Hi James, one little idea that may help eliminate that last 1mm of warp you mentioned in the ABS-GF part is to cut a ~1" square of aluminum foil and put it under the removable plate at the center of the bed (or centered under the part). The mesh has no problem compensating for the slight curvature we introduce to the plate this way, and that slight bend often seems enough to make a part feel absolutely 100% flat when testing the corners on a surface. I have had pretty good luck getting rid of that really frustrating teeny-tiny see-saw effect on parts off the MK3S (tent enclosed only) to the point where I pretty much just leave the foil under there all the time. I even stacked 3-4 pieces of aluminum (successively smaller/pyramid style) underneath some troublesome ASA parts and was pleased with the result
I've had great success with ASA on the X1C with this tip : "Raise the bed temp to 110c and lower the nozzle to 250c, half all speed settings in the slicer, then run the print in silent mode, and you can print flat parts as large as the bed with no warping." I also covered the printer with a blanket, and preheated for an hour.
I have a Creality K1 Max and print ASA with input shaping at high speed just fine with normal settings. I really wonder why Bambu Lab printers struggle with such a docile filament? I hear this kind of thing time after time. I won’t own one because of it. It’s just weird.
@@slipspectrum9253 Recently caught the Bambu Lab fanboys with their pants down showing how they have to tune their printers just like any other older gen printer if they don't stay in the narrow window of filaments that have already been thoroughly profiled by Bambu. Up until now all I saw was that they are completely infallible in all aspects and all anybody ever does is hit the "print" button on them. I suspect if I fed my trusty dusty Polymaker ASA into a new Bambu I would have to take a few weeks tuning it and then it would start to rock and roll like I do with my "completely obsolete" Ender 3.
I ran a large NC grinder for years. It had only one mpg and the selector like you have. I had no problems with that and did some very weird setups. What I would recommend is putting a pot on your panel to control table speed. That way you can really ease into things slowly and cut it back fast without having to worry about a fake button. A physical control over table speed is really something you want because you will be looking at the part and not the screen. For touch offs just get some really thin motor winding paper. The stuff I used was about .0003” thick. Great for shimming out of flat parts and fixing squareness. For the record, I machined and built air bearings. Much grinding. Much precision.
I love the fact that @ROBRENZ is such a down to earth, humble guy, yet the community has such a huge respect for him. It's a real privilege to live in a time where all this information is so freely put out there for anyone who wants to learn.
I'm of the opinion that respect (beyond a level of basic decency) should never be given, always earned and ROBRENZ has if anything, overpaid his dues. Like James said, if Robyn speaks you are well advised to listen, that advice has been hard earned, is being offered to you for free and only a fool rejects a deal that good. If you have an interest in machining with precision then I've yet to find a channel that comes even close to the gold that you'll find there.
Sometimes PLA is just the best option. Your control panel won't see any significant stresses or exposure to heat so it will likely hold up in the long term and will print perfectly without all the shrinkage and warping associated with engineering materials.
@@pmcquay1 I admit I am biased against PLA myself. ABS, Nylon, PC, etc are all amazing materials but a lot of the time PLA is just the best choice if it doesn't need to withstand more extreme conditions.
@@shinji2k honestly, same. It's easy to think "this is the stuff people print dust collectors with", but it turns out its actually pretty strong with just a couple caveats.
@@minted3d650 shrug. On my printer abs and asa both print exactly the same. Its in a sealed and insulated enclosure. I can print abs in it and not smell anything 2 feet away. I've also printed hips, and despite having basically no colour choices it prints really well. Ive done polycarbonate and nylon, which are both awesome, but completely unnecessary for most things (nylon was for automotive underhood parts, pc was mostly experimentation). Most household and garage stuff I need can be printed just fine in pla or petg. I dont print much abs anymore.
@@minted3d650 oh I know. I actually have voc and particulate measuring hardware in the enclosure. I intended to build a vent fan that would vent all of the bad stuff outside my house after a print, but I stopped printing a lot of abs before I got up the motivation to do that. Personally, I dont have a whole lot of problem with abs fumes, but Id be interested if you have actual studies on the harmful effects?
