3D Printers: You can anneal some posts in a sous vide cooker

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Hobbies, Crafts, & Houses > 3D Printers: You can anneal some posts in a sous vide cooker

Pilfered Pallbearers: Aug 2, 2007

Hey thread. New owner of a Bambi A1 mini w/AMS lite. New to 3d printing entirely. It was a gift for my 8 year old, so we�re learning together.

Is there a good crash course on learning how to use this guy/adjust settings per print/made models? I�ve printed a few basic things but still need to quick crash course myself so I know what I�m doing. I like YouTube but reading excellent tutorials also works for me. I�m pretty technical so I prefer in depth rather than surface stuff.

Also wondering if anyone has recs for baby�s first prints that are functional for me or fun for an 8 year old. And wondering where is a good place to purchase filament.

# ¿ Feb 9, 2024 17:23

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# ¿ May 9, 2024 14:00

Pilfered Pallbearers: Aug 2, 2007

lament.cfg posted:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/lifestyle/shopping/bambu-lab-is-recalling-every-a1-3d-printer-don-t-use-them-until-you-read-this/ar-BB1hMm2Y

Thank you, but the A1 mini that I have is not included in this recall. Standard size A1 only.

# ¿ Feb 9, 2024 18:51

Pilfered Pallbearers: Aug 2, 2007

How do ya'll keep track of all the stls you may want to print & ideas for prints?

I'm just getting into this and finding that I'm getting and seeing hundreds of pre-made stls and thinking of tons of useful things I could try and find/build something for, but I have no clue how to keep it all organized.

# ¿ Feb 12, 2024 07:00

Pilfered Pallbearers: Aug 2, 2007

Thanks for all the advice.

My kiddo and I both are really enjoying everything in about this so far, but drat is the flood of things we want to complete getting large.

Acid Reflux posted:

I try to make sure folders and files are named fairly descriptively, and assuming a Windows environment, I use "Everything" to search for stuff. It's a really quick and powerful little tool that will pull up words, combinations of words, and partials pretty much in real time.

https://www.voidtools.com/downloads/

As far as the actual decision making process... I find myself vapor locked a lot because I have SO many projects I want to do and not enough time to do them all. That's probably not very helpful, I recommend not using that method if possible.

This is a neat little apple.

I actually use directory opus as an explorer replacement, and their search is like this little tool on crack so I�m glad I have something similar to use.

# ¿ Feb 12, 2024 19:51

Pilfered Pallbearers: Aug 2, 2007

bird food bathtub posted:

I have mine in an enclosure with dryer hose and an in-line fan going to a window adapter for those atrocious stand-up air conditioning units. Keep the door closed and the entire room turns into a miniature kinda-sorta negative pressure chamber so it all goes out the window. Don't have to go as far as an entirely separate building or even having it only outside on a balcony, it's not like we're printing with flourine perchlorate or something.

From my reading it seems like this kind of setup should be sufficient with active fans to push/pull air. Especially if your enclosure is well sealed.

hark posted:

I'm probably gonna cut a hole in the side of my house out of the basement and vent the enclosure/dry box I'm gonna build out of there. Then I'll keep the air purifier on down there for good measure.

I don�t think an air purifier would be capable of filtering out much VOCs or anything from 3d printing. They�re generally designed around removing dust and pollen from the air. Even ones advertised as having HEPA filters wouldn�t be enough for ABS and the like.

This is an ad for this company, but the information seems mostly truthful.

https://molekule.com/blogs/all/the-best-air-purifier-for-3d-printer-fumes-and-other-pollutants

There�s also the fact that inside a basement space there isn�t much airflow, so anything the printer spits out would saturate the room pretty well before an air purifier would catch anything. Maybe eventually it�d get some but I wouldn�t rely on it.

# ¿ Feb 13, 2024 23:47

Pilfered Pallbearers: Aug 2, 2007

How does everyone dry their filament? Do most people even dry them?

I bought a bunch of inland filament from microcenter (PLA & PLA +) but some of it is leaving strings when it switches to a different color on my AMS Lite. Part of it might have been not having good temps set, but even with stabilized temp and flow I�m still getting some stinging.

I did not have this issue at all with the Bambu filament (PLA & PLA Silk) even though I just went with the profiles the RFID chips set.

# ¿ Feb 14, 2024 23:26

Pilfered Pallbearers: Aug 2, 2007

Nerobro posted:

Probably not. But it also means proprietary designs are getting uploaded. If you're printing things that test the edges of legality? If you're printing tools or equipment that might be... questionable. EG: lab supplies. 2a stuff.

There are states where that sort of toy is... uh.. heavily regulated or in some cases illegal.

Not gonna lie, I�m fine with people who print illegal or �legal on a technicality� firearm parts being hauled off.

