionality of the Peachy printer !!

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## CescoAiel

> I spent last evening at the local Makerspace. I chatted with those there about the issues with the drip system and the Peachy in general. MANY ideas flowed back and forth. It was a great night !!
> 
> The one thing that struck me about all the conversation is that everyone wanted to keep the drip system. Why? Because of the crazy high Z resolution it enables. I STILL want a stepper based system where there is NO specified time span per layer and I believe that a similar or same resolution can be achieved. We will see.
> 
> What's apparent is that there's lots of room left in the dripper system!
>  I sat down and outlined a bunch of stuff around this today. Here it is for your enjoyment ;-)
> 
> *Peachy Z-Axis Dripper Thoughts*
> 
> ...


A peristaltic pump would give the possibility to control the drips without losing the detail resolution the drip system provides, and it even gives the ability to withdraw and empty out the container at the end... (ie, let's say 5 pulses = 1um, after each layer i want to raise by 0.1mm -> send 500 pulses, resume printing)

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## Builder1

Can you find a printable version and post a link? I will find time to test it along side printing and testing the scissor jack.

J

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## CescoAiel

> Can you find a printable version and post a link? I will find time to test it along side printing and testing the scissor jack.
> 
> J


http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:454702
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1669172
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1467705
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:8964
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:642192
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:34669

Like these?

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## Builder1

I really like to top two. 
I think the planetary gear pump would work the best but the second link that is multi part might be easier to print.
I wil need a much wider print container to have any hope of printing the planetary gear pump.
I will find/make one as soon as I can.

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## Builder1

OK. Found a stew pot at the local thrift store ($4).
It has a surface area *5.81 TIMES* larger than the pop bottle. That should make a difference !!
I also found a 8.5x11 glass sheet at the Dollar store for ($1.50). It was in a Certificate frame.
That will hold the Peachy perfectly without having to hack together some weird mounting bracket.

Now for calibration and print tests (on glow paper)

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## CescoAiel

The challenges I see with the olanetary gear model:
Tolerances: too little and it'll fuse together and won't move, too much and it'll skip
Tube insertion: I imagine inserting a tube into that will be much harder than in a modular pump...
Gear reduction: you'll need to adjust for the fact that you'll need more rotations from the driving axle for the planetary gears to complete a full rotation

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## Builder1

I did the dripper calibration and a few print tests with glow paper.
The dripper calibration numbers just didn't seem to add up so I took the "drips per ml" number from the pop bottle and multiplied by 5.8.

I've tested prints with 10% fill and 20% fill. You can see pics of the setup and tests here:
https://postimg.org/gallery/1v695sod0/

There were no Skipped layers on the test with 20% fill while dripping at about 7 drips/s.
This is good!! At this rate there is room for more complex prints and we have lots of room to reduce the drip rate.

The laser was set to 80mm/s which is a max setting for using the FTD resin.
The MakerJuice resin cures even faster which will allow 100-120mm/s which will allow even more to be printed per layer without Skipping layers.

Cura
Cura continues to annoy me.
It will not print horizontal surfaces (due to the layer being too thin, I believe) and thus it must be tilted 15 degrees. Once tilted, the "surface" is just a collection of hundreds/thousands of edges. These surfaces actually turn out quite nice (see the bottom of Rook 1).
The problem really comes in with parts of the print job that are NOT connected to anything else. These parts will float on top of the resin until something that's already anchored connects to them. When testing the Planetary Gear Pump, this becomes a huge problem as all of the gears are not connected to anything. The only way to make this print properly is to archor it to the mesh on the flat horizontal NOT at 15 degrees. If it's tilted, NONE of the gears will touch the mesh and end up getting floated right out of the print!. As for rafting, I have been experimenting with Cura's rafting quite a bit lately. It is only viewable in the "Layers" view, which is why I could not see it before. I have yet to find a satisfactory configuration for rafting in Cura. I will keep experimenting. I will probably check out Craftware and other slicers too.

Anyone have some good suggestions??

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## dezi

Mhm probably because the model was for fdm printers it is expected, that it will connect at some small parts wich will break of easily.
Maybe add some really thin supports to the gears in Meshmixer or something like that? So you can break them off without a problem but will have it connected to the main body?

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## CescoAiel

I'd probably try adding an extremely thin (0.1mm) raster/mesh to the bottom before tilting, so everything is connected to eachother (so they can't float) with a flimsy support that can be easily broken once done...