Thank you for posting about ABS-GF. I've never tried it and picked up a role after seeing your video and it solved all of my issues in using ASA and ABS.
X-Max3, 65C chamber, 270C nozzle, 105C bed, 0.6mm nozzle, 0.22mm layer height, 0.63mm line width, 25mm/s first layer, 40mm/s on the rest, PC-CF. I've printed dozens of parts similar to that with zero warping and a beautiful finish.
@@jamesm3268 eh, with a 0.6mm nozzle that translates closer to 80mm/s in 0.4mm terms. :) The slower you run things, the better the interlayer adhesion and the less warping force you apply as you build up the layers (to a point, anyway).
Tip about printing with ABS: keep the part warm at 50 degrees Celsius during printing. I have a crappy printer and I have made a cartonboard enclosure to keep the inside warm. Also pump up the bed heating to 80 degrees. The bed heat will keep it all hot. Close all holes with tape. I am printing ABS successfully since a couple of years. No distortion, no warp.
+1 ABS loves heat. Hot chamber, print hot and letting it cool slowly ABS is far superior. I printed ABS strap clamps and they hold vises to a milling machine. Lot of bad ABS advise everywhere
Hey James, nice results! I'll have to start using that filament, that's usually the look I'm going for. Also, thanks for the TWO mentions, ha! Nice job.
Some thoughts: 1) The font(s): To my old eyes, all the digits run together. I would use a larger point size, or maybe a lot better, look for an expanded font with more space between the letters. Or apply some negative kerning. I have no problems with the X/Y/Z, though I do wish the text had just a bit more contrast with the background. But what you have is most likely workable. 2) Easier use with single encoder: Maybe replace the rotary axis switch with three buttons, one per axis. Remember the feed rate per axis for say the last 5 minutes, then drop to 0 mm for safety and force a manual feed speed set. Add a SET button to the feed rate knob, so you select the rate and then punch it in for the current axis. You could make it 'safer' by requiring both the SET button and the axis button pressed at the same time, but I think that would shortly drive you crazy. 3) Multi-axis with a single encoder: (I'm not real fond of this idea, but...) Add a pair of zero-center momentary switches for the X and Y axis. Or maybe a joystick switch. This will let you bump the associated axis at some reasonably slow/safe rate while using the encoder to set Z height. Probably disable the switch for X or Y if the encoder is enabled on that axis.
I have to agree about the font. The rectangular zeroes and straight ones make it really hard to read, especially since you need to count the zeroes. The brackets make it even worse. Pretty much any other font would work better here. For metric at least, I'd prefer the steps in microns. (100, 10, 1, 0.1) is easier to distinguish than (0.1, 0.01, 0.001, 0.0001). I can see it being more confusing to someone, who's used to thinking in hundredths, though. And I have no idea what the imperial equivalent would be.
@@sebastianjezierski8450 In imperial units for a surface grinder you would normally be dealing in thousandths and tenths, that is ten-thousandths. A thousandth is 25.4 microns, so a tenth 2.54 microns. I didn't pause the video to study the markings, but my impression was it was marked in fractions of an inch. That actually works for us imperial folk, at least with rounder zeros. The main important units are .001 and .0001, and it is really easy to spot the three or four zeros and know what you are dealing with. With more zeros than four you have to stop and think a bit. 🙂
Just a quick message to say thanks for doing this video. I have been designing and making parts for a drone field ops case and the ABS-GF filament is making a nice job of it. Lovely surface finish, and dimensions come out fairly precise. I get a little lift at the corners of big parts, but still acceptable (like you had). You deserve one of these......
Sometimes I find 3D printing isn't the answer - I made a "box" by printing the corners then filling in the sides with flat sheet aluminium, which worked fine. Even printing each panel separately and then bolting/gluing them together might work better.
@@Coolgamertag120 1mm (~18gauge) aluminum sheet metal, the size of that front panel costs less than 2€ where I live. At $30 per 1kg that ABS print is most likely not expensive. Just an estimate though.
Yeah but for a custom size enclosure, then you’re cutting / finishing aluminum, which requires more tools and more work. IMO the real benefit of 3D printing isn’t making stuff that could be injected molded or stamped, it’s making custom versions of them without all that work.
