For what is worth, Cliff, I really like my Bambu A1Mini. At less than $300, it is the smallest printer they offer. But it fits well in my small apartment and keeps me from printing anything too big!
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I was gifted a FDM printer because the original owner upgraded and it was outdated…
I’ll take free stuff even if it’s only a few years old.
I’m sure at some point my 2k resin printer will no longer have support or parts so I’ll have to upgrade.
I would recommend against getting an Anycubic. Their support is abysmal. I’m an Elegoo fan myself.
I’ve had an X1C since Black Friday last year. It works well for my purposes with few screw-ups.
Screw-ups are most typically caused by poor bed adhesion. The print will cool and pull away from the table often rising in the process and then obstructing/misaligning the print head which then ends up printing garbage.
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Todd,
Have you tried Magigoo? It is heaps better than glue sticks.
I haven’t needed acetone or isopropyl alcohol to clean the bed since using it. It can be easily washed off the bed too, so you won’t get build up.
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So I have 6 Bambu printers now, 4 X1Cs and 2 X1Es. Reliable and hard working devices. Mine run more or less around the clock supporting my fabrication shop.
Also, lots of railroading items for the garden.
Happy to offer advice I’ve rebuilt and repaired them a little, but about as close to an appliance as exists on the market right now.
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Pat, that says a lot that 6 FDM printers can work around the clock, without your constant intervention. Great to hear.
I am also a Elegoo Centauri Carbon guy.
For $299.00 you get a core XY printer almost as good as the the Bambu P1S unit. The 4 color add-on will be coming soon.
The prints are excellent right on of the box.
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Coming from Enders it was a game changer. They require a little babysitting but my print success rate outweighs my failures dramatically. Some regular maintenance is needed here and there such as greasing and cleaning. The biggest disadvantage this they’re a closed ecosystem which kind of flies in the face of the ethos of 3D printing but hey they work.
Oh, I also never use the AMS. Color switches are just a novelty for me so they are essentially overpriced storage racks and I’ve had two of them break One I fixed one I was unable to (or just haven’t had the wherewithal to do it). The color changing takes way too long and the majority of what’s coming off our printers is handed off to paint.
I’ve heard similar, and seen the huge amount of waste. Two things about the AMS are interesting though. First, I understand they humidify the filament… Is that acutally helpful?
Second, I’ve seen some simply amazing control panels done, with the lettering in yellow / red and the panel in black. The color-changing was all done in the first few layers, so the waste wasn’t enormous. Since the letters are fused into the surrounding black, they can’t rub off or anything.
Interesting that the hot end is hot enough for carbon fiber filament.
Hines, just a matter of having the bed really clean and set at the right temperature. I use Goo Gone followed by dish soap and that works well.
As for the AMS, it has other purposes than just changing color.
It retracts the filament at the end of the job so that it doesn’t just sit in the hot ends, melt, and clog.
If a spool runs out, it will automatically select another spool to continue the job without interruption. No need to ever try to fuse two rolls together to use that last bit.
It does not “humidify” the filament, but rather dehumidifies it using internal packets. There are also aftermarket internal driers that can be fitted.
Color changes need not waste a bunch of filament if the colors are structured/restricted to layers, rather than trying to spot it in at multiple places on any given layer.
The waste is in the purging of the existing color and introduction of the new color.
I don’t have an AMS(?) Cliff but got a separate dryer. I did some PETG filament that had been sitting for 6 mths and the stringing pretty much disappeared on the next print - same settings. We are 40% - 60% RH most of the year as a data point.
Also interested if others have noticed a difference with a drier.
Cheers
N
Yeah, I meant dehumidify, oops. I remember your dryer, your prints have improved with that, right?
I use a drier with ASA. For good results, YOU NEED IT!
You need to watch out for driers. Mine has metal rollers that the spool sits on. At 65 degree C (highest temp setting), the spool started to deform where it sits on the rollers from the excessive heat.
I put heat shrink tube on the rollers and run ASA at 60 degrees for 24 hours or more and have not had any more problems. The recommended drying temp for ASA is actually 70 degrees C.
BTW, I have opened a spool of filament from Amazon and physically poured water out of the pouch! I wiped it dry and let it sit out and tried it anyway and the stringing was absolutely unreal! It got sent back!
BTW, if you intend for your project to be outside, ASA is what you want/need to be printing with, But it is not easy and needs a bit more heat both at the head and the bed. Adjacent “strands” do not fuse well and you really need to “iron” the piece solid.
And, the chamber needs to be enclosed to retain the heat. I find that ASA prints best at a chamber temp of ~50-55C and some printers won’t even start to print it until the chamber reaches 40C.
Yup, sure did.
I can feed straight out of the drier into the printer with a bit more hardware. That’s a next winter job. Along with an enclosure…
My constraint is still a cheap Creality, but I’ll try and wring as much as I can out of it.
Cheers
N
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I’ve done some cool heraldry for my RR with color changing. The issue is not waste it’s just usually too time consuming for production needs. We often work under very tight deadlines and it’s faster and usually prettier a result to hand the prints off to the paint department.
But the .02 nozzle and some color changing can yield neat results.
Edit: some examples
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Another use for AMS is to use water-soluable filament for your supports.
You sound like my ex wife!