I store all my filament in a big Ikea Samla box with an added gasket/weather strip for the lid and 1kg of desiccant pearls. According to the cheap hygrometer on the lid the RH in there stays at around 20% while the RH in my room is typically somewhere in the 30s.
Really low RH values are hard to reach without something like an active heater that drives moisture out, and you most likely also need a "better" hygrometer to even monitor that since the cheap ones AFAIK can't even measure low values properly.
Does anyone have a brand of PLA they like that offers refillable spools? I’m digging Overture and Elegoo using cardboard spools but if I could get/print a refillable one and buy just the filament itself going forward that would be an even nicer solution.
Might be a bit late to the discussion, but I'll throw in another vote for the master spool system. There are sadly not that many companies that offer refills for it, but if you search for it you might find one that's in your country and with reasonable prices.
I use this spool model: https://www.myminifactory.com/object/3d-print-universal-spool-twist-and-lock-158373, the sides and hub are modular parts and the author created adjusted hubs for the slight size variations between different refill manufacturers. The description lists a few companies that offer refills, though that list is ~3 years old, so not sure if all of them are still around.
Definitely better than the usual full plastic spool, but IMHO a step back from "true" masterspool refills. I've already printed my MS spools, switching in a new refill is easy enough, and I never bother to store an already opened refill without a spool since I store all of my filament in a drybox anyway.
Was gifted some old lights that were designed to be stuck into holes in wood. Didn’t want to drill holes that big into my kitchen cabinets, so I designed and printed these holders that can be screwed to the cabinets and hold the lights. Also the lights are surrounded by it, so they don’t glare. Here are the results:...
Going by the first pic, the cover looks like plastic, so it's probably LEDs. Halogen lamps would need (more) venting holes and/or more "space" inside the housing.
And if your G4s are constantly dying, it's either "just" crappy quality with overdriven LEDs, or it could also be the housing. Halogens are a bit more heat resistant, so if you don't have enough ventilation the LEDs just cook themselves to death.
Lately I’ve been using inland brand natural Pla. It prints so nice and I find that it adheres to the print bed really well. My go to filament brand used to be Amolen but some of these cheaper filaments have gotten so good in recent years.
Getting most of my filament from DasFilament because they are a local (German) company and offer masterspool refills. They "only" sell PLA, PETG and TPU, but so far I haven't messed with other types yet, so that's OK.
I’ve read in several places that using back off speeds and clean nozzles can help. I’m running with a new nozzle. Travel speed 150, retraction speed of 20, print speed 50. I think some of these are just defaults with cura 5.4 but I get the same thing with a higher retraction speed. What else should I look at?
Welcome to the hobby then 😊 Hope you already have a drybox or other airtight storage, ABS and PETG don't like being stored "outside" once they're out of the sealed bag.
Has there been any progress on getting network connectivity for the Saturn 2? Coming from using Octoprint with my FDM printers, the Saturn 2 feels like a huge downgrade....
Hm, interesting that the board has a solder point for an ethernet jack, but I see none of the usual "support" components near it that are typically also required (a PHY and/or network chip). Could be that that's supposed to be run in software on the MCU, but that would require that the firmware supports/includes it.
I knew it could get out of control, but turns out knowing is not experiencing it. It's just nearly 2 months since I got my first fdm printer and this is the result. 1 roll is finished 12 stacked to go.
A pretty decent and cheap choice for containers are Ikea Samla boxes. You "just" need some weatherstrip from the hardware store to create a decent seal on the lid. Oh, and don't bother with getting Ikeas lid clips, they're crap compared to the printable "ultimate Samla clip".
I have the 45l Samla box, it has space for about 10 spools of filament. Printed some infill grid as a "spacer" and just dumped 1kg of desiccant in, constantly keeps the RH below 20% and only has to be recharged 1-2 times/year.
My Prusa MK4 kit just arrived and I’m looking forward to seeing how assembly differs from the MK3s. I’m not going to have a chance to work on it until Friday though.
Hello, I am looking to buy my first filament 3D printer. Any printer or printer brand you recommend and why? What 3D modeling software is usually used to design? Any tips are welcome! (my budget would be 200-300€) I would like to eventually get into resin printing as well.
With your budget, the typical "entry point" into the hobby would most likely be any machine from the Chinese brands like Anycubic, Creality, Sovol etc. Those machines work OK, but it's very likely that you'll find some quirks that annoy you which leads to tinkering and printing (or buying) replacement parts and upgrades. But it also helps to further understand how the printer works, which can help down the line.
