Getting Started with 3D printing

How hard can it be?

Buy a 3D printer, download some free software. Maybe grab a couple of test designs (which are called "Models"). And away you go.
Unleash the Inner Inventor in us all. If nothing else, print your own lego bricks.

Buying A Printer

I admit that this was my first barrier. Last time I looked around, a basic (but non-kit) printer setup was like $500 And that was over my threshold for "let's go see what this baby will do".

Well, a couple of things happened that pushed me over the top.

First, I have this OTHER project trying to get computer controlled LED lights on my LGB Trains for my Xmas setup. That was going fine until I realized that I just didn't have any good clean way of putting the lights onto the cars. Hot Glue was a bad idea. I needed flat surfaces to start with. I tried wood. And soldering. And more wood. And I ruined a lot of lights. And I just couldn't make it look "nice". I needed something more customizable.

Then, On a facebook ad, of all places, I saw a cool looking little 3D printer being advertised for Xmas for under $200. My partner got it for me for Christmas. This is  a M3D Micro. It has a printing area of about 100mm on a side. So fine for small things. I figure I could hook some things to gather to make my mount surfaces for my lights.

M3D

M3D Mini with Mark I external filament holder.

Now M3D is an interesting company. They were a quick starter company and are pretty much just getting going. I am still not sure what I think about them. First, my printer was broken right out of the box. Would only track X back and forth about 20mm. I tried customer support. This was very slow during the Xmas to New Years week, and I don't blame them for that. The advice they gave me sounded good, at first. "Gee, sounds like you have set a soft stop in your software, send this Q-command that should free it up" (No go). Couple other things (also no Go). Finally, they send me to this page with directions on how to fix a broken something or other.

Directions read something like: "Remove bunch of screws. Remove Cover. Gently remove Important thingee to reveal unseated thingee. Reseat. Apply Super Glue. Put back together."

Apply Super Glue?

Why not just say "Please Void Warranty at this time".

Anyway, I applied for a return.

Took a week to reply to me saying they would accept my return but I had to pay shipping.

Took a week after I paid the shipping for them to email me a shipping label.

Took a week for the shipment to get to them.

Took a week for the New one to get back to me.

I was pretty mad by then.

But the new one works !!

Well. Sort of.

You know what the 3 most common things are that can make a model print poorly?

1. At initial start, filament doesn't stick to the table. Caused by:
1. Reel not feeding easily.
2. Height not aligned properly.
3. Tray too cold.
2. During print. Spool doesn't feed well. Caused by:
1. Reel not feeding easily.
2. Filament getting unwrapped and tangled.
3. God.
3. Clogged hot nozzle. Caused by:
1. Reel not feeding easily.
2. Incorrectly set temperature controls.
3. using the printer.

As you see. The Reel not feeding easily is a problem. You can also see that one problem, like reel not feeding, can cause the other problems , like Nozzle Clogging. The M3D comes with an internal integrated spool holder and feeder. The first thing you need to do is replace that baby with an external feeder. The second thing you need to do is figure out that you need a even better feeder and print that one. And the third thing you need to do may be to buy a feeder from someone...

 

 

 

For the last couple of days I have been plagued by bad prints. They look sort of like good prints, but they can come apart in your hands. Sort of more like a birds nest than a lego brick. As far as I can tell, it all because me spool just isn't feeding well enough, and I think this cause the nozzle to get clogged. 

It is also unclear to me, at this time, what the resolution and solidness settings I can use. Models are, by default, hollow with pretty thin walls. You can make them more and more solid at the expense of longer print time and the use of more print filament.

and that leads to the next 3D printer issue:

Print Time

You know how long it takes to print 1 of 3 of the pieces I need to make my new Print Spooler? About 2 hours a print. Now perhaps I am using the wrong settings. Might be able to get that down to 1 hour. Still, one hour a piece for things is going to take a long time to get my light holders made. That that 1 or 2 hours assumes that I didn't make a mistake in my creation of the 3D model (using TinkerCad, at this point) and that the 3D model didn't have some internal problem (like holes are not holes) that you can't tell from the CAD software, and that it didn't just all go bad because of the spooler. You know what happens when the spool gets held up a bit? The filament stops adhering to the previously printed model. When that happens, the printer continues on printing right up in the air. And you get little tiny threads of plastic in great big Bird's Nests all over the printing space of your printer. At least my Partner finds them amusing.

I find it very difficult to walk away from a print and let it on its own. So I can apparently waste a lot time just watching plastic melt and the little servo arms running around drawing the model layer by layer. See, if I am watching, then I can abort as soon as something goes wrong. Instead of waking up in the morning, after allowing an 8 hour print to run all night, to find that things blew up half way through and I now have a Mare's Nest in my office.