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## Builder1

Yes, just about every slicer out their is made for an FDM printer unfortunately. Thankfully, they provide extensive options to change how the software works with the printer.
Which bring me to today's topic...

*Slicer Hell*
Over the last week (..and months), I have been testing numerous configurations in many slicers to see what can be done with the Peachy.
Specifically; , Cura 15.04.6, Cura 2.3 and Craftware

As far as slicers go, theses are the "features" that are needed for the Peachy:
-Customizable & Minimal Rafting
-0.02mm Layer Resolution
-Top & Bottom Surface Printing

So how do the contenders stack up?

*Cura 15.04.6*
Rafting: *FAIL -*while rafting can be turned on, ONLY the first layer's fill can be modified. All other rafting layers are FULL fill.
Layer Resolution: *Workaround* - It does not support 0.02mm layers but 10X Scaling is an acceptable work-around
Output Reliability: *Awesome* - Very reliable gcode from what I can tell. No problems. Just be sure to delete the "Start" and "End" gcode settings first (all FDM specific)
Surface Printing: *FAIL* - I still don't know the root cause of this. Even set to 0.2 (standard FDM setting) it still doesn't print surfaces until tilted
Community Intention:  *FAIL* - Yes, Cura is Free but Ultimaker sells printers too. They have a vested interest in supporting THEIR printers. See Cura 2.3 for more.
Other Items:  ??

*Cura 2.3*
Rafting: *AWESOME -* Custom rafting is much easier. Cura 2.3 adds the option to specify how many FIRST layers you want along with it's Fill percentage. Score !!
Layer Resolution: *Workaround* - It does not support 0.02mm layers but 10X Scaling is an acceptable work-around
Output Reliability: *FAIL* - Printing with Cura 2.3 gcode files just prints gibberish ! You will not recognize your model. Not sure why yet. Maybe it does not support RepRap Gcode??
Surface Printing: *UNKNOWN* - Output was giberish.
Community Intention:  *FAIL* -  Yes, Cura is Free but some change prevents Cura 2.3 gcode from printing coherently on the Peachy.
Other Items:  The UI is vastly improved !! In the preferences, you can TURN OFF settings that you don't want to see in the main UI !!! This allows a customized "Peachy" settings UI. Slicing is a bit faster and drawing the Tool visualization is like lighting now !!! Still tries to melt down my Macbook Pro during slicing.

*Craftware*
Rafting: *AWESOME -* Every layer is fully customizable. It is a bit tedious to add each line one at a time but it's only done once. 
Layer Resolution: *Workaround* - It does not support 0.02mm layers but 10X Scaling is an acceptable work-around
Output Reliability: *FAIL* - Output was giberish. It slowly moves the laser off of the print area and then twitches every once in awhile.
Surface Printing: *UNKNOWN* - Output was giberish.
Community Intention: Yes, Craftware is Free but CraftUnique makes their own printer "Craftbot". They claim that Craftware works with RepRap printers so long as they support "standard" gcode. 
Other Items: UI is weird and messy. Takes some getting used to but it is functional. WICKED fast slicer !!! Easily 10-30x faster than Cura 2.3 !!! Adds alsorts of weird domes and fat tubes to the layers visualization. There is a legend that says what they are but it obscures the model. Displayes teh gcode on the layer visualization screen !! That's cool ! It points to the exact line of gcode that is being drawn as you go through the layers with a set of sliders.

*Slic3r*
Rafting: *AWESOME -* Easy to customize and set fill percentage
Layer Resolution: *Workaround* - It does not support 0.02mm layers but 10X Scaling is an acceptable work-around
Output Reliability: *Awesome* -  Very reliable gcode from what I can tell. No problems. Just be sure to  delete the "Start" and "End" gcode settings first (all FDM specific)
Surface Printing: *Awesome* - No problems
Community Intention: *Awesome* - Slic3r is a Free and Open source community project. They do not sell a competing product so their intent of producing a slicer for the 3D Printing community will not be derailed due to competition.
Other Items: The only problem with Slic3r is that it can't manage large print volumes. This means, no 0.02mm layers and no 10x scaling. This essentially makes it unusable with the Peachy. However, they are fully aware of the issue and are in the works to providing a fix (well, a significant code rewrite for parts of Slic3r). This may take awhile but once they are done, there will be a fabulous free and open source slicer for the Peachy !


