That is the current at 24 volts. Not the current from the mains.
Well of course not, I didn't imagine I was implying such. It still should not be anywhere remotely that high.
I'm thinking the supplier might have accidentally sent a 12V version. Happens every once in a while.
I'm thinking the supplier might have accidentally sent a 12V version.
I was thinking that as well.
I don't have a 3D printer (yet) but my reading has shown me it is common for a 12V supply to be rated for 20A - with the heater for the bed taking the lion's share of that ... around 15A I believe.
Did the bed heat up
really quickly?
24V seems to be getting more common in the last year or so even with the Chinese. My CR-10S came with a 12V 20A however.
So Prusa lost out after several more hours of youtube videos and research.
Enter the Ender 3 PRO with a 'Magnetic' Bed (not much detail on what it actually is) and ordering a Flexion Extruder for semi flexibles and higher Temperature filaments to fit to it. The Ender/Flexion combo is close to 50% the cost of the Prusa.
The heater on mine is marked 24 V and 220 W. But the cold resistance is about 0.8 ohms. Yet another confirmation of ohms law.
So either the hot bed is mismarked or defective. I guess I'll be finding how the Chinese warranty works.
Creality direct has been good for the two issues I have had with the CR-10. Doesn't mean you get to the techie crew directly but the focus on the customer felt fairly good. Yesterday's Ender Pro I ordered from Crealities Drop Ship warehouse partly because of this ex Sydney as it was the same price as Aliexpress and due to some BS Tax changes cheaper than Gearbest and I haven't dealt with Bangood before.
Paypal or even your Credit Card is always a good backup depending on the issue too
I saw that the bed heater supply wiring is often a culprit. The plugs were said to be good enough.
More info on the Ender-3.
I watched that one a while back. 80 Parts extra most of which do nothing cable ties and junking the stock bowden fittings won't fix for $3.
The Pro version I have on the way is fitted with a Meanwell Supply and has had some other tweaks done to it so it should be interesting to compare to the original. Features for $ it is fairly hard to go past in the lower price bracket.
As to revues on Youtube all of them need to be taken with a grain of salt including this 'honest' one with the attached 'discount' coupon link. 'Free' revue printers seem to be the standard for youtube accounts over even 5k subscriptions and there is plenty of stilted ones out there to get another freebie one later it seems even Prusa ones have some punches pulled by reviewers.
I contracted a 3D illness this weekend and was watching videos covering some popular models, such as CR-10 and Tevo Little Monster. Are they worth considering yet?
The CR-10 almost always has good reviews, the Tevo was a bit mixed, but I kind of like the build of that one.
Any thoughts or suggestions? It's not something for which I have a direct need, just an interest, and it would mostly be for functional / somewhat structural parts, to complement my metal machine shop.
And to add, I really have no insight into the nuances of 3D printing, such as the types of heads, software workflows, etc. - just what I gleaned from an afternoon on youtube...
I have 3D Da Vinci 1.0 Pro and its powerful to create my action figure
So Part A arrived today from Sydney. Tiny compared to the CR10. Seems they have fixed the issue with the exposed grill below the front of the bed so no need for a print to fix it.
The 3D Printed base for the power supply is an abomination and worse than any print I have dne that reached completion
I will take it up with Creality and see how they respond to their
Power Supply is a Meanwell LRS-350-24 btw.
I started with the cr7 from amazon a bit more than a year ago. a month ago, I found an ender-3 for $199 and grabbed it.
its not bad and for the price, hard to beat. I dislike the lack of 2 z-steppers. it needs it. you can get print errors (dragging head across the print) when one z is higher than the other. the cr7 didn't need 2 z's but this ender 3 sized thing does. I hope there is a mod soon.
also, the print head is rather small. when I upgraded to one of the more standard hotends, I could print much faster. now that I'm back to the stock head, I print at 50% of what I'd want. its not bad quality, but its kind of slow if you want good prints.
I was thinking of belt drive for the second Z might be a decent option to keep it simple? I was considering this before purchase but thought I would give it a go first.
Had an initial reply offering to sort my problem within an hour of sending an evilbay message too
And in under 5 hours I have the STL from them Sliced it and printing on the CR-10S
You don't really need a second drive on the Ender 3. As long as it's properly assembled it should not be able to drop.
The X gantry seems to be able to be made solid with only the one drive by adjusting the wheels on either side. Minor glitch with mine the non drive end is sitting a few mm higher than the driven compared to the bed and frame. 10.30pm so a tomorrow job as it needs a disassembly of the gantry.
Random thing I didn't think to look at is bed levelling seems to be not on the firmware on the PRO? I know it can be added with a reflash but odd not to include it as far as I can see.
Other than that it is driving smoothly on all the axis.
Working through the Gearbest warranty dept on my issues. They are cooperative in many ways, but it could be just a slow slog to hoping I will go away. First step was they demanded a video of the fault. Video of it not powering on? Video less than 5 Mbytes. With good lighting and focus. I finally got a short video showing the thing not working and then drawing high current when powered through an auxiliary supply down to 5 Mbytes. My hat is off to you video bloggers, Dave especially. Got it uploaded (I think) through their not very user friendly process. They have now forwarded it to their technical experts for evaluation.
Meanwhile I am continuing to use the thing powered by the external supply. In answer to an earlier question - yes the bed does heat fast - well under three minutes though I haven't put a stop watch to it.
