1 Topic by scruffybob

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Topic: Round Two: Press Vs Me

If you've read any of my other posts, I received one of the first Press's.    I had almost every problem imaginable (broken connectors, hotbed that wouldn't cool off, broken side panel, moire, layers not sticking together,  etc, etc, etc.)

After 30 days of waiting for tech support to respond to my tickets, I was finally able to RMA the first machine.   30 days later, I received a brand new Press.   Since I've been pretty vocal about what was wrong with the first one, I think it's fair to give another impression of the new one.

The quick summary:   Using nothing but the stock settings, I haven't had a single problem in over 60 hours of printing (50 different pieces).

Some details:

The new unit was supposed to have come on the "fifth container" from China.   After arriving, I think they did some local adjustments in California.

They fixed the problem with the cable dropping into the Y-axis with a spring that was affixed to the right side panel

http://soliforum.com/i/?V6SkpvT.jpg

They fixed the problem with the excess stress on the extruder cable by rerouting it and zip-tieing it to the extruder fan.

http://soliforum.com/i/?TdI2Bbl.jpg

They fixed the overheating problem (causing the filament to break and jam) by reversing the extruder fan.

I wanted to see if the new unit would have the "out of the box" experience they advertised.    I'm using Soliprint 1.1.4, and the Press is using all the stock settings (230C extruder, 100C hotbed).   I got the unit about a week ago and I've printed about 50 items (over 60 hours of printing, the longest taking over 4 hours.... 160k lines of Gcode).    Using nothing but a glue stick, I haven't had any issues at all with prints sticking to the glass.   I haven't seen a single jam (using the stock filament tray with the lid and doors closed at all times).

I'm printing the right hand and wrist from the Inmoov robot (http://www.inmoov.fr/download/).   

http://soliforum.com/i/?wkOxMss.jpg

Here are the pieces from the hand and the first part of the wrist.

http://soliforum.com/i/?Y2pdjDE.jpg

The largest piece I've printed so far took over 4 hours and is about 3"x2"x2".

http://soliforum.com/i/?QhUXT37.jpg
http://soliforum.com/i/?b6GkSwk.jpg

All the problems I originally saw with moire, gapping, non-sticking layers and rough edges are all gone now

http://soliforum.com/i/?KUj9EyX.jpg

I was actually a little afraid to post this because, with my luck, the Press will die tomorrow, but right now I'm incredibly pleased about how well the second Press is performing.   I think this is about as good of an "out of the box" experience as anyone could expect.

The internal fill is complete (no gaps or overfill), and even the holes are round (or square).
http://soliforum.com/i/?BQeDG9E.jpg

In conclusion, I was more than a little skeptical that I'd ever get a 3D printer that could actually print something.   So far, I've been overwhelmed with the quality and performance of the new Press.    I didn't have to touch the trimpots, I ran the Z-calibration, but it was already set perfectly, there appear to be no missing screws..... all-in-all, a very enjoyable experience.

2 Reply by madfalcon81

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Re: Round Two: Press Vs Me

Lucky bastard smile). Just kidding, dont take it personally wink. I am one of those who almost finished a roll of filament and still havent got a print so I can say: This looks awesome! Mainly bed adhesion is my problem now.

Fat kids are harder to kidnap!

3 Reply by scruffybob

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Re: Round Two: Press Vs Me

For adhesion, I'm using an Elmer's Glue Stick.   As soon as the printer starts heating the bed, I layer on a thin layer.   It goes on purple, but by the time it heats up (about 13 minutes), it's dried to a white consistency.   

After the print finishes, I'll use a putty knife to pry off the printed object, however, I don't usually take off the glue.   I'll continue printing with the existing glue until the first sign that the first layer isn't going to stick, then I just add another layer of glue.   I haven't washed off the old glue since I got the machine.    If the layers seems to be a little uneven, I'll lightly pull the putty knife towards me (not away from me) to scrape the uneven layers of glue down.   This doesn't dig into the built-up glue layers, but scrapes glue "dust" off the top.

The bed height is adjusted so that the first layer appears to be smashed down to the glass, kind of looks like a pancake.   The bed appears to be perfectly level (as the layer looks consistent all the way around).   If you look at the last picture in the first post, you can see the glue build-up and the smashed first layer (the test circle around the printed piece).

Good luck to you.   I didn't want the post to appear to be boasting, since I know others are still having trouble.   I just wanted people to know that is IS possible to get good prints out of the Press.

The hand on the Inmoov robot has lots of little tiny parts, but I'm moving up the arm and starting to have to print larger and larger parts.   I'll let you know how that goes.    Also, I'm going to have to print gears for the wrist today and they require a higher resolution, so I'm going to find out how well it prints is 0.1mm instead of the default 0.3mm.

