3d printer help.

[kilroy07]

I really prefer PEI sheet over blue tape, but of course you should only use it for PLA filament (PETG will fuse to it.)

I tried gekotech (Kickstarter) and it worked pretty good for awhile, but it did eventually wear out.
Have you tried the ezmat? I’m interested, they say just sand it to resurface (like PEI)... 🤔
I’ve actually been pleasantly surprised by the performance of my new ender 3’s build plate... not sure what it’s made out of though...

 

[Antioch]

I haven’t yet had any chance too use one though i plan on ordering one as the 10S4 cries out fir something better & now have to drop everything for a family trip for 3 weeks or so... Going to be hard to just drop things though...

As for an ender 3 or pro...would love to have one ...they do look very nice... sadly i am running out of bench space😱

 

[IcedStorm777]

OK soo i got my CR-10S today and have assembled it but have one problem. How do you attach the glass plate to the printer bed? I saw that there was some tape but IDK what its for, thanks

 

[Antioch]

Normally the glass plate sits on the metal plate...and... then they supply large paper clips that are used as clamps to hold the glass down to the metal late... on some printers there are complaints the glass supplied is not flat. I don’t notice that on mine... if you have a look on some of the build videos you should see how this works fairly easily.

 

[kilroy07]

I think we got him squared away now...

 

[IcedStorm777]

What 3d printer bed surface do y'all reccomend? Does painters tape work well or...

 

[kilroy07]

What 3d printer bed surface do y'all reccomend? Does painters tape work well or...

I used painter's tape for awhile. then I found PEI and would never fuss with tape again.
Lately I've found the "stickers" for the ender 3 series work really well (although I did adhere them right to the print bed, I did get some curl until I did that.)

 

[jhitesma]

I tried PEI on glass on my original printer...and wasn't extremely impressed. But it was a sheet of PEI from a questionable seller so may not have been very good PEI.

On my new Prusa Mk3s I got the smooth PEI sheet with it and it was ok...but bed adhesion still didn't seem quite as good as what I would get with hairspray on glass or painters tape on glass. For PLA it was ok as long as there weren't tiny little things that needed to adhere.

A few months ago they finally released the power coated textured PEI plates and I picked one up. Wow. What a difference. I LOVE it. Finally all the promises of PEI have come true for me. Prints stick like crazy while printing - then come right off with no effort when the bed is cool. Works great for PLA and PETG ( I haven't tried TPU or Nylon on it yet.) I'm still torn about the texture it leaves on the prints. On some prints I really like it and it works well, but there are definitely times when I prefer the smooth sheet and the glass like texture it leaves instead. So it's nice to have the option of both.

 

[kilroy07]

I tried PEI on glass on my original printer...and wasn't extremely impressed. But it was a sheet of PEI from a questionable seller so may not have been very good PEI.

On my new Prusa Mk3s I got the smooth PEI sheet with it and it was ok...but bed adhesion still didn't seem quite as good as what I would get with hairspray on glass or painters tape on glass. For PLA it was ok as long as there weren't tiny little things that needed to adhere.

A few months ago they finally released the power coated textured PEI plates and I picked one up. Wow. What a difference. I LOVE it. Finally all the promises of PEI have come true for me. Prints stick like crazy while printing - then come right off with no effort when the bed is cool. Works great for PLA and PETG ( I haven't tried TPU or Nylon on it yet.) I'm still torn about the texture it leaves on the prints. On some prints I really like it and it works well, but there are definitely times when I prefer the smooth sheet and the glass like texture it leaves instead. So it's nice to have the option of both.

I will mention I've just started playing with other materials (before that it was all just PLA.)

I found that my PEI experience improved immensely if I would "haze" the top with some really fine sandpaper (800-1200) or fine steel wool.
(Nice smooth finish and plenty of adhesion (with PLA.))

I'm not sure what the new "stickers" are made from for the ender 3, but they are working great for PLA and PETG (Which I wouldn't try on PEI...)

