My attempt at 3D printing racks (5 Viewers)

[One Eyed Dollar]

What software do you use to design stuff with? Any tutorials you've found helpful for designing parts?

It really depends on what you like and how your brain works. I tried about 5 different free programs, and I personally like Designspark Mechanical a lot. I also use TinkerCAD sometimes because it has some useful text tools. Some people really like Blender or Fusion360 (this one is totally unintuitive to me, but other people love it). Meshmixer is another good one to check out. Some of it depends on if you are modeling rectilinear objects where precise dimensions are important vs. sculpting miniatures for D&D, etc. There are good tutorials out there for all of those options.

 

[RainmanTrail]

I finished assembling my Prusa i3 MK3s tonight. Just ordered some more filament colors. Now it's time to learn how to design some parts and do some test prints! Once I figure out the basics, I'm gong to add on a Raspberry Pi setup and get the add-on that allows me to print with up to 5 different colors at once.

 

[Amish Rabbi]

My second prusa shows up Tuesday

 

[RainmanTrail]

My second prusa shows up Tuesday

Are there any good forums or resources you've found helpful in learning how to work with your Prusa?

 

[Amish Rabbi]

Are there any good forums or resources you've found helpful in learning how to work with your Prusa?

The Prusa reddit is pretty good and the official prusa forum is OK.

Honestly I have mostly just done my own learning/testing. I had one at work before I bought mine and I'm a mechanical designer who already owns a cnc machine and laser cutter so it is kind of just in my nature

 

[Nex]

I finished assembling my Prusa i3 MK3s tonight. Just ordered some more filament colors. Now it's time to learn how to design some parts and do some test prints! Once I figure out the basics, I'm gong to add on a Raspberry Pi setup and get the add-on that allows me to print with up to 5 different colors at once.


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If you want some recommendations based on my own experiences:

- Save the 300 bucks for the multi material kit. It is shit. You can completely forget about using multiple material types in combination, and even printing with multiple of the same type doesn't work more often than it does. Plus, insanely long print times due to all the filament unload/reload overhead and very annoying filament loading process. I have bought this kit and since removed it from my printer again. Better wait for the Prusa XL announcement and hope that they include multiple extruders (dedicated hotends).

- Skip the Raspberry Pi as well. Due to the technology used (live streaming commands to the printer without any buffering whatsoever) even the tiniest hiccups on the RPi will noticeably reduce print quality. I have tried it... and went back to printing from SD.

Edit: Make sure your belt tension is optimal. It's as much important as calibrating Z offset properly. There are some numbers buried under Support>Belt status, I don't know which unit, but you should aim to have both around 275-285 as closely as you can. Numbers update whenever you run the selftest, higher number=higher tension. I am mentioning this because I had a substantial trouble with generally poor print quality and layer shifting in the beginning, and it took me a while to figure out where it came from. It's not so easy to get the belts to this tension, particularly the X axis one, so after assembly that you feel was all OK the tension tends to be too low.

 

[RainmanTrail]

Thanks @Nex .i will definitely keep this in mind. I'll try to check the tensions today.

 

[Amish Rabbi]

got an email from my work "does anyone know anything about 3d printing?" lol

 

[RainmanTrail]

got an email from my work "does anyone know anything about 3d printing?" lol

Job security!

 

[RainmanTrail]

Sweet! I have a frog! Haha. Now I need to learn how to print something a bit more useful. I also have some new colors that are supposed to arrive tomorrow. Time to start playing around.

 

[Nex]

I have also experimented with printing racks recently.

 

[dutch_whaley]

Tagging a few people that have expressed interest in these racks to get feedback on my last post in case they haven't seen it.
@AK Chip @Saoliver @BSteck @RainmanTrail @BGinGA @TeamNapoli @ReallyGoodUsername

Amazing products! Can’t wait to see all the products you come up with, these are amazing!

 

[RainmanTrail]

Bah. I set up my printer last night to print the bottom bracket of the chip flattening jig. It got about 80 %done then it looks like one corner lifted up and it went wild after that. Now I'm stuck with this mess on my extruder lol. Any tips?

I'm pretty sure my z axis height is well calibrated now and my belt tensions are optimal at 275 and 277. Also, I cleaned the bed with alcohol prior to printing.

The printer is running in my garage and it probably got a little cool at night, but not too cold, probably low to mid 60s at worst.

 

[Amish Rabbi]

Smooth or textured plate?

 

[One Eyed Dollar]

Haha, I've done that! Heat the hot end to about 200-220 deg and you should be able to pull the big blob off. There will still be some residue on it. Heat up the hot end and then turn it off and scrub it with a brass brush and you can get most of it. There is probably a silicone sock over the heat block under there if it's like the Creality printers, so try not to damage that.

Don't scrub the hot end with the wire brush while it's on. You might hit some exposed wires and cause some sparks to happen. Don't ask how I know that.

 

[Nex]

Get a brass (important - steel damages the components) wire brush and tweezers or the fine pliers that came with the i3, heat up the extruder to printing temp, then remove the blob and clean up any residue with the brush afterwards.

Make sure you clean the two screws' drives on the underside of the heater block really well. Else, if anything ever happens to the cables of the heater cartridge or thermistor, you're essentially forced to throw about two thirds of the extruder assembly away because you can't separate the bad from the still good anymore.

