TPU 3D Printing Club

[erocker]

Anyone here have a 3D printer? Share your stuff!

I'll add to this post and organize it as time goes on.


A couple months ago I picked up a Qidi Tech X-One 2 printer for 400 bucks. It was cheap, but it had really good ratings on Amazon. Other than premature bearing failure (cheap bearings/cheap printer) it's been great. I've replaced the bearings with Drylin bearings which are much quieter/smoother.

Right now, I'm just learning everything like working with different filaments, printer maintenance, slicer settings, upgrades, fixing 3D models for printing, etc. If anything this printer I have is perfect for learning on and the customer support is awesome to get your first print done right.

I just got done replacing the bearings.. basically doing a complete tear-down and am printing a "D&D Mini" right now. Things are coming out great! (There's a lot of support structure around the print, thus it looks strange currently). Here's a video of it working:

So, if anyone else is into this, post up some stuff you made or have or whatever!

 

[dorsetknob]

there is a Market for a TPU De liding Tooltm 3d Printed of course

 

[erocker]

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1630652
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2684510

Not sure how well they work, not too many have been made. Seems PLA will work for it tho! I should probably give it a shot once I use up this roll of ABS.

 

[Solaris17]

yo thats a pretty sweet setup you got!

 

[dorsetknob]

As i understand things you can download Pre configured print design/templates
No Idea from where but seen it mentioned on Stupidtube (those over the air geek gadget show)

 

[erocker]

thingiverse.com seems to have the most stuff. Yeggi.com is a site that searches a lot of other sites for 3d models.

 

[Morgoth]

i dont have a 3d printer i only do 3d modeling and let a third party do the manufacturing for me as in shapeways or weerg

 

[sam_86314]

Been a while since the last post on this thread... oh well.

I got my printer up and running again, this time in its own dedicated spot on a table I built in 8th grade with a dedicated computer controlling it (the $20 ThinkCentre).

Hopefully it'll get more use now that it isn't hogging my desk space.

 

[TheMadDutchDude]

Nice printer!

I got an Ender model for Christmas last year and have used it a fair amount.

My most recent print was a slim mITX case. $5 in material and it functions perfectly. I’ll grab pics soon... if I remember.

 

[sam_86314]

Nice printer!

I got an Ender model for Christmas last year and have used it a fair amount.

My most recent print was a slim mITX case. $5 in material and it functions perfectly. I’ll grab pics soon... if I remember.

I've had this Anet A8 since September of 2018. I highly recommend it as a budget starter printer if you like tinkering with things. It has a low up-front cost, works well out of the box, and it's really easy to upgrade. I'd imagine with a Bowden extruder and head setup, better belts and bearings, and a sturdier frame (all of which aren't too expensive to make/buy), it could rival much higher end units in print quality.

Never really considered trying to print an ITX case; probably just assumed the 200x200mm bed wouldn't be big enough.

 

[sam_86314]

Really wish there were more posts on this thread.

Today I printed some CPU cases. I printed them out of PLA, and each one took about 40 minutes to print with the infill set to 20%.

Even though they are designed for 115X chips, 775 chips fit just fine in them. Here they are holding my Pentium E5200 and Core 2 Duo E8600.

I calculate the material cost to be about $0.25 (based on $20 for a 330 meter spool of PLA). Cheaper than buying CPU clamshells on Amazon.

Thingiverse link for STL: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2441017

 

[TheMadDutchDude]

I like those a lot! That would make it super easy to store CPUs. Oh my! I'd never even thought of printing CPU casings. XD

Fancy sharing the link?

 

[sam_86314]

I like those a lot! That would make it super easy to store CPUs. Oh my! I'd never even thought of printing CPU casings. XD

Fancy sharing the link?

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2441017

 

[TheMadDutchDude]

Thank you! I will have to print a few of those.

 

[erocker]

My printer has been in pieces all winter, but I got some parts in and am piecing it back together. Last thing I made was an Atari for a Raspberry Pi 3 for a RetroPie system. It's printed out of carbon fiber PLA with a little paint. The wood grain is drawer liner sticky paper and I got the Atari logo from a nice gent on Etsy.

