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Need to know what to do next and where I will be going, with Ender 3.


Erfolg
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I have just assembled, perhaps mostly, as I have one ribbon cable with a loose end.

 

My first question is respect to using. I have looked on the internet for a user manual. There are loads, although the one I have just looked at is really an assembly manual. Good job I did not see this earlier, as i found it more difficult to understand than the sketch sheet supplied. What I want is a getting started manual. Can anyone point to one?

 

The next thing is I have vaugly read about slicer programmes, what are they, do I need one?

 

It strikes me that I will want to design some of my own items, In what. How are they downloaded to the printer.

 

Also I get the impression that there are already designs/files out there which could be used on a Ender. How and where do i find them?

 

Hmm, at the bottom of a mountain it would seem, seems a long way to the half way point, never mind the top

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Try viewing a few of the many video tutorials on the particular model of printer you have -there's a huge amount of material available. Your first port of call will be Creality's own website. 

https://www.creality.com/goods-detail/ender-3-v2-3d-printer

 

The slicer programme translates your 3D model file into a gcode file which gives the instructions to the printer itself. I use the common method of writing the gcode to the Micro-SD card, which is then inserted into the printer to print the model. I use the Creality slicer supplied with the printer and that gives good results. I previously used Cura, a free download, which does much the same job.

 

For designing your own parts there's any number of free or cheap programmes, all the way up to sophisticated products costing thousands of pounds a year to licence. Tinkercad is very popular, I'm starting to use Meshmixer and have also used SketchUp. All of these programmes have thousands of hours of video tutorials to watch, to help learn what is needed -personally I'm just scratching the surface.

 

To find files of interest just google search for anything you like, with the suffix .stl, which will lead you to one of the 3D file search engines, like STLFinder or yeggi. Sites you might fond useful are Thingiverse, CGTrader (mostly files that you will have to pay for), Cults3D etc etc - Google will turn these up and you too can experience the joy of wading through thousands of irrelevant files that the search engines suggest. ?

 

Most of all - enjoy yourself - it's a learning cliff, more than a learning curve, but it's great fun to hold a nice 3D print of something that didn't exist three hours ago and has been produced by something which is essentially a slightly more sophisticated glue gun.

 

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Erfolg,  Sounds as though you are almost ready to print the puppy dog off the Micro SD card that came with the printer.  Unfortunately many people have had problems with the Netac Micro SD card that is supplied suddenly crashing and upsetting the machines firmware, so I would suggest using it to get the machine set up initally (it has the machines firmware on it plus a couple of test prints).  Then get a 16mB - 32mB from a reputable maker, e.g. SanDisk etc, to store your sliced designs on.  Get one with the adapter to make the Micro SD card into a standard sized one, so you can use it in the standard SD card slot in your main PC or Laptop.

Most important step is making sure everything moves freely in the X,Y and Z directions without binding or slop, then set about levelling the bed (warm it up to 60C first) using a piece of printer paper.

 

Have fun.

Barry

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If you are someone who thinks more about geometry than sculpting, and are happy with programming, then OpenSCAD might suit as a design program. It is free and open source. You write a program that describes the object that you want as shapes, differences, hulls etc. As it is a program you can make the shape parameters variables, so at a stroke you could replace all the 3mm holes as 4mm, or put in the new spacings for mounting a different motor and everything can move to match.

 

It is great if that is the way you think about shapes and you are doing structures. Not so good for sculpting a pilot figure!

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Hi Erfolg

 

You'll have to obtain a (or draw and generate your own) .STL file of an object. Then import it into a slicer program that's set up specifically for your printer.

Here you can change dozens of print parameters such as nozzle temperature to suit the filament you're using. Often needing to experiment and tweak parameters to get a print you're happy with. 

 

Next, save the sliced object onto the SD card as a .gcode file. Place the SD card into the printer and print from there.

 

To download ready made .STL files, have a look at thingiverse.com

 

For slicing software I can heartily recommend prusaslicer for use with the ender 3 as it has a ready made "profile" for that printer. Download from https://www.prusa3d.com/prusaslicer/

 

For tutorials I'd suggest spending plenty of time on YouTube.

 

Chris

 

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I will probably keep this thread going for some time, just by my own efforts, just to get to grips with the device and understanding  the software usage etc.

 

On going to bed last night, I reflected on what my experience actually comprises of and if it is relevant. It came as a shock that I have now retired aprox. 18 years ago. That my educational knowledge (in further education) goes back approx. 55 years. With that in mind I have seen the emphasis in computing type issues change fundamentally over that time.

