tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-49095109636197176972024-03-21T17:46:33.097-07:00karlzhao314's blogKarl Zhaohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10644800039502221171noreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4909510963619717697.post-83469947419732729932020-07-15T10:05:00.003-07:002020-07-15T10:05:40.716-07:00The PEEK Performance Project Extra Part: Tips for your own HT printer<h2>
Tips for your own HT printer</h2>
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Okay, I honestly don't know why you sat through 6500 words of my rambling. Maybe you thought it was interesting, in which case I hope I gave you an entertaining and engaging read. Or maybe you just felt bad for me, in which case I thank you for your sympathy.</div>
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I'm willing to bet, though, that some of you are reading this to try and make your own high temp printer, and you're here for guidance. In that case, I'll try to give a few of my best tips that I've learned over time:</div>
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<li><b>Be comfortable with </b><i style="font-weight: bold;">all</i><b> aspects of your printer</b><i style="font-weight: bold;">, </i>whether that's mechanics, electronics, firmware, materials, etc, etc. Or, study a lot and make yourself comfortable. An HT printer is an extremely involved project and you'll likely be touching every one of these subjects, and you need to know how to work with them when it comes time.</li>
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<li><b>Start with a great base printer.</b> Not every printer is suitable for high temp use - bedslingers are (sorta) out, printers with lots of printed parts are out, printers you can't enclose are out, etc, etc. You want a good, solid, base printer with a minimum of printed parts and a good enclosure.<br /><br />Obviously, you can design this yourself, and in fact that gives you lots of advantages - being able to easily incorporate bellows, for one. However, if you do go this route, be careful not to have heavy reliance on printed parts. Keep as much of it metal as possible.<br /><br />Similarly, if you're going to modify an existing, commercial printer, look for a Z-bed printer with lots of metal and a minimum of plastic.<br /></li>
<li><b>Minimize your enclosure size. </b>The smaller the enclosure, the easier it is to heat and the less power you'll need for your chamber heater. Z-bed printers are ideal for this, since you can build the enclosure directly into the frame. Bedslingers, not so much.<br />This is also why I generally don't recommend large-format high-temp printers to everyday hobbyists. My 1200W is already running close to the limit of a standard US outlet (1650W). Trying to heat a printer twice as large in each dimension, and therefore 8 times larger in volume, would take way more power than a household circuit can provide.</li>
<li><b>Narrow your focus.</b> I know, it's really tempting for us as enthusiasts to try to build a printer that can print at 200mm/s with 9k mm/s2 acceleration with all of the bells and whistles, but the goal here is HT, not a machine that would make Voron owners proud. Stick with the basics. You don't need a magnetic spring steel sheet or an ABL probe for example - a traditionally leveled glass plate is good enough.</li>
<li><b>Don't be afraid to run certain parts above their temp limits</b>, if they're cheap and easy to replace. 2-3kg of PEEK costs about as much as your whole printer already, so tacking on the cost of a few tiny consumable parts doesn't make that much of a difference. If you can get a fan rated for 90C for 5 bucks, don't be afraid to run it at 110C and just replace it when it dies (and it will). Of course, the exception to this is if it becomes a fire hazard when it fails - a heater cartridge, for example.</li>
<li><b>Be prepared to do things over quite a few times. </b>Lots of things aren't going to work the first time you try it. Expect that there are going to be a few times you'll have to tear out that part you spent a week installing, and redo it all from scratch.</li>
<li><b>Don't give up! </b>It's not an easy project, but put enough work into it and you'll get it figured out!</li>
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Good luck with your high temp printer project!</div>
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Karl Zhaohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10644800039502221171noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4909510963619717697.post-43537176302254949522020-07-15T09:51:00.000-07:002020-07-15T10:06:18.910-07:00The PEEK Performance Project Part 5: PEEK, and redemption<div>
Several months ago I was contacted by /u/Ggalisky about a a project where he had extruded PEEK filament with a Filastruder, and was looking for testers. (On a side note, Ggalisky has also built a DIY HT printer, <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/3Dprinting/comments/fdy6n7/i_designed_machined_and_assembled_a_huge_custom/">one much more impressive than mine</a> - though it also cost quite a bit more! Go check out his project as well!) I figured, this was a pretty opportunity to jump back into PEEK, so I took him up on his offer of a couple small coils of PEEK to test.<br />
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PEEK: The second attempt</h3>
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Armed with all of the experience I had built up as well as the ungodly power of Nano Polymer Adhesive, I tackled it again and this time went ham with the temperatures.</div>
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For the first print, I chose a little spur gear this time. It should prove to be pretty easy for any filament, being small and flat.</div>
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Hey, that looks pretty good! There were gaps in the top because of too low of an extrusion multiplier, but it didn't warp at all and the coloration was excellent throughout!</div>
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Picking it and playing with it, I could also feel none of the creaking present in some of my older prints. This is looking promising!</div>
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You know, the Ultem Marvin on my keychain has been looking kinda lonely lately.</div>
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And another great looking print! I was particularly worried about coloration here, being a more complex print with overhangs, but this time the entire print was consistently tan and opaque.</div>
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This time, I did have to turn the chamber temperature up to 110C. 90C was fine for the earlier print because of how flat it was, but this one is quite a bit taller.</div>
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Let's try something a little harder:</div>
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No sweat at all. The printer ate the gcode and spit this out like nothing.</div>
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Maybe it's finally time.</div>
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And there you have it. 9 months in the making, the humble little Maker Ultimate I bought on clearance for $320 has finally become PEEK Performance.</div>
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So where are we now?</h3>
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PEEK Performance has now seen 901 hours of printing at the time of writing. In the time, it's eaten about a quarter kilogram of PEEK (okay, PEEK is expensive, alright?) 2kg of Ultem, and the rest has been PC and ABS. It's proven astonishingly reliable: during those 900 hours, the only part failure that's occured is when a Molex Microfit inside the chamber deformed enough from high temperatures to lose connection.</div>
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Max temp on the hotend is still 450C. Max temp on the bed that I'm comfortable using is now 230C, though E3D seems to say that 250C is passable for short periods. </div>
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The chamber is...well, it's a tough question. Under the chamber heater power alone, it reaches 124C. With a 230C bed, it's enough to bring the chamber to 138C. However, I would not in any circumstance consider using the chamber at 138C, because at that point I become too nervous about my parts melting.</div>
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And also, that requires the full 1200W, and my electricity bill has already been raised enough.</div>
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No, the motors haven't failed. No, the fans haven't failed. No, the belts haven't failed. No, I don't understand why either.</div>
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As I've gotten better at using PEEK, I've also started sparingly incorporating it into some actual functional roles - shown here is that same PEEK fan shroud I'd been trying to make for months. Key word is <i>sparingly</i>. This stuff still costs $500/kg!</div>
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As for Ultem, well, it's become practically easy. I can do medium-large parts in Ultem on a routine basis, and have used Ultem in quite a few printer parts and other project parts already. Getting to this point wasn't easy, but we're here now so I might as well take advantage of it!</div>
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This entire project has gone so much more successfully than I ever anticipated. Printing PEEK was one of my interests, yes, but it seemed so much like a pipe dream in the early stages and I never expected I'd actually be able to reach this point. Who knows what else might be possible!<br />
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So where do we go from here?</h3>
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Oh, this is nowhere near done.</div>
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Vision Miner had a guideline a long time back that basically said, if you want to do large solid parts in PEEK, you need a 180C chamber. That honestly seems about right - I've been doing PEEK at a 110C chamber still, and I can't do anything larger than 100mm or so in a single dimension without significant warping. 180C is a stretch goal, but 150C is my next target. </div>
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To do that, I'm going to need several significant changes.</div>
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The belts I'm running are surprisingly still the stock Gates belts that came with the Maker Ultimate, supposedly rated for just 80C. 110C or even 120C still doesn't seem to kill them, but I have a feeling 150C will. I'm going to switch them to Gates EPDM belts rated for 135C, so that hopefully at 150C they'll survive (and I'll still treat them as a consumable).</div>
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Same thing with the bushings in the sliderblocks. The current polymer bushings seem to be struggling a lot at 120C. I intend to replace them with sintered bronze bushings.</div>
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The hotend fan is likely not going to survive. I'm slowly working out a way I can fit watercooling into this printer, and I'll be trying to move the hotend to be watercooled. While we're on it, might as well watercool the motors too. </div>
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And finally, I'll need much heavier duty insulation. Lots of heat still escapes out of the metal frame of this printer. If I could find a way to insulate <i>all</i> of the walls of the printer, not just the ones easily accessible by removing the panels, it would do worlds for heat retention.</div>
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One day, maybe in the distant future, I may even try printing PBI. Who knows...</div>
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It's been a long road, and there's still quite a ways to go. But the possibilities are endless, and I'm looking forward to exploring as many as I can.</div>
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<b>Final costs:</b></div>
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<b>Total cost of printer: $820</b></div>
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<b>Total project cost: $1125</b><br />
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<b><a href="http://karlzhao314.blogspot.com/2020/07/the-peek-performance-project-extra-part.html">Extra: Tips for your own HT printer</a></b></div>
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Karl Zhaohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10644800039502221171noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4909510963619717697.post-31283184224100752112020-07-15T09:47:00.003-07:002022-02-21T07:28:36.599-08:00The PEEK Performance Project Part 4: PEEK, and the problems start<div>
You know, if I'm gonna be doing this thing I'll have to eat this crazy $600/kg cost at some point.</div>
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I buy 250g of PEEK for $150. That hurt.<br />
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PEEK: The first attempt</h3>
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It came in on my birthday! How nice!</div>
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The 3D printing discord had been talking to me about printing a low-poly Pikachu, named the PEEKachu, for a while now. So, that's what I decided to do as my first print. 390C hotend, 160C bed, 90C chamber, and let's go!</div>
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(Side note: I learned here that PEEK extrudes as a translucent gold, very much like Ultem, and solidifies an opaque tan. In fact, the first time I loaded PEEK I ended up purging way too much, because I thought what was coming out of the nozzle was still Ultem.)</div>
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That turned out...surprisingly good, actually! The geometry looks accurate and the surface were smooth. Overhangs weren't bad either.</div>
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That being said, there's some pretty odd coloration throughout the print. The PEEK we know from pictures and ads is a solid, opaque tan. Parts of this print looked right, but most of it was the same odd translucent gold as when it was extruding.</div>
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What's more, the entire print was extremely brittle. You could hear it cracking just from grabbing it and twisting it gently.</div>
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I went ahead and tried to do a MK3S fan shroud to replace the Ultem one I'd been using.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijglgcSgEpDs5IsFB6dNgaiOMrx9R4xlNnDK82qHUvFlFoqYcfR-IF3gVH8wGoLFExvao43Mdy5XEmUpUXJO386d1gv6_SDqiu4Vp94C6vGkejZ2QsCS-oB_oB51cl_govBZxUkKx0ilg/s1600/IMG_20190810_025518.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijglgcSgEpDs5IsFB6dNgaiOMrx9R4xlNnDK82qHUvFlFoqYcfR-IF3gVH8wGoLFExvao43Mdy5XEmUpUXJO386d1gv6_SDqiu4Vp94C6vGkejZ2QsCS-oB_oB51cl_govBZxUkKx0ilg/s320/IMG_20190810_025518.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
It broke during assembly.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Maybe I'm not ready for this yet. I chalk it up to the still limited 95C my chamber tops out, and decide to put PEEK on the backburner. Guess I'll go back to printing with Ultem, as well as stressing about the impending school year.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
You know what's gotten incredibly annoying? This stupid glue scraping procedure. Every time I finish a print, the glue has charred and I have to scrape it off, then I have to go through that apply glue > bake > scrape > repeat process again. It takes 30 minutes just to prepare the bed before each print.<br />
<br /></div>
<h3>
Nano Polymer Adhesive: The Solution to All Problems (no, seriously)</h3>
<div>
Disclaimer: I am not sponsored in any way by Vision Miner, and they have not sent me any free product. I purchased and paid for all products mentioned with my own money, and these are my true, unbiased thoughts.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
No, that disclaimer shouldn't be necessary. It wouldn't be necessary in any other situation. It's just my thoughts on this stuff are so positive that I risk sounding like a shill if I don't state this outright.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
This sums up my thoughts on it pretty nicely:</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkEmTi3iFPjFWMj9h7HCx1jDpZ0PrXVAK2hyBt20QwGk5kXQQ01iyLB-bB8CxRxzMEXAyb-mu3RpjvKcR0MqCDJW0sN1Vp1Bg3WLpV3vsbrSfspTXqwDz0cHfEs6gV_5Cz1BSU2vShFdY/s1600/takemymoney.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="576" data-original-width="1023" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkEmTi3iFPjFWMj9h7HCx1jDpZ0PrXVAK2hyBt20QwGk5kXQQ01iyLB-bB8CxRxzMEXAyb-mu3RpjvKcR0MqCDJW0sN1Vp1Bg3WLpV3vsbrSfspTXqwDz0cHfEs6gV_5Cz1BSU2vShFdY/s320/takemymoney.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
A couple weeks into having started printing, I found out that Vision Miner apparently has a 5ml sample bottle for just $8 shipped. I still couldn't swallow the full $50 price, but for $8 I might as well try the sample.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
It came in, and I was surprised at how small the bottle was. By the looks of it, this would only last me a week or so. I went ahead and applied a coating to my bed plate.<br />
<br />
Interesting...it went on very thin, somewhat like the consistency of water or isopropyl alcohol. It dried in just a few seconds, and when it dried it turned quite hard and glassy. In fact, I couldn't scrape it back off with a metal scraper. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Let's try PC first.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWvuEMQOzFF-qlGt2ncge4CnhFhbTzg6K7u8mI1kq2SBD7xGZ2FEL9_oHx6FhntCtPjAb8CYbUXzMZETq6KAK3gpOCfEDsKd7DUcKTR01GizKyaTkPVBtpkHXtWQdQDhgNR0wPe3Ws2TQ/s1600/IMG_20200403_214242.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWvuEMQOzFF-qlGt2ncge4CnhFhbTzg6K7u8mI1kq2SBD7xGZ2FEL9_oHx6FhntCtPjAb8CYbUXzMZETq6KAK3gpOCfEDsKd7DUcKTR01GizKyaTkPVBtpkHXtWQdQDhgNR0wPe3Ws2TQ/s320/IMG_20200403_214242.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div>
Hey, it holds PC down quite nicely. The glue stick scrape method never worked nearly as well with PC. Also, for once instead of yellowing and turning ugly, it stays clear.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Ultem next?</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBPuqod11tIvEGE1PUvR4i6TuagYRli-3pLxvs0JTpRJgSMzjuGCycvng6QRHVzYe-VIkpvfiO_KBIJDvf-dnyS00c8GzL7uexvm7dGFOohr9aHeU8-pjb8Dh2xe26ITVeODw_Lw8FrTs/s1600/IMG_20200711_055206.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBPuqod11tIvEGE1PUvR4i6TuagYRli-3pLxvs0JTpRJgSMzjuGCycvng6QRHVzYe-VIkpvfiO_KBIJDvf-dnyS00c8GzL7uexvm7dGFOohr9aHeU8-pjb8Dh2xe26ITVeODw_Lw8FrTs/s320/IMG_20200711_055206.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div>
Wow...this is sticking down brilliantly. Way better than the old glue stick. It also pops off nicely when cooled down.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
And get this: It doesn't always need to be reapplied for prints. Even for Ultem. I can usually get 3-4 prints on a single application before I need to reapply, and unlike glue stick where reapplication means scraping off the charred and baked on glue, with Nano Polymer you just brush another coat on. I've now suddenly cut my bed prep time from 20-30 minutes every print to 30 seconds every 3-4 prints.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
It can't be all perfect, right? I keep throwing more and more filaments at it to see what it does. Ultem 9085, PPSF, Nylon, ABS, even a bit of PEEK once again. It handles everything amazingly well, and for lower temperature filaments like ABS it doesn't need to be reapplied for <i>dozens</i> of prints.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDGJIdCTnsK9JXv5BmjMAgagFMfXnoHDvq8PmjDdKe_zmNWBTFVDVr-zwON3UI4CVE52vt0vnJSI1TAGrNf-otl_djzspOzy1UgT_hcBv-XOo3GZVxOdlvmnsb-QyImgEwyeElp9x0UC4/s1600/IMG_20200715_093246%255B1%255D.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDGJIdCTnsK9JXv5BmjMAgagFMfXnoHDvq8PmjDdKe_zmNWBTFVDVr-zwON3UI4CVE52vt0vnJSI1TAGrNf-otl_djzspOzy1UgT_hcBv-XOo3GZVxOdlvmnsb-QyImgEwyeElp9x0UC4/s320/IMG_20200715_093246%255B1%255D.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
This tiny bottle ends up lasting me from 7/29/2019 to 7/3/2020. Yes, you read that right - it lasted me nearly a full year.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
When I finally ran out, dropping $50 on the full sized bottle was the easiest decision of my life.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<div>
<div>
<b>Parts purchased: </b></div>
<div>
<b>Nano Polymer Adhesive ($50)</b></div>
</div>
<div>
<b>Total project cost: $1025</b><br />
<b><br /></b></div>
</div>
<h3>
The Revenge of the Janky Chamber Heater</h3>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp9M0Q4aqkG2cv2KGc9Pm-8qjSA1kuhvygQSLNQM7ggNycG1Er76zCtij5BdLcKTpabCHK_qgyVBNBY3rpQw0H2wFffLC5uu8QQbWyHCHuoyLUzCh5Ta3_Bw1iO9-oSH5Uy2TCtb7EbA0/s1600/IMG_20200608_042754.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp9M0Q4aqkG2cv2KGc9Pm-8qjSA1kuhvygQSLNQM7ggNycG1Er76zCtij5BdLcKTpabCHK_qgyVBNBY3rpQw0H2wFffLC5uu8QQbWyHCHuoyLUzCh5Ta3_Bw1iO9-oSH5Uy2TCtb7EbA0/s320/IMG_20200608_042754.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Hey, remember the chamber heater we haphazardously mounted to the left wall? Yeah...that thing hasn't exactly been reliable. As it turns out PC is not sufficient for printing structural elements that the heater is blowing 150C air straight at, and as a result the heater started drooping rather badly over time. It got bad enough that I was propping up the chamber heater using a spare stepper motor I had lying around just to keep it from falling down all the way.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Also, let's be honest, 95C is a bit weak when I was originally shooting for 100C. I think we're overdue for an upgrade, don't you?</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I'd actually been giving this problem a good bit of thought for months now, since this jank chamber heater never was intended to be permanent. Again, I had the same space constraints, which were proving to be difficult to work around. I went through many solutions - old oven heating elements, toaster heating elements, custom nichrome things - none of them could seem to work out.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The solution turned out to be pretty simple. I found this one PTC heater that was 300W, and just 20mm tall. I drew a quick mockup with this PTC heater stacked with a fan. <i>Hey, this thing could fit just under my bed!</i></div>
<div>
<i><br /></i></div>
<div>
I ordered two heaters and two fans. (I explicitly chose 105C rated fans for this. Treating fans as consumables is all well and good, but I won't say no to higher temp parts when they're available.)</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDuEwc4gmjyld67UctBJeVBjggia3OfYdSIpW2mdfjIiB-4as1lgF_fNhg0dl3DEzF_MSyJ1xavHHJl6N2roNhy-jDNAd9a7Thw-eK8zfp3JMyVIijHkQnBveEAoq7QvOXMCgqBPm3J_A/s1600/IMG_20200418_162351%255B1%255D.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDuEwc4gmjyld67UctBJeVBjggia3OfYdSIpW2mdfjIiB-4as1lgF_fNhg0dl3DEzF_MSyJ1xavHHJl6N2roNhy-jDNAd9a7Thw-eK8zfp3JMyVIijHkQnBveEAoq7QvOXMCgqBPm3J_A/s320/IMG_20200418_162351%255B1%255D.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div>
