1 Topic by Jeff B

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Topic: Stock daVinci 1.0 and PLA

Hi all,

I'm printing with a stock da Vinci 1.0.

it's been brought to my attention that some things that I would like to print, would print better if they were done in PLA (smaller, detailed prints such as war gaming miniatures, for example).

My 1.0 is one of the older ones, but, according to the U.S. xyzprinting website, it is capable of using xyzprinting PLA cartridges, with an "upgrade" kit.

After some research, I have been unable to determine what this "upgrade kit" is.  I've written to my national xyzprinting distributor, asking them about this, but thought I'd check here as well.

Is this simply a replacement extruder, or is it something more complex than this?

Also, the latest xyz software upgrade now gives you the option to print with PLA.  I was wondering if anyone has tried out the stock software and proprietary PLA?  If so, what are the prints like?  Pictures welcome!

Further to this, using the new software and xyz's PLA, are the temperature settings for the extruder and the heated bed different to the temps when using ABS (210 and 90 degrees on my machine, respectively), to account for the different tolerances of the PLA?

Finally, I am located in Australia.  I had bookmarked an Australian supplier that sold replacement parts for the da Vinci - specifically a new extruder - but either they no longer sell them, or I have lost the bookmark.  Can anyone help me out with links to suppliers of replacement parts for the 1.0, preferably in Australia, but anywhere will do, at this stage?

Cheers,


Jeff

2 Reply by carl_m1968

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Re: Stock daVinci 1.0 and PLA

It is a completely different extruder with better heat dissaption. The stock extruder works if you add additional heatsinking to the thermal break and move the fan down lower so it blows across that heatsinking and the feed tube.

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 Jeff B

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Re: Stock daVinci 1.0 and PLA

carl_m1968 wrote:

It is a completely different extruder with better heat dissaption. The stock extruder works if you add additional heatsinking to the thermal break and move the fan down lower so it blows across that heatsinking and the feed tube.

Does making these changes affect being able to print with ABS?

4 Reply by carl_m1968

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Re: Stock daVinci 1.0 and PLA

Jeff B wrote:
carl_m1968 wrote:

It is a completely different extruder with better heat dissaption. The stock extruder works if you add additional heatsinking to the thermal break and move the fan down lower so it blows across that heatsinking and the feed tube.

Does making these changes affect being able to print with ABS?

It might take longer for the extruder to heat since you have increased it's thermal mass but it should not make a difference. However once you try PLA I doubt you will go back to ABS. If nothing else for the much more pleasant smell PLA has.

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 scobo

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Re: Stock daVinci 1.0 and PLA

I use the extra heatsink mod and ABS prints fine but I find I need to increase the extruder temp to 225.

Davinci 1.0 with repetier firmware & E3D V6 Lite
Anycubic Photon DLP printer, Einscan-S 3D scanner
Simplify3d, 123D Design, Meshmixer
http://www.thingiverse.com/scobo/designs

6 Reply by knucklbustr

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Re: Stock daVinci 1.0 and PLA

Thats strange XYZ would sell only a mod extruder for a PLA upgrade.
No extra fan or mount for it ?
Crazy.

and yes what scobo said.

DaV1.0  10/13
Repetier FW 0.92, Solidify3D

7 Reply by carl_m1968

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Re: Stock daVinci 1.0 and PLA

knucklbustr wrote:

Thats strange XYZ would sell only a mod extruder for a PLA upgrade.
No extra fan or mount for it ?
Crazy.

and yes what scobo said.

The mod that scobo and others did was to print third party PLA which prints at much higher temps in the 210 range. The stock upgrade will only allow you to print XYZ brand PLA wich prints at around 190.

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.

8 Reply by TonyR224

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Re: Stock daVinci 1.0 and PLA

A note about XYZ's PLA:

I have a newer 1.0A and switched from ABS to PLA because I needed it for prototyping parts. Their PLA is GARBAGE. I had to constantly do what's known as hot end seasoning (similar to seasoning cast iron) where you oil up the filament to keep it from relentlessly clogging the extruder. This caused the filament not to stick to the bed regardless of glue, hairspray, or painters tape. About 1 in 5 prints made it past the first layer and the quality was atrocious (I was trying very basic shapes like squares and rectangles). Beads, globs, and gaps formed throughout. This was all done using stock firmware and XYZware.

I decided to flash my printer to see if having more control would help. After playing around with the settings I was able to have more frequent successful prints, but quality was still an issue. Once the roll ran out I ordered the cheapest PLA I could find on amazon with prime shipping (it happened to be hatchbox, I'm not an expert on different filament brands and don't really know how it compares with others) and the quality improved tremendously. I haven't had to run oil through my extruder since and it sticks to painters tape without issue. I'm also paying a third of the price per meter compared to what I was paying before.

My recommendation is to stay away from XYZ as much as possible. I bought my printer because it wasn't super expensive and many reviews said it was a great starting point for getting into 3d printing. Now I understand why. After disassembling and reassembling nearly every part of my printer just to get it to work, I feel confident I can build my own at this point. Plug and play is NOT a phrase that should ever be used to describe this company. Other than that it's OK. after several hundred hours if tinkering and digging through forums I have learned a lot.

