Are there any users out there with experience with the F306? I'm looking for good points and bad points and how much printing you have done on the printer.
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Are there any users out there with experience with the F306? I'm looking for good points and bad points and how much printing you have done on the printer.
We've had the F306 for 3 weeks, run through 3 spools of PLA (1 in the first 3 days) - so far it is a very promising piece of equipment - the next generations will be awesome, as this first gen is on par with developed tools in other industries (we develop parts for historic Porsches)
look for extruder fan issues (small batch of 12v fans delivered instead of 24v - we were lucky enough to get the 12v, so a replacement is on its way) - that is the only possible flaw we can find as of yet, and we've been running this thing round the clock, hard.
best $ we've spent in a long time.
Perfect. This is just the kind of feedback I have been looking for. Have you tried any other materials beyond PLA? Are you able to post any pictures of your prints? Have you had any failed prints and have these been due to the printer or operator error?Quote:
Originally Posted by eimkeith
I have just received through a test print from the guys and I must say the quality appears to be up there with my form 1+. I was very impressed with the surface finish and dimensional accuracy of the part.
About the only issue I have now is that I'm UK based but am speaking to the guys about possibly having one sent over to me.
I'm not a great person to ask, 100% of my printing experience has been the last 150 hours or so on this printer. I've had 3 failed prints because of inexperience (a raft fixed that - was printing tower-shaped antenna covers for the old T5200 Motorola Walkie Talkie radios) and 2 because of extruder head jams that were really the result of the little 12v fan not operating (24v system.)
That being said, it seems dimensionally accurate for the engine parts I've printed, but the real test will be if the automotive wheel center (which I had to cleave into 5 radial parts) will make a circle when assembled (13 hours per spoke!) You can see some of this at https://www.facebook.com/ZuffenhausProducts
I've only printed with PLA and ABS.
also, what I really liked about the F306 besides the build envelope is the fact that very little of it is proprietary; I can't see obsolescence any time soon, and the components are readily available and accessible. Chris seems to freely share info and parts sources, very above-board. I'm tweaking it a bit (can't help it) but I'd certainly buy it again.
Just what I need to know. Your experience of failed prints is also good to know as I am currently using a form 1+ so the hundreds of hours of printing experience I have is in SLA with no FDM time. I realize I'm in a very small minority in that regard.Quote:
Originally Posted by eimkeith
Thanks for the review. If anyone else has used one I'd be interested to hear your experience
Received machine today. Early in the ball game but compared to our prior printers (Cubex Duo and TAZ 4) this startup has been painless. Did the test print, then three of our own parts. All successful. We'll be running some of the same stuff side by side on the TAZ 4 and F306 (the Cubex is retired). I like what I see so far.
Great. If you could upload or link some pictures that would be great
I'm going to try linking to publicly shared Google+files since I can't seem to upload any sizeable files using this forum's software.
This is a pic of parts produced by F306 and TAZ4. Light blue on left is TAZ, darker blue on right is F306. Right now, the F306 is running 0.2 mm layers and the TAZ is running 0.28, so the TAZ is running a bit quicker but the F306 is making a better print. Later on as I tweak the F306, I'll do another head to head with both of them running more equally sliced parts.
https://plus.google.com/107006741353...ts/GyPP4qNxmow
These are two videos showing the F306 and the TAZ running the same part. The first one is at the beginning, the second is about 30% complete.
Something interesting is that both printers are running over usb from one laptop. There are two instances of Pronterface running on the laptop driving both printers at the same time. We put the gcode files on our server at design time, then pull them to the laptop at print time. Been running the TAZ that way for a while, this is the first time for the F306. Seems to work fine, but we'll see if there are finished parts on the print beds at the end. I hate walking around with sd cards.
https://plus.google.com/107006741353...ts/iNGHzZWo3Es
https://plus.google.com/107006741353...ts/VFTAwj3oMrQ
Another thing to note is that the TAZ part was sliced using a standard Slic3r profile I developed. We're making PLA parts of our own design for manufacturing machines here, so our priority is to make consistent functional parts with a minimum of tweaking. Design, slice, print, install. We're willing to sub-optimize the slicer settings for quick consistent results. The TAZ/Slic3r combo required a week or so of finagling slicer settings, playing with temperatures, etc. until we got a stable combination. The F306 made a functional part with the first print, and hasn't failed yet. I'm working with the slicer profile in minor ways, but compared to what we went through with the TAZ, the F306 has been a cakewalk.