I recently printed bunch of raspberry pi eclosures for industrial use from this material. Really love it! Easy to print and as you said: very stable. I get less than 0,1 mm of warp in 150 mm long enclosure and now im very happy how neatly it fits together with machined components. Previously these boxes were printed from ToughPLA and PETG and warping was real pain.
@Clough42 Looks amazing! And really reminds me of backlit cockpit control panels! If you ever want to make something like that: 6mm plexiglass with pockets milled into the back for embedding neon bulbs, LEDs or LED-PCBAs, then spraypainted white for light diffusion (laser reflective/proof), and spray painted black for light retention. Finally, the patterns and text is laser etched through the black paint so the text and lines light up. The font used is usually the old-school machinist font Gorton (open source: Routed-Gothic) or Futura. And finally a recommendation for a highly legible font for the display that's specially designed for safety-critical systems: the B612 and B612 Mono fonts, which are open source and tested to be used on aircraft cockpit screens.
Esun ABS+ is known for having especially shitty layer adhesion. If you have to print in abs and can't use fiber I would recommend using Fusrock ABS, I believe they are the provider of Phaetus filaments. It has pretty good layer adhesion if you print at texture PEI 110C, nozzle 260C, 200mm/s. They also don't stink as much. Although all my prints came out shiny, I've seen other users print(probably used lower nozzle temp) coming out matte.
Regular ABS or ABS GF large ears at all corners. You can design ears to break away easily. Use your Qidi set max chamber and run your bed at 110c. When done sand and prime and add nice flat paint or satin paint after a few layers of a sandable primer… I have had great success with these techniques. I also saw where JanTec Engineering says lay down a layer of PLA first than switch to ABS, creating a peelable layer. I also have found adding stress relieving holes can help which one can add a cap or plug in after. I have around 1000 hrs on my Qidis now just doing larger size engineering materials. I have best success with Qidi filaments and also Siraya Tech. I have also left print on warm bedcand chamber for extra couple hrs which I think helps on larger parts. I have printed many rolls of Qidi ABS 25 love it and also Siraya 10% one. ABS GF Qidi is one of my most used engineering grade filaments. Dimensional accuracy and stability are superior. It also looks amazing. Purchase multi rolls to take advantage of Qidi discount. I keep around 6-12 rolls in stock at all times of Qidi GF25. Love watching your videos, been printing Gridfinity storage non-stop on my small print farm for a few weeks now. I used your videos to help with customization. You can also cut panels into multiple parts to avoid one tall edge. I love your final product. It is great to watch these videos a third time many months later. I love the laser work you did! It needs a large Clough42 across top of cover! I would like to get a fiber type laser, not sure which brand to go with. I want to be able to mark all my tools and use on plastic also? How has the final cover held up over time?
Really interesting. I was one of the people to recommend ASA as I have had great results, but now I realise all prints were half the size of yours or smaller - on an enclosed Prusa Mk3s with a fan heater in there. I just got an X1C and can't wait to try the ABS-GF I just ordered after watching this :)
If you haven't tried them, eSUN provides filament and preset profiles for a number of platforms including the X1C. Their profile for their own ABS+ prints far better than the stock Bambu profile, but like you I still had to slow it way down.
It's funny that I find while the eSun ABS+ prints very nicely and doesn't shrink or warp much that the layer adhesion is really poor compared to other ABS I have used. I know you are talking about profiles and not the material itself but I have printed using the same esun profile with both eSun and Sunlu for example and the parts that came off using the eSun looked brilliant but were extremely brittle along the layers, the sunlu was a little shinier and didn't hide minor flaws as nicely, but it was way, way stronger.
Nice video. The laser etching is impressive. When you put in the heat set inserts, you can quickly press a piece of flat metal on the molten plastic to improve the connection and mating surface.
Your channel and Inheritance Machining have definitely became my top two favorite RUclips channels. I enjoy your Fusion Tuts you do. I learn quite a bit from them. Also I feel you do a lot of mods to your equipment and I enjoy watching that and seeing how to improve machinery!
