3D printing

[MartyS (Gromit)]

I have heard about the leveling issues as well. Which one do you have that has the auto-leveling?

The best printer I have is the Prusa MK3S.  Got the kit, takes a minimum 3 or 4 hours to put it together.  My other printer is one I cobbled together from various parts of other printer kits I had gotten years ago but since I got the Prusa at the start of the year I haven't used it once.

Drawback of getting a Prusa is they are in the Czech Republic, they price the kit so you don't pay import fees, but the pre-built printers are over that limit.  Also if you need parts it can be a pain, but there are so many clones of the MK3 on Amazon you can get loads of non-critical parts there.  I picked up some spare flexible build plates because stuff like flexible filament sticks so strongly that you often ruin the surface taking the part off, so I have good plates for stuff I want to look the best and beat up ones for printing flexible stuff.

Looking at the Creality stuff it seems the CR-6 SE has auto-leveling, bit more expensive than the Ender 3.

This guy on YouTube is trustworthy, I've never seen him say anything I didn't agree with, he is kind of not recommending the CR-6 right now but I didn't watch the entire thing:

Edit:  If you don't need the build plate size of the MK3 or Ender 3 there is the Prusa Mini, seems to have the same quality as the MK3 but smaller and cheaper.

 

[Darth Geek]

Thanks for the suggestions MartyS. I ended up getting the Creality Ender 5. I watched a few videos about the leveling process and it didn't seem that bad.
I'll get it next week while I'm on vacation at my parents and be able to assemble it and try it out while there.
At first I'll be just using PLA so I shouldn't have to enclose it or anything.
It will be interesting to see how much of an issue supports made from the same material are. I am used to getting parts done in the big industrial FDM machine we have at work and that uses dissolvable support material.

[MartyS (Gromit)]

Thanks for the suggestions MartyS. I ended up getting the Creality Ender 5. I watched a few videos about the leveling process and it didn't seem that bad.
I'll get it next week while I'm on vacation at my parents and be able to assemble it and try it out while there.
At first I'll be just using PLA so I shouldn't have to enclose it or anything.
It will be interesting to see how much of an issue supports made from the same material are. I am used to getting parts done in the big industrial FDM machine we have at work and that uses dissolvable support material.

Great, good luck with it. 

The very first time you level the bed can be tedious, as you move one corner the others change a little so there is a lot of going back and forth moving the nozzle to each corner.  Once you have it dialed in you should only need minor adjustments that go much faster.

I don't have an enclosure and print PLA, PETG, and TPU without any problems.  If you don't have a ventilated space those 3 don't smell bad while printing.  PLA has a faint smell like cooking with hot oil, PETG I only smell faintly if the print takes more than 10 hours, TPU has a faint rubber smell.

I try real hard to design stuff not to need supports, I'd rather break something into multiple parts than have to use lots of supports.  When you do have to use them how much of an issue they are depends mostly on the slicer and how it generates them.  Since I started using the Prusa slicer I've found it's really good at generating supports that are easily removed, great thing about the Prusa slicer is the ability to put in zones where you can turn supports on and off.  Cura is the other slicer that does a pretty good job with supports.

[MartyS (Gromit)]

Other thing that gets overlooked is keeping your spools of filament dry.  Some filaments are very sensitive to humidity in the air, PLA and PETG not so much but you still want to store them in a sealed container.  Too much moisture in the filament will cause steam bubbles to form when the plastic is melted in the nozzle.

I use jumbo slider zip bags, big enough to put 2 spools in each one with a few large (100g) desiccant packs.  For Ninjaflex I put one spool in a bag with several desiccant packs.  A pack of those humidity indicator cards is pretty cheap, I put a card in each bag.  I think I currently have 5 bags holding 8 spools of different color PLA and PETG, and one spool of black Ninjaflex.

This reminds me I should regenerate my packs, haven't done it since the spring.

[Darth Geek]

Other thing that gets overlooked is keeping your spools of filament dry.  Some filaments are very sensitive to humidity in the air, PLA and PETG not so much but you still want to store them in a sealed container.  Too much moisture in the filament will cause steam bubbles to form when the plastic is melted in the nozzle.

