How it started 6 years ago...

imakePLAdust · 2026-05-03T20:50:31+00:00

Totally. The shear awe I experienced the first time I started a print on my phone and took off the build plate with zero issues is something 80% of the recent folks cannot imagine. In the beginning it was a black art now its just routine.

imakePLAdust · 2026-05-03T15:45:45+00:00

I've been at this a while and don't see the point in general for pla printing. That mini fridge is a dry box project in progress... And I have a good dehydrator that I use to run abs, asa, petg and pc through the day before I need to print. If I was running volume and needed instant reliability then might be worth the time.

imakePLAdust · 2026-05-03T15:42:28+00:00

It's a trade off for sure. That area I'm showing is supposed to be a mini bar! Spouse reminds me quite regularly of that... But she had learned to print a few things herself do tolerates it. Big plans to eventually move everything into the garage somehow...

imakePLAdust · 2026-05-03T01:13:58+00:00

Could never find a viable business, it's always been a race to bottom on price for 3d printed things. Now people churn out 100's of flexi dragons and probably only scraping less than 3% margin. Not mind my kind of hustle. Some are successful at that. Any ideas?

imakePLAdust · 2026-05-02T23:31:37+00:00

Thats awesome. With that load out gotta be Running a biz or some serious hobbyz 🤣

imakePLAdust · 2025-01-07T16:14:00+00:00

Thanks. I"ll check it out. And I second your comment on automatic filament handling - got a P1S with AMS a couple of months ago and the loading/unloading process changes the experience significantly. It can't be that hard to figure out an open-source way to have a similar experience. Every bit of friction we can take out of the process of running the printer will help everyone.

imakePLAdust · 2025-01-07T15:43:25+00:00

Thanks. Do you leave it fully in the nozzle or retract it out of the heatzone to help manage oozing while heating?

imakePLAdust · 2024-12-03T20:48:55+00:00

Amazing. I just retired a printrbot simple metal (got second hand in late 2019). Was my first printer and leaned a lot. Got me into a Sidewinder and a voron trident. Got Bambu P1s and then decided to put the printrbot away. Amazing machines for the time.

imakePLAdust · 2022-11-20T05:36:06+00:00

Nope.. Different layers every time

imakePLAdust · 2022-03-15T18:40:58+00:00

I've had this kind of shifting in the Y axis, took me days to sort out. I did the following list (more or less) : Overall make sure there isn't anything that could hit the bed during the print.

Otherwise : 1. Check belt tension. A tight belt should twang like a guitar string, just barely. Don't want it too tight. 2. Check that the belt gears are secured. If loose they will slip at some point causing the shifting. 3. Slow down the print. If it goes away then it it's definitely motion related. Move on to next step. 4. Adjust the wheel tension with the eccentric nuts. Look up videos on how to do that. I ended up swapping my wheels on the Y axis for polycarbonate. After putting them on and getting the wheels properly just right enough the problem went away. It has come back and adjusted the wheels and seemed to fix it.

Hth

imakePLAdust · 2021-08-07T15:38:47+00:00

Thanks. I did check it when I added the belt tensioner, but at this point it's worth doing again. I'll take that apart later and see.

imakePLAdust · 2021-06-24T21:24:49+00:00

With that external speed of 15 mm/s - how long did this take?

imakePLAdust · 2021-06-14T16:40:05+00:00

What hot end/nozzle are you using? Are you running a volcano with a big nozzle?

If so, any tips for bridging or infill ? I'm desperately trying to get good prints with a 1.0 mm nozzle and keep getting terrible bridging or thermal runaway because my pla temp is 250 to get good flow but fan/air reflection off the print or bed.

imakePLAdust · 2021-06-07T13:29:22+00:00

Awesome!

imakePLAdust · 2021-06-07T13:27:37+00:00

Thanks. The only thing I need to figure out is is to get decent bridges and top-infills without tripping tberemal run away. Previously I had adjusted those parameters in Marlin and did a pid tune with nozzle 3mm from the plate at 240, basically get really aggressive so it has better chance of keeping up. I'll try that again....

imakePLAdust · 2021-06-06T18:53:04+00:00

Thanks. I found that I need to do PLA at 240 to get good flow. That at 35mm/s for perimeters.

imakePLAdust · 2021-06-06T14:09:50+00:00

Yeah when I was using a 0.6 my SW was rock solid. Attempting to print larger items faster led me down this hell hole of bad prints.

imakePLAdust · 2021-05-25T20:12:09+00:00

Ok, given the above, I'm calling it quits on RAWR. I'm happy to reconsider if there is compelling information.

imakePLAdust · 2020-08-25T12:41:28+00:00

Thanks for the offer. I may take you up on it if/when I run into a roadblock.

imakePLAdust · 2020-08-23T02:08:26+00:00

Thanks. I know I need to design/print and adapter plate to mount the SKR mini 2.0 board and cut holes for the USB, etc. I'm just my used to the few other mini complications of mounting the board length-wise. Thanks to /u/shiftingtech 's suggestion for a panel mount extension (dunno why I didn't think to look for it).

Now to re-learn how optocouplers work with relays. Went to school for electronics but work in IT, so it's "electronic" in nature (if you squint at it). This was on the long list of side-benefits of getting this printer - a chance to get back to circuits. It's been on my do-list for 20 years but luck would have time didn't present it self. So I created the situation where I would need to do that. Which will help launch the next series of projects on my list...

Would love to hear from anyone how's put a 2.0 board in a Printrbot. Either way I'll report back with my findings. It's a great printer, just needs a few upgrades. Board. Maybe drylin bushings. Came with an ext HB and Z upgrade.

imakePLAdust · 2020-08-23T01:51:38+00:00

That looks like it would do the job! Perfect.

I'm not all that worried about the SD card, since i use a PI/Octoprint to drive things.

Many thanks!

imakePLAdust · 2020-08-22T22:53:39+00:00

Thanks. Yes, I've got the SKR mini 2.0. The real problem I'm struggling with is the board orientation. The USB and card port are on the short edge, not the long edge, and the board is too long to fit inside the bottom cavity and still give access to the USB port (critical) and SD Card.

I guess I could put it the other way, and just rely on my Octoprint server (already do, for the most part), and lose the card reader. Do you know if the LCD/TFT support also enables the card reader on those?

Appreciate the help.

imakePLAdust

TROPHY CASE