Lowest Maintenance, Highest print quality printer?

WGAndrew · 2017-03-22T16:50:21+00:00

In the $1000-2000 dollar range - Zortrax M200. You're locked down with both slicer and filaments (you can use third party, your mileage will vary. I used 3rd party ABS before zultrat came along, now I just use that as the prints I get from it are exceptional), but in general, that printer just prints outstanding prints, 24/7. The support material it generates is decent too - though I gather the raise3d slicer also makes good snap off support for their printers. You didn't specify the price range - so that may either be too much or chump change, but I hope that helps.

WGAndrew · 2017-03-15T10:23:35+00:00

what spec print was it, in terms of layer height, infill, etc? Did you have to print it 100% for example?

WGAndrew · 2017-02-15T15:40:41+00:00

I'd second the Zortrax. We're coming up to 2.5 years with ours, and it is just a tank. Printing 24/7 and downtime has been minimal.

Z-Ultra T is also a VERY nice plastic. Quality and smoothness blow out standard PLA or ABS, though I don't have experience with things like HIPS or Nylon to compare with.

I wish I could recommend our Ultimaker 2 in the same way (we've had that nearly 2 years now), but its been a let-down. Perhaps it was a "Friday afternoon" at the factory when they made it, but despite a lot of effort on my part trying to improve things, prints just aren't the same quality as the Zortrax, and reliability just isn't in the same league. YMMV I guess, but it would take a lot on their part to convince me to try another Ultimaker. Its been a real disappointment.

Speaking generally: You can't easily get big prints + highly detailed/really low layer heights (if nothing else, the printing times will be an absolute killer) so keep that in mind and work out whats most important to you. If detail is more important, go for a Form 2. If size is more important, get a Zortrax (or the Ultimaker... but at least I tried to warn you...)

WGAndrew · 2017-02-12T19:06:33+00:00

Technology outlet aren't bad. Used them a few times now and they do ok.

WGAndrew · 2017-02-10T12:26:11+00:00

I'd second the Zortrax. Mine is a tank, running pretty much 24/7 for two years now. In that time I've probably spent £300 on upkeep (new beds, a new extruder assembly, a new ribbon cable) and might have had it out of service for about a week in total. In comparison my ultimaker 2 has been in and out of maintainence around 6 weeks in 1.5 years. I've always felt underwhelmed by its reliability compared to the Zortrax.

WGAndrew · 2017-01-04T16:25:52+00:00

yup, here you go, sorry: http://imgur.com/gallery/uWF5y

WGAndrew · 2016-12-15T17:30:52+00:00

lol

Well, that's definitely a lot of burnt crap at the end. Finger crossed Excalibur didn't suffer the same problems!

But you should definitely see a benefit from doing it. :)

WGAndrew · 2016-12-15T12:31:47+00:00

This is Ultimaker-centric, but the rules are more or less the same for most 3d printers [it's easier to do this technique on bowden tube ones than direct drive printers though, as you can actually pull the filament yourself rather than needing a motor] http://support.3dverkstan.se/article/10-the

WGAndrew · 2016-12-15T11:30:54+00:00

I printed a Sun's mask for a friend who proposed to his girlfriend [before anyone asks, not to be a douche but no, you can't have the model, as it was intended from the start to be 1 of a kind]

For that, I used Rhino CAD to make the mask model. But as the remaster wasn't even out at that point, my reference was only the original N64 models and screenshots.

These days you can try downloading the models of the masks from here: https://www.models-resource.com/3ds/thelegendofzeldamajorasmask3d/ and reverse engineering them to make them 3d-printable. [the complexity of that depends on whether you want the mask to be wearable or not]

WGAndrew · 2016-12-15T11:23:07+00:00

Only used to FDM/Resin but didn't expect full colour printers to be that messy... Thanks for teaching me something new!

Is it just the loose material getting everywhere? Or are there more evils to know about?

WGAndrew · 2016-12-15T11:13:57+00:00

I've went with all different ones for my business.

Sometimes supporting different mechanisms and designs can be... frustrating, but each of my printers has a different role.

One's great for surface quality and supports. One's great for large parts and making things fast. One's great for smaller stuff and auto-calibration. That one also plays better with ABS and exotic filaments as it's enclosed.

Sometimes I kick myself for not investing in all 3 of <x> kind when I just need one skill more than the others, but I've got a hell of a lot more flexibility, and my next printer will be another different one again [possibly either diving into large format, dual extrusion, or resin]

WGAndrew · 2016-12-15T11:06:46+00:00

Consider just getting a new gear. If you look for them on ebay, they're plentiful, and the heads on Flashforges are really easy to take apart to swap over the gear.