9 Reply by carl_m1968

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Re: Stock daVinci 1.0 and PLA

Actually there is no such thing as a plug and play 3d printer at this time. No company makes one and if they claim they do it is simply a sales hook.

I dont feel there will ever be a plug and play 3d printer as just like computers we will always want to mod and improve them.

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.

10 Reply by evanalmighty

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Re: Stock daVinci 1.0 and PLA

The Lulzbot mini and the Zortrax M200 are what I would call plug and play 3D printers.  They're not cheap, but they print very well and no setup/tweak required.

11 Reply by scobo

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Re: Stock daVinci 1.0 and PLA

This one looks quite interesting .... http://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/3d-printers/8625705/
Not much more than I paid for my Davinci.
Nice compact design and doesn't look like there's too much that could go wrong with it.

Davinci 1.0 with repetier firmware & E3D V6 Lite
Anycubic Photon DLP printer, Einscan-S 3D scanner
Simplify3d, 123D Design, Meshmixer
http://www.thingiverse.com/scobo/designs

12 Reply by Jeff B

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Re: Stock daVinci 1.0 and PLA

Hi all,

Can we please keep this on topic?

I'm still hoping that someone will be able to help me with supplier details, and it's annoying to be notified of a new post in this topic, only to find out it's not relevant...

Cheers,


Jeff

13 Reply by Jeff B

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Re: Stock daVinci 1.0 and PLA

TonyR224 wrote:

A note about XYZ's PLA:

I have a newer 1.0A and switched from ABS to PLA because I needed it for prototyping parts. Their PLA is GARBAGE. I had to constantly do what's known as hot end seasoning (similar to seasoning cast iron) where you oil up the filament to keep it from relentlessly clogging the extruder. This caused the filament not to stick to the bed regardless of glue, hairspray, or painters tape. About 1 in 5 prints made it past the first layer and the quality was atrocious (I was trying very basic shapes like squares and rectangles). Beads, globs, and gaps formed throughout. This was all done using stock firmware and XYZware.

I decided to flash my printer to see if having more control would help. After playing around with the settings I was able to have more frequent successful prints, but quality was still an issue. Once the roll ran out I ordered the cheapest PLA I could find on amazon with prime shipping (it happened to be hatchbox, I'm not an expert on different filament brands and don't really know how it compares with others) and the quality improved tremendously. I haven't had to run oil through my extruder since and it sticks to painters tape without issue. I'm also paying a third of the price per meter compared to what I was paying before.

My recommendation is to stay away from XYZ as much as possible. I bought my printer because it wasn't super expensive and many reviews said it was a great starting point for getting into 3d printing. Now I understand why. After disassembling and reassembling nearly every part of my printer just to get it to work, I feel confident I can build my own at this point. Plug and play is NOT a phrase that should ever be used to describe this company. Other than that it's OK. after several hundred hours if tinkering and digging through forums I have learned a lot.

Tony, sorry to hear you had problems with the PLA.

Can you help me with one of my original questions in this post?  Can you recall if the standard heating temps used for printing with ABS changed when printing with PLA?  I am wondering if the chip in the PLA cartridge is set to tell the da Vinci to modify the temperatures for the extruder and the heated bed.

I have no real reason for asking, I'm just curious.

Cheers,


Jeff

14 Reply by carl_m1968

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Re: Stock daVinci 1.0 and PLA

Yes the chip in a PLA cartridge will set the bed and extruder to different temps. The temps should be 190 and 45.

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.

15 Reply by TonyR224

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Re: Stock daVinci 1.0 and PLA

carl_m1968 wrote:

Yes the chip in a PLA cartridge will set the bed and extruder to different temps. The temps should be 190 and 45.

Can confirm. The stock firmware takes care of the temperatures for each type of filament. A real plus of using PLA is not having to wait as long for the bed and hot end to heat up and cool down.

16 Reply by Jeff B

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Re: Stock daVinci 1.0 and PLA

Thank you carl_m1968 and TonyR224.

17 Reply by Jeff B

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Re: Stock daVinci 1.0 and PLA

So, remaining items from my original list are:

  • What are the contents of the xyzprinting "upgrade kit" for the da Vinci 1.0?  From what's been written, it looks as though it is solely a replacement extruder unit, that can handle both PLA and ABS proprietary filament for xyz, but it would be nice if I could get confirmation of this...

  • Is there a supplier who will ship this upgrade kit to Australia?  If so, what are their contact details?

Additional information:  TLDR - I'm having a hell of a time finding an upgraded extruder manufactured by xyz for my 1.0.

After an exhaustive web search, I have been unable to find a supplier for an upgraded extruder for my 1.0.  I had bookmarked an Australian supplier who carried stock extruders,  but they don't appear to stock xyz stuff anymore.

Having given up on this search, I contacted the Australian distributor for da Vinci machines, Multimedia Technology, regarding the upgrade kit.  They advised me that they never imported the 1.0, and started with the 1.0A, so never needed to worry about an upgrade kit, as all their machines were compliant with xyz PLA.  They advised I should contact the retailer I bought the machine from.