The "PTC" in PTC heaters stands for Positive Temperature Coefficient. What this basically means is that the heater has a sharp drop-off in heating power once it reaches a certain temperature, so that it becomes very difficult for the heater to exceed that temperature. This is very beneficial for safety.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Unfortunately, that max intended temperature was not specified for these heaters on their product page. This might have become an issue if their max temp was, say, 120C, which is not enough of a delta over 95C to bring the chamber temperatures up above it like I wanted.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Luckily, I tested it and they reach about 180C. Bullet dodged!</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirl9__oIWwIuJ8GAqD1mIvGOE5-KkqqQ_M_Fu2_bxHClmHuYbck-XPCBNEad7pO2oABpZgxve-91fOnC7-iCAxEpcx1g2xAIhyphenhyphen7g0vrbUsxzZ8RM9PfPgyDASGOI159SDDcJ2GPzKdREg/s1600/IMG_20200608_004827.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirl9__oIWwIuJ8GAqD1mIvGOE5-KkqqQ_M_Fu2_bxHClmHuYbck-XPCBNEad7pO2oABpZgxve-91fOnC7-iCAxEpcx1g2xAIhyphenhyphen7g0vrbUsxzZ8RM9PfPgyDASGOI159SDDcJ2GPzKdREg/s320/IMG_20200608_004827.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div>
I finalized the chamber heater design and prototyped it. The fan is purposely offset a bit away from the heater, to avoid overheating the fan. This time, PC should be fine because the bottom of the case is the coolest, and the PC is not coming in contact with any hot parts.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkI-zGRS3zV0ZY60WAX7tHbIlnr7JiC4ftoy3bzwR6t43CZqjx_o1f835T_uc7os8NJwLH6e5kg1l9DWn2-sTbxgZzc2Lg3uupnhl9m6biox3xwNvoYS7vZmBLMR7is-9doGt7AYp-t4Q/s1600/IMG_20200609_025341.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkI-zGRS3zV0ZY60WAX7tHbIlnr7JiC4ftoy3bzwR6t43CZqjx_o1f835T_uc7os8NJwLH6e5kg1l9DWn2-sTbxgZzc2Lg3uupnhl9m6biox3xwNvoYS7vZmBLMR7is-9doGt7AYp-t4Q/s320/IMG_20200609_025341.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div>
I then tore out the old chamber heater and mounted the new ones here. They're short enough that they leave about 5mm clearance from the bed with the bed in the lowest position. Nice!</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Electrically, there were a few new differences.</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>My old heaters were 120W, 24v DC each, and so they could be driven off the mainboard. These heaters are 300W, 110VAC each, and so instead I used an SSR to control them.</li>
<li>My old heater fan was also 24v, so it could be driven directly in parallel with the heaters. These new fans are 5v. Why must they be difficult? (Because they were the only ones rated for 105C, Karl) I ended up hooking up a buck converter into the old 24v board output to power the fans.</li>
</ul>
<div>
New chamber heater done! Total heating power = 600W.</div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I test heated and...whoa, these are really powerful. I underestimated 600W. The chamber temperature display shoots up like a rocket, and I now top out at about 124C. Without any bed heat contribution!</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
On the other hand, my printer now draws 1200W peak. (600W chamber, 500W bed, 50W hotend, 50W everything else).<br />
<br />
Maybe I should cut down on my household air conditioning use?</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<div>
<b>Parts discarded: </b></div>
<div>
<b>Old chamber heater (-$50)</b></div>
</div>
<div>
<div>
<div>
<b>Parts purchased: </b></div>
<div>
<b>2x 300W 110VAC PTC heaters ($25)</b><br />
<b>2x 5v 50mm fans ($10)</b><br />
<b>DC-AC SSR ($15)</b></div>
</div>
<div>
<b>Total cost of printer: $865</b></div>
<div>
<b>Total project cost: $1075</b><br />
<br />
<h3>
A New Challenger Approaches: The BMG extruder</h3>
</div>
</div>
<div>
Throughout most of this time I kinda forgot that I was still using a genuine BMG made from SLS nylon. Bondtech rates their nylon for a 100C max temp.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJDXlhlQyawklW2FLS0ayoq6uTwbKYo2Kjh7bcgXeEOWw5OykU0tmev_WOvxI3frGKIVZCaGj2Ux9Sswx5ObqgToy3gwMUJp4mW9ZQWDEOvEQBoFEQsf5BB6CgElzUjQ-KJJaADOvYu6c/s1600/IMG_20200612_022006.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="700" data-original-width="1600" height="139" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJDXlhlQyawklW2FLS0ayoq6uTwbKYo2Kjh7bcgXeEOWw5OykU0tmev_WOvxI3frGKIVZCaGj2Ux9Sswx5ObqgToy3gwMUJp4mW9ZQWDEOvEQBoFEQsf5BB6CgElzUjQ-KJJaADOvYu6c/s320/IMG_20200612_022006.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div>
After the chamber heater upgrade, I started getting weird striations in my prints that looked very obviously extruder-related. After a little bit of investigation, it turns out the idler arm on my BMG had significantly deformed due to constant exposure to 100C+ ambients. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Now, I like genuine parts. I try to buy genuine parts whenever I can, to support the developers. But what am I supposed to do when the genuine part can't support the use case I have in mind for it?</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Somewhat reluctantly, I bought a cloned, all-metal BMG.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfYhCIgn0ZxGca6D1knYwzHL-nHxWp4HhueK3-8Oaf_ftjvATRadf7BXrlAeEDpLK3EFUAw1m7B7zJzRnR-bE09WfmDlOOizF0Jhp6WLtKGjJZ8Zf1xricst6zjpkFuYfQ8gE3CeeB9FA/s1600/IMG_20200715_055335.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfYhCIgn0ZxGca6D1knYwzHL-nHxWp4HhueK3-8Oaf_ftjvATRadf7BXrlAeEDpLK3EFUAw1m7B7zJzRnR-bE09WfmDlOOizF0Jhp6WLtKGjJZ8Zf1xricst6zjpkFuYfQ8gE3CeeB9FA/s320/IMG_20200715_055335.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<div>
It actually seems very well made and quite reliable. There was a slight hiccup where the clone was just a bit thinner than the original, which I solved by stacking a washer in each screw hole between the extruder and the back mounting plate.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<div>
<div>
<b>Parts discarded: </b></div>
<div>
<b>Genuine BMG (-$80)</b></div>
</div>
<div>
<div>
<div>
<b>Parts purchased: </b></div>
<div>
<b>Cloned, all-metal BMG ($35)</b></div>
</div>
<div>
<b>Total cost of printer: $820</b></div>
<div>
<b>Total project cost: $1125</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<a href="http://karlzhao314.blogspot.com/2020/07/the-peek-performance-project-part-5.html">Part 5: PEEK, and redemption</a></div>
</div>
</div>
Karl Zhaohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10644800039502221171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4909510963619717697.post-87548927167555922152020-07-15T09:45:00.004-07:002020-11-27T19:30:18.996-08:00The PEEK Performance Project Part 3: First Prints in Ultem!<div>
<div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFdagaIXRXPWyioz-90l5cIExunyaF-EVVdpmPghBrDkRDO9C60G9grJV7B2nCFSIO1gRG5ksYLwTnHGXCXqdkPaFSBR004UekyRnmVJdnp4BKkdg8z7qPvIKnq05TalOzmmOwDU8v4Nc/s1600/Ultem.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1386" data-original-width="1600" height="277" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFdagaIXRXPWyioz-90l5cIExunyaF-EVVdpmPghBrDkRDO9C60G9grJV7B2nCFSIO1gRG5ksYLwTnHGXCXqdkPaFSBR004UekyRnmVJdnp4BKkdg8z7qPvIKnq05TalOzmmOwDU8v4Nc/s320/Ultem.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The day is here! I took the package from 3DXTech that I'd been eagerly awaiting in, and threw it into the printer. I preheated the printer to 370C hotend, 160C bed, and 160C chamber, and hit print.</div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYiGsVEQUKz0V-2NbK-VmR19GL7lTnMmAMz2wLrnpPdWJoADmGV57aZQu81coIFd5HAcI9malgAn757TMlpjqopABoVL2Sso_uwZO6nJnq2n1n32oZec8gMmP8d740377I_eRDQrvUfSE/s1600/IMG_20190520_180335%255B1%255D.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYiGsVEQUKz0V-2NbK-VmR19GL7lTnMmAMz2wLrnpPdWJoADmGV57aZQu81coIFd5HAcI9malgAn757TMlpjqopABoVL2Sso_uwZO6nJnq2n1n32oZec8gMmP8d740377I_eRDQrvUfSE/s320/IMG_20190520_180335%255B1%255D.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div>
It's extruding!</div>
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhpxVYjV3Fj1tJof65FvtGl7PAq2BVcbUyIQvWD-sYrhyE3qV59lNgq0Gkqz_aJCPZ5l_5ROja0zLpeSZRQJyr2Qe9eRaCz4rMM3nDkXok6f5vBo1zNv-HrDMhmCkMd-T23vvXfe2VLFE/s1600/IMG_20190520_184928.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhpxVYjV3Fj1tJof65FvtGl7PAq2BVcbUyIQvWD-sYrhyE3qV59lNgq0Gkqz_aJCPZ5l_5ROja0zLpeSZRQJyr2Qe9eRaCz4rMM3nDkXok6f5vBo1zNv-HrDMhmCkMd-T23vvXfe2VLFE/s320/IMG_20190520_184928.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div>
It's printing!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU-jwL3bUdxwa16JI9x4eLRoh7AyiPOy449B7zO3BiY96C8NohYI9p-PBdYFqm_EsPE-M_JCpgmPyYbT7Xqwj_iPX3nQ-oQIQVKiUBFJGuXp2jL6LYYxaVY7wxeYwiJMBRyCYU8Z9KxB0/s1600/IMG_20190520_191444.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU-jwL3bUdxwa16JI9x4eLRoh7AyiPOy449B7zO3BiY96C8NohYI9p-PBdYFqm_EsPE-M_JCpgmPyYbT7Xqwj_iPX3nQ-oQIQVKiUBFJGuXp2jL6LYYxaVY7wxeYwiJMBRyCYU8Z9KxB0/s320/IMG_20190520_191444.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div>
It printed!</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
It's not pretty, but you know what? We'll go ahead and call that a success!</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I wondered, though: in all the Ultem prints you see in promotional videos and stuff, they're colored this translucent golden-brown. How come my prints are rough, opaque, and tan?</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I increased the temperature by 20C to 390C.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCEWlAmjetenQJbwz_fR-Z4mbwW2V_Rn5fQSXrZZaFIUSUChcKvES5RaeJdt3d3swxCnKb52DP82lI-qzdFfzXkH3Aa0Bc-QgcFW_X4FBL5KqH4MbI5deU9x8ozJZUe2mjdBkllpFjeOc/s1600/Ultem+tan.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1502" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCEWlAmjetenQJbwz_fR-Z4mbwW2V_Rn5fQSXrZZaFIUSUChcKvES5RaeJdt3d3swxCnKb52DP82lI-qzdFfzXkH3Aa0Bc-QgcFW_X4FBL5KqH4MbI5deU9x8ozJZUe2mjdBkllpFjeOc/s320/Ultem+tan.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Nope, still tan. What's more, this time it started warping, so I redid the bed scrape procedure and added a brim. I guess Vision Miner wasn't kidding about having to reapply the glue every print.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I decreased the temp for the next print to 350C.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Jam.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Okay then. Back to 370C it is.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoj3XzP3vpwaBV11i0BUmeVRNX53D6J7_TzVxF0_Z2oLuj238qF64UwchaXJkgT31HThqY1GqhcAY2QlgQuP1uucO7WLp5hj4BFhEgKfaBjlx6REsnTKkLWULdz0tI9NJowLJRpONwGy4/s1600/IMG_20190520_224610%255B1%255D.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoj3XzP3vpwaBV11i0BUmeVRNX53D6J7_TzVxF0_Z2oLuj238qF64UwchaXJkgT31HThqY1GqhcAY2QlgQuP1uucO7WLp5hj4BFhEgKfaBjlx6REsnTKkLWULdz0tI9NJowLJRpONwGy4/s320/IMG_20190520_224610%255B1%255D.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div>
This is even worse now. wtf?</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
What's more, just removing it from the bed caused it to snap. Ultem should not be behaving like this.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Remembering that Nylon sometimes takes on a rough texture after absorbing moisture, I decide to throw the spool into the oven for a couple hours at 220F.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihxgW6bOIbbUkZNJ4hGHY2RcGCetdhKPPvvtqC5RxnrLDervc96z5ao1YG6H6P1sc-T7DPLFD1fovGvosgoDiNOAtiYudPoUl8KM2cHl5TaCB8dpjXiRYrMNBZEj2EklMvJoho-rnA5A0/s1600/IMG_20190524_004431.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihxgW6bOIbbUkZNJ4hGHY2RcGCetdhKPPvvtqC5RxnrLDervc96z5ao1YG6H6P1sc-T7DPLFD1fovGvosgoDiNOAtiYudPoUl8KM2cHl5TaCB8dpjXiRYrMNBZEj2EklMvJoho-rnA5A0/s320/IMG_20190524_004431.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Wow. That looks <i>much</i> better.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
That's lesson #1: Ultem <i>really</i> hates being wet. Dry it, even if you've just taken it out of the spool.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Time for a Benchy.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihO8gKFovSdgX4827x6ddZy6RBl78cXXHecvauyIm3wDFs0mTTZWwyCZVwvzGehuKW8EeqsRWyM33bJs40Vk3bx0Z1dJ5gPDOJQNDu2mJocRy7SrJ2Y3xebZLtpeOW77nJNqtJdRJHRso/s1600/IMG_20190524_023928.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihO8gKFovSdgX4827x6ddZy6RBl78cXXHecvauyIm3wDFs0mTTZWwyCZVwvzGehuKW8EeqsRWyM33bJs40Vk3bx0Z1dJ5gPDOJQNDu2mJocRy7SrJ2Y3xebZLtpeOW77nJNqtJdRJHRso/s320/IMG_20190524_023928.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Hey, that looks great! Except I'm already seeing traces of the tan bubbles coming back, and I only dried this filament 3 hours ago!</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Lesson #2: Ultem is <i>really </i>hygroscopic. It absorbs enough moisture from my relatively dry household to become unprintable in mere <i>5 hours.</i> From this point on, I took to drying my filament before every single print.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Ah well, I guess that's what you have to live with when you print Ultem.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I played around with Ultem a bit longer, did a short stint with selling some MK3S fan shrouds, and got pretty good at Ultem. The final print temps I settled on were 380C hotend, 217C bed, and 95C chamber. </div>
<div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicSV7IdJXgwFJqOyeM7ewmYpqJnnktUtJ2VLdY_TzCLf0-JWiOWJMj5SiDM4vwDIOB4WoVe3n3CLHJQAeoLQvDzl2tzHkFFvKiqgx4cp4LNKppmTMsKOYYF8tCAqj0e3Yeix2xxwgE-5c/s1600/IMG_20190704_183801%255B1%255D.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicSV7IdJXgwFJqOyeM7ewmYpqJnnktUtJ2VLdY_TzCLf0-JWiOWJMj5SiDM4vwDIOB4WoVe3n3CLHJQAeoLQvDzl2tzHkFFvKiqgx4cp4LNKppmTMsKOYYF8tCAqj0e3Yeix2xxwgE-5c/s320/IMG_20190704_183801%255B1%255D.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;">This was not a cheap print. And yet, I never got around to installing it, and it's now misplaced.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div>
Time to move on!<br /><br /><a href="http://karlzhao314.blogspot.com/2020/07/the-peek-performance-project-part-4.html">Part 4: PEEK, and the problems start</a><br />
<br /></div>
Karl Zhaohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10644800039502221171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4909510963619717697.post-18579127022182015832020-07-15T09:43:00.006-07:002020-11-27T19:28:04.454-08:00The PEEK Performance Project Part 2: Aiming for Ultem<div>
The first high temp filament I decided to print was not PEEK, but rather Ultem 1010. Ultem is the brand name for PEI, the same stuff you probably use on your print bed. Between Ultem there are two different common variants, Ultem 9085 and Ultem 1010, with 1010 requiring higher temperatures. Even so, 1010 is a good deal easier to print than PEEK, requiring lower temperatures and having lower shrinkage.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Of course, "easier" is relative. We're still talking about 370C hotend, 160C bed, and ??? chamber temps, so it's still a significant challenge. (In hindsight, maybe starting with PC would have been easier?)</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
So let's go back to those 4 requirements and address them one by one.</div>
<div>
<br />
(The following section is not necessarily in chronological order)</div>
<h3>
1. Hotend</h3>
<div>
Okay, first order of business is to make sure this thing can even extrude Ultem. We need 370C. Right now we're limited to 265C.<br />
<br />
I order an E3D v6 with a copper blo - wait, no, it won't fit.<br />
<br /></div>
<div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP2uqSUvGIZ8coE3QCjflsJePHk2lZL5SFnWUzy0MxWrpe1OO7jTyCTOSnitE9WCWZ-juE1_snez5B3nPSQXs1Tj2m6lDcmNuoEAdNMccNPsEbrrCUxmbvFgDWJYfyavgLigsM50ANmEE/s1600/Proprietary.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="452" data-original-width="429" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP2uqSUvGIZ8coE3QCjflsJePHk2lZL5SFnWUzy0MxWrpe1OO7jTyCTOSnitE9WCWZ-juE1_snez5B3nPSQXs1Tj2m6lDcmNuoEAdNMccNPsEbrrCUxmbvFgDWJYfyavgLigsM50ANmEE/s320/Proprietary.jpg" width="303" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Instead, I ordered a Microswiss all-metal hotend designed to drop into this printer.<br />
<br /></div>
<div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaVRIOOCzGC2ZB1aTRSc19-RXDnUefEMGicD3lNGE0lywJ7K-rlM-8nJplNjmeG5bQA1sIwO2pRGQYfq0AHtXDg8Cndyo72k35ygrrXD154rgA5fkIBEL2jePTOawGQ0ig-zVPsDGB7PQ/s1600/IMG_20190323_145243%255B1%255D.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaVRIOOCzGC2ZB1aTRSc19-RXDnUefEMGicD3lNGE0lywJ7K-rlM-8nJplNjmeG5bQA1sIwO2pRGQYfq0AHtXDg8Cndyo72k35ygrrXD154rgA5fkIBEL2jePTOawGQ0ig-zVPsDGB7PQ/s320/IMG_20190323_145243%255B1%255D.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<br />
However, that hotend kit only replaced the heatbreak, heatsink, and nozzle, and required that you keep the stock heater block. Being made of aluminum, the heater block still limited me to 300C.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Even more frustratingly, the heatbreak and the nozzle were M7 threaded. E3D hotends are M6. If even just the heatbreak were M6 as well, I could just stick an E3D copper block in there and call it a da...</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Huh, neat, someone in Virginia is selling custom titanium heatbreaks. That fit this printer. That are threaded M6. I promptly bought two. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
And I went ahead and ordered an E3D copper volcano block, as well as an E3D PT100 with the fiberglass sleeving. Luckily, this printer already has a PT100 amp board integrated into the controller (the controller is an Ultimaker 2 mainboard clone).<br />
<br />
As it turns out, the custom heatbreak has an 8mm shank and the stock cooling block (the purple-ish flat aluminum piece above the hotend) has a 7.8mm hole. Not to worry, the seller included an 8mm reamer.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrttbMPUzweMOAxV3kDBR1pttSWB-bSjaPFSQ2XjMo7Iiq5vpOGkoWzM0kAOAOcyKqRL89GOYwVl6IByOifJIPaYQYjXjznebUe55ImCsilMtbjbEMN4QwL4ZjVPu3dz5SJVponsWGbZY/s1600/IMG_20190511_235441%255B1%255D.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrttbMPUzweMOAxV3kDBR1pttSWB-bSjaPFSQ2XjMo7Iiq5vpOGkoWzM0kAOAOcyKqRL89GOYwVl6IByOifJIPaYQYjXjznebUe55ImCsilMtbjbEMN4QwL4ZjVPu3dz5SJVponsWGbZY/s320/IMG_20190511_235441%255B1%255D.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;">Those blue streaks? Apparently heating the block to 450C turns it gold, except where your fingers have left fingerprints, which turn blue instead. I'm going to use this fact to paint a butterfly on my next block before doing the first heating.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Now we're in business.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<div>
<b>Parts purchased:</b></div>
<div>
<b>Microswiss hotend kit ($60) (discarded: -$60)</b></div>
<div>
<b>Virginia special (tm) titanium heatbreak ($20)</b></div>
<div>
<b>E3D copper Volcano block ($35)</b></div>
<div>
<b>E3D copper Volcano nozzle ($20)</b></div>
<div>
<b>E3D PT100 $20)</b></div>
<div>
<b>Total cost of printer: $570</b></div>
</div>
<div>
<b>Total project cost: $630</b></div>
<div>
<h3>
2. Heated bed</h3>
</div>
<div>
The E3D bed is expensive, so let's save that as a last resort. What, the 3M adhesive won't hold at 200C you say? Nah, 3M says it does, so it must be fine.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I ordered a 500W, 110v silicone bed heater, and stuck it to the bottom of the aluminum bed.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEDdtGNnJGdMA_KPk3n-U5ruQhgPKjuO86ZBG3mYq-aF71wnVtkMYiVo50ymIWnLnkg-7CmBmaPezDfcnGh23DlnCwLQCYv2jwjazeLEfYTgJtm3F_aV5Qd8ixiiaPvYOkJYO4h63of-U/s1600/IMG_20190319_004634%255B1%255D.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEDdtGNnJGdMA_KPk3n-U5ruQhgPKjuO86ZBG3mYq-aF71wnVtkMYiVo50ymIWnLnkg-7CmBmaPezDfcnGh23DlnCwLQCYv2jwjazeLEfYTgJtm3F_aV5Qd8ixiiaPvYOkJYO4h63of-U/s320/IMG_20190319_004634%255B1%255D.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Hey, look at that! It got to the temp I wanted to, and rather quickly at tha - crap, the heater's fallen off.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I spent about 3 days trying to get this thing to stick, applying and reapplying adhesive 5 or 6 times. If you know 3M 467MP, that's not a friendly process. Finally, I decided that it's not worth it, and ponied up for the E3D heated bed.<br />
<br />
To my dismay, I found that the mounting pattern for the E3D bed and the stock Z stage are <i>entirely </i>dissimilar. What's more, the E3D bed is meant to be mounted on fixed PPSF standoffs, not screws, in order to limit the heat transfer into its mount. Since I wasn't planning on using a bed sensor, this would have left me with no way to level the bed.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGhzM5YsjLoWdGIo5qYDIkR_kHOYoiSwIN1PnqsLt4_hqXdwcuQJ9Vg4tKYL7jPHtg1fEmcs2jIox18AFRXM4lyOSgwvVPwi2I9NR8r-lLU14MmMk9yzUiLtrD5VdH6FHZWWtp5lj-5ns/s1600/IMG_20200609_031959.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="1600" height="80" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGhzM5YsjLoWdGIo5qYDIkR_kHOYoiSwIN1PnqsLt4_hqXdwcuQJ9Vg4tKYL7jPHtg1fEmcs2jIox18AFRXM4lyOSgwvVPwi2I9NR8r-lLU14MmMk9yzUiLtrD5VdH6FHZWWtp5lj-5ns/s320/IMG_20200609_031959.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
To solve this problem, I added another intermediate aluminum plate (a scrap Prusa i3 carriage) between the bed and the stage. This plate has mounting holes for the E3D bed already, and I drilled new holes into it to fit the 3-point leveling system of the stock Z stage. This solved both mounting and leveling - now, to level the bed, I level the plate under it.</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFtpVRQX9gJm9i7qlTByqIohLxaijMx3vLeOi2ZBzPSAHxivShHzBi-OP5Az7Am2uLyJkIDXeqdq_-jsucOMq7rskOzOPX32_vs8RuDYDstcGUY4mH2dmVn9gGRzWUGotAAPiNP_yWYYI/s1600/IMG_20190509_223603%255B1%255D.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFtpVRQX9gJm9i7qlTByqIohLxaijMx3vLeOi2ZBzPSAHxivShHzBi-OP5Az7Am2uLyJkIDXeqdq_-jsucOMq7rskOzOPX32_vs8RuDYDstcGUY4mH2dmVn9gGRzWUGotAAPiNP_yWYYI/s320/IMG_20190509_223603%255B1%255D.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;">That big orange thing coming up next.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
Damn, this is a <i>nice</i> bed. Why didn't I do this sooner?</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
As it turns out, sometimes the easiest result literally is just to buy whatever solution is available on the market. DIY is cool and all, but there are just some things that aren't worth doing.<br />
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>Parts purchased: </b></div>
<div>
<b>500W 110V silicone heater mat ($40) (Discarded - $40)</b></div>
<div>
<b>DC-AC SSR ($15)</b></div>
<div>
<b>E3D HT bed ($110)</b></div>
<div>
<b>Borosilicate plate ($20)</b></div>
<div>
<b>Total cost of printer: $715</b></div>
<div>
<b>Total project cost: $815</b></div>
<h3>
<b>3. Heated chamber</b></h3>
<div>
This is the part I'd been dreading. Commercial, hobbyist-level chamber heaters <i>don't exist</i>. I'm on my own for this. I could sorta get an idea for what might work based on what Stratasys uses, but those are $50k+ machines the size of a fridge. This is a $320 desktop printer. Could I really copy them?</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