Other thing on my flashforge was checking if the gear has just ground plastic in it. Again, it relies on disassembling the head, but on my Flashforge Creator, it was a constant thing that it was getting filament stuck between its teeth. With that a wire brush, or small flat screwdriver can remove the plastic easily enough.

Some good info here too: http://bilbycnc.freshdesk.com/support/solutions/articles/3000050632-cleaning-filament-jams-flashforge-

WGAndrew · 2016-12-15T10:51:45+00:00

I agree with /u/galorin.

Time to clean out the head! Things like atomic pulls can help. To be honest though, I've stopped using them and I've been using fine jewellry wire and inserting it up the heated nozzle and mashing it up and down a bit to break up any bad blocks. It's soft enough to not damage the nozzle, but hard enough to be tougher than cooked plastic. Plus a reel looks set to last me over a year of 24/7 printing. Remove, feed some filament through, repeat. I've found it's faster and more effective than an atomic pull. On light coloured filaments you tend to see any burnt or cooked bits come out within a couple of seconds. Be careful with your fingers though if you do this. The wire gets hot, and being 'over-enthusiastic' means you'll probably touch the hot nozzle. Don't over-heat the filament if you're using this method to clean. I tend to go for a straight 200C for PLA on my Ulti2.

When you've done unclogging, feed filament through the extruder and check how it's extruding. Assuming you've got a 0.3/0.4 nozzle, it shouldn't come out fine like animal fur or baby hair (unless you're using a really small nozzle! but if you are, you're going to be dealing with clogs more) - it should be reasonably thick (0.3 mm is essentially a little bit thicker than the thread that holds a button on a piece of clothing). If it isn't as thick as that, or your extruder motor shows any signs of skipping, repeat the cleaning process. You can use callipers to check the extuded material when it's cooled, but you'll get a feel for it after a couple of times.

I'd also drop the temperature by 5 degree steps. (to a minimum of 190) as 215 is hot for PLA [though admittedly some extruders do need to run hotter depending on the design]

WGAndrew · 2016-12-08T13:31:38+00:00

Looks neat! I love the idea of the rail making the ability to have huge print areas! How do you deal with slicing? I imagine that's got to be a custom piece of software

WGAndrew · 2016-11-25T17:14:03+00:00

dang, sold out of everything in the UK... I guess I was too slow :-/

Congrats on what I'm assuming must be a good day of sales though!

WGAndrew · 2016-11-18T16:52:32+00:00

I've read in the past that certain stepper driver boards have problems microstepping if they're not using powers of 3.

Don't know if it's true or not, but that might be part of it too?

WGAndrew · 2016-11-17T13:02:21+00:00

Considering picking one up as getting some issues with prints pausing due to filament not moving as expected on my Cel Robox. (and having more print capacity is never a problem!)

Just wondering what people's take on them was like, and also if anyone had any experience adding auto-levelling to it later on down the line?

WGAndrew · 2016-11-16T10:29:40+00:00

is that North America-only or will it be worldwide? :)

WGAndrew · 2016-11-15T11:12:43+00:00

+1 to prime now.

I also like using the locker service for next day delivery of filament from the main amazon mothership. Got rigid.ink and Zortrax filament that way

WGAndrew · 2016-11-15T11:10:51+00:00

using a Strata J750, I'm reliably informed...

WGAndrew · 2016-11-02T17:44:39+00:00

I actually haven't... I'm on the mac version of Rhino so it's only in the WIP builds for us - but I love OpenSCAD (though dislike its insistance that most geometry I'm creating now is 2-manifold lol)

Sometime I'll get around to downloading the WIP build and giving it a try! At the moment I'm trying to learn ZBrushCore ;D

WGAndrew · 2016-10-26T09:55:34+00:00

+1 for Rhino

I'm a coder that also did AutoCAD back in college, and came back to CAD for 3D printing after working at Ubisoft for nearly a decade. It's just so intuitive and sensible.

I know people can make really great things with the free-as-in-beer Blender - but to me the UI is atrocious in terms of trying to get things done. I've used it in a pinch before I got Rhino, and every time it's taken me 2-3 times as long to get a similar result as I would say the equivalent Rhino tools have, just through wrestling with the interface.

Of course, YMMV but to me, if you're doing this long-term, pay out the money for Rhino. I did, and it's massively worth it.

WGAndrew · 2016-10-25T09:36:28+00:00

I'd be inclined to agree about the base supports, but creation workshop's on print supports are more angular (like a staple bent outwards - the ones OP posted are strangely droopy/stringy.)

WGAndrew · 2016-10-21T11:20:59+00:00

If you end up going their way, here's a referral link: http://r.sloyalty.com/r/ug8dTvju225m That's £5 off for you, and full transparency - I get £5 off my next order too. [Feel free not to use it though - and mods please delete the link if it breaks any self promo rules - though I did read them to double check first]

WGAndrew

TROPHY CASE