First print help/for-parts Creators on eBay

[captainserial]

Hi everyone,

I just bought a Flashforge Creator on eBay from j_thurber. If you haven't seen their auctions, they sell FF printers returned to Amazon, as "parts only" and without any info on the condition. This particular one had some loose screws, a missing nut, extruder installed incorrectly (cable twisted), dirty nozzles, missing ABS filament, kapton tape removed and replaced with sloppily applied blue painter's tape, power supply set to European (good thing I checked!), a mystery extra sensor cable, and really the only "serious" problem: missing filament spool holders. I have been trying to replicate them with parts from Home Depot's plumbing and irrigation departments, with no success so far. I tried printing a replacement, but I'm having trouble with my print quality. Other than that, it is fully functional and I think a good deal.

So now I get to the real point of this post.

Does anyone know what might be causing this:
IMG_2596.jpg

I have upgraded the firmware to the latest sailfish and was using RepG 40r24 - sailfish. The three dots on the side in this photo were created by me learning that ReplicatorG is a piece of crap and apparently can't keep a build running unless it is the foreground window. Which leads me to my second question: what software do you prefer for use with these printers? I also have a printrbot simple and use Repetier and slic3r with it.

[Iain]

The three dots on the side in this photo were created by me learning that ReplicatorG is a piece of crap and apparently can't keep a build running unless it is the foreground window. Which leads me to my second question: what software do you prefer for use with these printers? I also have a printrbot simple and use Repetier and slic3r with it.

I agree that ReplicatorG is crap. We have been making our own PP based filament and it was clogging quite a bit in the nozzle (sometimes the nozzle was clogging every 1-2 hours), so I decided to try simplify3d (http://www.simplify3d.com) software which cost $150, but I must say for me it has been well worth the investment. Now the nozzle has not clogged in over 30 hours of printing. Build quality is substantially better, slicing used to take +8mins now takes 20 secs, video playback of the print build and manual add/replace of support structures.

[curious aardvark]

so does simplify3d actually talk directly to the printer ?
Nothing else except makerware and rep-g seem to.

And what speed resolution were you printing at captain serial ?

even at .4 layer and 75mms speed I've not had anything looking that rough.

[jfkansas]

Try Makerware. RepG is what it is...an older program that was used a lot in the earlier days of hobby printing. It isn't changing and the other programs like Makerware and Simplify3d are taking over.

Thats cool to hear some feedback on one of those refurb Ebay creators. I have bid on a couple but it seems that someone always want's the printer a little more than me. I already have one though so I can wait. I really want a Pro since I upgrated my X to a pro for the most part.

[Geoff]

Hi everyone,

I just bought a Flashforge Creator on eBay from j_thurber. If you haven't seen their auctions, they sell FF printers returned to Amazon, as "parts only" and without any info on the condition. This particular one had some loose screws, a missing nut, extruder installed incorrectly (cable twisted), dirty nozzles, missing ABS filament, kapton tape removed and replaced with sloppily applied blue painter's tape, power supply set to European (good thing I checked!), a mystery extra sensor cable, and really the only "serious" problem: missing filament spool holders. I have been trying to replicate them with parts from Home Depot's plumbing and irrigation departments, with no success so far. I tried printing a replacement, but I'm having trouble with my print quality. Other than that, it is fully functional and I think a good deal.

So now I get to the real point of this post.

Does anyone know what might be causing this:
IMG_2596.jpg

I have upgraded the firmware to the latest sailfish and was using RepG 40r24 - sailfish. The three dots on the side in this photo were created by me learning that ReplicatorG is a piece of crap and apparently can't keep a build running unless it is the foreground window. Which leads me to my second question: what software do you prefer for use with these printers? I also have a printrbot simple and use Repetier and slic3r with it.

Replicator G is good, but not printing from it directly. Export to X3G and print from SD card. If RepG crashes, so does your print job. If Makerware crashes, you don't lose it as it runs it's own background service. You can close makerware and it will keep printing.

Personally, I'd go with makerware, it's a pretty dumbed down printing software but it does the job

[jfkansas]

If you use Proftweak with Makerware there isn't anything dumbed down. More settings than you could ever think of.of....

[Geoff]

If you use Proftweak with Makerware there isn't anything dumbed down. More settings than you could ever think of.of....

If you want to only use makerware sure, proftweaks profile editor mixed with makerwares gcode isn't compatible Replicator G, but you knew that didn't you.

[curious aardvark]

None of that answers the question - is simplyfy3d fully ff creator compatible ?

Well according to simplify3d - yes it is. And not as a makerbot clone either, mentioned in its own right.

Printer Compatibility List



Airwolf3D HD/HDx
Airwolf3D XL/V5/Prusa
Cubify CubeX *
Deezmaker Bukobot
Fablicator
Felix 1.5/2.0/3.0
FlashForge Creator/Creator X/Pro
Fusion3 Designs F-306
German RepRap X400/NEO
inDimension3 iDeator 12/Summit 16
IonCore Zinter Pro
Kossel Mini
LeapFrog Creatr/HS/XL
Leapfrog Xeed
LulzBot AO-101
LulzBot TAZ 3/4




MakerGear Prusa Mendel
MakerGear Mosaic M1
MakerGear M2
MakerBot Thing-O-Matic
MakerBot Replicator 1
MakerBot Replicator 2
MakerBot Replicator 2X
MBot Cube 1/2
MBot GRID II
MendelMax 1.5/2.0/Pro
MendelMax 3.0
Printrbot Simple/Simple Metal
Printrbot Jr/LC/Plus
Prusa i3
Prusa Mendel



QU-BD OneUp/TwoUp
QU-BD Revolution Series
RepRapPro Mendel
Robo3D
Rostock Max
SeeMeCNC Orion
Solidoodle 1/2/3/4
Sumpod Aluminum/Delta/Mega
Type A Machines Series1
Ultimaker 1/2
Velleman K8200
Wanhao Duplicator 4/4X
XYZprinting Da Vinci 1.0 **

Now if they only had a 30 day test version I'd give it a go. But they can't honestly expect people to shell out $150 on the off chance in this day and age.

[jfkansas]

I don't base any of my software usage on old out of date software like RepG.

[captainserial]

I bought Simplify3D. The very first print with it looked way better, with none of the missing sections, and with a little bit of filament diameter tweaking it looked as good as something coming off of my more extensively tuned Printrbot Simple. I will probably use it for the Printrbot as well, see how it compares to the latest stable slic3r.

Looks like I'm going to have to shim up the unused extruder on single color prints, as it drags through anything larger than the width between the nozzles.

However, my wife just saw the credit card statement and realized I bought a second printer, and is about to murder me. Would any of you fine gentlemen like to purchase this excellent printer? I would be willing to sell it at my cost, and include my improvised spindle holders for no additional fee. Free shipping, I kept the original box, incredibly lightly used, with all of the issues mentioned in the original post resolved.

I just don't want to sleep in the car tonight.