Electronics > Manufacturing & Assembly

Have 3d printers changed much in the last few years?

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e100:
Or are things basically stuck where they were 5 years ago, at least in the hobby/professional crossover price bracket?
For example, is mechanical closed loop control a common feature or still a rare thing to see?
Do you still need to do endless fiddling/tuning to avoid failed prints?

ataradov:
I'm not sure about "grown up" models, but I've got some random mini 3D printer (Entina Tina 2) on sale for $130 last year. It works flawlessly. I did not have to tune anything and I never had a failed print that was not my fault. It would be sad if basically  toy actually works better than pro stuff.

It is also pretty awesome to have a 3D printer. I did not think I would use it as much as I do.

Berni:
Yep the good hobby 3D printer are still the same nice machines they ware 5 years ago. The difference is that you can get a decent machine for even cheaper now.

We have a Prusa mk2 going here for over 5 years, It has likely eaten trough enough as much filament as an average person weighs. Still running fine to this day. It had some upgrades (better linear rails, magnetic bed etc..) but those upgrades probably have over 5 years of time on them too. It needed minimal maintenance and if it does fail a print, it is usually because the user did something wrong.

Why do you need closed loop control on a 3D printer? If the print head hit something so hard it lost steps then something has gone seriously wrong and you should stop printing (that these days printers can detect trough lost step detection).

e100:

--- Quote from: Berni on February 01, 2023, 06:42:17 am ---Why do you need closed loop control on a 3D printer? If the print head hit something so hard it lost steps then something has gone seriously wrong and you should stop printing (that these days printers can detect trough lost step detection).

--- End quote ---

I saw this picture on Reddit that was posted today https://i.redd.it/49a3x9zamhfa1.jpg
which shows a complete inability to detect basic positional errors. I was really hoping that stuff like this would be a distant memory.

ataradov:
I guess it might be a bigger problem for large print volumes.

I don't remember seeing any printers with servos. But apart from people that try to push the printers to their absolute extent, it does not seem to be an issue. The most of the improvement that happened in the recent years was slicing software. It is way more sophisticated and can generate G-code that is easy on the hardware. So, there seems to be no push for closed loop the hardware.

And usually the hardware is pretty flimsy on those things, so if something collides and servo motor tries to force it into position, it might cause more damage.

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