3d Printers South Africa

[Gnome]

Hi Folks

Anyone in JHB North willing to print a couple of these for me in a hard TPU or ABS. These guys need to withstand dishwasher temps so PLA aint gonna cut it. Will compensate as needed.

Whirlpool Dishwasher Mounting Attachment 481010600198 by dwolf

Mounting for folding plate and glasses-shelves in the lower rack. Part number: 481010600198 Designed from Original part. (ABS version) TPU version modified, stronger holding clips (Not good for hard plastics) The "ABS" version can you try another strong and chemical resistant material.

www.thingiverse.com

Thanks

Try joining the DIY electronics discord and ask there.
I'm in Cpt and I would help you if you were here.
Printing ABS is the easiest thing on earth when you have a printer that is capable of doing it and the hardest thing on earth when you don't

 

[furpile]

This is my first big print, and the reason I bought the printer in the first place. Wife wanted a light like this for the living room but the only one we could find was R12k. So I bought a printer instead.

Diameter is 1,2m and it takes 18 LED's. Still waiting for the dimmer module to fit that. Divided it into 18 pieces, and each section has a dovetail at the ends so they all just fit together. No glue used and no finishing. This was printed in PETG and used about 2 full spools.



I also still need to make a plan with the cable to make it black, and then print a cover for the section where it mounts to the beam to hide the hook and the dimmer.

Next up is a similar but smaller version for the dining room. I also want to try some other shapes for other areas. The PETG prints pretty good for solid pieces like this, but when it prints a lot of separate pieces per layer it strings a lot. Still need to play with my settings to improve on this but the others I will probably print in PLA.

 

[Gnome]

This was printed in PETG and used about 2 full spools.

PETG doesn't have THAT high of temperature resistance, so you may want to consider ABS/ASA in the future or else just make sure if you do cover up the lights they have somewhere to dissipate heat or your creation will start melting.

 

[furpile]

PETG doesn't have THAT high of temperature resistance, so you may want to consider ABS/ASA in the future or else just make sure if you do cover up the lights they have somewhere to dissipate heat or your creation will start melting.

Thanks. I think somebody mentioned it here as well a few pages back. ASA will be better but these LED lights do not get very hot. I am hoping the PETG will be ok. This is mainly for summer when the ambient will be very hot and I was worried PLA wouldn't hold up.

 

[saor]

This is my first big print, and the reason I bought the printer in the first place. Wife wanted a light like this for the living room but the only one we could find was R12k. So I bought a printer instead.

Diameter is 1,2m and it takes 18 LED's. Still waiting for the dimmer module to fit that. Divided it into 18 pieces, and each section has a dovetail at the ends so they all just fit together. No glue used and no finishing. This was printed in PETG and used about 2 full spools.

View attachment 1329094

I also still need to make a plan with the cable to make it black, and then print a cover for the section where it mounts to the beam to hide the hook and the dimmer.

Next up is a similar but smaller version for the dining room. I also want to try some other shapes for other areas. The PETG prints pretty good for solid pieces like this, but when it prints a lot of separate pieces per layer it strings a lot. Still need to play with my settings to improve on this but the others I will probably print in PLA.

Save you some print time:
https://www.takealot.com/winner-hula-hoops/PLID90448012

Looks cool tho. You consider using LED strip?

 

[AfricanTech]

Anyone tried the Zen Filament?

Takealot

I bought a reel off Takealot and am a bit irritable because their 'eco friendly' cardboard reel has one broken corner (it ships only in the vacuum sealed plastic and not a box) - now I'm in two minds about whether to return it for another or just refund the damned thing. Irritated 'cos Takealot don't carry Sunlu which I'm quite pleased with and I have a voucher I can use.

Edit: Decided to just return and refund - also realised that their kuk 'eco-friendly' reels don't fit into my Pep Cake Box holders.

 

[AfricanTech]

This is my first big print, and the reason I bought the printer in the first place. Wife wanted a light like this for the living room but the only one we could find was R12k. So I bought a printer instead.

Diameter is 1,2m and it takes 18 LED's. Still waiting for the dimmer module to fit that. Divided it into 18 pieces, and each section has a dovetail at the ends so they all just fit together. No glue used and no finishing. This was printed in PETG and used about 2 full spools.

View attachment 1329094

I also still need to make a plan with the cable to make it black, and then print a cover for the section where it mounts to the beam to hide the hook and the dimmer.

Next up is a similar but smaller version for the dining room. I also want to try some other shapes for other areas. The PETG prints pretty good for solid pieces like this, but when it prints a lot of separate pieces per layer it strings a lot. Still need to play with my settings to improve on this but the others I will probably print in PLA.

Looks nice - have you considered 'sealing' it with a clear epoxy such as XTC-3D (https://www.smooth-on.com/tb/files/XTC3D_TB.pdf) - which I discovered as part of a search into an easy way to 'smooth' small prints.

 

[Vis1/0N]

I assembled my printer midweek and did not get any prints out of it. From my troubleshooting the extruder stepper is working correctly but going backwards from the cable to the stepper driver to the motherboard and firmware, there is an issue along the path.

I bought it 15 Dec, opened it 07 June, have a out of the box failure and my 6 month warranty should be 15 June. Today is the 13th. Since I may be covered under the warranty I did not attempt to troubleshoot further, hopefully the stepper driver module is at fault and this could be a quick fix.