@w.lindberg86 I've found that you have to dry it like crazy before it will print well with the default X1C settings. I dry it at 70C for a minimum of 12 hours or, preferably, for a full 24 hours before loading it into the AMS. After that, it tends to print fine although, for large models with flat bottoms that are many layers thick, the nozzle will inevitably get a large halo of filament stuck to it so you'll most likely have to pause and remove the buildup before resuming.
@vecchiarelli7928 good to know! Thanks for the tips. Maybe I'll give it another shot. Although I found the ABS-GF about a month ago from Bambu and haven't printed with anything but that since. It's my new PLA lol
@w.lindberg86 It sounds like I need to try their ABS-GF! My previous experiences with ABS on my X1C, even with preheating the chamber for half an hour with the bed set at max temperature, have been sub-par with a lot of warping and ugly surface finish. That has made me not even consider using any other ABS related filaments but seeing the surface quality in clough42's video has me thinking I may invest in an insulation kit for my X1C and a few kilos of ABS-GF for projects that don't warrant the expense of PAHT-CF or require the UV resistance of PETG-CF. I print a lot of parts for use in freshwater marine environments so water and UV resistance are both critical properties. PETG-CF gives me that and has the best surface finish for things like dash panels or corner caps while being fairly cheap at $35 per kilo for the Bambu Lab stuff. Speaking of which, it would be nice if BL started offering bulk discounts on their carbon and glass fiber reinforced filaments. I'd also love to see an ASA-GF or ASA-CF filament from Bambu Lab.
More of an observation on the part design, the mostly empty space, thin flat walls, and tall ribs for structural support, it looks like it was designed for injection molding. In my experience, with 3d printing you don't need to be so conservative with the volume of the part. You'll get a less flimsy part using beefy walls and faces, leaving only as much space as needed for the electronics. Depending on the infill pattern and percentage it doesn't use much more plastic and you can make the surface walls much thinner without compromising the structure (it also deadens sound pretty well so you don't get that hollow plastic sound when using it)
I can imagine how difficult is to teach this days were everyone is an "expert". He explains like 20 times in the video that he was looking for the looks of laser marks on ABS, because he loves how abs and laser works together. He knows he can use the AMS for the white letters. But, if you like laser quality text you need to use a .2mm nossle. It will take forever to print a big part in .2mm nossle and you will end with a weaker print. Is his machine and his design so made it how he likes. Also if you patron him, its because you are learning from him. That you find value. If you think he needs to follow your advice because you're a patron, just open your own channel because you're in another league. PLA is a good material and easy to print. I don't need a video showing me how to print PLA cause I can do that in any printer any day. What he did here was outstanding and you all should shut up and learn. I love what I learn here today. ABS is a pain in the ass and what he accomplished here is remarkable. Good work bro. Keep doing a great job.
This is gold! I always struggle with warping and try everything to handle it… greentec pro is nice but damn it warps on big things… I will build a heated chamber…
Really cool, James. I thought a strategy that would be more material agnostic might be to orient the control panel in the printer so that it is more evenly constructed over time. Perhaps one of the difficulties with the shape of your control panel is the large broad surface is built up, then eventually the printer is essentially concentrating on that one apron area. Orienting the control panel another way so that the intersection of the large broad and the apron is the pinnacle, or the valley might force the printer to spend similar time all over the part allowing consistent heat build up. I realize that would be sacrificing the smooth face you get when the control panel face is against the bed. So, plan B would be to add frangible print stacks or columns to various places in the broad area, which would force the printer away from the apron area, giving thermal balance to the whole part. Anyway, just some thought experiments.
I think my main thought on the robrenz suggestion is this: Yes, absolutely listen to such advice. And consider it. And then decide if it's applicable, what you want, etc. Because hey, "advice is a dangerous gift, even given from the wise to the wise, and all courses may run ill." So, ya know, do what you want -- just don't blithely ignore the advice, either.