"Tinker-free" printers that just work and will do so for many 100 hours (like the printers by Prusa) are more expensive upfront but don't require constant "babysitting".
Regarding software, there's a plethora of programs that can be used. To name a few, we have the open source group (OpenSCAD, FreeCAD), the 'free' group (Fusion 360, SolidEdge), the web-based group (TinkerCAD, OnShape) and many more. Try them out and pick whichever suit you.
Saw that you're already considering the Prusa Mk4, and that was pretty much what I would have recommended for your price range. Prusa machines are not cheap, but once assembled they just work. But since Prusa has an open ecosystem and open-sourced pretty much everything, you have complete control and choice on what software you want to use to accompany it, and you also can mod the printer to your liking if needed.
The Bambulabs printers some others mentioned are different in that they are a closed ecosystem. You get the printer as-is with very little playroom for modifications and the software side (slicer) is AFAIK also pretty locked down to what they ship with the printer.
For the slicer, as mentioned it depends on the printer. If you go with Prusa, pretty much any slicer will work. To name a few, PrusaSlicer, SuperSlicer, Cura...
If you go with Bambulabs, (AFAIK) you're restricted to using their slicer.
For designing your own models, there's also a plethora of programs available you can use for free. Be it CAD programs like Fusion 360, SolidEdge, OpenSCAD, FreeCAD, modelling software like Blender, or many many more.
Anycubic i3 Mega-S, bought in 2019 as my first printer and modified quite a lot since then (replaced all fans except part cooling, stepper drivers, Z couplers, silicone bed spacers), and it works fine, but I still don't fully trust it to be left unattended for more than 2-3 hours. And since it's lacking most of the newer "convenience" features like ABL (and is rather slow) I'm really considering to replace it with a newer/better printer. Hottest contenders are currently either a Prusa XL or a Voron 2.4.
Hm, not sure if it's (just) the grainy photos, but the skirt line looks pretty uneven. Is that a fresh roll of TPU, or if not, how did you store it? TPU is hygroscopic (attracts moisture), so if you left it outside a drybox it probably got wet. A quick test to confirm that would be to just extrude some in thin air. If you see/hear any sizzling/bubbling, that's the trapped water turning into steam.
General tips for printing TPU: print it slow and with as little retractions as possible (if you're on a bowden setup). You could also try slightly increasing the extrusion multiplier.
If you can already hear it during normal printing, then yes, it's most likely wet filament. The water trapped inside almost instantly turns into steam inside the nozzle and expands, causing the molten filament to bubble up as the steam escapes.
I started 3d printing back when you had to build it all from scratch, and it seemed ABS was the only filament to be found. PLA came along soon enough and made things sooo much easier. Then came some more exotic ones like TPU or Nylon I think, but I never tried them out because they seemed pretty niche....
PETG has become the second "entry level" filament besides PLA because it's almost as easy to print with (just hotter) and also doesn't require an enclosure. Not as stiff as PLA and has a little flex, so perfect for prints that don't have to be 100% rigid. For example I printed a smartphone holder for my bike out of PETG with 4 "arms" that grip the corners, and it has just enough flex so I can get the phone in and out. Temperature resistance is only a bit higher than PLA.
TPU/TPE are flexibles and available in all grades of flex, the softer ones can be tough to print on bowden machines.
The "kings" of temperature resistance and toughness are ABS, ASA, PC (blend) and PA ("nylon"), but they pretty much require an enclosure and good ventilation (fumes...) and have to be printed very hot, so an all-metal hotend is highly recommended.
If companies that still used plastic spools are starting to switch to cardboard, I think that's a good thing. Not only is it easier to recycle, but probably also lighter (your typical 1kg filament spool weighs around 200-300g), so the bulk should save some fuel for transportation.
Though I personally prefer using no spool at all (during shipping) 😉 Wherever possible I buy Masterspool refills.
Uh, that would be deceiving marketing, a 1kg spool should contain 1kg of filament...
But hey, maybe my view on this is a bit warped because I only buy filament from reputable brands (and usually from their own store) and not from marketplaces like "big A" where hundreds of sellers battle to be the cheapest.
Deigned and printed a base for glass blocks. It has a circuit board that I designed and software written by me. It is controllable via MQTT and I have it integrated with HomeKit via Home Bridge.
Looks neat ^^ Does it serve any purpose or is it "just" decorative?
Also, is that Kodak banding some kind of filter or did you really shoot the photos with a non-digital camera?
Has anybody used one of these mini "dehumidifiers" to dry out filament as a substitute for buying a bunch of the desiccant beads? My filament seems OK, but I could do better to keep it dry.
