Shaft diameter and length is also part of it.
NEMA is just a mechanical aspect and contains zero information about the performance. Equally comparing motors by torque isn't the full picture as the inductance (and other aspects) can be different. Equally important is the stepper-driver & supply voltage.
Biggest concern for me is creep over time.
Small CNC-mill. Previous 1.85mm NEMA23 wasn't enough.
Not bad either.
Previously I had a 1.85Nm on this axis which wasn't enough to reliably pull 1'500 mm^2/s acceleration milling metal. All sort of issues from overheating stepper driver to it losing steps.
I see. Size doesn't matter to you. It is all about skills.
Let's me introduce you to the 400W NEMA24 servo.
edit: Sorry. Was only the 400W unit. Somewhere there should be a 750W speciment.
Also be careful with these motor. While a small NEMA17 found on 3D-printer has 0.5 Nm and under normal conditions will stall before serious harm happens this NEMA34 is 9Nm which is enough to break bones. Those 400W servos are equally dangerous. While only around 1Nm they have roughly 4Nm peak and keep this torque at high RPMs.
NEMA34 upgrade
Upgraded from a NEMA24 to a NEMA34.
Before going out and milling or buying it in metal it is always a good idea to testprint it.
Probably will use the plastic part for a while as 3mm wall-thickness PETG seems might already be good enough.
If you have to mix it use mechanical interlocking parts. Like a PLA cavity that is filled with PETG. The PLA & PETG won't connect/bond but due to the mechanical design, it will still hold together.
Get a BambuLab P1S without AMS.
I don’t want to be bogged down with having to run proprietary slicers through Wine and things like that. I am not sure how big of an issue that is with e.g. Bambu or Creality (if at all), but I’ve seen enough rug-pulls and enshittification processes that I don’t really want to risk that.
You can use PrusaSlicer, OrcaSlicer, Cura or some other slicer with them. They run perfectly fine in LAN-mode removing the Bamub Lab server stuff/question from the equation.
While not every replacement parts are also made by third party companies things like nozzles, PEI-sheets or fans are available from third parties.
As future-proof as I can possibly hope for.
I would argue money in the bank account is far more future-proof than any 3D printer can be and Bambu Lab costs a fraction of what a Prusa core one costs. So when the future arrives use the saved money to buy a next-gen printer.
Locally produced (I’m EU based).
Bambu Labs are well made so not a safety hazard but I can understand this point.
The Prusa core one looks very promising but at the same time, it isn't for everybody and the general consumer is likely better of by buying the P1S. For the price of 1 Prusa One you could buy 2 Bambu Lab P1S and 10-20kg of good PETG.
regarding Support: Difficult question. Prusa has excellent support but the last experience I had with their printers before dropping them wasn't that great and was riddled by issues/bugs. BambuLab on the other have the it just works magic but the support needs to improve. You send them a bunch of log files as requested. They probably only look at the oldest file (that might be months old) and provide a "wrong" reply based on that as a solution without looking at the text you wrote.
or the A1 mini if 18x18x(?)cm^3 is large enough.
For the material: Go with PETG for the coasters.
Samples.
Order each color as 10-20g sample.
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Air leakage isn't an issue. Based on the enclosures I already have they do a pretty damm good job of keeping the nasty ABS fumes inside.
Just quick math but I should be able to do it. Given that a lot of enclosures can reach 40-50°C without active heating and insulation I guess 70°C passive is realistic when you do 6cm of XPS. I probably will go with an overshoot and cool down the air for the temperature control approach.
Big & bulky isn't an issue as the stock printer is already big and bulky with lots of space for insulation (originally used for the 4 filament spools but they live in a dry box so it is free real estate): The printer already has 60mm extrusion I can fill up with so no additional bulk is added. The bottom plate will be 2cm to keep as much print volume as possible in the z-direction. Maybe I can squeeze also 5cm there with some 3D-scanning and milling pockets.
Even manufacturers of high end printers accept the they will only get ‘good enough’ and that they need to have the heater cycle on and off to keep a steady temperature.
Some heating or cooling is required to keep it stable. Don't matter if you need heating or cooling just something for regulation.
The enclosure for the other printer is slightly more complicated as I am aiming for a 150°C chamber temperature (135°C is required) there which means stainless steel or aluminum inner lining and rockwool insulation that can't be milled to shape like XPS.
Is it really worth it for the small gain in finished product?
