3d Printers South Africa

[AfricanTech]

Please let me know if you buy some of the SA Filament from them. I am still struggling with it. When it finally sticks to the bed, I can see the extrusion amount vary the whole time. There are a lot of sections where no plastic come out and then a blob comes out. And this is with a new nozzle. Thickness measured ok so not sure what else to check.

Oh koek! I forgot that you've had a terrible experience.

What I need is a Bowden connector and they have some stock, so since I'm going to drive out that way anyway, I thought I'd pick up some PLA (since it's well priced) - I think I'll just try one reel first given your experience.

PS: Have you tried drying the PLA that's not working in the oven?

 

[AfricanTech]

What is the diameter and height of the cake box?

between a 195mm - 200mm

 

[eye_suc]

Please let me know if you buy some of the SA Filament from them. I am still struggling with it. When it finally sticks to the bed, I can see the extrusion amount vary the whole time. There are a lot of sections where no plastic come out and then a blob comes out. And this is with a new nozzle. Thickness measured ok so not sure what else to check.

Hmmm, this sounds like a bed levelling/tramming issue. I'm guessing that the sections where no plastic comes out is where the nozzle was too close to the bed. When the blob comes out would be when the nozzle has enough space to release the built up pressure.

 

[Gnome]

Please let me know if you buy some of the SA Filament from them. I am still struggling with it. When it finally sticks to the bed, I can see the extrusion amount vary the whole time. There are a lot of sections where no plastic come out and then a blob comes out. And this is with a new nozzle. Thickness measured ok so not sure what else to check.

So you only have this problem with their filament?
PLA I assume?

 

[Gnome]

Which brand of filament do you use?

At present I'm sticking to eSun ABS. Specifically not, just plain old ABS

I know that the Sunlu reel fits but have discovered that Zen (cardboard reels) don't fit.

Looking at SA Filament from Da Vinci ('cos I can go pick up) but not sure if the reel will fit in the Cake Box container.

I've found a few different spools that don't fit so far.
Hatchbox and Wanhao both don't fit.

Edit: Also, how do you get the Bowden connector to stick to/screw onto the outside of the dust filter?

Dust filter? (doesn't really have anything to remove dust that I saw...
You mean the part that goes on the side of the container?

It has a thread in it, so I just turn it in...

 

[furpile]

Oh koek! I forgot that you've had a terrible experience.

What I need is a Bowden connector and they have some stock, so since I'm going to drive out that way anyway, I thought I'd pick up some PLA (since it's well priced) - I think I'll just try one reel first given your experience.

PS: Have you tried drying the PLA that's not working in the oven?

I haven't dried it out yet. But I started printing the same day I opened it.

Hmmm, this sounds like a bed levelling/tramming issue. I'm guessing that the sections where no plastic comes out is where the nozzle was too close to the bed. When the blob comes out would be when the nozzle has enough space to release the built up pressure.

This is in the space of 10 to 20mm that it changes. Just finished printing 2kg PETG without this issue as well. Tried bed levelling etc. I think my z offset was too small but I couldn't get it to stick.

So you only have this problem with their filament?
PLA I assume?

This is the first roll of PLA I tried. Have only used eSun PETG since I bought the printer. Will try some other pla before coming back to this again. The print quality is really nice once it gets going though, I was just having issues with the first layer adhesion.

 

[avk]

What is the diameter and height of the cake box?

About 200mm if I recall.

 

[chickenbeef]

between a 195mm - 200mm

SA filament spools are 20cm diameter and 6.5cm height.

 

[Basil959]

I've just come back from a trade show in Germany and seen this --> Tractus3D - T2300SE

 

[Kola-CT]

Still busy researching before I buy a printer.

If you had to choose between Ender 3 S1 Pro or CR 10 Smart Pro which would it be and why (for the exercise let's assume price is not the deciding factor)?

Question got a bit lost…

Will probably buy the Ender 3 S1 but still keen to hear thoughts on the CR 10?

 

[Gnome]

I've just come back from a trade show in Germany and seen this --> Tractus3D - T2300SE

View attachment 1332488

Don't really see what advantage delta printers offer.
Like I only see downsides...
Seems like a dead end?

 

[Gnome]

Another review of the "X1 Carbon".

These reviews are by Nero3d.
Generally know as "Voron guy" haha (he builds a lot of Voron and is part of the Voron dev team).
So for him to say good things about a printer is a pretty good endorsement from my perspective.