If you wanna harm yourself with a 3D printed horse cock replica, go for it. Printing fringe items that put others� safety at risk ain�t it.

NewFatMike posted:

I use a PrintDry Pro and it has been fabulous. It�s pricier than a dehydrator, but it�s purpose built, has a manual, and some accessories.

My experience with Inland PLA is that it is trash but the PLA+ is serviceable, FWIW.

Thanks that�s good to know.

Ended up going to microcenter cause it�s easier for my kid to pick when she can actually see the material. I ended up getting mostly PLA + and the PLA+ is the ones that are super stringy compared to the others. I might avoid in the future then.

# ¿ Feb 15, 2024 02:12

Pilfered Pallbearers: Aug 2, 2007

the yeti posted:

The OP recommendations are a few years old so I�m just gonna ask:

Is there a go-to for folks who want a printer that works reliably out of the box or with a few upgrades? Does that exist? I already have several tinkering hobbies (that I�d like to print stuff for!) so I�m hoping there�s something that works and maintains like a workshop tool rather than adding another constant-upgrade-sidegrade-fiddle-with thing to my life.

My use case as it stands right now would be 99% things like shims, brackets and tool holders, e.g., https://www.printables.com/model/303345-makita-18v-battery-holder

I�m assuming I�d mostly be looking at filament printers and that�s just as good by me cause I�d rather avoid dealing with resin, disposal of resin wash and so on.

I just bought a Bambu a1 mini + AMS lite and I was able to print something out (and it printed well) within 30 or so minutes of taking it out of the box. It�s wonderfully easy to set up and get using. This is less true using other branded filaments, but the filament you buy from Bambu directly, it�s pre-calibrated so you don�t need to gently caress with finding the settings.

If you have the AMS, the spool has an RFID chip that auto identifies the filament and puts the settings into the slicer for you.

# ¿ Feb 15, 2024 18:44

Pilfered Pallbearers: Aug 2, 2007

lament.cfg posted:

Huge Doubt on TPU in the AMS working consistently

Bambu is clear that Tpu is too soft for the AMS, and it�s only compatible with the external spool arm.

# ¿ Feb 23, 2024 22:45

Pilfered Pallbearers: Aug 2, 2007

FuzzySlippers posted:

That's a pisser that editing them isn't easy as I thought STL was just some FBX like format. I've just run across some models I need to basically change the scale of certain sections instead of the entire model so I'll see how bad sorting out Blender is these days. Way back then the interface was more obtuse than Maya or Modo but that was a millennia ago in software terms so I'm sure it has improved. I was looking at videos for fusion 360 and couldn't tell how bad it'd be to learn (I know nothing about CAD) and whether the free version was perfectly usable or it had significant limitations. Once upon a time autodesk free versions were the same except you had click something saying you weren't using it for commercial, but the only obvious limitation of fusion seemed to be the awkward 10 usable files at once limit.

There may be some intention to not preserving that data in an STL. It�s possible it�s some form of anti-piracy because only the owner of the original file has the details to reproduce it fully or make changes.

Think similar to an editable vs no-edit/copy PDF.

# ¿ Feb 25, 2024 04:02

Pilfered Pallbearers: Aug 2, 2007

Anyone have any idea what happened here and how to prevent it?

The loopy dudes on the prime tower are where the messed up spots are on the model. Even the lighter pink filament looks like it layer shifted or something on the same layer.

A1 mini w/AMS, pink is Bambu basic PLA, the lighter color is by a company called cookiecad. For the Bambu one I used their profile that loaded from the RFID on the spool.

# ¿ Feb 28, 2024 05:15

Pilfered Pallbearers: Aug 2, 2007

queeb posted:

anyone have experience with the A1 mini and like it? I'm considering buying a couple just to pump out smaller prints on, I have tons of stuff that would easily fit on the print bed of one I sell.

I�m new to printing, but I have an a1 mini and absolutely love it. Nearly every print has gone flawlessly, and most that didn�t was down to my error.

# ¿ Mar 6, 2024 19:56

Pilfered Pallbearers: Aug 2, 2007

Synthbuttrange posted:

Multi material prints look amazing but the poop problem is something i cant get over. Theres so much waste!

Depending on what you�re printing, the waste can be mitigated in a bunch of ways.

Most important is design. The less color changes the less waste. You can mitigate this by either limiting vertical color changes or by separating each color into assemble-able parts and printing by object instead of by layer. If you have 50 layers with 5 colors per layer, that�s 250 color changes just for those 50 layers.

But if you have 50 layers with 5 colors and only 1 color per layer, your range of color changes is 5-50 depending on how many layers of the same color are next to each other. Additionally, you can mitigate this further by increasing layer heights.

