iceman72 wrote:

Bottom line is that at the end of the day the Davinci line is junk loaded with issues and unless you want to deal with them stay away. Im selling my new one at a loss and still can't move it.

The bottom line is they are cheap machines and will require you to do a bit of work and/or have some technical abilities.  If you want something super simple open your wallet.

I have to agree. They are cheap, but under the hood they are a basic printer like all others. Some corners where cut but once you fix those it is a very syable, reliable, machine that is capable of .1 layers and using most folaments including wood, metal, and so on. Only reason I got rid of mine was space constraints . With my new CTC I can print bigger items in half the space the Da Vinci took up.

In the printer market you also get what you pay for. Dont spend $500 dollars and expect a Makerbot or machine that is plug and play and will work out of the box. I would never expect a sub $700 printer to print out of the box and be problem free.

This entire industry is still young and considered a hobby. A hobby in which you constantly tweak and fiddle with your machine improving it more and more as you go. The price points really only give you an idea of just how much fiddle and tweak your machine will require. Lower price equals naturally more work.

Bottom line is that at the end of the day the Davinci line is junk loaded with issues and unless you want to deal with them stay away. Im selling my new one at a loss and still can't move it.

The bottom line is they are cheap machines and will require you to do a bit of work and/or have some technical abilities.  If you want something super simple open your wallet.

nbw877 wrote:

carl_m1968 wrote:

Not sure why you would buy a Duo and try to print with PLA? It plainly says on the website and the box that the Duo can only use ABS. The extruder has the same design as the 1.0 it is simply a dual head. Without doing the same heatsinking mods and fan reposition mods as was done on the 1.0, you will not be able to print PLA on a Duo.

If PLA is not mentioned in a printers specs, then I would not just assume it can use PLA. PLA is very different from ABS in how it behaves at premelt temperatures.

Maybe because the 2.0A Duo which I purchased is capable of printing using both ABS and PLA as per the specs on Amazon.  See attach,meant.  The non EU XYZ site only lists the 2.0 Duo NOT the 2.0A which is PLA compatible.

Just found the manufacturer page for the 2.0A which clearly states it IS compatible with BOTH ABS and PLA

http://eu.xyzprinting.com/eu_en/Product/da-Vinci-2.0A

I think one of the contributing factors is the bed is only being heated to 45c when using PLA.  Seems a bit low to me.

You did not specify in your original post you had a 2.0A. The A makes a difference as the A designates the modrl as being compatible with XYZ brand PLA.

This section is for all XYZ printers world wide so please be specific with details.

You also dont normallyprint with PLA on a heated bed. High end Makerbots only print in PLA and they use a cool bed and blue painters tape. Glue stick may or may no be needed depending on the model size.

And you made an assumption I did not.

carl_m1968 wrote:

Not sure why you would buy a Duo and try to print with PLA? It plainly says on the website and the box that the Duo can only use ABS. The extruder has the same design as the 1.0 it is simply a dual head. Without doing the same heatsinking mods and fan reposition mods as was done on the 1.0, you will not be able to print PLA on a Duo.

If PLA is not mentioned in a printers specs, then I would not just assume it can use PLA. PLA is very different from ABS in how it behaves at premelt temperatures.

Maybe because the 2.0A Duo which I purchased is capable of printing using both ABS and PLA as per the specs on Amazon.  See attach,meant.  The non EU XYZ site only lists the 2.0 Duo NOT the 2.0A which is PLA compatible.

Just found the manufacturer page for the 2.0A which clearly states it IS compatible with BOTH ABS and PLA

http://eu.xyzprinting.com/eu_en/Product/da-Vinci-2.0A

I think one of the contributing factors is the bed is only being heated to 45c when using PLA.  Seems a bit low to me.

You did not specify in your original post you had a 2.0A. The A makes a difference as the A designates the modrl as being compatible with XYZ brand PLA.

This section is for all XYZ printers world wide so please be specific with details.

You also dont normallyprint with PLA on a heated bed. High end Makerbots only print in PLA and they use a cool bed and blue painters tape. Glue stick may or may no be needed depending on the model size.

carl_m1968 wrote:

Not sure why you would buy a Duo and try to print with PLA? It plainly says on the website and the box that the Duo can only use ABS. The extruder has the same design as the 1.0 it is simply a dual head. Without doing the same heatsinking mods and fan reposition mods as was done on the 1.0, you will not be able to print PLA on a Duo.

If PLA is not mentioned in a printers specs, then I would not just assume it can use PLA. PLA is very different from ABS in how it behaves at premelt temperatures.

Maybe because the 2.0A Duo which I purchased is capable of printing using both ABS and PLA as per the specs on Amazon.  See attach,meant.  The non EU XYZ site only lists the 2.0 Duo NOT the 2.0A which is PLA compatible.

