Just got my Flashforge Creator Dual and here are my first prints

[curious aardvark]

wow !

I've never got a sphere anyway near as smooth as that.

Oh and the seam is down to the way makerware slices circular objects. Instead of starting each layer at a different point, it always starts anf finishes at the saame point - and creates a seam. Annoying isn't it.

But damn man - you've really applied yourself to this haven't you !

So what's the purpose of the extra ? fans on the printhead ?

I can see the point of the case fans.
Does that ducting somehow point air at the printbed ?

So what is the box with knobs on for fixed to the top of the printer ?
And have you bought 2 now ?


Those spheres are amazing !
It's got to be cooling the layers between each layer printing.
Can you point me at the bracket and what you actually did ?

Never heard of buildtak mats - But so far everything sticks really well to blue tape. And I'm doing more prints without rafts.

[Dargonfly]

That's a lot of questions! Like your enthusiasm!

wow !

I've never got a sphere anyway near as smooth as that.

It's printed at 0.1[mm], so it better be smooth!

Oh and the seam is down to the way makerware slices circular objects. Instead of starting each layer at a different point, it always starts anf finishes at the saame point - and creates a seam. Annoying isn't it.

Even though it starts at a point and is not randomized; I still believe it shouldn't have that big of an impact, so I'll try lowering the Z-axis movement speed next to try and solve this.

But damn man - you've really applied yourself to this haven't you !

I'll take that as a compliment, thanks!

So what's the purpose of the extra ? fans on the printhead ?

I can see the point of the case fans.
Does that ducting somehow point air at the printbed ?

It's these two:
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:295317
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:350649
Combined together, both printed in ABS. As you can see in the first link it has ducts that redirect the air to where the extruder is placing the material, thus cooling the extruded material that much faster! Because you want to material to cool from +-230 degrees to 30 degrees as fast as possible so that it retains its shape and doesn't warp.

So what is the box with knobs on for fixed to the top of the printer ?

It's a PC fan controller, hooked it up to a 12V adapter. I can adjust the fan power there if needed. Didn't want to solder directly onto the Flashforge, so just made the cooling a seperate 'unit'. And it currently is duct taped for testing purposes - I will, of course, print a nice enclosure for that as soon as possible!!

And have you bought 2 now ?

I bought 2 right from the start, because this price point allows me to have one machines to completely tinker with and/or optimize each machine for different purposes. Currently I use one for ABS and one for PLA (the one with the additional cooling.)
Want to try out stuff like Sailfish firmware, and a whole lot of other modifications too, so it's safe to always have a 'normal' functioning back-up in case something goes wrong.

Those spheres are amazing !
It's got to be cooling the layers between each layer printing.
Can you point me at the bracket and what you actually did ?

Links are above; printed those two in ABS at .2mm height with 20% infill. 230 extruder temp, 110 bed temp. low speed (can't remember the exact numbers.. but S L O W! took 2-3 hours to print only that large piece.)
Then mounted all that with the other part (took me a while to figure out how it worked, but it simply 'clicks' together..
Screw a fan on it (I used the NOISIEST one I could find (simply because it moves A LOT of air.)
And then either solder it to the Flashforge somewhere, or create an external power supply/adapter like I did.
This fan duct alone already helps a lot of people, but I like the mentality of 'Go big or go home' so I added those two on the sides as well just to remove all leftover heat in the parts.

Never heard of buildtak mats - But so far everything sticks really well to blue tape. And I'm doing more prints without rafts.

If it works and sticks, then keep using it! For some reason all the tape and glue just didn't work after some period of time,, (maybe it's the climate? maybe I'm doing something wrong?) so for me, these mats appear to be a good solution.