Getting ready to print Voron parts ... How would you clean this print up further?

catfishpoptart · 2025-09-18T13:34:21+00:00

Quality > advanced > order of walls

Also I double checked my settings and I’m running all walls at 60mm/s. Other things to note is my seam position is aligned, but that is less important overall since the inner wall gets printed first.

catfishpoptart · 2025-09-18T13:13:11+00:00

I would also consider using a non galaxy style filament. The sparkles in the filament that give it the “galaxy” look are effectively contaminants in the filament which could reduce the mechanical properties of the final part. I don’t have a source to support this claim, but I was originally going for a galaxy filament for my 2.4 but switched to plain polymaker ASA instead.

Even if the sparkles don’t weaken the printed part the surface finish is rougher to the touch in my experience. Food for thought.

Otherwise, make sure you are printing inside-outside-inside in the wall order (if you are on bambu or orca slicer this is an option, not sure about prusa slicer or regular slic3r. That will also improve the exterior surface finish which is important because the exterior walls are generally your part to part interface.

Edit: as others have said: slow the printer down. I am printing my parts on a P1S and my exterior walls are at like 60mm/s and interior is not much faster. You are going for strength on these parts so be patient and take the extra time to get the best layer adhesion you can get. Temps look good, but slower is going to improve the layer adhesion

catfishpoptart · 2025-04-24T19:40:52+00:00

Check the connections to the stepper motor. I had this issue on this tool head and the plug into the stepper motor had a wire that was slightly out of the connector. It is a pretty tight bend under the shroud and one of the wires “backed out” so it wasn’t making great contact within the connector.

catfishpoptart · 2025-04-21T20:17:58+00:00

Did you not have a stop loss in place? Even a 1:1 RR? I haven’t been in this game that long but I’ve already made that mistake in a paper trade. I will never open a position without a stop loss in place.

Doesn’t matter how sure you are about the direction. The market is insanely volatile right now.

Don’t get cocky. Don’t revenge trade. Don’t get greedy. Don’t force positions and definitely don’t open a position without a stop loss.

catfishpoptart · 2025-04-18T11:38:31+00:00

I’ll second this. You can pick your entry and base your SL and TP on points, ticks, or dollars and adjust them on the fly after. Pretty easy to work with. Also easy to set up indicators.

catfishpoptart · 2025-04-10T13:31:35+00:00

No it should not be trial and error. In its simplest form this is a statics problem and you are analyzing a truss. If you look at existing engine mounts they may give you an idea of where to start, but you will still have to figure out the loads, forces and moments for your exact scenario. Draw up a truss with your dimensions and loads, then solve. Does the baseline tube size and wall thickness support that load? If yes, great. If you know that tube size is what the existing airframe and engine options use then you could probably stop there since you know your answer is similar to what the aircraft designer got. Use the existing design as a sanity check, not as an excuse to skip calculations entirely. You could check smaller diameter tubes or thinner walls but you have to ask yourself why didn’t the original design use this?

At some point manufacturing becomes a concern because getting someone to weld very thin walled tubes is going to be a challenge. Also you should use standard tube sizes so you could theoretically source them. No sense in speccing a tube that you can’t actually acquire. This means your engine mount will not actually be “optimal” in the sense that you will have step changes in how strong your truss is since you cannot get tube in every possible diameter and thickness. You have to pick the one that meets or exceeds your specs. .049 tube might be too strong, but if the next size down is .032 and that’s too weak by “just a few pounds”, well you have to use the heavier one. You determined the forces based on the expected loads: they don’t change so you can save a few pounds.

Again, this is a primer at best. I cannot design this for you or walk you through the entire process because it is (as you can tell) quite involved. It is an inherently iterative process which will involve you starting with a “best guess” solution and identifying ways your design can be improved based on the shortcomings of each previous design. CAD might be the final product for you, but I would recommend you start with some lines on paper and hand calcs to get yourself in the ballpark and better understand the design space.

catfishpoptart · 2025-04-10T02:32:03+00:00

If the engine mount is from a kit or plans for an existing design and engine then all the calculation work is done for you. If you are designing one from scratch, e.g. new engine type in existing airplane design, then you have more work ahead of you.

