Want to pick up a 3D printer... Suggestions +/- $300

[blarks]

Originally Posted by Skiddz

Oh, for the record, bed leveling sucks....

BLTouch will fix that.

[Skiddz]

Yeah, but it'll be a project unto itself 'cuz the current firmware doesn't have any provisions for self leveling. Not a big deal, I've already printed the brackets I'm gonna need and am set up to fire off a couple cable management parts in the morning.

I'm not going to run parts while I sleep - at least not until I get the new firmware installed as it's got some better thermal protections. Having said that, I was watching temps via OctoPrint and the hot-end stayed right at the target temp and the bed only fluctuated by 0.1 under the target.

[MariaFan]

MatterHackers carries some extremely excellent quality filament.
Well-written tech articles too.

[Skiddz]

Here in CA too...

Firmware is a bust for now. I have everything I need except for ONE male to female jumper wire. Thought my Arduino/Pi/electronics junk box would have at least one in there... Nope... Hopefully, the local Frys has some (But with the way they've been failing recently, I doubt it.)

[Skiddz]

Wow... Frys *did* have the jumpers I was looking for. Not much else in that area of the store though. Yikes.

Working on a "programming" port so I don't have to open the control box to flash firmware.

[cgriffith]

I don't get the fuss. It takes me all of about 30 sec. to do bed leveling. I know having it automated would be nice, but adds more complexity and other headaches to worry about.

[yakky]

Originally Posted by cgriffith

I don't get the fuss. It takes me all of about 30 sec. to do bed leveling. I know having it automated would be nice, but adds more complexity and other headaches to worry about.

Agree. I only do it if I change something.

[Skiddz]

Originally Posted by cgriffith

I don't get the fuss. It takes me all of about 30 sec. to do bed leveling. I know having it automated would be nice, but adds more complexity and other headaches to worry about.

This particular setup seems to "creep" between runs and it's none too flat. Tempted to get a piece of 1/4" aluminum plate for the bed and clamp my glass to that.

It's all part of the learning curve....

[MariaFan]

Originally Posted by Skiddz

This particular setup seems to "creep" between runs and it's none too flat. Tempted to get a piece of 1/4" aluminum plate for the bed and clamp my glass to that.

It's all part of the learning curve....

Put some VibraTitie on the leveling threads and let it dry before you re-assemble.
That should stop the creep.

[Skiddz]

I'll look in to that, thx.

Tried the hairspray on glass bit today. Works pretty good and parts pop right off.

Gonna do the bootloader/firmware bit tonight after dinner and hopefully get the BLtouch installed too.

[Number]

Do yerself a favor and pick up a magnetic flexplate PEI print bed. It's the best thing I did to my Ender 3. Better than glass, better than hairspray, better than elmer's glue.... PLA, ABS, PETG, etc all sticks great to it with no other adhesives. And with the flexible magnetic ones, just pull the bed off (preferably let it cool first as PEI/PEX are heat based, very sticky when hot and become less sticky when they cool down) flex the plate, and the part pops right off no matter how big or small, thin or thick... it's fantastic.

You can get generic ones on Amazon, or get this one, which is well established and works very well.
https://whambamsystems.com/flexible-build-system

https://whambam3d.com/collections/30...stem-305-x-235

Different printer, same system:

Wham Bam Flex Plate System | Awesome Creality Cr-10S Pro Upgrade (9 min 42 sec)

Seriously, it's worlds better than glass + hairspray, and just about any other system... I've tried just about everything and I'm never leaving PEI flexplates.

[cgriffith]

I have heard magnetic build plates can't be used at higher temps (like that for ABS) because it will de-magnetize. How does our PEI solve that issue?

[Number]

The Creality ones supposedly can't handle much above 70C according to some, but I'm pretty sure that's been disproved in practice (not 100% sure though).