As an example, in the model I posted below, I could have reduced the material waste from 54g to about 30g by removing the color change either on the spine or the fins on the front.
Next important is volume. I printed a 3 gram material object with 2-3 colors per layer. This resulted in about 54g of filament waste between flushing and the prime tower. By printing 30-ish of them, I used ~100g of material on the models and still the same 54g of waste.
(Waste was so high on this because of the colors and filament type used, and it can be reduced further. It�s a fun print so here�s some images)
Adjusting waste level. The slicers are super aggressive with how much flush happens to prevent color bleed. You can typically reduce their defaults anywhere from 30-70% depending on your filament, and setting the proper color in the slicer makes it more accurate. There are even calibration prints you can do to calculate exact flush values for each filament change.

You can also significantly reduce in size or remove entirely the prime tower.
Flush to supports/infill. You can flush filament changes directly into supports or into the infill of your print. Supports will never be an issue, but for infill if you�re not careful colors can show through (like black infill on white or semi-transparent colors)
Flush to object. You can designate a secondary object to flush into, as long as it is the same height or shorter than your main model. The colors will be wacky as hell, but if it�s something you actually want to print and don�t care about, and it has enough volume to absorb the full flush amount, you can effectively create near 0 waste multi-material prints.

There�s going to be waste. But if you�re smart about it, you can reduce most of the waste, or at the very least make an informed decision on if the model is worth the waste level.

# ¿ Mar 10, 2024 16:36

Pilfered Pallbearers: Aug 2, 2007

Roundboy posted:

I "wasted" a whole tray of Pikachu due to color bleed black into yellow. Bambu slicer is odd and I am already using cut down waste settings, but it doesn't seem like you can flush to object or infill without also using a prime tower... Which seems to defeat the purpose.

I am almost completely done with plush to infill since it tends to bleed too much, but the other options should be valid.

Flush to infill won�t cause bleed. Depending on the filament color or if the filament is slightly transparent, you might see the infill (think painting light yellow over dark red walls).

Getting black bleed into yellow means your flushing volume values were off or you didn�t re-calculate them. If you add new colors from whatever defaults pop up when you open your slicer, you need to open flushing volumes and hit �re-calculate� to get them proper.

Black > yellow is one of the worst color changes you can do. If I were to print a tray with that change, I would either just eat the default 1x flushing volume or I would run a flushing calibration.

This here is a good one, but there are others.

https://makerworld.com/en/models/62782#profileId-69555

This one also includes some custom g-code to if you want to use it to require even less purge by utilizing retraction tricks, but I�ve never tested it so I didn�t mention this option in my OP.

With regard to the prime tower, it�s not called a flush tower for a reason. The prime tower is not really used for your flush calculations. The prime tower primes the pressure in the nozzle so it can push the filament at the correct flow rate (and etc). This pressure can also be achieved during a normal poop flush.

But when you�re flushing to infill, supports, or a flush object, after the color change the nozzle needs to be primed, or your infill layers or flush object layers will have gaps or be incorrect, causing the print to fail. Since you�re skipping 98% of the poop-based flush by using flush to x, you need the prime tower to prime the nozzle. You can reduce the waste on the prime tower when using this method by reducing the width and volume of it in the �others� section.

# ¿ Mar 10, 2024 18:37

Pilfered Pallbearers: Aug 2, 2007

Man it is hard not to buy like 10 rolls of overpriced filament at a time when you�re in microcenter.

Being able to see it all vs seeing photos online is a totally different experience.

Also, protopasta makes some god drat beautiful filament, but it is so so expensive. Same goes for CookieCAD although it�s not as nice and they seem to cater to a specific color style.

# ¿ Mar 17, 2024 19:08

Pilfered Pallbearers: Aug 2, 2007

Fashionable Jorts posted:

Did the first part of the flow calibration.

My phone's camera doesnt like taking pics of white surfaces, and yes somehow I lost the -15 between last night and this morning . This test has kinda confused me further. The -5 is the smoothest by a hair, but the +5 looks the best on the little part where the text is.

Should I do the second part of the calibration off of the +5? The guide says "Examine the blocks and determine which one has the smoothest top surface.", which tells me the -5, but y'all are saying there's an issue with the flow, so decreasing it further seems like the wrong choice.

You�re not supposed to use the number bit, only the higher surface. This link has photos and great detail on how to read these tests.

https://github.com/SoftFever/OrcaSlicer/wiki/Calibration

IMO you have some other issue. You shouldn�t have those huge gaps in between the individually extruded lines that are easily visible in the numbers.

You may have some other setting out of wack. Do you have the correct nozzle size selected in the slicer? Do you have PLA selected as the material in the slicer or did you accidentally select something else?

Also looks like you�re printing at 200 C which might be a little low, but some PLAs do better down there.

