Adventures with a Flashforge

A place where discussions are about 3D printing.
Trevor Thompson
Trainee Driver
Trainee Driver
Posts: 964
Joined: Fri Oct 05, 2018 6:30 pm
Location: South West Wales

Re: Adventures with a Flashforge

Post by Trevor Thompson » Mon Dec 28, 2020 9:15 pm

pandsrowe wrote: Sun Dec 27, 2020 2:27 pm Is it not practicable to wind filament from a larger spool onto the Flashforge reel, or is it not worth the bother?
I also like the idea of the door being shut on the filament - makes the whole thing seem properly organised. I spent the first 9 months of using one of these transferring filament to the smaller reels. I have stopped bothering - I am using it so much that its more fuss to transfer it than to just use an adapter. Otherwise it doesn't seem to make any difference. The hole through to the printer with the door off isn't very big by the way.

Trevor

User avatar
SimonWood
Trainee Driver
Trainee Driver
Posts: 655
Joined: Tue Apr 07, 2015 9:46 pm
Location: West Wales
Contact:

Re: Adventures with a Flashforge

Post by SimonWood » Mon Dec 28, 2020 9:58 pm

Trevor Thompson wrote: Mon Dec 28, 2020 9:15 pm The hole through to the printer with the door off isn't very big by the way.
This is a good point. It's the bit with the light shining through in the top right of this photo:
tempImageIgBTxg.gif
tempImageIgBTxg.gif (102.09 KiB) Viewed 4908 times

Trevor Thompson
Trainee Driver
Trainee Driver
Posts: 964
Joined: Fri Oct 05, 2018 6:30 pm
Location: South West Wales

Re: Adventures with a Flashforge

Post by Trevor Thompson » Tue Dec 29, 2020 8:44 pm

That is a neat method of holding the reel. Do you have the reference for it?

Finding things on thingiverse is amazingly difficult!

Trevor

User avatar
SimonWood
Trainee Driver
Trainee Driver
Posts: 655
Joined: Tue Apr 07, 2015 9:46 pm
Location: West Wales
Contact:

Re: Adventures with a Flashforge

Post by SimonWood » Tue Dec 29, 2020 10:26 pm

Trevor Thompson wrote: Tue Dec 29, 2020 8:44 pm That is a neat method of holding the reel. Do you have the reference for it?
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3692572
Finding things on thingiverse is amazingly difficult!
As Philip has said elsewhere, Thingiverse is flaky. But at the best of times the search really sucks. I tend to use that trick of using Google by typing site:thingiverse.com along with my search term.

Trevor Thompson
Trainee Driver
Trainee Driver
Posts: 964
Joined: Fri Oct 05, 2018 6:30 pm
Location: South West Wales

Re: Adventures with a Flashforge

Post by Trevor Thompson » Wed Dec 30, 2020 3:51 pm

Thanks Simon - and for the search tip

Trevor

User avatar
SimonWood
Trainee Driver
Trainee Driver
Posts: 655
Joined: Tue Apr 07, 2015 9:46 pm
Location: West Wales
Contact:

Re: Adventures with a Flashforge

Post by SimonWood » Tue Feb 02, 2021 8:32 am

I haven't been having many adventures in the past month; largely because going back to work in the new year, into a new role, I had little time for either drawing or finishing models. The printer itself has spent a couple of weeks chugging away printing a few Thingiverse bits and pieces, and I have done a couple of experiments to see the effect of printing the same thing in different ways. Nothing groundbreaking, yet interesting to me, so I will post about them shortly.

But a little bit of excitement this morning: the printer has updated itself (as has the slicer) so that it can now heat the extruder to 265ºC and print both polycarbonate (PC) and polyethylene terephthalate glycol (PETG). I don't (yet) know why I should want to print with them... but some more experimenting to look forward to!

User avatar
FWLR
Driver
Driver
Posts: 4262
Joined: Sat Aug 05, 2017 9:45 am
Location: Preston, Lancashire, UK

Re: Adventures with a Flashforge

Post by FWLR » Tue Feb 02, 2021 8:37 am

How did your Adventure update itself Simon and do you think it's been a good thing :dontknow:

Ps I have also been busy when I can with printing lots of stuff. I have done a print of a Diesel Hudson that Kenny has sent me the files for before he got his printer. But now run out of filament, so will have to wait for more to come, hopefully tomorrow.

User avatar
SimonWood
Trainee Driver
Trainee Driver
Posts: 655
Joined: Tue Apr 07, 2015 9:46 pm
Location: West Wales
Contact:

Re: Adventures with a Flashforge

Post by SimonWood » Tue Feb 02, 2021 8:43 am

FWLR wrote: Tue Feb 02, 2021 8:37 am How did your Adventure update itself Simon and do you think it's been a good thing :dontknow:
I have it connected to wifi so it just asked if I wanted to let it update itself. Good thing? I'll let you know, I've just sent the first post-update print to it... Though I haven't any PC/PETG to play with so the full report might take a bit longer!

The slicer also automatically checks for updates. If you give permission it will download a '.pkg' file which you can then run to update the software on your Mac.

