1 Topic by lbcr1

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Topic: BEWARE CTC PRINTER

didnt see this posted anywhere. 


i just purchased a ctc printer off ebay and what i got was a CTC USB+ this version has a usb lock you have to put in a usb dongle that has a time limit on it. once the timer runs out you must buy another dongle for more time. without  the dongle the printer will not work. if you put the dongle in a pc you will fry it and have to buy another.

from their website 10.00 get you an hour of print time . if you buy a roll of filament you get 150 hours of print time.
no ebay sellers that i have seen are advertising this as a usb+ printer with time lock dongle.  dont know if you can change the mighty board or not. mine didnt have the usb dongle so i have a dead printer till i can contact tech support.

i would stay away from CTC I would have if i had known.

just beware

2 Reply by carl_m1968 (edited by carl_m1968 2015-08-12 00:57:13)

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Re: BEWARE CTC PRINTER

lbcr1 wrote:

didnt see this posted anywhere. 


i just purchased a ctc printer off ebay and what i got was a CTC USB+ this version has a usb lock you have to put in a usb dongle that has a time limit on it. once the timer runs out you must buy another dongle for more time. without  the dongle the printer will not work. if you put the dongle in a pc you will fry it and have to buy another.

from their website 10.00 get you an hour of print time . if you buy a roll of filament you get 150 hours of print time.
no ebay sellers that i have seen are advertising this as a usb+ printer with time lock dongle.  dont know if you can change the mighty board or not. mine didnt have the usb dongle so i have a dead printer till i can contact tech support.

i would stay away from CTC I would have if i had known.

just beware


There is nothing wrong with CTC printers. In fact they are getting very high reviews. However because of thid several companies are taking advantage of the name and making their own version under the CTC name. Case in point yours. None of the legit CTC printers have such a lock or even have a place you could plug in a USB dongle.

In your case I would suggest flashing to sailfish firmware. That should take  care of mr. Dongle.

Mine is all metal but not official CTC either since CTCPRINTERS.com do not advertise an all metal version. The catch with mine is due to the board version and USB chip installed it will only work on Windows Vista or lower.

I have a vista laptop so that is no big deal.

Just ask questions before you buy, especially ask if they are an authorized retailer for CTC PRINTERS.

Printing since 2009 and still love it!
Anycubic 4MAX best $225 ever invested.
Voxelabs Proxima SLA. 6 inch 2k Mono LCD.
Anycubic Predator, massive Delta machine. 450 x 370 print envelope.

3 Reply by lbcr1 (edited by lbcr1 2015-08-12 01:12:17)

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Re: BEWARE CTC PRINTER

i actually went to  the official CTC printer website and if you look under the filaments it actually says  150hours 1kg filament. but if you look at the list of their printers non of them say usb+

here is the filament and in the description it says 150 hours printing time. they have 2 filaments one has print time and the other does not have a print time in the description

http://www.ctcprinter.com/product_detail.php?ProId=21

so unless thats not the real CTC site i would say they have changed the machine and are not advertising this locked print time.
cause all the reviews i have read and videos i have watched nobody has mentioned the USB lock only when i started researching why the machine didnt work did i start finding out about the usb lock. mine didnt have the usb dongle so i have to contact support to get one.


from what i have found is nobody has been able to change the firmware there is no reset button on the back and no pinouts atleast thats what i have read. definatly no reset button by the power plug.


just beware for anyone looking at getting the CTC find out if its the USB+ your getting or not

4 Reply by carl_m1968 (edited by carl_m1968 2015-08-12 01:48:40)

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Re: BEWARE CTC PRINTER

None of their printers list a USB stick included with them. Did you buy from them or ebay. If from eBay post the ad here. I would like to see if it is the same as mine. We had a guy here for a while that said his needed a USB stick plugged in for it to even operate so his must be like yours. Mine is the one thry now advertise as the Biss II. But I got mine on ebay from a seller that claimed to be the CTC manufacturer. Mine does not have a place to plug in a stick. In fact I have stripped mine down to the mainboard and through a little tesearch have found mine is a direct clone of the Flashforge  Creator. Even said FF creator at start up on the LCD. Mine also now runs on Sailfish as it does have a reset button.

I know it seems coincidental to you but all spools of filament regardless of brand only has 150 hours worth of filament on the roll. I think they just state that as a known metric.

Printing since 2009 and still love it!
Anycubic 4MAX best $225 ever invested.
Voxelabs Proxima SLA. 6 inch 2k Mono LCD.
Anycubic Predator, massive Delta machine. 450 x 370 print envelope.

5 Reply by lbcr1 (edited by lbcr1 2015-08-12 02:47:36)

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Re: BEWARE CTC PRINTER

im contacting the seller about the usb key and will call ctc. the printer came with a roll of pla so it should of had a usb key.
i hate being forced to use their filament. in order to use a different company's filament i would have to buy a key with hours on it and then buy the filament i want to use. im trying to find out if i can just get a different mighty board and swap it so i dont have to use a usb key. the pictures on the ctc website dont show the usb key port on the side.

here is the ad his pictures dont show the usb port on the side where the sdcard goes

http://www.ebay.com/itm/CTC-3D-Printer- … 35ee53ac28

seller contacted me and is going to give me a new main board that does not have the usb key and i just have to swap it and send back the board thats in it now.