At this point, maybe a screenshot of your whole slicer after you slice so we can see more details, as well as a video of the first layer going down?

The more information and details you provide, the more we can help. There�s so many hundreds of variables that can cause these issues that it�s hard without significantly more info.

# ¿ Mar 18, 2024 21:05

Pilfered Pallbearers: Aug 2, 2007

I�ve got some Inland white PLA+ that prints MUCH better than that. A1 mini, and my understanding is PLA+ tends to be more finicky than PLA.

It definitely still needs to be dried and tuned a bit better, and that large bulge is where it shifts from infill to more solid is something I�m still trying to figure out but happens with most of my prints. First layer generally goes down really well with this filament.

# ¿ Mar 20, 2024 15:55

Pilfered Pallbearers: Aug 2, 2007

Dr. Fishopolis posted:

in my experience it prints pretty much like any other pla except with worse overall strength and layer adhesion. pretty though!

I�ve found it looks like poo poo on the top layer with low infil or low top layers.

# ¿ Mar 20, 2024 16:48

Pilfered Pallbearers: Aug 2, 2007

ReelBigLizard posted:

Ok but like I said, my use case isn't yours. The ender isn't mine btw, just one I helped someone fix up. Also the parts I posted are as good as anything my friends with bambu printers put out lately so I guess I don't agree?

I really don't have a problem with bambu, I actually suggest bambu printers to people who ask me my opinion in some cases. I just wasn't expecting to get brigaded for not having fully researched how to run a non standard filament in a one.

I had already discovered that I can't use one for enough of my client book that when I heard you couldn't run abrasives I didn't need to research why. Obviously any printer can be made to do pretty much anything with enough time and effort.

Maybe stopping being big mad in the 3d printer thread will make you feel better.

# ¿ Mar 28, 2024 20:03

Pilfered Pallbearers: Aug 2, 2007

Acid Reflux posted:

The biggest parts of that Ironshell model are just barely larger than the A1 Mini's build volume - there's one piece that's 189mm tall, and another that's 189mm long. But you could still print it by scaling all the parts down a few percent, or just splitting those larger parts into two smaller bits and gluing them back together.

As far as the more common "flexy" stuff, most of that scales well down to 50 or 60% size if needed, but also most of it really isn't that big until you start getting into the longer dragons and such.

I like to print rather big things in as few pieces as possible, and even I could get a lot of mileage out of something the size of a Mini. The price drop has made getting one super duper tempting.

If it�s 189mm on one plane, as long as you can change the orientation of the part you can typically get it to fit by putting the 189mm side diagonal.

It depends a lot on the model and stuff, but I�ve done it successfully.

# ¿ Mar 29, 2024 19:05

Pilfered Pallbearers: Aug 2, 2007

MinionOfCthulhu posted:

I assume it would be trivial to just shrink the big thing by like 1% with the software, right?

Sure, but if it�s a multi-piece fit together model scaling like that could destroy the whole model unless you shrink it all.

# ¿ Mar 29, 2024 19:44

Pilfered Pallbearers: Aug 2, 2007

Google Butt posted:

Hmm so I have a $50 voucher for bambu. Do I order 3 rolls of filament or the .2 nozzle, smooth pei sheet and a single roll of filament for my mini? I have a .6 nozzle already..

The .2 nozzle is really impressive for miniatures with lots of detail, or for small text designs. If you�re not missing those 2 things than the .2 isn�t worth it for you IMO.

The smooth PEI sheet is fantastic and I use it way more than my textured plate.

# ¿ Mar 31, 2024 00:52

Pilfered Pallbearers: Aug 2, 2007

MooselanderII posted:

Thanks. Is tpu prohibitively expensive for simple projects?

No. It�s generally only slightly more than PLA.

# ¿ Apr 11, 2024 22:23

Pilfered Pallbearers: Aug 2, 2007

Synthbuttrange posted:

I mean, sure but why not print your own? https://makerworld.com/en/models/144910#profileId-157634

This.

# ¿ Apr 15, 2024 04:22

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# ¿ May 9, 2024 14:00

Pilfered Pallbearers: Aug 2, 2007

queeb posted:

3 days till go time on my first booth! i have no idea how much stuff to bring, so weird. Printed up a ton of buildings, minis, random poo poo like that. It's a tabletop gaming convention but it looks like I'm like the only vendor selling minis and 3d printed terrain, so I'm feelin good about makin some cash money

If you have the ability (and the space at your booth) I�ve seen a vendor at Pokemon TCG shows literally bring a printer or 2 and have it printing a really cool (unlikely to fail) model. The printer running itself seemed to get a lot of people looking at the booth. That dude had way more people looking than others that were just selling models.

Good luck!

# ¿ Apr 17, 2024 15:46

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