Hi
Just ordered me a Creator Pro, and I'm just curious to if there are any tips or upgrades that are a must-have?
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Hi
Just ordered me a Creator Pro, and I'm just curious to if there are any tips or upgrades that are a must-have?
A addon fan for cooling extruded material is good for a lot of situations:
Quote:
It's these two:
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:295317
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:350649
Combined together, both printed in ABS. As you can see in the first link it has ducts that redirect the air to where the extruder is placing the material, thus cooling the extruded material that much faster! Because you want the material to cool from +-230 degrees to 30 degrees as fast as possible so that it retains its shape and doesn't warp.
There's also the adjustment knobs for leveling the bed that can be sore on the fingers, for that there's this:
Quote:
As for levelling - print a set of these knobs and you won't burn your fingers any more :-)
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:243998
Use some of the spare nuts that came in your little bag of bits.
Snipped those from Curious Aardvarks comment in this topic:
http://3dprintboard.com/showthread.p...my-Creator-Pro
Which is probably a good topic to read when your going to start with the Flashforge. (because everybody runs into the same 'problems' at the start.)
Also, feel free to ask. Lot's of experienced and helpful people on this board.
Thanks for you reply.
I see there is also a glass bed available. To my understanding adding a glass bed will sort most of the issues regarding not sticking? or am I mistaken?
You'd have to ask someone with a glass bed for his/her experience with it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Stigern
But a lot of things can work depending on environment/filament/user/settings. Lots of people have zero problems with blue tape, others use kapton, I myself use BuildTak.
If it works - it works. So first try the kapton (which is delivered with the product) or blue tape. Because both are easy obtainable and replaceble. If you have issues then, first check all your other settings, and then start thinking about glass / buildTak / other build surface.
The glass bed doesn't so much fix the sticking as ensure that you have a perfectly level bed.
The problem with screwed in place aluminium beds is that the constant expanding and contracting when they're heated and cooled - will inevitably lead to a non-flat surface. And when you're dealing with distances as small as 100 microns, ANY variation from dead level will effect how a print sticks to the bed.
Glass beds also expand and contract - though to a lesser degree. but don't change shape over time.
Stigern, I also am a newbie. Just got my printer yesterday. Printed the 2 color cone with no issues. I had to level the bed several times to get it to work.
I tried to convert an stl to gcode and put it on the SD card but the printer seems to only see the x3g file not the gcode file I created.
Oh, so the Creator can't read gcode?Quote:
Originally Posted by LakeDuck
How do people solve this? Or are all printing trough USB?
Since it is based on a Clone MakerBot Mightyboard, you need Replicator G or Sailfish to convert your G code file to something the Mightboard will read. I just use Replicator G with our old, reliable Replicator XL. Just did one of those Zombie Killer Heads at 50 microns on Kapton Tape with a little ABS Slurry. Took over 17 hours to print!
Attachment 2928
p.s., we run all our printers now untethered (except our new Printerbot Simple) off of a SD Card or USB Thumb Drive .
The warped bed doesn't seem to affect sticking for me, it's the right angles and clean lines it affects more. If anything the outer edges stick better because the nozzle inherently is closer to the build than in the centre.Quote:
Originally Posted by curious aardvark
I am still baffled as to why you guys have so much problems getting things to stick, or print raftless on these creator pro's and X's ... perhaps the wooden case gets a bit warmer than the metal one? who knows..
Hijacking this topic: That is amazing. Can you perhaps post your settings? I cannot get ABS to print at a layer thickness lower then 0.2mm.Quote:
Originally Posted by JohnA136
Quote:
Originally Posted by Geoff
My bed is bent the other way around; the center is closer then the edges allowing edges to easily 'come off' at the start of the print. But I know how to deal with it now for PLA. ABS still is a bit trickier because it wants to warp more.
Ah, I just recently found out Simplify 3D can export directly to .x3g format :)
JohnA136:
50 microns, thats 0.05mm? would not be possible to do with the Creator Pro ?
Very nice looking print:)
Yep, simplify 3d does. It doesn't exactly say X3G export, but when you do the gcode export it also creates the .x3g file. A little confusing but it works none the less...
ergh yeah I see now, If my centre was the high point, the sides of all my prints would lift for sure too, but since the centre is the low point (whole bed is bowed) the outer edges stick fine. I must admit tho, I have been favoring the Kossel for printing recently, and for the fact it has the glass plate. I have a glass bed for my flashforge but it needs to be cut, just too big and it sticks out the front, dangerous with kids running around.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dargonfly
@John, WOW that' an awesome print! I can't get my flashforge to under 0.1, mind sharing your secrets??
So, I ordered a little of each type of filament I felt an interest in. But mostly PLA and ABS. Then some copper, wood, and other special filaments. Really excited about the wood and copper filaments, but I'll start with PLA first :)
How do people store their filament when not using it?
I followed a guide I found where he put rice in a plastic container, this only to keep the moisture at a lower level. Then stored it in a dark and chill space. I did some changes, I swapped the rice with Silica Desiccant. Then added a Wifi cam and a humidity display, just so I could check up on the moist levels, I was curious to see how low it would get. Was 58% when I closed the lid, now a few days later its 26% :)
It depends where you live, I used to store it in containers as I was in pretty damp environment, here in the country where it is fairly warm and dry, I actually just leave them out now.Quote:
Originally Posted by Stigern
I know some people here will cringe, but I have to be honest, I have had rolls sitting here for now 25 months + that have barely been used (ABS) and they show absolutely no signs of swelling and are uniform on a 10 metre diameter test.
