I purchased my metal simple (before the heated bed was available) shortly after they were released (yes, I bought into the hype). And while in hindsight, it was a valuahle tool and more importantly set of skills, the learning curve was really painful and annoying.
I suspect Brooks Dunn (owner of printrbot) would be happy if he never heard from me again!
I later added the heated bed, and have had the exact opposite experience from you. I most print project boxes for my electronics projects (square corners), and the heated bed / kapton tape have significantly reduced my corner warping issues.
I discovered online somewhere, a really great trick for using soapy water and a sponge to lay down the kapton tape. It works great, and the only time I need to replace it now is when it gets torn because I have to use a sharp implement to ‘free’ a small part or if the print head autolevel fails and drives the nozzle too low
I have told @LisaSelk I will be dropping my 3d Printbot Metal Simple off in the 3D Fab room the night of their midnight assembly to use as a working model while they are building the space’s new metal simple.
My understanding is that Printrbot has incorporated my idea of a separate wiring harness (like they have for the hot end) into the autolevel probe, which ended up solving my main problem with the printer. The sensor they were using had really thin, solid core, fragile wiring and wasn’t intended to be installed in location subject to movement. Those early models had about a 2-4 week lifespan before you needed to replace those sensors ($25 + s/h from printrbot). After two replacements from Printbot in my first month of ownership, I ordered a carton of those sensors from China (printrbots source) myself. So if you or the space ever need a replacement, let me know! I was actually thinking of using one to work as an RPM sensor for the space’s metal lathe.
I have had mine for a little over a month now and was lucky enough to get it dialed in pretty quickly. My friend and I built it in an evening from the kit.
So far I am loving it…would like more build area, but so far I am very impressed with it.
Do you know if the new models have a separate wiring harness for the autolevel bed sensor? In other words is the sensor easily changed without have to string the wires through the harness all the way to the control board? That wasn’t the case when I received mine, and it was one of my strongest recommendations to Printrbot that they should implement.
I am highly ambivalent about my Printrbot. I did end up falling in love with 3D printing, but I expended way to much blood, sweat, and tears on getting my fixed and useable to ever look kindly on a machine I purchased because it was the ‘first 3D printer that is just ready to print for consumers!’
I also hope they have solved some of there QC issues. You can see in this video I made for them, a demonstration of a QC problem (and the scratch it caused in my frame) that was because the mounting bracket for the extruder assembly was bent. I had ordered an assembled Printrbot.
Mine has been great. I had great results out of the box. The only problem I had was the print head coming loose. My prints weren’t the best until my friend helped me dial it in and once I learned that you have to design something that is printable instead of just designing whatever you want on a whim.
Joyce, how long have you had your printer?
Did you buy it assembled, or as a kit?
Any issues with yours so far?
We ought to meet up at DMS with some of our prints to compare quality.
I am usually at DMS on Thursday nights…
I use Linux exclusively and have finally settled on FreeCad for designing stuff that Tinkercad doesn’t have already.
Glad to hear that they may have solve some of their design and QC issues. As I mentioned I purchased some of the original run when they first release the printer.
Can’t make it tonight, but I think next Thursday in the Midnigh Printrbot build and was planning on dropping off my printer in the 3D fab room that evening.
I have recently begun learning FreeCAD, prior to this all of the parts I have built have been with OpenSCAD. I am branching into FreeCAD to see about using it to design some parts for milling in the HAAS that are too complicated for each development within OpenSCAD.
BTW, I too am a Linux user, though I do have one Windows laptop and a Windows virtual machine on one of my linux boxes when I need a piece of software that doesn’t work on a decent operating system.
I would like to talk to you about your experiences with Octoprint. I am currently running Octoprint on a Pi2, and have noticed a problem with it occasionally pausing for several minutes before continuing to print. The real problem is that these pauses occur with the hot end in contact with the previous printed portion of the part, causing jams and essentially ruining the part by melting part of it.
Mine doesn’t pause at all, and I am running Octoprint on a Pi2 also…as well as streaming out the video over the web to my friend’s house…hehehehe
Have you checked your temps? Maybe your temp is dropping and the ‘pause’ is the Printrbot waiting for the temp to come right again before going on with the next line of Gcode?
We’ve been running Octoprint on the Polyprinters and also have not seen any pausing. The majority of our issues seem to come from physical connections (USB ports getting bumped) and some software glitches in the web interface (e.g. the Unauthorized errors).
I have had my printer just over 2 months but sadly I don’t get to print on it much. I bought the Metal Plus already assembled. I’m doing pretty good printing with PLA but not so great with ABS. I have an awful lot to learn about 3D design and printing though. I bought mine so that I can learn to print prosthetic hands (like for e-NABLE). Meeting up at DMS sounds great!
