3d Printers South Africa

[Crowley]

The things are rounded, so not flat on the bed. I added brims and supports, all sorts, with the "help" of chatGPT. I tried an axe three times with different layouts, none worked.

Make sure it isn't designed for resin printing. I found a lot of files that looks like they are for FDM but I couldn't get them working on my printer.

 

[Park@82]

A tragedy in 6 parts

Looks like those files were designed for resin printers. Maybe try to cut them in half within the slicer. Place them with the flat/cut surface downwards and make sure brim is enabled before printing. Glue them back together afterwards.

 

[Superjakes]

Looks like those files were designed for resin printers. Maybe try to cut them in half within the slicer. Place them with the flat/cut surface downwards and add make sure brim is enabled before printing. Glue them back together afterwards.

there were half versions available in the pack, let me try that.

 

[Superjakes]

there were half versions available in the pack, let me try that.

Looking good! Now for the glueing part…

 

[RaptorSA]

Looking good! Now for the glueing part…

Nice, splicing usually solves a lot of problems.
At least one of us got something right. I gave up on attempting to print an ultra accurate human skeleton at only 175mm tall.

Now the goddess of death gets to stroll through the graveyard of my print attempts.

 

[Superjakes]

I added a Nebula Camera to my printer recently. It does nothing for the quality, but I absolutely love it - being able to check my prints while sitting at my desk and then also being able to have those semi-cool time-lapse videos are great. Would definitely recommend.

 

[RaptorSA]

I added a Nebula Camera to my printer recently. It does nothing for the quality, but I absolutely love it - being able to check my prints while sitting at my desk and then also being able to have those semi-cool time-lapse videos are great. Would definitely recommend.

If you've got a Home Assistant server running somewhere so you can integrate it with the camera RTSP feed + you're using Google TV on a SmartTV, you can install "QuickBars for Home Assistant" on the TV then map any remote button to the camera feed and it'll show an overlay of the printer camera on top of anything you're doing and watching.

Easily the most useful smart home integration I've ever had.
Anything that gets me away from having to use my phone is a win these days.

 

[Superjakes]

If you've got a Home Assistant server running somewhere so you can integrate it with the camera RTSP feed + you're using Google TV on a SmartTV, you can install "QuickBars for Home Assistant" on the TV then map any remote button to the camera feed and it'll show an overlay of the printer camera on top of anything you're doing and watching.

Easily the most useful smart home integration I've ever had.
Anything that gets me away from having to use my phone is a win these days.

View attachment 1927619

You will need to give me an idiot proof guide to do that!

 

[RaptorSA]

Gotta give the workspace some love too now and again.
Something I've been wanting to do for weeks...

Some quick custom resized 3D printed brackets with foam vibration isolation for my old LG SH-5 Soundbar + wireless sub that's been sitting around unused for years. I'm surprised at how good the thing sounds in that space, couldn't have wished for a better solution and it's been right under my nose this whole time.

It's so lekker not to having to spend one's entire Saturday morning crawling through a hardware store to try and come up crap you can use for a custom brackets and it never fits quite perfectly.







Neodymium magnet mounts for remote controls us also a must for me these days.
S*it doesn't get lost and just snaps into place. What's not to love about it.



Thinking of getting a used M4 Mac Mini somewhere and doing an under desk mount installation with a swivel monitor on the side of the desk and out of the way.

I don't really want to add PC tech to a space that's built for tactile work, but I sometimes find myself getting annoyed at having to run around and use my work/personal/desktop PC for quick slicer adjustment or doing a quick google search.

I'm not a Mac person either, but a mac for what I plan to use that machine for sounds like a perfect option.
They also sip power (4-8 Watts on idle), so it won't break the bank if it's left idling day and night.

Since it'll mostly sit unused I can also turn it into an LLM network server that serves a decent programming model via Ollama.

 

[RaptorSA]

Also, my Dinosaur display collection in the bar area is essentially complete... I added a 700mm Ankylosaur (bottom right) this week.

✍ Nerd Note: The top shelf are now all animals from the Morrison formation in the US (Upper Jurassic period), all of them found in the same strata so they would have met each other in real life. The bottom shelf is the same concept as the top, but from the Hell Creek formation in the upper Cretaceous.

I am now researching Airbrushing, and will likely get a kit soon.... while I love the white, I need to learn to paint fossils 'cause it's going to look mind blowing if I can figure out how to do a type of bone-white texture with darker contrast and aging layering etc.

