EmilieEvans

After half a dozen iterations, this was the first reasonably working, acceptable feeling, and good-sounding ratchet mechanism.

allows clockwise rotation blocks counterclockwise rotation

design features:

• allows for a large inner bore (e.g. rotary encoder shaft or 5.2mm screwdriver bit)
• printable with 0.4mm nozzle
• 2cm diameter
• no assembly required. Print in place.

To get a full ratchet: mirror the assembly and add a mechanism/part that pushes one of the springs out. In neutral both leavers are engaged and the ratchet is completely locked.

Btw. Good luck copying it without going through half a dozen of iterations. Going from it barely works to this isn't easy. For my part: Version 5 was working and close to the final design. It took another 10 rounds to get it usable and from there some more to fine-tune it.

Quick and dirty 5 minutes craft: Draw a rough shape, define the contact surfaces & load, click run, and get the optimized shape. The last step is converting the output to a printable shape and running one more simulation to double-check it is strong enough.

This particular holder is a filament spool holder designed to be loaded with up to 5.5kg of filament (1x2.5kg, 3x1kg).

Building a 3D printer is easy. Getting the details right to build a great 3D printer is hard, as this is where most companies fail. Why?

For example, on this printer, the bed is a three-point mount (two wheels for adjustment at the front of the printbed) and the printer's bed levelling dialogue doesn't show the height difference that needs to be adjusted (which most 3D printers do). It does show how much it needs to be turned, and the bed levelling wheels have 1/8th turn indicators, making it easy to get it perfect.

In short, instead of an arbitrary number like 0.3mm that has no meaning to the user, they tell the user to turn this knob 1/4 of a turn. An instruction the user can follow.

** Why is this so outstanding? It doesn't cost much, but it improves the user experience. Are companies blind to these improvements because the engineers are experienced, or is there a lack of testing during development?**

By the way, years ago I did such a fix/modification myself on a Tronxy XY2 pro by adding indicators on the wheel for 0.2mm height difference so I could convert the number to rotation: https://www.printables.com/model/301670-replacement-bed-leveling-wheel

With 3D printers like the Open-5x or tool changers (e.g. Prusa XL) both, 5-axis simultaneous 3D-printing as well as hybrid manufacturing (additive followed up by subtractive), is more accessible than they ever were.

For those already venturing into this endeavor: What is your toolchain/software?

Currently, I finish the additive/3D print before running a second gcode for the subtractive part (contact surfaces, threads, ...). This is far from an efficient and powerful process.

The extruder of the 3Dgence P255 3d-printer features a brush to clean the extruder gear.

Needed as soon as possible a spool holder for larger spools so printing anything that is dozens of hours was out of the question.

Solution? Looked at the heavy shelves and had an idea.

One remix later, a 1-hour print and with some round wood that was lying around this spool holder was born.

I like the position of the spool so much that it is here to stay.

With this particular model, Prusaslicer is very optimistic about bridging and support generation:

1. the right side (dark blue) has no support that could help with load-bearing
2. the entire layer will be connected to those two lines
3. more than 5cm long bridges

I don't think this gcode will successfully print.

How do fix adjust the cura setting to generate a printable output?

The model in question is: https://www.delta-fan.com/Download/3D/BUB0612HJ-00.stp

What cameras did you add to your 3D printer? What is your favorite camera angle?

For me, the nozzle cam watching the first layer is my personal favorite (OV9281 image sensor).

As you might be aware BambuLab issued a recall for the BambuLab A1 3d-printer. In particular, the issue is the mains-voltage (230V AC) heat bed cable.

As a resolution, they offer two solutions:

1. Ship the entire printer back to them and receive a replacement printer.
2. They mail a new cable and you install it.

What BambuLab doesn't mention at all is the test according to EN 50678 (Verification of the effectiveness of protective measures of electrical equipment after repair). Unless you can perform this test I would recommend choosing the printer replacement.

Right now looking into bang for the buck workhorses with a small footprint/build volume. A description that fit the Prusa mini+ perfectly in the past, but it feels like Prusa is a dinosaur that hasn’t moved with the times.

So who is still buying the Prusa mini+ and why?

Personally: While Prusa has outstanding support, good data protection, and does good things but there is now the Bambu Lab A1 mini.

Prusa mini is at the moment 500€ plus 20€ for a filament sensor (sic., it’s nearly 2024 and that’s an paid upgrade on half a grand printer) and another 7€ for WiFi.

Bambu Lab on the other hand is 320€.

Looking at the specifications, the A1 looks like a clear winner: For maintenance, there are three tasks: 1. cleaning and lubricating the mechanics (both are the same in this respect); 2. cleaning the build surface (both are the same); 3. maintaining the hotend and here Bambu Lab is clearly the better system as you can replace the nozzle in just a few seconds compared to Prusa’s E3D v6 hotend, which requires hot tightening.

The operation is not that different. Both support network, web interface, and automatic bed leveling probed at the nozzle. Bambu Lab has a camera built in, but this requires the printer to be connected to the BambuLab cloud, which may not be possible as the model data is shared with/uploaded to China. I would say this is still a strong point for Prusa as privacy is not an issue with their printers which means they can be easily deployed.

Performance should be close with input shaping enabled, but the A1 mini has the higher flow rate hotend, which means BambuLab is once again the winner (still no highflow at only 28 mm^3/s but twice the flow of a Prusa V6).

The build volume is identical and the footprint is also almost identical, so again no point where Prusa beats BambuLab.

Value? I have already mentioned it. 1.6 Bambulab for the price of 1 Prusa is a clear answer. If Prusa still had the 400€ original launch price and a filament runout sensor included, maybe the answer would be Prusa due to privacy/easier integration. The 200€/printer price difference is so significant that I don’t see who is still buying multiple Prusa mini+.

Btw. is there another printer on the market that just works paired with a small footprint and excellent value?

Today E3D launched their latest extruder. What's your thought on the Revo roto?

only/first Reviews: Made with layers (formally Thomas Sanladerer): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5UpN0QaxGY E3D launch video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6GxPZUM0k4 product page: https://e3d-online.com/products/roto-extruder

155 GBP (without tax) for the sensor version. Equipped with a normal brass nozzle and a low-power heater core.

The pushing force isn't great as it can't do more than 6mm/s (14mm^3/s, approx. 60g/hour) limiting it to 0.15, 0.25 and 0.4mm nozzles. That's significantly short of the E3D Hemera XS Revo performance they claimed this extruder matches.

Is 14mm^3/s enough for 200 USD+ extruder for 2024 and beyond if you could trade approx. 20g more weight for 4x the max. flowrate?

3D-model collections like Printables or Thingiverse are awesome. Required (ASAP) a CPU socket cover to ship the motherboard. Found it online and 15 minutes later I had the part on hand.