I use jumbo slider zip bags, big enough to put 2 spools in each one with a few large (100g) desiccant packs.  For Ninjaflex I put one spool in a bag with several desiccant packs.  A pack of those humidity indicator cards is pretty cheap, I put a card in each bag.  I think I currently have 5 bags holding 8 spools of different color PLA and PETG, and one spool of black Ninjaflex.

This reminds me I should regenerate my packs, haven't done it since the spring.

That is an excellent suggestion thank you. How big are the large slider zip bags you use? Gallon sized? I see some that are 24" X 20" as well.

[MartyS (Gromit)]

That is an excellent suggestion thank you. How big are the large slider zip bags you use? Gallon sized? I see some that are 24" X 20" as well.

They are much bigger than gallon size and have thicker plastic, I get the jumbo slider storage bags at Target.  I see from the website they are 2.5 gallon:

https://www.target.com/p/jumbo-2-5-gallon-slider-storage-bag-15ct-up-38-up-8482/-/A-15698327

The desiccant packs I get:

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B082RJ1NJ1/

And the humidity cards:

https://smile.amazon.com/Dry-Premium-Humidity-Indicator-Reusable/dp/B01974FX42/

[Darth Geek]

That is an excellent suggestion thank you. How big are the large slider zip bags you use? Gallon sized? I see some that are 24" X 20" as well.

They are much bigger than gallon size and have thicker plastic, I get the jumbo slider storage bags at Target.  I see from the website they are 2.5 gallon:

https://www.target.com/p/jumbo-2-5-gallon-slider-storage-bag-15ct-up-38-up-8482/-/A-15698327

The desiccant packs I get:

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B082RJ1NJ1/

And the humidity cards:

https://smile.amazon.com/Dry-Premium-Humidity-Indicator-Reusable/dp/B01974FX42/

Fantastic! Thank you very much.

[Darth Geek]

I just got my Ender 5. It went together very easily. But I already ran into an issue. All the videos I have seen on how to level the bed say to go to the Bed Auto Leveling command under Prepare on the menu. But my menu doesn't have that as an option, so I don't know what to do. I see that the review videos are all from early 2019, so I think the software got upgraded since then. But I'm not sure how to level it then.

[MartyS (Gromit)]

The way I always had to do it was manually.

Find what ever menu lets you control X, Y, Z.  move the nozzle to one corner of the bed, put a piece of paper under the nozzle and very slowly move the nozzle down (Z) until there is just a little friction when you try and move the paper.  Then you slowly go to the next corner without moving Z, as you go you constantly feel if the paper has the same friction, if you start to feel more friction (paper gets harder to move or gets pinched) stop and lower the corner of the bed you were heading towards, if you feel less friction don't do anything until you get to the corner, once at the corner adjust the screw in that corner until you get the same friction you had in the first corner.  Continue to repeat this process for every corner, once you can move around to all for corners without needing to make any adjustments you have the bed level with the nozzle.

[Darth Geek]

My first 3D print is coming along nicely as we speak. I hadn't noticed that the instructions themselves included the steps for bed leveling. And it was manual, as you described Marty. So it wasn't difficult.

So what am I supposed to do after I'm done with the machine for the day? I have seen differing opinions online. Do I have to remove the filament every time and clean the nozzle?

[MartyS (Gromit)]

So what am I supposed to do after I'm done with the machine for the day? I have seen differing opinions online. Do I have to remove the filament every time and clean the nozzle?

If I know I'm going to print something the next day I don't bother removing the filament.

If it's going to be more than a couple of days I will remove it and put it in the ziplock bag with the desiccant.

If it's a filament like ninjaflex that grabs moisture from the air somewhat fast I'll put it back in the desiccant bag right after printing.  Pretty much only nylon and TPU are that sensitive, PlA and PETG not so much. 

As for cleaning the nozzle, most I ever do is use a brass brush to brush off any excess plastic when some builds up around the nozzle tip (obviously needs to be done when the nozzle is hot and the plastic all melty).  I buy the cheap ones with wooden handles you normally find in the welding accessory area of Lowe's or Home Depot, $1 or $2 each.