4 Reply by schaffe333

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Re: Round Two: Press Vs Me

thanks for your picks - helped me a lot!

I print with ABS juice - glue stick and hairspray didnt work for me.

5 Reply by pshcims

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Re: Round Two: Press Vs Me

schaffe333 wrote:

thanks for your picks - helped me a lot!

I print with ABS juice - glue stick and hairspray didnt work for me.

Most hairspray brands don't work. Aquanet is most recommended, but I am also having success with Schwarzkopf brand (co-branded as Got2Be in Canadian Walmarts).

6 Reply by H_Alex

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Re: Round Two: Press Vs Me

glue stick and hairspray didn't work for me

I use Elmer's washable glue sticks (not the purple ones), and they work very well. Other types of glue sticks don't work well for various reasons.

Frustration is part of the process.

7 Reply by MacGyverX

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Re: Round Two: Press Vs Me

I used to use the purple ones for my SD2. I liked it cause it was easy to wash off/scrape.

SD Press - v1 (Pre-order) / RAMPs /w DRV8825's / Cyclops (25w) / Dual Bowden / Mk8 Gear / MK2b PCB Heat bed /w custom replacement Z / PEI Bed
SD2 / E3D v6 / Direct Drive / Mk8 Gear / RAMBo v1.3 / PEI Bed / Anti Z backlash mod / Ikea Expedite enclosure.
Both Driven by Octoprint (devel) via a RPi B+ / Neopixel status alerts / GPIO Controlled SSR / (SD2) 450 Watt PSU for remote power-up/shutdown.

8 Reply by byshop303

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Re: Round Two: Press Vs Me

I'm glad they fixed some of the issues with the first version, although to be honest a zip tie and a spring look a lot more like the sort of self modifications that the community might have come up with. When I got mine, I had the extruder cable issue which I fixed by manually rotating the cuff so it's natural bend was in the opposite direction. My extruder screw was loose and fell out after a few prints, so I replace that and adjusted the position of the stepper on the gear. Also, I had too much slack on my heating bed wire, and during a large print the wire came in contact with the bed as it descended and melted the contact, so I had to get a new one via RMA. Also, the contact between the top hot end and the extruder nozzle inside the heater block wasn't very good, so I had ABS filament leaking out of the block on both sides. Also, this resulted in inconsistent heat of the top hot end, which caused all kinds of extruder jams. Rebuilding that portion of the assembly several times before I finally got it right was the tipping point between intermittent to constant extruder jams to pretty much no jams at all in hours and hours of printing.

Oh, and I reversed the fan as well.

If you notice any other differences, please post them. I'd much rather tweak this thing myself than send the whole thing back and start over.

9 Reply by scruffybob

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Re: Round Two: Press Vs Me

They may have originated with the Forum, but I'm glad that the Developers recognized something needed to change.   I'm now at more than 100 hours of straight printing (had to catch up on my son's science fair project and don't have much time left), including four parts that required over 7 hours each!     

The only problem I've had was that there were several times that the filament got caught up on the spool, so it wouldn't feed and the whole print would shift to the side.    I ended up drilling a small hole in the top of  and mounting the spool above the printer, so it wouldn't hang up and I could see how much filament is left on the spool.

Here is a picture of my setup now (don't tell my wife, I cut a hole in the ceiling tile to hang the spool):
http://soliforum.com/i/?N9or6Kz.jpg

I used a Dremel tool to drill a small slanted hole to feed the filament towards the center of the printer.   I didn't want to drill a hole near the power button because I didn't know how the electronics ran through that area, so I just offset it in front of the power button.   It's small enough that if I decide to move it back inside the lid, the remaining hole won't bother me.

http://soliforum.com/i/?hs795m0.jpg

You can also see one of the larger pieces that's almost finished.   Over 200k lines of Gcode & seven hours of printing with no issues.
http://soliforum.com/i/?66n6M8m.jpg

We're still assembling all the pieces, but we ended up printing all the fingers, hand, wrist and forearm for the InMoov robot.
http://soliforum.com/i/?zSA9s3p.jpg

I couldn't be more thrilled with the final product that the printer is spitting out now:
http://soliforum.com/i/?zk8n2a4.jpg

As one of the original skeptics that was not convinced that I'd ever get anything out of the Press, I've got to say I'm much, much happier now.    I sure didn't get the "plug-and-play" experience with my first Press, but this second one so far as been a completely different story..... so far.

Now that we've got almost the whole first arm printed, I suspect we'll continue to print the entire robot.   That's enough volume, I think it would tax almost any 3D printer.

Best regards,
Ron