3d Printers South Africa

[InvisibleJim]

Resin is a nasty business. It's basically working with paint, just much more working and lots of messy cleaning. Start with fdm before you jump into resin in my opinion. Watch resin videos ect before buying resin as your first printer

OK Thanks, so basically resin is not the way to go for a noob or for something I'm going to do with the kids.

It's pretty amazing to me though that this type of technology is becoming affordable for hobbyists when not that long ago it was strictly in the province of engineering and commercial prototyping.

 

[InvisibleJim]

I am not sorry that I took advice from this thread and stretched to the price of the Ender 3 S1 rather than the slightly cheaper Ender 3 V2. All my research subsequently has shown that the improvements (both safety and ease of use) are well worth the extra money.

Also, be prepared to watch videos, read, learn, fiddle, test various settings and ask lots of questions - it's not 'plug and play' like a paper printer.

I have zero experience with resin printers so can't comment on that.

Thanks. Looks like that one is about 7k so I could probably stretch to that. I understand what you're saying about them not being plug and play which is one of the reasons I don't want to spend too much to start with. There is a very real possibility that it might only get used a couple of times. But then it won't be going anywhere if the kids get more of an interest in it in a couple of years.

 

[saor]

OK Thanks, so basically resin is not the way to go for a noob or for something I'm going to do with the kids.

It's pretty amazing to me though that this type of technology is becoming affordable for hobbyists when not that long ago it was strictly in the province of engineering and commercial prototyping.

Unless you have a specific reason for getting a resin printer, rather get a regular fdm filament printer. Messing around with a printer where material is cheap and easy to handle will be a lot more enjoyable for your kids.

 

[chopsuey]

I received the Sunlu S1 dryer from DIYElectronics today. LINK

Just a heads-up if it is not common knowledge...

I had researched all the mod/s I might have todo before, but was pleasantly surprised that the unit I got was actually a "PLUS" model (that I did not know even existed) that now includes a hot air circulating fan. (also can display RH on LCD) .. although this unit is not silent as there is now some fan noise but that is expected.

 

[Kola-CT]

I received the Sunlu S1 dryer from DIYElectronics today. LINK

Just a heads-up if it is not common knowledge...

I had researched all the mod/s I might have todo before, but was pleasantly surprised that the unit I got was actually a "PLUS" model (that I did not know even existed) that now includes a hot air circulating fan. (also can display RH on LCD) .. although this unit is not silent as there is now some fan noise but that is expected.

Nice, and a decent price as well.

Want a second dryer, thanks for the link.

 

[Kola-CT]

Made a small shelf for my dryer and printer a little piece which keeps the lid open slightly as well as having an angled hole to feed directly down to the printer.

 

[AfricanTech]

Made a small shelf for my dryer and printer a little piece which keeps the lid open slightly as well as having an angled hole to feed directly down to the printer.

View attachment 1361903

Nice.

How / where did you mount the shelf? I printed a shelf that screwed onto the other side of the filament holder but it looked and felt too unsteady.

Do you mind posting a few different angles?

 

[Kola-CT]

Nice.

How / where did you mount the shelf? I printed a shelf that screwed onto the other side of the filament holder but it looked and felt too unsteady.

Do you mind posting a few different angles?

I made two 6mm T-bolts which slide in the top cross-bar.
Those go through holes in the shelf with washers and nuts countersunk into the top of the shelf.
Just snugged the nuts down, no need to tighten them too much.

Also look at this.

Sunlu S2 Holder by rhartzog

Designed by Diesel Don. This is a simple S2 holder and is very sturdy. With my slicer settings it took 4hrs 28mins. I hope it helps you as much as me and Don!See the Bowden Tube Connector by Diesel Don: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5447621

www.thingiverse.com

It was just much quicker for me to make it from plywood I had rather than printing one.

Also looked at the shelf screwing to the filament holder but did not like that idea, too flimsy.

Will take more photos tomorrow if you still need me to.

 

[AfricanTech]

I made two 6mm T-bolts which slide in the top cross-bar.
Those go through holes in the shelf with washers and nuts countersunk into the top of the shelf.
Just snugged the nuts down, no need to tighten them too much.

Also look at this.

Sunlu S2 Holder by rhartzog

Designed by Diesel Don. This is a simple S2 holder and is very sturdy. With my slicer settings it took 4hrs 28mins. I hope it helps you as much as me and Don!See the Bowden Tube Connector by Diesel Don: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5447621

www.thingiverse.com

It was just much quicker for me to make it from plywood I had rather than printing one.

