3D printer supplies

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Rhys
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Re: 3D printer supplies

Post by Rhys »

I bought one of their fixpads to see how they go, but i've not heard good things about them. I'll make sure I stock up on blue tape too!
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EpicentrE
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Re: 3D printer supplies

Post by EpicentrE »

Just spoke to them on the phone; they have a new system and are having a couple of teething problems, which means they'd missed that I'd asked for it to be delivered to my work address rather than my home address. I spoke to UKMail (the delivery company) and they told me that only the sender can change the delivery address. I rang back and spoke to 3dprintworld again, and they were very helpful and said they would ring and get the address changed, and apologised for any inconvenience caused.

The lady I spoke to - Sarah - was very helpful and friendly, which makes a nice change. She also mentioned That Peter Waller had been in the shop that morning and they'd been talking about Rhys and me :P.
Scott Fyfe-Jamieson, Captain of Epic Robotics. Champion of AWS38/41/42.
http://www.epicrobotics.co.uk
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Rhys
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Re: 3D printer supplies

Post by Rhys »

Has your order status been marked as dispatched, or did you get an email telling you it had been posted? My order status is just saying "payment accepted". Just wondered if that's the norm or if I should call too.
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EpicentrE
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Re: 3D printer supplies

Post by EpicentrE »

No, mine is just showing as "payment accepted" as well, which was why I rang them in the first place. Can't hurt to ring them though if you want to be sure; they're very friendly, like I said.
Scott Fyfe-Jamieson, Captain of Epic Robotics. Champion of AWS38/41/42.
http://www.epicrobotics.co.uk
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peterwaller
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Re: 3D printer supplies

Post by peterwaller »

I decided last night that I would get one while they were on offer but then saw your post saying they had gone back up.
I went in this morning and as luck would have it they still had two left at the reduced price so I grabbed one quickly.
They certainly are helpful and freindly in the shop they are looking into organising robot building and competitions locally and I have said I would help out where I could. One of the lads in the shop showed me an Antweight he is working on so far it is a 4 wheel drive chassis with the usual gearmotors but he has still got to source the electronics. He is also working on a slotcar chassis which is another thing they are looking at getting going.
They are really trying to think of ways to get local businesses and schools involved in this type of thing and are quite happy to chat about it all.
They are also looking at maybe leasing the printers at some point and already offer a print service.
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peterwaller
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Re: 3D printer supplies

Post by peterwaller »

I have printing.
Took a bit longer to get going than I hoped (One or two senior moments) but it all seems to be running now.
I have had to nip round to the shop once or twice but don't seem to have worn out my welcome yet.
The reason I wanted it was to be able to alter things like temperature and materials but there are so many things you can change it seems a bit daunting.
Just trying out some clear PLA at the moment.
Thoughts so far:
Keeping the table at a constant height and moving the extruder up and down gives a much more stable build base.
The table leveling with 4 corner adjusters is much easier then the 3 point system on the UP.
The operation is better it doesn't just move the Z axis in one direction but lift the head away and pulls back the filament when moving between places where it needs to print. I found on the UP it was ok with ABS but left a lot of fine stinging when using PLA.
Instruction could be clearer as could be the setting up of Cura the free 3D slicer package I am using.
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Rhys
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Re: 3D printer supplies

Post by Rhys »

Ah dear, all sounds very complicated. I'm not going to start building mine until 18th April, so if either you or Scott fancy posting some advice on your own builds or setup, please feel free. ;)
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EpicentrE
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Re: 3D printer supplies

Post by EpicentrE »

I've just finished book 5 (of 7) on mine. A couple of tips I wish someone had told me:

For the first step, where you're embedding nuts into printed parts, push them slightly into the holes with a pillar drill/drill press first, then use the soldering iron to make them sink and be secured. trying to push down on a loose nut with a soldering iron just makes it go everywhere.
Any time you're expected to pass one of the metal shafts through a hole in a printed part, you will find one of two things; it goes through easily, or it doesn't go through at all. Because of the latter, test-fit any shafts in the holes they are meant to go through before mounting the printed pieces to anything, so that you can file the holes until the shafts fit. I had multiple instances where I had to partially dismantle something to get to a hole in order to file it down. The book doesn't mention you have to file these holes, so maybe my prints were just a bit off.
As Alex said, the belt tensioner wheels are rubbish. Mine wouldn't even fit in their mounts without being filed down loads.
Again, I don't know if I just got a rubbish one, but I had to re-tap the m3 holes in the aluminium bed that sits atop the base, as they would not accept the screws.

I'll post any more that I think of or come across!
Scott Fyfe-Jamieson, Captain of Epic Robotics. Champion of AWS38/41/42.
http://www.epicrobotics.co.uk
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Shakey
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Re: 3D printer supplies

Post by Shakey »

Ah yes I forgot to mention about the shaft fitting. Mine had very slight over extrusion on the parts so I had to file it here and there.

:S I didn't have any issues with the bed though and mine have been under extra tension aswell due to adding a heated bed. If you do plan to add a heated bed I have a copy of the printers firmware changed to support the bed. Also changed the firmware to add temperature run away protection, where if the thermistor on the nozzle comes loose it won't just keep trying to give it more current. It's not too hard to do yourself if you're vaguely familiar with arduino code it's pretty much just changing a few value.
Nuts And Bots - For all your components and ready built antweights!

Alex Shakespeare - Team Shakey / Nuts And Bots / Team Nuts:
AWS 44, 45, 49, 51 & 55 Winner - Far too many robots!
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peterwaller
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Re: 3D printer supplies

Post by peterwaller »

I was having some trouble getting the PLA to stick to the glass even with glue stick so I nipped down to the shop and invested in a fixpad
and it just printed a wheel without problems.
Just trying a Fleapit chassis with the honeycomb base and so far it is looking very good.
The chap in the shop said the only problem he has had is in actually removing larger items because they stuck too well.
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