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Post by jennifer on Mar 9, 2016 8:50:53 GMT
Did a search on thingiverse and the Wanhao Duplicator i3 has a ton of mods wow. I think I"m just gonna get this one. It's opensource, upgradeable, repairable.. only $349 and have 30 days to return it if it is problematic. Wanhao Duplicator i3 is a RepRap printer.. but better than the other RepRap pritners you see with an acrylic frame.. This is metal
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Post by jennifer on Mar 9, 2016 9:29:41 GMT
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Post by adamsouza on Mar 9, 2016 14:22:24 GMT
I have decided to buy it, but I've decided to wait a month. Reading all those posts here about 3D printers has definitely infected me with enthusiam to buy it, but at the same time a healthy reality check as to how much work it is going to entail. It seems that 3D printers are less plug and play than I initially thought, requiring a steep learning curve. Juggling quite a few things in my life at the moment and I thought it best to resolve a few of them before starting a new time intensive hobby. Operating with a limited amount of free time, how can I hope to learn to print and modify 3D designs while I still have 3 seasons of House of Cards and Daredevil Season 2 to get through ? Looks like a Glass Build Plate, lock nuts, and printed wing nuts are pretty standard upgrades and leveling the build plate every 3 or so prints are the burden you deal with when you only pay $350 for a 3D printer. Seems worth it to me. My family and I are going on a trip mid-April and I plan on ordering my Maker Select once we get back.
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Post by jennifer on Mar 9, 2016 14:26:30 GMT
I have decided to buy it, but I've decided to wait a month. Reaiding all those posts here about 3D printers has definitely infected me with enthusiam to buy it, but at the same time a healthy reality check as to how much work it is going to entail. It seems that 3D printers are less plug and play than I initially thought, requiring a steep learning curve. Juggling quite a few things in my life at the moment and I thought it best to resolve a few of them before starting a new time intensive hobby.of House of Cards and Daredevil Season 2 to get through ? Operating with a limited amount of free time, how can I hope to learn to print and modify 3D designs while I still have 3 seasons Looks like a Glass Build Plate, lock nuts, and printed wing nuts are pretty standard upgrades and leveling the build plate every 3 or so prints are the burden you deal with when you only pay $350 for a 3D printer. Seems worth it to me. My family and I are going on a trip mid-April and I plan on ordering my Maker Select once we get back. Replying in the other thread dmscraft.proboards.com/post/51867/thread
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Post by curufin on Mar 18, 2016 22:29:49 GMT
My printer has been trying to commit seppuku since yesterday. Im having a problem with the x-axis stepper motor. It keeps jamming, but I dont see any physical things it could be getting stuck on. It is probably some sort of controller issue. I called support, but it is friday, so there was no answer after 30min of being on hold. Not sure what is going to happen... I'm past the 30 day return deadline...
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Post by jennifer on Mar 19, 2016 4:02:55 GMT
My printer has been trying to commit seppuku since yesterday. Im having a problem with the x-axis stepper motor. It keeps jamming, but I dont see any physical things it could be getting stuck on. It is probably some sort of controller issue. I called support, but it is friday, so there was no answer after 30min of being on hold. Not sure what is going to happen... I'm past the 30 day return deadline... Did you do a lot of google searches for the problem? Maybe you can run into someone that has had this problem before? What stepper motor does it use Nema 17? They are like $10 a piece. I bet you'll figure out the problem. I am guessing it'd be something more mechanical .. controller board isn't mechanical and can't jam... it's just digital logic that tells the motor what to do. EDIT: check the wiring to the motor -- see if it is loose or damaged. Also check the wiring to the x end stop switch.
