3D Printers

[Gina]

Watching a farming programme on TV and just seen a huge maize drill (farm machine) entirely 3D printed!!  Amazing!

[saac]

36 minutes ago, Gina said:

Watching a farming programme on TV and just seen a huge maize drill (farm machine) entirely 3D printed!!  Amazing!

What was the material Gina, metal?  The inroads industrial 3D printing has made is impressive. 

Jim 

[Gina]

They didn't say but it looked like plastic.

[JamesF]

I'd have imagined there'd be too much wear to make some of it practical to make out of plastics.  Very impressive if it is.

James

[Thalestris24]

Does anyone know how straightforward it is to install a bed levelling device and how good they are? I'm getting fed up with trying to level my Ender 3 Pro with bits of paper. It nearly always comes out unlevel for larger prints and levelling mechanism isn't great to start with 😞.

I'm a bit worried about having to flash firmware etc - please reassure me if you can!

Thanks

Louise

[PeterW]

It might be in the rewriting firmware domain, not to mention hacking the gcode to use the sensor too... is paper *that* bad??

 

peter

[Gina]

Been thinking how to reply to this.  I have experimented with a number of different automatic bed levelling devices but everything I've tried has had problems of one sort or another.  Many of these devices are already supported on firmware such as Marlin or with the Duet control board.  Of course, I'm always out for perfection and what may be alright for many may not satisfy me.

[Thalestris24]

13 minutes ago, PeterW said:

It might be in the rewriting firmware domain, not to mention hacking the gcode to use the sensor too... is paper *that* bad??

 

peter

Paper isn't that bad - it's my senile judgement that's 'that bad'!

[Thalestris24]

5 minutes ago, Gina said:

Been thinking how to reply to this.  I have experimented with a number of different automatic bed levelling devices but everything I've tried has had problems of one sort or another.  Many of these devices are already supported on firmware such as Marlin or with the Duet control board.  Of course, I'm always out for perfection and what may be alright for many may not satisfy me.

Hi Gina

I only have a 'standard' ex factory Ender 3 Pro... Of course, I've seen the BL touch sensor kits but I don't really understand what's required for installation. There are lots of 'different' kits on Amazon, so not even sure if they are the same or not. It's a jungle out there! I don't want perfection - just better than I seem to be able to do with bits of paper! Hopefully someone here can advise 🙂 

Louise

[Thalestris24]

ps there must be something better than the current thumbwheels used for adjusting the level - they are sloppy, to say the least, and seem to come loose when you breathe on them! I've not seen any upgrades/improvements for these, but I'm not in the know. Surely there must be something better that will help keep the level once it's set?

Louise 

[Gina]

That sounds like your main problem, Louise.  The quality of the printer construction is a major point.  I'm currently striving to improve the rigidity and precision of my printer builds.  My aim is to achieve the same thing as you - bed levelling that stays set right - because if the printer does this you only need to set the bed level once and it should stay level.  Yes, you need adjusting screws that don't move once set and printer construction that doesn't move in ways it shouldn't.  This is engineering and if you aren't an engineer or a deft DIYer it's a problem.

I hope someone else can offer some suggestions.

I should add that I haven't had any experience of (or even seen) an Ender 3 Pro so I don't know what the bed adjuster screws are like.  Some photos may help us to make suggestions if you could manage it.  OR other owners of these printers may be able to help.

Edited February 19, 2020 by Gina

[Thalestris24]

3 minutes ago, Gina said:

That sounds like your main problem, Louise.  The quality of the printer construction is a major point.  I'm currently striving to improve the rigidity and precision of my printer builds.  My aim is to achieve the same thing as you - bed levelling that stays set right - because if the printer does this you only need to set the bed level once and it should stay level.  Yes, you need adjusting screws that don't move once set and printer construction that doesn't move in ways it shouldn't.  This is engineering and if you aren't an engineer or a deft DIYer it's a problem.

I hope someone else can offer some suggestions.

I should add that I haven't had any experience of (or even seen) an Ender 3 Pro so I don't know what the bed adjuster screws are like.

Yeah, I think I understand that the way 3d printers work mean the beds can't be too rigid - I just think they could be better! I might have a proper look at the underneath of the bed of my printer to see whether maybe just putting in stronger springs might improve things.  

It was quite a cheap printer and I suppose you tend to get what you pay for...

Louise

[Carbon Brush]

Hi Louise.

Rather than trying to correct the errors, why not look at simple improvements to stop the bed going walkabout.

For example, if adjusting thumbwheel screws work loose, why not add locknuts?
Or buy plastic thumbwheels with too small a thread and half heartedly tap them out so they have a tight fit?
Or a non setting thread locking compound?

HTH, David.

[Dr_Ju_ju]

If you have more nuts\washers of the correct size, then you could probably do away with the springs altogether by locking the parts together. Think of the thread as fixed pillar, that you can run the bed up-down on and lock in place...

It's how I fix the beds on my printers. It takes longer, with repeated levelling routines, but once adjusted, with everything tightened up, it usually doesn't need further adjustment for a long time.

[Thalestris24]

Hmm... well... thanks for the suggestions, guys! Something to think about.

Louise

[johninderby]

Now this is what I call a 3D printer. Ideal for printing out an obs. 🤔

https://www.3dnatives.com/en/3d-printed-boat-university-of-maine-161020195/

Edited February 19, 2020 by johninderby

[JamesF]

There's always someone who just doesn't know when to stop...

James

[JamesF]

After watching the video however, I got a link to this, which is absolutely brilliant.

James

[Gina]

35 minutes ago, JamesF said:

There's always someone who just doesn't know when to stop...

James

That's me!!  🤣  I have a 3D printed observatory on the books but not that big...

[saac]

it's in an engineer's blood, our DNA, we can't help it .  

Jim

[johninderby]

47 minutes ago, JamesF said:

After watching the video however, I got a link to this, which is absolutely brilliant.

James

I’m reminded of the sayimg don’t try this at home. Obviously he knows what he is doing though.. 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

[JamesF]

13 minutes ago, johninderby said:

I’m reminded of the sayimg don’t try this at home. Obviously he knows what he is doing though.. 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

The problem is, once you've seen it done you just can't help wanting to try it at home

James

[teoria_del_big_bang]

Reminds me of doing metalwork in school, many years ago now

Steve

[Paul Gerlach]

6 hours ago, Thalestris24 said:

Does anyone know how straightforward it is to install a bed levelling device and how good they are? I'm getting fed up with trying to level my Ender 3 Pro with bits of paper. It nearly always comes out unlevel for larger prints and levelling mechanism isn't great to start with 😞.

I'm a bit worried about having to flash firmware etc - please reassure me if you can!

Thanks

Louise

Louise,

The solution you are looking for is called 'Manual mesh bed levelling' and it's free. Take a look at this video:

 

[Thalestris24]

19 minutes ago, Paul Gerlach said:

Louise,

The solution you are looking for is called 'Manual mesh bed levelling' and it's free. Take a look at this video:

 

Thanks Paul

Yeah I'd glanced at this before. It involves changing the firmware which is something I didn't really want to mess about with... Plus it still relies on judging a piece of paper... Plus doesn't do anything about the tendency of the bed height to move. I'll look into maybe adding locknuts. I'll watch the above video properly when I get time. I have the Ender 3 Pro with the magnetic bed - not sure how that affects things.

Louise