Just discovered this community; very cool.

3D Printing
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#1

Just discovered this community; very cool. I’ve been using a MB Replicator Dual (the wooden one) for a year or so. It’s been really useful, but I think we’re ready for a replacement (something is out of alignment and each layer is offset from the one below, so everything leans to the left).

So, what printer would you choose? Price isn’t a major driver (let’s keep it under $25k!). We like a large build volume and pretty good resolution. We have a bunch of MakerBot spools (ABS and PLA) left over from when things starting leaning, so it might be nice to choose a printer that can use that material. Is there anything available that won’t require a lot of tinkering once it’s assembled?

#2

there was a largeish machine on kickstarter. not sure its accuracy. … http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/re3d/gigabot-3d-printing-this-is-huge?ref=card

#3

Try going through the adjustments on your current machine. It could just be a loose belt or pulley or a stepper driver that needs adjusting.

#4

Wow, @3roomlab . That is quite a large one! 24"³ according to this http://www.re3d.org/#!work/canh . I was thinking something like the Type A printer (9"³, I think). My coworkers would really like the 8 cubic feet of space, though.

#5

hmmm well, if you fancy rostocks, they are quite remarkable. otherwise, all that i have in my head is ultimaker, i think they have the best print, but they do need some tweaking. else, you could try nopheads’s mendel90, which i think is fantastic too. … i saw some vids of some very clever pulley in a profile machine … i cant rem where is that at now … otherwise unfortunately i am borgged by delays … my yet to be finished machine has a build height of 950mm … i m sure it will warp … i am a star trek fan … this warp i hope is containable … LOL

#6

@Wylie_Hilliard : which adjustments? The firmware settings? We had several months of straight parts (endless lifting issues, but the ABS slurry seems to work), but then the leaning started sometime several months ago. I was thinking about rolling back the firmware to an older version to see if it had an effect.

#7

I have an ultimaker, no problems whatsoever, you need to assemble a bit but when you got it running its almost no maintenance.

#8

@Sean_Clarke it sounds like your X or Y belts or pulleys respectively are slipping, or possibly the respective motor is missing steps, that’s really the only way to get a lean. Fixing that would be relatively trivial — even if you hire a maker space expert dude for $50 an hour you will have it fixed for under a hundred bucks.

Don’t get me wrong, there’s ways to get better printers than the Replicator these days, and even not-quite-working you can always sell the Replicator, but repair is an option.

#9

Did you upgrade to Sailfish? There was a bug for a brief period that caused an accumulation of position errors that caused a leaning print. Getting the latest firmware and ReplicatorG fixes that.

#10

If you really have got a bit of cash to splash around, take a look at the Industrial RepRap by the Kuehling brothers.
A bit out of my league but it looks very nice.

#11

The Lulzbot guys also make pretty good printers. http://www.lulzbot.com/?q=products/taz-3d-printer

#12

@Jasper_Janssen The pulleys/belts don’t seem to be slipping: the teeth on the belt are much bigger than the offset introduced in each layer. It does seem like an “accumulation of position error” like @Joseph_Chiu described. I do have spare stepper motors, so maybe it’s worth the time to swap out the x-axis motor. I hadn’t considered the possibility that the problem could be the within the motor.

I’ve been trying to think of what else could cause this (I wish I had a photo of the failed parts with me). Have people had problems with the vertical platform slides becoming slanted?

#13

@Joseph_Chiu I’ve stuck with the official MakerBot firmware so far. Is Sailfish the community standard now? It would be interesting to try downgrading to an early MakerBot firmware build, but after that maybe I’ll switch to Sailfish.

#14

@en_tiresia “Industrial RepRap” is exactly the description I’m interested in! I wish the build volume was a little bigger than 8"³. Maybe I’ll watch for the 15.5" one.

#15

I’ll vouch for Type A Machine’s Series 1… awesome printer… They’re working on a pro model (12"build area) that should be available at the end the year if you can wait.

#16

@Tony_Olivo is right on the money. If I had 2300$ I’d drop it on a @LulzBot TAZ in a heartbeat. Rock Solid support and they ship when you order. Talk to Jebba in #reprap on IRC freenode or e-mail them for when they are back in stock (if they are out of stock).

#17

@Ross_Hendrickson , @Tony_Olivo : Thanks for the recommendation. I’ll keep that in mind. I registered my email address for when they stock up again. Too many choices! I wonder if there’s a way to use the 1.75 mm plastic spools we have left over from the Replicator…

#18

You can purchase a simple part to swap out and it should work with 1.75 filament. Not 100% positive their new version of their nozzle allows it but the last few have so reasonably confident.