Is that the removable metal plate (for the Prusa)? I've been thinking of trying those out, it's working great so far for you though?!!

 

[dkj4linux]

I have the Prusa MK2S with the non-removable PEI coated bed. Over time it really seems to have lost it's ability to hold smaller PLA prints... even though I'd almost religiously used alcohol to clean it between prints. Since it now felt smoother/slicker (more like glass), I found my trusty can of Aquanet hairspray -- that I used with the glass sheet on my FolgerTech printer -- and gave it a shot. Works like a champ... just as it did with glass.

 

[bracesport]

I can recommend the 'upbox' printers (from my experience) - good value and goor quality prints - I have not used PETG, but 1mm walls in PLA work well for my planes! PLA sands and paints well - I say, keep it simple!

 

[jhitesma]

I did find that a quick rub with a scotch brite pad on the smooth PEI made things better, but still didn't blow me away. A good scrubbing with acetone after that also helped but again just not mind blowing like the textured sheet.

And yes, these are the removable sheets on the mk3s - which I LOVE. The bed of the mk3 was a big part of why I went with it. The embedded steel points for inductive leveling and the magnets for the removable sheets - plus the bed is just much stiffer and flatter than most heated beds to begin with. The removable sheets are great, being able to swap between smooth and textured depending on what I want is super easy (it does require an adjustment to the z but the latest firmware has the ability to store the settings for different sheets.) But mostly removing prints is crazy easy. With the textured sheet it's not as big of a deal since things usually just fall right off once it's cooled. But on the smooth sheet which sometimes doesn't hold well also sometimes holds too well - and then being able to flex it to pop things off is a life saver. Since I got the mk3 I haven't had to use any tools to remove anything from the bed. Which really helps keep the PEI in good shape longer too!

 

[nesteffe]

I have the Prusa MK2S with the non-removable PEI coated bed. Over time it really seems to have lost it's ability to hold smaller PLA prints...

Do you have the same bed as the MK2? Prusa seems to think you can remove the PEI by throwing it in the freezer. Personally I have always just pried it off of my borosilicate glass, but I imagine it is different if your bed material is something else.

 

[Corbarrad]

I have the Prusa MK2S with the non-removable PEI coated bed. Over time it really seems to have lost it's ability to hold smaller PLA prints... even though I'd almost religiously used alcohol to clean it between prints. Since it now felt smoother/slicker (more like glass), I found my trusty can of Aquanet hairspray -- that I used with the glass sheet on my FolgerTech printer -- and gave it a shot. Works like a champ... just as it did with glass.

Prusa reccommends refreshing the PEI with Acetone once it loses its stickines. I have not tried that myself, yet, but I have used gluestick and hairspray on my Mk3 trying to get the spitfire print to stick... eventualli I had to fall back to painters tape for the wings. it's not like the print didn't stick initially, but the head woud start hitting the part late during the process, not sure why. It was just a little tap, but with the added leverage it would pop a part or two lose every time.

 

[jhitesma]

Acetone does help on the smooth prusa PEI sheets. You can't use it on the textured ones - but so far I haven't felt a need for it on the textured one. I've tried a couple of prints that failed on the smooth PEI due to adhesion issues - and even ones that failed with brims on the smooth have worked on the textured without a brim. It's like magic

I'm currently printing the v2 lack enclosure ~173 hours of printing ! I just did this plate yesterday which was about 12 hours:

Scared the heck out of me. Tall skinny pieces with very little to hold them to the bed...and 12 hours! But it did great - they came out prefect and none came loose.

Next on deck I have this plate:

Very similar...but the parts are a bit bigger and there are more of them so it's a 20+ hour print. Still makes me nervous...but that last plate of tall skinny parts with less surface on the bed they stuck very well so I'll probably be ok.

