Category: Uncategorized

Guy, JJ and Nathan discuss what has happened in 2023 and some predictions of what could be coming in 2024

This Episodes Questions:

Hey guys,
First of all, thanks so much for the podcast. I really enjoy the banter and the in-depth analysis you guys offer. With MMU’s being so popular and with Bambu Lab’s intro into the market with the AMS, I was immediately intrigued at the ability to hit a button and generate a multi-color print. However, in looking into it, I noticed the waste it was producing and just can’t bring myself to pull the trigger on one and contribute to that waste pile. I’m curious if you guys had any thoughts on how you would design an “AMS-like” unit that would be able to turn out a multi-color print all while producing minimal to no waste. Or is just something that is unavoidable?
Thanks again for the great content!
Josh

I have read a little bit online about various methods of post-processing of plastic prints to improve strength, toughness and reduce voids. I understand there is a way use a type of salt that is packed tightly around a print to maintain it’s shape and then the print is annealed at high heat. Have guys tried this and if so what was your experience? To me it sounds like a great idea, but like most things the devil is likely in the details.
James

I’d like to include some threads on some printed parts so I can connect them using bolts. When I try to print my parts, the threads are not clean enough to use. I design them .01 proud to leave room for the bolt. I’m printing them with the bolt going through the Z-axis, but the results aren’t great. Any suggestions or reference to sources to get this figured out?
Paul

This Episodes Questions:

Hello Guy, Nathan, and JJ, I might be interested in purchasing a 3d printer before the end of 2023. I have some experience with printers, but still kinda a beginner with them. I have previously owned a Bambu lab P1P and a Creality Ender 3 v2. If I wanted to purchase another printer this year, what are some great options $700 or less($700 before tax, so including Bambu p1s). If I do get one, I think I might want to get an enclosed one. There are a lot of options, such as, the K1, Qidi x plus 3, Flashforge Adventurer 5m pro, and Bambu lab p1s. If there are any others that are good options, please let me know. This is a long message, but any help with giving me confidence in a potential purchase is appreciated. I think for me personally, it might be between the p1s and the Flashforge Adventurer 5m pro, but let me know what you guys think. Thank you, much appreciated 🙂
E. Morgan

Hey everyone! I hope ya’ll are doing well! I have a quick question for you, Guy. I want to get into CNC machines, except I need to know which to get. It does need to be a cheap budget one, as I’m primarily using it to cut acrylic and thinner wood pieces. In the future, I wouldn’t mind cutting bigger pieces. Any advice would help! Thank you!
Luis

Send Us Your Questions! perfectfirstlayer@gmail.com

No new questions this week from the audience! So we have a great discussion about Nathan attending Formnext, The Bambu A1 Mini, Prusa and Bambu marketing styles and future of 3D Printers. Send us your questions! perfectfirstlayer@gmail.com

This Episodes Questions:

Hello Guy, JJ, and Nathan,
I was wondering if you could discuss the idea that the 3d printing “hobby” has come full circle from the early days of the Stratasys machines to the current crop of machines from BambuLab, Creality, Qidi, Flashforge and the myriad other manufacturers that aren’t making “Open Source” machines. Also what are you thoughts about keeping some parts closed while open sourcing other parts, i.e. BambuLab Slicer VS their firmware. I know Guy couldn’t give a crap, as long as it prints, but what effect do you think this “partial Open Source-ing” will have on the hobby long term? I mean no one cares that their microwave isn’t open source, so does it even matter?
Thanks for the podcast and your opinions.
-John D Strand

Howdy howdy! First off, love the show, thank you for the awesome content. So I’m semi new to printing, semi tech literate, very mechanically inclined, just as a back story haha. Anyway I have an e3v2, been upgrading it a bit and I am at the inevitable crossroads of hotends. I believe y’all have touched on some but I haven’t seen a complete episode on them ( or at least titled as such, sorry still catching up on all of them ). So here are my parameters, e3v2, converted to direct drive, cr touch ( with no reservations on moving it ) and I would like to print hot materials. Sorry for the long winded letter but any help or perspectives would be great! Thank you in advance.
Justin

Hi guys,
Thanks for such a great podcast!My 2 part question is this, I have an old Qidi Xplus that I modded with the icarus 2 mod from Printables. I absolutely love it. However, recently, I needed to change the heartbreak. I am using a Phaetus Dragon standard flow with an Orbitor 2 extruder.
I somehow managed to damage the 4 tiny posts that go into the dragon. I have ordered replacements from numerous places online like Ali Express and Triangle Labs. For some weird reason, I have been having issues with receiving these after ordering multiple times. Other items arrive, just not these stupid posts. So I was wondering if you knew of a hack I could use to replace them with? Such a strange design in my opinion. Any advice is appreciated. I now understand why Nathan threw one of these Qidi printers in the trash.
If you have time to answer this, I would also like to put a better main board in this machine. Any suggestions?
Cheers and thank you in advance!
Jesse from Burbank,CA.