Half the fun is pushing limits and seeing what works and what doesn't.
Is your 3D printer insulated? How is the print chamber heated?
How is the build chamber in your 3D-printer heated? Is there any thermal insulation and if how thick is it?
My two cents:
** thermal insulation**
That's the math for a small 300x300mm printer heated to 70°C (for 130°C tripple this number).
With a 6030 aluminium extrusion a 60mm insulation would fit within the walls and bring down the heatloss to approx. 45W. In other words: Once it is heated up the thermal losses are small enough for it to hold the temperature on its own. Reducing the overall power consumption.
heating/temperature control
For cooling and heating: oil<-> air heat exchanger/radiator might be a good solution:
- place one inside the printer
- the other on the outside
- insert a heater in the loop (only when heating is required, for cooling keep it off)
- possible to push past the 100°C liquid temperature.
Add a fan that circulates the air within the chamber to equalize the temperatur
It's fine.
Not great but won't cause issues. Might have a look at the configuration to check that the matching thermocouple type is selected/configured.
I don’t know why Solid Edge doesn’t get more love.
No free hobby license like Autodesk does for fusion360.
There is a free hobby version.
AFAIK at launch they didn't and now the tutorials and people have firmly settled into Fusion360. Unless Autodesk screws up or removes the hobby license it won't change. People are lazy and learning that fusion360 exists is so much easier.
Yeah. PP doesn't stick at all to PEI print beds. Issue is Prusa neither sells HDPE or PP. Neither do they sell printer cable of Printing these materials (build surface).
For Polypropylene: e.g. Eryone is 26€ for 900g (should be more "length"/volume than 1kg of PLA). Fiberlogy is 50€/kg. Not that expensive without the Prusa tax.
For me it feels the polar opposite (ify ou mean with consumer space prebuild 3d-printer it would be a low):
- For the hobby price class, there are better parts than ever to choose from e.g. Orbiter v3 extruder, bacon bed leveling probe, Klipper + Mainsail, good budget linear rails, affordable high thread angle ballscrews, low-cost servos (e.g. JMC motor) and so on.
- projects like the ERCF seeing a big push in popularity
- ToolChanger is on the verge of being mainstream (slicer & firmware support is getting better) [jubilee printer, Voron mods, RatRig vcore mod, Prusa XL, ...)
- significant attention to push beyond classic FDM/molten plastic
None of this will be at FormNext this year as it is a business. It isn't an enthusiast/hobby convention like RMRRF. Maybe in three years, it could be in the first commercial consumer 1machines.
Are you excited about FormNext 2024?
Next week is the FormNext 2024 trade show in FFM. Are you looking forward to visiting it or watching news coverage?
Looking into it I notice that this year there is a noticeable fluctuation. To name one example: Duet3D isn't there this year.
China. That's where you can still get the Cobalt indicator and subsequently on Amazon, Aliexpress or ebay.
The upside is the fantastic color change, which is why some still prefer it and why it is probably still being made.
In Europe there is an alternative blue indicator that is cobalt-free, but it is more of a blue to brown/very dark red colour change, so not great either especially after a few drying cycles.
the granules are blue when dry and turn purple/red when they no longer absorbs humidity.
Don't buy those. Orange gel is the "new" blue.
The reason why the blue gel was phased out decade(s) ago is the CoCl2. Along all of the hazards are H350i and H360F (cancer and reproduction [aka. your plan to have kids might not turn out that great]).
While orange gel doesn't have as good of a color change it is significantly lower risk and shall be used.
Nice to see Piocreat improved this printer. Last year they used V-roller on a $2k+ printer.
Was very interested in it but decided against it as the price didn't matched the hardware.
3D40 at couple hundred bucks? Absolutely not. 3D40 for $50? No. 3D40 for free? Yeah. Just don't expect much out of it.
Go the other way and buy 3mm tubing and see what it does :)
Fair enough bowden has a lot of issues like filament compression (which can't be fixed with tubing) making it difficult to maintain a steady flow when conditions aren't steady (e.g. acceleration and so on).
With larger diameter tubes the issue of filament compressing gets worse. In a nutshell, a larger tube diameter for "rigid" materials somewhat is similar to the effect of a softer filament/material.
Should I distill IPA (isopropanol alcohol) at home for 3D-printing?
TL;DR No.
