Creality 3D For Christmas – Impressions so Far

[not done it yetParticipant @notdoneityet]

Dave,

Same as Ian re the machine. Easy to set up and worked faultlessly first time – and second time as well. I was impressed with the two cubes compared to some of the so-called 'reviewers' on the net.

I wish to retain the white 1/2kg sample for useful items. I will soon have a choice of white, buff, red and blue PLA filaments but my wife wants possibly 400g, perhaps more, of small buff items printed (code is on thingiverse for those, so should not be too much of a problem).

So next usage will likely be checking that the blue and red filaments behave as expected.

Edited By not done it yet on 30/01/2020 15:47:43

[Gerard O’TooleParticipant @gerardotoole60348]

Hi, just new to 3D printing too. I have used the PLA filament that came with the printer, Ender 3, but I find it a little brittle. I wonder if anyone has any experience of using PLA-Plus , which is apparently less brittle?

[not done it yetParticipant @notdoneityet]

The Sovol filament certainly does not seem too brittle – can bend between fingers to about 45 degrees before it breaks. White is perhaps a little less than 45, but no problem at all.

Certainly hope its OK as we now have red, white and blue! Marble – grey, buff(?) – is by Eryone. That is much more brittle but, until now, I’ve not noticed the ‘brittleness characteristic’ as a possible problem.

I shall wait until I’m more experienced before experimenting with pricier filaments – and will likely avoid the really cheapies unless with a reliable recommendation.

[Gerard O’TooleParticipant @gerardotoole60348]

The filaments I bought were from Flashforge. I just noticed they felt harder than I expected but I have had no real problems. Like you, I will experiment a bit first before I try any expensive filaments. I am just looking at YouTube for instructions! So far it is all working okay and it is definitely an interesting technology.

[jimmy bParticipant @jimmyb]

If PLA snaps when bending to 180°, its no good.

Jim

[not done it yetParticipant @notdoneityet]

Posted by jimmy b on 02/02/2020 19:47:52:

If PLA snaps when bending to 180°, its no good.

Jim

Over what radius? They manage it OK on the spools.🙂

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

Ok I just joined the Ender crowd and printed another 30 tooth mod 1 gear using the as supplied slicer with default settings.

The brown one is the original injection moulded one, the grey the one on the Ultimaker, and red still on the Ender magnetic sheet. They mesh together well but the original is possibly just a little thinner on the teeth as it 'fills' a printed one's tooth gap but the two printed ones when pushed together do not quite go full depth
With 20% infill it was looking a bit empty as it printed but finished with a flat top of course hiding whatever was inside, or not inside and it feels strong enough. The hole was about 4 thou undersize using callipers which isn't very accurate. To ease it down I wrapped sandpaper round a rod, put it in the gear and ran it against another gear in the transmission while running the lathe probably at about 200 rpm. It quickly took it down to size and I could feel the gears were meshing smoothly.
The worst bit, a bit worse on this latest one was the key slot which seemed a bit tighter than the grey one. A few seconds with a file sorted it.

The Ender kit. I checked a youtube video from about a year ago and the packaging had changed ever so slightly but assembly was the same and quite quick. Except for an initial delay. I found the levelling screws just spun – not secured into the plate. Saw one other mention of this on the web and rather wonder how many people don't realise they have a problem, Anyway a bit of epoxy, a washer and a nut secured them I hope adequately. The washer was necessary as the thread does not allow the nut to go right down.
The kit had some spare nozzles, spare feed tube ends and a little brass bush with no obvious use. I think it might be an insert for an extra filament guide that the youtube video showed being printed and fitted.

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

Continuing with gears.
Next to the original plastic gear with 20mm dia steel boss is a printed 1 Module 20 tooth gear with integral bush and even the key though that needed a few strokes with a file to fit. An existing gear went straight onto the bush. It certainly feels tough enough.
The 20 is only used for fine feed reduction mated with a 75 in the gears provided in the train 30/75+20/100. So I have been thinking I could print a 19 instead to avoid being an exact division of the 100 and make it integral with say a 91 again to spread the wear and make the feed even finer. They would be no use for screwcutting just for the feed but I can afford to do that if they print easily.

Then I went up a jump to a test piece for Drummond 14DP 63 tooth printed as 3 edge layers which pretty much fills the tooth with solid plastic and 20% fill for the body. I stopped it doing the top layer to see what the infill looked like. It has some funnies in the infill pattern due to the slicer (Creality's simple bundled version of Cura) and I had wondered about the possibility of filling the matrix with car body filler. But it feels strong enough and not having the top layer may weaken it more than the filler would strengthen it. Another possibility is minimal spokes for hub placement and an aluminium sheet disc to make up the body.
(the Lego-like holes are for mounting screws for a strength test)

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Posted by Gerard O'Toole on 02/02/2020 14:27:21:

Hi, just new to 3D printing too. I have used the PLA filament that came with the printer, Ender 3, but I find it a little brittle. I wonder if anyone has any experience of using PLA-Plus , which is apparently less brittle?

Brittleness of the filaments usually means that the PLA has absorbed water from the air, the moisture can spoil print quality as well (but not as much as with nylon). It's often just he length unwound off the reel.

Keep filament in sealed containers, it can be dried by keeping in a really warm dry place for an extended period.

Neil

[Enough!Participant @enough]

Posted by Neil Wyatt on 12/03/2020 18:37:16:

Keep filament in sealed containers, it can be dried by keeping in a really warm dry place for an extended period.

… or using a filament dryer presumably.

Does that un-brittle it, or is it a question of once brittle the damage is done?

[not done it yetParticipant @notdoneityet]

The problem with moisture absorbed by the filament is that it vapo(u)ises at nozzle temperatures, creating printing quality issues. Driving it out by careful drying removes those potential problems.

I would expect different filaments to behave differently with regard to brittleness (PLA is bad in this respect). I would guess that nylon filaments are hopeless if allowed to absorb lots of moisture, but fishing lines still work OK?

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Posted by Bandersnatch on 12/03/2020 21:34:01:

Posted by Neil Wyatt on 12/03/2020 18:37:16:

Keep filament in sealed containers, it can be dried by keeping in a really warm dry place for an extended period.

… or using a filament dryer presumably.

Does that un-brittle it, or is it a question of once brittle the damage is done?

Yes it's reversible.

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Posted by not done it yet on 13/03/2020 11:04:06:

The problem with moisture absorbed by the filament is that it vapo(u)ises at nozzle temperatures, creating printing quality issues. Driving it out by careful drying removes those potential problems.

I would expect different filaments to behave differently with regard to brittleness (PLA is bad in this respect). I would guess that nylon filaments are hopeless if allowed to absorb lots of moisture, but fishing lines still work OK?

Nylon bubbles and fizzes, I've never hd PLA that bad.

Nylon fishing line would be the same, although it 'works' in water it still absorbs plenty.

[not done it yetParticipant @notdoneityet]

Nylon fishing line would be the same, although it 'works' in water it still absorbs plenty.

Point was that nylon fishing line doesn’t go brittle when immersed in water🙂.

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Posted by not done it yet on 13/03/2020 13:05:48:

Nylon fishing line would be the same, although it 'works' in water it still absorbs plenty.

Point was that nylon fishing line doesn’t go brittle when immersed in water🙂.

Nylon filament doesn't go brittle either, just prints like a dog chewed it…

Neil

[not done it yetParticipant @notdoneityet]

YES, hence what I posted earlier. Seem to be going round in circles!

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