Silver Surfer
Well-Known Member
Final test of my 3D print "Papillon" - Moving on from - Can it fly to How fast does it fly?
MAXIMUM EFFORT THROTTLE - FAST LITTLE 65MM 3D PRINT
- Thread starter Silver Surfer
- Start date
Eric
Well-Known Member
That is wild!!!!! Is it hard to set up the printer to create that? Iv'e been eyeing 3D printers for a while now.
Silver Surfer
Well-Known Member
Easy like putting food in the microwave and waiting for it to get done. I got the all files from Thingiverse and just put it all together like a Mr. Potato Head after it all printed. In case you didn't see here's the build video, I accelerated the print speed, its actually very sloooooooowwwwwwwwww. Takes about 10-15mins to print each piece, but gets the job done.
Eric
Well-Known Member
That's awesome!
wafflejock
Well-Known Member
I'd say it still depends on what you get but as long as you can spend something like $500 or a bit more you can get a 3d printer that is relatively hassle free, that said to get one that you really set and forget usually means getting something like a Mk3 or CR10 (or if money is no object lulzbot). I have a home built one from a $300 kit that was a couple fun days of building and probably weeks over the course of a few years using it of maintenance/repairs, on the other hand got a mk3 lik 6 months ago and has been completely solid and hands off. I printed the peon230 as my first frame to learn on (on my DIY printer) and worked fine with PLA but lots of broken arms (I'd say fine for starter but easy to get a cheap plastic frame on amazon for like $20 too).... think 3d printer you have to just enjoy modeling things and making custom stuff (I'm a huge fan but I enjoy all sorts of making/building things)
wafflejock
Well-Known Member
https://www.amazon.com/product-revi...e=UTF8&filterByStar=one_star&showViewpoints=0 <-- just looking at the one star reviews here for how things go wrong for people. I'm a fan of monoprice in general for cabling and stuff cause they generally have fair quality for a good price but the cheaper machines are a crapshoot, literally every mk3 review I've seen praises it, it does self leveling (before each print), filament runout detection, crash detection, power loss recovery, filament swapping is super easy.... My DIY kit one was from like 2.5 years ago and prices have gone down quality has gone up but you'll get a much more long lasting and hassle free machine for a bit more... if the build volume fits your parts etc. though and doesn't break down that's a steal.
In any case I'm also a big fan of having octopi on a raspberry pi hooked up to the machines so can send files direct from slic3r to start printing without running an SD card back and forth.
Have some photos here too can see I basically upgraded my old machine to use a bunch of parts from Prusa (they open source their hardware and print most of their parts minus the main frame, I used 2040 aluminum to upgrade the old one)
https://photos.app.goo.gl/PcTcWbztjjw1S6bbA
In any case I'm also a big fan of having octopi on a raspberry pi hooked up to the machines so can send files direct from slic3r to start printing without running an SD card back and forth.
Have some photos here too can see I basically upgraded my old machine to use a bunch of parts from Prusa (they open source their hardware and print most of their parts minus the main frame, I used 2040 aluminum to upgrade the old one)
https://photos.app.goo.gl/PcTcWbztjjw1S6bbA
wafflejock
Well-Known Member
Only thing I'd say with any cheaper ones is I'd check to make sure the MOSFET used to control power to the bed has decent heat dissipation. Small voltage changes on power supply can cause some MOSFETs to get extremely hot to the point of burning things, and double check all the wiring to be sure things are well secured, wires coming loose while printing (the whole machine is vibrating) can cause things to short and start a fire.
---
Also, my cheapish DIY kit one I built at first worked fine for quite a while but always took lots of bed level adjustment and reprints due to bed leveling drifting out of place from either bolts coming loose and/or the acrylic frame not being rigid enough (eventually replaced the controller board and basically everything minus the motors in the end), given the sheet metal look of the MP printer it probably wouldn't suffer those particular problems. Really mostly experience/peace of mind things added to the Mk3 compared with lots of closed source copy cats or cheaper alternatives. One other company that has changed to open hardware is creality and the CR10 or other variations are a bit cheaper and include many of the same features as mk3 (plus generally options for larger build volume though increasing bed size increases heat up time and issues with calibration across the entire bed)
---
Also, my cheapish DIY kit one I built at first worked fine for quite a while but always took lots of bed level adjustment and reprints due to bed leveling drifting out of place from either bolts coming loose and/or the acrylic frame not being rigid enough (eventually replaced the controller board and basically everything minus the motors in the end), given the sheet metal look of the MP printer it probably wouldn't suffer those particular problems. Really mostly experience/peace of mind things added to the Mk3 compared with lots of closed source copy cats or cheaper alternatives. One other company that has changed to open hardware is creality and the CR10 or other variations are a bit cheaper and include many of the same features as mk3 (plus generally options for larger build volume though increasing bed size increases heat up time and issues with calibration across the entire bed)
Last edited:
wafflejock
Well-Known Member
@Silver Surfer very very cool stuff curious how much you spent on the Flash Forge... I actually have one of those sitting in my room (buddies that broke down after a few years so helping him fix it) I think he had the "original" one though it's laser cut wooden frame.
