The Official 3d Printing thread

[Jaredjosh]

I am working on the wiring for the boys Pegasus. I am having issue sitting at the bench (my back is killing me) for any length of time so things moving slower then I want. But his printer is coming out pretty nice. I have moved the location of the controller 3 times trying to make it look neater and easier to work on. The wires were cut at the steppers motors and switches so I am replacing all the wires and plugs coming out of the steppers and to the switches. I have the Z axis stoppers and the Y limit switch wired. I still need to etch a 5v regulator board & wire it in. And wire the X & Y steppers, X end of limit, and BLtouch wiring and the power leads from the power supply to the Ramps board as well as the extruder and heat bed wiring. Then it's down to the calibration. And what ever else he want to change along the way.

He wants all of the pieces printed out of translucent green. It's kind of growing on me. I have a few older pieces from my printer that are print in red that I have recycled. But It looks a little to much like Christmas. Those pieces need to be reprinted. But those can wait until it's up and running. I am stalling on posting pictures until it's a bit more complete. I think it's coming out great. Not much to look at right now.

The little things I did not like about the Pegasus original design have been changed. Most of the things were with the wiring. The way they recommend is a rats nest. I am a little to OCD about wiring. And I do not like the L corner brackets. I do not understand why they chose those? Other then maybe they might help with rough squareness while assembling? I don't know. But they are now all 90 degree corner brackets and everything has double brackets on each corner/connection. I squared everything with a machinist square where I could and in other places I used 1-2-3 blocks. Those things are so freaken handy for so many things. It is really sturdy. Not that it was weak before. But it's a rock now

The boy is really eager to having it printing. But with both of us working on it and me double checking everything and going over the hows and why's for things it is taking a bit more time. But he is catching on to building and now that he see's more assembled he can see why I changed things. And he really knows how this thing goes together and comes apart. He will be able to pretty much take care of this thing on it's his own now. Hopefully it will run like mine and other then replacing nozzles and keeping an eye on idlers and such it is trouble free. This one is easier to work on. The covers make mine a bit harder to get to things. This one probably won't get enclosed. But his one will be able to print flexible media. Mine will be better for ABS. Mine prints a lot faster but his will print as fast as his i3v and be a bit more easier for him to take care of on his own.

I have a Titan extruder to put on his printer. But that will happen later on after he prints with it for a while. He will have a really nice printer when it is all done.

When this thing is done I have a bunch of parts to print for the mini lathe. Like tool holders for the AXA tool post and a enclosure for the tach. Some time this spring or summer we are going to build a small 8 inch printer that will be very solid and very portable. I have just about everything. I think I just need another power supply to build it. he wants to try to go solo on that build. that's cool.

I might get his wiring done tomorrow. We will see. Pics coming soon.

Sounds like a great project for the both of you. The trans green sound cool to me. I'm sure it won't be long before he's showing you things.

Keep at it and keep having fun!

 

[RobbyMaQ]

I think we registered on their website, using eventbrite?

Yeah Joel is going again. I believe Nery's Print n Play, Barnucles and more. I do know Makers Muse is not going. he's getting married instead lol.

The m206 command I just threw in the gcode. I only connect via usb if I am doing calibrations or such. Not for printing.

 

[1911ly]

Sounds like a great project for the both of you. The trans green sound cool to me. I'm sure it won't be long before he's showing you things.

Keep at it and keep having fun!

What's funny is I knew nothing about 3d modeling when we started. Not even one thing. He has been learning it from his Aunt. She teaches at IVY Tech. He spend about 30 minutes getting me started. I am doing pretty good now. I am showing him how to create shapes now.

What I can teach him is wiring and wire routing. He already knows now to solder. He has been doing it since he was 4. He is learning how to do hardware part very nicely too. We are having a great time. I did some more wiring today. I printed some more brackets for holding the wiring harness. I moved the power supply again, Luckily I haven't started that wiring. All the steppers and end of limit switches are now wired. The controller is where I think it is going to stay. I have some wires to replace on the heat bed. Extruder wiring is done. BLtouch probe and power supply wiring is next. Then it should be pretty close to done.

 

[russc2542]

I am curuious what brand filament and temps you are using? I print enclosed case and when I open the door it's a pretty heavy smell. I don;t print with it very often. Mort of the things I make are just fine with PLA.

PETG nozzle temp I use is 235. I only have black filament at the moment. ABS 252-258 depending on the color.

---

Hello JJ!