(Yes, there is a semi-naked chick in there for scale, sometimes a man has to experiment mmkay)

 

[B-1]

Tried out some wood veneering on PETG printed parts for a small amplifier box I'm building.
The top and corners are 3D printed and then laminated with the veneer.

 

[TEXTILE GUY]

So, I want to share my experience with Flashforge.

We want to move away from single head poopalots to multihead.
The math is simple. A 4 color print on a single head printer generates almost as much poop as the model itself. The more layer changes, the more poop.
We make a range of voronoi models filled with poop to recover the cost, but one can only sell so many of these. The rest of the poop is costed to the product and goes out landfill.

Now, I would like to be the idealist, and say, lets get Prusa Xls, but at $2400 a pop, that a 12 to 14 week payback per machine est.

So, we looked at the other end of the scale. Flashforges Creator 5 is selling at around $650 with discounts and codes. That a three week payback per machine, so that the route we took.

Well, the machine arrived with a bent frame. Damaged in shipping. It happens.
The normal course we would take is inform the manufacturer, inform the insurance and either get a replacement or refund, usually the former.

Unfortunately, Flashforge customer service is just pi$$ poor and the insurer was a Chinese scam it seems.
21 emails deep, two weeks of back and forth and I am no closer to either a return or exchange.
Looks like Flashforge USA is non existant after the Adventurer 5 came out. Having said that Adventurer series are being sold on ebay for around $150. I have played with one, and had no issues. Its a great printer, but slower than the A1.
Either way, Flashforge support, for me ...... no trabajo, akusebenzi, its k@k.

The insurer wants a report from Flashforge to effect a refund, Flashforge refuses to deal with the issue, refrering me back to the insurer. At this point, I have submitted no less that 20 pictures, 10 screenshots of the order and two videos.

Now, in the US I can go to my bank and attempt a charge back. Without a wet signature, if I can show that the insurer was likely a scam, I can get my cash back and place the onus on Flashforge to make a plan to come collect their machine.

Now, imagine this happened to one of you guys in SA. I thinks the cost without shipping would be in the region of ZAR11000, not to mention the time frames involved.

If you do go the route of the Flashforge ..... DO NOT .... take the Worry Free option. This will sting you around ZAR200 for boggerall.

Anyhow, I have managed via the power of social media and sponsored 3d printers here in the US, to at least get Flashforge to acknowledge the claim, so lets see how that goes. Alita Wu made contact on a gmail account today ..... gives this picture in my head of a backyard mom n pop factory.

In the meantime, we have gone to the next contender in the lineup, Snapmaker. I have a U1 on its way.
I have worked on one of these. They are quite popular here in the US and have local support, so maybe this is where I should have started ..... but there now.
Hopefully, when we get that up and going, I can leave some review or story for anyone that may be interested in it.

Happy printing guys!!

 

[Park@82]

So, I want to share my experience with Flashforge.

We want to move away from single head poopalots to multihead.
The math is simple. A 4 color print on a single head printer generates almost as much poop as the model itself. The more layer changes, the more poop.
We make a range of voronoi models filled with poop to recover the cost, but one can only sell so many of these. The rest of the poop is costed to the product and goes out landfill.

Now, I would like to be the idealist, and say, lets get Prusa Xls, but at $2400 a pop, that a 12 to 14 week payback per machine est.

So, we looked at the other end of the scale. Flashforges Creator 5 is selling at around $650 with discounts and codes. That a three week payback per machine, so that the route we took.

Well, the machine arrived with a bent frame. Damaged in shipping. It happens.
The normal course we would take is inform the manufacturer, inform the insurance and either get a replacement or refund, usually the former.

Unfortunately, Flashforge customer service is just pi$$ poor and the insurer was a Chinese scam it seems.
21 emails deep, two weeks of back and forth and I am no closer to either a return or exchange.
Looks like Flashforge USA is non existant after the Adventurer 5 came out. Having said that Adventurer series are being sold on ebay for around $150. I have played with one, and had no issues. Its a great printer, but slower than the A1.
Either way, Flashforge support, for me ...... no trabajo, akusebenzi, its k@k.

The insurer wants a report from Flashforge to effect a refund, Flashforge refuses to deal with the issue, refrering me back to the insurer. At this point, I have submitted no less that 20 pictures, 10 screenshots of the order and two videos.

Now, in the US I can go to my bank and attempt a charge back. Without a wet signature, if I can show that the insurer was likely a scam, I can get my cash back and place the onus on Flashforge to make a plan to come collect their machine.