Silver Surfer
Well-Known Member
I got the Flash Forge almost 2yrs ago for 1150 it came with the Simplify3D Software. Now you can get both for @900. I got my tax refund so it was either new laptop, 3D printer or drone stuff. I first started taking the little hubsan H107 drones apart and put the motors and FC on printed frames available on Thingiverse, then added AIO camera, still doing pretty much the same now. I think this printer is a bit overkill for just printing drone stuff, it can do so much more. Dual head printing for experts, for me its a spare if one goes down or PLA right head and TPU left head. Now the Simplify3D Software is amazing and just made printing things so easy for me. I tried ABS, PLA, TPU, PETG, WoodPLA, glow in dark stuff but it always came back to PLA and TPU. Easy to print. Now I'm thinking I want to upgrade the dual extruder and see if I can print some CF and Nylon type filaments.
wafflejock
Well-Known Member
Nice yah agree it's a lot to spend on a tool but also has a lot of uses especially if you're willing to spend a weekend or two learning some basics in CAD tools like onshape or fusion ( I used to use blender as well but it is really better for just tweaking existing models, as far as I could tell it doesn't offer much in the way of parametric or constraint based modelling )
But yah set it and forget it printing works a lot better in general on rigid machines and then it's trade offs in quality of the hot end itself (e3d v6 genuine are good), build area, build quality etc. that effect the price.
But yah set it and forget it printing works a lot better in general on rigid machines and then it's trade offs in quality of the hot end itself (e3d v6 genuine are good), build area, build quality etc. that effect the price.
Silver Surfer
Well-Known Member
Yes - set it, forget it, fly it, break it, repeat.
Eric - Lots of 3D printer options out there and the prices continue to drop with more features being added. I wish mine had a self leveling or auto leveling bed, which I had to learn how to do manually. Dual head is nice but not really needed. Heated bed is nice too but not needed if your just printing PLA and TPU. Build area size matters, limits what you can print. Also see what slicer software comes with the printer, for me simplify3D made printing very easy, painless and got my prints in air the quickest. All my extra drone stuff that were unused and sitting in the dead drone parts box - FCs, motors, cameras, standoffs, antennas, ESCs became building blocks for new drone types. Thingiverse is your free file catalog for drone frames and parts, lots to choose from. Drone crashes are more like drop boxes now!
Eric - Lots of 3D printer options out there and the prices continue to drop with more features being added. I wish mine had a self leveling or auto leveling bed, which I had to learn how to do manually. Dual head is nice but not really needed. Heated bed is nice too but not needed if your just printing PLA and TPU. Build area size matters, limits what you can print. Also see what slicer software comes with the printer, for me simplify3D made printing very easy, painless and got my prints in air the quickest. All my extra drone stuff that were unused and sitting in the dead drone parts box - FCs, motors, cameras, standoffs, antennas, ESCs became building blocks for new drone types. Thingiverse is your free file catalog for drone frames and parts, lots to choose from. Drone crashes are more like drop boxes now!
wafflejock
Well-Known Member
I've had about the same experience with filaments plus used ABS for a while mostly for esk8 parts since it'll just deform instead of cracking compared with PLA or other plastics so was good enough to print my own angled risers and other esk8 things (mostly enclosures for battery/electronics).
Mainly my point about the price with printers is just not to set the expectation that it's always going to be super easy and require no learning or fixing things. I think anyone building their own quadcopters is enough of a tinkerer to enjoy this kind of thing but cheaper machines tend to become more maintenance nightmares as time goes on and things wear down in general "you get what you pay for" (sometimes you're lucky though and sometimes you're unlucky, like my buddy with his flash forge and ender 2 both breaking down, we got the ender 2 fixed by replacing the main controller board ender sent him 3 or 4 before he gave up and just bought his own and I helped him wire it and update the firmware config).
All that said I love 3d printing, I think it's an amazing technology for people who want to prototype things or make their own small batches of parts and agree thingiverse is a great resource of 3d models made by people around the world I search there first before modeling anything even if I don't find what I'm looking for usually other models help give me ideas to build on.
---
Oh also about the Nylon printing, biggest problem is keeping the filament dry if it absorbs water before you print with it then it will be boiling out steam from the nozzle while printing and will make the filament flow in a weird way so you'll have "bubbles" or roughness on the surface, if it's really dry it's pretty crazy smooth though. I printed a motor pulley for the esk8 with it (just for the sake of stress testing the nylon) it worked for about a month but eventually wore down and I switched back to my metal one.
Mainly my point about the price with printers is just not to set the expectation that it's always going to be super easy and require no learning or fixing things. I think anyone building their own quadcopters is enough of a tinkerer to enjoy this kind of thing but cheaper machines tend to become more maintenance nightmares as time goes on and things wear down in general "you get what you pay for" (sometimes you're lucky though and sometimes you're unlucky, like my buddy with his flash forge and ender 2 both breaking down, we got the ender 2 fixed by replacing the main controller board ender sent him 3 or 4 before he gave up and just bought his own and I helped him wire it and update the firmware config).
All that said I love 3d printing, I think it's an amazing technology for people who want to prototype things or make their own small batches of parts and agree thingiverse is a great resource of 3d models made by people around the world I search there first before modeling anything even if I don't find what I'm looking for usually other models help give me ideas to build on.
---
Oh also about the Nylon printing, biggest problem is keeping the filament dry if it absorbs water before you print with it then it will be boiling out steam from the nozzle while printing and will make the filament flow in a weird way so you'll have "bubbles" or roughness on the surface, if it's really dry it's pretty crazy smooth though. I printed a motor pulley for the esk8 with it (just for the sake of stress testing the nylon) it worked for about a month but eventually wore down and I switched back to my metal one.