Need to get another spool of PETG before I can finish though as I didn't notice it takes 2.2kg to print all the parts. I've finished the first 5 plates but still have 5 more to go and they're all 20+ hour plates. But I'm dying to get the enclosure back on the printer since I added the MMU and this seems like the best way to do it. Just sucks tying up the printer for a whole week to print the parts for it's own enclosure

 

[IcedStorm777]

Ok so long story short i am helping my friend build a 3d printer and these are the parts we are looking at. Are there any parts that I am missing and or parts that i could find for cheaper. Are there any parts that are bad quality? Also what software do you use and how would one find that software. I am trying to figure out how that would work and could use some help. Bed size will be 200 by 200 and i don't know how tall it will be. Any reccomendations? Thanks



Parts:

Brain- https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07Q5R6YSK/?tag=lstir-20


Hotend- https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00X6JON5A/?tag=lstir-20


Extruder- https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0774JZ9N5/?tag=lstir-20


Heated Bed- https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01I7GFOQS/?tag=lstir-20


Stepper Motors-https://www.amazon.com/dp/STEPPERONL/?tag=lstir-20


Power Supply- https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07GFJVHRH/?tag=lstir-20


Limit Switch-https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077X8XL56/?tag=lstir-20


Belt Pulley-https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07NBHT3QK/?tag=lstir-20


Timing Belt- https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BK3RX6S/?tag=lstir-20


Threaded Rod-https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01HBK843G/?tag=lstir-20


Smooth Rod-https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07DPGD69D/?tag=lstir-20

 

[jhitesma]

Give how cheap a 3D printer can be found now I can't say I see much point in building one from scratch...unless you're trying to achieve something very specific.

That said...the only real issue that jumps out at me with your proposed parts are the lack of linear bearings and the extruder choice. Mounting an e3d to that particular extruder is tricky at best. I had very good results with that style of extruder on my old printer - until I got my e3d and there just wasn't a good way to mount it to that. There are ways to do it like this: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1812853 but IMHO they're not very good. I ended up using an extruder I printed myself until I got a titan to replace it. But given how much you'll have to print anyway to build a printer from scratch I'd probably just go with a custom printed extruder again and just buy a nice drive gear for it.

Then again I'd probably just buy an Ender or one of the other easily found low cost i3 style printers that are out there if I was looking to get started for cheap.

 

[kilroy07]

Ok so long story short i am helping my friend build a 3d printer and these are the parts we are looking at. Are there any parts that I am missing and or parts that i could find for cheaper. Are there any parts that are bad quality? Also what software do you use and how would one find that software. I am trying to figure out how that would work and could use some help. Bed size will be 200 by 200 and i don't know how tall it will be. Any reccomendations? Thanks

My recommendation?...

Then again I'd probably just buy an Ender or one of the other easily found low cost i3 style printers that are out there if I was looking to get started for cheap.

What he said!
Seriously, I agree 100%...

Under $200!
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07G84V82W/?tag=lstir-20

 

[IcedStorm777]

Ok I will look into that. Hypothetically if i still wanted to build one what linear bearings would you recommend and what extruder would you recommend? The hotend i linked uses a bowden tube. Also the reason i liked that hotend was because it could print pretty much every plastic. What other semi-cheap hotends would you recommend? Also how does software or firmware work for scratchbuilds? Also what limits the build size, AKA is it just the size of the bed or do the motors limit that? Thanks!

 

[kilroy07]

and what extruder would you recommend?

I've got a couple of these that are going on my next build... So, while I haven't tried one yet, they look VERY promising.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07RBL4CJC/?tag=lstir-20

My Ender 3 has a bowden, and while I'm not a huge fan of it over direct drive it has a short enough path it doesn't give me too many issues (getting the retract settings can be a pain.) I did upgrade BOTH the extruder (to one like you linked earlier, metal) and the bowden tude (true Capricorn) That took an "okay" printer and turned it into a surprising solid machine (mind you, it's no Prusa, but I could get 4 of them for the same money...I still want a Prusa... someday...)