FF Creator Pro arrives tomorrow, what upgrades can I buy?
Hi All,
I've been working with 3d printed parts of nearly every type, we used to have Dimension, Stratasys and other machines right there in the office, and I've ordered parts in SLA, FDM, DMLS, SLS and others- so I'm pretty familiar with all that sort of thing. I have a desktop SLA, but for the first time picked up a Creator Pro and am excited to play with it tomorrow. I actually had "bought" an Atom 2.5EX delta machine but got impatient and canceled that order in favor of the Creator because of the open sourceness and readily available upgrades and versatility. Also, for the price, even if I end up hating it- it's not a big investment so no big deal. That said, I plan to get straight to experimenting with assorted materials, settings, and generally getting familiar with things. The dual-head had a lot of appeal to me in spite of the complications it entails- I think/hope I should be able to dial it in, and I certainly have seem a lot of benefit from dissolveable support in the past. Interested in trying to build overmolded parts directly without the usual casting step as well- I know that may be a tall order but it'll be a fun experiment.
Finally- I'm especially interested to see if I can print some more exotic things like PC, carbon fiber, and other exotic filaments. To that end, I'm thinking I'll pick up an all metal hot end, some hardened nozzles, and a glass build plate. I'm surprised to see that the all metal mk10 kits I've seen that fit the creator generally only include a stock nozzle. You'd think if people are upgrading then may as well get a hardened nozzle AND an all metal hot end, but I guess you have to mix & match? With that in mind, and the pursuit of variety/versatility, I may pick up some .2mm nozzles (or .6?) so that I'll have the option to try that option too. That way I'd have at least one all metal hot end (is there a reason to equip both nozzles? I expect I'd ever only use one high temp material at a time), and the option to use smaller orfices, and of course a stock .4mm nozzle to choose from. Also, there's no downside to hardened steel nozzles, right? I mean they would work fine with PLA as well as carbon fiber, right?
In short, I plan to experiment with this machine and see what I can achieve- so any suggestions on a good variety pack of hardware/upgrades is greatly appreciated! (software too!) I have plenty of budget since I went with this machine over all my high cost alternatives. Thanks in advance!
-k