User avatar
FWLR
Driver
Driver
Posts: 4262
Joined: Sat Aug 05, 2017 9:45 am
Location: Preston, Lancashire, UK

Re: Adventures with a Flashforge

Post by FWLR » Tue Feb 02, 2021 9:12 am

Sorry for looking stupid Simon...How do I give my slicer permission to update...I have read on FB that people have updated and their machines started playing up and not performing like it did.

I haven't had any problems with mine up to now, except for a dirty bed which I cleaned with some alcohol and doing a recalibration which I had to do because I didn't put the bed back properly and one of my prints has the extruder getting bumped pretty hard. It's alright now thankfully...

User avatar
SimonWood
Trainee Driver
Trainee Driver
Posts: 655
Joined: Tue Apr 07, 2015 9:46 pm
Location: West Wales
Contact:

Re: Adventures with a Flashforge

Post by SimonWood » Tue Feb 02, 2021 10:32 am

FWLR wrote: Tue Feb 02, 2021 9:12 am Sorry for looking stupid Simon...How do I give my slicer permission to update...I have read on FB that people have updated and their machines started playing up and not performing like it did.

I haven't had any problems with mine up to now, except for a dirty bed which I cleaned with some alcohol and doing a recalibration which I had to do because I didn't put the bed back properly and one of my prints has the extruder getting bumped pretty hard. It's alright now thankfully...
Honestly if it's not causing you problems and there's nothing that you want it to do that the update might enable, I'd keep things as they are.

But if you do want to update your slicer: when an update is available the slicer will normally let you know with a pop-up alert, and ask you for permission to download it. If it doesn't do this, go to Help > Check for Updates. It will either then give you the prompt, or simply say "You are running the latest version of Flashprint."

If you want to know which version of Flashprint you are running, go to Help > About Flashprint and it will pop up an information box that will include the version number. The new version is 4.6.1.

User avatar
FWLR
Driver
Driver
Posts: 4262
Joined: Sat Aug 05, 2017 9:45 am
Location: Preston, Lancashire, UK

Re: Adventures with a Flashforge

Post by FWLR » Tue Feb 02, 2021 4:20 pm

Thanks Simon,

After switching my machine on it did an automatic upgrade. :thumbright:

User avatar
SimonWood
Trainee Driver
Trainee Driver
Posts: 655
Joined: Tue Apr 07, 2015 9:46 pm
Location: West Wales
Contact:

Re: Adventures with a Flashforge

Post by SimonWood » Wed Feb 03, 2021 8:30 pm

SimonWood wrote: Tue Feb 02, 2021 8:32 am I have done a couple of experiments to see the effect of printing the same thing in different ways. Nothing groundbreaking, yet interesting to me, so I will post about them shortly.
The pic shows exactly the same print in PLA (it's part of the side of the cab of the 'Thingiverse Diesel' that it seems to have become something of a rite of passage for garden railwayers to print when getting into 3D). But I printed it once flat on the bed, and once standing on end. I don't know if the picture conveys how much better the upright version has printed but the orientation is the only difference - the resolution (hyper) is exactly the same.
tempImageP8r5Ms.gif
tempImageP8r5Ms.gif (114.22 KiB) Viewed 4323 times
The time taken is very different - 30 minutes for the flat version, but 2 hours 6 minutes for the vertical!

I've also been experimenting with dispensing with a raft - and found that for printing things flat on the bed this is fine, also for anything with a reasonably large base. But for a tall object with a narrow base the adhesion is insufficient.

User avatar
philipy
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 5033
Joined: Sun Jan 30, 2011 3:00 pm
Location: South Northants

Re: Adventures with a Flashforge

Post by philipy » Wed Feb 03, 2021 9:05 pm

SimonWood wrote: Wed Feb 03, 2021 8:30 pm
The time taken is very different - 30 minutes for the flat version, but 2 hours 6 minutes for the vertical!

I've also been experimenting with dispensing with a raft - and found that for printing things flat on the bed this is fine, also for anything with a reasonably large base. But for a tall object with a narrow base the adhesion is insufficient.
Thats all about what I would expect, although tbh I've never tried printing something like that vertically. If I tried it I would expect lots of horixontal layer lines and I wouldn't be confident of it actually printing at 90 degrees on my machine.
Philip

User avatar
SimonWood
Trainee Driver
Trainee Driver
Posts: 655
Joined: Tue Apr 07, 2015 9:46 pm
Location: West Wales
Contact:

Re: Adventures with a Flashforge

Post by SimonWood » Wed Feb 03, 2021 9:09 pm

I've printed most of the parts of the Thingi-Diesel upright for the better finish. It's taken longer, but since I've switched to printing PLA instead of ABS the printer is quite happy printing overnight even when the temperature drops quite low... Now got a bag full of bits and no time to put them together :lol:

User avatar
SimonWood
Trainee Driver
Trainee Driver
Posts: 655
Joined: Tue Apr 07, 2015 9:46 pm
Location: West Wales
Contact:

Re: Adventures with a Flashforge

Post by SimonWood » Wed Feb 03, 2021 9:20 pm

I've come up against the bed size restriction a few times. It's not a big problem - for example with Rik's short wheelbase van I had to cut both sides, but I just chose a suitably simple place to disguise the join - and because I printed in ABS it welded back together nicely.