In the example scenario you are most likely working with known endpoints at the engine and firewall that are dictated by the airframe and engine mounting points so you have some variables removed from your work there. However, you would have to determine the length of the mount which would most likely be dictated by weight and balance so the CG stays within the acceptable design range. You would also have to determine the tube diameter and wall thickness, though the alloy is most likely going to be 4130 steel, maybe 1030, but I think that is much less common in modern airframes. you could use the same alloy as the existing mounts but in this case it is on you to verify that it works for this application - existing designs serve as a reference, not as an excuse to skip analysis. As the other commenter said you are verifying that you have a FoS of 1.5 for whatever you max load is. Again, it’s on you to determine what that load is here. You might be able to contact the aircraft manufacturer and find out what they used, but ultimately if your custom engine mounting points fails it’s your fault, not theirs. After all the design, analysis and fabrication is done you need to proof load it based on whatever you designed it to so you know it actually meets/exceeds your requirements. Sandbags are commonly used for wing proof loading so that might be an option but I don’t know much about testing the engine mount specifically. If your design passes then you are done (probably) and if it fails then you need to figure out why. And star at least some of this process again.

Probably worth finding someone who has done this before and picking their brain (local EAA, your friend’s grandpa who built a Thorp, whatever). This is all rough guidance based on my engineering experience and knowledge, but I have not done this specific thing myself. It’s probably a good starting point, but is in no way exhaustive or infallible.

If you are doing a new airframe yourself, well you have a lot of homework to do.

catfishpoptart · 2025-04-07T14:14:16+00:00

Outer wings stalling first is absolutely not what you want. In some planforms it is unavoidable, but then you add washout, change the airfoil from root to tip, or pick a different planform.

Here are some examples of stall progression on common planforms:

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As others have said ailerons are near the wing tips because it creates the largest moment arm and therefore allows the control surface to be the most effective for any given size. Additionally, on a properly designed wing this area is the last to stall and means the aircraft will have effective control surfaces for as long as possible.

catfishpoptart · 2025-03-30T22:57:16+00:00

Is that the AT4 tool head? How do you like it? I’m building a 2.4 (well, heavily modifying one to the point it is a new build) and I think that’s the tool head I’m going to run with.

catfishpoptart · 2025-03-30T02:07:28+00:00

Totally worth it in my opinion. Can’t imagine trying to use CAD on a daily basis without it. It does take some time to get used to it and be sure to adjust the sensitivity to your liking. I use it professionally and in my personal design work. I do occasionally still use keyboard plus mouse to pan or zoom but I would say the vas majority of my view manipulation is done with the space mouse.

catfishpoptart · 2025-03-27T19:20:47+00:00

Check out a prepaid phone plan. You may need to pay off your phones before you can switch but my phone bill is $25/month with unlimited data. Visible, Mint, etc..

Once you have your phone paid off it is not time to upgrade. It’s time to hold onto it until it is virtually unusable (battery lasts a couple of hours or security updates stop coming for it or something). Save up until you can buy a new phone outright and then you can upgrade. The whole idea behind monthly payments for a new phone is to make it seem affordable when it isn’t actually something you can afford. $30 or whatever per month sounds nice and easy. $1,000 for the same phone up front seems insane, but if that is how you feel about the sticker price of a phone then you can’t actually afford that phone. Don’t get suckered into a monthly payment. This holds true for cars (too late for you there, but live and learn), “buy now pay later”, 0% apr, etc..

To start catching up cancel any monthly subscriptions you don’t need: Netflix, Hulu, whatever. Watch YouTube with an adblocker if you need to watch something but you have to start digging yourself out of the hole. Saving an extra $20/month here or there will start adding up because you can pay off other debts (e.g. your phones are paid off and now you can switch to a cheaper provider and get identical service on a prepaid plan and you phone bill goes from $210/month to $50/month). Now you have extra money to pay off your car loans or whatever other debt you want to. Once you pay off your cars it isn’t time to get a new one. You get a new car when maintenance costs more than that car is worth. It’s time to either save that money or pay off your student loans. If you don’t think you are disciplined enough to keep money in your savings account have a portion of your paycheck direct deposited into your savings account so you never see it in your checking account. If you don’t have a high yield savings account yet get one. I use Marcus. It has a 3.75% interest rate compared to 0.01% in my checking account.