This episodes questions:

Based on a previous question you guys helped with, company I am consulting with purchased a Bambu X1 Carbon. We are successfully producing salable nylon/carbon fiber parts for ultra light canoes. Very happy with our purchase.
So – next question. Thinking of second printer. What are the gains you would get in the $1500 to $2500 range. Is it speed, robustness or reliability? The X1 checked all the boxes with good build, easy to learn slicer and reliable prints so far. Just trying to understand why we would make the next jump up, and if it is really necessary.
Thanks for all the info – it has been invaluable so far!
Gary Ratajczak

Hi guys,
Hope you are all well.
My question would be: do you guys have any tips for printing larger prints for a bed slinger dimensions 220x220x250? I have an Anycubic Kobra 2. I intend to print helmets which are generally a lot larger than my print bed dimensions. And What are your thoughts on SLA printing?
Thank you all for this great podcast!
Kind Regards,
Carson, Southampton, UK (place where Titanic set sail if it helps haha)

Hello all! Since you all have one of those fancy new Enders, is that the X-Motor on the back of the gantry? I keep wondering in all the reviews I see. Any thoughts on why they moved it to the back? What’s the belt path look like?
Thanks Guy(s)! ha ha! Love the podcast!
JohnDStrand

This Episodes Questions and Comment:

From: Michael Banicki
Listening to your last episode I heard you talking about the labor intensive art of creating profiles for different slicers for different printers and materials. One thing I have found is that many of your 3D model websites like printables will also have downloads for different slicers and materials and printers on them as well. Such as you can search for k1 Max profile on printables and many different things come up. Thought this may be a helpful suggestion for yourselves, or other listeners that may be new to setting up custom profiles and slicers and needed a little bit of help.

Hey Guy, JJ, and Nathan.

I am at that stage in my life that I have a printer I no longer need/want. It’s an Ender 3 Pro, with some mods and upgrades. There’s an organization, locally, that I can donate it to so that it will hopefully help someone else get hooked on the hobby.
My only reservation is that it was my FIRST PRINTER, I don’t have any sentimental attachment to it now… I think… but wanted see if you’ve ever had any regrets about gifting, selling, getting rid of a printer.Thanks a lot,
Jon LaRue, Kirkwood MO.

From: Carter
Subject: Analysis Paralysis – I’ve got it bad

Message Body:
Hey guys, listening from Canada (sorry for all the smoke), I love the podcast and have learned quite a bit from your deep dives. Keep up the good work! Nathans humor and total lack of give a f**k makes my sides hurt.
I was hoping you could point me in the right direction for my situation. I am trying really hard to ignore the hype built up around these next gen printer speeds, but I think there is some merit to them. On one hand I’m not sure I’d gain anything as fast part cooling typically = weaker parts. On the other, rapidly printing prototypes would speed up workflow.
I am printer shopping and stuck in analysis paralysis. I currently have a highly modified Ender 3v2 (Dragonflt BMS, fans, Jyers firmware) and have gotten it dialed into the point where I can click send to printer and walk away. I now need something to print ABS,ASA and maybe CF nylon for functional prints so having a built in filter is a huge plus. High speed PLA or PETG would be a bonus but not absolutely necessary. I also don’t have an immediate need for a bigger build surface but maybe not a bad idea to get for the future.
My current choices are as follows:
Budget ~$1500cnd + or – $300

• Another Ender 3v2 (or 2 or 3) on sale $289 + mods will cost $500cnd total with a custom filtered enclosure. Sticking with what I know is appealing to keep the workflow the same but maybe not the most reliable choice for making functional parts even if its in an enclosure. It’s also outdated so I’m not sure that’s a good use of my money. They also take up a lot of space.
• An Ender 3v3se + an enclosed Prusa Mk3s+ (fast printer + a workhorse)
• Bambulabs P1S – $900 + $80 hardened parts for CF
• Creality K1/K1 Max – $700-$1250
• 1 or 2 Prusa mk3S+ – $879 ($450-700 used with an enclosure.)
• Prusa Mk4 $1400 + enclosure too expensive for what it is?
• Any other suggestions? I am not apposed to buying 2 printers, so long as it fits within the budget.
  I am inclined to lean toward a K1 Max because I feel like once the source code is released retrofitting parts would be much easier and the community will embrace it more. Probably not to the same extent as the E3v2, but the ability to fix any deficiencies with the machine long term would be nice.
  Sorry for the length, please feel free to cut this down to save recording time. Thanks for all that you guys do to keep us nerds entertained on long drives and at work.