So basically, we have Cura 15.04.6.
I will see if there is a way to get Cura 2.3 (that would be soooo awesome!) or Craftware to work with the Peachy.
*Peachy Specific*
What if we had features just for the Peachy? What would they be?

*Horizontal Supports* - Because the Peachy can do full 90 degree over hangs, vertical supports are not required. However, when a part "dips" into a new layer but isn't connected to anything, it will "float" up to whatever layer does connect to something else. To fix this reliably, a HORIZONTAL Support would be perfect. Only a thin horizontal anchor would be needed.

That's all I can think of for now.
Need cookie

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## amoose136

Builder1, could you post some good up close images of the galvos? (multiple viewpoints, good lighting, etc) I haven't given up on magnetic damping yet but it's been difficult to replicate what was done with the peachy printer. BTW you should be able to use the forum's internal picture uploading now if you want.

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## amoose136

Check out using Autodesk Meshmixer for support generation and then slice with anything with supports turned off. Meshmixer can let you do tree like supports that might work better than the kind offered by standard slicer software designed for FDM.
2013-12-28_21-36-44.jpg

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## Builder1

I will take some detailed pics as soon as I can but it will be a few days (out of town :-(
Meshmixer sounds interesting. Craftware can also place supports in user defined locations (haven't played with it but know it can do it).
Honestly, I'm not excited about Autocad products as you have to sign away your life to get it installed... but I may try it some time in the future. Too many things in the cue currently ;-)

*BREAK THROUGH !!!
*I think I have figured out how to get Cura 2.3 to work with the Peachy !! There is a setting in the “Machine Settings” called “Machine Centre is Zero”. This sets the origin to the centre of the build plate rather than the Cura 2.3 default of top left corner. I looked at the gcode output from 2.3 and NONE of the values are negative (thus working in only ONE cartesian coordinate quadrant).
I'm hoping to do an actual test in a couple days when I'm back in front of my printer.

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## Builder1

Ok. I have definitely confirmed that Cura 2.3 works with the Peachy printer !!
I will have some pics uploaded later (I will add the link here)

My most recent issue with Cura was that when I up-scaled the object 10x, the slicing time would go from 1 min to 3-4 HOURS!!!
This intense CPU load would start to roast my poor macbook pro!
Hoping to utilize more cores, I setup my Mac Pro with Cura 2.3 last night. Inorder to do this I had to go through EVERY SINGLE SETTING (there are LOTS) and set them one at a time on my other mac. In doing so I found ONE setting that was 10x to small. Changing that reduced the slice time on my macbook from 3-4 hours to 7 minutes !!!!

Cura maintains two processes, each with multiple threads. The "Cura Engine" process appears to only use ONE core with TWO threads for slicing and the "Cura" process manages the UI. On my Mac Pro which has 4 cores, Cura doesn't even use two of them :-(

*So where are we at now that Cura 2.3 is setup properly?*
-"Machine Center is Zero" setting sets the print origin to the center of the build area which is what the Peachy needs !
-Easily configurable Rafting (so the raft, not our print, gets embedded in the mesh)
-Top & Bottom surfaces print (No more tilting !!!)
-Customizable UI (Settings that are irrelevant to the Peachy can be Hidden from the UI !! (Bed Temp and Cooling Fan settings for example)
-File sizes are large (334MB for the planetary gear pump. This is just the nature of the Peachy since it has 10x the Z axis resolution)

This is a VAST improvement from where things were at previously !!

To Do Items
-Recalibrate the printer to the new "stew pot" build container (Height calibration, Drip calibration *should* be OK now)
-Run more glow paper print tests to ensure print viability with new container
-Finish drinking cranberry juice so I have a 3L Dripper bottle (It's soooooo sweet!! ...I might just dump it)
-Drill cap and run hoses in my new Dripper bottle
-Print Planetary gear pump and Scissor jack
-Take close up pics of galvos and post them

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## Builder1

I've been working on an epic update but have rewritten it about 3 times so far...
So, a mini update.

Drip calibration continues to mess with my mind. Nothing adds up. Calculating the drips/mm does not equal the drips/mm obtained with the "Drip Calibrator" in the Peachy software. Then when I use either number in the Peachy software using simulated drips to do glow paper tests, the software does not actually drip the correct number of drips per layer!

