Happy with your Flashforge?

[curious aardvark]

yeah I've looked breifly at proftweak. Will probably do the job.
Just been busy since I've had the machine. Keep hoping for a dead period. You know, like the 3 months before I got the machine :-)

But that heart box - I believe the second thing I ever printed - just says: get your end right and I'll print anything at all :-)

I had a gyro thing heading for a perfect print as well - but head got blocked halfway through lol

So yeah, printer is a great bit of kit. heavy duty motors and bars. Love the control panel and screen and I print 90% from sd card.

I've made 3 glass printbeds - so I'll calibrate a bit finer and try blue tape, kapton on glass and abs glue and mess with proftweak and hopefully hit on a solution that works for me most - if not all - of the time.

But none of my issues are the printers fault.

Oh yeah goeff - did you say I need m3 wingnuts ? So far only been able to go down as low as m4 in the hardware shops I've looked in.
Blisters on forefinger and thumb from adjusting hot. hopefully the glass plates will let me calibrate cold.
When i get wingnuts I'll probably print big plastic knobs to fit over them just to make things really easy and less painful to calibrate hot :-)

[Geoff]

yeah I've looked breifly at proftweak. Will probably do the job.
Just been busy since I've had the machine. Keep hoping for a dead period. You know, like the 3 months before I got the machine :-)

But that heart box - I believe the second thing I ever printed - just says: get your end right and I'll print anything at all :-)

I had a gyro thing heading for a perfect print as well - but head got blocked halfway through lol

So yeah, printer is a great bit of it. heavy duty motors and bars. Love the control panel and screen and I print 90% from sd card

I've made 3 glass printbeds - so I'll calibrate a bit finer and try blue tape, kapton on glass and abs glue and mess with proftweak and hopefully hit on a solution that works for me most - if not all - of the time.

But none of my issues are the printers fault.

Oh yeah goeff - did you say I need m3 wingnuts ? So far only been able to go down as low as m4 in the hardware shops I've looked in.
Blisters on forefinger and thumb from adjusting hot. hopefully the glass plates will let me calibrate cold.
When i get wingnuts I'll probably print big plastic knobs to fit over them just to make things really easy and less painful to calibrate hot :-)

Not sure mate, what did I say the wingnuts were for lol?

[curious aardvark]

adjusting the bed on calibration.

It's in your first couple of posts in the stickied thread.
I've got some m4's I might try.
Just can't find anyone stocking m3's, weird.

[basfud]

My problems are simply getting things to stick to anything without a raft. Not sure if it's me or the software.
for the vast majority of prints - rafts are just not suitable as removing prints from them can be nigh on impossible.

I never print with rafts and no issues with model unsticking, but then again, I never use pure Kapton

I use either office glue like UHU Stick or dissolved PVA. For ABS (which I slowly abandon in favor of taulmann nylon) I use ABS juice and re-calibrate the bed on 110degC temperature (cause it warps more at those temps).

The only problems I get is the models sticking to the bed too well But you can use lighter butane refills to get them off (temperature shock) or pry them off with a snap-off knife (that works brilliant most of the time). You also get a perfect glossy surface on the bed side of the print.

[Geoff]

I never print with rafts and no issues with model unsticking, but then again, I never use pure Kapton

I use either office glue like UHU Stick or dissolved PVA. For ABS (which I slowly abandon in favor of taulmann nylon) I use ABS juice and re-calibrate the bed on 110degC temperature (cause it warps more at those temps).

The only problems I get is the models sticking to the bed too well But you can use lighter butane refills to get them off (temperature shock) or pry them off with a snap-off knife (that works brilliant most of the time). You also get a perfect glossy surface on the bed side of the print.

It's funny, I printed raftless for 8 hours yesterday after fixing my flashforge with some band aids, on 1 layer of kapton (single sided) and no glue or spray.

All I ever need to do is mess with printing temps and it solves the issue. All my filament is different, its always down to settings for me and the only exception I find is the wood.

[curious aardvark]

keep trying without raft. Just won't stick.

And getting araft off a model after a long print can be nigh on impossible - just fuses soild.

I haven't tried at really low speeds yet, but can't see any other way of printing raftless than with layer control. And I just haven't got it.
Or printing the entire part at 10mms - and I really don't want to spend all day waiting for a small lidless box to print, that I could knock out in 20 minutes with a raft.