You are incredible!!! Please push forward, I can’t wait the final solution, and after I will follow you as for the ELS, thanks A lot for what you doing
11:25 That is for certain, a layer shift, it was printing mid-air after it collided with the curled up edges from the large hole, then managed to 'recover' and print a mostly floating piece that was then later knocked off once leverage was enough to do so from simply printing at the top and layer stress helping tug it up into colliding again. Also when printing large parts like that, those chamfers and sharp corners are going to work against you, suggest rounding them a bit as well as a generous brim. Basically when you print something that's a 'pyramid shape' it's fine, but those chamfers are more like an inverted pyramid, each successive layer gets a mechanical leverage multiplier on the previous layers. Long solid areas with even larger long solid areas ontop of them are doomed without crazy good anchorage and temp tuning, where thermal shrinkage can't be negated. Print slow, print at the lowest reasonable temp you can, try to dial cooling in, the more stable the filament is before more gets added, the less compound stress, but at the same time you aren't trying to rob all the heat out of it, just freeze it and keep it at a uniform temperature.
Thank you a lot, you made believe that i finally dont need injection molding for now. Thanks again. the laser machine is so satisfying. And its such a good idea for marking my logo, gonna see if i can find a cheap model.
Honestly, I love ABS. I've never had warping issues that a little fine tuning couldn't cure. The parts come out beautiful, smooth and precise. I think the only material I like using more than ABS is TPU.
I’m suprised Bambu hasn’t sold out in the wake of this video already! I’ve had this exact same problem many times, and typically have modified my designs to get around it. Very excited to try this out, thanks!
Very cool to see ABS-GF solving your problem! I bought a spool of bambu lab ABS-GF and it prints beautifully, I just haven't found a use case for it yet. I mostly print smaller objects and regular ABS works just fine, but I'll be sure to use GF for larger parts. And can I just say, that laser marking is extremely satisfying to watch! I don't have a need for that (yet) but I did look up the price of the machine haha
Before reducing speeds to try and get better prints out of my abs and ASA and the like, I first did actual flow rate testing to figure out at what rate they became brittle and then I worked on reducing fans as much as I could in the profiles until overhang started to suffer. Fans on those materials can have a truly detrimental effect on them. And the X1 Carbon profiles like their fans. Mainly I brought the regular fans to pretty much zero and then I don't remember if Bambu slicer has it but in orca slicer I could set fan speeds for various overhangs and bridges independently and that's where I spent most of my time working on the fans. Not saying it would help you with such a large part is I don't remember the last time I printed a part that big without some kind of glass or carbon fiber fill but still things to think about.
11:33 I had a similar issue with my BambuLab A1 Mini on the first layer. Those markings from changes in extrusion rate persisted on the same places through different filaments with the same print file. *After re-enabling flow calibration the markings were gone*. I had it turned off since it didn't seem to make any difference - but it does after all. The strung "cords" across holes might be a different issue, but you can maybe mend the symptoms by enabling "avoid crossing walls" in the quality settings (under advanced) of Bambu Studio.
Excellent work James! This is why I absolutely love 3D printing and just making your own stuff to an extremely high standard. The laser is amazing and the fit and finish is beyond professional. One suggestion if I may? There is a bit of a hollow sound when you click the chicken head knobs around and jog the wheel. I wonder if filling that control panel with some sound deadening foam or insulation would make it feel and sound more premium.
One of the down sides to the amazing devices the pros use. Is you really have to know what your doing. I'm glad you had an in camera audio track as a fall back. Always have a back up recording when your doing something you don't want to do twice.
In my experience, PLA creeps some and then stops. I built a large structure from 80/20 with PLA connectors. I did make the connectors much more massive than the standard aluminum fittings, printed with lots of perimeters and heavy infill, but they’ve held up extremely well over the years. (I made it about 3.5 year ago.) I made some test parts before running several Kg of parts. With solid PLA under the screw heads where they’d clamp to the extrusions, I tightened everything down pretty tight (sorry, dunno torque), then came back few days later and retorqued them. Checked a week after that and they needed a bit more tightening, but since then there’s been zero movement. I think PLA can work really well for structural connectors on 80/20, you just need to design them really rugged, trading mass and area (and things like diagonals supporting right-angle brackets that’ll be under load), use plenty of plastic and re-torque the screws over about a week and after that creep won’t be an issue. (Although it could still be for situations where a connector will under a significant torsional load over time, as with a cantilevered element carrying a load at its end.) I used quite a bit of plastic making a whole bunch of connectors for a big assembly, but it was way, way, waaay cheaper than what the aluminum 80/20 parts would have cost.