What's more, I wanted to avoid a draft if at all possible. In my mind, a hot draft was still worse than no draft. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
And finally, I had my space constraints to worry about.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I settled on figuring out a way to mount two flat heatsinks vertically facing the build volume, one on either side of the build plate. I'd then stick a silicone heater pad on the back of each of the heatsinks. In my mind, the heatsinks would radiate heat inward towards the build volume, and heat the build volume and chamber without needing to circulate air.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
That fell apart on the first test. After I stuck a heater pad on the back of a heatsink and tried to heat it outside the printer, it was radiating practically <i>zero</i> heat outward from the fins. As it turns out, heatsinks aren't radiators. Who knew?</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtrnA5VY-vxphBAkCvqzOdOneHvQHv-EZzn5NNZ0uMfUXEWjngLqrfHNwiiNjJN1UhRp-F2j1-3rcnuSQa0JkTu-KAGntzs4zCnoWEw3XD1kooLS3cWwD-kTYrAfqWbyokXMui54Atj9g/s1600/IMG_20190331_222152%255B1%255D.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtrnA5VY-vxphBAkCvqzOdOneHvQHv-EZzn5NNZ0uMfUXEWjngLqrfHNwiiNjJN1UhRp-F2j1-3rcnuSQa0JkTu-KAGntzs4zCnoWEw3XD1kooLS3cWwD-kTYrAfqWbyokXMui54Atj9g/s320/IMG_20190331_222152%255B1%255D.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Instead, I ended up with a different approach using the same hardware. I took both heatsink-and-heater combinations and sandwiched them together, with the fins aligned. I then mounted a fan on one side of them and had it blow through both heatsinks, hopefully transferring the heat into the air. Finally, I added a ramp on the other side to try to guide the draft away from the print volume as much as possible. Total heating power = 240W.<br />
<br />
Importantly, this chamber heater is a recirculating heater, meaning it intakes already hot air from inside the chamber and makes it even hotter before pumping it back into the chamber. This is in contrast to a heater that draws in cool air from the outside and makes it hot before pumping it into the printer.<br />
<br />
Why? With a heater that doesn't recirculate, your chamber temperature is essentially limited by the outlet temperature of the heater. Drawing in cool, room temperature air from outside, the outlet temperature seem to top out at just 71C (I tested this).<br />
<br />
However, if you're drawing in hot air that's already at 70C, that becomes a different story. The amount of heat you dump into it could raise it a few tens of degrees, and your outlet temperature becomes 100C instead (wild guess).</div>
<div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqWzLDIXV1YGht3Tw15ev3wEXBxvODCpJb6groqL8bETZ_-WQSPO9zCK4rQqbE03PzJLjZNuhIt9oR3AWEr3cKAXvpERUdI6EcxPiWj-2jpZLCXxfhcxVyR9lZmf2_LOOOd6ueBGBSG60/s1600/IMG_20190331_230046.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqWzLDIXV1YGht3Tw15ev3wEXBxvODCpJb6groqL8bETZ_-WQSPO9zCK4rQqbE03PzJLjZNuhIt9oR3AWEr3cKAXvpERUdI6EcxPiWj-2jpZLCXxfhcxVyR9lZmf2_LOOOd6ueBGBSG60/s320/IMG_20190331_230046.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<br />
I mounted it very jankily to the left wall of the printer, stuffed into the narrow space between the bed and the enclosure panel. This looks...safe, right?<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div>
<div>
<b>Parts purchased: </b></div>
<div>
<b>2x big flat heatsinks ($20)</b></div>
<div>
<b>2x 120W heater pads ($30)</b></div>
<div>
<b>High-powered axial fan ($20)</b></div>
<div>
<b>Total cost of printer: $785</b></div>
</div>
<div>
<b>Total project cost: $885</b></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h3>
4. Bed adhesion</h3>
<div>
So as it turns out, using an Ultem build plate to print Ultem isn't ideal for a number of reasons. Below 220C bed temp or so it simply doesn't stick, and above 220C it welds itself down to the build plate. Stratasys customers might have the budget to replace their build sheet every print, but I don't.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1Vg4lvdhJg">Luckily, this part's all figured out for me.</a> I ordered 48 PVP glue sticks and made a scraper. Now, I just have to remember to reapply the glue stick, bake, scrape, and repeat 3-4 times between every print.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<div>
<b>Parts purchased: </b></div>
<div>
<b>48x PVP glue sticks ($10)</b></div>
</div>
<div>
<b>Total project cost: $895</b></div>
<h3>
Housekeeping items</h3>
<div>
This stock extruder is crap. It's ungeared and it's made of plastic.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXHFPc03iIPvTrJOXeCN0j2dPhaIxDajRzx5evrWY-LMiG2CkYxtPHkvhXUH0NZOMP4taqMqh2GCpTSB_8W4yyXJ2_Fc8kKowg1_CUHFKw_qfvt8D9s5-iF_vlq5FlUzqg_fNEJFXzjcg/s1600/IMG_20200713_112948%255B1%255D.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXHFPc03iIPvTrJOXeCN0j2dPhaIxDajRzx5evrWY-LMiG2CkYxtPHkvhXUH0NZOMP4taqMqh2GCpTSB_8W4yyXJ2_Fc8kKowg1_CUHFKw_qfvt8D9s5-iF_vlq5FlUzqg_fNEJFXzjcg/s320/IMG_20200713_112948%255B1%255D.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<div>
Ah, that's better. Still plastic, but nicer plastic.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I also configured and compiled a fresh copy of Marlin 2.0, recently released with much more support for heated chambers. (Thanks, InsanityAutomation!) Furthermore, since my bed was now 110v and I have a 24v chamber heater, I assigned a spare digital pin to control my bed SSR, and hooked up the chamber heater to the bed output on the board instead.<br />
<br />
The slotted cooling block has a big hole drilled straight through it to allow air to pass through into the part cooling fan. Since I don't have a part cooling fan, if I left the hole there the hotend cooling fan would just be blowing air at the bed. I stuck a piece of cardboard there to cover the hole up, and later replaced it with a printed ABS piece.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFAvLm0Y5I1wM_vY6HVVUjpK5tuAgUwSGmEdbgGhjuye_wXTaQJGC7ecshfhQuv8XfNtuDeTQbUo1Efm_9DrpTwzwercynW7Y1QgMoXO_8Q5TIC13kARNi-Vyf-hv6YTHoBP0XELS8WaQ/s1600/IMG_20190320_165409.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFAvLm0Y5I1wM_vY6HVVUjpK5tuAgUwSGmEdbgGhjuye_wXTaQJGC7ecshfhQuv8XfNtuDeTQbUo1Efm_9DrpTwzwercynW7Y1QgMoXO_8Q5TIC13kARNi-Vyf-hv6YTHoBP0XELS8WaQ/s320/IMG_20190320_165409.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Finally, we need a sensor to control the chamber temperature as well - can't let that run open loop, can we? I stuck a screw-in thermistor into a heatsink, and rigged up a basic thermistor voltage divider circuit linked into a spare analog input.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgERHrJ0pWy4kfH4J4iKNluJpzXudmrE8bDHpSUb2hPFYcdnewtpoPYWcl2KnIRCty4AQC-DWsBlylHyJFPowtxquS3oGOhyy6nmWquAFe887GsYTFHTVvmTN-9qlZoLJOc7Oc54Nf8KE4/s1600/IMG_20190331_231118%255B1%255D.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgERHrJ0pWy4kfH4J4iKNluJpzXudmrE8bDHpSUb2hPFYcdnewtpoPYWcl2KnIRCty4AQC-DWsBlylHyJFPowtxquS3oGOhyy6nmWquAFe887GsYTFHTVvmTN-9qlZoLJOc7Oc54Nf8KE4/s320/IMG_20190331_231118%255B1%255D.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I then mounted it on the left chamber wall, in a position I thought was reasonable.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<div>
<div>
<b>Parts purchased: </b></div>
<div>
<b>Bondtech BMG ($80)</b></div>
</div>
<div>
<b>Total cost of printer: $865</b></div>
<div>
<b>Total project cost: $975</b></div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<div>
Let's test heat! It seems I can reach 450C on the hotend easily (goal met!), 200C on the bed easily (goal met!), and 95C in the chamber...eventually. Also, 95C is significantly above the temperature rating for both the belts and the fans. That's a problem, right?</div>
<h3>
Part temperature limits</h3>
<div>
I knew this would be an obstacle I'd eventually run into, and had been trying to figure out how to address it since the beginning.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
My fans are rated for 70C. My motors, unpredictable, but max coil temp is 130C. My hotend needs to be cooled to prevent heat creep, and it can't do that with a heatsink in 95C ambients. Normally you'd want to use bellows to isolate the printer's heated zone from its cold zone, but 1. that's patented by Stratasys, and 2. it would be a ton of work to retrofit this printer with bellows.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Time to...</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4MhOlWhs3mRB1PhvfDv1yTCfVhj9aI6Bp_YTXAc6U9rRB1KKPXNHLFUpY3U7ZM7XT5ebO5lRDeVmW8dSxlZ2HB-Wm8o9vFwgj56QhAcZej8EjpY1o6xtzEhNGKD5h9VEMZ_3pOKHQxRk/s1600/Watercooling.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="372" data-original-width="490" height="242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4MhOlWhs3mRB1PhvfDv1yTCfVhj9aI6Bp_YTXAc6U9rRB1KKPXNHLFUpY3U7ZM7XT5ebO5lRDeVmW8dSxlZ2HB-Wm8o9vFwgj56QhAcZej8EjpY1o6xtzEhNGKD5h9VEMZ_3pOKHQxRk/s320/Watercooling.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Except, well...no. This weird proprietary hotend/extruder carriage has zero room left for water cooling tubes, and I don't have any space on the back of the printer to mount any radiators or reservoirs either.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The solution is, honestly, 90% wishful thinking. In my experience PLA has been the only filament that's ever encountered issues created by heat creep. Surely with Ultem, it wouldn't soften and jam just because the coldend of the extruder hits 150C. So, I treated heat creep as a non issue and just rolled with it.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
And you know what? It's worked out to this day. I've never had a heat creep induced failure.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The motors...well, they're mounted on metal brackets. That are mounted to the frame. That is exposed to room temperature. In fact, when the chamber is at 95C, the enclosure only ever reaches low 60s. The motors having a direct conduction path to such a cold chunk of metal should keep them relatively cool.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
And it worked out! They maintain a case temperature of 75C when the chamber is at 95C. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The fans though, as well as the belts...the simple truth of the matter remains that they're rated for temps that the enclosure has exceeded. I can't wishful think my way out of this one. Instead, I decided on something rather simple - being such cheap parts, I'd treat them as consumables and replace them when they die. Simple as that. (They, uh, haven't died yet. )<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKdKEgmzC0FEL2ZY6cX6nBaRqXc2PTPEVGaDvg1qBQkR6KdRdpsg-ZOMUP5JRKJ_tTUfz5n69o6j_FzBWZaCLECIuB6ujje295NNiJCss2bIbJSrR0kPWOmDZ2geFulkUuSIiM6i46gjI/s1600/IMG_20190512_000307.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKdKEgmzC0FEL2ZY6cX6nBaRqXc2PTPEVGaDvg1qBQkR6KdRdpsg-ZOMUP5JRKJ_tTUfz5n69o6j_FzBWZaCLECIuB6ujje295NNiJCss2bIbJSrR0kPWOmDZ2geFulkUuSIiM6i46gjI/s320/IMG_20190512_000307.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
With that, all that's left is to order some Ultem and try a print!<br />
<br />
<a href="http://karlzhao314.blogspot.com/2020/07/the-peek-performance-project-part-3.html">Part 3: First Prints in Ultem</a></div>
Karl Zhaohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10644800039502221171noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4909510963619717697.post-30908453206134583412020-07-15T09:43:00.000-07:002020-07-15T10:09:42.927-07:00The PEEK Performance Project Part 1: High Temp on a College Student's BudgetThis is the story of how I raised our household's electricity bill by about $30 per month.<br />
<br />
Many people have heard of the material called PEEK. If you've been around 3D printing for a long time, you may remember that old hotends used to have a thermal isolator made of PEEK. People with industry experience outside of 3D printing may also know that PEEK is widely used in aerospace, automotive, industrial, and medical industries, being very desirable for its strength, chemical resistance, and thermal stability.<br />
<br />
Somewhat fewer people know that PEEK itself can be used as an FDM/FFF 3D printing material. In fact, some consider it the "Holy Grail" of FDM/FFF 3D printing. They also know there are a few good reasons it's not so commonly printed:<br />
<ul>
<li>It takes hotend temperatures in excess of 400C and ambient temperatures in excess of 100C to print.</li>
<li>It costs $500/kg on a good day.</li>
</ul>
<div>
Not too many people print parts that actually demand PEEK's properties - namely, its 250C continuous use temperature or its chemical resistance. You can find filaments like carbon fiber nylon or polycarbonate which are similarly strong, and for general purpose printing (including the very common "printing upgrade parts for the printer") even PLA is often more than enough. I myself had no use for its temperature resistance, and being a college student with a part time job already trying to sustain a very expensive cycling hobby, I really couldn't handle the material or printer cost of attempting to print PEEK.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
And that's exactly why I attempted to print PEEK.<br />
<br />
<h3>
The goal: breaking it down</h3>
</div>
<div>
PEEK is extremely difficult to print. It may be the hardest filament to print that currently exists. Yet, similar to ABS or PC, its main challenges can be broken down into a surprisingly simple and concrete set of printer requirements:</div>
<div>
<ol>
<li>400C+ hotend temperature. We'll say the hotend should be capable of 450C max, to give a bit of headroom.</li>
<li>160C+ bed. We'll say 200C, again for headroom. (As we'll see later on, turns out this wasn't actually enough, but I'll get into that.)</li>
<li>100C+ ambients. Really, you just want to push ambient temps as high as you can. (Above 180C or so you can start to forgo the requirement of a heated bed, but for now we'll assume 180C is not reachable.)</li>
<li>Some bed adhesion solution that will make PEEK stick.</li>
</ol>
<div>
That's it! It doesn't take some weird blackmagic printer tuning or a hotend capable of going back in time. It's just a simple, concrete set of temperature requirements.</div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Of course, that's easier said than done. Let's take a look at what each requirement entails:</div>
<h4>
<ol>
<li>450C hotend temperature.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: normal;">This one is fairly easy - lots of commercial solutions already exist to accomplish this. Slice's Mosquito does, as well as Dyze's DyzeEnd X, and both designed to handle these temperatures natively. Arguably the high temp variants of E3D hotends (the plated copper blocks and nozzles, as well as the Nozzle X) are not ideal for this task since they're basically the standard V6 shoehorned into the HT role - but they get the job done.<br /><br />So, all I have to do is spend some money, and maybe figure out a mounting solution. No big deal.</span></li>
<li>200C Bed. <br /><br /><span style="font-weight: normal;">There are two ways you could go with this one. One, take the easy and expensive way out and buy an E3D HT bed. Two, spend a bit less and build your own heated bed also capable of these temps.<br /><br />Being tight on money, I initially aimed to build my own bed, but it's useful to know that the commercial option was available as a fallback to me.</span></li>
<li>100C ambient.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: normal;">Here we go.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: normal;">100C ambients are...not easy. Hell, 100C is enough to boil water!<br /><br />To even reach 100C ambients in the first place without overloading a US 15A household circuit, you're going to need a small and well insulated enclosure. That probably means enclosures for bedslinger styled machines - Prusas, Ender 3s, etc - are out, because they by necessity have to be large in order to clear the bed, and usually to encapsulate the whole printer as well. So, ideally, this would be a box-framed printer where you could enclose just the printed volume.<br /><br />At 100C, lots of other problems start popping up. PLA and PETG printed parts are out, and even ABS is going to have trouble (especially if there are local hotspots). Genuine Gates belts are only rated to 80C. Most fans are only rated to 70C. Many electrical connectors are only good to 70-80C, and bearings with plastic retainers could start suffering above 80C as well.<br /><br />And finally, 100C is practically out of the question without some sort of active heater for the enclosure. Bed heat will only get you so far.<br /><br />We'll, uh, cross that bridge when we get there?</span></li>
<li>Bed adhesion.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: normal;">If you look at some of Intamsys' or Vision Miner's <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1Vg4lvdhJg">videos on the subject</a>, their initial solution was to apply PVP glue to a glass plate, bake it in the printer for a few minutes, then scrape it with a scraper, and repeat that process a few times. They also go on to say that this method has been deprecated in favor of this stuff:</span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwjBeFzJC4g-5CJ-7gsJmQEAag2LZyu-TMfwXnILZHepTsXNsn12MvnloJ2lsTGn86Q-0sKFGSq1-JcGpDeld-eMzYzAqtdg3JXpadWil-UpB9nid2YGhEkzU8vGrMTxOizRom7RWYvmc/s1600/nano+polymer+adhesive.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="1131" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwjBeFzJC4g-5CJ-7gsJmQEAag2LZyu-TMfwXnILZHepTsXNsn12MvnloJ2lsTGn86Q-0sKFGSq1-JcGpDeld-eMzYzAqtdg3JXpadWil-UpB9nid2YGhEkzU8vGrMTxOizRom7RWYvmc/s320/nano+polymer+adhesive.png" width="282" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: normal;">They also make some rather bold claims about this stuff - that it makes printing PEEK and PEI and such practically easy, that it works with almost every filament in existence, that it eliminates warping, and that it can cure certain terminal diseases. Okay, maybe not that last part, but color me skeptical.<br /><br />They also price it at $50 per bottle. Yeah...no thanks. <br /><br />PVP glue and a scraper it is.(As we later find out this decision was a big mistake, but we'll get to that.)</span></li>
</ol>
</h4>
<div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Okay, now that we know what we're after, let's jump in, shall we?<br />
<br />
<h3>
Printer selection</h3>
</div>
I could say that I planned this all out ahead of time and drew up a CAD, a budget, a timeline, and all of the other things for a formal project before approaching this. Honestly, though, it all started from a meme and sorta spiraled.<br />
<br />
At this time, I had been saving money for what was my dream printer for years: an Ultimaker 2. At the same time, I had found this neat little printer on Monoprice called the Maker Ultimate, also known as the Wanhao D6. It was pretty cool: it seemed to have an all metal frame, Ultimaker/Zortrax mechanics, and lots of stuff you'd usually find in much more expensive printers. However, as interested as I was, I couldn't buy it because I was saving money for an Ultimaker!<br />
<br />
Then, the open box version went on sale for $320. Then, a certain user in a 3D printing discord I'm part of sent me this meme.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdrMTHs6zkdKqBSL1zqkiA3CuBgUWFhXdVq_M-5StP7AqFqS8-U2HOJdeRLzs0K7iV7ehKt0Q9VFZfWoN6hPCgq34LvKqETpA9-3MwKY2h6EfcxODk5BCkc4sKMOcRr4Edtq2VSa0phYI/s1600/morphfiend+meme.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="440" data-original-width="880" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdrMTHs6zkdKqBSL1zqkiA3CuBgUWFhXdVq_M-5StP7AqFqS8-U2HOJdeRLzs0K7iV7ehKt0Q9VFZfWoN6hPCgq34LvKqETpA9-3MwKY2h6EfcxODk5BCkc4sKMOcRr4Edtq2VSa0phYI/s320/morphfiend+meme.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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And just like that, I had hit the order button. I need to work on impulse control.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOy2c_EypSVQBwWMHTi3Sopx6vGrOvPHGsYStB0YO6HmJLLsQTkBd8UHWSKfu9Kfvz44ZHG02aurOVUn1vV-6g4QUScBan1eVcu7zR1cFcYAnSs0qwDBNAQKW20ZrLKdJofeV4XdOqeJQ/s1600/IMG_20190320_153640%255B1%255D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOy2c_EypSVQBwWMHTi3Sopx6vGrOvPHGsYStB0YO6HmJLLsQTkBd8UHWSKfu9Kfvz44ZHG02aurOVUn1vV-6g4QUScBan1eVcu7zR1cFcYAnSs0qwDBNAQKW20ZrLKdJofeV4XdOqeJQ/s320/IMG_20190320_153640%255B1%255D.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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It came in, I did some tests, printed some PLA with it, and decided it was a pretty neat printer. I stuck it on a shelf to add to my growing collection of printers, and that was that.</div>
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Until...some weeks later I started giving some serious thought to printing high temp stuff. I realized that this printer was almost ideal to be the base for a high temp printer for several reasons:</div>
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<ul>
<li>It was mostly metal, from the frame to the bed stage to the sliderblocks to the print carriage. There were a few plastic parts that wouldn't survive the high temps, but I wouldn't have to replace anything major.</li>
<li>It was a small, compact printer with a box frame. It would be easy to enclose and eventually heat - in fact, it has both first- and third-party enclosure options that screw straight into holes already pre-drilled in the frame.</li>
<li>Its electronics and power supply were already reasonably well isolated from the main print chamber, instead being located in the bottom of the printer under a panel.</li>
</ul>
<div>
There were still several significant challenges, though:</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>It did not look easy to isolate the belts and motors from the main chamber. Bellows, as would usually have been used, would have been very difficult to install.</li>
<li>The hotend was only rated to 265C, and more frustratingly, it was a proprietary hotend in a proprietary mount. It would be difficult to get any high temp hotend into this machine.</li>
<li>There seemed to be very little space to install any sort of a chamber heater that will not interfere with the motion of the bed.</li>
</ul>
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We'll tackle those when we get to it. Thinking about things too much tends to discourage me from even starting a project, so the most important thing for me right now was to jump in head first. So, I ordered the enclosure.</div>
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<div>
<b>Parts purchased: </b></div>
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<b>Printer ($320)</b></div>
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<b>PEI build sheet ($20)</b></div>
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<b>Total cost of printer: $340</b></div>
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<b>Total project cost: $340</b></div>
<h3>
Baby steps: ABS first?</h3>
<div>
