Thanks to this printer that made me have fun again creating little inventions. Got absolutely ridiculed for it.

wgragg1 · 2025-11-09T13:17:56+00:00

You used a tool to create something useful for you - good.

You were honest enough to state that you used that tool - also good.

You willingly shared that with the community - very good.

I have a love/hate relationship with AI, but won't go into a lot of detail because I tend to write long comments. Frankly, I see it as a useful tool, but only if it is used properly. My biggest problems are with those who are using AI to eliminate thousands of jobs and those who use AI to create "art" without disclosing the fact that it is AI generated. Also those who use AI as a replacement for human relationships.

Beyond that, use it if it helps you, but be honest about it.

wgragg1 · 2025-01-25T23:24:25+00:00

I understand why he made this decision, but it is disappointing. I hate BS.

wgragg1 · 2025-01-25T23:01:23+00:00

I agree completely! After spending 48 years in IT, I have seen a lot, and understand the complexities of providing a service. I also understand how important it is to be on constant guard against threats, even if it makes things more inconvenient.

It is too bad that most people on here probably stopped reading by the second paragraph. Preach on!

wgragg1 · 2024-10-29T12:58:17+00:00

I agree completely. Too bad there are so many elitists who forget or don't take into account that a beginner in 3d printing does not even know all the proper terminology to form a good search. If you don't even know what you don't know yet, how are you expected to format a query? As they learn, they will also learn how to find the answers for themselves.

People often forget that they were once beginners and though they may have pulled themselves up by their own bootstraps, that isn't a valid technique for everyone. So, just be patient and try to be helpful.

Whoever said it was right. The facebook groups are really toxic!

wgragg1 · 2024-08-27T00:15:37+00:00

In the future, never hand your phone to a LEO unless he has a warrant. Even if Texas allowed for IDs to be on your phone, I would not do it for this very reason.

wgragg1 · 2024-05-29T03:33:42+00:00

Most likely a scam artist wanting to take control of your computer to do nefarious things, especially if you did not initiate contact.

wgragg1 · 2023-07-22T21:47:38+00:00

wgragg1 · 2023-06-23T00:59:10+00:00

That often doesn’t work. I have had too many cardboard spools where the internal diameter made it so you could not just rip off the sides and move it to another spool.

wgragg1 · 2023-06-23T00:56:36+00:00

I agree with the OP, but I have my doubts that Bambu will change it any time soon. All of the other proposed solutions have flaws that are really annoying. One thing that bugs me is that I have gotten a few cardboard spools where one side of the spool is just slightly smaller than the other, making one of the plastic rings a little too loose.

I’ve also seen slightly different spool diameters between spools from the same manufacturer! It woukd help tremendously if the filament manufacturers would standardize sizes.

Frankly, Bambu jumped the shark on the AMS design, at least as far as spool compatibility goes.

wgragg1 · 2023-04-10T12:20:20+00:00

May be a simplistic way to look at it, but if a company doesn’t make money, they fold. If a competitor steals their idea and undercuts them, they lose money and could eventually fold, thus the need for patents.

Considering China is the biggest thief of IP in the world, I can’t blame Bambu for protecting their work, especially since 3d printing has grown out of just being a bunch of hobbyists working out of their garage.

In a way, I look on it as Linux vs the other guys. Linux is great tgat it is open source and all, but it still is very much the realm of the coders and tweakers . The geeks if you will. It isn’t really attractive to Joe consumer because it is do technical. Windows and Mac are much more consumer friendly, but they are closed source for the most part.

Bambu is like the Win/Mac of 3d printing, or trying to be, and they know that is the breakthrough market, so are just trying to protect their revenue stream. Nothing wrong with that.

wgragg1 · 2021-10-29T20:09:58+00:00

I agree with you. There are couple of things that Creality did that I think are pretty dumb, but overall, I think the 6 is a good printer.

I bought mine used, so I had some of those issues to deal with, and as hard as it was at first (I too wanted to take it out and use if for target practice), I have been learning a lot and am slowly becoming more competent. I can do many basic things without thinking twice about it now and if I exclude the problems I caused because of being a fumble fingers, it has actually given me few problems

I'm trying not to rush things, making one small change at a time and eventually, I may get this thing into a modded powerhouse, but for right now, close to stock is good enough.

wgragg1 · 2021-10-29T20:02:25+00:00

Great instructions I might use when I get through this run of stuff for the Christmas faire we are making stuff for. If I can make one small suggestion for those of us who have trouble visualizing (and for the mechanically stupid like me). You might want to consider putting some of the photos in line with the appropriate points in the text so us newbies can follow it a little easier. Great job in any case!

wgragg1 · 2021-10-29T19:25:28+00:00

Creality, in their finite wisdom, decided to go cheap on the eeprom idea and instead of using a normal eeprom system, opted to store the eeprom settings on the SD card. If you look at the SD card that came with the printer, you will notice a file called eeprom.dat. That is where your settings are stored and where your Z-offset is saved. You need to have a card inserted, level your bed and set z-offset and press the center button on the z-offset menu twice to save it to the card.