As part of my print tests, I've been trying to optimize the gcode files so that they are the simplest that they can be. This reduces file size, slice time and print time. Specifically, print time per layer, which is what we need to get down as much as possible to make the drip system viable. I have the planetary gear pump down to 58MB !!! (my first tests were 980MB!!!) This is all due to removing lines that are not required and having certain settings where they should be. For example, in the Peachy software there is a setting for Line Width set to 0.5mm. I was using 0.2mm in Cura. That setting alone dropped the pump file down from 120MB to 58MB.
I will outline several important settings in Cura that I find myself adjusting constantly. Those settings have the biggest impact on fill size/gcode complexity/print time.

I have not forgotten about the pictures. It's just that every time I make an adjustment, the print will look different. I have tossed lots of pics that are just simply out of date. I think I have the gcode optimized as much as I can now. New pics will be coming.

I will be doing some galvo close ups too ;-)

More to come...

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## Builder1

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone !!!

Life has been busy the last month and a half!
With this new year, 2017, coming into focus, I have been envisioning what this new year will be for me.
I have quite a list of things I want to accomplish in 2017 and having a fully functioning Peachy printer is definitely on that list !!!

However, I will be approaching it a bit differently.
I have spent way too much time testing things that just are not getting me any closer to a "fully functional" printer. I will set aside the drip system for the time being, and focus on making a stepper motor based z-axis. I have 2 different types of stepper motors with appropriate driver circuits as well as a couple arduinos. This is where I will put my focus.

I will resume work on it probably in the second half of January (just a guess, could be earlier).

Until then, enjoy your holidays and have a grand start to this new year !!
Jason

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## CescoAiel

> Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone !!!
> 
> Life has been busy the last month and a half!
> With this new year, 2017, coming into focus, I have been envisioning what this new year will be for me.
> I have quite a list of things I want to accomplish in 2017 and having a fully functioning Peachy printer is definitely on that list !!!
> 
> However, I will be approaching it a bit differently.
> I have spent way too much time testing things that just are not getting me any closer to a "fully functional" printer. I will set aside the drip system for the time being, and focus on making a stepper motor based z-axis. I have 2 different types of stepper motors with appropriate driver circuits as well as a couple arduinos. This is where I will put my focus.
> 
> ...


You too!

Can't wait to see more of your "adventures"!

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## CescoAiel

So I guess Peachy is really dead... Not even anything anymore from 'Builder1' who actually had one...

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## Builder1

Great timing !!!
Yes, life had washed me away again but I always wash back up on shore eventually ;-)

I do have some updates...

I have a WORKING stepper motor driven Z-Axis platform!
I can't wait to actually use it too !!! (I got it 5 days ago!)

I will actually *need* to use it soon. In mid May, I will be doing an hour long talk on 3D printing and I want to have prints there to show. I'm still working on my presentation, so that's eating into my available time.
That means I have to get the Z-axis platform properly setup (code updates, arduino setup, run some wires, make a table for it to be on, buy some more resin, recalibrate the printer, build a new Build Container, find some cool 3D models and slice them for the Peachy [10x Z-axis remember] and probably a few other things). At least some of the above won't take too long.

I do have a lot on my plate at the moment. In early April I will be doing another hour long talk on a completely different topic. I'm still writing that presentation too! It's taking up most of my time in the evening right now.

I also came up with an nifty idea (well... I think so anyway).
It's a software idea to combine 3d modelling, slicing and gcode into one software package. That's really the least interesting aspect of it though. What's really interesting is how it all works as one piece and how it is used!

I know. Very cryptic. I have (barley) started prototyping a *test* version. It will definitely suck. BUT, it should be enough to demonstrate the idea while I learn to be a better coder and learn a more expressive environment to build it in. After my talks and getting my Peachy printing, I'll be dedicating some time to this project. I will also tell you more about it too. I think you will like it :-)

j

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## CescoAiel

I can't wait to hear about it! I would love to build one myself one day... 

With a laser plotter, FDM Printer, adjustable soldering setup (air and iron) and electronics experience at my disposal, it should be doable, but I don't have the time to develop from scratch, so if we could get Peachy to a workable OS product (esp. if - as Rylan hinted at - we can do it with an Arduino instead of a custom board) that would be a great boon to both makers and OS people everywhere!

