Ontopic The 3D printing thread

Printers don't take up much space. @kiwi is rockin' one of these things, 99% of the stuff I print could be done on this printer, and it's a well built machine that won't turn into a project like mine or @Jehannum's chinese compromises.

Amazon product ASIN B073ZLSMFT
Buy a cheap roll of PLA to go with it. Then just follow Makers Muse on youtube for some Fusion tutorials.
IDK, I've been overall really happy with the Creality Ender 3. It's got a much bigger build volume than the mini, and I've used all of it.
 
Hey @gee, dumb question about using the arduino to do the autoleveling thing on the printer: does the arduino stay permanently attached to the mainboard, or do I load the firmware to the arduino, and it does the thing to flash it, and I'm done?
 
Your printer's control board pretends to be an arduino, and uses the standard arduino bootloader. You compile Marlin like it's a sketch, and upload it to the printer, and you're done.

This guide looks spot on:

 
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Something to add to this: they're using some sort of gadget that plugs into one of the AUX headers and taps power/ground/servo signals for the BLtouch, so you don't need to cut/solder/whatever.

There's probably a guide somewhere that has you soldering onto the backside of the motherboard. Rather than hacking off the end of the BLtouch harness, I'd probably get a few bits of different colored hookup wire and a 3-way .100" header and make something you can plug/unplug.
 
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I'd recommend vanilla Marlin over whatever the fuck "TH3D unified firmware is".

Which knowing Tim, is probably just Marlin firmware with the configuration.h file set up for the printer and TH3D written all over it.
 
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Got an Ultimaker 2 apart on the workbench. Belongs to the guy who runs Eurekatec, the tech shop I did the donair ornament thing with last christmas.

Dude started his business with this printer. He decided "I'm gonna buy a 3D printer, and 3D print things for people for money!" and set up a 3dhubs page for himself. Less than 3 years later he's taken over half a strip mall, has a print farm and laser cutters/engravers, a storefront selling 3D printers and filament and electronic components, and he's about to get a filament extruder delivered.

Anyway, the Y motor driver burnt out and toasted the Y axis motor. Got a new motor installed in the printer, and now I'm replacing the motor driver chip.
 
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Looks like it needs some tweaks, but it gets a decent amount of love from the reviewers.
40% off isnt bad either.
https://www.woot.com/offers/sainsmart-x-creality-ender-3-3d-printer
That's the one I have. I have very few complaints.
Specifically:
1) the bed is levelled on 4 screws instead of 3, which is problematic for getting consistent tension on the bed levelling springs.
2) Because of 1, there's often subtle deformities in the bed (which is aluminum and thin)
3) the Y axis (front to back) is on a single 2020 rail instead of, as I would prefer, 2 of them.
4) the Y and Z axes are on some fairly soft rollers, with an eccentric bolt that tensions one on each side, so it's easy to deform the roller in a way that a) makes it difficult for the steppers to do their jobs, and b) can permanently deform the rollers making the platform unstable.

All of those things are readily fixable, and the print quality is pretty nice.
 
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When you get the BLTouch sensor on there, replace those springs/screws on the bed with metal standoffs and never look back.
 
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I've really grown to appreciate the Ultimaker's motion system. Building a CoreXY was always on my list of fun things to do, but throwing together an Ultimaker using aluminum extrusions would be pretty easy, and there's already a bunch of projects online from people who have done it.

Big advantage is you can have crazy acceleration/jerk settings and rip the print head around like nobody's business, way quicker than you can move a bed back and forth with a print on it.