I am reminded daily how fussy these things can be. Make sure your table is rock solid. For convenience I set the printer on top of the external supply. It is an HP 6012A, a heavy monster of a boat anchor. But not solid enough. The platform was resonating all over the place and noticeably degrading print quality.
There are a myriad of print settings and minor and obscure changes can be the difference between trash output and something very nice. Geometry of the parts matters a lot. Settings that are good for a tall slender knob can be a complete fail for a box.
The photo shows one completed and functional knob next to a print that failed due to sitting on top of the power supply. (The dial ring was obviously not printed). This was one of the primary goals for purchasing this printer, and it is meeting my expectations on the better prints. Hopefully as I get things dialed in they will all be that good.
So my first Ender Pro print turned out to be a real Dog
Squared everything fairly carefully ran the bed in 50mm steps to 200mm and it was under 0.5mm on all 4 corners at each stop. Manually set the bed with paper at the corners and kicked off print number one for nearly 6 hours. Not very demanding but the uniformity of the surface is excellent, photos were either flash or strong overhead to show the finish. Release HOT from the magnetic bed was easy and I am sure cold would just about fall off.
Only mod other than the replacement PS case is replace the junk Bowden fittings and the Tube with Capricorn.
Flexion Extruder next week due to Australia Post
So printed a small lot of parts on the Ender Pro. Consider me impressed for the $$
Not sure if I like the textured finish on the bed but it does better match the other surfaces I suppose? Cranked out another box to test dimensions rather than a boring test cube. The lid printed on the CR-10S dropped straight in which given I gave it no tolerance between lid and box initially is pretty shmick. I may have a play with my first layer settings and see if I can improve the look on the bed.
Printed a few little add ons for the printer in spite of me giving the video above a bit of a rev. None of them mechanically change the printer they are cosmetic clips, tray and spool adaptors. So far mechanically it doesn't seem to need any.
Onto today's Fusion 360 project. Thin wall (0.8mm in places) tiny dual USB case playing with shells and lofts. I made a clunky dual output adaptor a while back using a commercial case (complete with foam tape for spacing
) for some decorative lighting running off a 12V supply. The adaptors are these
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Best-6-24V-12V-24V-to-5V-3A-Car-USB-Charger-Module-DC-Buck-Step-Down-Converter/162448848369?hash=item25d2b4b5f1:g:aL4AAOSwTM5Y21tE and available from a heap of suppliers.
STL Files below if anyone is interested and either CA or even a run of tape around the outside to hold them together. About an hour total print time, no supports and plenty strong for the job. Not a money or even a time saver but a better result than a commercial case could do.
*** Note Version 2 of the ZIP. minor issue fixed 2x 12 year old Scotch's does not make 12+1 = 12 -1 .....
If I budgeted $20/hour for time spent .....
Learned heaps on Fusion 360. My first real assembly drawing and design. I still think it is easier to draw separate components like the boxes above but I can see the benefits on more complex items to check clearance and fit.
Uses stock fans and wiring to the Hotend for the ender (or CR-10S) all I need extra is an extension for the extruder. Swapping it back to original or to the Flexion will be under 30 minutes.
3D printed fan carrier is split to save a heap of supports and you get a stronger part where needed. Splitting to the stepped profile was actually easy when I got around to it.
Aluminium insert is for extra heatsinking rather than strength the stock Flexion seems light on for the heat break.
Nozzle Fan Duct is a rip from Thingyverse as I have spent way to much time on this already. Printing tomorrow at this stage.
OK, the Ender 3 was $169+shipping and that made it time. It arrived the other day and assembly was OK.
I had to fuss a bit with the T-nuts and I ended up putting the supply side beam in facing the wrong direction. I installed the supply last and found out when installing the screws as they would not seat into the groove without the machined relief. I did not notice where they specified the screws so figured I'd find out by the leftovers. First print using Cura's default settings of some dog off thingiverse. Good thing I was made aware that the sample filament would only print 1/3 the test print.
I got something much smaller, about 25mm diameter, and here is the 1st test print, which is within my expectations. Not better nor worse. I hope it can do better though. It took about 12 minutes to print.
The tiny samples included with the Ender are pointless. When I got my CR-10 direct from Creality/Aliexpress it was sold with 200G standard and a good price on a 2kg add on for initial stocks of PLA.
Finalised (for now) the design of the mount. If I can be bothered I would include 3mm knurl nuts and blocks on the print for the main fan instead of nut and bolts. 2mm knurl nuts and extra mounts on the drawing/print for the part fan.
Wasn't happy with the fans I found and how they fitted around the heatblock/silicone so I decided to roll my own. Had to print it with 0.1mm layers to get the thin walls to work well but still under 2 hours. Version 2 being designed at present for easier printing.
So many more hours later
The sweep function on Fusion 360 is "Quirky"
I now have a high flow part cooling fan adaptor. Printed walls down to 0.6 in places so the unit was printed at 0.1 layer height. Printed with no supports flat on glass. Photo is pre tidy up.
Extruder is calibrated fairly close on PLA so after having to do some actual 'work' over the weekend I should fire it up properly tomorrow.
It doesn't look like the nozzle comes lower than the shroud, but perhaps that is just the picture?
My Ender 3 seems to hit the left X limit switch pretty hard. It slams the physical stop on homing. Is that normal?