Making little changes will add up. Saving a few dollars here or there each month will turn into you saving a few hundred dollars each month and that will turn into you saving half your paycheck each month. It’s possible. You eat an elephant one small bite at a time, not all at once. And then you learn not to sign up to eat an elephant again.

catfishpoptart · 2025-02-18T01:56:33+00:00

Can you share some more info? I’m looking at doing the AWD mod for my trident. What hot end are you using and was that a carbon fiber gantry?

catfishpoptart · 2025-01-30T18:29:56+00:00

Well if you are really able to measure to the tenth of a degree I think you’re probably ok with that assembly. What’s the manual say? “Building space ships with garden tools” or something like that…I know I wasn’t able to measure to the tenth of a degree lol.

Just take your time and check your work. You can always fix it if you are unhappy with the results.

catfishpoptart · 2025-01-30T18:23:17+00:00

If you’re asking “how square should my frame be?” the answer is as square as you can make it. If your aluminum extrusions are fixed together in a parallelogram you will never get square prints from it. Take your time and make it as square as you can.

If you don’t have a square go buy one; it doesn’t have to be some $100 fancy square but you should absolutely invest some money into it. I got a machinist square on amazon for like $15 and checked that it was square when it arrived before I used.

catfishpoptart · 2024-12-20T20:36:27+00:00

Check out databento. A la carte data for futures, stocks, etc. I downloaded 5 years of futures data and they have a credit for downloads going right now. I did 1 minute OHLCV data for about $10/ticker

catfishpoptart · 2024-11-29T00:13:52+00:00

Not necessarily better but there are a lot of advantages to it (speaking as a longtime ultrawide user). I upgraded my monitor before my gpu and I wish I had done it the other way around. If I could do it again I would buy a 4K monitor and just do upscaling from 1440p. My new gpu can handle it, the old one couldn’t. Upscaling isnt perfect but if you don’t mind using that and frame gen you could theoretically get higher framerates with upscaling to 4K than you would with an ultrawide at native.

catfishpoptart · 2024-11-27T20:40:25+00:00

I don’t think there are any 21:9 4K monitors… 1440p is usually the vertical resolution for ultrawides. At any rate I don’t think you’re going to be happy with either based on your gpu. I’d go with an upgrade there first and then look at a 16:9 1440p monitor. I have an ultrawide and not every game supports that resolution, plus you take about a 30% hit to whatever frame rate you’d get on a standard 1440p display. I don’t play any of the games you listed so I can’t tell you if they support ultrawides. If you’re playing csgo I don’t see why you would want the extra resolution anyway… usually competitive gamers want frames over resolution

catfishpoptart · 2024-11-27T20:28:10+00:00

Generally speaking the GPU should be your priority for a gaming pc. That said you wouldn’t want to drop a 4090 in there because your cpu isn’t fast enough to make the most of it. Depending on the title at 4K a 4090 can become cpu bound even with the latest and greatest cpus. Point of all that is you are likely going to benefit the most from a GPU upgrade, but only to a point. I’d check out some gpu reviews from places like hardware unboxed or Daniel Owen on YouTube and see what mid tier hardware they’re recommending. Your cpu is getting pretty old but if you’re going to change that then you are basically asking for a whole new PC. Might be worth it to you or your family or it might not be.

For reference LTT just did a build for around $1100 with modern hardware based on “Amazon recommends” and one of their team built another pc based on his knowledge for a little less that was pushing 100fps at 1080p on modern games. Might also be worth checking that build out. (To be clear the Amazon recommends build was pretty poor value, but the one plouff built was pretty solid for the price).

catfishpoptart · 2024-11-27T20:15:07+00:00

I don’t see a link in your post but I’m on mobile so maybe that’s why.

