Category: 3d printing

This Episodes Questions:

Hello to a fellow Hoosier and the J’s,
I have almost bought a printer for at least 15 years, almost bought a makerbot, almost bought a RepRap, but always got discouraged at their difficulty to use. I put purchasing one on the back burner. In December 2024 I purchased a Bambu P1S. This printer is great and just works. But, it’s boring. I need to tinker. I’m just a hobbyist at this point. I can see making and selling stuff down the road. My question is which printer on the market now is in need of more user input to operate? Something more equivalent to driving a manual transmission versus an automatic.
Thanks.
Clint

Just found your podcast and I’m binging it from the beginning forward.
I apologize if you’ve tackled this before-
As a very low volume hobbyist, I find myself infrequently printing one or two of a small item I’ve identified a need for.
Here, time, within reason, is no issue. I dont really care if a part takes 2 hours or 6 hours to print. Print quality, however, is an issue. So I’d sacrifice a great deal of speed to get better quality on the first try
Do you have advice for settings that prioritize quality over speed? Thank you!! Gregory

I am looking at a flashforge 5m pro, k1c, or flsun t1 pro as a first printer. All three are very close in cost. I have some cnc experience but no 3d printing experience. I am looking for a fast way to prototype and will eventually want to use nylon and cf materials. I would love a bigger printer but believe it is probably better to stay small for now.
Things I care about.

1. Ease of use. Easily number one.
2. Safety/ filtering, although I know i can add filters.
3. Consistency
4. Versatility.
5. I’m not interested in bambu.
   Again, thanks for your time and love the podcast. Appreciate any insight you can give me.
   Cheers. Lewis

This Episodes Questions:

I picked up a cheap elegoo Neptune 4 pro on sale so I would have a fast way to kick out some PLA chotchkes for the kids. It was pretty fast and good, until some screws came loose on the hot end, and I while I was realigning the hotend and re-fastening the screws, something happened that caused the heater to go into runaway heating.
Basically what I think happened is I wiggled the heater cartridge wires and they shorted out and “fused” the MOSFET for the heater which is on the main board.
What is incredible is that this small electrical component failed “open” meaning anytime the power is on to the machine, it’s pushing 100% power into the heater with no way to shut off. Is this normal? Because it seems really stupid! I’ve seen on some main-boards they advertise replaceable MOSFET modules and didn’t really understand why. But, is this really something normal users should have to worry about? It’s a super bad fire hazard to have the heater fail-“unsafe”. Have you seen this with many other brands? Should I have known this could happen? Did I just miss seeing this lesson during my research on twitter and youtube because I came into the hobby in the last couple of years? It’s scary.
Tim

Hello Guy, JJ, and Jerry ! I’m a recently new listener to the Podcast and I throughly have been enjoying the episodes. I currently have a Bambu Labs P1P printer and have been 3D printing since the pandemic with the Ender-3 line of printers, also I have been woodworking with my father even since I was a little boy. Now that I’m older I was wondering how I could incorporate my two hobbies to improve my woodworking experience. I have a pretty big lab and I have a Grizzly Sliding Table Saw, Grizzly Bandsaw, Miter saws, routers, drill presses, Jointer, Lathe, and a vacuum. Another sub-question I have is about wood glue and what filaments would be better or worse. Thank you all for your help!!
Gabriel

This Episodes Questions:

I have a CR-10 Smart that is on the verge of becoming scrap metal. The hot end clogged so bad I could not even get the filament out of it. I replaced it with a hotend from a cr-6se, because it is compatible, and have not had any luck despite my constant tinkering, PID tunes, re-leveling, etc. Is there any other options for me and this printer? Would it be possible to turn it into a big ender with a different hotend set up, control board, etc? Thanks in advance! Leo

Here is one for all three of you. I have two Bambu labs printers but feel I may have been robbed of the experience of putting one together. I remember putting together my first CNC and enjoyed doing it. What printer would you recommend that would be fun to put together and be a decent printer? Maybe you can each give a unique answer. Thanks for the great podcast.
David Mcabe

This Episodes Questions:

When printing with large nozzles, do the same volumetric flow rate limits apply or do they scale with the larger nozzle? Such as PLA in 0.4 nozzle at <20 cubic mm/s, then with a 0.8 nozzle are you still limited by the material to the same flow rate or can you increase temp and tune settings to a higher flow rate? Thanks! Ben

This Episodes Questions:

I want to make this printer as safe as possible but it will require a lot of power. AC powered heat beds are getting more and more common but every video I watch on the topic makes a point to talk about SSRs failing with the power on (closed circuit?) even when talking about high quality and over-spec SSRs. A thermal fuse will prevent a melted bed but then I still have a potentially dangerous situation with 120v AC power. I am very well aware of the recent A1 recall and don’t want to turn this into a bambu discussion. I think we can all agree they shouldn’t have put an AC powered heater on a bed slinger and call it a day
Peter

.STL files are ubiquitous, but are there better alternatives such as .3MF? What are the pros and cons of different file formats?
Also, do you have any recommendations for export settings when exporting a 3D file from a CAD program.
Thanks!
Austin

Hi Guys,
I enjoy listening to your show here in the UK in my workshop. 3D printing started as a much loved hobby and has now turned into a big part of my small business 3d printing light fittings.
Anyway, I’m currently running a bunch of Ultimaker 2’s and looking to to upgrade.
I print pretty much everything with 1mm – 1.5mm walls and a 0.5mm layer height, lots of spiralize/vase mode. Id love to hear your opinions on which printers can print wide walls and big layer heights with good cooling to speed my production up. I found that the matchless nozzles from 3D solex helped btw. Its definitely time to ditch the old UM2’s though (I’m not considering Ultimakers, they’re now hugely overpriced IMHO). I’m not after huge build volume either. Bamboo is a no for me due to IP worries.
Thanks and keep up the good work!
Jamie Norris Green – Leeds – UK

This Episodes Questions:

I would be interested to hear you guys discuss safety with respect to fumes and plastic particles. I’m planning to park my EV3SE on a tall cabinet close to a large bathroom vent fan but I can already see the attraction of an enclosed CoreXY machine for better capture and control of fumes and particles. James

I recently found your podcast, which has quickly become one of my go-to pods when commuting to and from work.
My question is more of an observation of sorts. Whenever I print with darker PLA, I have noticed more stringing than lighter colors. I use the same brand for my PLA and I use the same material profile for all colors.
I only change things like the number of walls, top/bottom layers, or infill according to the item I am printing at the time. My temperatures for the bed and hotend never change.
I do not have very much stringing but it is more noticeable when I print in black or a darker color.
I would like to know if this has been your experience or if it just might be my brand’s formulation of darker colors causing the stringing.
Is it practical to change the hotend temp per color?
Thanks in advance for any insight. Keep up the great content! Vann

This Episodes Questions:

Another dedicated aussie listener, hey guys, thanks for a great podcast. My question is, I recently purchased a K1 Max, not many issues except hot end blockages 3 in as many weeks, it’s even causing under extrusion and have to disassemble the hot end to clear it out, thing is it seems to line the inside just above the nozzle which seems impossible to clear, any advice would be much appreciated, is it me the way I’m changing filament or is it an issue with the printer? Thanks in advance Roy

My question is about the new K1 firmware hack provided by crealitys outlet on giithub, is it worth the risk? I’ve been doing the yards in checking and researching, but cannot other than maybe a couple of issues from people on Reddit I have around 3 years experience in 3d printing so have some knowledge thanks avid listne4 to your 0odcast, great listening Roy

Hi.
I have an Ender 3 V2 Neo, and the bed is in very bad condition and the prints are not sticking well, while i wait for a new bed i want to ask, can i use lacquer on my bed (I don’t know which type is it)?
Thanks, Noa

This weeks listener questions:

Hey guys, love the podcast! Leveling – Spring, silicone spacers, wheel locks, use a piece of paper, use a feeler gauge, etc…. for those of us that don’t have a BambuLab printer or some machine that auto-levels for you in that there are NO leveling wheels to adjust, what is your guys’ step-by-step process for getting a good level? Set Z-height, manual level, auto level? Use a piece of paper to gauge height? Keep the springs or swap them out for silicone spacers? There are a lot of “recommendations” on the interwebs when it comes to this and I’d love your take on it.
Josh

My workplace has a Prusa Mk2.5s that we can use for personal projects. I recently printed a set of inserts for my router table plate. Getting their height extremely accurate is important, and I’ve found that the prusa is consistently printing thing about .003″ thicker than designed. The ID of the holes in the center of the part is consistently.004″ undersized. Is this level of accuracy acceptable for a printer like this? What kinda of things can I do tune it? Should I just account for it in my designs? Or am I being too damn picky?
Enjoying the podcast, keep it up.
P.S. Guy, if you’ve got any printers you want taken off your hands, you should reach out to me before your son! I’ll trade you a knife Theo

Hi, im Altair and i love the 3d printing world and your podcasts is so usefull to me, but ill get to the point.
I have a Ender 3 V2 Neo, its great but im not im home a lot and i cant use i a lot, so, could you recomend me a tiny printer that i could move and take with me.
Thanks. Altair