Just found the manufacturer page for the 2.0A which clearly states it IS compatible with BOTH ABS and PLA

http://eu.xyzprinting.com/eu_en/Product/da-Vinci-2.0A

I think one of the contributing factors is the bed is only being heated to 45c when using PLA.  Seems a bit low to me.

It will work with davinci pla, davinci pla is special in some way.  I have a 1.0a that states compatible with pla, never worked with and normal pla until I modded it.
Also the best bet for pla is the bed heater turned off, use blue tape with glue sick on your bed. 

More than likely you will have to mid your printer to print pla, or return it and buy something more expensive.

How bad was the scanner?

Absolutely useless.  Simple figures which conformed to the stated requirements (non-glossy finish, bigger than the size requirement etc) scanned and most looked nothing at all like the original with appendages completely missing etc.  Just awful.

Not sure why you would buy a Duo and try to print with PLA? It plainly says on the website and the box that the Duo can only use ABS. The extruder has the same design as the 1.0 it is simply a dual head. Without doing the same heatsinking mods and fan reposition mods as was done on the 1.0, you will not be able to print PLA on a Duo.

If PLA is not mentioned in a printers specs, then I would not just assume it can use PLA. PLA is very different from ABS in how it behaves at premelt temperatures.

Maybe because the 2.0A Duo which I purchased is capable of printing using both ABS and PLA as per the specs on Amazon.  See attach,meant.  The non EU XYZ site only lists the 2.0 Duo NOT the 2.0A which is PLA compatible.

Just found the manufacturer page for the 2.0A which clearly states it IS compatible with BOTH ABS and PLA

http://eu.xyzprinting.com/eu_en/Product/da-Vinci-2.0A

I think one of the contributing factors is the bed is only being heated to 45c when using PLA.  Seems a bit low to me.

however I am running my aio on repetier now and am happy with its quality of prints. Looking back on it I wish I had got he 2.0 rather then the aio

Having just got in to 3D printing I bought an AiO last week and was so disappointed with the scanner swapped it for a Duo.  The AiO printed perfectly with zero issues with both ABS and PLA.  This Duo just will not print with PLA.  Continually giving Filament Jam errors on the second or third layer (2 to 3 mins) in to prints.  It's driving me nuts and about to send it back and may buy a Dreamer.  Although wondering whether they all give such issues and I'll end up with the same but for double the money.

How bad was the scanner? I had to stick with the version that came with my printer (1.1.18). When I used a updated version my scans were coming out really bad.

Having just got in to 3D printing I bought an AiO last week and was so disappointed with the scanner swapped it for a Duo.  The AiO printed perfectly with zero issues with both ABS and PLA.  This Duo just will not print with PLA.  Continually giving Filament Jam errors on the second or third layer (2 to 3 mins) in to prints.  It's driving me nuts and about to send it back and may buy a Dreamer.  Although wondering whether they all give such issues and I'll end up with the same but for double the money.

Not sure why you would buy a Duo and try to print with PLA? It plainly says on the website and the box that the Duo can only use ABS. The extruder has the same design as the 1.0 it is simply a dual head. Without doing the same heatsinking mods and fan reposition mods as was done on the 1.0, you will not be able to print PLA on a Duo.

If PLA is not mentioned in a printers specs, then I would not just assume it can use PLA. PLA is very different from ABS in how it behaves at premelt temperatures.

Thanks for the help.

When you take the extruder assembly out, you will see 4 wheels on a Da Vinci 2.0.  You will notice two are  brass (called the drive gear) and the other two are silver with a painted black and silver pattern (called idler gear).  There are 2 little black sensors labeled u1 and u2 that appear to count the revolutions of the idler gear. 

If I understand correctly the Da Vinci detects if there is a jam by rotating the drive gear which should push the filament down and the filament should spin the idler gear.  If the filament gets jammed then the drive gear will spin put the filament will not move and if the filament does not move then the idler will also not move.  The Da Vinci knows if the motor is spinning the drive gear but the idler gear is not moving then there is a problem.

One of my idler gears looked funny so I was working on swapping the two, but I lost the retaining clip.

That would be correct. So either the idler is not turning or thr machine thinks it is not turning because it is not receiving a pulse from the sensor at regular intervals. That could be a bad or loose wire from the circuit board in the head.

If I understand correctly the Da Vinci detects if there is a jam by rotating the drive gear which should push the filament down and the filament should spin the idler gear.  If the filament gets jammed then the drive gear will spin put the filament will not move and if the filament does not move then the idler will also not move.  The Da Vinci knows if the motor is spinning the drive gear but the idler gear is not moving then there is a problem.

One of my idler gears looked funny so I was working on swapping the two, but I lost the retaining clip.