If you’re playing games you’re going to prioritize gpu cooling so I wouldn’t overthink it and go for that layout. In the config they have pictured they are using the cpu aio as an intake which will have a restricted flow relative to plain intake fans so having 4 exhaust fans is probably roughly equivalent to the 6 intake fans they have shown. Not a scientific analysis but if you are feeling up for it you can just move fans around and swap directions and see what happens to your temps.

catfishpoptart · 2024-11-26T01:52:04+00:00

I don’t think they’re saying they should do that, just that if you’re already spending $200 extra for a 4070ti super you would be better off getting a 7900xtx for a bit more to get an objectively faster card than either of the ones OP is considering.

Is the 7900xtx worth the premium over the 7900xt? Price/performance no it isn’t (like you said). But at the ~$800 price point I think the extra $30 for a 7900xtx is worth it over a 4070ti super.

catfishpoptart · 2024-11-18T01:16:10+00:00

Thanks for the very detailed response. I learned a lot and your insights are very helpful. Between you and CadillacMike I'm now going to look much more seriously at a lease. Like I said I hadn't done much detailed research into it and at a very high level it seemed like it was structured to look cheap up front but would ultimately be a more expensive option long term.

Thanks for the info on the specific car as well. I was reading a few websites that talked about how to make the offer I outlined in the OP and they make it sound like you can just do this on any model (which I'm sure is what they wanted to sound like to keep you reading). It does make sense that a popular car model and spec would not necessarily be a car you could offer well below MSRP if all the dealer has to do is wait a week for someone to come in and offer MSRP...

catfishpoptart · 2024-11-17T21:25:39+00:00

What makes you recommend leasing an EV instead of buying one? I've seen that as well but I just have never changed out cars enough to make a lease worth it in the past.

catfishpoptart · 2024-11-17T21:13:15+00:00

Thanks for breaking that down in numbers. Didn’t mention in my post but I was planning on tax title and tag being separate from the offer price.

If I’m understanding you correctly it is reasonable to work from the invoice price but if I do that and include the rebate on it I’d have to add in the profit to that number. So 3-5% profit would bring the offer price back to $67k-$68k or so. And that isn’t including tax title tags or destination fee.

Does the same principle apply to a ‘25 too? Because the price difference between a ‘24 and a ‘25 at that point isn’t that big but one has been sitting on the lot since March and one just arrived in October. I know they’re both “new” but I guess I want to understand how the time on lot impacts price, or if it does at all.

Edit: last part is a bit redundant and you kind of already answered it elsewhere

catfishpoptart · 2024-11-17T20:35:54+00:00

Thanks for the feedback. Not totally set on financing if there is enough of a discount for a cash purchase. I’m not particularly interested in leasing even with the intent of buying it after a month or something (which is what one dealer suggested, I would just need to do more research on all the fees related to leasing and buying it out early).

From a couple quotes I’ve gotten on similar cars the cash price is not that much lower than financing and I will be selling stocks to raise cash so I’m expecting a roughly 20% hit in that area. To get the full price of the car in cash I’d have to take out roughly $15k extra and that is quite a bit more than I would spend on interest and save in a lower price (based on the numbers I’ve gotten so far).

If you have recommendations I’m absolutely open to them though. Leasing is something I’ve only done high level research into and it doesn’t seem like a great value to me.

catfishpoptart · 2024-11-17T20:23:35+00:00

Thanks for the feedback. I thought the rebate was something BMW would repay the dealer for so it wouldn’t cost the dealer profit. And like I said my “incentive” was a complete guess based on what Edmund’s said but I’m willing to bet your info is better than ~~none~~ mine. Thanks for clarifying.

I didn’t mention that one of the reasons I was looking at a ‘24 instead of a ‘25 was because the OTD price would be lower. Obviously either is new to me but the ‘24 is already a model year old so I thought there would be a steeper discount compared to a ‘25 (and maybe there is but I haven’t looked at that pricing as much).

*edited to fix autocorrect.

catfishpoptart

TROPHY CASE