Almost forgot about this. Hatchbox 240-250c. take it with a grain of salt since I've spent a lot of time in tho shop breathing brake cleaner fumes. I've taken to playing with Kydex lately and while I can smell it, it doesn't bother me much. I keep telling myself I need to make some portable vent contraptions to put in the window but haven't gotten around to it yet.

 

[1911ly]

Thanks for the follow up Russ!

I just learned a interesting lesson about "Full Graphics Displays". There are at least 2 types. And cables and plugs are not interchangeable without making new cables. I found with trying to get the controller to work for most of the day. Nothing worked. The display worked on my printer but the other display was DOA. I drug out all the cables out and found I have several styles. They will fit in the plug, but the wiring is wrong. grrrr..

Oh well, I learned something new today! The boys printer should be printing tomorrow. I am waiting on silicon wire for the heat bed. Things are programmed, I just need to wire the hotend, BLtouch and the heat bed.

So close!!

 

[RobbyMaQ]

I actually went to college for a degree in 3d graphics back in 1988. Didn't graduate because it got to expensive, but learned a lot.
However, back then it was all about raytracing and modeling for visual purposes. Smoke, water or fire was unheard of. Modeling a teapot was all the rage.
The fundamentals aren't unique to me, but wow so much has changed... and modelling with 3d printing in mind is a whole nother ballgame.

 

[1911ly]

Today's software is amazing. Everything from the modeling to the slicing is pretty simple. A few years ago I looked at this stuff as some kind of voodoo. I never thought I would ever get this far with it. It is a lot simpler them most people think. If you are content with the content on Thingiverse you can have a lot of fun without having to learn a lot. The slicers are not very hard to learn.

The modeling is what I am hooked on. It's kind of like playing with Lego's. But on steroids. Especially Tinkercad. It is really easy to whip something up in no time.

I have gotten a lot done on the boys Pegasus. My silicone wire showed up. I have everything wired excepted the extruder fan. I will need to add a print fan soon though. I just need to calibrate the Esteps. It should be printing later this evening.

The covers for his controller are printing on my machine right now. So close to being done!

 

[1911ly]

Proof of life:
[video=youtube_share;tc35WNGhyjs]https://youtu.be/tc35WNGhyjs[/video]

It's alive! Still needs to have a few more tweaks though.

 

[1911ly]

I am having some fun, kinda, ok maybe not. Lol.

I have always had fair luck with the factory PID tune. The temps stay really stable on the other machines. But this one is a bit spastic. Temp varies plus & minus about 15-16 degrees or so. I added a sock to the hotend with only minimal improvement. I will do a PID tune on the nozzle tomorrow and see whats up. If it is still squirrelly I will replace the thermal couple.

Mechanically it seems to be running ok. I am finishing up loose ends as I go along.

 

[Jaredjosh]

Proof of life:
[video=youtube_share;tc35WNGhyjs]https://youtu.be/tc35WNGhyjs[/video]

It's alive! Still needs to have a few more tweaks though.

That's awesome stuff Larry. So I'm just curious what made you decide to go direct drive this time? Keep us posted on how everything works and how you like it and gratz!

Peace out, JJ

 

[1911ly]

The big reason is to be able to print flexible media. This is the stock Pegasus extruder. I have a Titan that I will swap in some time in the future.

 

[RobbyMaQ]

I am having some fun, kinda, ok maybe not. Lol.

I have always had fair luck with the factory PID tune. The temps stay really stable on the other machines. But this one is a bit spastic. Temp varies plus & minus about 15-16 degrees or so. I added a sock to the hotend with only minimal improvement. I will do a PID tune on the nozzle tomorrow and see whats up. If it is still squirrelly I will replace the thermal couple.

Mechanically it seems to be running ok. I am finishing up loose ends as I go along.

FW thermistor setting matches the hardware thermistor being used? That's my only guess... usually PID Autotune does a good job balancing out the temps. I rarely fluctuate a degree in one direction or the other.

 

[Jaredjosh]

The big reason is to be able to print flexible media. This is the stock Pegasus extruder. I have a Titan that I will swap in some time in the future.

I had a feeling that was the reason, direct drive gives you a few more options. I just watched Tom's video on the Titan and it looks like a pretty nice setup. I liked the stepper he uses as saving weight means more speed. Please keep me posted on the pros and cons of direct drive vs Bowden in your experiences.

And as always, happy printing.

JJ

 

[RobbyMaQ]

delving into the pi...

