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SoliForum - 3D Printing Community → 3D Printer Discussion → How consistent is your SD at printing?
Probably the biggest thing preventing me from buying a SD3 over a Up Mini is the worry of printing perfectly one day, than having to re-calibrate the printer prior to printing the next day.
Do you find that once your printer is calibrated you have to make adjustments to get consistent prints?
How often would I expect to re-tension belts, re-tighten screws, re-level the bed, etc?
Many Thanks.
I have several SD's and a few other printers and I would have to say they are all about the same when it comes to aligning and calibrating... the only time my SD's need z adjustment is when I am really rough getting a print off of them or I happen to drop a printer while transporting it. Other calibrations for filament only change when either filament properties change or local environment changes this is the same for all of my printers. The main trick no matter if your printer is an SD, UP, or whatever is recognizing whether you have a calibration issue or something else so you don't waste time and money chasing shadows or untamed geese.
I have several SD's and a few other printers and I would have to say they are all about the same when it comes to aligning and calibrating... the only time my SD's need z adjustment is when I am really rough getting a print off of them or I happen to drop a printer while transporting it. Other calibrations for filament only change when either filament properties change or local environment changes this is the same for all of my printers. The main trick no matter if your printer is an SD, UP, or whatever is recognizing whether you have a calibration issue or something else so you don't waste time and money chasing shadows or untamed geese.
+1
I calibrated the printer the first day I got it and the last calibration related thing I have done was 3 months ago and it was adjusting the bed height. I am always printing something every other day.
A Solidoodle's consistency at printing is pretty good if there is never any user error. The Repetier software allows you full control of the printer, which is a good thing only sometimes. I've accidentally left my nozzle up to temperature resulting in a clog. I've run the printer too quickly, resulting in shifted layers on prints. Overall, it is actually much better to use than I expected. Once you figure out the machines little nuances, then it is a very consistent machine.
That being said, my school just got an Ultimaker 2...
Everything dealing with that machine puts my Solidoodle to shame. It DOES print right out of the box. The calibration is minimal and guided by the graphic OLED display. The whole machine was up and printing in less than 15 minutes. My Solidoodle took a few hours by comparison. Keep in mind however that my Solidoodle 3 was $799 and the Ultimaker 2 is around $2500. What you put into the machine is what you get out of it. Be that time or money, both can yield the same result.
Mine is very consistent. I spent a long time figuring out how to get the bed really level, but it seems to have stayed quite level once I got it dialed in. The Z-stop screw does seem to move on its own a bit more than any other setting.
If you are fooling with the microcode, I found I had to constantly reprogram the eeprom settings which get reset back to factory when it thinks you have loaded new microcode. Not hard to do, but easy to forget till you see the horrible first print after loading new microcode :-).
Mine is very consistent. I spent a long time figuring out how to get the bed really level, but it seems to have stayed quite level once I got it dialed in. The Z-stop screw does seem to move on its own a bit more than any other setting.
If you are fooling with the microcode, I found I had to constantly reprogram the eeprom settings which get reset back to factory when it thinks you have loaded new microcode. Not hard to do, but easy to forget till you see the horrible first print after loading new microcode :-).
A little blue lock tight on that Z-screw works wonders and it is still adjustable.
SoliForum - 3D Printing Community → 3D Printer Discussion → How consistent is your SD at printing?
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