Its funny, I basically went down exactly this same road with similar parts in the past week and a half too (used about 4kg from tests and failures). My solution ended up being PETG-CF, which is sorta similar. And has a nice matte finish too!
The first filament I have used in the qidi q1 pro is the abs gf25. The print quality is stunningly good. After printing pla on unheated printrbot, the result blew my mind. Absolutely no warpage that I had been so accustomed to. Your work is just stunning!
Hi James, I really enjoyed this video. One suggestion re. PETG, I think Prusa recommends using a textured sheet when printing with PETG. That (using the smooth sheet) might have been the reason it didn't print completely flat. It doesn't solve the "shiny" issue, though the texture does reduce the gloss a little, so there's that.
I absolutely hear you on the 'gripes' about ASA (it's great in some respects, but so temperamental in others, and even big differences between brands, and colors) and ABS (plus or otherwise). And I also agree on your views on ABS-GF, it's just gorgeous. And.... you can actually get it in other colors too. A chines brand, FusRock, has a lineup with black, gray, yellow, green, military green , fluorescent green, blue, purple and orange. Rather like that option. But a tip for the shrinkage of various materials: on Printables you can get the 'califlower' by Adam from Vector 3D, which helps you tune your printer and/or your slicer. Most printers have some skew, that can be adjusted via firmware. And most materials have some (even when very little) shrinkage. And the model plus the spreadsheet that comes with it allows you to calculate both, and gives you handy instructions on how to 'fix' both!
I actually bought the Cauliflower a while back and tested my X1Cs, and they were both so close it wasn't worth messing with. Amazingly, the XL was also dead square. That one surprised me, given the size and construction.
@@Clough42After setting the correction once (hardly needed for my Voron, I guess I did a decent job putting it together) I now use it just to check the shrinkage of new filaments, especially the various 'pro' or 'plus' or 'super', 'turbo' or whatever versions. You never really know what kind of blends those end up being.
If I have unsatisfactory results with any material (I work with Bambu Studio / X1E) I do three things: - dry the material to the bone (17...20% RH) - perform the Flow Dynamics calibration - perform the Flow Rate calibration. It takes a bit of time, but it yields great improvements.
Heat-set inserts - don't push them in all the way - leave them proud of the surface and then use something a bit larger and flat to finish pushing while still hot - will get them flush and aligned - I've seen people use small metal blocks and even bolt-heads.
I've got this in Matte Grey from Bambu and it is indeed excellent. Particularly how well it maintains shape with bending models. Almost has a Ceramic feel which I guess makes sense.
wow who would have thought glass fiber reinforced abs was such a great material for strenght and stability, someone should make powertools shells out of it or something
I've personally had some issues with printing big parts in ASA. I still print a lot of parts with ASA though. The best ASA is ASA-GF. Prints just like the Bambu ABS-GF, but does much better in the sun. If that's what you need. I love any Carbon Filled or Glass Filled filaments. I've printed quite a few fidget toys for myself, in Polymaker PLA-CF. Nylon-CF... Oh boy! It makes great parts, but is still a pain.
I found that it you put a decorative vertical vent at some point in any long face helps a lot. I like to double stack the vents with an ofset so nothing can really get through but air. ...-...-...
10:34 Those symptoms are something I was experiencing when the little extruder arm that presses the filament against the teeth was bending/warping and/or breaking. Especially common on the plastic extruders of Ender printers, but my situation was my custom built printer. You might want to check the condition of your extrusion system. Especially if it's inside the heat chamber since having that arm bend from the stresses and heat is what caused similar issues for me.
great video, I picked up the Bambu stuff based on your video for functional parts - printing a replacement handle for a tablet in it now since the PA6-GF is driving me batty (drying it again), and so far the ABS-GF is coming out beautiful. Supports has been interesting... They bond too well to ABS, and I haven't tried HIPS yet..
