After 1 year Prusa i3: which printer now?

Hi,
almost one year ago I started with 3D-Printing and bought a Prusa i3 Hardware kit. I needed just one week to get the first prints – but nine months to understand how all the variables (Speed, Temperature, E-Steps, Acceleration, Jerk, Belt Tension, Bed adhesion, Bed leveling) affect my prints.
I changed a lot of printer parts, improved things etc., sorted out ripping, stripping, ringing, z-wobble, warping parts (funny to read…)Well, my parts have a really good quality now at 30-40mm/s PLA, still problems with ABS (no housing)
However, I am looking fort the „next level“ printer. With the Prusa i3 there is a lot of moving mass. I would like to build up a really „high quality printer“. So which one next?

- Core XY? I would like to use a geared NEMA (Bulldog Extruder). Do I have to use a Bowden Setup? Wight is about 545g for the XL-Version
- A Delta printer? I really like the design, of course I have to use a bowden setup. But what about print quality Core XY with direct Extruder vs. Delta with bowden.

Next thing: I do only own 3mm Filament…another contra for a delta? What is your opignion? Thanks for your help.


Manu

DLP all the way!

A the moment I think it is to early for me to start with a DLP project. The resin is still a bit too expensive, the build size is just for nice dust catcher on your desktop... If you need mechanical parts, FDM still has some advantages... Any other thoughts / opignions here??

Manu

ingentis/eustathios

---

- akhlut

Just remember - Iterate, Iterate, Iterate!

[myhomelessmind.blogspot.com]

Actually the resin is comparable in price to filament. But there are still advantages to both FDM and DLP.

What would be cool would be a laser SLA that moves the laser with an XY coordinate system. Then make the build plate interchangeable with a hot end and the laser with an FDM build plate. You could them switch back and forth.

---

greghoge.com

HUGE 3D PRINTER PARTS SALE!!!

Firstly, and my opinion only. It is counterproductive to do the old "what is the best printer technology" dance again - it is a bit like saying What is the best vehicle, bicycle or Boing 747".

For myself, I think that there is a lot of mileage in FFF. I am trying to build a printer for multi materials with mountable heads. Imagine something that could print a tough material like Polycarbonate with NinjaFlex hinges in the same print, a simple pick and place to put components (e.g. nuts) into printed recesses during the print. A liquid applicator which could put down a resist layer to stop parts from fusing or apply a layer of adhesive, a gasket or whatever. Whatever heads were needed could be clipped into place like tools in a turret lathe.

Do-able in FFF, but I can't imagine how you would do that with SLA or DLP.

Hi,
I just want to let you know that i decided to build a variation of the Hexagon Printer, documented here.

Thanks for help

Manu

Beyond increased structural stability,that appears to be a Kossel with 3x the structural parts.....why?

I get part of this is developing something nobody has done before, but that change just seems unnecessary (unless I am unaware of some general stability issues with the Kossel design).

Protoprinter whatever you want to do go for it. dlp is fairly new for community, also laser sintering, or (fff )fuse filament fabrication improvements.

Personally i think fff has some development life in it. build in smoothing processes, color, and ability in near future to build structures without supports >45 degrees.

If you build a delta better do not sell that i3. The delta can be very tricky compared to cartesian. For some they work and some get permanent new problems because of the complexity of the design.

---

Blogs:
Meine 3D Druck Abenteuer
[3dptb.blogspot.de]
FLSUN Delta Drucker für Deutschland
[flsun-deutschland.blogspot.com]
Books on 3D patents:
[goo.gl] (english)
[www.amazon.de] (deutsch)

if you spent nine months fixing a prusa i3 ... get ready to spend 6-12 months on a delta... they are a lot more finicky specially if you don't get the frame right or you have a play in your joints .....

Well, just follow the Link above. After 30 Minutes of calibrating I got prints which are more accurate than my Prusa i3 prints! I have no play in all my parts and tried to build it as accurate as possible - it helped :-) Try Igus instead of Traxxas Rodends!

Manu

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/27/2014 03:04AM by Protoprinter.