6 Reply by carl_m1968

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Re: BEWARE CTC PRINTER

Yep no mention anywhere and sounds like mine to some extent. This is the one I got.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/380999998528?_t … EBIDX%3AIT

As for a new board, yes any mightyboard or clone will work. Several are listed on ebay and if you want parts here in the US, checkout http://unclechucks3dprinterstuff.com he sells parts mainly for Flashforge but CTC printers are direct clones of Flashforge which is a direct clone of Makerbot.

Printing since 2009 and still love it!
Anycubic 4MAX best $225 ever invested.
Voxelabs Proxima SLA. 6 inch 2k Mono LCD.
Anycubic Predator, massive Delta machine. 450 x 370 print envelope.

7 Reply by eduardogarcia3049

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Re: BEWARE CTC PRINTER

I have a CTC and it has no USB. Has a reset button as well.
This seems like a scam that you would have to buy time to print. You already paid for the printer.

8 Reply by grob

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Re: BEWARE CTC PRINTER

http://3dprintboard.com/showthread.php? … 3D-Printer

Sounds like it's a new issue. Not clear whether it is actually CTC or some kind of clone company though. Definitely not advertised anywhere. Re-flash your board with a clean copy of sailfish (might need an ISP programmer) and you should be golden.

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9 Reply by n-train

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Re: BEWARE CTC PRINTER

Now I am worried, as I have one of these being delivered, in the UK, in the next couple of days.

Web...........: http://www.n-train.co.uk
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10 Reply by carl_m1968

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Re: BEWARE CTC PRINTER

n-train wrote:

Now I am worried, as I have one of these being delivered, in the UK, in the next couple of days.

If yours has a picture of logo showing that is printed on the back of the build platform then you may be safe. It looks to me that the fake ctc printers hide the logo in pictures or just dont have it or it is not correct.

Printing since 2009 and still love it!
Anycubic 4MAX best $225 ever invested.
Voxelabs Proxima SLA. 6 inch 2k Mono LCD.
Anycubic Predator, massive Delta machine. 450 x 370 print envelope.

11 Reply by n-train

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Re: BEWARE CTC PRINTER

The one I ordered does have the CTC logo in the pictures

I have been looking at Cura and it seems to suggest that it will work with a Replicator 2, and these machines are supposed to be clones.......

Web...........: http://www.n-train.co.uk
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Shop..........: http://stores.ebay.co.uk/N-TrainUK
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12 Reply by carl_m1968

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Re: BEWARE CTC PRINTER

n-train wrote:

The one I ordered does have the CTC logo in the pictures

I have been looking at Cura and it seems to suggest that it will work with a Replicator 2, and these machines are supposed to be clones.......


The one I have which was a flat out clone and had no need for a USB key had a logo that looks like this.

CT'c

I believe they are the real company and the others are knock offs of this Flashforge knock off.

Printing since 2009 and still love it!
Anycubic 4MAX best $225 ever invested.
Voxelabs Proxima SLA. 6 inch 2k Mono LCD.
Anycubic Predator, massive Delta machine. 450 x 370 print envelope.

13 Reply by n-train

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Re: BEWARE CTC PRINTER

My machine arrived and it is branded as a CT'c and no dongle.

The 2 screws to hold the head in place were a pain to fit, but managed it. Have manage to print the test cube, and now having a go at something of my own.

The "English" manual, on the SD card, is very difficult reading.

I will now have to look at the various settings, to see what I can calibrate, to give best possible results.

Will be ordering some soluble support material shortly, as some of the stuff I am interested in doing have overhangs.

Web...........: http://www.n-train.co.uk
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14 Reply by panda666uk (edited by panda666uk 2015-10-14 20:40:14)

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Re: BEWARE CTC PRINTER

N-Train, Did yours do a good print out of the box ? Got mine today but bought it for my son for Xmas, so its been hidden now, I may get it out while he's at school to do a test print if i get time before xmas. I got mine off eBay and the paypal was charged to Zhuhai CTC Electronic co.,Ltd  so hopefully legit !

Cheers

Andy

15 Reply by n-train

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Re: BEWARE CTC PRINTER

Mine has done semi reasonable prints. I feel it should do better, but I think most of it is playing around with settings and getting used to the material.

All the files on the SD card are Chinese, so I downloaded English versions from elsewhere.

I will be looking at adding a glass cover to the build plate and experimenting with glue sticks and hairspray instead of tape.

My machine came from eBay seller druckpatronen and the Paypal account is in Chinese.

Will be buying some ABS and support material shortly, as I want to do overhangs.

Managed to download an STL for a second spool holder, as my machine only had one, and managed to print it off and it screws together as it should.

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16 Reply by carl_m1968

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Re: BEWARE CTC PRINTER

There is a spool holder on the sdcard just like the one it came with. So your English files must not be the same.

The file called liaopangtong.X3G is the spool holder.

Printing since 2009 and still love it!
Anycubic 4MAX best $225 ever invested.
Voxelabs Proxima SLA. 6 inch 2k Mono LCD.
Anycubic Predator, massive Delta machine. 450 x 370 print envelope.