PLA however, I do have some PLA that was left out in the open for about a year that has started to form small bulb shapes in it, every meter or so, what caused this I don't know, but yeah it's pretty done for now.
yep I am currently keeping most in sealable bags with a silicon drying bag.
But I tend to leave one roll of filament on the back of the printer for long period of time and I've had zero issues with pla and abs. Nylon 618, yeah that sucker needs to be kept dry. In fact before I stuck it in the sealed bag last time I left it in my dehydrator for 8 hours to really sort the sod out.
But on the whole abs and pla - unless you live in a very humid environment - you can probably just stack it in a corner somewhere.
0.05 is doable - just make sure you calibrate really tight.
I can't really see the point, but it's doable.
So, storing PLA/ABS etc would benefit from a higher temperature?
I'm now storing it in a basement, around 20C. I guess with the same air humidity I would benefit from keeping it at 25C maybe?
One would imagine anything 25c and under would be pretty safe, unfortunately where I live we go from a standard 25c and on a hot day its 30c, most summer days are 38c - 40c and at the absolute worst 44-45c that we have had here, and I have to admit that had me a little worried for my filament, luckily it is very low humidity here or I'd be in real trouble.Quote:
Originally Posted by Stigern
actually no.
If there's humidity then the warmer the temperature the more water the filament will absorb. On account of the filament expanding with the heat and opening up the pores that absorb the water.
Dry and cool would be best. But a sealed plastic bag in any environemnt works best :-)
3dfilaprint send you the storage bags with the filament. Which is good of them :-)
That said winter's coming up and in england that pretty much means damp until june.
I've had zero issues with humidity and abs and pla.
Don't think it's as big an issue as people say - plus the filament industry has moved amazingly fast in the last 12 months and even the cheap ebay filament is pretty much decent quality now.
Got my printer up and running!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFOcj6yMoIM
Yay! So exciting, isn't it?! I've had mine about two weeks now and I still get giddy every time a print finishes.
It sure is, and how easy to get started?Quote:
Originally Posted by Serena
I've been scared of getting into 3d printing as I feared I would get stuck trying. But it just works, and combined with Simplify 3D it's really easy.
My first prints with black PLA:
Attachment 2990
Very nice! Yeah simplify3d helps especially when you are new and you just want to use defaults to get started. My new thinking on my printer is that it's not hard per say, just finnicky. Lots of tweaking and testing involved. I kinda like that though. Makes getting a great print feel like a big accomplishment! ;-)Quote:
Originally Posted by Stigern
@stigern - where did you get the files for those clips - Been looking for them.
I suspect they're on thingiverse, I just don't seem to be entering in what other people have called them :-)
And yeah I think when you have to work a little harder to get the prints right there's more satisfaction in the final result.
Printed some black and decker workmate plugs for my mate this week. I could have just downloaded the file from thingiverse. But was much more satisfying to make my own models in openscad. Took about half an hour. But they are fully configurable. Which a downloaded .stl file would not be.
And I've got better idea of what the hull command can do now as well :-)
That to me is the real thrill of 3d printing. Just pulling something out of your head and making it solid.
Here is the buckle: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:348729
Did some more printing:
Thing http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:26921
Attachment 3039
I have had my printer a week or two now, I have had some good luck with PLA but had some issues with ABS, Clogged nozzles, inconsistent feeds, etc.
I bought a lic. for Simplify3D, My computer is slow and the increase in speed of generating the gcode and x3g files is noticable. Thinking about ordering some other types of materials, maybe something that specifically for support. Suggestions would be apprecaited.
Any suggestions on s/w that will allow you to take a 2D image like a logo and give it some depth to print desk nicnak would be helpful as well
I like Colorfabbs PLA filament, also had great luck with 3DPrimas PLA :)
Quote:
Originally Posted by LakeDuck
ABS seems to be a little more tricky than PLA for needing tweaks. I have found that it needs consistent heat, so the enclosed casing is helpful. Make sure the bed is at least 110c I usually put extruder between 226-230c. If it's not sticking good or moving around during print try using a raft. And make sure your bed is really well leveled. Other than those tips it's kinda trial and error. Good luck!
Trying to print that Marvin keychain figure, can't seem to make it stop warping:
Attachment 3091
PLA 205C Extruder & 55C BED (glass)
This is also with a 120mm fan on the side of the platform blowing into the case/bed.
Any ideas?
I had some heat on when I started doing PLA, had the best luck with blue tape and do not heat the bed at all for PLA,
I also had to increase the temp of the nozzle to 220 on one of the colors I was using.
Lower the PLA temp to 180-190Quote:
Originally Posted by Stigern
TBH I never print PLA higher than 200c, and I have 18 types here. If you get any clicking from the extruder due to the lower heat, print a bit slower and see how it goes.
you can't break your printer by extruding at a low temperature, all it will do is 'click click click' (sure if you let it click for long enough it will shred the filament ) but a couple of clicks wont kill it. Just see what the lowest you can extrude at, especially with PLA.
I've got this white pla that won't actually extrude at 190. I did get it to print at 215, but it's stringy as hell and looking like it needs 220+
I'm still not entirely convinced it isn't crap - but I'll try it again at abs temps.
Have to admit 3dfilaprint have really disappointed me on this last order. Dodgy white pla and a roll of black on aroll so large it can't be mounted on the machine. wtf - other two rolls and the 8 or so previously I've bought from them on standard sized reels.
So why this one giant bloody reel ?
Anyway, enough of my moaning :-)
So how is marvin warping ?
I've printed loads of the bloody things (thinking they might make good airgun targets) apart from issues with overhang that is now fixed - never had any issues printing them with any material, speed or resolution.