If ambient temperature gets too cold, it might cool off the print bed too much. Heat is the main way of controlling adhesion of the printed object to the bed, and if it's not hot enough, the printed object can come loose from the friction force of the nozzle going over it.

You don't have much leeway if printing PLA since that stuff melts at such a low temperature, if you go higher than 65°C you risk deformation. You could however build an enclosure for the printer, which will help stabilizing the temperature. If printing PET, you could try raising the bed temperature during the print by 5-10°C when you run it in the garage overnight.

 

[One Eyed Dollar]

A couple ideas on getting it to stick better, but I'm not familiar with Prusas, so I'm not sure if some of these apply:
1. Hairspray on the bed helps
2. Make sure the bed is level - super important for 1st layer adhesion
3. A thicker first layer helps with adhesion if that's an option in the slicing software
4. In Cura you can add a "brim" around the outside to help hold it down. Don't know what Prusa calls it. I don't use one for thin flat stuff like that frame, but it might help if you're having warping issues.

This is when the webcam comes in handy for watching the timelapse to see what went wrong! Also the Spaghetti Detective watches for stuff like this and alerts you. It's pretty cool.

 

[Nex]

Addendum --

The i3s have no silicone sock straight from the factory, but you can buy these from E3D or cheap chinese knockoffs as well. I've tried the E3D ones with mixed experiences and decided to stop using them. I've always had issues with the sock sagging down just fractions of a millimeter, and that led to the sock frequently catching onto the printed objects. While it often didn't make the print fail completely, it did reduce the surface finish quality.

i3 has auto bed levelling with a distance probe so that's one thing taken care of for you.

Brim is indeed helpful if your print object only has very little contact surface with the bed. But I only need it very rarely. 99.9% IPA on the smooth bed and printing at room temp usually gets the job done for me.

 

[RainmanTrail]

Smooth or textured plate?

It says it's a texture steel plate, but it has a smooth film coating on it. I think it's a PEI coating?

 

[RainmanTrail]

I'll try to print it inside the house tonight and see if that helps. That or I'll put it inside an enclosure. I have one of those large photo tents that a lot of people use. I might try that first.

 

[Amish Rabbi]

It says it's a texture steel plate, but it has a smooth film coating on it. I think it's a PEI coating?

https://shop.prusa3d.com/en/mk3mk3s/214-powder-coated-spring-steel-sheet.html

The smooth sheet has a bit of a grid printed on it

 

[RainmanTrail]

Mine doesn't look like that one. Mine has the grid on it. Here's a pic. It has a smooth laminate on it that has a sorta yellow-greenish tint to it. I actually thought I was supposed to remove it at first lol. But I'm pretty sure it's supposed to be there.

 

[Amish Rabbi]

Yea that is the smooth one. I would assume it is your ambient temp causing the problem then

 

[SteveHNo96]

Anyone want to print me some 43mm racks for when my Dia De Los Muertos set comes in? I got a couple of weeks.

 

[markleteenie]

Anyone want to print me some 43mm racks for when my Dia De Los Muertos set comes in? I got a couple of weeks.

https://www.pokerchipforum.com/forums/3d-printed-poker-products.106/

 

[pitchie]

This is a great idea. I've been looking for a new idea for my 3D printer, guess I've got plenty of time on my hands at the minute. Thanks for the inspiration.

 

[One Eyed Dollar]

Anyone want to print me some 43mm racks for when my Dia De Los Muertos set comes in? I got a couple of weeks.

For regular sized chips, I recommend just buying the acrylic racks that are already on the market. I can't make them any better or cheaper with my 3D printer. I plan to offer some racks in my store eventually, but mostly for special cases like the 8V China Clays that don't fit in normal racks.

 

[SteveHNo96]

For regular sized chips, I recommend just buying the acrylic racks that are already on the market. I can't make them any better or cheaper with my 3D printer. I plan to offer some racks in my store eventually, but mostly for special cases like the 8V China Clays that don't fit in normal racks.

When did 43mm become "normal"? Everything is bigger now.

I've been not having a fun time because Matsuis are recommended for 43's and other than one dude who tried to charge me nearly triple the going rate for them, I haven't heard much. I imagine with the Coronavirus it will be a while before I do.

 

[One Eyed Dollar]

When did 43mm become "normal"? Everything is bigger now.

I've been not having a fun time because Matsuis are recommended for 43's and other than one dude who tried to charge me nearly triple the going rate for them, I haven't heard much. I imagine with the Coronavirus it will be a while before I do.

Check these out from Apache:
https://www.apachepokerchips.com/product/chipco-43mm-poker-chip-rack/

 

[Chile85]

Bah. I set up my printer last night to print the bottom bracket of the chip flattening jig. It got about 80 %done then it looks like one corner lifted up and it went wild after that. Now I'm stuck with this mess on my extruder lol. Any tips?

I'm pretty sure my z axis height is well calibrated now and my belt tensions are optimal at 275 and 277. Also, I cleaned the bed with alcohol prior to printing.

The printer is running in my garage and it probably got a little cool at night, but not too cold, probably low to mid 60s at worst.

View attachment 428642

I have a buddy with a bunch of Prusas that had this same issue. It's a mess. Could link you guys up if you have questions. Here's his little farm and similar issue to yours.