Let me know if these links worked. If they did, I'll update on Monday morning with (hopefully) finished parts. Have a good weekend.
Update: Here are the finished parts, TAZ left, F306 right. TAZ finished quicker but is doing 0.28. F306 made a higher quality print at 0.20. Both are serviceable parts for our purposes. Today we're going to bump the F306 up to 0.28mm and see what it does.
https://plus.google.com/107006741353...ts/6SUUKVyNzvj
Links worked perfectly. Good to see the comparison between the two printers as I'm well aware that the TAZ4 is touted as being a top notch printer. Have you found the F306 to be fairly intuitive to use?
The F306 instructions are clear and it does what they say it's supposed to. If that's intuitive, then the answer is yes. I don't have any SLA experience so our frames of reference might be different.
With FDM printers, we've seen the full range. The cubex had proprietary slicing software that was very easy to use. Problem was if it didn't output what you needed , you couldn't adjust it. It was a good machine hobbled by proprietary software and raw materials. The TAZ and the F306 use non proprietary software which is more complex but gives you flexibility. We.need the flexibility of the non proprietary printers even though we don't like to spend time tinkering with settings.
We'll know more in a couple of weeks. Right now I'd say the TAZ is a good machine if money is your constraint. If time is your constraint it looks like the F306 is your choice. Also, the F306 can handle higher extrusion temperatures which makes it possible to use materials I don't think the TAZ can handle. (the Fusion3 guys included with my printer a print of a part I sent them done very nicely in nylon. I never could get the TAZ to print that part in any material.)
I would say my constraint is the quality of the print output for my customers. Hence why I first went for a form 1+. But I need something that will give me larger prints but not greatly reduce the quality. I don't want to consider a closed system from the larger manufacturers. From what I've seen the F306 seems to fit the bill.
The higher temperatures allowing for nylon etc is a great bonus as well.
I forgot to add a third constraint besides time and money...quality expectation. In our case, quality is determined by functionality. If visual appeal/quality is a constraint for you, then I immediately recommend the F306. I think the TAZ can produce prints near the quality you would get from the F306 but you'd really have to work at it. Overhangs of all kinds are much better on the F306. Also, the F306 does a far better job with supports. In fact, we've never gotten acceptable supports on the TAZ.
Here's a picture of the part I mentioned in an earlier post...the one I sent Fusion3Design the file of that I was trying to do on the TAZ. They printed one and sent it in the box with the printer. It's about 7" x 8" x 2" and looks really really good. I never got the TAZ to print the version you see. Had to redesign the part to make it easier for the TAZ to print.
https://plus.google.com/107006741353...ts/RRcKPwqVY1V
To be honest with you with the specifications of the fusion 3 , it should dominate the 3d printing industry but that does not include those 3d printers that are $30,000+ , however for the fusion 3 idk if they have update kits but the this is one of the reasons i would recommend the 3d monstr besides the weight, the 3d monstr is a higher choice because they are one of the best overall deals around and the 3d monstr is more like a higher end of the 3d printers but a better bargian
Good luck to the 3d Monstr - there's certainly a lot of discussion about the next gen of 3D printers with even larger build sizes. We at Fusion3 are focused on providing our customers (commercial customers ranging from Small Biz to Fortune 500 and education customers (high school, comm college & universities) the product quality and support services needed.
I bought my Fusion 3o6 about a month ago and have successfully printed with ABS, PLA, Nylon, T-glass, Polycarbonate. I also had a lot of questions on how to print all of those materials which Chris and Chip answered without hesitation or delay. This 3d Montsr looks good but won't be shipping until November and I have no idea how well they support their customers. I know Fusion has the best customer support I have ever seen from a manufacturing company. So you can keep your Monstr I will keep buying Fusion 306's.Quote:
Originally Posted by postmahomeson