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## Builder1

*Super Exciting Update !!!*

Well... I'm excited anyway :-)
Over the last four days I have been hacking away on the Z-Axis system, testing and coding.
The Arduino code I got from Rylan was unfinished (probably an older version of the code b/c they did have it working at some point) so I've been hacking on that to get the code cleaned up and the Z-Axis working.

I'm pleased to announce that I now have the code working ROCK SOLID with the test models included in the Peachy Software !!! 
I ran my last test for 215 layers. No skipped layers and No skipped platform moves !!

Just as I got it working last night a wire broke. So I need to resolder a small circuit to get it back up and running.
I will be upgrading my copy of Cura and slicing some complex models for further testing. There is a planetary gear pump (mentioned in previous posts) that I will use as a test model. 

Next up will be trolling the dollar store for a print container and changing the build plate on the Z-Axis.
I have looked around the dollar stores for a viable container before but I was always thinking "drip system". The drip system required the sides to be perfectly vertical or the print would warp due to the widening of the container. That is not a problem now ! The resin level will never move, only the build plate. 
It should be easy and cheap to find a container now.

I have also been looking at small aquariums. The smallest I've found so far has been 16"W X 8"D X 8"H. A bit too big. 8x8x8 would be perfect for now. I'll check a few more places.
I also found something really cool at the pet store that I did not expect. A super tiny CO2 regulator for CO2 cartridges !! This is really cool because adding CO2 on top of the resin will allow MUCH faster curing and thus MUCH faster printing !! This regulator requires cartridges with a threaded top (available at the pet store) rather than the cheap air gun style cartridges. This unit is very small and relatively inexpensive. I will definitely get one and test it out...but not till AFTER my talk.

Also on my To DO list.
-Built a lighter, cheaper, better Z-Axis system based on the one I have now.
-Work on my "super secret software" ;-)

15 days to my talk.

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## CescoAiel

Can't wait to learn more...

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## Builder1

I've continued to hack away at the arduino code for the z-axis.
I have had more problems getting it to work than I expected !! It took a lot of experimenting to know what the system really needed.

I now have code that is working Rock Solid on all of the test models built in to the Peachy software!
It does not currently work for gcode imported into the software yet.
This appears to be a matter of getting the starting sequence timed properly. The Peachy printer will not start a print job until it gets the right number of drips and the right delay timings right at the start of the print. So it's just a matter of tweaking this pieces.

More updates coming :-)
...believe me! Once I get this working, you won't be able to shut me up !!!

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## Builder1

Progress continues !

Many additional tweaks to the code were required and it is working VERY well now!!!
It works flawlessly with the 6 builtin test models in the Peachy software.

To test actual gcode files, I have been slicing multiple models to further test the integrity of the arduino code.
In doing so, I have encountered a few hickups (these do love to pop up :-)
Initially, gcode files would not even start printing but I have solved that :-)
For awhile, one file would work but another wouldn't. So far that looks solved too!

Cura decided to kernel panic my laptop (ver 2.5 & 2.4) so I posted to the forum (hoping for a bug fix).
It took a day but a simple solution was posted to the forum and everything is back up and running (corrupt config file).

While that was broken, I decided to figure out how to built the Peachy software for Linux from the github repo. I'm NOT a Linux guy (I do have some experience) and I really didn't think I would figure it out....but I thought "what the hell".
It freakin' worked !!! So I have more up-to-date Peachy software on my Linux box than I do on my Mac !!
I did need to make at least one change to the build script to make it work but it was actually quite easy.
I will eventually write up instructions on how to do it. I will also explore doing the same for the Mac version. There are a few more things to get in place to make that work. Later...

I found a cheap ($4) rectangular bucket at Dollarama and with some minor mods seems to work quite well as the build container !! I would like to replace the build platform with something smaller so It fits better but this is good for now.

Back to Testing…
“Printing” models (with glow paper) appears to be working great !! I did discover some Cura settings that are VERY important.
The “Build Plate Adhesion” section needs to have “Raft Air Gap” = 0mm and the “Initial Layer Z Overlap” = 0.2mm (or just > zero). 
I’ve found that when the air gap > 0, the print job will stop b/c a "layer complete" signal will never be sent and the platform will wait forever and never send more drips. The overlap setting is needed to connect the last raft layer and the first object layer. These settings work !

