is 3d printing accurate?

ilan

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hi,

i bought me a 3d printer for my birthday in April and after many many printing and printer upgrades, i can say that i have the optimal configurations and my prints are getting very well.
as a cnc programmer, i never toughed i could get such accurate results with the printer. there are some differences in the x/y axis when i do round shapes but i just calculate them into the cad modeling. my differences are around 0.1mm in a round shape (holes) and it also makes sense since the stepper motors have only 200 steps for a complete 360' round, so it is 1.8deg besides that, i am really surprised by the results of parallelism for example.

i am building a small machine that uses some stepper motors and other components and most parts are printed on my creality render 3 v2 3d printer. it is really a great printer and not that expensive.

for modeling i use fusion 360 and gibbscam.

who is also 3d printing?


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DarkMann

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Actually sitting here with the 3D printer (Creality Ender 5 Pro) and the CNC router (Ooznest Workbee) both working on different stuff as I write. (That makes it a bit loud!). We have an Anycubic Photon resin printer as well.

I don't really have a problem with roundness on the 3d printers, but it is a nightmare on the CNC. The carbide endmills that I use tend to deflect as they fight against the direction the head is moving in - this makes most circles end up a bit distorted. Mostly cutting PVC, Acrylic and HDPE and it's great for repetitive pieces that are simply cut from a 2D shape.

At the moment it is components for an electronically-controlled multi-outlet valve to enable automatic watering of the plants here. So, CNC for big componets, 3D printing for smaller stuff and then resin 3D when we need real detail or precision. The resin printer has a claimed resolution of 0.05mm, but realistically its more like 0.1mm but still very smooth. Cleaning and curing the resin is a real pain though.

Doing it for work, but only on a small scale which helps to keep it rewarding. I just wish I was better at the modelling.
 

ilan

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DarkMann said:
but it is a nightmare on the CNC. The carbide endmills that I use tend to deflect as they fight against the direction the head is moving in
Click to expand...
sounds like the depth of the cut is to high.
does your cnc machine support Z-Ramp cutting?
 

DarkMann

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Yes, I could ramp the cuts, but I think the real solution is to take very shallow cuts and also to move slower, but this in turn can cause problems with chip removal. And, of course, it takes much longer to do the cutting then.

In general it isn't usually a problem, except when making curved fitting components.
 

ilan

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What is the material you are cutting?
Can you also take a pic of the endmill?
 

Cableguy

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I have a highly modified ender3 v1.
I do mostly pratical prints under cura and taking firsts steps with octoprint.
The accuracy is very good but it depends of a bunch of factors, some slicer settings and good e-steps/flow set...
Sometimes it's touch'n'go
 

Cableguy

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ilan said:
i have not heard about octoprint. just checked it out and it looks really interesting.
do i need a specific firmware running on my printer to support octoprint?
Click to expand...
Nop, it acts like a gcode server, you can run several instances, hence, control several printers from a single raspberry pi.
All it needs is a network connection and USB to the printer.
 

ilan

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Cableguy said:
Nop, it acts like a gcode server, you can run several instances, hence, control several printers from a single raspberry pi.
All it needs is a network connection and USB to the printer.
Click to expand...
but how does it control the printer? how is the printer connected to the rp?
 

Cableguy

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ilan said:
but how does it control the printer? how is the printer connected to the rp?
Click to expand...
The printer connects through USB.
The rpi then sends the gcode in sequence through this usb connection
 

ilan

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Cableguy said:
The printer connects through USB.
The rpi then sends the gcode in sequence through this usb connection
Click to expand...
yes i understood that. i worked in a factory that had old cnc machines that were connected to a pc that was sending the gcode live. i didnot liked it because there were many disconnection. anyway, i didnot knew the printer has an option to print from USB. on my printer i print from SD card. are you sure i dont need to update the firmware?
 

Cableguy

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90% sure... one way to find out, connect directly to your pc and use universal gcode sender to test it
 

ilan

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actually, you are right. when i got the printer i installed an app named "Printrun" and connected it via usb to my pc. i just used to move the axis but i didnot understood how to use it for printing so i moved to Cura. now i realize that it is basically a online gcode server so the printer is controlled by it in real time.
 

Cableguy

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I'll be passing by home in about 1h30.
I'll take a photo of my set-up
 

Cableguy

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Some Octodash photos


Timming belt tensioners printed by "her"


Double ball bearing Y axel


Original Screen housing also printed by "her"
 

Cableguy

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My most pratical print yet... designed by me in Fusion360

 

Cableguy

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I also have a Direct Drive installed with ABL... a game changer!
 

ilan

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My Ender 3 - V2 (with some printed modifications)




Auto Bed-Levler Sensor



Upgraded Firmware with many functions and auto bed levling (incl. bed mesh creator)




tool holder (thingiverse)



working on a machine so i printed some parts including gears (my design)...



another gear + fighter jet (for my son)



(its not a ghost gun! )



switch card holder + pokemon cards tray (my design)



there are many other prints but i dont want to take the whole free ssd place of erels server ?
 

Cableguy

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Are the Gears in PLA? They don't seem to, more like ASA?
Do you experience warping when printing large first layer objets?
 
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