What you should do:
- buy fresh IPA. It is approx. $5/L. As such a 2L washing bin is approx. $10 + 10L waste disposal. In the broader picture of total costs and production value, this is manageable (resin cost, machine depreciation, PPE/gloves, ...)!
- use two or three stages of washing
- fill the washing containers with as little as necessary to get it done
- periodically expose the liquid to sunlight and let the particles settle down. Separate the "clean" liquid from the sump (you might add special chemicals to speed up this process).
- if the first stage needs replacement: 1.) responsible disposal of the liquid in compliance with local regulation 2.) move the liquids around: (the third stage is the new fresh liquid, the second is the prior third stage and the second washing station is now the first "dirty" stage).
- check for alternative chemicals that can be used with your particular resin
If you use water-washable resin: IT IS A DANGEROUS LIQUID! Dispose of d
Prusa MK4s launch (TLDR)
Prusa video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VO2MaQrUcqE
TL;DR For those who don't want to watch 10-minute video:
- MK4 to MK4s uprade kit: 109€ + shipping (MK4 customer will receive a voucher (except shipping cost))
- Larger cooling fan
- Improved cooling duct
- high flow nozzle
- NFC for app
- some parts upgraded from PETG to PC-CF
- MK4s still ship without an accelerometer. Prusa claims this isn't needed.
- No camera.
- No upgrades for the Prusa XL in the near future!!!!
other stuff:
- accelerometer board
- GPIO board
Personal Opinion:
This should have been the MK4 to begin with and shows once more how blindsided Prusa was. BambuLab put so much pressure on them that they had to publish the MK4 in the state it is.
Regrading the Prusa XL the trouble continues. This launch/printer has been riddled by issues after issue and now the statement that the improved part cooling won't make it to the XL in the near future.... My guess it that they screwed up with the
Should every printer have a easy to disconnect toolhead?
Quick upgrade for easy to plug and unplug end effectors/toolheads. Activity/status LED are also moved from the back of the printer to the top and some more voltage regulation to provide additional voltage rails.
While a nice connector adds significant cost it is also a big value add for certain 3D-printer. I think more manefacturer should consider tiny details like this when designing their product.
Strain relief isn't installed on this tool for reasons ...
Let's talk about Prusa Printables contests. It might need some fixing.
Currently, Prusa is doing a terrible job with the Printables competition, to the point where they could be in legal trouble if someone were to push for it.
A few examples to prove this statement (5th is in my opinion the worst):
- insect hotel -> canceled due to security concerns. Great work, but why not look into it before you start and provide a design guideline? https://www.printables.com/contest/436-insect-hotels
- Bathtub toys -> Mentioned explicitly: "Safety is our top priority, so make sure your creations are child-friendly, [...]". As these are bath toys, one might assume that they mean safety standards for young children. https://www.printables.com/contest/428-bathtub-toys
Great. Safety is a top priority. So let's see how they moderate it. They haven't... If you scroll through the valid submissions, there are dozens that aren't safe for children. Prusa is EU, so I would expect them to be familiar with the basic EU regulations for children's toys when they say we want sa
How often do you lubricate the linear guides?
I am curious how often do you service the linear rails on the 3D-printer:
- How often do you lubricate them (MGN9 or MGN12)?
- How do you lubricate them?
- What volume of lube do you use?
Nesting capabilities of slicer (overview)
Short overview of how good the nesting capabilities of various 3D slicer are.
The task is simple: placing as many of these shapes on a 200x300mm printed as possible. Manual (quick and dirty for reference): 6 pcs.
Ranking:
- Ultimaker Cura: 7 pcs.
- human (me): 6 pcs.
- Orca slicer: 5 pcs.
- PrusaSlicer & BCN3D stratos: 4 pcs. By switching (for this particular part) from the worst (Prusa) to the best (Cura) slicer the nesting performance improved by a whopping 75%!
Ultimaker Cura:
Prusa:
BCN3D Stratos (forked from an old version of Cura):
OrcaSlicer:
Print in place ratchet design
After half a dozen iterations, this was the first reasonably working, acceptable feeling, and good-sounding ratchet mechanism.
allows clockwise rotation blocks counterclockwise rotation
design features:
- allows for a large inner bore (e.g. rotary encoder shaft or 5.2mm screwdriver bit)
- printable with 0.4mm nozzle
- 2cm diameter
- no assembly required. Print in place.
To get a full ratchet: mirror the assembly and add a mechanism/part that pushes one of the springs out. In neutral both leavers are engaged and the ratchet is completely locked.
