3D Printer

[SubDude]

When I get done with this thing any facets will be gone. It doesn't require as much sanding as you think. 80 grit works wonders. I use a high fill PU primer. One heavy coat, sand (an easy sanding at that. PU primer sands easier than plastic) and one more reduced coat of primer, wet sand with 400 if needed or run a Scotch Brite pad over it then paint. It works great for me. I am printing it at the scale it was designed at. My first time doing that. I may try printing the next section on a higher resolution in the slicer to see what it does. Currently set on medium. Always learning.

[Groot689]

First and foremost, thank you all for providing your expertise on using 3D print technology in the construction of RC submarines etc. I am definitely a newbie but recently purchased the Ender 3 Pro V2 and am slowly easing my way up the learning curve. I am really encouraged by the print size RCJetDude on your project but was wondering if you have had any leveling issues or problems with the print not adhering to the base plate. One of my only complaints with this printer is the need for leveling your base plate before every print. Any tips for this rookie? In any event, I am looking forward to tracking your progress and really appreciate all of the tips and constructive advice all of the members have offered thus far.

[CC Clarke]

When I get done with this thing any facets will be gone. It doesn't require as much sanding as you think. 80 grit works wonders. I use a high fill PU primer. One heavy coat, sand (an easy sanding at that. PU primer sands easier than plastic) and one more reduced coat of primer, wet sand with 400 if needed or run a Scotch Brite pad over it then paint. It works great for me. I am printing it at the scale it was designed at. My first time doing that. I may try printing the next section on a higher resolution in the slicer to see what it does. Currently set on medium. Always learning.

The slicer has no effect on the faceting - it only affects the layer properties when the printer extrudes the hot noodle of plastic.

The faceting is caused by the modeling, which needs to be modified within Fusion 360 before outputting as a STL.

CC

[Subculture]

One of my only complaints with this printer is the need for leveling your base plate before every print. Any tips for this rookie?

I have an Ender 2, which is similar, but more basic and a bit smaller. On the build plate I ran some extra nuts up against the three bolts that attach the plate to the carrier, so they were firm on the plate, I also added a dab of threadlock to prevent them jarring loose. This helped enormously, but you'll still find the bed needs periodically levelling using the paper under the nozzle trick

I added a 3d touch sensor to my Ender 2 - e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRgWrepDUBE, this self levels and was £10 well spent. I removed the bedplate springs altogether, and locked the plate to the carrier. I also use a removable plate, which makes it much easier to remove prints without disturbing the rest of the machine. I always use a bit of glue stick on the plate before a new print.

I found i needed to muck about with the printer for several months before I got it working to my satisfaction.

I'm afraid 3d printing is like any other tool, takes time to learn it well, and the initial learning curve is steeper. I think your Ender 3 pro will need a lot less mods than my little Ender 2.

[tifosi12]

My first full on Fusion 360 project. Took me about 5 days and 2 versions but is now printing very nicely on my Ender 3 Pro using ASA filament. It's my take on a 1/72nd scale Columbia class. Will be 93" long with just over a 7" beam. I sat down and forced myself to learn what I did. At times it was very frustrating but I kept going. Also had some help along the way. I use Simplify 3D for my slicing software. My printer has been bullet proof aside from an issue where the wire inside the insulation of the power cable to the bed heater fatigued and broke. Took me two weeks to figure that one out but it is back up and running full bore. I just bought an Ender 5 Plus and will be bringing it online soon. Much bigger build volume so I could easily do a 1/48th Ohio now if I want but it will first be printing a large Seehund for a buddy of mine.

You are making great use of the Ender's build volume. Looks like an aftermarket glass platform?

I'm using the same printer currently to print out the 1/32 Type II. Coming along nicely. A brilliantly engineered build for close to nothing in costs.

