I Got A New 3D Printer Thread

[DazzlerFan]

For Christmas, I got my first 3D printer - a CR-10 V3 and an auto leveler.

I assume I’m not the only person who got a printer of some type this year. I thought this might be a good place to tell people what you got and to show off your successes and failures with it throughout the year. That way we can be encouraged by and learn from each other.

I’ve been looking at getting a 3D printer for a very long time and this seemed like a great time to take the plunge. The resin printers were tempting, but I ultimately wanted something that could handle pla and with some mods abs.

I haven’t had a chance to set it up yet. I hope to have it unboxed and built in the next couple of days. Then I’ll have to figure out what to print first.

 

[Deric]

Nice pickup. I still use my Wanhao i3 for fdm stuff but ordered the Sonic Mighty 4K resin printer as a xmas gift. Still waiting for it to be delivered. I see some people are getting them slowly so hopefully soon.

 

[JPH]

Print a helmet. Yeah, I know, lotsa infill, but keep the visible portion on the top of the print. It'll give you great idea how well it works and how well you assembled it.

 

[Starbase101]

I've got a Mass Portal Pharaoh XD30, and cannot yet order an Elegoo Saturn so it will be a late Christmas purchase.

 

[zorg]

I got a v2 this year, also my first printer.

I would go around all the v roller wheels and check the tightness. The 6 on the print bed on mine were so tight it felt like the wheels were hexagon.

And then the 3 on the print head were so loose the head was moving about so much I couldn't get a decent print.

One of the best upgrades I did was print out some dampeners under the feet, massive difference! The table used to shake about like crazy now that is mostly gone.

Z

 

[DazzlerFan]

Print a helmet.

Thanks for the suggestion.

One of the best upgrades I did was print out some dampeners under the feet, massive difference! The table used to shake about like crazy now that is mostly gone.

Thanks! I’ll have to find them and print them out.

 

[DazzlerFan]

I've got a Mass Portal Pharaoh XD30, and cannot yet order an Elegoo Saturn so it will be a late Christmas purchase.

I can only imagine the Trek items you will be printing

 

[justanuthercap]

I outgrew my Wanhao duplicator i3 and treated myself to an Ender 5 plus for Christmas. Still will use the i3 but the bed size and stability of the 5 plus should make things a lot easier. Got it put together and am getting ready for bed leveling. Actually built a dedicated bench for it today.

 

[HMSwolfe]

Put it together really carefully and follow any and all instructions about assembly, printing, and slicing modules thoroughly. I’ve had an Ender 3 Pro for months and I’ve had maybe one “successful” print out of dozens of attempts.

 

[justanuthercap]

Put it together really carefully and follow any and all instructions about assembly, printing, and slicing modules thoroughly. I’ve had an Ender 3 Pro for months and I’ve had maybe one “successful” print out of dozens of attempts.

One? Well that truly sucks. Will definitely take your advice. Thanks for the heads up.

 

[Kreativebox]

I have the cr10 and the anycubic photon with the mono x upgraded on its way.

I'm sure it's well known but:
Pinshape.com
Thingiverse.com
Cults3d.com
Are great for free 3d print files to get to know your printer.

It's all understanding the printer itself and how to print each object the best way. But it's fun.

Trust me soon you'll look at props and items and consider the print method and ways you'd make them.

Most of all thought just enjoy, 3d printing is hit and miss but a great tool and fun to do!

 

[Supe]

I picked up a Flashforge Adventurer 3 Lite about a month or so ago, and have been printing nearly non stop with the thing. My daughter and I are working on a book nook inspired by the giraffe scene from "The Last of Us". I've printed off several +-100mm tall prints of old Lucas Arts adventure game characters, and am down to the last two pieces right now of a larger "Attack on Titan" character and base. I also just modeled five layers of a thumbprint scanner from Ghost in the Shell for a prop replica, with hopes of printing the thumb portion in clear PETG so it can be illuminated.

