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[TheBoy]

To reiterate the hobby level stuff, and the faffing, after hitting send on the last message, I smelt that special pixie smoke, and looked at mine - which was printing of some reels - and its let all the smoke out of the heatbed cable. Again.  So when it finishes, I will have to look at repairing that - I bet it will be at least 2 of the crimps in the connector are crap. Again.  But I bet that cable has been on a year or so.

Last time I looked, only available from China.  So I need to get one ordered, and find a way to connect it in the meantime...  ...or if I can't, consider buying one of those £60 ones I mentioned if I can find one in the EU, and nick the heatbed cable

Plan B could be to unpack the resin printer that arrived months ago, but due to CBA, the box hasn't been opened.


My printer gets so much use, I dont think I could easily live without it for 4-6 weeks

[TheBoy]

She tells me it's a Colido compact and cost £180.

Yeah, that type falls in a strange category of almost consumer, much like the XYZ and so on.  Being so small, they can naturally take out a lot of the stresses and play to make it "almost" hands-off just works, but at the expense of a tiny print area, which severely limits its usefulness.

Many in that bracket also have to use the manufacturers own supplies, which (like consumer inkjet printers) can make consumables very expensive. Not sure about the Colido...  ...I do use their generic ABS plastic though. Also, most are limited to PLA only, which may or may not be an issue.

[TheBoy]

Oops! I think I've just pressed the button on a 3D printer.

You'll be buying a drone next

Its far better to make them .  That said, I do have a couple of DJI's attempts, the last as something to play with during lockdown (and the other because its under 250g, so none of those silly, pointless CAA hurdles), and I cant fail to be impressed by the footage, mostly due to the gimbals they use.

But if you build them, you decide how its put together, and with what features, plus its more configurable.

[Kevin Wood]

Oops! I think I've just pressed the button on a 3D printer.

You know it makes sense

What did you go for?

An Ender 3 Pro.

[Kevin Wood]

Well, this is a steep learning curve.

Lessons learnt so far:

• 3kg of PLA doesn't sound like a lot when you're ordering it online but you end up with a mahoosive reel that's unmanageable.
• Thinking "I know, I'll wind a smaller quantity onto an old cable drum" is a spectacularly bad idea.

[Andy B]

Well, this is a steep learning curve.

Lessons learnt so far:

 ....

• Thinking "I know, I'll wind a smaller quantity onto an old cable drum" is a spectacularly bad idea.

 

[Kevin Wood]

Well, this is a steep learning curve.

Lessons learnt so far:

 ....

• Thinking "I know, I'll wind a smaller quantity onto an old cable drum" is a spectacularly bad idea.

 

Next project is to make a holder for the enormous reel as it feeds into the printer. I wonder if I've got an old front suspension knuckle in the garage. That ought to be man enough. [/list]

[Andy B]

....
Next project is to make a holder for the enormous reel as it feeds into the printer.  .....

you could always 3D print one ..... 

[TheBoy]

Well, this is a steep learning curve.

Lessons learnt so far:

• 3kg of PLA doesn't sound like a lot when you're ordering it online but you end up with a mahoosive reel that's unmanageable.
• Thinking "I know, I'll wind a smaller quantity onto an old cable drum" is a spectacularly bad idea.

Yeah, 1kg is much more manageable.

If not used for long periods, put reel in seal container with some desiccant packs - PLA goes brittle when it stucks in the moisture.


I actually unpacked my resin one 2 or 3 weeks ago, its been sat in the box it arrived in for about 3 months

[TheBoy]

The time has come to replace the Anet, which has printed 5.2km of PLA, or about 16 1kg reels.

Obviously, this been me, the replacement ordered last weekend from a UK warehouse has been marked as dispatched, but the courier is saying they haven't received it yet.  So I guess "UK" means "EU" or even further afield, and it is only tracked once its in the UK.

[Viral_Jim]

If not used for long periods, put reel in seal container with some desiccant packs - PLA goes brittle when it stucks in the moisture.

Does this apply after it's been printed, or only when it's in its raw form?

[deviator]

I'm surprised someone isn't printing out those little bushes that your Vauxhall door stay uses.

[Nick W]

I'm surprised someone isn't printing out those little bushes that your Vauxhall door stay uses.

Why, when they're so cheap?


And if they weren't then it's a simple lathe job using a few pence of material.

[Migv6 le Frog Fan]

NLA from Vx I believe.

[TheBoy]

If not used for long periods, put reel in seal container with some desiccant packs - PLA goes brittle when it stucks in the moisture.

Does this apply after it's been printed, or only when it's in its raw form?

raw form.

I'm sure once printed, there will be some issues over time (maybe UV etc?), but not had any issues with printed stuff