I would still wait for the retail product and hopefully they don't drop the quality after the fact.

 

[AfricanTech]

Another review of the "X1 Carbon".

These reviews are by Nero3d.
Generally know as "Voron guy" haha (he builds a lot of Voron and is part of the Voron dev team).
So for him to say good things about a printer is a pretty good endorsement from my perspective.

I would still wait for the retail product and hopefully they don't drop the quality after the fact.

It's a very nice package but I'd be a bit worried about how proprietary it is.

 

[saor]

It's a very nice package but I'd be a bit worried about how proprietary it is.

Why is that a worry for you?

 

[AfricanTech]

Why is that a worry for you?

Spare parts not easily available.

Can't tinker (if I want to) - recognise that there are many who don't want to tinker.

Don't get me wrong, it's a stunning 'all in one' out of the box.

 

[Gnome]

Spare parts not easily available.

Can't tinker (if I want to) - recognise that there are many who don't want to tinker.

Don't get me wrong, it's a stunning 'all in one' out of the box.

+1 to this.
I have a Revo Voron and a single nozzle is $20
Spare parts can become very expensive.

But not needing to deal with teething issues is huge.
Print and walk away, if it is that reliable is even bigger

 

[saor]

+1 to this.
I have a Revo Voron and a single hotend is $20 which aligns with what you are saying.
Spare parts can become very expensive.

But not needing to deal with teething issues is huge.
Print and walk away, if it is that reliable is even bigger

For me it depends on the performance. Ultimaker print cores are expensive but the amount of times I've had to replace in the last 5 years? Zero. Amount of blocked nozzles in the last 5 years (switching between pla, abs, petg, tpu etc.): Zero. Yeah that might just be lucky, but it's an instance where the workhorse nature of the nozzle makes the proprietary nature of it totally worth it. If the X-1 is a closed system and I'm buying new parts every few months - ja no thx, but if it's gonna rack up hours of trouble-free printing then I'm all for it.

 

[AfricanTech]

+1 to this.
I have a Revo Voron and a single hotend is $20 which aligns with what you are saying.
Spare parts can become very expensive.

But not needing to deal with teething issues is huge.
Print and walk away, if it is that reliable is even bigger

Touch wood - that's pretty much been my experience with the Creality Ender 3 S1 - took it out the box, fitted the pre-assembled gantry with two screws, plugged in a few cables and voila - printing within the hour.

At between 1/2 - 1/3 of the price (granted, no enclosure, no multi spool printing, no built-in camera) I'm pretty happy with the S1 - excellent 'bang for my buck' as a beginner. Also, I love the fact that I could hook up Octoprint (using a spare RPi3B+ that's been languishing in a drawer) and benefit from the broader maker community plugins. Heh, I was even able to repurpose an old Microsoft Webcam that no longer works on Windows 10 that I had lying around. Just so lekker to play around with this stuff.

To be fair, I've only printed PLA so far - no ABS or even PETG and it looks as if those materials will be easier to manage on the X-1 (due to the built-in enclosure).

The multi-colour spool system sure is smexy though.

 

[eye_suc]

To be fair, I've only printed PLA so far - no ABS or even PETG and it looks as if those materials will be easier to manage on the X-1 (due to the built-in enclosure).

The multi-colour spool system sure is smexy though.

PETG you should give a spin. The 3 S1 should handle it like a champ. Bed at 80°C, nozzle at 235°C (starting from). Just enable a little bit of wiping.

Multi colour printing I suppose could be fun, but if that is not something you are going to be using 80% of the time, it is just a nice to have. It also wastes a lot of plastic (unlike the multi-tool approach that the XL is using).
I can't do multi colour prints on my machines, and I'm OK with that. If I had the option, I would maybe use it a few times and then bugger it.

Multi-material printing however could be interesting, but I'll let the clever people play with that.

 

[saor]

PETG you should give a spin. The 3 S1 should handle it like a champ. Bed at 80°C, nozzle at 235°C (starting from). Just enable a little bit of wiping.

Multi colour printing I suppose could be fun, but if that is not something you are going to be using 80% of the time, it is just a nice to have. It also wastes a lot of plastic (unlike the multi-tool approach that the XL is using).
I can't do multi colour prints on my machines, and I'm OK with that. If I had the option, I would maybe use it a few times and then bugger it.

Multi-material printing however could be interesting, but I'll let the clever people play with that.

If their multi-material system allows a dissolvable support material to be used I'll be very happy.