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Saturday, Dec 16 2017

I’ve succumbed to the desire for a 3D printer in spite of several years insisting I wasn’t interested.

It is a Creality CR-10S – the “upgraded” version of the CR-10. Here it is printing extensions for the too small knobs used to adjust the bed height and level. I printed one to test it would fit. It did, so now I’m printing three more. The job will be done in another 5 or 6 hours.

I’ve only had the printer a few days and am still learning its ins and outs. The printer isn’t all that hard to use. It took some time to try out various sofware packages that prepare a design for printing and settle on one. Now I need to learn how each of the eleventy-seven parameters that go into preparing a design for printing work.

Right now I prepare a print on my computer and transfer it to an SD card. The printer reads the data off the SD card to print the item. The micro-SD cards used by the printer are a pain to removing and install. To eliminate moving SD cards back and forth I’ve ordered a Raspberry Pi which will run OctoPrint to allow me to control the printer over WiFi from my desktop, tablet, or phone.

Sunday, Dec 23 2018

I’ve had my printer for just over a year. I’ve made many changes to the printer hardware (and firmware) over that time. Clicking through the “next” links will show the progression of changes mixed in with “I printed this” pages. Several times I changed something only to later change it again; incremental improvements. Here is my CR-10S configuration as of this date.

• updated capacitors on mother board for better voltage regulation.
• replaced most of the fans inside the control box for quieter operation. This turned out to be a waste of time/money. The control box is still very noisy.
• using current Marlin firmware. I track the bugfix-1.1.x branch with CR-10S, EZABL, and SNAFU specific patches applied.
• replaced the knob on the control box with a variation of the knobs found on Prusa machines for easier scrolling through long menus.
• placed dampers on the X- and Y-axis stepper motors.
• replaced the (not flat) glass build plate with a (flat) 12x12 mirror tile from Lowe’s.
• using a different spool holder to feed filament.
• installed EZABL for automatic bed leveling.
• replaced the extruder with the Bondtech BMG unit.
• replaced the hot end with an E3D V6 so I can print with hotter temperatures.
• replaced the part cooling fan and duct (several times).
• using printed vibration damping feet.

I use OctoPrint on a Raspberry Pi to control the printer from my desktop machine. My favorite slicer is SLIC3R Prusa Edition. I most often use the printer to create custom sized boxes to organize shelves, drawers, tool boxes, etc. I print using both PLA and PETG. I have not yet tried flexible filaments.

 

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