What are the chances we can meet on the weekend from time to time?
(I work until 9 PM, so never make it to the 'Space at what the masses consider a ‘normal’ time… )
Brace yourselves ~ cuz I’ll prolly drive y’all nuts with questions 'n whatnot… hehe…
Oh 'n do y’all wanna keep it all here in this thread? Or do you want to post most the stuff here, but have a Hangout available for those times when there’s a lot of info that needs to be passed back and forth - like when trying to tweak settings 'n troubleshoot 'n all? I DEF think it’d be best to have most the stuff posted here, since it’s public and others can possibly learn from things we encounter, resolve, and improve upon! Lemme know!
Weekends would certainly be my preference. So far, about half the time I go to the space during the week I end up with my brain churning through things when I get home and end up not sleeping… I am an old man and need my sleep!
I would think that any new issues be placed here, then if needed the ‘grunge work’ could be done on other media, but then the resolution should be posted back here. That way we don’t bury the gold in too much dross!
I am curious if the others with the printrbot extruder assembly (not just the metal simple) have notice a problem I have. I originally modified my printer to have a second fan that is directed to the metal extruder and the stepper, but found it wasn’t sufficient and have had to had a small house fan (about 8" diameter) and keep it angled above the heat bed, but still blowing air across the extruder stepper motor. The reason is that my metal extruder gets hot enough to significant soften the pla filiament before it enters the hot end. This cause jams and bad prints.
It may also be the reason that I am having my Octoprint problem. Octoprint may be more concerned about the bed temp (which drops below mark about 5 degrees) then Repetier host which I used to use.
I haven’t had any problems with my extruder getting too hot. I only have the one small cooling fan that the metal came with and a fan shroud.
What temp are you printing at? I print the Toner Plastics brand from Microcenter at 200 with a bed temp of 70. I bet your house fan is the cause of your pausing…bed temps probably dropping like you said.
On Joyce’s statement about ABS, I haven’t messed with it too much, but I found that if I covered my whole printer with a large cardboard box so that the temp stays warm and constant, I was able to get great results with ABS.
I had my printer in the garage uncovered where the ambient temps were in the 80~90’s and found that it was too hot and I didn’t get the best prints. I then brought it upstairs to my computer room and seem to be getting good prints where the ambient temp is around 77 or so.
Bed temp is 70, and hot end is between 200-210 depending upon whose filament I am using. But it isn’t the hot end that is causing the problem for me, it is definitely the heat being generated by the extruder stepper motor. I am wondering if Printrbot hasn’t made another design change since the model I have. I know that at the time there were a number of people with similar problems, and there were a lot of Thingiverse designs released for fan mounting brackets to cool the aluminum extruder.
If the ambient temp in my place is in the low 70’s or below, this problem is greatly reduced. But I was seeing it a lot last summer, when temps were reasonably high. Certainly near or slightly above 80 in my house. I wonder if you will see the issue come up as summer approaches?
And for me, given my temperature issue, I haven’t bothered with ABS. I have a few rolls, but am keeping them in my PSB at the space for use in the polyprinters when I need something printed in ABS.
Like I said, I had mine in the garage when the ambient temp was 90F, printed for several hours, and never noticed a problem with extruder at all.
Here are a couple of pictures of my extruder motor and the extruder assembly if you want to compare it to yours.
Not sure if yours is the same design, but as you can see on mine, the top of the hot end sits flush with the extruder assembly and there is a piece underneath the motor shaft to keep the filament in check.
Maybe if yours isn’t the same design, you might contact them and see if they would ‘comp’ you one.
If they have made changes, I am thinking it may have been in the driver circuits on the main board, not nescessarily the motors. I do know they have recently released a new board, and don’t know if you have that versus the one I have.
Frankly, I suspect that is the big difference, since my stepper runs quite hot after a long print… It is uncomfortable to touch.
Ah, mine never get that hot. I have the latest rev… Rev F. maybe? Not exactly sure. You might write them an email and see if they would work with you on replacing the board, or addressing the issue. Even in the hot garage mine didn’t get too hot while running.
After the numerous complaints I raised with Brooks Dunn (owner of Printrbot) about the poor design and frequent need for replacement of the autolevel sensor, and then the fire hazard there original power connection for the heated bed upgrade represented, I am not sure he would even repond to my email…
I was thinking of upgrading my printer to the new board. When we have this support group meeting I would love if we both bring our printers, so that I can compare them and see what would be involved in upgrading mine.
Oh, and I am now using Filiament outlet PLA from AMAZON which I can have delivered for $21. I haven’t hand any of the tangling issues with them that I have with others (including a roll I ordered from Makerbot) and I love the fact that I don’t have to go to a store (or pay for shipping).
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