3d Printers South Africa

howardb · Jan 17, 2021

Gnome said:
If it were a physical property like a belt, etc. you'd see layer shifting. Physical problems are very rarely so precise and you print quality seems unaffected. Your errors seems to be 2.5%, so your XYZ cube would be 0.5mm short, but you say it is perfectly spot on?

I also thought the same, but the cube is exact, used a digital calliper to check.

So IMO it is software related.
What mainboard and firmware are you using? (Marlin?)

Not sure, will check. I replaced the main board about 15 months ago and flashed with THE manufacturer's stock firmware - no issues till recently though.

100% sure about your slicer profile? (probably not but double/triple check yourself)
100% sure you didn't accidentally print a previous file? (ditto as above)

Yep, profile is correct and the STL was sliced from scratch.

I'm really confused why direct drive would impact your XYZ axis at all?

It shouldn't, but that's the only major thing I've changed in the recent past.

Did you try to calibrate your XYZ after the direct drive or only extruder e-steps?

Recalibrated everything after the DD install - extruder, X, Y and Z. Also checked the belts, bearings, Z-rods, etc after the change, call it a major service

howardb · Jan 17, 2021

rodga said:
Pic of the bracket installed please?

Will upload soonest

Gnome · Jan 17, 2021

howardb said:
Not sure, will check. I replaced the main board about 15 months ago and flashed with THE manufacturer's stock firmware - no issues till recently though.

If it is a Creality board, there is no "manufacturer" firmware really. They use Marlin which is an open source firmware. From what I can tell, they pay the Marlin developers to develop it for them. For the Ender 3, for example, its support was written by Scott Lahteine. They seem to only release updates when it fixes a serious bug. So it may be worth looking at switching to using the latest Marlin version rather than the Creality version you have that is likely an old copy. A lot of updates for quality are being made all the time.

That all said, you didn't do anything with the firmware so unlikely to be a problem right now.

howardb said:
Recalibrated everything after the DD install - extruder, X, Y and Z. Also checked the belts, bearings, Z-rods, etc after the change, call it a major service

Personally, I haven't ever modified the E-Steps of the standard Ender 3, except for the extruder. And my results have always been 100% spot on. Where did you get the idea to modify the E-Steps of the XYZ?

howardb · Jan 17, 2021

rodga said:
Pic of the bracket installed please?

Picture as requested

I made it an approx. 15 degree slant to display the 1/18 models at an angle so you can see them better. Glass is 4mm.

howardb · Jan 17, 2021

Gnome said:
If it is a Creality board, there is no "manufacturer" firmware really. They use Marlin which is an open source firmware. From what I can tell, they pay the Marlin developers to develop it for them. For the Ender 3, for example, its support was written by Scott Lahteine. They seem to only release updates when it fixes a serious bug. So it may be worth looking at switching to using the latest Marlin version rather than the Creality version you have that is likely an old copy. A lot of updates for quality are being made all the time.

That all said, you didn't do anything with the firmware so unlikely to be a problem right now.

Thx, will look. Is a Creality board and the firmware was the same as my old board, from their site. Will see what I can find, but everything worked the same after the board replacement.

Personally, I haven't ever modified the E-Steps of the standard Ender 3, except for the extruder. And my results have always been 100% spot on. Where did you get the idea to modify the E-Steps of the XYZ?

Did the first e-step change when I replaced the board, then again wit the DD installation. I found the cube to be slight off the 20mm on XYZ, so dialled them in for dimensional accuracy. Got the details from an S4/S5 forum, also on google.

xrapidx · Jan 25, 2021

Any advice on printing this? I tried to flip it 180 - but it looks rather crap - should I use tree supports?

eye_suc · Jan 25, 2021

xrapidx said:
Any advice on printing this? I tried to flip it 180 - but it looks rather crap - should I use tree supports?
View attachment 1000302

It might be worth a shot to turn it on its side, add a brim (to help prevent it moering over) and then add selective supports in the bigger holes.
The supports should break out quite easily I think.

howardb · Jan 25, 2021

xrapidx said:
Any advice on printing this? I tried to flip it 180 - but it looks rather crap - should I use tree supports?
View attachment 1000302

I would flip onto its length side and use tree suppers and a brim. Would also use higher infill if a functional part

xrapidx · Jan 25, 2021

Didn't think of doing it that way

here goes.

xrapidx · Jan 25, 2021

At least it'll look interesting.

eye_suc · Jan 25, 2021

xrapidx said:
At least it'll look interesting.

Oh you used tree supports. It should work but I would think normal supports will take a lot faster in an instance like this.

I would also use support blocker on the grid thing since that should print fine as is.

saor · Jan 25, 2021

eye_suc said:
Oh you used tree supports. It should work but I would think normal supports will take a lot faster in an instance like this.

I would also use support blocker on the grid thing since that should print fine as is.

Agreed. The tree supports do nothing but save you a bit of blemish on the bottom surface where the normal supports would go...something that's easily filed away.

xrapidx · Jan 25, 2021

What's support blocker?

I see its 3g more, and 1 hour longer with tree supports.

xrapidx · Jan 26, 2021

Came I out much better.... Now just to remove the supports.

Akasha · Jan 27, 2021

I'm looking for a rainbow filament and a transparent filament. Anyone know where I can buy? (for not too expensive)

howardb · Jan 27, 2021

Akasha said:
I'm looking for a rainbow filament and a transparent filament. Anyone know where I can buy? (for not too expensive)

Akasha · Jan 27, 2021

howardb said:

Thanks. I searched for "rainbow" on https://www.diyelectronics.co.za/, I'll get some of the others. Thank you!

xrapidx · Feb 2, 2021

Slow progress, but getting there. Few things I'd do different knowing what I know now.

Still need to sort out the power, but want to find nice plugs so its easily unplugable.

Gnome · Feb 2, 2021

xrapidx said:
Slow progress, but getting there. Few things I'd do different knowing what I know now.

Still need to sort out the power, but want to find nice plugs so its easily unplugable.

What are you building?

xrapidx · Feb 2, 2021

Gnome said:
What are you building?

Printer enclosure.

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