Now, imagine this happened to one of you guys in SA. I thinks the cost without shipping would be in the region of ZAR11000, not to mention the time frames involved.

If you do go the route of the Flashforge ..... DO NOT .... take the Worry Free option. This will sting you around ZAR200 for boggerall.

Anyhow, I have managed via the power of social media and sponsored 3d printers here in the US, to at least get Flashforge to acknowledge the claim, so lets see how that goes. Alita Wu made contact on a gmail account today ..... gives this picture in my head of a backyard mom n pop factory.

In the meantime, we have gone to the next contender in the lineup, Snapmaker. I have a U1 on its way.
I have worked on one of these. They are quite popular here in the US and have local support, so maybe this is where I should have started ..... but there now.
Hopefully, when we get that up and going, I can leave some review or story for anyone that may be interested in it.

Happy printing guys!!

Damn. Did you order it directly form China?

I paid around 19k inc vat for the U1 locally.

Form the reviews I've seen the u1 seems to be a better bet than the creator 5.

Anyway the multi tool printers are a total game changer for multi color/material prints. Not just the poop factor, the time savings as well. I'm printing stuff that I would have never printed on my a1.

 

[TEXTILE GUY]

Damn. Did you order it directly form China?

I paid around 19k inc vat for the U1 locally.

Form the reviews I've seen the u1 seems to be a better bet than the creator 5.

Anyway the multi tool printers are a total game changer for multi color/material prints. Not just the poop factor, the time savings as well. I'm printing stuff that I would have never printed on my a1.

The Flashforge ships from China ... yes.
Their US support is no longer available.

I can get 2 day delivery on Amazon Prime, and return via Amazon, but that adds around $60 each to the cost.
Thats kinda like a deal of buy 11 get 10.

In a way, I am glad that this happened.
Imagine I ended with 10 FF machines and poor support ..... would have been a 4cup.

The U1 is local supply, should be here on Wednesday.
Pricewise in ZAR 14k.
And yes, agreed ... I believe the U1 is a better choice.
Chatting to other 3d printers here .... the general consensus is the U1 is a better option, due in part to local support and due in part to EULA issues and Californias AB2047 conflicts.

The rumor goes that Bambu is looking at a tool changer, and the leaked plans suggest a 10 color machine.
To deflect attention, Bambu is releasing another laser in the meantime .....
Thats the talk around the US 3d gig anyway right now.

Please do share your U1 experiences and models .... I would love to see them, and no doubt I will be tapping you for advice when we get up and running.

I am working on a custom keyring item for our local lifeguards .... they want a truck load of them and the price I am charging its good profit, but, because of the poop issue, I have to design for only one filament color change per bed to minimize loss.
If I orient these vertically, I fit more on a bed, the poop waste is prohibitive, and the print time is multiple of hours longer.
So, looking forward to the multihead.
So, for now, its two part horizonal with connectors.

 

[Username:]

The Flashforge ships from China ... yes.
Their US support is no longer available.

I can get 2 day delivery on Amazon Prime, and return via Amazon, but that adds around $60 each to the cost.
Thats kinda like a deal of buy 11 get 10.

In a way, I am glad that this happened.
Imagine I ended with 10 FF machines and poor support ..... would have been a 4cup.

The U1 is local supply, should be here on Wednesday.
Pricewise in ZAR 14k.
And yes, agreed ... I believe the U1 is a better choice.
Chatting to other 3d printers here .... the general consensus is the U1 is a better option, due in part to local support and due in part to EULA issues and Californias AB2047 conflicts.

The rumor goes that Bambu is looking at a tool changer, and the leaked plans suggest a 10 color machine.
To deflect attention, Bambu is releasing another laser in the meantime .....
Thats the talk around the US 3d gig anyway right now.

Please do share your U1 experiences and models .... I would love to see them, and no doubt I will be tapping you for advice when we get up and running.

I am working on a custom keyring item for our local lifeguards .... they want a truck load of them and the price I am charging its good profit, but, because of the poop issue, I have to design for only one filament color change per bed to minimize loss.
If I orient these vertically, I fit more on a bed, the poop waste is prohibitive, and the print time is multiple of hours longer.
So, looking forward to the multihead.
So, for now, its two part horizonal with connectors.

The Flashforge ships from China ... yes.
Their US support is no longer available.

I can get 2 day delivery on Amazon Prime, and return via Amazon, but that adds around $60 each to the cost.
Thats kinda like a deal of buy 11 get 10.