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Post by jennifer on Mar 20, 2016 15:57:09 GMT
I just want to say that Monoprice Maker Architect 3D you have curufin, is one sweet machine. I have yet to get the detail on my Wanhao that machine provided me. It could be the slicer I am not sure. How is Simplify3D compared to Makerbot Desktop? Which slicer gives you the most detailed prints at .1 layer height? I printed a bookshelf at .1 layer height and not getting the woodgrain detail much on the sides that I was getting on the Architect 3D (with Makerbot Desktop). It could be I have some cura settings wrong though.. plus I have much more tuning and mods to do to the printer I just got. I also read that the ARchitect 3D can be upgraded to dual extruder.. maybe not that hard to do? Maybe affordable? I"d look into it. I think then you'd select the dual head printer option in Makerbot Desktop (but you're using Simplify 3D .. so there is probalby an option for dual head in that too I am guessing?) Also lots of mods available for your printer. I think you sohould be able to keep that printer running indefinitely with a little work. I mean the founders of Makerbot were heavily involved with the REpRap community (which started it all) before forming their own company. So they borrowed a lot from the OpenSource community. The first 3D printer that was availabe to the masses was a RepRap kit sold as "Rapman 3D" in 2009. Makerbot formed in 2009. But you probably already knew all this
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Post by curufin on Mar 20, 2016 18:35:42 GMT
I did some reading about my stepper motor problem. There are 4 common issues that could be causing it. 1) a break in the wiring that controls the motor. 2) Motor control wires wrapped with power cables. 3) Overheating stepper motor. 4) Not enough power coming from the motherboard.
I pulled the stepper motor control wires and tested continuity across all legs and couldnt find a break. I reconnected it, this time running the wires on the outside of the printer. All the stepper motors get hot, so it's hard to say what "overheating" is.
So far, I haven't had anymore jamming.... but I have only run very short (small) prints. I will try to get a hold of support tomorrow.
As far as slicers go: Simplify 3D is the Oxford Professor of slicer programs. Makerbot Desktop is a High School dropout by comparison. That does not mean that MD is a bad slicer. I was able to print minis of beautiful quality. I just mean it is incredible basic with very few options. Cura has a ton more options than MD but still doesn't have a quarter of the options S3D has. S3D lets me control every aspect of a print. It is powerful and fast. But the thing I like even more is the rafts and supports are extremely easy to remove compared to MD. I can also add or subtract every single support a model might require.
I really don't have any interest in a dual extruder. Pretty much everything I print will be painted, so filament color really doesn't matter to me. Plus it just seems like I would be increasing the number of things that could go wrong with an extruder by 100%.
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Post by jennifer on Mar 20, 2016 19:49:16 GMT
Good your stepper motor isn't having problems now, maybe it was just a loose connection.
I'm glad you're getting all the detail with Simplify3D that you were getting with MakerBot Desktop. I don't know why my sides and tops of bookshelf are almost perfectly smooth with Cura & Wanhao.
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Post by curufin on Mar 20, 2016 22:24:56 GMT
So, I finally started to design models in the computer. This was always a big reason I was getting a printer...to be able to create my own works. I tried Blender, but after watching several hours of tutorials, I still couldn't draw a line. It was just not intuitive for me. SketchUp was okay, but I don't like the idea of not owning the rights to things I create. Even though most things will end up as an open source files, not owning my creations doesn't sit well with me. I am now using Inventor. I have always been a cocktail napkin and crayon designer, but I have taken many AutoCad classes....so I can at least wrap my head around it. I have decided to start by building a complete 28mm tournament set. Jousting list, archery field, sword ring, commoner stands, royal box, fences, etc. I figure there will be lots of little parts and pieces that I will be able to build... and learn as I go... To start off, I built a list fence. I don't like it, so I'm going to redesign it. I will likely use this fence as the surrounding fences. I also made a lance rack and removable lance for each end of the list.
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Post by jennifer on Mar 20, 2016 22:50:39 GMT
Wow, that's pretty darn impressive! Looks like you're pretty darn 'puter savvy after all! Is that wood grain I see on that rack?! If so how did ya do that!? Looks great!
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Post by curufin on Mar 20, 2016 23:01:24 GMT
Wow, that's pretty darn impressive! Looks like you're pretty darn 'puter savvy after all! Is that wood grain I see on that rack?! If so how did ya do that!? Looks great! Thanks. That is wood grain on the outside of the rack. I had to back extrude each line in. It took a bit of time to do.
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Post by jennifer on Mar 21, 2016 0:23:50 GMT
Wow, that's pretty darn impressive! Looks like you're pretty darn 'puter savvy after all! Is that wood grain I see on that rack?! If so how did ya do that!? Looks great! Thanks. That is wood grain on the outside of the rack. I had to back extrude each line in. It took a bit of time to do. Not sure what back extruding is.