[tifosi12]

[QUOTE=CC Clarke;n146451]

My first full on Fusion 360 project. Took me about 5 days and 2 versions but is now printing very nicely on my Ender 3 Pro using ASA filament. It's my take on a 1/72nd scale Columbia class. Will be 93" long with just over a 7" beam. I sat down and forced myself to learn what I did. At times it was very frustrating but I kept going. Also had some help along the way. I use Simplify 3D for my slicing software. My printer has been bullet proof aside from an issue where the wire inside the insulation of the power cable to the bed heater fatigued and broke. Took me two weeks to figure that one out but it is back up and running full bore. I just bought an Ender 5 Plus and will be bringing it online soon. Much bigger build volume so I could easily do a 1/48th Ohio now if I want but it will first be printing a large Seehund for a buddy of mine.

The Ender 5 is a nice machine, and your current Columbia print looks like a lot of fun. My only suggestion for improvement would be to increase the side count on the hull to minimize the faceting. It looks like you've got around 48 sides @ 3-4 mm thickness; I like to use 120 sides which drastically reduces the amount of post-sanding required. The size of this model would need a lot of laborious sanding!

I finally used some XTC-3D epoxy coating last week and highly recommend it. A couple of very thin coats will completely fill in FDM layer lines, (but isn't going to fix broad, visible faceting.) After that, very light sanding preps the surface for primer.

I've attached a freshly-printed and coated screw for comparison:



I look forward to seeing your finished result!

CC

Looking great. I bought the XTC-3D epoxy as well but when I read all the warning labels I got cold feet and put it away. It sounds like you need a space suit to touch the stuff. How did you handle it?

[SubDude]

The slicer has no effect on the faceting - it only affects the layer properties when the printer extrudes the hot noodle of plastic.

The faceting is caused by the modeling, which needs to be modified within Fusion 360 before outputting as a STL.

CC

Gotcha. I have saved the parts as .stl files in Fusion at the higher resolution. Previously it was just using the default medium. The mesh looks better.

[SubDude]

First and foremost, thank you all for providing your expertise on using 3D print technology in the construction of RC submarines etc. I am definitely a newbie but recently purchased the Ender 3 Pro V2 and am slowly easing my way up the learning curve. I am really encouraged by the print size RCJetDude on your project but was wondering if you have had any leveling issues or problems with the print not adhering to the base plate. One of my only complaints with this printer is the need for leveling your base plate before every print. Any tips for this rookie? In any event, I am looking forward to tracking your progress and really appreciate all of the tips and constructive advice all of the members have offered thus far.

Once the level is set I have found it needs little adjustment. In fact, I have not had to mess with the leveling knobs in I can't remember how long. Now, I do have stiffer than stock springs on it. They came with the metal extruder I added. Both are very worthwhile. I also have an upgraded motherboard and touch screen display as well as a different nozzle thermistor. I recalibrated the bed and nozzle PID's to operate at the higher temps for ASA and it has been bullet proof. I also replaced the magnetic build surface with a piece of mirror and I use Magigo to adhere the part to the mirror. The build surface must be smooth for it to work properly. So far it has been cranking out part after part without fail or issue. Nozzle is 260C, Bed is 90C and ambient is 45C. I use the black Polymaker Polylite ASA. My printer is in my unheated basement in a heated enclosure. I rarely if at all smell any fumes from it but will most likely vent it and the enclosure for my Ender 5 Plus when I get it set up. I will be making the same changes to the 5 Plus that I made to the 3 Pro. I will try the BL Touch on the 5 but it is just another thing to screw up and I have seen it happen on a buddies printer but it was mainly the result of how he was printing.

[SubDude]

You are making great use of the Ender's build volume. Looks like an aftermarket glass platform?

I'm using the same printer currently to print out the 1/32 Type II. Coming along nicely. A brilliantly engineered build for close to nothing in costs.

I replaced the magnetic build surface. I went to Lowe's and had them cut a piece of mirror to fit. Held on with 4 medium binding clips. Magigoo adheres the part while hot. Once cool it pops off. It holds small parts more tenaciously even after cooling. I do use a skirt or brim to help adhere parts like the hull sections. Works very well.