 

[furpile]

Save you some print time:
https://www.takealot.com/winner-hula-hoops/PLID90448012

Looks cool tho. You consider using LED strip?

Yeah, 18 pieces at about 8 hours each took a while. Tried a 0,8mm nozzle to get the print time down but the quality was much worse, maybe PLA will print better with the bigger nozzle. This is the look the wife wanted, but you can easily change it to accommodate LED strips as well.

Inspiration:

Looks nice - have you considered 'sealing' it with a clear epoxy such as XTC-3D (https://www.smooth-on.com/tb/files/XTC3D_TB.pdf) - which I discovered as part of a search into an easy way to 'smooth' small prints.

Thanks, originally I wanted to epoxy the pieces together and then clearcoat with epoxy and paint, but the print finish was actually pretty good. The dovetail joints are also very secure so there is no need to glue them together. The wife is happy with the look so not going to do more work on it. I have read of Smooth On before but never used something like it.

 

[AfricanTech]

I assembled my printer midweek and did not get any prints out of it. From my troubleshooting the extruder stepper is working correctly but going backwards from the cable to the stepper driver to the motherboard and firmware, there is an issue along the path.

I bought it 15 Dec, opened it 07 June, have a out of the box failure and my 6 month warranty should be 15 June. Today is the 13th. Since I may be covered under the warranty I did not attempt to troubleshoot further, hopefully the stepper driver module is at fault and this could be a quick fix.

Eish! Thank goodness you checked before warranty expired.

Which printer is it?

I caught myself many years ago - bought myself an early gift, opened it after warranty and it was oob - never did that again.

Now if I buy early I open to test and then close again.

 

[saor]

Anyone tried the Zen Filament?

Takealot

View attachment 1329226

I bought a reel off Takealot and am a bit irritable because their 'eco friendly' cardboard reel has one broken corner (it ships only in the vacuum sealed plastic and not a box) - now I'm in two minds about whether to return it for another or just refund the damned thing. Irritated 'cos Takealot don't carry Sunlu which I'm quite pleased with and I have a voucher I can use.

Edit: Decided to just return and refund - also realised that their kuk 'eco-friendly' reels don't fit into my Pep Cake Box holders.

Annoying when a company deviates from the norm (round spool holder).

 

[Vis1/0N]

Which printer is it?

Biqu B1, I wanted to play it safe and get the Ender V2 but the reviews and comparison's between the two was positive for this. There is not enough information out there though on this though, so maybe as a beginner with only a single device it may have been the wrong choice. The device is very modular though and looks repairable if parts are on hand.

 

[Tinuva]

Biqu is great when it works, it usually easier to get goood quality prints compared to an ender.
That said, when things go wrong its much worse, because so fewer people have these.

If the only problem is, its stepping wrong direction, that is at least something fixable if you willing to change some wiring.

 

[Gnome]

Printing some more spool containers this weekend (yeah I have so many LOL). I'm a sucker for convenience. 24 hour print, my longest so far with this printer

 

[AfricanTech]

Printing some more spool containers this weekend (yeah I have so many LOL). I'm a sucker for convenience. 24 hour print, my longest so far with this printer

View attachment 1329374

Beautiful. No support required?

 

[Gnome]

Beautiful. No support required?

Oh nope. That was just as it had finished. So as you see it there is how it finished. Prints look good(ish), but worse than my prints with other ABS
That was eSun white ABS+ and on my Ender 3 I couldn't get this filament to print well.
It looks absolutely crap compared to all my other filaments.
So I was looking for a way to finish it.


Compared to eSun "red" ABS:

 

[furpile]

Trying to improve on the amount of stringing with the PETG. Looking a lot better so far:


Started at the left, playing with retraction settings and print temperature.

 

[Tinuva]

Trying to improve on the amount of stringing with the PETG. Looking a lot better so far:
View attachment 1329434

Started at the left, playing with retraction settings and print temperature.

If using cura, make sure combing is on and not turned off by another setting that affect it. Most useful anti stringing setting.

 

[Gnome]

Trying to improve on the amount of stringing with the PETG. Looking a lot better so far:
View attachment 1329434

Started at the left, playing with retraction settings and print temperature.

You should tune temperature and pressure advance too because all of those can affect stringing.
This is a tuning guide for a Voron but the order and pictures the guy shows is super useful and relevant for every printer: https://github.com/AndrewEllis93/Print-Tuning-Guide
He also gives you the order of tuning each variable.

The problem with just jumping in and tuning retraction is, your pressure advance could be completely off and your extrusion multiplier for the filament.
Ultimately that'll be really hard to fix with retraction alone.
And you can end up retracting too much leading to under extrusion when the next layer (or move after z-hop) starts.
Thus the order the guy gives in his guide.

Also you should enable z-hop (I just do 0.25mm with 0.4mm nozzle), it is one of the easiest ways to drastically reduce stringing and remove drag marks from when your nozzle moves over the print

 

[AfricanTech]

Busy building a second steam engine, and after the recent posts on printing on a mirror surface I though I'd post this to show printing a whole bunch of small parts in one go using a mirror as printing surface. No brim, hairspray, etc.

View attachment 1323036

I'm finding that I have to use a brim with the mirror otherwise it doesn't adhere properly - had a couple of aborted prints as a result.

That said, I havent been particularly diligent about cleaning the mirror with Windolene/Screen Cleaner between every print