The manufacturer of the desiccant beads I got strongly advised to not microwave them since the very sudden change from bound liquid water to steam can lead to the beads bursting/cracking. Slowly drying them in an oven at the recommended temperature (can depend by manufacturer, mine said 110-120°C) is the better choice.
Haven't bothered with one of those since getting just the beads is probably way cheaper.
I store my filament in an Ikea Samla box with added weather strips to decently seal it and just added 1kg of beads (orange to green color change) with a spacer grid to the bottom of the box. Constantly keeps the RH in the box around 20%, and I only have to dry the beads 1-2x per year (in the oven).
On zooming in really close I think I see what you mean. The (probable) hole in the right looked like it's a shadow, and the left one is really hard to notice with black on black 😅
What Relative Humidity do you keep for your PLA and how do you achieve that.
I watched a 3D printing youtuber say that Adam Savage said 20% but 10% is what he uses....
Any recommendations for refillable PLA filament?
Does anyone have a brand of PLA they like that offers refillable spools? I’m digging Overture and Elegoo using cardboard spools but if I could get/print a refillable one and buy just the filament itself going forward that would be an even nicer solution.
FormFutura demo showing their v2 of master spool (www.youtube.com)
Filament is wound around a cardboard core and secured with straps. This allows the reuse of the spool sides, reducing waste.
Designed and printed housings for old lights to mount under my kitchen (i.imgur.com)
Was gifted some old lights that were designed to be stuck into holes in wood. Didn’t want to drill holes that big into my kitchen cabinets, so I designed and printed these holders that can be screwed to the cabinets and hold the lights. Also the lights are surrounded by it, so they don’t glare. Here are the results:...
Help with identifying potential "spicy pillows" (bloated battery packs) on older Nintendo handhelds
Hey folks,...
What is your favorite filament?
Lately I’ve been using inland brand natural Pla. It prints so nice and I find that it adheres to the print bed really well. My go to filament brand used to be Amolen but some of these cheaper filaments have gotten so good in recent years.
Hairy PETG Prints (lemmy.world)
I’ve read in several places that using back off speeds and clean nozzles can help. I’m running with a new nozzle. Travel speed 150, retraction speed of 20, print speed 50. I think some of these are just defaults with cura 5.4 but I get the same thing with a higher retraction speed. What else should I look at?
Let filament hell begins (i.imgur.com)
Context: this is my first printer and those are my first filament set
Elegoo Saturn 2 - Good options for WiFi/Ethernet? (lemmy.world)
Has there been any progress on getting network connectivity for the Saturn 2? Coming from using Octoprint with my FDM printers, the Saturn 2 feels like a huge downgrade....
OC Filament crazyness is real.
I knew it could get out of control, but turns out knowing is not experiencing it. It's just nearly 2 months since I got my first fdm printer and this is the result. 1 roll is finished 12 stacked to go.
My Haribo order arrived (social.fossware.space)
My Prusa MK4 kit just arrived and I’m looking forward to seeing how assembly differs from the MK3s. I’m not going to have a chance to work on it until Friday though.
First 3D printer advice
Hello, I am looking to buy my first filament 3D printer. Any printer or printer brand you recommend and why? What 3D modeling software is usually used to design? Any tips are welcome! (my budget would be 200-300€) I would like to eventually get into resin printing as well.
What to buy?
• Experience: none • Size: > 20x20x20 cm • Price Range: 800-1500€ • Print Medium: PLA...
What is every here printing with?
Currently using a FLSUN Super racer. It’s a delta style printer and fast as hell compared to the printers I had before. 400 hours on it currently....
.8mm nozzle layer problems
I’m printing TPU with .8 mm nozzle and having troubles with the first layer. There are gaps between the layer lines and it looks pretty bumpy....
Beyond PLA and ABS?
I started 3d printing back when you had to build it all from scratch, and it seemed ABS was the only filament to be found. PLA came along soon enough and made things sooo much easier. Then came some more exotic ones like TPU or Nylon I think, but I never tried them out because they seemed pretty niche....
Is this new? Latest roll of filament came on a cardboard spool (lemmy.world)
Designed and printed a light base for glass blocks. (lemmy.world)
Deigned and printed a base for glass blocks. It has a circuit board that I designed and software written by me. It is controllable via MQTT and I have it integrated with HomeKit via Home Bridge.
Desiccant packet dehumidifier? (lemmy.world)
Has anybody used one of these mini "dehumidifiers" to dry out filament as a substitute for buying a bunch of the desiccant beads? My filament seems OK, but I could do better to keep it dry.
Monitor Mounted Hub (i.imgur.com)