Also looked at the shelf screwing to the filament holder but did not like that idea, too flimsy.

Will take more photos tomorrow if you still need me to.

Thanks.

More photos would be great. That a neat solutions

 

[Kola-CT]

Thanks.

More photos would be great. That a neat solutions

Will do during the day tomorrow.

 

[Kola-CT]

Thanks.

More photos would be great. That a neat solutions

I printed a few T-nuts (M5) and just bolted it down with 2 x M5 x 16mm bolts (plywood is 12mm).

M5 T Nut

M5 regular steel nuts don't fit into the v-slot on the 4040 extrusion for my Ender 3 Pro. I needed to attach a side mounted spool holder but didn't want to wait for metal T nuts to ship, so I designed and printed my own. Bolt should cut threads as you insert it for the first time. .step uploaded...

cults3d.com

Tend to use what I have around in the workshop.

 

[avk]

 

[Gnome]

So I was struggling a bit with the "cake box" as a filament holder.
I'm basically just using them as sealed storage at the moment.


Prusa filament box
This is printed out of ABS, given the height of the print, it has definitely proven the printer's ability to not warp during ABS prints
The artefact line on the front there is where I ran out of filament
Printed the whole thing in a bit less than a day.
Works very well.

 

[Gnome]

Made a small shelf for my dryer and printer a little piece which keeps the lid open slightly as well as having an angled hole to feed directly down to the printer.

Where did you buy the S2?
I didn't see it available locally.

I'm not very impressed with the S1 but I think the S2 is a really great design given the price point

 

[Gnome]

<snip images>

What is your process for multicolour on the headlights. Do you have something like enraged rabbit carrot feeder or do you just manually change out filament or do you paint afterward?

 

[Kola-CT]

Where did you buy the S2?
I didn't see it available locally.

I'm not very impressed with the S1 but I think the S2 is a really great design given the price point

Sunlu Fila Dryer S2

www.xtrude3d.co.za

I see it is out of stock.

It works well but also has no mechanism for circulating or extracting the moist air.
That is why I printed the little piece to keep it slightly open, it dries much better that way.

Am thinking of building my own dryer using an STC-1000 controller, heat pad and small fan, making it big enough to keep 4 or 5 rolls of filament.
I have all of these already anyway, and if I go that way I will probably build an enclosure with the filament dryer on top.

 

[Gnome]

It works well but also has no mechanism for circulating or extracting the moist air.
That is why I printed the little piece to keep it slightly open, it dries much better that way.

Yeah I suspect it will be better at keeping it dry than drying it out.

Am thinking of building my own dryer using an STC-1000 controller, heat pad and small fan, making it big enough to keep 4 or 5 rolls of filament.
I have all of these already anyway, and if I go that way I will probably build an enclosure with the filament dryer on top.

You can buy a food dehydrator for cheap enough that I'm not sure it makes sense to try build your own.
But definitely keen to see how it goes.

 

[Kola-CT]

You can buy a food dehydrator for cheap enough that I'm not sure it makes sense to try build your own.
But definitely keen to see how it goes.

I already have a spare STC-1000 and heat pad someone passed on to me after giving up on home brewing, as well as fans, and since I do a lot of woodwork most of it will be done with leftovers and offcuts from other projects - but in no rush to build one at all.

For now I am OK with the S2 and the cake boxes I use as storage with desiccant which I recycle regularly.

 

[Gnome]

I already have a spare STC-1000 and heat pad someone passed on to me after giving up on home brewing, as well as fans, and since I do a lot of woodwork most of it will be done with leftovers and offcuts from other projects - but in no rush to build one at all.

For now I am OK with the S2 and the cake boxes I use as storage with desiccant which I recycle regularly.

Have you tested how well those cake boxes seal, like placing a sensor in one?
I'm actually curious how long between cycling is required.

I dried some of my desiccant the other day so trying to figure out how often I really need to do that.

 

[Kola-CT]

Have you tested how well those cake boxes seal, like placing a sensor in one?
I'm actually curious how long between cycling is required.

I dried some of my desiccant the other day so trying to figure out how often I really need to do that.

Not yet, I have ordered sensors to keep in them.

What I do at the moment is when I dry filament in the S2 I put the desiccant from that cake box in the dryer at the same time, then return filament and desiccant to cake box when I am done.

Idea is to print desiccant holders with a sensor at one end to fit into the spools.

Along these lines.