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Thats why I have put off getting one for a long time, I've got too much stuff thats just giving dust, I tend to buy these sorts of things, unpack them, use them for a few hours, then put them away meaning to get them out again when I have some free time....


thats pretty much what happened here

 
creality CR10S

its sitting gathering more dust than it should though


Shame Andy, that one looks interesting price wise.

I might need to do a bit of research, as I have a few things that I could use it to make.

Moving on from there, anyone bought one of these small DIY CNC routers or a laser cutter / engraver?

 
Moving on from there, anyone bought one of these small DIY CNC routers or a laser cutter / engraver?


Don't go there SW, you'll only give yourself nightmares about the safety of the machines as they come supplied....

 
I’ve been itching to get one of these for a long time!

Didn’t realise the difference in prices, the ones in the “Corner Shop” of Mr @kerching, are reasonable, but expensive in comparison to others!

So, we know which one @Onoff has.

@NozSpark, @Andy™, what makes/models have you guys?


My first printer was a Creality Ender 3 pro..... its a good little printer, has great user forums and parts are easily accessible.... however while its relatively cheap, it isn’t very good value for money, it has a reasonably small print volume and it’s very noisy (lots of people mod them to reduce the noise)

... my second printer is an Artillery Sidewinder X1.... has a 300x300x400 print volume, glass bed as standard, dual synchronised z steppers, stronger bed springs, thicker frame, inductive endstop sensors direct drive, a volcano style hot end, a LCD touch screen and it’s much, much quieter then the E3pro..... and I got mine for £325...... which is only £119 more than I paid for my E3pro

Needless to say, my X1 is no longer stock.... I’ve upgraded the fans to 5015’s, put a magnetic steel PEI flex plate on it and upgraded the firmware to Marlin 1.1.9 with mesh bed levelling 

X1 on the left and E3pro on the right

271AAD47-7ACC-46E1-B1A7-C266105FC307.jpeg

Moving on from there, anyone bought one of these small DIY CNC routers or a laser cutter / engraver?


You  can get a laser engraver mod for most 3d printers.........

 
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Currently printing the revised Makita to Ferrex adapter with "crossover" channels for the copper strips to change the polarity. Just adding the embossed MAK2FER each side puts a couple more hours on the print.

unknown.png

 
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@Onoff are you printing it in that orientation??? It looks like you’d need supports otherwise


Yes, printing it upright as per the CAD render. Supports are therefore minimal.

Mine is currently printing a holder for suet blocks..... it’s not 100% dialled in right now as I’ve just changed the firmware back to 1.1.9 from 2.0.3 which was buggy as hell

View attachment 10803


What material are you printing in?

 
Seeing Noz questioning the oreintation of the part being made by Onoff, it strikes me having had a toy bought for the granddaughter by her uncle to be (my daughter no. 2’s fiance) which broke when she hit something with it (It was a Thor’s hammer replica), that these parts rely on orientation a lot for their strength?

Much like wood.

I think the error with the Thor’s hammer print was the whole thing was printed as one, with the handle vertical, thus each layer of the handle was a cross section waiting to break, where as if it had been printed with the hammer handle horizontal, it might have needed something to support the handle but it would have been much much stronger, or would that not be possible?

That is if you can picture what I mean, the hammer laying down with its handle on the ground would be stronger than the handle vertically up in the air

 
that these parts rely on orientation a lot for their strength?

Much like wood.


Not a bad analogy to think of wood grain equating to layers. Layer orientation is important but it's a bit more complicated than that. Each successive layer in effect bonds into the last. In fact there's a technique called "ironing" for smoothing the last/top layer whereby the hot end is "pushed" into the proceeding layer and sort of remelts the lot.

The infill ratio is interesting. Think 100% infill is 100% solid plastic. 50% infill is half the weight. You can have two pieces that look identical but one is a tenth of the weight. There's a skin around the infill that provides a tough outer shell. 

This is a failed fridge handle in PLA that went haywire. Good for seeing the thick outer skin and the structure of the infill:

20200627_190117.jpg

I can't break this btw and I'm a big lad.

 
What material are you printing in?
That's just some Grey Technology Outlet PLA.... 

I'm really impressed with the bridging....largest one there is 30mm.... my 1st attempt had the printer printing in mid air at the ends,,, it managed quite well

.... and as for orientation.... it's important for strength and for minimising supports (if you can)

 
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The infill ratio is interesting. Think 100% infill is 100% solid plastic. 50% infill is half the weight. You can have two pieces that look identical but one is a tenth of the weight. There's a skin around the infill that provides a tough outer shell. 


I've seen it said that 100% infill can actually be weaker than 50%.... 100% takes a lot of the flexibility out of a print

 
I've seen it said that 100% infill can actually be weaker than 50%.... 100% takes a lot of the flexibility out of a print
not needed to print anything with 100%, but general consensus seems to be increasing top / bottom layers to more than the height is stronger than 100% infill

 
The PLA printed here has been from Flash Forge, Anycubic, RS Pro and Steadytech.

Couldn't get 1kg reels at the height of Covid so got 3 300g reels of black from Steadytech. Two of the reels suffered multiple breakages pre / during printing. This RS Pro on there at the moment seems pretty good. 

Really want to crack ABS printing but it's a bit of a pig at the mo.

 
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