After the old soap and water life’s lesson and getting some fantastic print bed adhesion, the printer ‘developed’ * another problem……………
*by developed, I mean, ‘I’m an idiot’…..Probably…………..[just scroll to that bit below to avoid a few paragraphs of waffle
Continue reading “Bad prints – Grr, the importance of cooling”
Picked myself up a cheap Wifi Smart Plug
I figured that if Octoprint can monitor the printer remotely…..if I see on video anything spontaneously combusting, I can remotely cut the power too!
I’ll figure out some scripting at some point to allow temperature sensors / smoke sensors to trigger the plug, but for now, it’s just a bit of fun…
For those wanting to know more about these types of plugs, this one on Amazon just happens to be an ESP8266EX with a relay………just like those cheapy sonoff thingies (of which I have two!)
And someone’s already torn one down and documented it – for which I’m grateful as there’s another rabbit hole I don’t have to follow (for now)
Some useless information about power consumption measured with this plug
So, Overall, it’s not too power hungry…Lets call it 300 watts peak.
Electricity is about 35p per KWh here…..
if you have a 10 hour print, using 300 watts (peak), that’ll cost you about 33p in electricity! in practice, it’ll actually be a bit less as the heating elements aren’t on all the time, they cycle on/off to maintain the temperature!
Summary, run the printer as much as you want!, it’s less than 4P an hour here in the UK!
Use SOAP AND WATER………
I’ve a few successful prints under my belt now…..Pics another time……..
For the past few days though, this has been happening………Zero adhesion 😦
After having a few minor issues with filament slipping and prints generally being a bit crappy, I figured I’d take stuff apart, always helps me relax…
On the interwebs I was really unable to find any specific detail about the MK10 / MK11 type head that the Wanhao Duplicator 9 uses…
Continue reading “Wanhao Duplicator D9 – MK10 Extruder issues – Teardown and….a 3D model”
Iteration……it’s all about trying, adjusting, trying again. from the first basic drawing on the left and the first print….right through to the Rev6 print (that’s now REV 7)
The tall bit pushes against the conservatory roof…the little ‘hook’ holds it in place on a small ledge, the long dangly bit presses against the wall and holds the LED strip….REV 7 increases the length of the sticky uppy bit on the right!
Back a few weeks ago, I purchased some LED strings to light up the conservatory during the winter months
Also purchased a few types of incredibly sticky double sided stuff….they just would not stick……The sticky pads stuck to the PVC windows just fine, but whatever teflon type material the clear IP tubes are made of, well, it’s better than teflon, nowt’ll hold that up….
Enter my shiny new 3D printer….A few brackets will hold them up nicely!
I used some Playdoh to get an idea of the outline of the PVC Ledge that I could clip some holders to…Made some drawings and knocked up something in Tinkercad
On the left is my first foray into 3D cad in nearly two decades….I’ve merged them to show the Rev7 bracket that i’m now to print….
I’m amazed really, in modern times, a 3D printer enables you to take some measurements….Create an item, try for fit….re-design the item, try again…..rinse, repeat….in just a few hours!. 7 iterations of trying, wiggling about an ‘guessing’ what needed changing and it’s done (till I improve and get to rev 10 :-P)
I’ve a long print running, but when it finishes, i’ll print up about 20 of these in clear filament and show the final product installed….can’t wait!
Finally – Wanhao have released a decent firmware – V0.164(B)
Now, Levelling the bed…..
There’s LOADS of videos, methods ,etc out there….this way is SIMPLE, CONSISTENT and reliable
Make sure your printer head is clean and free from cooled plastic
MAKE SURE THE BED IS CLEAN...(I’m using baby wet wipes, but they dont’ seem to be the best, i’ll need to try isopropyl alcohol like the old timers are)
How to clean….Use a sponge, soap and water………that’s it!
1 – LEVEL the Z axis – use a ruler / visual marks on the back, whatever, make sure the bar is level
2 – Use the menu to go into the LEVEL selection
3 – Get the Z axis offset correct by using a piece of paper so it’s just gripped by the head
4 – TURN OFF THE PRINTER (yes, TURN IT OFF, DO NOT CLICK NEXT)
5 – MANUALLY move the print head to CLOSE (maybe 10mm away from) to the corners…
6 – Go back and check each corner and tweak slightly if necessary
7 – Turn printer on and LEVEL THE BED IN SOFTWARE AS NORMAL……
Now, if you really want to be pedantic, you should do this whilst everything’s warmed up to your normal working temperatures!
That’s it, the end
Bleugh.Biz Blog Thingy 