Now, to this date I had never actually even printed ABS well. I had done small things, but medium sized prints always came out warping and splitting. I wanted to see for myself how well ABS could print if I did have some way to trap some heat. The enclosure was on its way, but I got impatient.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO1sADe9Ld4muIwBA6IT0H58jhxBKaKAzLF6D2Bwkdi2hV7OrSpMt1CK_PGjuxtmm8LzCj04QoTOXqmpjiONpg4b1yZM8JlrDSi2rkTJZ6tNdFm3UhH3Xx_kRBIzOkrOd2UFKSrG_GgYQ/s1600/IMG_20190320_170425%255B1%255D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO1sADe9Ld4muIwBA6IT0H58jhxBKaKAzLF6D2Bwkdi2hV7OrSpMt1CK_PGjuxtmm8LzCj04QoTOXqmpjiONpg4b1yZM8JlrDSi2rkTJZ6tNdFm3UhH3Xx_kRBIzOkrOd2UFKSrG_GgYQ/s320/IMG_20190320_170425%255B1%255D.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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Yeah, I know, this is very much <i>not</i> a good idea. Flammable paper and plastic sheets near a 250C heater block is a recipe for fire. Check out the result, though!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig4zQI8hlx-aXCj-g0IOmAJAsifm84ZNYbTrcbLvSG_NYN5GB6wm1cyDPx9aaPHwDRm2LBxS-eo7mGs5dAtSaW0XZlHdTw3p2vS7DATvWJ6cnrdvGjA-QzTxGMNtYi_WFQrZwd9l4RroU/s1600/IMG_20190320_192001%255B1%255D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig4zQI8hlx-aXCj-g0IOmAJAsifm84ZNYbTrcbLvSG_NYN5GB6wm1cyDPx9aaPHwDRm2LBxS-eo7mGs5dAtSaW0XZlHdTw3p2vS7DATvWJ6cnrdvGjA-QzTxGMNtYi_WFQrZwd9l4RroU/s320/IMG_20190320_192001%255B1%255D.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<div>
I had never produced an ABS print that clean before. Okay, there was a little bit of vertical banding and moire, but overall geometrical accuracy was great and there was zero warping!<br />
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<div>
So, the enclosure arrived, and having committed to this high temp thing I immediately decided to insulate it right away. Now this printer is starting to look pretty serious.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyvUofkhsozDVhmISHyUkbRsxCtJvL9mcFD1s6njdhKHny2ReDmsgjMOWe9wfvP_xKg_I_FTUppsThYhIU013_CJiSrmDbmaZg17FWpCySMxKOY-kVejdS_Ailb01yb0v3luaaO0e-urA/s1600/IMG_20190322_124818%255B1%255D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyvUofkhsozDVhmISHyUkbRsxCtJvL9mcFD1s6njdhKHny2ReDmsgjMOWe9wfvP_xKg_I_FTUppsThYhIU013_CJiSrmDbmaZg17FWpCySMxKOY-kVejdS_Ailb01yb0v3luaaO0e-urA/s320/IMG_20190322_124818%255B1%255D.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div>
<b>Parts purchased:</b></div>
<div>
<b>First-party enclosure kit ($110)</b></div>
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<b>Foam insulation ($25)</b></div>
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<b>Total cost of printer: $475</b></div>
<div>
<b>Total project cost: $475</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b><a href="http://karlzhao314.blogspot.com/2020/07/the-peek-performance-project-part-2.html">Part 2: Aiming for Ultem</a></b></div>
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Karl Zhaohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10644800039502221171noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4909510963619717697.post-3961750272518674812019-08-10T16:38:00.000-07:002019-08-10T16:43:43.176-07:00Calibrating steps/mm: the right way and the wrong wayFor a lot of people this post is going to seem redundant, but this is a problem that should have died off years ago but still seems to be around today. So, here today I'm going to try to look at the various ways people try to adjust their steps/mm values on their printers, and explain which ways are correct and which are not.<br />
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<h3>
Background</h3>
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A long time ago, the agreed upon method to set and adjust your steps/mm value was to print a test piece, measure the dimensions on the axis, and figure out how much the test piece is off on each axis. A multiplier could then be calculated from the difference and applied to the current steps/mm value, and a new test piece would be printed at this new value. After a couple of iterations of this, you would have a nearly perfect test piece and your steps/mm would be assumed to be accurate.</div>
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This method was heavily flawed, and over time a new method arose that was both simpler and more accurate: simply take the set of known values and characteristics of your motion system (belt pitch, pulley teeth, motor steps/mm, etc) and calculate a theoretically perfect steps/mm value. As it turns out, this theoretically perfect value in practice is almost always far more accurate than a "calibrated" value generated by the first method.</div>
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Why? Essentially what it boils down to is that both your axes steps/mm and your extrusion accuracy affect your dimensional accuracy, and both should be adjusted independently. The first method does not keep them independent, and your extrusion error contributes to your axes steps/mm error.</div>
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<h3>
What happens with Method 1?</h3>
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Let's take a look at a common scenario today: we just bought a new Ender 3. Out of the box, the Ender 3's XY steps/mm are both set to 80, the Z steps/mm is set to 400, and the E steps/mm is set to 93. As it turns out, the XYZ steps/mm set on an Ender 3 are 100% theoretically (and pretty close to 100% practically) accurate from the factory, but the E is often not - we'll assume this Ender 3 is underextruding by 20%. However, we don't know any of this just yet.</div>
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We decide to use method 1, and print a 20mm, single walled test cube with a 0.45mm wall width to start the calibration process.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU7mK80-m0BKkFaJEYnq-dSTWtZsRhU-fuw4IhriEOgef-HfyIxCgfacOSmARyAwEhg7J9fZBcjHUDWxlEC3Rw6wIXhMSmyTiKFdmduFA_y3O1ypqkatp2rZ9lyRr4g4FdrYBqqYm5wQ4/s1600/Pic+1+Ideal.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="950" data-original-width="771" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU7mK80-m0BKkFaJEYnq-dSTWtZsRhU-fuw4IhriEOgef-HfyIxCgfacOSmARyAwEhg7J9fZBcjHUDWxlEC3Rw6wIXhMSmyTiKFdmduFA_y3O1ypqkatp2rZ9lyRr4g4FdrYBqqYm5wQ4/s400/Pic+1+Ideal.png" width="323" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Not drawn to scale</td></tr>
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Something to understand here is that the "path" drawn by the nozzle (shown here by the black line) is not actually 20mm long: instead, the slicer accounts for the extrusion width and subtracts it from the width of the object. That means the toolpath is in fact just 19.55mm long, and the slicer assumes half of the 0.45mm wall width is added to each side; that brings the total width of the cube to 20mm exactly.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-rgiW_5KDumhlXlQ5KvJR_5ZJBA4G_LqJUbzWGMcQoZ_IPnpytNKo7PzvKwA-Gc3DYMA-ac_svKqhni0Vyky-6x-eOv-JzFWfWCS1dKuXu1eILgfvq3YO3hAgW98FSVjSKABVbXZdgno/s1600/Pic+1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="950" data-original-width="771" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-rgiW_5KDumhlXlQ5KvJR_5ZJBA4G_LqJUbzWGMcQoZ_IPnpytNKo7PzvKwA-Gc3DYMA-ac_svKqhni0Vyky-6x-eOv-JzFWfWCS1dKuXu1eILgfvq3YO3hAgW98FSVjSKABVbXZdgno/s400/Pic+1.png" width="323" /></a></div>
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Remember how we said we were underextruding by 20%? Well, now, instead of being 0.45mm the extrusion width is actually only 0.36mm. The slicer doesn't know that: it's still going to make the toolpath 19.55mm wide, which now means the overall width of the cube only turns out to be 19.91mm. Quite a ways off.</div>
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So now we take that 19.91mm, and see that it needs to be increased by .45% on both X and Y in order to bring it up to 20mm. As such, we set the new XY steps/mm to 80.362.</div>
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This is what the next test print looks like.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8BNN-YBAUc-T9EzyQP_CuyW1HQfChHDHEuowLFrSTmEG-kX_m0kl3-0FWrUprlZlxBaMck1m8aR5rxQ6-tZAWfI3iwtjgPy9lJhBY0-fnrWVBZVh_cOYezOE8US8ZPX1P22SnHk1tRso/s1600/Pic+2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="950" data-original-width="771" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8BNN-YBAUc-T9EzyQP_CuyW1HQfChHDHEuowLFrSTmEG-kX_m0kl3-0FWrUprlZlxBaMck1m8aR5rxQ6-tZAWfI3iwtjgPy9lJhBY0-fnrWVBZVh_cOYezOE8US8ZPX1P22SnHk1tRso/s400/Pic+2.png" width="323" /></a></div>
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Because we increased the XY steps/mm by 0.45%, correspondingly, the length of the toolpath increased by 0.45% as well. Now it's 19.638mm instead of 19.55mm. However, we didn't touch the extrusion, so the wall width stayed the same **. Add those values together, and we see that our box is now 19.998mm wide.</div>
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It's still not exactly 20mm, but 0.002mm is beyond the capabilities of regular calipers to measure so it appears to us that it's exactly 20mm. Yay! Calibration complete! Right?</div>
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Well, let's take a look at what happens when we move beyond test cubes and start printing actual objects. This time, we have a print that's 200mm wide and 150mm long.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR16Qo8RvkHtuVyKNbQONUZtfk-sjZaQHCqwwwDjA7BzJlCNTJn1sg1Us0WqDB9CK8YNPUqwpOr-faO01cxaoGmSK3Mo2mJlv_sKeYOJEhDN-KQtdPttIldZReRgskihSVKqs7SERGV2Q/s1600/Pic+3+ideal.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="801" data-original-width="807" height="317" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR16Qo8RvkHtuVyKNbQONUZtfk-sjZaQHCqwwwDjA7BzJlCNTJn1sg1Us0WqDB9CK8YNPUqwpOr-faO01cxaoGmSK3Mo2mJlv_sKeYOJEhDN-KQtdPttIldZReRgskihSVKqs7SERGV2Q/s320/Pic+3+ideal.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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Under ideal circumstances, this is what that print should look like. The toolpath is 199.55mm wide, and half of the 0.45mm wide extrusion width is added to each side to make exactly 200mm wide.</div>
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Whoops, we're still underextruding. And we increased our XY steps/mm by 0.45%, so instead of a 199.55mm toolpath we get...</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYUvpu3VWxLSlywmTxuYRhLLDPZGLNhIrG5eQy0mwxD2PWvmAbfysmVybldClRkaFlfTd2kfJ3arWWfGy_Xaal__zai3SpUpIebTcBdqPMTVA9wHCrvMt9sVyj_1ljVRrM_8Bxz79wZcM/s1600/Pic+3+non+ideal.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="801" data-original-width="807" height="317" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYUvpu3VWxLSlywmTxuYRhLLDPZGLNhIrG5eQy0mwxD2PWvmAbfysmVybldClRkaFlfTd2kfJ3arWWfGy_Xaal__zai3SpUpIebTcBdqPMTVA9wHCrvMt9sVyj_1ljVRrM_8Bxz79wZcM/s320/Pic+3+non+ideal.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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a 200.45mm wide toolpath, and an object that works out to nearly a millimeter larger than it should have been.</div>
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This is the problem with "calibrating" your axes steps/mm. You <i>can</i> calibrate those values so that you seem to get nearly perfect dimensional accuracy at the size of your test piece (in this case, 20mm), but you start losing more and more dimensional accuracy the farther you go from 20mm. Larger prints will come out oversized, and smaller prints will come out undersized. (The opposite is true if you were overextruding when you calibrated.)</div>
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A similar problem exists with the Z steps/mm as well. If you set your first layer height to 0.20mm, but you accidentally oversquish it so that in reality it's only 0.15mm tall, your 20mm tall test print will only come out to 19.95mm. Increasing Z steps/mm by 0.25% will similarly affect dimensional accuracy as soon as you start printing prints that aren't exactly 20mm tall.<br />
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Method 2 explained</h3>
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Let's backtrack a bit and say that for some reason our Ender 3 didn't come with firmware preloaded. We have no factory values for steps/mm, and have to find our own.</div>
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What could we do? We could pick arbitrary values such as 50 on XY and 300 on Z and use method 1 to dial them in, but as we just saw, method 1 is not accurate.</div>
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Instead, let's look at the motion components. For X and Y, we know we have 2mm pitch belts, and the pulley on the motor has 20 teeth. So, what that means is that for every full revolution of the motor the belt moves 20 teeth, or exactly 40mm. It takes 1/40 of a revolution of the motor to move 1mm.</div>
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We also know that the motors have 200 full steps/rev, and given that 1/40 of a revolution moves the belt 1mm, we can determine that every 5 full steps on the motor moves the belt 1mm.</div>
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The drivers microstep the motors at 1/16, so every full step is in fact divided into 16 microsteps. The software doesn't distinguish between full steps and microsteps: it just considers 1 microstep a "step". When each of the 5 full steps is divided into 16 microsteps, that gives us 80 steps/mm - which happens to be the same number that the Ender 3's firmware ships with!</div>
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The final formula we arrived at is:</div>
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((motor steps/rev) * (microstepping)) / ((belt pitch) * (pulley teeth))</div>
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This is for a belt driven axis. For a leadscrew driven axis such as Z it's even simpler:</div>
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((motor steps/rev) * (microstepping)) / (leadscrew pitch)</div>
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Or, you know, if you don't want to do the math just use <a href="https://blog.prusaprinters.org/calculator/">Prusa's Reprap calculator.</a> It does the exact same thing.</div>
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Now, as we know nothing in real life is ever theoretically perfect. We could say that every revolution of the motor moves exactly 40.00mm, but if the belt's actual pitch is just a tiny bit off from manufacturing, you're going to get errors. So this theoretical value still isn't 100% accurate, is it?</div>
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It's not.</div>
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But it's close. It's <i>reaaaal</i> close.</div>
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The manufacturing tolerances on high precision timing belts and leadscrews is quite stringent, and it's far more than we would be able to measure by hand. And as we just saw, if we try to use method 1 to calibrate it we'd be thrown off far more by the error created by even a slight amount of underextrusion or overextrusion than we'd gain in accuracy. If you had some high precision measuring device on your axis that could tell you exactly how much your axis is moving, you might be able to use that to calibrate your axis to a better accuracy than this theoretical calculated value - but most of us do not.</div>
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So how do I make my prints more dimensionally accurate?</h3>
<div>
You...uh...calibrate extrusion. With something more akin to method 1.</div>
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<div>
It might seem odd to say, but your extruder is the only "axis" on your printer that will get better values with a measure>adjust>measure approach than calculating a theoretically perfect value. The reason for this is that the drive gear will sink its teeth into the filament slightly, which changes its effective diameter by an unpredictable amount. </div>
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<div>
Instead, it's better to tell the printer to extrude 100mm and then measure it, and see how far off from 100 it was. You can then use that difference to adjust your esteps/mm. Unlike adjusting your motion axes, this value is not inaccurate because there is no fixed offset such as you would get with underextrusion while calibrating your motion axes.</div>
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<h3>
Conclusion</h3>
<div>
So there you have it. Hopefully this explained a bit more about why you should calculate rather than calibrate your steps/mm on your motion axes.</div>
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<div>
Printer manufacturers (looking at you, Monoprice!) please stop using calibrated values. </div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">* A 20% underextrusion is quite extreme and rather unlikely for an out-of-the-box Ender 3, but it's not entirely unheard of. I chose an extreme value because it illustrates the point better. The same principles apply even if the printer is only underextruding 2%; the effects will just be less severe.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">** Okay, the wall width decreased a <i>tiny</i> bit, because the longer toolpath with the same amount of plastic means the plastic will be run a bit thinner. I don't feel like calculating that though.</span></div>
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Karl Zhaohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10644800039502221171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4909510963619717697.post-68336667960080510792016-08-07T18:03:00.001-07:002016-08-21T02:34:15.780-07:00Thunderclap v2 reviewIt's been a while, hasn't it? I wanted to keep writing the Mega post part 2, which had a lot more cubes, but most of them were older ones and it got quite repetitive. If people ask for it I might finish it, but I probably won't otherwise.<br />
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In the meantime, today we'll be looking at the Qiyi Thunderclap v2 (albeit a bit late). The successor to a very popular cube, this cube was hyped beyond belief. It costs $9 from most US sellers, which plants it in the semi-budget tier of cubes.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU27UR9fLHxdcliUeR4BQiwi8AtNdhQfL9e_RgPXL2c_0OR1ZTwxwQgQuDlXHC8wgwjK2uoRtYSvgCkNAtdHwRX3uYvSasEHGQOlx-z3GslK-LZ5UFpq7mD7l4LVn1ypNTdvEi3CTDkyk/s1600/_1090980.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="153" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU27UR9fLHxdcliUeR4BQiwi8AtNdhQfL9e_RgPXL2c_0OR1ZTwxwQgQuDlXHC8wgwjK2uoRtYSvgCkNAtdHwRX3uYvSasEHGQOlx-z3GslK-LZ5UFpq7mD7l4LVn1ypNTdvEi3CTDkyk/s400/_1090980.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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I loved the Thunderclap 1 - despite the lower score I gave it in my mega post, it ended up becoming my main. In anticipation, I preordered all four versions of the Thunderclap 2. Unfortunately, my first impressions were not good at all - you can read about them in my <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Cubers/comments/4uaym2/thunderclap_2_first_impressions/">reddit post</a>.<br />
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However, I've heard from many it becomes better after break in. I went and did 200 solves on it completely dry, then relubed it and have since done about 300 more. I think I'm ready to give my proper review of it.<br />
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(This is a rather long review - scroll down to the "Should I buy this cube" section for a TL: DR.)<br />
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<h3>
Look and Feel</h3>
<div>
First off, let's talk about the look and feel of the cube.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2xnK6AopiLazfDTOB_bxi5pNcPGRg8NFbskQChFDoJztwzsU_lHW6fjJM2142xiOjLsUr61cB3GLNPvABPva-4MZAfWjhIgDGhuCvYGq6f0miGawY2O2PjkYP_fhP_VrFq4h4GczUKbE/s1600/_1110023.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2xnK6AopiLazfDTOB_bxi5pNcPGRg8NFbskQChFDoJztwzsU_lHW6fjJM2142xiOjLsUr61cB3GLNPvABPva-4MZAfWjhIgDGhuCvYGq6f0miGawY2O2PjkYP_fhP_VrFq4h4GczUKbE/s320/_1110023.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCh9OaXGvvQHbxhyphenhyphen4OBvq7gBNhIAdXd0T_6Q-E2rAgjuevhE9OWCfHVkRNaypxtsRlfcWhXINJfkDlR9s9YPHPLU6yL7e_-1XhWirV_4gusSER7aNl9h2uLNHE6TgyDgkaqrHM1dIIw8o/s1600/_1110016.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCh9OaXGvvQHbxhyphenhyphen4OBvq7gBNhIAdXd0T_6Q-E2rAgjuevhE9OWCfHVkRNaypxtsRlfcWhXINJfkDlR9s9YPHPLU6yL7e_-1XhWirV_4gusSER7aNl9h2uLNHE6TgyDgkaqrHM1dIIw8o/s320/_1110016.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Thunderclap v1 on left, v2 on right. Shameless Mystic.</td></tr>
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<div>
It certainly looks quite a bit different from the Thunderclap 1: it adopted the squared off corners of more modern cubes, and shaped the stickers accordingly. The centers are more octagonal than before, and the edges are now rounded on the bottom. </div>
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In terms of colors, the stock stickers on the stickered versions have identical shades to the Thunderclap v1. The stickerless version has a brighter green as opposed to the paler green on the v1, a brighter yellow, and a darker blue and slightly darker red. All of the colors on the stickerless seem more vibrant and less washed out than the Thunderclap 1's colors.</div>
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It weighs noticeably more than the v1, coming in at 85g for the stickerless version and 88g for the stickered version, as opposed to 77g for the stickerless and 80g for the stickered for the v1. It makes a higher pitched, more clacky sound than the v1, similar to the X-Man Tornado, and as I'll get into later, the similarities with the Tornado don't end there.</div>
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<h3>
Turning</h3>
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The Thunderclap v1 was a smooth, slightly clicky cube. The Thunderclap v2 has quite a different feel: similar to the Tornado, it's much slower, even when lubed, much more bumpy, and much more clacky. It's also tensioned much looser out of the box, which makes it not quite unstable as the GTS or the Gans is but very flexy when corner cutting.</div>
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The Thunderclap v1 would pop when tensioned as loose as the v2 is, but I haven't experienced a pop on the v2 yet and it corner cuts very well, so I haven't felt the need to tighten it.</div>
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The v1 had a very light feel when turning. The v2's turning feels much heavier even if when tuned almost as fast - there's seemingly more weight distributed into the pieces rather than the core and the centers, which combined with the extra weight gives more momentum to each turn. This is again very similar to the Tornado's heavy turning feel.</div>
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It's a very odd feel if you're used to the Thunderclap v1, and I certainly don't like it nearly as much. You could get used to it or even like it over time, especially if you haven't used the v1 before, but otherwise don't go into it expecting the same thing.</div>
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It would be a rather nice feel if you like the Tornado, and in fact I know someone who loved the Tornado and now loves the Thunderclap v2.</div>
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<h3>
Corner Cutting</h3>
