3D Printer Suggestions

Valcrow said:

Hmm I haven't calculated my electricity cost since it's at my workplace, but I'm happy running overnight 15hr jobs. Do you not trust it because it might fail? or burn the place down?

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The printer isn't called smokey for nothing!

martinr1000 said:

Hi James, are you sure about that figure? it seems awfully high. I'm no electrical expert but given an average unit cost of 15p/KwH your printer would be running at something like 6500W. surely it can't consume that much power.

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ABS use and waists 30 mins of heating up to 100/240 then takes upto 30 mins more then quoted times!

I have a separate watt-meter on the printer but last bill tariff came it at around £1 per hour!

ABS is horrid and there is also the fume issue.

JamesPurcell said:

The printer isn't called smokey for nothing!



ABS use and waists 30 mins of heating up to 100/240 then takes upto 30 mins more then quoted times!

I have a separate watt-meter on the printer but last bill tariff came it at around £1 per hour!

ABS is horrid and there is also the fume issue.

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Soooo.... why ABS then?

I have a printrbot simple and its a pretty decent printer it doesnt have that big of a build plate but it works well and is under a grand

Lprimary said:

I have a printrbot simple and its a pretty decent printer it doesnt have that big of a build plate but it works well and is under a grand

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I have the PrintrBot Simple, too. (fka Simple Metal)

Very nice printer so far. Build area is only 6x6x6 but X and Z axis upgrades are available to bring it up to 10x6x10, if needed. So far I'm having way too much fun within the 6" cube to bother. I like that it's nice and solid and mostly metal.

Valcrow said:

Soooo.... why ABS then?

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That was what it was set up for!
After rebuilding the hotend and patching the rest together enough to print, I found out that I rebuilt the hot end wrong and cant fit a fan on it anymore

Today is the last day that Rockler has the Dremel Idea Builder on sale for $850. I expect most places that carry it to start having them on sale to make room for the new model.
http://www.rockler.com/dremel-3d20-01-idea-builder-3d-printer

Valcrow said:

Out of curiosity, how many of you are running your printer(s) almost 24/7? And how are you finding the printer is holding up?

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I've run 4 Flashforge Creator Pro clones (still manufactured by flashforge so there barely "clones") almost non-stop for over a year now, each printer probably ends up printing about 12-16 hours a day. I've had to deal with the normal issues like nozzle and extruder jams from time to time but other than that i've had no problem leaving them overnight. One thing to make note of however is that on 3 out of 4 of my printers (so far) the power cable that runs from the motherboard to the heated bed has shorted out and fried the connectors, leaving the smell of melted plastic and requiring me to go in and just directly solder the power cables to the heated bed. A problem like that does have to potential of causing a fire, but more than likely it will just fry the connectors. Other than that problem though they've run great almost non-stop all year!

I refuse to have mine on for more then a few hours a day as it cost me BGP £1 per hr in electricity.
and i dont trust it.

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That's very high... I'm not sure what your electric company is charging you but I maybe pay $1 a day to run 4 machines all printing ABS.. Granted I do think that your outlets push out a stronger voltage than the ones here in the US. I know you can switch the voltage on the power supply from 230v to 115v depending on the voltage in your location, the more you know

The Robo is a great machine if it wasn't built with the cheapest parts I have had one three years first six months a nightmare once sorted its great.
Mine R1 was terrible with the cable to bed melted the sheathing burnt the connector plug .
Still gets hot but I can live with it

Shotzy said:

I've run 4 Flashforge Creator Pro clones (still manufactured by flashforge so there barely "clones") almost non-stop for over a year now, each printer probably ends up printing about 12-16 hours a day. I've had to deal with the normal issues like nozzle and extruder jams from time to time but other than that i've had no problem leaving them overnight. One thing to make note of however is that on 3 out of 4 of my printers (so far) the power cable that runs from the motherboard to the heated bed has shorted out and fried the connectors, leaving the smell of melted plastic and requiring me to go in and just directly solder the power cables to the heated bed. A problem like that does have to potential of causing a fire, but more than likely it will just fry the connectors. Other than that problem though they've run great almost non-stop all year!

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wow 3/4 shorting out the bed is a bit scary, but pretty cool it's been running as well as that! I hear good things about flashforge are you running PLA?. Thanks for sharing!

JamesPurcell said:

That was what it was set up for!
After rebuilding the hotend and patching the rest together enough to print, I found out that I rebuilt the hot end wrong and cant fit a fan on it anymore

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Ah, that's a bummer, you could use Copolyester or some forms of PET with no fans and less heat.
Some people have had success putting a desktop fan just blowing across the printer. It cools your hotend down a lot which is bad, but also keeps your PLA prints cool. Or you could always design your own fan shroud and print that.

Valcrow said:

wow 3/4 shorting out the bed is a bit scary, but pretty cool it's been running as well as that! I hear good things about flashforge are you running PLA?. Thanks for sharing!



Ah, that's a bummer, you could use Copolyester or some forms of PET with no fans and less heat.
Some people have had success putting a desktop fan just blowing across the printer. It cools your hotend down a lot which is bad, but also keeps your PLA prints cool. Or you could always design your own fan shroud and print that.

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I wish I had the skills to design my own fan shroud.
I have seen a nice duet (heatsink and print surface) for the e3d but no idea how to combine it.

Well, after many weeks of work I have my Prusa i3 working again and on top of that, the company that supplied the kit and replacement parts now stock E3D
Overjoyed!