Member postings for Steve F

Hello Tony

I have 3 different 3d printers at variuos price points

CEL Robox £900

DIY CoreXy £350 ish

Creality Ender 3 £140

The CEL Robox is very much plug & play. Chipped filament rolls that set most of the printing parameters for you (you can override these). It comes with CELs own printing software that simplfyies the settings. It does a huge range of plastic types including ABS. It is a closed box with temperature control. NO drawing software.

The Creality Ender3 el cheapo £140 shipped from Germany on Aliexepress. Uses CURA to print (free software) results are on the level with the CEL until you start to try flashy plastic types. Buy eco PLA filament from 3D Jake in Austria. Spend £45 ish to get free shipping. This is my recommended starter choice cheap setup. It will teach you loads and give you an idea if you want more but in reality it will probably do all you want. It can do ABS , has a huge build volume that you wont use. 220 X 220 X 250. If you try and print that it will probably take 2 days.

Fusion 360 hobbyist for drawing.

The Core xy is a self build. This is for higher speed printing as the head has a low moving mass.

Get the Ender 3 and start learning.

regards

Steve

Hello

Its been gone for 2 years.

You can get it onthe Wayback machine HERE

The forum is still very active HERE

regards

Steve

I think Machine DRO do a gadget that sums the 2 values together. Yes its here **LINK**

regards

Steve

Hi

I have an Ender3 & CEL Robox. On the CEL support website there used to be a chart showing the best compatible and support materials. I cant find it at the moment but.......i have found this

High Impact Polystyrene - a simple thermoplastic which is frequently used as dissolvable support material as it bonds well to most plastics and can be dissolved with Limonine. This works well with colourFabb's XT PETG and nGen, PLA and Nylon. ABS is not recommended as Limonine can discolor and distort ABS.

I think the chart advised water soluble filament for ABS support. Be carefull as it is highly affected by moisture and the filament swells up and gets stuck.

regards

Steve

yes , to protect the gas works. Nice article and video here **LINK**

regards

Steve

Is this the Sand Engine. I have a friend who lives at Bacton

regards

Steve

Can i add a 3rd choice ?

Hunslette by Don Young. 3.5" Hunslet available from Reeves

Lilla comes up quite big in 3.5" because it's a port class Hunslet (i think). Lilla was printed in Engineering in Miniature Vol 1 & 2. and is available from Blackgates. The articles are good as they offer both castings and fabricated versions.

I started to buy the parts for Hunslette but who knows when i will start it.

Good Luck with your choice

regards

Steve

Yes i've had a dabble with stl files........Yuck

First thing is an stl file is a mesh and the object is made up of triangles. Loads of em. If it's something engineering rather than artistic you can open it in designspark. Select the object and do convert to solid. You can then sometimes mess about with the file. Then resave as and stl or designspark file for future editing. If its something artistic then head for meshmixer. You can muck with all the triangles pushing and pulling the shape. It's best if you can download the file in it's native cad format rather than stl.

regards

Steve

Hi

I've had a shower and it gives you time to think.

Maybe stick is not your problem.

I cant gauge the size but it looks like a big "slab" of plastic. What you seeing is the same as the problems you get with ABS. This is caused by Hot Bed-Hot new filament-cooler filament in the middle sandwitch, The print is sticking to the bed but is being pulled off by the cooler layers above.

Maybe you could also try reducing the infill %.

There's a good troubleshooting guide here **LINK**

regards

Steve

Hi

I you have a PEI bed you shouldn't put anything on it to aid the stick. My robox has PEI and everything sticks to that.

I would try raising the bed temperature and see if it makes a difference after all that's why it normally is used for PLA. The Robox likes 70 for the 1st layer and 65 for the rest. The Ender 3 i use 65. Your printer / filament combo may need you to alter it a bit

regards

Steve

Thanks Michael

I'm glad you found the long post helpfull

Just seen it today **LINK**

Ender 3X with extra glass bed & free nozzles £139 delivered from Germany (no import duty). Mine came fom Germany and only took 6 days.

Its a good price for an all metal framed printer ,no acrylic panels

or you could make your own. Ender 3 open source design files here **LINK** but it might cost more.

regards

Steve

Hi

I have 2 X 3D printers from different ends of the price scale. A CEL Robox at the high end and a Creality Ender 3 from the low end. Both print PLA and ABS.

The Robox is very much a draw something, pick your filament type and print machine. No fiddling or tinkering it just does what it is supposed to very well. Its a closed system with CELs' own software and hardware. The filament spools are chipped so when you insert them the printer adjusts itself to produce the ideal print. I can use non CEL filament but i have to configure the print manually. ABS likes to be printed and kept warm for the duration of the print to prevent warping and splitting. The Robox has an enclosed build chamber for this, It can also print PETG & Nylon

The Creality Ender 3 was £150 delivered from the UK and for that money it is well worth it and you cant go wrong. It comes as a semi kit. It is open source so you can replace parts easily if needed and run a variety of open source software. All free. It prints PLA, PETG and ABS. It has a non enclosed heated platform. If printing ABS you are relying on heat from the bed to rise up through the print to keep it warm. This works and i am printing ABS now but the problem is how high you print off the bed. So that's your limit with ABS. For me 60mm high is fine but i dont know how high you can go. PLA & PETG dont have this problem.

I you do want to print ABS choose your filament carefully. Some ABS likes a really hot bed over 100 degrees and this printer (mine cant) might not be able to reach and maintain this temperature in an un-enclosed environment.

ABS from 3DJake called NiceABS prints at 250 with a bed of 85 for me and prints just fine.

Look for Ender3 reviews etc on youtube.

So Ender 3 £150 + 2 X 250gm 3D Jake PLA + 2 X 250gm 3DJake Nice ABS £41.50 (over £40 delivered free) = £8.50 for beer.

This will be the start of a huge learning experience

regards

Steve

Hi

Are you sure you are drawing with the axis set correctly in Fusion. In the preferences there is a setting called "default modelling orientation. The default for this (no idea why) is Y up. Everything you draw has to turned to print. Took me ages to find it. Change it to Z up. Things look a whole lot better

regards

Steve

I did upgrade recently but changed back to 3.3.1. There is a problem where prints dont start. A message appears on the LCD to "Click to Continue" so you need to press the LCD button. This happens perhaps twice before the print will start. I'm not sure if it also pops up during prints.

regards

Steve

If it breaks like spaghetti then i think this means the filament has been exposed to damp. I never had a roll do it but i have had those 5M samples from China do it. Best place for it is the bin unless you want to try drying it in the oven. Dont get it too hot or you'll end up with a big lump of plastic. Humidity and filament dont mix. All my rolls are in zip lock bags with silica gell. Never leave a roll on a machine when not in use. Any moisture will show up on your prints as the damp turns to steam in the hot end. Humidity today 68 %

regards

Steve

How about here **LINK**

regards

Steve

I use Fusion 360 for my drawings. I find it easier than TurboCad. I have a CEL Robox that has proprietry slicing software. Given a choice pick Simplify 3D for slicing etc as it has the best features

regards

Steve

I saw that on the BBC news webpage by accident. We applied and within 2 weeks we had a letter saying I had paid too much tax. I then got a refund check for £431. Nice

Just found it again on the beeb http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-41365084

regards

Steve

Edited By Steve F on 08/10/2017 10:40:34

I think i read on a model flying forum Traplet have ceased trading. You can get the plans from Blackgates or Reeves

regards

Steve

Hi

Have you thought of trying a MT2 reamer just to try and clear the burr. RDG sell them **LINK**. Just an idea. I'm no expert

regards

Steve