This episodes questions:

With the new addition of podcasts to youtube music, do you guys have any plans of uploading podcasts to that platform on a separate channel?

Shortandstumpy

A month ago one of the capacitors on the mainboard exploded. It stunk quite bad but the whole 3D-Printer still works. I did use it for a long time but I didn´t do any upgrades or changes on it. Can I still use it?
Love your podcast!

David

So I’m relatively new to the 3D printing community and I’ve been able to acquire a few printers from an auction site here in Vegas where 3D printers go extremely cheap. An Ender 3 S1, Flashforge Adventurer 3 Pro and Phrozen Mighty 8K resin printer. I’ve also been lucky enough to find an original stock Prusa i3 MK2 for $100 through the Marketplace. If you were to choose between the MK2 and S1 which would you choose and why?

Linus

something that JJ mentioned in this episode was power outages (whilst printing a helmet for example)… I don’t really understand when/who needs an uninterrupted power supply. These power outages that people talk about, are they momentary outages that cause print failures, or are they longer outages? I ask because I am about to buy my first 3d printer, and I’ve never owned any kind of battery-based power supply protection. Using my computer, I never notice any power outages other than the longer outage kind. So my question is, what kind of power outages are you referring to and are they common? I would guess the sort of very short power interruptions that commonly occur but most people never notice, are usually handled by capacitors for small electronics. But I’m supposing the power consumption of a 3d printer means the capacitors they have for the motor drivers are not specified to provide much power supply protection… please could you discuss the topic of power supply, the sorts of power outages that people can commonly expect, and who really needs to invest in power supply interruption solutions. Great podcast, thanks in advance.

Tom

This Episodes Questions:

I’m planning to make an Iron man suit as a summer project, inspired by Frankly built, and I’m not sure what slicer has better support material, Cura or Prusaslicer.  Almost every print will need to have supports, so this is important.

Calvin Selin

Hello Guy, JJ, and Nathan,

I have a question about wiring as a result of adding dual 5015 fans to my Ender 3 monstrosity.

I like using crimps vs soldering and would like to add a second fan for part cooling, but it’s been 20 years since tech school so my memory is fuzzy on best practices. 

How do I wire the second 5015 fan? Can I run 2 positive wires into 1 side of the crimp and a single positive wire back to the motherboard, and then the same with the negative side? 

I plan on using quick connects closer to the print head for ease of maintenance later. The slicing of the wires is planned be further away from the print head so there’s less movement on the splice/combination of wires. 

Thanks for your help.

Jon LaRue

Hi, Recently upgraded to cr-10 smart pro I can get solid prints unless I use the front right side of the printer. I have leveled several times manual and automatic; still no luck. Any suggestions in what I should do?

Alex

Hey guys been listening for awhile and just listening to the recent episode and had some good recommendations. You seem to have about the sidewinder X2 and it’s a good printer but I have had issues with it and had to move to klipper. Do you guys have the problem? The problem seems to be with Pausing and resuming prints (so can’t do color changes) and if you’d lose power you can’t resume. Thanks in advance.

Brad

Hi guys, it’s wayne again from the the Uk, just wondering what your thoughts was on idex machines, was thinking of getting the Sovol sv04, keep up the great show 👍

Wayne

Hi everyone,

I hope y’all are doing well! I started listening to the podcast a couple weeks ago and I’m loving it! I love hearing the advice y’all give to everyone about their printers. I actually had a question of my own. Nathan, I’ve seen every video you’ve made for the S1. I was wondering if there were any upgrades/mods you’d add to it now with the recent release of products in 2023 i.e Sonicpad, BTT Pad 7, and main boards?

Luis

Had a tech issue here at PFL, and was only able to restore about half the podcast. Sorry! We still are puiblishing what we have and it’s a really great conversation for it’s length. Thanks so much for listening!