That sucks …
Maybe I got “a good one” … Mine hasn’t moved at all since I put it together.
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I’m printing a lot of ABS and ASA and I’m strict about the squareness of my prints. So I might be asking for too much out of my Ender 3.
And I’m extremely happy for Amal as he’ll likely have a significantly better experience than mine.
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Ok let’s talk about materials… I got a bunch of PLA as this seems the norm and basically seems easy to work with. Bambu sells the ASA and ABS and even CF and PLA-CF but honestly for what I’m doing I don’t think I’ll need anything specific.
But let’s say I was replacing a part on my lawn mower and I needed something strong with as little flex as possible… CF? ASA?
Its complicated because there’s always more factors than that
Pla is actually incredibly stiff, but it will shatter when it’s maxed out, it also has a lower “melting point”
(Technically we are referring to glass transition temper, where it starts going soft…which is not the same as printing temp)
Etc video to follow
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Dont forget to consider the sheer force.
ie, if there is a twisting forcre through the X-Y you’ll want to print your part on the Z. Ie Lay it down on its side to print.
Especially for something like this where streghth over finish will be more important.
Also, look at the part, examine where and why it broke, can you design a better part or reinforce the weak point.
Also
Depending on where it is being stored, you might want to consider the environment, Ie. if its exposed to the weather, chemicals etc. for long periods, you wont want to use PLA etc.
ABS is generally a good all round option, it just just be little more tricky to setup reliable prints.
(often a nozzle temp issue)
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Cnckitchen has great videos about strength maximizing and testing
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Uhhh, does anybody have a coupon for this site?
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You made a very good decision. (this’ll be a long post lol)
Bought a Bambu Lab P1S, and got it last Tuesday. The P1S is essentially a P1P with a full enclosure and a few other improvements, basically a half step between the P1P and the X1C. Haven’t bought an AMS yet, but it’s on the to-do list.
I haven’t been this impressed with a piece of technology in years.
The best print quality I’ve seen, at 3-4x the speeds of my other machines. The enclosure means I can print pretty much any material I’d like.
It’s opened me creatively to printing WAY more things. Been designing and printing pretty much non-stop for the last week and a half. Functional stuff and fun stuff both print so well, so fast.
I made a custom organizer for all of my toiletry stuff:
I put a scan of my head on one of those flexi octopuses
I also designed custom holsters for my wallet, earbuds, etc, since I have a bad habit of misplacing them:
(my toiletries are in my bedroom thanks to my living situation, can’t leave it all in the bathroom)
Infinity cube:
This articulated dragon thing took like an hour all together:
Designed and printed a phone adapter for my car, to stop it from constantly flopping around while plugged into android auto. I had to make like 3 iterations of this, with the final one in PETG, and did it all within a day, despite being a large part.
I think this whole plate took less than 3 hours. Herringbone gears, the infinity cube from before, and print in place vise grips
Finger chopsticks I found online, for snacking while working
I designed and printed this little guy as a test for ABS printing small long parts. My door shuts on its own thanks to the HVAC intake being across from it, so I made a little sliding door prop. Surprisingly strong.
I was planning on keeping my heavily modded Ender 3 Pro (added direct drive extruder, bed leveling, etc), but I can’t find any real flaws with this thing.
The cloud thing is a double-edged sword, but so far, the benefits have outweighed the issues for me. Being able to be anywhere in my house, or even away from home, and send a print, and then continuously monitor it, all with 0 setup, is really nice. I can do a long print, go on a walk, and check on it over the course of a few hours.
It’s also helping me use up all of my old rolls of filament, since it goes through them so quick. I bought a roll the day I got the printer, and it was gone the next week.
It’s genuinely been 0 tinkering, just printing.
I think you’ll love the X1C.
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PLA is extremely easy to use, you can have an untrammed bed with uneven heating on an open frame machine and it will still print reliability. I suspect that this material is why most people love their Ender 3s so much, you can get one of those to print PLA reliability like a Bambu if you put in the time to tram the bed, let the X gantry droop down all the way, and are ok with slanted parts.
But PLA creeps under stress and has a low temperature resistance. It turns mushy at 60C or so.
ASA is better than ABS, it has a better thermal resistance, it also resists UV, smells less while printing, and it’s slightly easier to print. An enclosed printer is recommended for these materials as drafts and temperature changes tend to make them warp during printing. These materials will show printer problems that PLA would mask.
The choice between PLA and ASA isn’t obvious is some case, and it’s totally obvious in others. It all depends on what you’re trying to print.
CF-ASA sounds like a good choice, maybe even a carbon fiber nylon? Just make sure to get a material with a datasheet. I’ve had good results with the regular Polymaker ASA for mechanical parts. I’ve also heard good things about the Prusa engineering filaments.
Do note that the glass and carbon fiber stuff requires a hardened nozzle.
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Also made this awesome wallet in clear PETG last night. (Please excuse the cyborg-feline, he’s very needy in the mornings.)
Yes, that’s a Diag Card on top. Although it’s more for decoration, because I’m pretty sure both sides of it are toast now…
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Mind sharing the source for that? It looks neat.
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Here ya go!
Printed the updated version, upright, .2mm layer, .4mm nozzle, no supports, as the directions suggest. I also printed on the hotter end of PETG temp range, with the hopes of it coming out a little clearer. Dryed the filament for ~24hr prior, maybe overkill, but it wanted it to look it’s best.
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Talking about wallets, just made a new through the night.
I really need a new bed though, I’m having constant issues with peeling.
But it’s a good proto, going to show it to my EMT class who are mostly going into the fire academy next semester. They’ll love the red. Going to print one in blue for myself and a classmate that are doing the paramedic program.
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I’m so jealous of print times! Took me 9 hours to print my wallet XD
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It’s been weird adjusting my mental estimates, and my expectations lol
Sometimes I’ll think of printing something big and think “aw man that’s gonna take a day”, and then I remember fast printer go vroom, and it takes like 4 hours.
On the other hand, now when something takes longer than 2 hours, it feels slow lmfao
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I can’t wait for the MK4 to get here, I want a printer that goes vroom!
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Print finished a while ago, my phone didn’t want to focus on it b/c all black ig.
I need to pick up some better filament. I really don’t like the surface finish of this Inland PLA. The Elegoo Rapid PLA+ I tried works much better.
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