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Max corner cutting: 55 degrees</div>
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Effective corner cutting: ~45 degrees</div>
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Max reverse cutting: 35 degrees</div>
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Effective reverse cutting: ~27 degrees</div>
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Impressively, this budget cube is part of the small but growing club of cubes that can manage full cutting - there is not a single angle on this cube that it can't corner cut. Corner cutting is snappy and reverse cutting is smooth up to about 20 degrees, after which it starts to feel snappier.</div>
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No complaints here. It easily matches high-end cubes like the Yuexiao or the GTS.</div>
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<h3>
Anti-pop and anti-corner twist</h3>
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Anti-pop is excellent. I can't get it to pop no matter how roughly I turn.</div>
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Anti-corner twist...well. On the stock tensions it's definitely more difficult to corner twist than the v1, but it's still rather easy. I've had it happen during solves, especially on one of my G perms.</div>
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That being said, ever since my turning style has adjusted to modern cubes (interpret: gotten rougher) I've managed to corner twist every one of my mains except my Weilong GTS during that G perm. That suggests that the Thunderclap v2's anti corner twist is still rather good, but the GTS's anti corner twist is just truly excellent. </div>
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<h3>
Internals</h3>
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Since this is a full review and not just a first impressions, I'll be pulling this apart and taking a look at the inside.</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8E7muAw77UZeAspTxPHpCqi4QpHNdXtGWI0GFR2Mxe6kXf3hmaEX2FUlKy9KRyGQERNZbC9JpgxeRgmGFDbbRum5ZwU1VjsXmZ3NQUbgWg962enKq2MDqEvDIfDk4AhjT9HuRzbSmx0E/s1600/_1110033.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="227" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8E7muAw77UZeAspTxPHpCqi4QpHNdXtGWI0GFR2Mxe6kXf3hmaEX2FUlKy9KRyGQERNZbC9JpgxeRgmGFDbbRum5ZwU1VjsXmZ3NQUbgWg962enKq2MDqEvDIfDk4AhjT9HuRzbSmx0E/s400/_1110033.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">v1 on the left, v2 on the right. Stickerless for contrast.</td></tr>
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<div>
Overall, everything looks very similar internally. The centers are cut a little more, presumably to prevent catching on the squared corners, but have the same large cap design where the cap almost wraps around the entire center piece (which helps prevent <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrG4Net7LZg">caps dropping</a>). This means that the caps are actually a friction surface, so they should be seated properly or they will interfere with turning.</div>
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One thing I've seen a lot of people ask is how to get the caps off. Some people suggest taking a screwdriver and prying them off, but I don't think this is a good method since the leverage angle is wrong and you could end up scratching the plastic. Instead, what you should do is pinch around the whole cap (ideally with the entire layer taken out, but if your fingers can jam in the florian holes that could work too) and pull the cap straight up.</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOItsGTqi6LgwGlsqytFoEsPbiq5tweRGtpFu8_kzUTc86re0QzVecNELo8Kr2oHkTMRN1Sbgw0WbRcTyMvsi0pj3-i-6o1p7yUFTOxgUiIiQ8E9HUZbCITu_54cDnvpslXBttdinW-iw/s1600/_1110043_0000__1110048.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="188" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOItsGTqi6LgwGlsqytFoEsPbiq5tweRGtpFu8_kzUTc86re0QzVecNELo8Kr2oHkTMRN1Sbgw0WbRcTyMvsi0pj3-i-6o1p7yUFTOxgUiIiQ8E9HUZbCITu_54cDnvpslXBttdinW-iw/s320/_1110043_0000__1110048.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">v1 on left, v2 on right.</td></tr>
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<div>
The v1 and v2 edges look <i>very</i> similar. The overall design is almost identical, but the v2's surfaces seem just a bit more angular and sharper.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhoNCx8uv8LVLg-Al9gdlvOVa1pByfkwggwh3WvDa30xm4hyy14O7aYGrkk2W-DPE0_MRA4jipf1dpt9dQj3Qg6Zq0FjsBWokbgTV9mESKzj0TlV3uw-YLVMJXZ_6ens0tZFHM2GojlQg/s1600/_1110043_0001_Background.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="188" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhoNCx8uv8LVLg-Al9gdlvOVa1pByfkwggwh3WvDa30xm4hyy14O7aYGrkk2W-DPE0_MRA4jipf1dpt9dQj3Qg6Zq0FjsBWokbgTV9mESKzj0TlV3uw-YLVMJXZ_6ens0tZFHM2GojlQg/s320/_1110043_0001_Background.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">v1 on left, v2 on right.</td></tr>
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<div>
Several differences here. The obvious difference we already knew about was the inclusion of squared edges. If we take a look the surfaces, the shoulder is also shaped slightly differently. However, the big internal difference is the unified corner foot, another inclusion from the Tornado. According to Qiyi, this helps smoothness and reduces friction stemming from that seam on the v1's 3 piece corner. </div>
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This has raised a bit of confusion about how you're supposed to take apart the corner. You can no longer just pry it apart, since the stalks of three corner pieces are bound together inside the foot.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAhh4DfgCOpuas4Gg2QyWyk2Tnk5tDiPch6xh5e_GRrjmGuCPMfIoKy6bTDaRPCeIGrzNvx-3buO4yqJUtJXwcZTAnnmfO10aYM8eYhR0S8cxa3F0TPoWBB0-FIN5_QsOlc8yU-D-STg4/s1600/_1110060.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAhh4DfgCOpuas4Gg2QyWyk2Tnk5tDiPch6xh5e_GRrjmGuCPMfIoKy6bTDaRPCeIGrzNvx-3buO4yqJUtJXwcZTAnnmfO10aYM8eYhR0S8cxa3F0TPoWBB0-FIN5_QsOlc8yU-D-STg4/s320/_1110060.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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There's actually a fifth piece inside the foot (a bit hard to see on camera). According to a video about the disassembly of the Tornado, you're supposed stick something inside the hole and pull or pry out the inner piece, after which you should be able to push the three corner pieces out from the foot.</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRcI76d03RUDohPE88cH4DzH-ziqx2YfXi4AeIV2vkx2LF5PkyK9bmbcGYDLswg6pbfwFz_r0oxs__4iIXHxEelQ2cGbpTngLUX9jqbIueQWr8mH1RF7P_qUXbb9Yli-VLKKrpnbTeB7k/s1600/_1110055.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="176" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRcI76d03RUDohPE88cH4DzH-ziqx2YfXi4AeIV2vkx2LF5PkyK9bmbcGYDLswg6pbfwFz_r0oxs__4iIXHxEelQ2cGbpTngLUX9jqbIueQWr8mH1RF7P_qUXbb9Yli-VLKKrpnbTeB7k/s320/_1110055.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">v1 on left, v2 on right.</td></tr>
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Screws. Not too much to say here. The v2 has a shorter spring with more coils, but I can't feel too much of a difference in stiffness.</div>
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<strike>I haven't tried swapping springs, but I've heard that it doesn't make much of a difference.</strike><br />
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Update: I now have tried a spring swap. On the v2 side it made practically zero difference - still heavy and bumpy turning. On the v1 side it actually made the cube faster and more flexible at comparable tensions to before.</div>
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<div>
So given that the internals are so similar, what accounts for the different feel? I'd guess that it's a combination of a few things:</div>
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<div>
1. Heavier factory lube.</div>
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2. The slightly more angular edge surfaces.</div>
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3. The squared corners.</div>
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4. The looser tensions, which are made possible by the slight redesign.</div>
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<h3>
Conclusions</h3>
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<b>Objective score: 10/10</b></div>
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Honestly, I can't find anything objectively wrong with this cube. It full cuts, which is a big achievement in its own right. Anti-pop is excellent and while it does get corner twists, so does the Yuexiao, so I have to attribute that to my turning style and not the cube. Build quality is excellent, so in all objective regards it's easily on par with all of the flagship cubes from Moyu.</div>
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It sells for just $9 on most US based stores, just over half the price of most Moyu flagships. For the price the performance is absolutely excellent.</div>
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<b>Subjective score: 6/10</b></div>
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<div>
I loved the v1. Because of that, out of the box the v2 felt rather awful, and while it has significantly improved with break in, it's still heavy and bumpy like the Tornado rather than light, fast, and airy like the v1. I don't like the feel of the Tornado, and I don't like the feel of the Thunderclap v2.</div>
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<h3>
<b>Should you buy this cube?</b></h3>
<div>
Hate to start this section off with a cliche, but depends.</div>
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<div>
1. If you have a Thunderclap v1 and like it, and/or have an X-man Tornado and hate it, don't buy this cube. It feels too unlike the v1 and too much like the Tornado.</div>
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2. If you have an X-man Tornado and like it, buy this cube. It feels very similar but corner cuts a bit better, and it's much cheaper.</div>
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3. If you have neither cube and don't know what you like, I'd actually say go with a Thunderclap v1. The v1 is a more neutral feeling cube rather than being on the bumpy and clacky side, and probably fits more people's preferred feels better.</div>
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<div>
Of course, if you like owning every 3x3 like I do you can just buy it anyways. It's just $9, after all.</div>
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<div>
Thanks for reading! If there's any 3x3 you'd like to see a review of, drop a comment below or on reddit and I'll try to oblige!</div>
Karl Zhaohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10644800039502221171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4909510963619717697.post-55569244650988514742016-06-14T20:31:00.000-07:002016-06-17T21:13:52.340-07:00Mega speedcube impressions, part 1<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIZbj6YdW9J57ZqoI0ORFKt0IDktT7dC4zUFx9zM2v17TsgyF0hmQ_4Y23N8aV6AV4XCPdNReVJPOOOVLUVOSa7O5gm4IadbkSXEz7uqhTo4AozSDlgHT2euSU-NOcjYb3TwWV-qv1qhw/s1600/Speedcubes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="120" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIZbj6YdW9J57ZqoI0ORFKt0IDktT7dC4zUFx9zM2v17TsgyF0hmQ_4Y23N8aV6AV4XCPdNReVJPOOOVLUVOSa7O5gm4IadbkSXEz7uqhTo4AozSDlgHT2euSU-NOcjYb3TwWV-qv1qhw/s640/Speedcubes.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
Well, that certainly came out of the blue, didn't it?<br />
<br />
I've been getting back into cubing and neglected to update this blog about it. Oops. It's been nearly 4 years, which means I missed 4 years of my favorite part about cubing: new speedcubes! To make up for lost time, I decided to buy...er...34 speedcubes that were released in those 4 years (plus one of the venerable Dayan Zhanchi).<br />
<br />
(Hopefully more 3D printing content will come soon.)<br />
<br />
Some of them have already arrived, so here are my impressions on them. This is by no means a definitive answer to "which cube should I buy": I'm a firm proponent of the idea that you should aggregate reviews before making a decision.<br />
<br />
All impressions are <b>out of the box</b>, unless otherwise stated. I don't have the patience to lube and tension so many cubes.<br />
<br />
<div>
I'm introducing a new metric: effective corner and reverse cutting. I don't see the point in saying a cube can cut 50 degrees if you need to use the strength of your entire hand to force it through. Effective cutting is approximately how far it will be able to cut with only the force that might be used during a typical solve, so it's more representative of real world conditions.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Of course, such a metric is highly subjective, and I'm just going by my own experience. All the same, it could be useful to determining how well a cube would actually cut in a solve, not in a controlled test.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h3>
MoYu Weilong GTS</h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilhNePi_g5S8vMKFf54abajoC6VIECD_rSQSawGNb0SsQhO54sE0gJo_5P0Vuvp0yNeOepjF4um4aPyTw_W03oxcG1UMtLR9JpE9gA5qH7StBsHk1f-LtFBwn9dK2V1qOAAtODmyr_IAk/s1600/_1090785.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilhNePi_g5S8vMKFf54abajoC6VIECD_rSQSawGNb0SsQhO54sE0gJo_5P0Vuvp0yNeOepjF4um4aPyTw_W03oxcG1UMtLR9JpE9gA5qH7StBsHk1f-LtFBwn9dK2V1qOAAtODmyr_IAk/s320/_1090785.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Let's start with the supposed new king, shall we?<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
<h4>
Look and feel</h4>
<div>
Rather standard. It's more rounded than some speedcubes on the market and has big Florian cuts, but that does apply for a lot of MoYu cubes. It's fairly light, coming in at 81 grams. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Sticker scheme is standard MoYu shade: bright colors except for a moderate red and blue. I like it.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The stickers could be better. Right out of the box there were some white lines around the orange stickers, and furthermore the orange stickers on my blue GTS turned red after a day in the sun. I'm not sure if this will happen to my black one, seeing as it just came in today.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
It has a rather high pitched clacky sound. Honestly, it's the one sound I don't like in cubes, and the one thing I wish I could have changed about my Zhanchi during the four years where it was my main.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The cube comes in at a rather light ~81.5 grams.<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
<h4>
Turning</h4>
<div>
This was one thing that REALLY disappointed me on my first GTS. Everywhere I had read reviews about the GTS being extremely fast, but my first GTS was actually much slower than my Zhanchi. What's more, there was a persistent sticky feeling in the turning that I could not get rid of, regardless of how I lubed it. I was literally getting fatigued from using it.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I talked to CubeDepot, and they said some people have been getting more sluggish GTS's than usual. This seems to be true: my second GTS is much faster and isn't sticky at all. However, oddly enough it still isn't quite <i>fast</i> as I would call it: it seems more of an average speed for a modern speedcube.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Both of them seem quite unstable, e.g. they flex a lot during solves. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
My first GTS had a crisp, slightly bumpy feel. My second GTS is much smoother but also bumpy. I'm not a huge fan of either but feel is a subjective thing.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I have a third GTS on the way. (yeah, I know.) I'll update this when that one comes in.<br />
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>Corner cutting</b></div>
<div>
Max corner cutting: ~52 degrees</div>
<div>
Effective corner cutting: ~45 degrees</div>
<div>
Max reverse cutting: ~34 degrees</div>
<div>
Effective reverse cutting: ~33 degrees</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Pretty good, the only cube that matches it in this comparison is the Guoguan Yuexiao.. I don't really see the famous full cutting people talk about on this cube, though,</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
That being said, pretty much any modern cube (including almost all of the ones in this post) cut far more than anyone could need.<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
<h4>
Anti-pop and anti-corner twist</h4>
<div>
Very good. I've not yet had either on my thousand or so solves on my first GTS, and as a preliminary judgement I won't on my second GTS either. It's hard to take apart by hand, let alone pop during a solve.<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
<h4>
Conclusions</h4>
Objective score: <b>9/10</b><br />
I can see why a lot of people love this cube, even if I don't. There's objectively nothing wrong with it, and performance is up there.<br />
<br />
Subjective score: <b>6/10</b><br />
Can't say I like this cube as much as some people do. It's not as fast as I prefer and my alg execution is slower for some reason.I'll give it another chance when my third one arrives, but even if that one blows it out of the water I might have to take a point off from the objective score because of inconsistency.<br />
<br />
<br />
<h4>
Pricing</h4>
<div>
$16-$17 from a US seller, $12-$13 from China. Standard high-end cube pricing.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<br />
<h3>
GuoGuan YueXiao </h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXvJDw1SUrn5J7NTeAltHWbLKk5Da5cMyMmrd85aa1OKXiZneoxvKbAHWvDPUjbSGSj8HiEXkeNXgsvzvVsQ2u-dJZxXS48BHR-g6fCKRmNCoA1EjmKZEG-3QMwLzd-xN6jnFQBLxd4vQ/s1600/_1090790.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXvJDw1SUrn5J7NTeAltHWbLKk5Da5cMyMmrd85aa1OKXiZneoxvKbAHWvDPUjbSGSj8HiEXkeNXgsvzvVsQ2u-dJZxXS48BHR-g6fCKRmNCoA1EjmKZEG-3QMwLzd-xN6jnFQBLxd4vQ/s320/_1090790.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
High hopes for this one, I've heard a lot of good things. Let's dive in.</div>
<div>
<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
<h4>
Look and feel</h4>
<div>
Still the standard MoYu look and feel, though right off the bat I notice the stickers are much higher quality than the Weilong GTS stickers. They don't have any white lines and cover more of each cubie as well.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The build is excellent. I don't see a single seam in any of the cubies, even though that often happens with multi-piece cubies.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Color scheme is standard MoYu: bright except for red and blue. Still like it, though I like it more than the Weilong GTS's scheme for some reason.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The sound is a fairly deep swish sound, and the weight is a solid 86.5 grams.</div>
<div>
<br />
<br /></div>
<h4>
Turning</h4>
<div>
The Yuexiao turns on the fast side out of the box, though not enough to be uncontrollable. There's a bit of scratchiness that makes it feel a bit like a smoother Yuxin 3x3, but I've heard it goes away after a while. It's very stable, and barely ever flexes during solves.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I do really like it, despite usually liking smoother cubes. There aren't any problems, which is about as much as I can say for it.<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h4>
Corner cutting</h4>
<div>
<div>
Max corner cutting: ~53 degrees</div>
<div>
Effective corner cutting: ~35 degrees (???!!!)</div>
<div>
Max reverse cutting: ~36 degrees</div>
<div>
Effective reverse cutting: ~35 degrees</div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Mine doesn't have the famous full corner cutting that a lot of people talk about, but out of all of the cubes I have it comes the closest. The deadzone between cutting and reverse cutting is on the order of a fraction of a degree, so it's effectively nonexistent.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Surprisingly, the force required to cut skyrocketed short of even line to line. If I ever encountered a line to line cut on this cube during a solve, I would not be able to cut it.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The feel of the cut is very nice, though: it's a solid snap into the next turn. No flexing at all.<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h4>
Anti-pop and anti-corner twist</h4>
<div>
Anti-pop is very good. It's still hard to take the cube apart by hand, let alone pop it during a solve.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Anti-corner twisting is decent. It's fairly easy to turn a corner by hand despite the squared corners, but I doubt it will happen during a solve.<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h4>
Conclusions</h4>
<div>
Objective score: <b>9/10</b></div>
<div>
Again, there's objectively nothing wrong with it, and the performance is excellent. However, to earn the 10/10 there needs to be something huge that would give this cube an advantage over all other flagships.</div>
<div>
Subjective score: <b>10/10</b></div>
<div>
I really really like this cube. I like how it turns despite my usual preference for smooth cubes, and I like deep swish it makes while turning. I like the speed and the snappy corner cutting, and I like how it doesn't flex at all.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I get my fastest alg executions on this cube and have gotten some of my best times on it. There's literally nothing that could make this cube better for me.<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h4>
Pricing</h4>
<div>
$16-$17 from a US seller, $12-$13 from China. Standard high-end cube pricing.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h3>
QiYi Thunderclap</h3>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNik2cvR3CFTHDmBCKjjIO-_lCxjL8Ke7nGPqV5AdddnQNahGs9tf34MaU1OfYeV3vEapk-ypS6rC6E8Li3ZbeYJfl90nn5tASsIq-5jZtRWjhShFWhi6Bvsa2gebO9cZPIPchVGcvuxQ/s1600/_1090788.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNik2cvR3CFTHDmBCKjjIO-_lCxjL8Ke7nGPqV5AdddnQNahGs9tf34MaU1OfYeV3vEapk-ypS6rC6E8Li3ZbeYJfl90nn5tASsIq-5jZtRWjhShFWhi6Bvsa2gebO9cZPIPchVGcvuxQ/s320/_1090788.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Speedcubeshop gave me this nice box, whereas China only gave me a little bag. :(</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The supposed best budget cube available. I bought...er...7. 2 have come in so far.<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
<h4>
Look and feel</h4>
<div>
It's a very blocky looking cube, with even cubies, nearly symmetric Florian cuts, and big black lines between stickers. It's actually practically indistinguishable from a Hualong, just slightly different Florian holes. It's an interesting look, but personally I feel like big stickers, small lines, and squared off corners is a more elegant and modern look.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Then again, look is subjective.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Color scheme is almost identical to MoYu shades, though with a darker green. Note that in stickerless the colors are extremely bright, almost fluorescent.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Build is just fine. It had one small seam that was quickly pressed together, and it feels solid enough to not break. I have to note, though, a friend of mine got a stickerless Thunderclap and pulled a corner straight out because he didn't know how to properly take it apart, and from there that corner never sat flush with the other pieces ever again.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Moral of the story is do not pull corners out before edges.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