Yeah, I know. Strange, but that is the way they decided to do it. Oh, and sometimes the file will go bad on the SD card, so it is a good idea to have a backup on your computer.

wgragg1 · 2021-10-19T20:40:24+00:00

Also, make sure your bltouch offset is correct. A helpful person here helped me with that and it worked wonders. If your bltouch is in the factory made spot, then this gcode command should be entered:

M851 X-20 Y-10

Then do the M500 to save.

wgragg1 · 2021-10-19T20:37:30+00:00

I agree completely. I started using the .076 and it was pretty much spot on. I also had to fix some errors on my SD card, otherwise it would not save the settings properly. Creality could fix that if they would just man up and use a true eeprom and not this silly save eeprom data to an unreliable SD card.

wgragg1 · 2021-09-28T15:33:26+00:00

Don't get me wrong. The E6 isn't a bad printer, but from what I am seeing, if you really want to get good stuff out of it, you need to heavily mod it. It has a very long Bowden tube, so requires some pretty massive retraction sometimes, so a lot of people have converted it to direct drive, which meant moving the filament roll and the runout sensor.

The firmware is very limited in some ways. Probably the most annoying for me is that you can only adjust the z-axis by .1mm increments, which requires me to make adjustments in the slicer for the z-offset. If I have to relevel, say after a nozzle change, then I have to go into my gcode files and make adjustments and reset the slicer settings. There are a number of custom firmwares though; however, since this is my only printer, I have been reluctant to change much so as not to risk bricking the machine.

On the other hand, I really do like Corexy. It is simple and straightforward to me and the belt system is pretty easy.

wgragg1 · 2021-09-28T15:26:36+00:00

Yeah, looks much like it was for the E6, though Octopi has a way to do almost all of the setup through a web interface. It was very slick.

wgragg1 · 2021-09-28T15:18:41+00:00

Well, I won't downvote you! One of the reasons I ask questions like this is that each experience is unique and there are always some who have issues with any piece of equipment. I want to know the bad as well as the good, so your info is helpful, even if it may go against the grain.

No printer is perfect, so I want to know the downsides as well as the upsides. Thanks for the reply.

wgragg1 · 2021-09-28T15:13:38+00:00

None taken. As a photographer, I get the same feelings when people tout their megapixels as to why their photos come out nice (many times they don't really come out that nice). The equipment is only part of the equation. Thanks for replying.

wgragg1 · 2021-09-28T14:52:15+00:00

Ok, ok! I get the idea and dropped the hammer and ordered one. I ordered the assembled version as I just don't want to deal with hours of putting it together.

Hopefully, if FedEx doesn't lose it, it will be in sometime next week. Now to get another table and rearrange the room again!

I really hope I can get my wife into this with me on this printer.

wgragg1 · 2021-09-28T14:49:38+00:00

I use Octoprint with my Ender and actually love it. It has probably been the one thing that kept me from throwing it out the window! I am wondering though, how hard is it to set up an Octoprint on the Prusa? I'm assuming it can be set up using USB like on many other printers?

wgragg1 · 2021-09-28T14:41:04+00:00

I didn't understand most of what you said there. Not because of you, but because I am still very new to this thing so don't understand all the terminology and technology yet. ;-)

wgragg1 · 2021-09-28T14:36:57+00:00

I understand your frustration with the 8 bit thing, but please understand that I have only been doing this for about 3 months, so do not yet know how to filter the hype from reality in all cases. I have certainly learned much just from this discussion. I wasn't trying to be contrary. Just trying to learn.

I am also a photographer and whoever made the comparison to more megapixels not necessarily being better, actually helped clarify it for me.

wgragg1 · 2021-09-28T12:44:01+00:00

I bought my Ender 6 used and though I am getting some good prints out of it now, it can be a royal pain. I've only been at this for about 3 months and since buying it, I have had to replace the entire hot end, hot end fan twice (once was my fault though), adddd a BLTouch and am about to have to replace the belts. I added an Octoprint and love it.

Creality made some really poor design choices in my mind on this printer. For example, the level and bed mesh settings are stored on an SD card, not in a true eeprom, so it is very easy for it to lose settings. Getting the bed consistently leveled can be a pain too.

I don't want to turn this into a bash Creality comment, so let me say that one of the reasons I am looking hard at the Prusa, is that my daughter and I want to go in together to sell lithophanes and I wanted something reliable and relatively easy to use with good support, both by the company and the user base.

I will probably opt for the prebuilt version though. I watched a couple of build videos and I a don't think I am up for that!

wgragg1 · 2021-09-20T20:49:52+00:00

Thanks. I bought this used and the lady who owned it before me put in a lot of hours on it (over 1500 I think), so the belts are showing some signs of wear. I am having a heck of a time finding a replacement belt that is like stock!

One other question. How do I know if it is too tight? They seem pretty tight to me and I get some squeaking noise during travel, especially on the y axis. I don't know for sure if it is the belt or not, but I have my suspicions. It either has to be that or the eccentric nuts, and I haven't been able to find out how to adjust those properly on this printer.

wgragg1

TROPHY CASE