Delivery No.1 - Build blog of the first V1.0 Peachy Printer in the Wild

[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 !!!

[CescoAiel]

Next stop: PRINT $#!T !!!

Well then! Go ahead and finally print something! We're all waiting to see your result already!