Another useful tool for getting prints off the bed is a 3 or 4 inch wide paint scraper/wall scraper or sometimes called a tape knife.  One of these things:

[Darth Geek]

My first print failed about 3/4 of the way through, so it looks like one of the demons in Constantine 2005:

[MartyS (Gromit)]

It was looking really good up until the fail.

Why did it fail?  Did it pop off the bed?  Does the C5 have a glass bed or a PEI one?  People love glass for the smooth finish it gives but I've never wanted one because of how hard it is to get things to stick well.  If it's a PEI sheet you should get really good adhesion, there are basically 2 reasons for failure on a PEI sheet:

One is fingerprints or other oils on the sheet, best way to do a normal cleaning is with some slightly soapy water, then a plain water wipe down, than an alcohol wipe down.  Acetone (nail polish remover) can be used to make the PEI really "sticky" but should only be used a couple times a year if you want the PEI to last.

The other reason that applies to all beds is if the first layer isn't "squished" enough.  If the printer doesn't have a setup option for calibrating the first layer height then you've got to do it manually.  You start a print and stop it half way through the first layer and look at the result.  You can find images online of what it should look like, then you have to adjust the first layer height.  If there is no setting in the menus for it there will be a screw somewhere that manually sets the Z zero position.  To get a properly squished first layer you would raise or lower the zero position.  Being off by 0.1mm can be the difference between a good stick and a part that pops off during printing.

That is the other big advantage of having a probe, pretty much all printers that have a probe have a setting in the firmware that you just type in an offset for the first layer, the Prusa does it live, it starts a long bead that goes back and forth over the bed and while it's going you adjust the value until the bead has the correct amount of squish.

[Darth Geek]

It was looking really good up until the fail.

Why did it fail?  Did it pop off the bed?  Does the C5 have a glass bed or a PEI one?  People love glass for the smooth finish it gives but I've never wanted one because of how hard it is to get things to stick well.  If it's a PEI sheet you should get really good adhesion, there are basically 2 reasons for failure on a PEI sheet:

One is fingerprints or other oils on the sheet, best way to do a normal cleaning is with some slightly soapy water, then a plain water wipe down, than an alcohol wipe down.  Acetone (nail polish remover) can be used to make the PEI really "sticky" but should only be used a couple times a year if you want the PEI to last.

The other reason that applies to all beds is if the first layer isn't "squished" enough.  If the printer doesn't have a setup option for calibrating the first layer height then you've got to do it manually.  You start a print and stop it half way through the first layer and look at the result.  You can find images online of what it should look like, then you have to adjust the first layer height.  If there is no setting in the menus for it there will be a screw somewhere that manually sets the Z zero position.  To get a properly squished first layer you would raise or lower the zero position.  Being off by 0.1mm can be the difference between a good stick and a part that pops off during printing.

That is the other big advantage of having a probe, pretty much all printers that have a probe have a setting in the firmware that you just type in an offset for the first layer, the Prusa does it live, it starts a long bead that goes back and forth over the bed and while it's going you adjust the value until the bead has the correct amount of squish.

It was a bed adhesion issue. I looked into the Z level adjustment and I think I did it correctly. It was also a bed heat issue. For whatever reason even though I set my bed temp at 60 degrees it was going to 45 during the print and I think that's why it didn't stick. I reset it to 60 while it was printing and it has been staying there, and so far it is running the second print without a problem.

Yes, the print quality so far is fantastic with this Ender 5. The curvature of the surface looks great, and no stringing problems so far.
I'm pretty happy with it so far. There's just a lot for me to learn. Even just remembering where things are in the menus.

[Darth Geek]

I am having a new issue. I first used the Creality PLA filament that came with the printer and did not have any stringing problems at all. Then I started using Labists brand PLA+ filament and suddenly it was stringing a lot. I tried various nozzle temperatures up and down and nothing stopped it. So are there certain filament brands that are best to avoid? Is this something more common to PLA+?