So geoff - if the filament doesn't stick, do you put the temp up or down ? And how does that effect the rest of the print, particularly on things that need really fine tolearances ?
Although if you've never got the heart box to work - I guess that maybe answers the question.

[agilliam]

I recently purchased a flashforge creator, and let me tell youit came as a pile of crap. Loose screws, parts all over the place. It even had broken pieces. advertised as new!

I returned the creator and got a new creator. Worked great for 4 days, then started poping and creaking. Sounded like sand in a ball bearing. UNACCEPTABLE. Sent this one back too since flashforge tech support said to "deal with it"

I got the Creator PRO. This one came very nicely built, everything looked great until I looked closer after it was printing. Nozzles were too close on the right extruder causing it to knock off what was already starting to print. The pulleys are severely wobbling and they said that's not an issue. ANYONE with a BRAIN knows that they are an issue. The pulley is off circular so anytime it moves to the oval area it moves the extruder a little more sometimes 1mm even 2mm more than it should. you can even see in the video clips that the X axis binds when moving it and it jerks the extruders.

I called tech support on this one, he stated he would call china and let me know a decision in 2 weeks. I called back after a few days to just see what was going on, while I was on the phone with the guy he sent me an email, stating that china engineers stated its not an issue, that they think the Z axis is. But they wont fix it. He said that its not going to cause any quality concerns. Stated that if I didn't like it I shouldn't have bought their printer. What kind of crap thing is that to say?

My advice is to steer clear of flashforge. 3 out of 3 printers came bad and defective, 1 of the 3 worked for a few days then bearings went out and started creaking and popping. The PRO came with nylon pulleys that are warped/bent/wobbling and it throws off prints.

I am returning mine and buying either a ROBO3d, or I may just spend the extra and get a brand that they will stand behind, lulzbot taz.

I've been keeping my eye on this one guys, for the price it looks excellent, around AU$2000 after conversion rates, for the quality of materials and build volume this may be my next purchase.

http://www.mankati.com/fullscale-xt.html

[Bobby Lin]

I love Flashforge printer. It has the best extruder in printing ABS and PLA and it is a really great printer to experiment with when you're still starting on 3d Printing. I used Flashforge as my startup printer when I was still a beginner in 3d Printing.

[djprinter]

I recently purchased a flashforge creator, and let me tell youit came as a pile of crap. Loose screws, parts all over the place. It even had broken pieces. advertised as new!

I returned the creator and got a new creator. Worked great for 4 days, then started poping and creaking. Sounded like sand in a ball bearing. UNACCEPTABLE. Sent this one back too since flashforge tech support said to "deal with it"

I got the Creator PRO. This one came very nicely built, everything looked great until I looked closer after it was printing. Nozzles were too close on the right extruder causing it to knock off what was already starting to print. The pulleys are severely wobbling and they said that's not an issue. ANYONE with a BRAIN knows that they are an issue. The pulley is off circular so anytime it moves to the oval area it moves the extruder a little more sometimes 1mm even 2mm more than it should. you can even see in the video clips that the X axis binds when moving it and it jerks the extruders.

I called tech support on this one, he stated he would call china and let me know a decision in 2 weeks. I called back after a few days to just see what was going on, while I was on the phone with the guy he sent me an email, stating that china engineers stated its not an issue, that they think the Z axis is. But they wont fix it. He said that its not going to cause any quality concerns. Stated that if I didn't like it I shouldn't have bought their printer. What kind of crap thing is that to say?

My advice is to steer clear of flashforge. 3 out of 3 printers came bad and defective, 1 of the 3 worked for a few days then bearings went out and started creaking and popping. The PRO came with nylon pulleys that are warped/bent/wobbling and it throws off prints.

I am returning mine and buying either a ROBO3d, or I may just spend the extra and get a brand that they will stand behind, lulzbot taz.

Wow! I must have been lucky, because my creator pro has worked flawlessly for whats' got to be approaching 100+ prints. A few buddies of mine who also bought a FF have had similar "luck,"we should go to vegas!

[Bobby Lin]

So far I am happy with FlashForge. It's the first printer I used when I started to venture 3d printing and it became my buddy ever since. So I think this printer have some sentimental value to me and I am satisfied with its features and capabilities as well.