I've used my PEI magnetic bed as hot as 130C for ABS and Polycarbonate (more often 65-80C for PLA, Nylon, and PETG) for the last year or so, never an issue. Magnetism is just as strong as the day I installed it. And I just used generic fridge magnet sheets from Amazon. According to Wham Bam, their kits come with "1 Wham Bam Flexi Magnetic Base (high temp-resistant up to 150 degrees with high temp 3M adhesive)"

I'm not really sure why the Creality ones supposedly can't work with high temperatures. It could be the build surface they use, or something else unrelated. It's almost certainly not the magnet itself... ferrite magnets have a max working temperature of 250C, and a curie temperature of over 400C. Unless they just use really crappy magnets?

If you want a bit of a different texture on the bottom of your print, I've been using a textured PEI flex sheet for the last few months, and it's really cool. Gives a really nice texture, and it seems to be more durable than the PEI sheet style beds (on those, if you scrape your nozzle on the bed while it's hot, it can dig a hole/scratch). I have both a flat PEI sheet and textured powder coat sheet, which I switch between when necessary... just have to make sure my Z-offset is right.

This is the textured one I have on my Ender 3, combined with those magnetic sheets mentioned earlier in this post. I never bothered with the magnets it came with, as I already had the magnetic sheet installed when I got this plate.
https://www.amazon.com/BCZAMD-235x23...9841077&sr=8-2

Another big advantage to spring steel PEI beds: they're WAY, WAY lighter than glass. I've used glass briefly. It works decently enough, but borosilicate glass is very heavy, and if you try to print too fast it can cause lots of ghosting artifacts. It forces you to limit your print speed and acceleration settings, which is a no from me

[Skiddz]

I'll look into that magnetic bed, but might not be for a while. I don't want to drop another $100 on this thing just yet.

Just got my BLTouch mounted and 90% wired and updated to TH3D's Unified Firmware tonight after work. I've got all but the servo pin wired up.

Even with the extension cable provided with the sensor, the wire was still about 14" short. Enter some spare servo wire, pins, a crimper, some wire braid and heatshrink.

Hopefully, I got the firmware configured correctly although I did have a WTF moment after defining the servo pin and sending the code to the board. It started beeping as soon as the board rebooted and it took me a sec to realize I still had the display ribbon cable plugged in and it was the beeper going off. Duh.

[dj_rpr]

I have and Ender 3 Pro and print ABS with a magnetic bed temp of 90c no problem

[Skiddz]

Argh... Mad frustration, especially with the TH3D forums... I have no stop response on my Z axis and after hours of searching/reading, I still have no idea what it's doing. Searching the TH3D forums is almost pointless because more than half the time, I click a link and am met with a blank page, even after refreshing several times...

The ANTCLABS page isn't much help either and the 'manual' doesn't offer anything in the way of troubleshooting this sensor.

I hate to ask, but anyone running a Creality 1.1.4 board, TH3D unified firmware and a BLTouch 3.1 that's got it working?

[Number]

I've never been a fan of TH3D. I think anyone who wants to do it properly is better off learning how to set up Vanilla Marlin for their needs.

There is already a Marlin config example in Marlin Firmware. So all you'd need to do is add BLTouch (the process for which you can watch any Vanilla Marlin BLTouch video to do so)
https://github.com/MarlinFirmware/Co...lity/CR-10mini

[Skiddz]

Well, the whole TH3D thing was fairly simple and honestly, I just want to get this thing working again before I dive in to another firmware project.

The probe is now working, Z offset is set and it homes perfectly now. I got my bed as flat as I can and dialed in the corners manually with the Octoprint Bed Leveling Wizard before I set the Z offset so in *theory*, I should have a bed mesh that's not too bad.

(Looks like my largest 'error' is 0.093mm)

Would I be safe in assuming I would need to add the commands to home all, then probe to the beginning of the Start Gcode in whatever slicer I end up using or is doing it with the start of each session even necessary if I do it manually before the 1st print?

Thanks for all the help thus far! It's been a learning experience for sure.

[Number]

Probing the entire bed every time you print is a waste of time. The bed won't drift that much between prints... if it does, something is very wrong. Just manually start a mesh every once in a while and save it to memory. Realistically, you only need to do a mesh if you notice it getting out of level. I haven't used Marlin in a long while (I use Klipper) so I can't say how to do it but as with most stuff in 3D printing there's lots of videos.

[yakky]

Congratulations, sounds like you got a new hobby, printer tuning!