My machine was purchased from kogan.com.au.  I have submitted a support ticket with them, and I have received a few responses to my queries, which basically indicate I am being passed up the line for the experts to look at my request.  Kogan does not sell PLA filament, so I do not hold out much hope of them being able to provide an upgrade kit, but you never know.

I contacted xyzsupport through their main headquarters, who sent me a link to a wonderful offer of a free replacement extruder, where I would only have to pay for shipping costs, via their US store, which was fantastic.  Except the US store emphatically state that they only ship to continental US.  I am in Australia, and this was clearly indicated in the messages I sent to their headquarters.  I've reopened this support ticket, asking if there is any branch of their global corporation that will ship to Australia - New Zealand seeming to be the obvious choice - or if there is any re-seller I can contact.  I am waiting on their response.

This is a whole lot of trouble to go to just to get a replacement extruder!

Cheers,


Jeff

18 Reply by carl_m1968

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Re: Stock daVinci 1.0 and PLA

Jeff B wrote:

So, remaining items from my original list are:

  • What are the contents of the xyzprinting "upgrade kit" for the da Vinci 1.0?  From what's been written, it looks as though it is solely a replacement extruder unit, that can handle both PLA and ABS proprietary filament for xyz, but it would be nice if I could get confirmation of this...

  • Is there a supplier who will ship this upgrade kit to Australia?  If so, what are their contact details?

Additional information:  TLDR - I'm having a hell of a time finding an upgraded extruder manufactured by xyz for my 1.0.

After an exhaustive web search, I have been unable to find a supplier for an upgraded extruder for my 1.0.  I had bookmarked an Australian supplier who carried stock extruders,  but they don't appear to stock xyz stuff anymore.

Having given up on this search, I contacted the Australian distributor for da Vinci machines, Multimedia Technology, regarding the upgrade kit.  They advised me that they never imported the 1.0, and started with the 1.0A, so never needed to worry about an upgrade kit, as all their machines were compliant with xyz PLA.  They advised I should contact the retailer I bought the machine from.

My machine was purchased from kogan.com.au.  I have submitted a support ticket with them, and I have received a few responses to my queries, which basically indicate I am being passed up the line for the experts to look at my request.  Kogan does not sell PLA filament, so I do not hold out much hope of them being able to provide an upgrade kit, but you never know.

I contacted xyzsupport through their main headquarters, who sent me a link to a wonderful offer of a free replacement extruder, where I would only have to pay for shipping costs, via their US store, which was fantastic.  Except the US store emphatically state that they only ship to continental US.  I am in Australia, and this was clearly indicated in the messages I sent to their headquarters.  I've reopened this support ticket, asking if there is any branch of their global corporation that will ship to Australia - New Zealand seeming to be the obvious choice - or if there is any re-seller I can contact.  I am waiting on their response.

This is a whole lot of trouble to go to just to get a replacement extruder!

Cheers,


Jeff

Have you tried here? They even sell boards.

http://3dprintersuperstore.com.au/colle … yzprinting

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.

19 Reply by Jeff B

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Re: Stock daVinci 1.0 and PLA

Yep,

I contacted them.  What you see is what they have...

Cheers,

20 Reply by sleepvideo

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Re: Stock daVinci 1.0 and PLA

In the US I got the upgrade kit which is the Extruder plus wire harness. I have a long conversation with XYZprinting support trying to get the unit installed. I installed the unit just fine. My problem is trying to get the printer upgraded to accept PLA. I calibrated the printer ok. But I can not get the upgrade Extruder software to calibrate and finish. So I am stuck at this point. Does anyone has any suggestion?

John

Jeff B wrote:

Hi all,

I'm printing with a stock da Vinci 1.0.

it's been brought to my attention that some things that I would like to print, would print better if they were done in PLA (smaller, detailed prints such as war gaming miniatures, for example).

My 1.0 is one of the older ones, but, according to the U.S. xyzprinting website, it is capable of using xyzprinting PLA cartridges, with an "upgrade" kit.

After some research, I have been unable to determine what this "upgrade kit" is.  I've written to my national xyzprinting distributor, asking them about this, but thought I'd check here as well.

Is this simply a replacement extruder, or is it something more complex than this?

Also, the latest xyz software upgrade now gives you the option to print with PLA.  I was wondering if anyone has tried out the stock software and proprietary PLA?  If so, what are the prints like?  Pictures welcome!

Further to this, using the new software and xyz's PLA, are the temperature settings for the extruder and the heated bed different to the temps when using ABS (210 and 90 degrees on my machine, respectively), to account for the different tolerances of the PLA?

Finally, I am located in Australia.  I had bookmarked an Australian supplier that sold replacement parts for the da Vinci - specifically a new extruder - but either they no longer sell them, or I have lost the bookmark.  Can anyone help me out with links to suppliers of replacement parts for the 1.0, preferably in Australia, but anywhere will do, at this stage?

Cheers,


Jeff