Makers' Alliance Wiki

Current Status: Fully Functional

NOTE: This 3D printer is Sam's personal property, not the space's. Don't mess with it unless you've been trained!

As of right now, the easiest way to use this is to generate your Gcode elsewhere (using Cura or other slicing software), copy the files to a MicroSD card, and print via the printer's front panel.

Status: Fully functional

A brief guide on usage:

• Maximum build area is 120mm x 120mm x 120mm
• This printer theoretically can print ABS, but we have not yet done so. PLA works great, though.
  • If printing ABS, there's a special fan duct cover we've printed that will help that stops the fan from cooling the part unnecessarily.
• Get your design into .STL format (Thingiverse downloads come this way normally, or export the file via whatever CAD program you choose to use)
• The easiest & quickest slicer program I've found is Cura. Download that onto your computer (we should probably get it on the main machine in the space as well…)
• Configure the printer with a build envelope of 120x120x120, layer height of .175mm (multiples of .04375 correspond to the step height on the Z-axis of this printer, so they're somewhat optimal)
• If you're using the gray PLA filament currently on the printer, it really wants an extruder temperature of 220 degrees C, and build platform temperature of 50-60 degrees C. If using some other filament, it may take some trial and error to get the temperatures right. The Lego keychain is a good test example, as it takes about 10 minutes to print.
• Save your sliced Gcode file onto a microSD card, and put the card into the printer's microSD card slot.
• Turn the printer on, select “Print”, and select your .gcode file.
• While the build platform is heating up, I usually set the extruder temperature to whatever it needs to be (to speed things along) and set the build speed to 2.0.
• If printing something for personal use, please Donate a couple of dollars to cover filament usage and other expendable parts (hot end, etc.), especially if it's a big print.

Potential Hacks/Improvements:

• Octoprint: A Raspberry Pi running OctoPi is in the space (in a case printed on the printer…) It's right now running the RepRap, but we could hook it up to this one.
• Extruder (cold end) upgrade: A set of Metal extruder parts has been procured. Don't replace until necessary.
• Extuder (hot end) upgrade: an E3D V6 clone hotend has been procured. A mount for it will need to be printed in ABS (or stronger). Need to print the mount soon (as a just-in-case measure), but no need to perform the replacement until necessary.
• Other modifications: See Here for many other improvements.