It comes in at a fairly light 80.1 grams and makes a loud, lower pitched clacky sound. Nothing to complain about here.</div>
<div>
<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
<h4>
Turning</h4>
<div>
The Thunderclap turns VERY fast, fastest out of all the cubes I own. I like fast cubes, but the Thunderclap is just a tiny bit uncontrollable for me. It can be slowed down with lube, of course.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
It feels smooth but a bit blocky to turn. Not sure why, but the turning feeling gives me the <i>impression</i> that it can't corner cut.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
It's fairly stable unless you're inaccurate. On one of my solves I actually managed to flex it so much that I got a finger caught between two cubies, but that hasn't happened since.<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
<h4>
Corner cutting</h4>
Max corner cutting: ~45 degrees<br />
<div>
<div>
Effective corner cutting: ~37 degrees</div>
<div>
Max reverse cutting: ~29 degrees</div>
<div>
Effective reverse cutting: ~25 degrees</div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Here we do see the Thunderclap start to fall a bit short. Max cutting is significantly lower than the 50+ degrees of more expensive cubes. The center cubies aren't rounded much past the florian cuts, so reverse cuts also fall back quite a lot.</div>
<div>
<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
<h4>
Anti-pop and anti-corner twist</h4>
<div>
Anti-pop out of the box was only acceptable for my first Thunderclap but good for my second. My first had tensions set so loose that it popped about as frequently as my Zhanchi, which is to say compared to modern cubes, very often. After tightening it the pops stopped but the performance stayed the same. My second came pre-tightened but otherwise the same.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The corners aren't squared so corner twists do happen, I don't generally corner twist any cube but on one particularly sloppy execution of a new V-perm alg, I did manage to twist a corner. Would not have happened with squared corners.</div>
<div>
<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
<h4>
Conclusions</h4>
<div>
Objective score: <b>7/10</b></div>
<div>
I'm not taking pricing into account on scoring. The Thunderclap falls short in both areas that I score on.</div>
<br />
<div>
Subjective score: <b><strike>8/10</strike> 10/10</b></div>
<div>
I actually really like many aspects of this cube. The look is weird but not bad, and the turning feels snappy and satisfying. <strike>However, I am getting a fair share of lockups on this cube especially during PLL, stemming from (as far as I can tell) its speed making me misalign the M slice.</strike></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<strike>That being said, I won't slow it down. Thunder is fast.</strike><br />
<br />
I have now slowed it down with a tiny dab of SCS Weight 3 on the locking pieces, and oh boy is it good. It's a different feel from my Yuexiao, but I enjoy it just as much. I'm getting no lockups but it's almost just as fast, and my alg execution is just as fast (and sounds cooler, too).<br />
<br />
10/10. No regrets buying <strike>7</strike> 8 now.<br />
<br /></div>
<h4>
Pricing</h4>
<div>
$8-$9 from a US seller, just $5-$6 from China. Very very cheap cube, excellent value. It's a great first speedcube or a cube to lend out at competitions if you want to be nice and not just have duffle bags full of Guanlongs.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h3>
Gans 356S V2 (Master)</h3>
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<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Supposedly one of the best, and Feliks' main. Rather expensive too.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
It did come in a very nice box.<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
<h4>
Look and feel</h4>
<div>
Phew. This thing is SOLID. I'm not sure what it is, but from the moment you pick it up you get the feeling, "this will never break."</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Stickers have slightly darker oranges than MoYus, and cover less of the cubie (larger dark lines). I like the round center sticker, but plenty of people don't.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
It comes in at a fairly hefty 87.3 grams. Not saying the number of grams is actually hefty, the cube just <i>feels</i> hefty.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The sound is a high pitched...cube sound. Not clacky or swishy, just high pitched.<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h4>
Turning</h4>
<div>
Out of the box, the cube was quite slow. After lubing it up with some weight 1 on pieces, it turns much faster, though it's still slower than I'd like. I haven't tried changing the springs, but I've heard that can make a huge difference.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The feel is quite buttery smooth. It's probably the smoothest out of all of the cubes I own, including some very smooth older Dayans. It's fairly stable, but it can flex a small amount at times during solves.<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
<h4>
Corner Cutting</h4>
<div>
Max corner cutting: ~50 degrees<br />
<div>
<div>
Effective corner cutting: ~43 degrees</div>
<div>
Max reverse cutting: ~34 degrees</div>
<div>
Effective reverse cutting: ~34 degrees</div>
</div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Still fairly standard. I'm sure this varies based on which spring I pick but these are just the metrics on the stock springs.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
One thing to note is that any reverse cut is <i>completely effortless.</i> There's a clack telling you that you've just reverse cut, but besides that it feels just like a normal turn.<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
<h4>
Anti-pop and anti-corner twist</h4>
<div>
Excellent on both accounts. It's a pain to take apart and difficult to twist by hand.<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h4>
Conclusions</h4>
<div>
Objective score: <b>10/10</b></div>
<div>
Objectively a flawless cube, No real problems, and performance is way up there. Its customizability with the included springs (only on the Master edition) and the individually adjustable cubies give it a leg up on competitors, so it easily competes with the MoYus for best cube in existence right now.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Taking price into account it might be different, but I don't for the score.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Subjective score: <b><strike>7/10</strike> 9/10</b></div>
<div>
It's a good cube for me, make no mistake. <strike>But its weighty feel and slow turns stop it from being my main. I can't execute the push-type moves during an E perm at all, and repeated solves fatigue me.</strike><br />
<strike><br /></strike></div>
<div>
<strike>That being said, I love the weight and the slow speed for one thing: blindfold solving. It lets me keep track of exactly what turns I've made very well, and doesn't ever slip.</strike></div>
<div>
<br />
I've since relubed it and swapped the springs out for the S9 springs, the softest included. It's much faster now and I can do everything without a problem.<br />
<br />
I like it a lot now, but it's still not my favorite. It's a bit too smooth and not tactile enough, and I don't feel when I've completed a turn like I do on some other cubes. Unfortunately, since I lost the advantage it had for blindfold solving, it's now been relegated to a shelf piece/occasional cube, and my Yuexiao is now also my blindfold main.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h4>
Pricing</h4>
Oof. $22 for the normal version and $25 for the Master edition, both in and out of China. Make no mistake, this is an expensive cube.<br />
<br />
I'm not really short on money anymore, but a few years ago when I was still cubing, as a kid with no financial resources or responsibility I would have never purchased this cube. Seeing the lower average age of cubers, I imagine a lot are in the same boat as I was.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<h3>
Cong's Design Meiying</h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDv02H-8YK1lpm7WdUmWQLVDwRp9fk8CCDgg0v4QnSk7eev-MLu1fauyTQJssi-mw4bZ_ow2zyTZSEyFInrk6g7Z3XXex85A4Wym2qxGNrksnUmMx8pW3_IhjWCHQgf9Cr1IZ46lWnDK8/s1600/_1090792.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDv02H-8YK1lpm7WdUmWQLVDwRp9fk8CCDgg0v4QnSk7eev-MLu1fauyTQJssi-mw4bZ_ow2zyTZSEyFInrk6g7Z3XXex85A4Wym2qxGNrksnUmMx8pW3_IhjWCHQgf9Cr1IZ46lWnDK8/s320/_1090792.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<div>
Another MoYu cube, heard a lot of good things about it as well. Let's see what it's all about.</div>
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<h4>
Look and feel</h4>
Still standard for a Moyu cube, including colors. It's slightly blockier and more angled than both the Yuexiao and the Weilong GTS, though only by a little bit.<br />
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This one tips the scale at 81.9 grams-very close to the Weilong GTS. The sound is a high-pitched swish sound-similar to the Yuexiao, but higher pitched and less "hollow" sounding.<br />
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<h4>
Turning</h4>
<div>
Also similarly to the Yuexiao, it turns on the fast side out of the box. The difference is that it's VERY bumpy-it feels almost as if it's riding on miniature ball bearings rather than smooth plastic. It actually feels quite satisfying to turn.</div>
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It's also quite stable. Very little flexing during solves.<br />
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<h4>
Corner cutting</h4>
<div>
Max corner cutting: ~45 degrees<br />
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Effective corner cutting: ~35 degrees</div>
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Max reverse cutting: ~33 degrees</div>
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Effective reverse cutting: ~28 degrees</div>
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This time the max cutting falls short, and similarly to the Yuexiao the effective cutting is a bit low compared to the max cutting. Reverse cutting is also a bit short of some of the other cubes.</div>
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<h4>
Anti-pop and anti-corner twist</h4>
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Excellent again on both accounts. This one seems to resist corner twisting a bit more than the Yuexiao, but otherwise it's fairly similar.<br />
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<h4>
Conclusions</h4>
<div>
Objective score: <b>9/10</b></div>
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It's basically as objectively good as a Yuexiao, except that it corner cuts a little less and resists corner twists a little better. </div>
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Subjective score: <b>10/10</b></div>
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For me this cube is effectively a Yuexiao, just with a different feel. I don't mind the feel, so that makes this cube very very good in my eyes. It's a real shame that I only bought 1 (I bought two of every cube that was available in blue), so at some point I'll probably pick up another black one and a flourescent stickerless one to complete the set.</div>
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<div>
Which to pick, Yuexiao or Meiying? Well, as far as I can tell the only practical difference between them (max corner cutting aside) is the feel, so if you like smooth go Yuexiao, and if you like bumpy go Meiying.<br />
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<h4>
Pricing</h4>
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$14-16 from a US seller, $11-$12 from China. Still rather standard for high-end speedcubes.</div>
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<h3>
MoYu Aolong GT</h3>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx2JwUxSOb6Ke-xPIiuzRArDNty_o7i-e6VfgD9pBUimsM8wxAqfXVG4zBSevah8pH8G4TjDXBaI5GO_pzikDqt5GkYE_FLESE_zq2dttA64ZeqU6S-l627K2bICWDBKkMYnSoq1NhFCE/s1600/_1090795.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx2JwUxSOb6Ke-xPIiuzRArDNty_o7i-e6VfgD9pBUimsM8wxAqfXVG4zBSevah8pH8G4TjDXBaI5GO_pzikDqt5GkYE_FLESE_zq2dttA64ZeqU6S-l627K2bICWDBKkMYnSoq1NhFCE/s320/_1090795.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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This Moyu seems to be one of the ones that isn't recommended as often, despite the GT in its name. I wonder why.<br />
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<h4>
Look and Feel</h4>
<div>
The shape is pretty much identical to most modern Moyus with squared corners, but the colors are very different: they're much darker, almost reminiscent of the old Dayan colors. It looks slightly depressing compared to the cheerful bright colors of newer cubes, to be honest.</div>
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It tips the scale at 102.4 grams - significantly heavier than all of the other cubes on this list. It makes a high-pitched, blocky sound, similar to the Gans 356S.<br />
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<h4>
Turning</h4>
<div>
Slow and blocky. It takes about as much force to turn as my 356S did out of the box, which isn't a good thing in my eyes. That does make it very controllable, though. Surprisingly the blocky feel also made it quite satisfying to turn-you really feel when each layer is aligned again.</div>
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It's very stable-possibly the most stable out of all of the MoYus I have. That does make it feel a bit stiff, however-not stiff as in hard to turn, but stiff as in inflexible, almost Rubik's like.<br />
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<h4>
Corner Cutting</h4>
<div>
Max corner cutting: ~47 degrees<br />
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Effective corner cutting: ~37 degrees</div>
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Max reverse cutting: ~34 degrees</div>
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Effective reverse cutting: ~26 degrees</div>
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<div>
This cube also has the problem that some other MoYus have where the effective cutting is nowhere near the max cutting. Corner cutting falls a bit short in both max and effective, and reverse cutting is rather standard at max but is quite bad at effective.</div>
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Still more than you need if you ask me, but it could be better.<br />
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<h4>
Anti-pop and anti-corner twisting</h4>
<div>
Anti-corner twisting is fair-about as good as the Yuexiao. (Turnable by hand but probably won't happen in a solve.) Anti-pop is different. As a preliminary test, I tried to remove a piece by hand, and after twisting the edge it came right out. Curious, I started doing a series of very very sloppy moves, catching it everywhere, etc. Sure enough, a few seconds in a row (3 cubies) popped out.</div>
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I wouldn't say it's <i>bad</i>, but it's nowhere near rock solid like the GTS, Yuexiao, or 356S are. If you have a sloppy turning style this probably isn't for you.<br />
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<h4>
Conclusions</h4>
<div>
Objective score: <b>7/10</b></div>
<div>
It's technically nowhere near the level of the Yuexiao or the Meiying. Pops might happen and corner cutting falls pretty far short, especially in reverse cutting. Seeing as it was released in November 2015, the only excuse I can see for this is that MoYu wanted to retain the classic Aolong feel.</div>
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<div>
Subjective score: <b>5/10</b></div>
<div>
It's far too slow for me and doesn't feel right. While my turning style is probably never going to pop it, I enjoy the security that I get from the Yuexiao through knowing I will never pop it and I don't have that here.</div>
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Also, the colors are depressing. I like to be happy when I'm cubing.<br />
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<h4>
Pricing</h4>
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$15-$17 from a US seller, $13-$14 from China. Too much if you ask me.</div>
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<h3>
MoYu Tanglong</h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7hnNsjEVWHop3EwSU9xStTlOORusBNisSqZwb7qKwgZCmtWsZI95kUhvU9Cz5J3nw2GejpbRewRokjAfKiClCXisT7F3n-aY7JN88P5g_BGc_w1C0HDBxjP6tFaaXKZ7blWHvAFBxq0s/s1600/_1090797.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7hnNsjEVWHop3EwSU9xStTlOORusBNisSqZwb7qKwgZCmtWsZI95kUhvU9Cz5J3nw2GejpbRewRokjAfKiClCXisT7F3n-aY7JN88P5g_BGc_w1C0HDBxjP6tFaaXKZ7blWHvAFBxq0s/s320/_1090797.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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I accidentally got mine in brown instead of black.<br />
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<h4>
Look and feel</h4>
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Very much like an Aolong GT, if I'm honest. The florian holes are sharper and more angled, but that's the main difference in the design.</div>
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However, the stock stickers are much brighter and much more cheerful. The cube weighs 90.7 grams and makes a deeper blocky sound-not quite "deep", but still deeper than the Aolong GT.</div>
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I'm just going to compare it to the Aolong GT from here on, since it's almost the same thing.<br />
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<h4>
Turning</h4>
<div>
Very similar to the Aolong GT-slow, smooth, and blocky. In fact, the only difference as far as I can tell is that it's blockier, but not by much. Stability is the same as well.<br />
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It's not for me.<br />
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<h4>
Corner Cutting</h4>
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Max corner cutting: ~49 degrees<br />
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Effective corner cutting: ~39 degrees</div>
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Max reverse cutting: ~33 degrees</div>
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Effective reverse cutting: ~28 degrees</div>
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All around slightly better than the Aolong GT, except for max reverse cut.<br />
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<h4>
Anti-pop and Anti-corner twist</h4>
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Still almost exactly the same as the Aolong GT. Corner twisting is rare but pops are pretty easy if you're cubing sloppily.<br />
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<h4>
Conclusions</h4>
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Objective score: <b>7/10</b></div>
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It's basically an Aolong GT.</div>
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Subjective score: <b>5/10</b></div>
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It's basically an Aolong GT.<br />
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<h4>
Pricing</h4>
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$15-$17 from a US seller, $11-$13 from China. Still too much if you ask me.</div>
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<h3>
MoYu Hualong</h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX5tVsnCmDvDiydmeBd_-SDy433iFHErmKkbCPEi2GOG05QiNEYgl2i0I9YUD-1FczMy97WzZoxcaUwhiodNh0Wd36DsbdFANq8h_Ij-ojxXPjU5xEMjqja_9-v0_Z2ykzS1yjTvQbnhw/s1600/_1090799.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX5tVsnCmDvDiydmeBd_-SDy433iFHErmKkbCPEi2GOG05QiNEYgl2i0I9YUD-1FczMy97WzZoxcaUwhiodNh0Wd36DsbdFANq8h_Ij-ojxXPjU5xEMjqja_9-v0_Z2ykzS1yjTvQbnhw/s320/_1090799.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<div>
The similarities didn't stop with the Yuexiao vs Meiying and the Aolong GT vs Tanglong. As I already mentioned, the Hualong looks very similar to the Thunderclap; however, as I discovered, the similarities extend past the looks.</div>
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My Chinese name happens to be Hualong, matching the cube exactly including the specific Chinese characters. Maybe this will give me luck?<br />
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<h4>
Look and Feel</h4>
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As I said, it looks very much like the Thunderclap, stickers included. Aesthetically, the only differences are the logo and the florian cuts (which are rounder on the Hualong).</div>
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It comes in at a heavier 88.3 grams and makes a higher pitched sound.<br />
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<h4>
Turning</h4>
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Almost identical to the Thunderclap, sound aside. It's just as fast and has the same slightly blocky feel.<br />
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<h4>
Corner cutting</h4>
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Max corner cutting: ~42 degrees<br />
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Effective corner cutting: ~35 degrees</div>
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Max reverse cutting: ~26 degrees</div>
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Effective reverse cutting: ~21 degrees</div>
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Here the Hualong actually fell short of even the Thunderclap by quite a bit, especially in reverse cutting.</div>
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This is the one time that I noticed the poor corner cutting was actually introducing some locking into my solves. Because of its speed, I'm actively trying to lower the force I use to turn, but that means that during a solve my effective corner cutting ability is actually lower than usual. I'm locking on a fair amount of reverse cuts.<br />
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<h4>
Anti-pop and anti-corner twist</h4>
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It was pretty easy to pull an edge piece out, so I put it through the same routine that I did on the Aolong GT and the Tanglong. This time, it didn't pop.</div>
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Corner twisting is slightly harder than the Thunderclap. It shouldn't happen during solves.<br />
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<h4>
Conclusions</h4>
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Objective score: <b>6/10</b></div>
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It's almost identical to a Thunderclap technically, except that corner cutting is actually noticeably worse. </div>