 

[RobbyMaQ]

I had a feeling that was the reason, direct drive gives you a few more options. I just watched Tom's video on the Titan and it looks like a pretty nice setup. I liked the stepper he uses as saving weight means more speed. Please keep me posted on the pros and cons of direct drive vs Bowden in your experiences.

And as always, happy printing.

JJ

I've seen a lot switch to the titan and e3dv6 setup. I gather it's the way to go on lightweight high torque direct drive setups.
Many have managed with flexible filaments in the bowden... But I say that with trepidation. I've seen enough pla/abs print photo by people that are so horrible, yet they seem happy with them. I will try to tackle flexible filaments with my machines, but need to get a dryer sorted first. That stuff is really hydrostatic

 

[1911ly]

FW thermistor setting matches the hardware thermistor being used? That's my only guess... usually PID Autotune does a good job balancing out the temps. I rarely fluctuate a degree in one direction or the other.

The PID is stock settings for what is suppose to be the correct Thermistor? It reads the room temp correctly. I haven't finished tinkering with it. The temp swings just seem crazy.

I had a feeling that was the reason, direct drive gives you a few more options. I just watched Tom's video on the Titan and it looks like a pretty nice setup. I liked the stepper he uses as saving weight means more speed. Please keep me posted on the pros and cons of direct drive vs Bowden in your experiences.

And as always, happy printing.

JJ

Watching Tom's video's is what swung my towards the Titan. I have both version. Direct and Bowden. I have pancake steppers too. I will probably set the boys up first.

delving into the pi...

I love those freakening things. I have a half dozen of them and a few of the Orange Pie's too. I also bought a Odroid XU4g to play with.

This Pi's make great camera servers and even excellent Webserver's. Not to hard to get going. Plus there are a ton of cases on Thingiverse. I have small fans on mine (along with the heat sinks). You can control a lot of things using Python and the GPIO pins. It's a lot of fun.

I did not get much done today. Feeling like crap. I am going to try to dial in things tomorrow if I feel better. There is not to much more to do left.

 

[RobbyMaQ]

I love those freakening things. I have a half dozen of them and a few of the Orange Pie's too. I also bought a Odroid XU4g to play with.

This Pi's make great camera servers and even excellent Webserver's. Not to hard to get going. Plus there are a ton of cases on Thingiverse. I have small fans on mine (along with the heat sinks). You can control a lot of things using Python and the GPIO pins. It's a lot of fun.

You don't run octoprint on them? Going to test running both enders off of one

 

[Jaredjosh]

delving into the pi...

I like pie. What are your plans for those? Been considering a project myself.

 

[1911ly]

You don't run octoprint on them? Going to test running both enders off of one

I played with Octoprint a bit. I really don't need to start the print from the network. I only really used it for the camera. So I just run a camera server (Motion) and use a Python script to cancel a print if I see something going wrong. I can stream a better video with Motion.

The Pi's are really fun little machines. I even have a few of the first and second generations and several of the newest versions. I even use one for Kodi. It beats the crap out of a firestix



JJ, they are neat little PC's. You should for sure get one to play with. I have had a lot of fun learning Linux tinkering with them.

BTW, if you don't need to run a GUI the Orange Pi's are a lot cheaper. They have about half the ram though. So they are not extremely fast. But they are faster then the first and second gen RPi's.

 

[RobbyMaQ]

The Pi's are really fun little machines. I even have a few of the first and second generations and several of the newest versions. I even use one for Kodi. It beats the crap out of a firestix



JJ, they are neat little PC's. You should for sure get one to play with. I have had a lot of fun learning Linux tinkering with them.

BTW, if you don't need to run a GUI the Orange Pi's are a lot cheaper. They have about half the ram though. So they are not extremely fast. But they are faster then the first and second gen RPi's.

Kodi... damn I should have thought of that. hdmi connection. doh! Firestick is so damn slow and skippy...
Yeah, many use a pi zero. I didn't want to run one for each printer (and a camera) possibly bogging it down. But with these I should be able to run two printers and one camera (with both printers in view) easily. $45 was a little pricey, but I opted for a case and power saving me time on printing a case and sourcing power. I don't mind running off the ethernet, as my hub is 10 ft from these printers currently. I won't bother risking wireless with the hub so close.
If my plan works, I'll have an extra to tinker with kodi.
I wound up picking up some arduino unos to tinker with as well. I have a mega 2560? already that i use to flash the cr-10's with, but I wanted to dabble