[CC Clarke]

For anyone following along that wants to learn about mesh / object resolution related to slicing and ultimately sweet-looking prints that require less effort to prepare for priming, I've attached a few examples.

All are tubes, 3mm thick, 100mm in diameter, and 152mm in length. The first tube has 24 sides, the second, 48, and the third 96. Note the amount of faceting (visible sides) in each of the first two pics.

The second three pics show the results of each individual tube after it's been sliced for 3D printing. The slicer setting are the same for each (15% infill / .2mm layer height)

In this example, I'm using ideaMaker. It's free and available here: ideaMaker All Versions | Download 3D Printer Software | Raise3D

The 24-sided tube will take 4 hours 45 minutes to print. The 48-sided tub will take 4:25, and the 96 sided tube will take 4:26. This is an important point. A 3D printer moves in short, straight line segments (a circle can be thought of as a series of interconnected straight lines.) The more sides, the faster the printer can print, so it's a win all around. Adding more sides can actually improve your print time (in this case) and produce a nicer-looking part with less prep required for priming. The trick is to find the sweet spot that yields the smoothest prints in the least amount of time.

The important takeaway here is: Modeling affects print time and quality of the print. A slicer takes the model code (stl is but one) and converts it to gcode (CNC-style machine commands.) A slicer cannot alter the geometry, it just "slices" it into layers to be printed on top of each other.

For fun, (you don't need a 3D printer to experiment) download ideaMaker and then head over to Thingverse and download this: RC submarine Mystic class DSRV by Ewolve - Thingiverse

Carl has done an excellent job of setting this up for printing. (Only the propeller needs Supports added.)

With iM open, go to File/Load/Import Model and load one of the files. Once it's loaded, go to Slice/Start Slice and choose the Standard template setting. Once the model is sliced, slide the Layers handle in the Previewer on the bottom to see how the printer will create the model.

Experiment and have fun!

CC

[trout]

excellent tip!

[CC Clarke]

I've attached a couple of renders of the stock (as printed) DSRV - with a newer (textured) version I'm rebuilding that will have a 688 mothership base and realistic shock mitigation system for the transfer skirt. These will need to be resin printed due to the much higher detail. This is it about half-done.

CC

[CC Clarke]

[QUOTE=tifosi12;n146464]

Looking great. I bought the XTC-3D epoxy as well but when I read all the warning labels I got cold feet and put it away. It sounds like you need a space suit to touch the stuff. How did you handle it?

Gloves are more than adequate, and protective eyewear is recommended if you're spastic. It's a two-part epoxy and I didn't notice it smelling any worse than any of the other bonding materials I often use. It dries quickly and cures fast when applied in thin coats at room-temperature. I gave it 24 hours between each coat, which was more than adequate.

CC

[CC Clarke]

Gotcha. I have saved the parts as .stl files in Fusion at the higher resolution. Previously it was just using the default medium. The mesh looks better.

Excellent. It took me awhile to find the proper resolution recipe when converting files back and forth from SolidWorks.

I once took down a company server using the wrong resolution settings in ProE as another engineer and I tried repeatedly to convert a native ProE file to OBJ so I could dig into the mesh with my software. Seconds after I pressed the Save button, both of us stared wide-eyed at each other as a chorus of "WTF!!!" echoed from all of the adjacent offices simultaneously. The server was located in another of our facilities 120 miles away (in Silicon Valley) and it was not pretty. Luckily an HP network guru just happened to be there and restored the system quickly. We became a lot more cautious with our settings after that, until we discovered the optimum recipe.

[Subculture]

Lovely DSRV model, but would be best printed on a resin printer, the new Elegoo Saturn has a large enough build platform for it. Trying to sand out striations from a FDM process. whilst preserving the small rivet detail would prove highly challenging.