Btw. Good luck copying it without going through half a dozen of iterations. Going from it barely works to this isn't easy. For my part: Version 5 was working and close to the final design. It took another 10 rounds to get it usable and from there some more to fine-tune it.
Shape optimized spoolholder
Quick and dirty 5 minutes craft: Draw a rough shape, define the contact surfaces & load, click run, and get the optimized shape. The last step is converting the output to a printable shape and running one more simulation to double-check it is strong enough.
This particular holder is a filament spool holder designed to be loaded with up to 5.5kg of filament (1x2.5kg, 3x1kg).
Why do 3D printer manufacturers not get the details right? e.g. rotation indicator on bed levelling wheels
Building a 3D printer is easy. Getting the details right to build a great 3D printer is hard, as this is where most companies fail. Why?
For example, on this printer, the bed is a three-point mount (two wheels for adjustment at the front of the printbed) and the printer's bed levelling dialogue doesn't show the height difference that needs to be adjusted (which most 3D printers do). It does show how much it needs to be turned, and the bed levelling wheels have 1/8th turn indicators, making it easy to get it perfect.
In short, instead of an arbitrary number like 0.3mm that has no meaning to the user, they tell the user to turn this knob 1/4 of a turn. An instruction the user can follow.
** Why is this so outstanding? It doesn't cost much, but it improves the user experience. Are companies blind to these improvements because the engineers are experienced, or is there a lack of testing during development?**
By the way, years ago I did such a fix/modification myself on a Tronxy XY2 pr
For those venturing into 5-axis 3D printing and hybrid manufacturing, what is your tool chain?
With 3D printers like the Open-5x or tool changers (e.g. Prusa XL) both, 5-axis simultaneous 3D-printing as well as hybrid manufacturing (additive followed up by subtractive), is more accessible than they ever were.
For those already venturing into this endeavor: What is your toolchain/software?
Currently, I finish the additive/3D print before running a second gcode for the subtractive part (contact surfaces, threads, ...). This is far from an efficient and powerful process.
Extruder with a cleaning brush (industrial desktop 3D-printer)
The extruder of the 3Dgence P255 3d-printer features a brush to clean the extruder gear.
One of those permanent temporary fixes.
Needed as soon as possible a spool holder for larger spools so printing anything that is dozens of hours was out of the question.
Solution? Looked at the heavy shelves and had an idea.
One remix later, a 1-hour print and with some round wood that was lying around this spool holder was born.
I like the position of the spool so much that it is here to stay.
How do I fix this Prusaslicer output?
With this particular model, Prusaslicer is very optimistic about bridging and support generation:
- the right side (dark blue) has no support that could help with load-bearing
- the entire layer will be connected to those two lines
- more than 5cm long bridges
I don't think this gcode will successfully print.
How do fix adjust the cura setting to generate a printable output?
The model in question is: https://www.delta-fan.com/Download/3D/BUB0612HJ-00.stp
What is your favourite camera setup?
What cameras did you add to your 3D printer? What is your favorite camera angle?
For me, the nozzle cam watching the first layer is my personal favorite (OV9281 image sensor).
Would you still buy a Prusa Mini+?
Right now looking into bang for the buck workhorses with a small footprint/build volume. A description that fit the Prusa mini+ perfectly in the past, but it feels like Prusa is a dinosaur that hasn’t moved with the times.
So who is still buying the Prusa mini+ and why?
Personally: While Prusa has outstanding support, good data protection, and does good things but there is now the Bambu Lab A1 mini.
Prusa mini is at the moment 500€ plus 20€ for a filament sensor (sic., it’s nearly 2024 and that’s an paid upgrade on half a grand printer) and another 7€ for WiFi.
Bambu Lab on the other hand is 320€.
Looking at the specifications, the A1 looks like a clear winner: For maintenance, there are three tasks: 1. cleaning and lubricating the mechanics (both are the same in this respect); 2. cleaning the build surface (both are the same); 3. maintaining the hotend and here Bambu Lab is clearly the better system as you can replace the nozzle in just a few seconds compared to Prusa’s E3D v
The beauty of 3D-printing: Just download the physical object.
3D-model collections like Printables or Thingiverse are awesome. Required (ASAP) a CPU socket cover to ship the motherboard. Found it online and 15 minutes later I had the part on hand.
3D-printed EDC
Pen holder with an integrated ruler and USB-stick storage in the top cap.