3D Printer / CNC discussion thread

[lcdguy]

if you don't mind giving siemens some contact info (though i guess you could just fudge the details if you really wanted to.) you can get a free personal/education non-commericial license of solidedge. Also the EAA membership includes a personal non-commercial/education license for solid works.

 

[CMetaphor]

@lcdguy
What would be the big differences between SolidWorks and like fusion 360 (which I just saw elsewhere is going to have limitations on the free version) ? I'd be willing to send that info for a free software if it's noticeably better Or at least not restricted like Fusion 360 is going to become.

Got a link you could send?

 

[lcdguy]

solid edge, is a bit more clunky and allows direct editing of 3d bodies. There were also some setup options i had to enable to get to be have for me.

Fusion 360 is definitely easier to use from a UI perspective, but i am liking solid edge so far, sometimes i need to google how to do something but that comes with any software package.

However solid edge community edition is not cloud based so everything installs locally. Though it will water mark any step exports so that you can't use them in a commercially licensed software for commercial purposes but for designing then exporting for personal it's probably the best option for me currently.

when saving as an stl, i use the following options to ensure a good export.

• Conversion Tolerance: 0.100
• Surface Plane Angle: 1.00
• Export Units Millimeters

Also i had to enable snap to grid, and the option to display the grid.

Solid Edge Community Edition

Solid Edge Community Edition

www.plm.automation.siemens.com

 

[sswilson]

I'm not sure if this link has been posted before and I missed it, but Teaching Tech has a URL that gathers all of his calibration methods (some including pages that generate gcode) under one non-video roof....

Teaching Tech 3D Printer Calibration

 

[sswilson]

So, here's a question for the experienced printers here... in your experience is there a wide range of best nozzle temp between different brands of PLA (and possibly between different lots)?

I'm doing my first temp tower as I found this one particular roll of PLA seemed to print a lot cleaner when I dropped the temp down below my typical standard (200) and that got me to wondering if it's not something that might be worthwhile doing initially when getting a new brand of PLA in.

 

[danmitch1]

I shouldnt be responding as I do not consider my self to be experienced (only 8 kg in) Buttttt... I have noticed a difference between brands for sure. Its my understanding that its good practice to run alot of those calibrations for each new roll you use.

 

[sswilson]

Heh.... so I did a temp tower starting @ 185 going up to 205 and aside from the filament clicking @ 185 that he described on his page I literally can't see any difference between the temp layers.

If I hadn't been watching the temp changes on the display during the print I'd have looked at the final outcome and wondered if the auto-generated code wasn't applying the different temps....

 

[danmitch1]

Heh.... so I did a temp tower starting @ 185 going up to 205 and aside from the filament clicking @ 185 that he described on his page I literally can't see any difference between the temp layers.

If I hadn't been watching the temp changes on the display during the print I'd have looked at the final outcome and wondered if the auto-generated code wasn't applying the different temps....

Does it pause to heat up/cool down? I skipped that test..

 

[sswilson]

Does it pause to heat up/cool down? I skipped that test..

No, but depending on how you set it up (I did 5c increments) it doesn't take all that long for your hot end to adjust. By the time you've got the first layer or two down it's up to the selected temp.

 

[lowfat]

Gave PA12 nylon another shot. I ended up forgetting it in the dehydrator @ 70c for about 40 hours.

And yet it was still bubbling. So I guess maybe 70C isn't high enough to remove the moisture w/ this filament? Unforgettably I still can't find any info on printing it. All that comes up is its used for sintering in SLS printing.

I did however still print with it. And its ugly but not brittle at all like PA6 nylon when its wet.

All these shiny dots are bubbles.

Installed on Prusa. Lets hope it does better than the PC blend one. I've replaced that one 3x so far.

See how badly the old one melted. I've even sanded it flat awhile ago. It was dragging on my prints yesterday.