Great and informative video. With all due respect I've abandoned ABS years ago because of the shrink/warping problem. You can go to more exotics like gf or cf, but the cost is higher, and you wear out nozzles at a rapid rate (unless you buy the steel hardened nozzles). I think it's a little overkill for an enclosure. I've been using PLA for a long time now in my shop. I've used it for jigs and fixtures and have had no problems. Occasionally I'll have a part that wants to warp, It's usually where I did not apply the glue stick. A little application and problem gone.
A tip for you to improve audio for the next time: You can just fly out to each of your viewers individually and narrate the video for them, up close in their ear, in a loud whisper. Some might even pay you for it.
I like abs but since I designed my own PET pullstruder I swear by it, it won't warp it's stronger by a mile and if it breaks it will not sheer off but instead form a hinge through the middle layers. And nothing is better than free! My design is easy and can be made for as little as $35.00, a 12vdc geared car wiper motor being the most expensive part @ $20.00 secondhand. They're indestructible! 👌 Even candles under the Heatbed is enough for a perfect first layer, without a Heatbed a raft 50mm+ outside is a must. I suggest a Heatbed/candles though. Seems silly but I was actually amazed. Best of all there's no odour at all!
I absolutely love the markforge Onyx GF filament (also the replicas of onyx GF from 3dextech) you're absolutely right the tolerance and end part quality is so good. I made a 25 hole and 32 hole plate for my 5C spindexer to increase its usability. Now using the 0° and 5° i can use it to make 32, 64, 25, and 50 tooth gears. Including the normal 36 hole plate, i can make about any division i realistically need in my home shop, and if i come across any oddball i can always print another dividing plate :D. The filament itself is plenty durable but if it really came down to it i can ultimately use them as stencils to make metal plates.
@11:30 I recognize that surface, and found out that in my case I had to turn down the bed temperature a bit. The lowest layers where just getting too hot.. (also maybe turn down the chamber to 50c?) In the end it's a combination of filament, printer, temperatures and slicer settings.. And tuning that to perfection does take al lo of time.. I love the laser engraving in ABS! Still have a beefy laser module laying around for mounting on my CNC table. Maybe it's time.. 😎
For the ASA in the X1C, increase the bed temp. I generally run 100C with the textured plate. Also if you aren’t, use the gold textured plate as it’s thicker than the original texture plate Bambu had.
Great video. During the past few months I have hopped aboard with new Qidi Tech XSmart3 and the new Q1 Pro. I am very impressed with their filament quality. I have nonstop success with Qidi Rapido Pla, tough ABS, and their PETG. I just grabbed a roll to try their Nylon CF to try out at $99 a roll and have interest in their glass fiber filament. Looking forward to testing the nylon CF out. Will let you know results. I am looking at starting my own channel in the near future. I enjoy watching your channel much.
I also like ABS "Girlfriend" as a usable, functional part filament. I have a Tungsten head for it though, because she's tough, sassy but enduring for the long haul.
Very strange. I have used plenty of eSun ABS+ in the bambulab with the default ABS profile, never really had much issues. What does help against warming is pre-heating the chamber with the build plate high for a while. Also, afaik eSun released some custom profiles for bambulab printers for their filaments. Worth a try. PLA+ is excellent as well, only disadvantage is it cannot handle heat.
Sounds like he was trying to use the Bambu Lab High flow ABS settings instead of the generic ABS settings. The clue was when he said the first was printed at 18 to 20 max volume and then lowered it to 9. The differences in the settings between Bambu & Generic are more than just the max volume. I’ve never had an issue with eSun ABS+ either and print large cover plates like this all the time.
I have had similar printing issues as you show, as missing layers and poor bed adhesion, especially when the buildchamber door was closed. After replacing the USB-C cable to the toolhead the problems dissapeared. Relatively straightforward repair, easily done in less than 20 mins.
Nice job James, looks excellent. A Mesa board like the 7i76 can support two mpgs, add on an expansion 7i73 for another four if wanted, the 7i76 connects via Ethernet to a Raspberry Pi 5 running Linuxcnc. You can roll your own interface for the touch screen if needed with qtPyVCP or use one of the supplied ones
Never heard of abs-gf filament, but it looks interesting. I use PETG for most of my prints. Larger prints do warp, but I use mouse ears or tabs to fix that.