I am re-slicing all my models to have these settings now.
I am also running these “prints” for about an hour or more to watch the behaviours of the Peachy and the Platform. This allowed me to find this one setting issue. There are several more settings that I will be optimizing. These are really important to get right. Not only will the print come out great but the gcode files become a LOT smaller too.

More to come :-)

Jason

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## Builder1

Hi everyone !!  I finally have some updates to share :-)

*New Pics !!*
*Gallery “Stepper Z-Axis Peachy”*
https://postimg.org/gallery/2kgvpgdhw/

*“Brass_vs_Alum”* is the new brass wire build platform sitting on top of the “original” z-axis build platform. The wire loop is 14cm long by 8cm wide. I have glow paper taped to the original build platform.

*“Brass_in_the_Bucket”* shows the wire loop in the build container. The old platform was too big and got stuck part way down so it had to be replaced with something smaller. The bar that the wire loop mounts too still runs into the bucket a bit :-(

*“Brass&Mesh”* is the wire loop with the platform mesh attached. I just used thin wire to attached the mesh and brass wire together.

*“ButtonPad”* is a control pad for moving the platform up and down. Two buttons to move it all the way up or down and two more for layer by layer movements. Upon further inspection, the arduino looks to only have 3 available digital IO left. Oh well… three buttons I guess.

*What’s Next ?!?*
-Wire button pad to arduino
-Update the code to use the buttons
-Firmly attach arduino and button pad to z-axis frame (harder than you would think)
-Mount Peachy (probably just rest it on the glass lid)
-Calibrate peachy to build platform height (which needs to be determined)
-I may also need to buy new resin. It's been about a year since I bought the last bottle.

*What’s Next Next ?!?*
In some of my next posts, I want to start talking about my software idea to improve 3D printing. I would love to get your feedback on it !!

More to come...

Jason

Bonus points to anyone who can guess the computer in the background of the pictures (top left corner)
;-)

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## harpo99999

the worry for the materials is galvanic corrosion as the water is heavily salted, and dis-similar metals will give galvanic corrosion is ordinary ocean salt water

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## Builder1

> the worry for the materials is galvanic corrosion as the water is heavily salted, and dis-similar metals will give galvanic corrosion is ordinary ocean salt water


The brass and aluminum will have no problems with salt water.
The mesh (I think) is galvanized steel. It is the same mesh that Rylan had picked to ship with the Peachy.
I just checked some of my other meshes that have spent significant amounts of time in the salt waters part of my "drip" based Peachy. The mesh still looks good. I see no signs of rusting or metal fatigue on these meshes.

The salt water does force one to be cognizant of material choices!

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## posicat

Sounds like you guys have done a ton of work to get towards a working peachy-clone printer using whatever could be salvaged from the fallout of the project.  I have hopes of eventually building my own Peachy now after reading through some of your accomplishments.  Mostly posting here to keep track of the thread, but being a professional software developer and Arduino programmer myself, if there's any assistance I can offer, please please let me know.

Couple questions, I know initially the Peachy was supposed to run off of common sound cards, that was scrapped because everyone's hardware was different.  In the meantime the Raspberry Pi Zero W has arrived on the market, and it is a known quantity when it comes to it's audio circuit.  Could something be built around the audio-out on that board, or it's GPIO as it's far more capable than the older Arduino chips.  An ESP8266 might also be an option, could be code-compatible with what's out there, and is bit faster.  Plus Wifi!  

Anyways just my $.02 and hope of eventually having a Peachy-type printer of my own some day.

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## perfessor101

Hello, 
I was curious if there are any more updates 

I’ve been curious about getting something similar working with a raised and lowered build plate 

Thanks for your time,
Bobby

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## perfessor101

> Hello, 
> I was curious if there are any more updates 
> 
> I’ve been curious about getting something similar working with a raised and lowered build plate 
> 
> Thanks for your time,
> Bobby


Would there be a chance of pushing your updates to the github or otherwise making them available ?

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## Builder1

Who ever is still watching this thread, email me at re3tro3_g3uy3@sha3w.c3a
Remove the obvious number first.

j

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## curious aardvark

kinda curious to see if this will ever go anywhere. 

Given that we now live in  a world where a small resin printer can be had for under ?100 and a full blown one for less than ?400. 
Is the peachy concept still valid ?

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## Builder1

I'm curious which printers you are referring too?

j

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