STL's: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2269086

 

[sam_86314]

Printed stands for my newly acquired Klipsch ProMedia speakers...

Very simple, but they help to aim the speakers at my ears instead of my chest. Each stand took about an hour and a half to print.

My post on Thingiverse

The project file for these stands

In other news, my first spool of PLA filament is about to run out. I've had it for 15 months. I've learned the hard way that PLA filament needs to be kept in sealed bags with desiccant when not in use; otherwise it gets really brittle. I'm planning on getting this spool of OVERTURE brand PLA. Anyone have experience with it?

 

[sam_86314]

Guess I'm taking this thread over .

My new filament spool arrived a few days ago and I've printed several things since it arrived.

...like this CPU delidding tool. It needs a few more parts in order to work.

I just printed this case for my Raspberry Pi 3B.

As for the filament, it seems to be similar quality to the HATCHBOX stuff despite being $7 cheaper. It included a build surface for my printer.

 

[Durvelle27]

Hey guys newbie here that just purchased a Anent A8 with no skills

 

[P4-630]

Guess I'm taking this thread over .

My new filament spool arrived a few days ago and I've printed several things since it arrived.

...like this CPU delidding tool. It needs a few more parts in order to work.

I just printed this case for my Raspberry Pi 3B.

As for the filament, it seems to be similar quality to the HATCHBOX stuff despite being $7 cheaper. It included a build surface for my printer.

So how many days of printing for just these 2 things?...

 

[sam_86314]

So how many days of printing for just these 2 things?...

If I remember, the Pi case probably took 30 min to an hour, and the delidding tool took a couple hours.

Hey guys newbie here that just purchased a Anent A8 with no skills

I'd recommend starting with PLA filament. It's cheap, prints at a lower temp, is safe to use without extreme ventilation, and has a sweet smell when it melts.

I use Repetier-Host for controlling mine, but it can read GCODE files off of a microSD card.

A lot of people recommend putting custom firmware on the A8 such as Marlin or Skynet. Some printers (like mine) can't be flashed over USB and you need a programmer for it.

I'd start by printing a better fan duct and some toppers for the leadscrews (assuming you've already assembled it and gotten it working).

 

[Durvelle27]

Printer just arrived

Going to spend the night putting it together

 

[sam_86314]

Printer just arrived

View attachment 144848

Going to spend the night putting it together

Good luck. It's a tricky one to assemble, but it's extremely easy to upgrade.

I ended up having to lubricate the leadscrews on mine to keep the y-axis from getting stuck.

That top part looks like the support for the bed. I guess that piece isn't made of metal anymore.

 

[Durvelle27]

Good luck. It's a tricky one to assemble, but it's extremely easy to upgrade.

I ended up having to lubricate the leadscrews on mine to keep the y-axis from getting stuck.

That top part looks like the support for the bed. I guess that piece isn't made of metal anymore.

Man i have been at this for hours and still not finished

The manual isn't very detailed or straight forward

Also received a Tronxy P802E not a Anent A8

 

[sam_86314]

Man i have been at this for hours and still not finished

The manual isn't very detailed or straight forward

Also received a Tronxy P802E not a Anent A8
View attachment 144856

View attachment 144857

View attachment 144858

View attachment 144859

It's certainly coming together. Looks very similar to the A8.

Yeah, the lackluster instructions are a common complaint with the A8 and similar printers. It took a few hours for me to assemble my A8 (though I already had experience since my old job trained me on it)

 

[Durvelle27]

It's certainly coming together. Looks very similar to the A8.

Yeah, the lackluster instructions are a common complaint with the A8 and similar printers. It took a few hours for me to assemble my A8 (though I already had experience since my old job trained me on it)

I think its a A8 clone based off what I've found on google. But for $70 no biggie

I stopped off on it as i got tired and had to be yo work in like hours

Hopefully tonight i can finish it. I've been looking at several videos piecing them together to help assemble this but even than it's not 100%