You will quickly learn when and where to add/modify your supports, orient pieces for shorter print times and higher success rates, etc. There are many 3D printer test pieces out there that will help you evaluate if you're in the ballpark for where you need to be, and whether or not the printer is operating smoothly/correctly.

One thing I suggest is downloading MeshMixer and learning to do basic boolean add/subtracts. You will often fine lots of cool 3D models out there that just aren't optimized for printing, at least not in one piece. Sometimes you will be limited by your print bed area, or just the limits of how well your machine performs. MeshMixer lets you selectively slice your parts rather than just across an entire plane - for example, you can use this to separate the arm from a torso, a hand with a weapon in it from the arm, etc., so they they can be printed more easily, or quickly, and glued in place later. The boolean add/deletes lets you form alignment pins/holes for these figures, to help support and orient them correctly when gluing. For the Titan I'm printing right now, I used square pegs/holes to align each arm, and the waist to the legs.

Enjoy yourself, and get ready to ogle the large format $3000+ machines in the near future!

 

[Celtic007]

Nice pickup. I still use my Wanhao i3 for fdm stuff but ordered the Sonic Mighty 4K resin printer as a xmas gift. Still waiting for it to be delivered. I see some people are getting them slowly so hopefully soon.

I also have an i3 (Monoprice Maker Select) and also was looking at the Mighty 4K (and the Elegoo Saturn). I'm interested in seeing how you like it. Seems like a good value for quality and price.

 

[Starbase101]

A huge problem with MeshMixer is it's VERY buggy and often distorts/corrupts your mesh when attempting boolean operations. Sometimes it works great, but most of the time it's just a total pain in the ass (at least the Mac version, I've never used the PC version).

 

[Supe]

A huge problem with MeshMixer is it's VERY buggy and often distorts/corrupts your mesh when attempting boolean operations. Sometimes it works great, but most of the time it's just a total pain in the ass (at least the Mac version, I've never used the PC version).

I've also encountered the "disappearing model" issue (on PC), but often moving or resizing the primitive slightly seems to take care of it.

 

[Starbase101]

It's not a disappearing model problem for me (since I've learned to Save just prior to any major changes to the model, so I can easily Undo or Revert). The biggest problem is faces along a cut plane or boolean edge becoming garbled - and I'm meaning REALLY junked up. Sometimes they can be borderline acceptable if increasing the polygon count ridiculously high along the edge, but honestly a user shouldn't need to do that. And don't even get me started on how many times the application has simply crashed and shut itself down.....

 

[Supe]

It's not a disappearing model problem for me (since I've learned to Save just prior to any major changes to the model, so I can easily Undo or Revert). The biggest problem is faces along a cut plane or boolean edge becoming garbled - and I'm meaning REALLY junked up. Sometimes they can be borderline acceptable if increasing the polygon count ridiculously high along the edge, but honestly a user shouldn't need to do that. And don't even get me started on how many times the application has simply crashed and shut itself down.....

Ah, fortunately in my limited usage, I have yet to encounter those issues on PC. I'll consider myself lucky!

 

[EmmaInCandyland]

I just got an Ender 3 Pro too! I actually just thought 3d printing was just about shoving a file onto a usb, but I guess there's a lot more to it haha, I am still trying to figure out how to get it started but managed to fully assemble it! It will defintely take a few failures before getting the hang of it!

 

[JPH]

Get a file you like on yeggi or thingverse, open in Cura. Adjust settings for filament type, size it, try to.position it where the visible portion of the model doesnt have much support (support is on the inside).
This is a juggling contest, too much support = wasted filament and lotsa cleanup. Not enough = FAILED PRINT.

Save your file in a format you can edit. Then save your file as a gcode on a memory card. Put the memory card in your printer. Turn on printer and set it to print that file.

Obvious stuff, level the bed, load filament FIRST

Youtibe is your fwend.

 

[DazzlerFan]

I got everything set up today. I started printing my first item tonight - a file on the memory card that came with the machine named “pig.” Lol

Only big issue I had with setup was the auto leveler. I wasn’t successful in updating the firmware to work with the touch sensor, so I manually leveled it for now.

Fun stuff!