In a way, I am glad that this happened.
Imagine I ended with 10 FF machines and poor support ..... would have been a 4cup.

The U1 is local supply, should be here on Wednesday.
Pricewise in ZAR 14k.
And yes, agreed ... I believe the U1 is a better choice.
Chatting to other 3d printers here .... the general consensus is the U1 is a better option, due in part to local support and due in part to EULA issues and Californias AB2047 conflicts.

The rumor goes that Bambu is looking at a tool changer, and the leaked plans suggest a 10 color machine.
To deflect attention, Bambu is releasing another laser in the meantime .....
Thats the talk around the US 3d gig anyway right now.

Please do share your U1 experiences and models .... I would love to see them, and no doubt I will be tapping you for advice when we get up and running.

I am working on a custom keyring item for our local lifeguards .... they want a truck load of them and the price I am charging its good profit, but, because of the poop issue, I have to design for only one filament color change per bed to minimize loss.
If I orient these vertically, I fit more on a bed, the poop waste is prohibitive, and the print time is multiple of hours longer.
So, looking forward to the multihead.
So, for now, its two part horizonal with connectors.

My U1 has been an absolute pleasure, got it last year as an early kick starter joiner.

Unbelievable reliable, not a single issue

 

[TEXTILE GUY]

My U1 has been an absolute pleasure, got it last year as an early kick starter joiner.

Unbelievable reliable, not a single issue

Awesome!!
Have only heard good things about them.

 

[Superjakes]

Curse all of you into the 3rd generation for giving me this itch.

I know Buildvolume does the Snapmaker U1 (on backorder). Where else could I get one?

 

[Username:]

.

 

[Park@82]

...

The U1 is local supply, should be here on Wednesday.
Pricewise in ZAR 14k.
And yes, agreed ... I believe the U1 is a better choice.
Chatting to other 3d printers here .... the general consensus is the U1 is a better option, due in part to local support and due in part to EULA issues and Californias AB2047 conflicts.

The rumor goes that Bambu is looking at a tool changer, and the leaked plans suggest a 10 color machine.
To deflect attention, Bambu is releasing another laser in the meantime .....
Thats the talk around the US 3d gig anyway right now.

Please do share your U1 experiences and models .... I would love to see them, and no doubt I will be tapping you for advice when we get up and running.

I am working on a custom keyring item for our local lifeguards .... they want a truck load of them and the price I am charging its good profit, but, because of the poop issue, I have to design for only one filament color change per bed to minimize loss.
If I orient these vertically, I fit more on a bed, the poop waste is prohibitive, and the print time is multiple of hours longer.
So, looking forward to the multihead.
So, for now, its two part horizonal with connectors.

Yes apparently Bambu filed for a patent for some kind on multi tool racking system. Also saw some news about the R1 laser.

I am mostly just printing multi color stuff for the kids at the moment. I have printed a lot of MMM models. Need to start selling something, I was hoping that this hobby would pay for itself but so far its been a money black hole with all of the filament Ive been buying xD.
Orientating those life guard keychains vertically may be challenging, looks like they have a rounded edge and the overhangs may not look so good so its probably better to keep them flat IMO.

I have sold some custom name tag key chains for school sport teams at my kid's school but that is only around 30-50 of them every couple of months. I think I asked something like R18 per tag including a good quality key ring. I'm struggling to find more good quality ones, the ones that I bought from temu recently feel cheap.

If you are planning to buy a bunch of U1s I would recommend getting some extra tool-heads at least one for toolhead 1 and another for 2-4 (they are in different orientation from 1).
Unfortunatly the U1 does not have a quick swop nozzle like we have gotten used to on the Bambu mashines.

The spare nozzle that you get with the machine does not come with the ceramic heater or thermistor wire attached. Swopping nozzle when you have a clog or similar problem would be way faster if you have a spare tool head . I have not had any clogs, so far (touch wood) but I can imagine what it would be like if you have an issue mid print and you have to first detatch the tool head, remove the nozzle, remove the ceramic heater or thermistor wire and install it onto the spare, install the spare nozzle before you can continue printing...

Maybe also look at the Biqu plates. The plate that it comes with is mostly fine but I have had more adhesion problems than with my A1 PEI plate.

 

[Park@82]

Curse all of you into the 3rd generation for giving me this itch.

I know Buildvolume does the Snapmaker U1 (on backorder). Where else could I get one?

Last time I checked it was mainly Buildvolume and Geewiz stocking them. Wootware has them listed but they have been out of stock for ages. I heard that Buildvolume is expecting stock in September.