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Post by curufin on Mar 21, 2016 0:42:51 GMT
Basically, in Inventor, your draw everything as a 2D sketch and then extrude the 3rd dimension. So for the wood boards I extruded the side as a whole piece, then back extruded (extruded in the opposite direction) the lines to separate each board.
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Post by jennifer on Mar 21, 2016 6:57:12 GMT
Just out of curiosity, I asked in the RepRap group if the Maker Architect 3D could be changed over to RAMPS 1.4 and I was told yes.
So if your motherboard ever breaks you can still use the case, motors, extruder, heater, fans & hardware.. just switch the motherboard over to an arduino mega / ramps 1.4 configuration and upload a subtly tweaked firmware. The arduino mega / ramps 1.4 kit is like $25 on ebay right now. Firmware for it is Marlin and is opensource and free. THe machine would then use gcode not x3g. Might have to change out the display and/or control panel, not sure though.. maybe they'd both work.. I bet the Marlin source code could be modified for it (maybe a simple change of a few lines in the header files).
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Post by Meph on Mar 21, 2016 9:54:34 GMT
Nice job curufin. I can't seem to wrap my head around Blender either yet. It's very counter intuitive imo. I do have a free year of Autocad Fusion 360 which I haven't started yet, maybe i'll check it out. I used to use Autocad many years ago so maybe it will be easier for me to pickup. Your jousting set looks great.
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Post by jennifer on Mar 21, 2016 12:08:06 GMT
Nice job curufin . I can't seem to wrap my head around Blender either yet. It's very counter intuitive imo. I do have a free year of Autocad Fusion 360 which I haven't started yet, maybe i'll check it out. I used to use Autocad many years ago so maybe it will be easier for me to pickup. Your jousting set looks great. BLender isn't the greatest for designing stuff.. I like stetckup better for that. But then you can export to STL from whatever CAD program you use then import that STL into blender. Then sculpt in Blender if you like. Scuplting features are wonderful in Blender.. Sketchup sucks for that purpose. e.g. texturing bricks, tiles, etc.. Making a miniture would be crazy hard in a CAD program compared to a sculpting program like Blender / Sculptris / Z Brush etc..
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Post by curufin on Mar 21, 2016 12:16:47 GMT
Nice job curufin . I can't seem to wrap my head around Blender either yet. It's very counter intuitive imo. I do have a free year of Autocad Fusion 360 which I haven't started yet, maybe i'll check it out. I used to use Autocad many years ago so maybe it will be easier for me to pickup. Your jousting set looks great. BLender isn't the greatest for designing stuff.. I like stetckup better for that. But then you can export to STL from whatever CAD program you use then import that STL into blender. Then sculpt in Blender if you like. Scuplting features are wonderful in Blender.. Sketchup sucks for that purpose. e.g. texturing bricks, tiles, etc.. Making a miniture would be crazy hard in a CAD program compared to a sculpting program like Blender / Sculptris etc.. Maybe that was the problem. I am learning Inventor for structures...but I couldn't figure out how to do textures like stone. I may have to treat it like Batman and Robin to get the best of both worlds. Though my track record isn't that great for keep multiple programs straight in my head.
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Post by l7arkness on Mar 21, 2016 12:55:47 GMT
BLender isn't the greatest for designing stuff.. I like stetckup better for that. But then you can export to STL from whatever CAD program you use then import that STL into blender. Then sculpt in Blender if you like. Scuplting features are wonderful in Blender.. Sketchup sucks for that purpose. e.g. texturing bricks, tiles, etc.. Making a miniture would be crazy hard in a CAD program compared to a sculpting program like Blender / Sculptris etc.. Maybe that was the problem. I am learning Inventor for structures...but I couldn't figure out how to do textures like stone. I may have to treat it like Batman and Robin to get the best of both worlds. Though my track record isn't that great for keep multiple programs straight in my head. Im very pro inventor but adding texture is not it strong suit like you said im going to try mudbox or max next and see if its something that will work
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Post by curufin on Mar 22, 2016 1:53:33 GMT
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