I've been printing the Thingiverse bug boxes and there are more parts there that need cutting, the join needs to be good because it affects structural strength, and since I'm now printing in PLA I'm having to do it with superglue (ugh). Since there are variations on these I'm reprinting the same part(s) several times, and improving my cut-n-shut technique as I go: specifically I have modified the files slightly in Tinkercad to increase the surface area of the joint, which is very easy to do. Hopefully this picture explains it a bit better:

Document1.png
Document1.png (559.29 KiB) Viewed 4315 times

I've positioned a new cuboid and then sliced right through it, greatly increasing the surface in contact when I glue the parts together. I've also chosen to cut the frame and the bench in different places, so that each one strengthens the point where the other is joined. Again, to increase the surfaces contact at the join in the bench, I added a strut across the frame immediately below it. I think I'll start a separate thread for my builds of the bug boxes - there are several variations on these I've now got in progress...

User avatar
FWLR
Driver
Driver
Posts: 4262
Joined: Sat Aug 05, 2017 9:45 am
Location: Preston, Lancashire, UK

Re: Adventures with a Flashforge

Post by FWLR » Thu Feb 04, 2021 9:00 am

That great to know Simon. How do you alter something from Thingiverse though. All I can do is alter the scale/size.
Meaning length, height and width.

User avatar
SimonWood
Trainee Driver
Trainee Driver
Posts: 655
Joined: Tue Apr 07, 2015 9:46 pm
Location: West Wales
Contact:

Re: Adventures with a Flashforge

Post by SimonWood » Thu Feb 04, 2021 9:10 am

FWLR wrote: Thu Feb 04, 2021 9:00 am That great to know Simon. How do you alter something from Thingiverse though. All I can do is alter the scale/size.
Meaning length, height and width.
I did these in Tinkercad which lets you import an STL file, it then treats it like any other shape, in this case I'm just very simply combining with additional cuboids but you can also use 'hole' shapes to chop bits out or whatever you like, really!

User avatar
FWLR
Driver
Driver
Posts: 4262
Joined: Sat Aug 05, 2017 9:45 am
Location: Preston, Lancashire, UK

Re: Adventures with a Flashforge

Post by FWLR » Thu Feb 04, 2021 9:31 am

Thanks Simon.

I have just printed one of the Diesel files, the frame. The same one has you have I think, but I am confused a little bit. The frame should have the springs with them showing the smaller spring at the bottom don't they. If that's correct, which I am certain it is, how do you keep the axle in the frame...
D2A9E41D-36A6-44A1-967A-7DB8DB2A0711.jpeg
D2A9E41D-36A6-44A1-967A-7DB8DB2A0711.jpeg (3.1 MiB) Viewed 4303 times
51688D9C-C391-47F6-B8C1-2E2C1D885DF8.jpeg
51688D9C-C391-47F6-B8C1-2E2C1D885DF8.jpeg (2.28 MiB) Viewed 4303 times
The photos are not very clear sorry and I haven't clean it up yet. I printed this flat before you posted about doing all yours upright. And I have got Flashforge black filament now.

I am being stupid I know, but the axles would fall out if I put this on the track .. :lol: :lol: :lol:

User avatar
SimonWood
Trainee Driver
Trainee Driver
Posts: 655
Joined: Tue Apr 07, 2015 9:46 pm
Location: West Wales
Contact:

Re: Adventures with a Flashforge

Post by SimonWood » Thu Feb 04, 2021 12:20 pm

FWLR wrote: Thu Feb 04, 2021 9:31 am I have just printed one of the Diesel files, the frame. The same one has you have I think, but I am confused a little bit. The frame should have the springs with them showing the smaller spring at the bottom don't they. If that's correct, which I am certain it is, how do you keep the axle in the frame...
Yes, same one as me, i.e. the clarionut remix. I haven't built it yet, so I can only go on what the instructions say (and those are from the arockStone original, in which the frames are further apart, but I assume they still apply). I think the frames are dummies so the axleboxes aren't actually designed to keep the axles in the frame, instead there is an internal frame (#3 in the instructions). Seems like you're going to get ahead of me in building this so let me know if I've got that right!

User avatar
philipy
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 5033
Joined: Sun Jan 30, 2011 3:00 pm
Location: South Northants

Re: Adventures with a Flashforge

Post by philipy » Thu Feb 04, 2021 12:25 pm

SimonWood wrote: Thu Feb 04, 2021 12:20 pm I think the frames are dummies so the axleboxes aren't actually designed to keep the axles in the frame, instead there is an internal frame (#3 in the instructions). Seems like you're going to get ahead of me in building this so let me know if I've got that right!
Exactly right Simon. If you build it for 32mm be careful about the frame positions/spacers and the buffer beam. I got it wrong and spaced them for 45mm!
Philip

Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 3 guests