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  1. #1

    is there an FFF printer that ACTUALLY WORKS?

    I made the grave mistake of purchasing a used Lulzbot TAZ5 late last year. I never got a good print out of it no matter what I tried. It would not print PLA - it would always clog the extruder, so I was resigned to ABS. Well, of course ABS has its issues - won't adhere to bed, shrinkage at bed, etc. that can be mitigated by painting a thin coat of ABS/Acetone, then constructing an enclosure with a heat source to get the build chamber up to 160F. That at least worked for a while, until the "Y" scaling issue appeared - a 1" x 1" x 1" cube ended up as a 1" x 1.26" x 1" cube.
    So to "fix" this I ended up replacing almost every component on the TAZ, step-by-step without success:
    RAMBo (motherboard)
    LCD Display
    Y Stepper Motor
    Y Stop Switch
    Y carriage bearings
    New Extruder
    New control box (including all of the wiring)
    New external harnesses.
    Nothing worked, so I have a useless machine that only cost me $1600 plus over 250 man hours

    Next up, my 3D Systems Cubepro Trio:
    Can't get a good print, always, always, always a filament feed error. Replaced hot ends and tried several new filaments. Can't get first layer to adhere on first, second, third, fourth, maybe on fifth try. Then secondary printhead scrapes filament off the bed. Can only use one head. Never got dissolvable filament to print (would start, then goo-up, then stop throughout the build process eventually cutting out and causing a "filament error")

    Similar issues with my 3D Systems' Cube 3.

    So my question is this; Does a "working" FFF printer even exist? I've now tried two MAJOR vendors that have moderate to high-priced products (no cheepo stuff here!). I've seen prints that look good from others, but my personal experience demonstrates that they either got lucky or the "good looking prints" were a 5th, 6th, or nth attempt that finally looked presentable.

    Seriously, is there a unit that works, as advertised, out-of-the-box, every time (well at least 80% of the time)? Or should I just give-up?

  2. #2
    Makergear products work and work for years. My M2 has been solid as the steel frame it is built with.. The reason I bought this unit was because I did not want to deal with unreliable hardware while trying to learn all the rest of the software and configuration you must understand so you can fabricate quality parts. Not sure where you are in the world, MakerGear is a US company with all units are built in Ohio.

  3. #3
    Super Moderator curious aardvark's Avatar
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    Jul 2014
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    8,818
    All mine work :-)
    flashforge creator, klic-n-print, he3d k200, monoprice mini delta.
    And a dirt cheap ctc i3 that will work once I've modded it.
    To be fair the ctc was bought specifically to mod on the cheap.

    The other 4 have never given me any problems that weren't my fault.
    All 4 are running factory spec electronics and firmware.
    If it's not broke - don't mess with it.

    Getting the right print surface is a major thing.
    I like printbite and dimafix.
    Also got some magigoo I've yet to test, but heard good things about it
    .
    Maybe you're paying too much ?

    No printer - well my mini delta did - will work perfectly out of the box.
    You need to work with it's quirks.
    I will say that the right slicer is a huge part of getting good prints.
    For my replicator clones i use flashforge's Flashprint. For the others simplify3d - it IS worth the money.

    Between the right print surface, good slicer and getting the bed properly level - that's 90% of the 'trick' to getting any printer to work well. The ther 10% is getting the print temps right for any given filament and print speed.

    You've either been unlucky or you're using dodgy filament and the wrong settings.

    Try one of these:
    Last edited by curious aardvark; 03-12-2019 at 02:07 PM.

  4. #4
    I like LCD Display

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