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Subjective score: <b>5/10</b></div>
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It's similar to a Thunderclap, which I actually liked a lot. The problem is that I'm now not only getting lockups during PLL, but actually during F2L as well because of the poor reverse cutting.</div>
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<div>
I wanted to like this cube, I really did. After all, it shares my name. However, the poor reverse cutting and the fact that Thunderclaps are actually cheaper makes me have to recommend against it.<br />
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<h4>
Pricing</h4>
<div>
$14-$16 from a US seller, $11 from China. Remember, Thunderclaps can be had for basically half of that price.</div>
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<h3>
YuXin 3x3</h3>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7Cb_aKQ371dxaGNMDxzbd1a3ON7ipLASsQmmj55XekFK_ZqAYpZ-NqbNR9loPRi94JfvAnm0E1HU8bq_r6gV1k79K2YCJXhKI17PN-1S7ukmS2tv1lHe83sAj2Ny3BWv75yCEz7iE87M/s1600/_1090801.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7Cb_aKQ371dxaGNMDxzbd1a3ON7ipLASsQmmj55XekFK_ZqAYpZ-NqbNR9loPRi94JfvAnm0E1HU8bq_r6gV1k79K2YCJXhKI17PN-1S7ukmS2tv1lHe83sAj2Ny3BWv75yCEz7iE87M/s320/_1090801.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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Finally, we have our last cube for today. Don't worry, I have more on the way.</div>
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<h4>
Look and Feel</h4>
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It's different, which is refreshing. It's a tiny bit larger than the 56mm puzzles I've gotten used to over the past 8 cubes, and feels like it has sharper edges even if the difference is small. It has huge florian cuts and rather nice bright stickers, which were unfortunately applied misaligned from the factory.</div>
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It weighs a reasonably hefty 91.1 grams. It makes a high pitched scratchy noise, which fits well with its turning feel.<br />
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<h4>
Turning</h4>
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Out of the box it's on the slow side, though not quite enough to really be considered slow. It's very scratchy, which makes for an interesting feel. I can't say I like it, but I'm actually rather intrigued by it.</div>
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<div>
It's also unstable, causing me no small amount of lockups.<br />
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<h4>
Corner Cutting</h4>
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Max corner cutting: ~47 degrees<br />
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<div>
Effective corner cutting: ~35 degrees</div>
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Max reverse cutting: ~30 degrees</div>
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Effective reverse cutting: ~25 degrees (doesn't feel right)</div>
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<div>
Corner cutting on this one is interesting. Forward cutting has the same problem MoYus have, where the effective cutting is far lower than the max cutting. However, reverse cutting is interesting in that instead of a lot of modern cubes which simply slide into the cut, on the YuXin the cube actually feels like it's caught before it cuts, even on smaller cuts on the order of 10 degrees. This is a bit reminiscent of Zhanchis and Guhongs and is really not something I want to get back to.</div>
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<div>
I'm guessing some of my lockups aren't actually lockups. They're simply me trying to reverse cut, feeling what appears to be a lockup, and immediately reversing the attempt to try to realign the layers.<br />
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<h4>
Anti-pop and anti-corner twist</h4>
<div>
Pieces are fairly easy to remove by hand but putting it through the same test as the Aolong GT the cube didn't pop. However, corner twists are the worst on this cube out of all of the cubes I've tested by far. I've gotten a corner twist here and there during lockups and even once during scrambling.<br />
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<h4>
Conclusions</h4>
<div>
Objective score: <b>6.5/10</b></div>
<div>
Falls short especially on reverse cutting and corner twisting. It's missing a lot of the recent innovations that allow for smooth reverse cuts.</div>
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<div>
Subjective score: <b>4/10</b></div>
<div>
It's an interesting feeling puzzle to play around with, but the excessive amount of lockups I get with it make it literally unusable for speedsolving. This will be relegated to a shelf piece for my collection.<br />
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<h4>
Pricing</h4>
<div>
$9 from a US seller, $6 from China.</div>
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<h3>
Final conclusions</h3>
<div>
Well, going through all of my new cubes and writing this has actually been rather eye-opening. I've experienced what has come out recently in my hiatus (and soon will experience much more). I've compared some cubes and I think I've found my favorites as well.</div>
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What are they? Well, the Yuexiao instantly became my main with the Meiying at a close second, for my backup. I enjoy the Thunderclap tremendously and may just keep buying them, considering how cheap they are. The GTS...eh. So many people have switched over, some even from Yuexiaos or other comparably recent cubes, but I just can't enjoy it as much. I'll keep trying to adapt to the feel, but honestly it might not happen.</div>
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<div>
Ultimately, whatever cube you buy comes down to your own preference. I'm just one person, and I can't account for what the variation between different copies of the same cube are or what kind of a feel you prefer. Watch tons of reviews and pick a cube you think you'll enjoy, not one that I know I did.</div>
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And a word of advice: I've often found that your first speedcube shapes your future taste in cubes. If your first speedcube is buttery smooth you'll like buttery smooth cubes from then on: if it's scratchy you'll love scratchy cubes. If you're looking for a first, get a good, neutral cube like the Thunderclap. It leaves a lot of room to expand, and doesn't confine you to anything.</div>
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Karl Zhaohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10644800039502221171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4909510963619717697.post-46869085621653308272016-04-23T23:19:00.004-07:002016-04-23T23:19:44.848-07:00First models up for magnetic dual extruderI've been a bit busy with various things lately, but I've finally drawn up the preliminary designs. As they stand now, the design has three blocks, each of which have their own sets of bushings, and the blocks are spaced by offset hotend clamps.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHnZrbpOzet-ReaupItV0baGr9IdNsMo6IM47g9aGhRn_Yi-cStcO41y359mG9pmNaUg4Iv4bJ6_LlAp3-i1WdboLvRqnfzovjvxSkoL33A-YwbbLLsvtOtfQUnftf-Sve-W7KFnqRvsY/s1600/Magnetic+dual+bowden+mount+.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="296" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHnZrbpOzet-ReaupItV0baGr9IdNsMo6IM47g9aGhRn_Yi-cStcO41y359mG9pmNaUg4Iv4bJ6_LlAp3-i1WdboLvRqnfzovjvxSkoL33A-YwbbLLsvtOtfQUnftf-Sve-W7KFnqRvsY/s400/Magnetic+dual+bowden+mount+.png" width="400" /></a></div>
The design is still missing the parking points on either side of the X rods. Full thing file is <a href="http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1515348">here</a>, if anyone wants to give it a try. I have not yet, as I'm still awaiting magnets.<br />
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<br />Karl Zhaohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10644800039502221171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4909510963619717697.post-75669201979744423932016-03-22T14:19:00.000-07:002016-03-22T14:19:16.258-07:00Prusa i3 magnetic head changerToday I met Tim from OpenCircuitDesign, who showed me one of his Makergear M2s. There was a rather interesting mechanism on it: a magnetic head changer.<br />
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Essentially, both extruders are able attach to the belt block via small magnets, but the belt block is just slightly undersized to attach both of them simultaneously. Both also have magnetic attachment points on either side of the X axis as parking positions. Through G-code, it's possible to park one nozzle and attach the other when performing a filament switch.<br />
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<a href="http://opencircuitdesign.com/~tim/3d_printer/twin_project.html">More information can be found here on his site.</a> (<a href="http://www.3ders.org/articles/20151221-this-efficient-diy-dual-extrusion-build-requires-no-additional-electrical-components.html">It's even been reported on 3ders.org!</a>)<br />
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It's an ingenious system, accomplishing what dual X-carriage systems do without the hassle and space requirement of an actual dual X carriage. It's also simple and low-maintenance. While it's a bit niche, it seems like it could solve 90% of the problems I encounter with dual extrusion every day. There's even the possibility of correcting a difference in nozzle height through G-code.<br />
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From his design, I was inspired to start a similar project for my own P3Steel. Now, I'm not entirely sure how easy it will be, and what it would involve, but I still want to attempt it because of its potential benefits.<br />
<br />
I've done some research, and it seems there have been <a href="http://3dprint.com/26590/dual-parking-extruder/">similar ideas</a> for the Prusa i3 in the past. However, the one I found is works off of two switching electromagnets, and introduces a new level of complexity to the printer. Also, the extra bulk would make me lose quite a bit of space, whereas Tim's design was just about as compact as the Makergear dual extruder was, so that gives me hope that one designed for the Prusa i3 could be similarly compact, especially with a Bowden setup.<br />
<br />
I haven't worked out the details yet. I may have to make a few changes (which I will be consulting Tim on), such as whether the magnetic block rides on the rods or just the belt, and how to position the magnets without interfering with the belts. Just look to this project hopefully coming to something in the following months.<br />
<br />
<br />Karl Zhaohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10644800039502221171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4909510963619717697.post-55371523017324460462016-02-08T16:58:00.002-08:002016-02-08T16:58:35.461-08:00Never buy RepRap glass again<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidBrOHWipRTYjqt5h3fOaKCL9ZrMn7fLSNYpy48w_1tDs0yNZdiU3Ae0NTyuts-1upUoZ68epAQPc7cfMOfYFZj1RHu7iO_ewo2gZdV8IISnHuxNmB1bocZ12VC_YFT1NNX6c4kydaYE0/s1600/P1080143.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidBrOHWipRTYjqt5h3fOaKCL9ZrMn7fLSNYpy48w_1tDs0yNZdiU3Ae0NTyuts-1upUoZ68epAQPc7cfMOfYFZj1RHu7iO_ewo2gZdV8IISnHuxNmB1bocZ12VC_YFT1NNX6c4kydaYE0/s320/P1080143.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My MK2 on my Prusa i3 with a glass plate installed, showing off the clam clips I use as opposed to alligator clips</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Not as much of an earth-shattering development as a simple realization, but I'd still like to share it.<br />
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Maybe it was me being clueless, but before today I had always purchased those glass plates marketed towards RepRap. You know, the ones that have RepRap in the title and the only details you can find about them are that they're borosilicate and measure 200mmx213mmx3mm?<br /><br />Something like <a href="http://www.ebay.com/itm/Borosilicate-Boro-Glass-Print-bed-RepRap-3D-Printer-Mendel-Prusa-i3-213x200mm-/111590878029?hash=item19fb55ab4d:g:yRQAAOSwhcJWGL1-">this</a>.<br /><br />They're costly. US sellers such as the one I linked will often charge $20+ for a single plate, and even if you buy from the lowliest AliExpress seller I've yet to see them go for under $12. (RobotDigg carries them for $6.80, but I'm guessing that's because their shipping is $11.)<br /><br />Under normal conditions you could buy one for each printer and be done with it. However, what I encountered was that as my schedule got tighter and tighter, I could no longer afford to wait for it to cool down to remove the part, then heat it back up to start another print. I started simply taking the plate and rushing it to the sink to wash off the glue while it was still hot, and lo and behold, one of my two shattered.<br /><br />So now I turn to an alternate solution.<br /><br />Lowes carries plate glass in pretty large sizes, and they offer cutting services. Today I visited my local Lowes and ended up having a very friendly employee cut 14 pieces from two sheets for a grand total of $8.98.<br /><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBIk1KvxLxNdfkPstYap6PTCpkNqHPgIPP1e42jLP_7o8DDtryFiYmEur582HFOdwQPYU1VNgTny_wBg48i_gCqP3YxLRs7RUqo7DwMWucUpq9kqa1kT7phw6bY-qptS8S0dsW0FoRdGQ/s1600/P1080146.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBIk1KvxLxNdfkPstYap6PTCpkNqHPgIPP1e42jLP_7o8DDtryFiYmEur582HFOdwQPYU1VNgTny_wBg48i_gCqP3YxLRs7RUqo7DwMWucUpq9kqa1kT7phw6bY-qptS8S0dsW0FoRdGQ/s320/P1080146.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My stack of "only" 12 plates; the other two are installed</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
They are hand cut, so they're sharp and not cut perfectly, but honestly at this price who cares? I could literally treat them as disposable resource and swap one out with every major print. (I plan on cycling them, so while one is printing the other is cooling, etc)<div>
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What's more, they had an option that was quite useful: 3/32" thickness. 3mm was just a bit too thick for both of my printer's bed clips, since I don't use binder clips. Also, it's less heat capacity to heat, so it reaches marginally higher temperatures and at a faster rate.<br /><br />I haven't tested thermal shock resistance, which is what killed my last plate. However, now I no longer need to. I can simply swap plates and let the the hot one cool down slowly instead of dunking it in water to remove the prints as fast as I can.<br /><br />As it is now, I don't see myself going back. If you happen to be in a similar situation, I highly suggest you go to a local hardware store instead of buying the "Reprap" plates online.<br />
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(Leave it to me to write 400 words solely concerning choice of glass.)</div>
Karl Zhaohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10644800039502221171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4909510963619717697.post-39718308685629533972016-02-03T16:31:00.001-08:002016-02-26T18:19:58.235-08:00The 3DSystems Cube is a horrible machineI'm talking about this thing.<br />
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<img height="320" src="https://www.igo3d.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/1200x1200/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/c/u/cubify_04.01.13_b.jpg" width="320" /><br />
<br />
I don't own one personally, but I've used two at my school fairly extensively and had an opportunity today to see up close how they're designed.<br />
<br />
Just from a capabilities standpoint, it's not a very impressive printer. It has a tiny build volume and no heated bed. It's extraordinarily slow but doesn't make up for that lack of speed in quality. The hotend can only handle temperatures high enough from ABS, and takes 10-15 minutes to even heat up enough for PLA. On top of that it retails for $1300, even though there are printers a fourth of the price with stronger capabilities.<br />
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It goes deeper than that.<br />
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Under normal conditions, the Cube is designed to be "easy to use". The problem is that you're giving up far too much: it only allows its proprietary ABS and PLA, has a far too simplistic slicer with almost no configuration options, and is compatible with literally zero aftermarket hardware or software that any other printer would allow.<br />
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Cartridges are prohibitively expensive, at anywhere from $25-$50 per cartridge of it seems 1/4 of a kilogram. By comparison, on my Repraps I'm able to use spools of standard filament coming in at $15 per kilogram. What's more, cartridges are limited to ABS and PLA, and because the slicer only gives you those two options, you're not even able to manually change the temperature to bypass the cartridges and use more exotic filaments. You're at a complete dead end in terms of plastic.<br />
<br />
The slicer, as mentioned before, is far too simplistic and gives you close to no printing options. It's limited to a single layer height, which is around .25mm. There are three locked infill settings, which are 0%, a "strong" setting that seems to be around 20-40%, and 100%, as opposed to any other slicer which have sliders for anywhere from 0% to 100%. The only other print options are raft and support, which you have zero control over <i>how</i> they're generated: you can only choose to either enable or disable them. (Other slicers have tons of options for both, such as raft density, thickness, width, etc. and support angle, fill, pattern, etc.) Basically, your part is printed how 3DSystems wants it to be printed, not how you want it to be printed.<br />
<br />
Almost every single part of it is fully proprietary. I've examined the whole machine and the only things I could find that are compatible with industry-standard Reprap derivative parts are the NEMA motors. Every other electronic part is proprietary and can't be replaced, and to make matters worse they don't even appear to sell replacement parts. This means if your Cube breaks outside of warranty, it's broken forever, and the only thing left to do is buy a new printer.<br />
<br />
It goes even deeper than that.<br />
<br />
Storytime: A few weeks ago I attempted to print a medium-sized part for my robotics team on this printer out of PLA. It printed maybe 20% of the part, then something happened and each successive layer got more and more detached from the previous layer. Eventually, it was just printing a blob that hung on the hotend. Happens to the best of us, right?<br />
<br />
Well, unlike most "blobs" which are actually just a tangle of plastic strings, this one actually turned into a solid blob, which proceeded to attach itself firmly to the plastic casing of the print head. Sometime over the night, the print head stopped working at all, and when I came back the next day it had a huge chunk of plastic the size of a golf ball caked on the bottom of it. (Sorry, forgot pictures.)<br />
<br />
I resorted to using a hot wire foam cutter to slowly cut away chunks of the blob. A few days of this layer, I was able to get enough of the plastic stuck to the print head off that I could heat the PLA and remove the plastic casing.<br />
<br />
The PLA had seeped <i>into</i> the print head and now formed a solid chunk around the barrel of the nozzle. What's more, the hotend was no longer heating. I had no way to get the plastic off with the print head still on, so I started disassembling it and trying to free the nozzle.<br />
<br />
The disassembly process on this thing is absolutely horrendous.<br />
<br />
Here's how the disassembly of a typical RepRap print head goes: Unclip the hotend fan, unscrew two screws to free the hotend, pull the hotend out. Optional: unscrew and pull out the heater and thermistor.<br />
<br />
The whole process is not only easy, it's intuitive and even a child could do it with no instruction just by examining the print head.<br />
<br />
Here's the disassembly of the Cube's print head: Unscrew two screws holding the casing, unscrew 3 screws holding the fan, pull the fan off, search for 15 minutes finding the tiny spacers you just dropped. Unscrew the 3 screws holding the extruder motor, pause for 2 minutes not knowing what to do because the motor seems to be glued, finally pull the motor off. Turns out, it wasn't glued, but the washers between the motor and the frame almost act like glue. Unplug the connector holding the secondary frame plate from the main frame plate, unscrew two screws holding the secondary frame plate, pull the secondary frame plate off. Unscrew two screws for a plate holding the nozzle, pull the nozzle out, and finally shake your head in despair as you realize the nozzle isn't heated with a heating resistor or a heater cartridge like any sensible hotend is, but is instead wrapped in nichrome wire, making nozzle replacements impossible without replacing all of the heating elements as well. (Of course, that's a moot point, seeing as they don't sell replacement nozzles).<br />
<br />
The whole thing is designed to be as unnecessarily complex and unintuitive as possible, in an attempt to discourage the user from doing any sort of repair, modding, or tinkering whatsoever. This would be fine if 3DSystems did it properly, but they didn't.<br />
<br />
When I got it down to a somewhat bare configuration that granted me access to the nozzle, I started trying to figure out what was wrong with the heating. My hope was that the chunk of PLA was simply massive enough that it was absorbing the heat, but that wasn't the case. As I got deeper and deeper, closer and closer to the critical heating elements, I found that the wires actually started <i>thinning</i>. It was obvious the electrical system was never designed to last: It's tremendously underbuilt rather than being slightly overbuilt as it should be.<br />
<br />
And sure enough, as can be expected with thin wires, I finally encountered a break in the 26-gauge or so wiring right above the nichrome wrappings. (I later learned I wasn't even the first to encounter such a problem. Some students before me had already disassembled the print head at one point in order to repair the thermistor wiring, which was also a pretty pathetic gauge.)<br />
<br />
The tiny stub of a wire left wasn't enough to solder, and even if it were I didn't have wire strippers thin enough to strip the tiny stub of teflon insulation still left. RIP print head.<br />
<br />
The entire printer is now worthless because of a single irreparable broken wire. The only options I see with it are replacing the entire print head (which costs more than the printer itself is worth) or hacking it to turn it into a Reprap (not exactly easy).<br />
<br />
The printer isn't just a bad printer; it tries to be the wrong printer at the wrong time. It's designed with principles already applied to consumer electronics, i.e. it tries to be proprietary, easy to use, and locked down with no need for any sort of maintenance or modification by the user.<br />
<br />
