3D Printer Blog

[MadPlumbarian]

I guess I’ll bump this page, our son bought me a Ender 3, 3D printer for Xmas and I don’t have the slightest clue how these things work? Supposedly I’m going to be spending a few hours putting this thing together before I get to the next step but I have no clue as to what that is,,
JR

[Chako]

Congratulations on getting one. Once you get it built, I think you will have a lot of fun with it. Just be sure to watch the videos from the start of this thread, and if you read all of this, you should get a nice feel on what you can do with it, and more importantly, how to upgrade it as you get better with your Ender 3.

[MadPlumbarian]

Thanks, I just spent 25min watching an assembly video and another 20min quickly going through this post from the beginning, I’m still stumped, I have no clue what I’m going to print once I get this thing built, well besides another mini model tool, maybe something to hold displayed sak’s, didn’t someone on here come up with something unique? Something for diff layered sizes? Idk I won’t be at this for a while, I never have time..
Here’s the tool that I got made some time ago, but I think it’s just too big so I want the same thing but in a smaller scale maybe in two diff smaller sizes, like half and also 1/3 or 1/4, I guess we’ll see..
JR

[Chako]

Watch a few good build videos and pause it as you built your printer. I did that with the aid of a tablet. It didn't take very long, and the whole procedure is fairly simple once you go through it step by step.

I wouldn't worry about any upgrades for now. That will come later. However, if you ever wonder what you can print...take a look over at https://www.thingiverse.com/

Search Multi Tool and see just what is available on there for that.

[MadPlumbarian]

Ok, there’s a few thing I can go with, even the Mrs and kid would find funny..
JR

[MadPlumbarian]

I got it, an arched bridge lamp! I built one way back in the day out of a pair of two flat curtain rods that I calculated the length id need to fit the arch to be and then bent them, a simple $2, and then riveted like three pieces of plastic to hold the pair together, then bought a led strip light kit, I think I went out on this one maybe $10, put them together and ended up with the best cheap lamp I ever had, I still have it on my desk but the curtain part has seen better days and it really doesn’t stand up, and the leds are starting to fall off in some areas, but if I built a arched bridge lamp and then used the leds and glued them, this thing wouldn’t go anywhere! I love the lamp cause no mater how you’re working, you can put one hand over the other and you still don’t have shadows, it’s freaking awesome!
JR

Here’s a pic of my junk one when I first built it,

[pfrsantos]

So, can we expect new SAK scales, with different colours and designs?

 

[Don Pablo]

 
Where news?

[MadPlumbarian]

Where news?

Still sitting in the dinning room, I built it, the kid was thrilled, so he then tried like three times to print something and well it didn’t print! The first time it kept moving around on the platform, then it stayed put but then half way started again, yet, as we tried again it didn’t exist,  so he looked it up and the file for the printer disappeared, he unplugged it and turned it back on, nothing, so he found another file loaded it, and yet it wasn’t for a #3 so he had to unload it, and redo it, go fig, then the next day he had work, so it’s like every time he had a chance something went wrong like the other day well week, we lost our internet connection for a whole 6days, go fig, but here’s a pic, it’s not like we didn’t attempt something,, it’s suppose to be one of those boat thingies but with a skull on the front, the capt behind the wheel on his butt, and another coming up out of the hatch on the back flopped over if you can see them..
JR

[Don Pablo]

It can require a bunch of tuning for sure....
Know where to find guides?

[MadPlumbarian]

Come on, your talking to a soon to be 44yr(in 3days) old plumber, the kid is basically doing everything..
JR

[Don Pablo]

Can ask if he's looking at how to troubleshoot
Dad needs his printer up and running!

[MadPlumbarian]

Dad just needs less stress!
JR

[Vidar]

Been some time since I used filament printers, but that looks like too hot and or too much extrusion.

Depending on the material the temperature window might be narrow.

[MadPlumbarian]

I have no clue, it also doesn’t help that everything is also in metric, I mean so is the printer but I’m still sitting here idk, would the base be to hot, but that’s what it said to be left at, yet the printer says to like triple it? The same with the white stuff, that came with the printer vs, the huge spool the kid also bough, so I’m sure both are going to be diff, but idk? I’m a plumber, when it comes plastic, I use a primer and glue to make it stick so it won’t leak.. that and the glue smells good,
JR

[Vidar]

idk, would the base be to hot,

If the base is too hot you'd likely see it at the bottom of the print as melting or deformation.

What I meant was the extrusion temperature - that one has to be hot enough to melt and weld to previous laid plastic, but not so hot that it looses shape or runs out too much. There is likely some information included with the material as a starting point. Then it is down to the precision of your printer what temperature you actually have. With a heated bed and no housing you might also experience than high models get colder as you move away from the platform.

Then there is extrusion speed - how quickly is that thing spewing out melted plastic? If it puts down more than necessary for the actual print the excess will go somewhere and likely not look pretty.

I can add layer heights too - for each layer the printer will lift a bit. Too much and there will be a lack of connection and weld to the previous layer. Too low and the model will be compressed in height and with too much plastic in the walls. That one is fairly easy to calibrate though as you'll know the height of the model and can adjust height and layers according to the welding.

[Chako]

Sorry about that. I guess the last time I was on this site was in the wanning days of 2022. I see the last response was on March 5th. I take it you have figured out the issue?