 

My first encounters with programming commence with Fortran, then Basic, Pascal, Vis. Basic. Non of which is useful in this era. I trained (a 5 day course) with Autocad, only used to much later to draw up a house extention for my daughter number 2. I have a set of Autosketch discs sat here, on my desk, no use for current Windows. I took a 3d modelling course (on a specific package), years back, then studied 3d modelling as an academic activity. Again I suspect non of this is relevant to present day requirements. You may wonder what I learnt? The first was about file handling, making and resetting pointers, use of Matrices mathematics for reflections, rotations and so on. Concepts such as extruding primitives', wire frame figures, rendering, the application attributes such as mass, heat transfer coefficients, meshing for Finite analysis.  Non of which was used as a practitioner, more as an aid to decision making as a job.

 

What makes me smile is that I know nothing that is relevant to what I want to do now.

 

Many of my questions will be stupid from the perspective of those who know, being obvious as far as their knowledge base is concerned.

 

So please have patience on a (very) old man.

 

I have had a look at Thingiverse, all I can say is wow. As a disapointment, I could not find a servo mount or cover, although I bet there some there.

 

 

 

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Cor, I have spent some considerable time in levelling the machine, I am not convinced that I have done the process correctly. I used the method of using a peice of print paper as a feeler gauge, as shown on a video. What concerns me that there is a 5mm gap between the bed about the heater nozzle. 

 

My next step is to purchase a reel of PVA cord.

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It seems my first design job is the design of 4 exhaust stacks for a D335 (RBC) I have been building for some time now. In some respects quite a simple set of shapes, yet for me a boring repetitive process, where i am far from happy with the results of the stubs. Just been our gardening, or in this case swingeing our bench swing, seems that if I can reach a reasonable level, there is no end to things that I could undertake. Just need time to relax. 

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So that what it is. You are correct.

I will have another attempt tommorrow, I have the grand kids here now, and I am baking a cake with one.

At first sight thediffence in gap seem insurmountable, in that the Micro switch bracket has a stop, determining the lowest position of the extruder head.  Inthe case of the table, the length of the adjusting rods, springs determines how high the table can be raised. 

 

Hopefully the heated table will reveal the answer to what i see as a problem.

 

Anyway PLA is now on order.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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I am probably wrong, it does seem that the distace between the platen and the nozzle is important, at least to some degree. Yet the videos I have seen seem to ignore this aspect. It could be that I have missed this aspect.

 

I know the depth of each layer is mentioned quite often, but what is it?

 

I have never seen a 3d printer in action, does the polymer come out of the nozzle as a molten, bendy thread, or perhaps smeared across the previous layer?

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I have had confirmation that with a brain i would be dangerous.

 

I found another video, a little different to the one I used to initially set up the bed. I did manage to set the bed pretty level.

I then decided to to hav a play with the device powered up. I then decided that the fire stick would be a way to get further. Much to my annoyance the connector would not fit into the power supply unit. Hmm, I thought, the ???☺️?? thing could be inserted into my PC. Much to my surprise re were a far more detailed assembly instructions, bit late though.

 

Then along comes Chris Bott's video. Now this is the video to watch, answering all my questions. What a shock it was to realise that the slot I thought was for what I took to be a USB slot was actually a SD card slot. A rummage through the packaging did not reveal a SD card. Id strike that the USB connector had a pretty ropey moulding. Then as fast a racing snail, I thought, could there be a card in the other end. After much pricing, yep, there was a card.

 

Now re-running Chris's video link, I completed the final steps.

As I write, I have left the device printing the dog.

All the time when building the printer, anything not fitting was a fitter error, as this is no longer the 70s where self assembly was a partial porotype kit, not a IKEA or Far Eastern kit of parts, where everything fits and hundreds of thousands have been produced.

All that is required for perfection is a slightly better assembly instruction with good links to videos and the use of the stick assembly provided.

 

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Just yet another problem

The printer has finished printing the Dog. Great i thought, Other than I cannot get the dog of the plate'

I have tried using the scraper, but the amount of brute force is disturbing. Is there a knack? Perhaps soaking in water?

The cat is having to wait!

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Again my lack of knowledge needs some additions

 

What is the current method  of introducing print files into the printer? Is it via SD Card, a USB cable or a maybe a USB memory stick?

The next question is really a housekeeping issue. If a card or stick is used, is it normally one file (item) per device. 

The next question is closely related, what ball park capacity is typically useful to use? 

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