That's not a bad direction to take. After all, that's what made the modern inkjet and laserjet printers ubiquitous. The problem is at the time it was designed, the technology was inherently unreliable and inconsistent, and was nowhere near the ease of use 3DSystems wanted it to have.<br />
<br />
Maybe someday in the future 3DSystems will release a true, plug-n-play, "file>print" type 3D printer. I may even recommend it when it's released. As of today, however, the only thing I can say is stay far, far away from the hunk of plastic trying to be a 3D printer that the Cube is.<br />
<br />
Some extra thoughts:<br />
<br />
1. The extruder is designed poorly. It will often try to force in a new piece of filament alongside an existing piece after a filament switch, obviously causing a jam. In addition, there's a lip on the inside of the nozzle barrel, which prevents the melted plug of filament from the nozzle from coming back out, meaning the "remove cartridge" function doesn't actually work.<br />
<br />
2. Magnetic bed is clever for convenience, but prevents it from being heated. Also, bed leveling is an extremely complex process involving small wrenches and tight spaces rather than the thumbscrews on most printers.<br />
<br />
I wonder...would it be possible to create a heated bed utilizing magnets for conductors? Maybe 4 metal-coated magnets, 2 for carrying the heater current and 2 for the thermistor wiring.<br />
<br />
3. Belt driven Z axis? Really?<br />
<br />
4. Cube Glue is <3. I honestly think the best part of the Cube printers are the glue, which is kind of sad. The stuff works exceedingly well at high temperatures, sticks firmly to any plastic I throw at it, and washes away cleanly with water leaving a glassy smooth bottom surface on the prints.<br />
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I wrote this mainly to get some animosity towards the printer I was working on out of my system. Worked well. If you've read to the end, I hope this post has been as entertaining to you as it has been for me to write.<br />
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<br />Karl Zhaohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10644800039502221171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4909510963619717697.post-74742602832683166562015-11-21T16:59:00.001-08:002015-11-21T18:50:13.648-08:00Forgot about the blog. Oops.It's been more than two months. I admit it, I completely forgot about my blog because of other stuff.<br />
<br />
Several updates:<br />
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<b>1. My P3Steel is online and running!</b><br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK8vlVQKz179WUWj3q9kA5KhYhw5Mebay6ti2rCZXpoU-6FdbUiBippkImTBWl2q3k11J6rzaCdMPG73GKH4MAcI-C6DqshOEJp5b20YrJ4iRGgOANWkYRbHSfE3mdmmUo4MmS0ZVFy4E/s1600/P1070444.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK8vlVQKz179WUWj3q9kA5KhYhw5Mebay6ti2rCZXpoU-6FdbUiBippkImTBWl2q3k11J6rzaCdMPG73GKH4MAcI-C6DqshOEJp5b20YrJ4iRGgOANWkYRbHSfE3mdmmUo4MmS0ZVFy4E/s400/P1070444.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Printing two prototypes out of a huge reel of nylon</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
It's dual extruder and creates beautiful prints, but still with a few caveats as of now. It works with every plastic except PLA, which jams inside the all-metal barrel as it's been known to do, despite everything I try in an effort to prevent it. :(<br />
<br />
Single-extruder performance is exceptional. I've pushed it up to 120mm/s printing and 300mm/s traveling, which is a far cry from the 50mm/150mm speeds I got from my old Prusa i3. I've gotten the acceleration stable at around 4000mm/s^2 max and 3000mm/s^2 default, which gives beautiful, banding-free corners and excellent surfaces while remaining fast. The small diameter of the MK8 drive gears I'm using give excellent precision and as a result, the surfaces are extremely smooth, even under tiny layer heights.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtlc-tBqFd5pFyPqxcl9aUFeJa4KQ5wki49IeBT8aLlTxampfv-chH0x3AffUci57H4tKbXsxI6LTL-y-EutAhvXKHKEcqY3gKuH4-AoGTEHA-9t2i3hVM6MuTZ5R5iFQWo5t12ZsZI3A/s1600/P1070448.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtlc-tBqFd5pFyPqxcl9aUFeJa4KQ5wki49IeBT8aLlTxampfv-chH0x3AffUci57H4tKbXsxI6LTL-y-EutAhvXKHKEcqY3gKuH4-AoGTEHA-9t2i3hVM6MuTZ5R5iFQWo5t12ZsZI3A/s400/P1070448.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The edge of a 20mm calibration cube printed on the P3Steel, with a 25 micron layer height. I promise I didn't defocus it to make it look smooth.</td></tr>
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Dual-extruder performance is, well, not functioning as of yet. I needed black ABS to contrast with my natural ABS in order to calibrate it, but when it came in I sort of lost my motivation to get it done. (Someone want to send me the Shia LaBeouf video?)<br />
<br />
Funny thing: I used a MK3 heatbed and a glass build plate for the print bed, which both already weigh a considerable amount. The combination of that weight, plus the steel P3Steel Y carriage, literally shake the table it's on when it moves.<br />
<br />
The main issue is, as said, it doesn't work with PLA as of yet and ABS/HIPS/most of the other plastics aren't as easy to print. I've been for the first time getting major warping from most plastics on larger pieces.<br />
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I'll get it working some day.<br />
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<div>
<b>2. Ultimaker 2 aluminum extrusion build</b></div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
I've always been interested in the Ultimaker family because of their elegant and solid design, seemingly excellent performance, and prestige status among consumer 3D printers. The $2500 price tag has unfortunately been way too high, but a few months ago I stumbled on a design by jasonatepaint called the <a href="http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:811271/#comments">Ultimaker 2 Aluminum Extrusion 3D printer</a>.<br />
<br />
It's an excellent design, and I believe the industrial effect of the extrusions make it look even better than the Ultimaker 2. After a bit of research, I've started collecting the parts to build an extended version of it.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
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I would usually have moral qualms about copying a product, but for this specifically the way I see it (and hopefully the way Ultimaker sees it) is that since it's open-source, anyone has the right to build their own. Besides, they wouldn't really be losing any business since I never would have bought one in the first place.<br />
<br />
<b>3. High-end audio</b><br />
<br />
Ah, music. In the past I never even cared about it, but over the past year or so I suddenly fell in love. Being the material possession-oriented person I am, that meant I had to have good equipment to facilitate my needs.<br />
<br />
I started off with two very ubiquitous headphones: The ATH-M50X and the AKG x7xx (In my case, it was a Massdrop K7XX). I bring the M50X everywhere with me and leave the K7XX at home.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibjhl913gUQIaZR4dvdK6EjreXdsa0Gg_LXYXPBu-Cj_XeaOGW8g9-uW6e1AlnGDcSnUGd-ycycUt01NBxYElKszymmzFbQ1jBTU_Oo0AUzuqwtRWMXbDS8XTWSY1eVhdrQPRN-3h3JGs/s1600/K7XX.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibjhl913gUQIaZR4dvdK6EjreXdsa0Gg_LXYXPBu-Cj_XeaOGW8g9-uW6e1AlnGDcSnUGd-ycycUt01NBxYElKszymmzFbQ1jBTU_Oo0AUzuqwtRWMXbDS8XTWSY1eVhdrQPRN-3h3JGs/s400/K7XX.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My K7XX</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
Both sound great! I'm not going to try to compare them, seeing as they were designed for different use cases, but the M50X has great noise isolation and great sound for the pop tracks I listen to, whereas the K7XX has an excellent soundstage and exceptional clarity for both instrumentals and vocals. The AKG is particularly comfortable for me: I've worn it for an entire day from 9AM to 11PM or so, during one particularly lazy saturday.<br />
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For now I don't have much planned on the horizon, just an O2 for a bit better sound than my motherboard's built in sound (which is actually already excellent), and maybe a low-end Sennheiser just because nobody can be an audiophile without owning Senns. (Kidding. Sort of.)<br />
<br />
Side note: This adds to the ever-growing list of things that I always thought I would never spend money on.<br />
<br />
a. Computers: Couldn't imagine spending over $500, ended up spending $1500+ on just the tower.<br />
b. Watches: Couldn't imagine spending over $10, ended up spending thousands on several watches.<br />
c. Didn't see why I needed more than a $50 camera, ended up buying two mirrorless ILS cameras and am now planning on buying a Sony Alpha A7.<br />
<br />
And now this.<br />
<br />
<b>4. 3D Hubs</b><br />
(Shameless plug)<br />
<br />
I started a 3D hub a while ago, just as a way to earn a tiny bit of cash on the side, but I've found that it's actually quite fun as well. If you live in the DC/VA/MD area, check me out! I offer very reasonable prices and generally try to complete orders and have them shipped out within a day of payment.<br />
<br />
<a data-3dhubs-widget="button" data-color="light" data-hub-id="78222" data-size="small" data-text="Order a 3D Print" data-type="orderWidget" href="https://www.3dhubs.com/washington/hubs/karl/3dprint">Order a 3D Print</a>
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That's it for now. I've working on a few more things and am excited to share them as they complete.</div>
Karl Zhaohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10644800039502221171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4909510963619717697.post-86820565872785907922015-09-15T16:53:00.002-07:002015-09-20T11:41:08.449-07:003D printing with nylon trimmer line!So I've seen a few people try this before (Credit goes to <a href="http://www.tridimake.com/2014/01/how-to-3d-print-nylon-and-trimmer-line.html">this article</a> for having the most information on it I've seen) and decided to try it for myself. Not much to lose on my end, maybe a few nozzles if I'm unlucky, right?<br />
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I happened to have this lying around, and the 0.065" diameter happens to be fairly close to 1.75mm filament.<br />
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The stuff has been sitting on a shelf in our laundry room for about a year now, and being as impatient as I am I just took it straight to the printer, no drying whatsoever.<br />
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It extrudes! Quite enthusiastically, too; even after I manually retracted I still got maybe 15mm of ooze.<br />
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I went ahead and cleared my painter's tape off of my bed, covered it in 3DSystem's glass glue (don't judge, I had access to it and I figured it would be better than glue stick), and went straight into printing the <a href="http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1346/#files">ASTMD-IV strength test by moonj</a>.<br />
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Slic3r ettings:<br />
Nozzle at 230, bed at 80C, bare glass w/ Cube glue.<br />
100% infill, 6 perimeters, 4 top and bottom layers.<br />
40mm/s infill and perimeter, 30mm/s outer perimeter.<br />
15mm brim.<br />
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It sticks!<br />
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It prints!<br />
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It finishes!<br />
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Towards the end I started getting quite a lot of crackling coming from the nozzle, probably because I didn't dry it in any way.<br />
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Initial impressions:<br />
1. The stuff is really flexible. It's almost more of what I expected Ninjaflex to feel like rather than nylon.<br />
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2. Printing wasn't hard at all. I didn't get any warping (yet) and bed adhesion was quite strong on the Cube glue.<br />
3. It's quite fluid compared to PLA when melted, meaning lots of stringing. The geometry of the thing I printed doesn't really give much of an opportunity for stringing, but I expect if you have multiple parts or multiple structures you're going to have quite a cobweb.<br />
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Of course, being so thin didn't make it really representative of nylon's properties, which is what I was after. I then decided to print the <a href="http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:291352">dayan zhanchi center cap by srepmub</a>, scaled up 200%, simply because I had the model and it's a simple, solid geometric shape.<br />
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Also not a particularly hard print, but the raised tab deformed into a single blob because of how runny the melted nylon was. This time, though, I did get rather extreme warping:<br />
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It seems the thickness of the piece does help keep it quite a bit more rigid. While I can still flex it a fair amount, it takes a lot more force to do so and it doesn't come anywhere near the edge-touching-edge bend I was able to get on the other piece.<br />
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The amount of detail and "cleanliness" I can achieve with this material is nowhere near what I can do with PLA. Kind of expected, seeing as this wasn't at all designed for 3D printing.<br />
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Overall, I have quite high hopes for this material. Most of the tests I've seen done with this are more of the "this is possible" type rather than the "this is going to be one of my primary filaments" type, but for me I easily see this becoming one of my favorite filaments to print with and possibly replacing ABS for me outright. There are issues I will have to iron out, including the warping, stringing, and humidity, but once those are done this could be just as easy as PLA or any other standard filament.<br />
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(I will try Taulman nylons at some point. I'm sure they'll result in better parts, better finish, and easier printing. Right now, though, I just can't justify the price and would rather stick to this since, after all, it is still nylon.)<br /><br />Update 9/20/2015: This stuff is TOUGH. Some of my friends and I spent an entire day trying to find various ways to destroy it, including bending it and stepping on it, bending it and clamping it in a vise, using two vises to tear it apart, etc. Nothing. Its tensile strength is superb, and because of how soft it is, it springs right back into shape no matter what we do. In the end, we finally took a saw to it and sawed it in half, but I doubt that would happen in a normal usage case.<br />
<br />Karl Zhaohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10644800039502221171noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4909510963619717697.post-30143022394308792222015-09-14T15:50:00.001-07:002015-09-15T18:46:38.076-07:00Current state of affairs, 3D printingSince 3D printing is my most current phase and the one I'm in deepest right now, this blog will probably focus on 3D printing for the next few months. For the time being, I'll probably just be repeating what's already been done, maybe with a few of my thoughts, tips, and tricks added in.<br />
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This is my rather standard acrylic Prusa i3 (currently printing parts for my new 3D scanner. Upcoming post?)<br />
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It sits about 6 feet away from my desk, which is a bit annoying but very convenient. It has a standard Mega+RAMPS 1.4 board with A4988 drivers, and runs Marlin and is controlled by Repetier Host on the host computer. The extruder is a Chinese MK7.<br />
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I'm fairly happy with print quality and resolution. 0.1mm-0.25mm layers are a breeze, and it can manage 0.3mm layers with some slight gaps between layers sometimes. [insert 0.1mm image here]<br />
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It can go fairly fast, up to 80mm/s while extruding, but at that point I get some vibration and start getting wavy lines.<br />
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The bane of this printer is any overhang. For some reason the overhang performance, with PLA at least, is <i>horrible</i>, no matter what kind of fan duct I attempt to use on it. And I mean actually horrible, where 45 degree overhangs start to curl and deform.<br />
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Sometimes it makes me wish I had an Ultimaker. I might do something about that soon...<br />
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My second printer is a 90% finished P3Steel that for some reason I can't get the motivation to put the finishing touches on. (For reference, even though P3Steel is a fork of the Prusa i3, I'm going to call the old one the Prusa i3 and this one the P3Steel.)<br />
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It uses a RUMBA controller instead of RAMPS, but also runs Marlin. It's going to be set up with dual Bowden extruders and Chinese E3D hotends. Motion on this machine is beautiful: the XY axes are nearly silent and completely vibration-free, and the TR8*8 leadscrew driven Z axis, as opposed to the standard M5 threaded rod, achieves speeds of up to 12mm/s. Compared to my M5 Prusa i3 that manages 1.5mm/s max and so takes 2 full minutes to home from Z=180, this feels like a bullet.</div>
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No idea about the print quality, obviously, but I hope it will be a bit better than my Prusa i3.<br />
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Filament wise, I use both Hatchbox filament from Amazon and Inland filament from Microcenter. Both perform quite well in extrusion: I've <i>never</i> had a filament-related jam, in the 150 hours or so I've printed with each brand. The Hatchbox filament is wound a bit better, and for whatever reason performs a tiny bit better on organic shapes whereas the Inland filament performs better on geometrical shapes.</div>
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One thing to note about these filaments: their price. Hatchbox filament comes in at $23/kg + shipping (USD), and the Inland filament astonishingly comes in at just $15/kg, bought directly in-store (or on microcenter.com if you don't live near one.) I don't see anyone being able to obtain filament for cheaper unless they extruded it themselves.<br />
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That's all I can think of for now. If anything comes up I'll update this blog.</div>
Karl Zhaohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10644800039502221171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4909510963619717697.post-39294447880777812882015-09-13T01:35:00.000-07:002015-11-21T17:00:59.682-08:00So, I'm actually blogging.Yeah.<br />
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I've had this "blog" page for a few years now, I believe, and I've never bothered even to look twice at it. So why now?<br />
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Well, as background, I'm a [now redacted] old kid with the thought patterns of a 9-year old. Specifically, I go through phases, in the way that a younger kid might like Transformers one year, Legos the next, etc. except for me it's usually stuff that's a bit more mature and often having to do with tech. And the thing is, I need a way to keep track.<br />
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Also, I'm apparently quite annoying with the thoughts and ideas I post to social media sites. :P<br />
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This blog will serve the dual purpose of both letting me keep track of what phase I'm in, what I do, and how I change, as well as hopefully letting me share the few meaningful ideas I have with the world.<br />
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Here are the phases I can recall, starting after I graduated from the plastic action figures and cheap building blocks I played with as a kid. (I only call these phases because I got <i>really</i> into them: I have thoughts and ideas floating around all the time, but most of them I just never get into):<br />
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<ul>
<li>(2011-2013...) Speedsolving, or the competitive solving of Rubik's cubes and similar puzzles. Hobby died when my school's competitive speedsolving team died.</li>
<li>(2011- ) Gaming, specifically in action-adventure games and FPS's. This interest has gradually tapered off, but I still play games often.</li>
<li>(2012- ) Computer hardware, construction, overclocking, and modding. Still love it, search for upgrades to my computer every day.</li>
<li>(2012) Bladed weapons, including knives, swords, and tomahawks. </li>
<li>(2013) Ocarina...??? (Stemmed from LoZ OOT, of course)</li>
<li>(Late 2013) Around this time I had a few weeks where the only thing on my mind was how to convince my parents to allow me to buy a 3D printer. Never did happen until I ended up buying one myself.</li>
<li>(2014- ) Military. Went to two military camps, still consider it a possible (although somewhat unlikely) career path.</li>
<li>(2014) Airsoft, and airsoft mechanics.</li>
<li>(2014) Firearms, and firearm mechanics. Stemmed from airsoft, but has since developed independently of airsoft.</li>
<li>(2014 -) Somewhat high-end cameras. I now own a Lumix G5 that my father procured for just $150, an Olympus XZ-1 that my father procured for just $110 (at the time it was still good), and am looking into making a joint investment with my father in a Sony Alpha A7.</li>
<li>(2015 - ) Watches, and watch mechanics. Recasing watches is fun.</li>
<li>(2015 - ) What I can describe as my most current phase, 3D printing (again), Reprap, and a bunch of other stuff relating to CNC. The difference is, this time I actually have a 3D printer! </li>
</ul>
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<br />
(Possible future phases)<br />
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<ul>
<li>Hobby electronics, i.e. the stuff that is usually associated with Arduinos, breakout sensors, and little servo motors. Robots are pretty fun.</li>
<li>Audio. Never really heard high-end audio until recently, so I didn't know what I was missing out on, but ever since I did I've wanted a set of nicer headphones.</li>
<li>Casting (probably with urethane plastics). 3D printing is awesome, but the parts are just so <i>weak.</i></li>
<li>Machining. Same reason as above, though it would take a lot more in resources to get started.</li>
<li>Leatherworking. I actually brought this up as a joke to a friend, but since then I've realized it might be something I'd actually enjoy.</li>
</ul>
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Did I miss anything?<br />
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I'm looking forward to having a free outlet to keep track of and share my thoughts. Hopefully this blog might actually prove of some usefulness, whether it's to me or anyone else.</div>
Karl Zhaohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10644800039502221171noreply@blogger.com0Maryland, USA39.0457549 -76.641271235.8786424 -81.8048452 42.2128674 -71.477697200000009