I find that ABS on the X1C with a larger nozzle doesn't have the brittleness issue. My X1C is also insulated with sound deadening foam so it stays warmer in the chamber than a stock machine would. The higher chamber temp might be why I haven't had a lot of issues with warp but I also tend to avoid ABS when the object geometry is not well suited for it. PETG-CF is currently my favorite material for projects similar to this, has a nice flat matte texture compared to typical PETG. You can use clips on the corners of the bed for large flat parts.
Thank you for this excellent video. I don't believe there are enough videos about printing fuctional parts. I am only sorry that I missed most of this series; if I were following this series, I would have recommened Qidi PET-CF filament as something worth trying. It is fairly expensive at $65/kg, but I have found it to be very easy to print with on my X-max 3, and it is pretty strong as well.
For Robins application, I believe he is 100000000% correct. But, you are more geared to the dude in the garage type viewer. And the dudes in the garage appreciate something thats more attainable.
and I'm the dude in the garage that has more time to tolerate whacky setups than a shop does! and none of my machines pay for themselves, so the cost really is a huge deciding factor for me. I'm constantly having to trade time for money.
By attainability logic a PLA filament seems like it would be absolutely fine for this extremely basic task. This seems so way over the top. It's just a control panel box for indoor use on a device that isn't high temperature.
Very nice job. If you wanted to go old school, you could silk-screen the markings with white paint, but this looks pretty good. That plastic really looks like traditional crinkle-tone black.
I have the X-Max 3 and had simular results two time. The first reason was quite simple: The long reverse bowden and esp. the sharp curve at the head caused so much friction, the filament became very hard to pull. I changed the reverse bowden and made sure the curve to the printhead was not to sharp bend, and everything went fine. The second time the error happened was due to a bad spool (tangled).
Many Thanks for sharing all this information. It was very interesting and will help me a lot. Your desing skills and manufacturing capabilities in your workshop is ......WOW :-)
I've been using esun pla+ and its super strong with next to no warp/shrink. Maybe give it a try, I use it for literally everything and cry a little when they dont have a color I need. The laser marking is super slick btw man
One potential further improvement: the filaments with fibers in them warp the least during printing but even then there is a bit of influence on the amount of warp by moisture in the filament. And filaments with fibers absorb moisture from air about 10x faster than the same polymer without fibers. So if you had good success with ABS-GF that has been laying around for some time but it was still not perfect then you might try drying it over night before you print the next project with it. Your results might get even better. BTW if you ever want nice white look look at PCTG-GF. There is no pigment on it, the natural PCTG is translucent and the glass fibers refract the light inside it so much that anything with like 2mm wall thickness or thicker becomes sparkly white rather than translucent. And layer lines are basically invisible. And I have printed a different control panel with it similart to yours with the result perfectly flat and perfectly fitting together.
If you haven't seen the video "Brick Layers - Why did no one do this before?" I recommend it. It's basically alternating heights on wall passes to lock them together and make them much stronger. I have no personal experience, but I just saw the video so thought I'd pass it along. Doubt it does anything for shrinkage. It's slicer-driven, not filament specific.
Considering the level of expertise you have, I think taking your custom plastic printing designs to being on par with automotive company designs would be pretty dang amazing and may lead to more robust parts. I was taking apart my 96’ Chevy GMT400 Dash apart to track down an electrical ground fault. Now where this pertains to you I had to repair a couple of the plastic sections and while doing so I was noticing something that I had always known but never really put much thought into. The back sides of a lot of the larger sections had reinforcing grid lines built up on the backside in various sections. So what I’m thinking is if you could incorporate something similar to help sections that may end up breaking along extrusion layers or reinforcing sections that flare out and can be trimmed later to help combat that curling. Maybe it won’t help with the shrinking curl but I do think adding these features will aid in overall robustness and general part longevity. I know you already add reinforcing backing squares around the critical openings but what I’m referring to are small repetitive squares that only need to come up a very small height.
26:46 the top numbers on the right potentiometer are 0.01 0.001 0.0001 0.00001 (all a 10th of the previous) but the bottom numbers are 0.1 0.01 0.001 0.001 is it intentional that the last 2 are the same or should the last one be 0.0001?
I had some ASA parts to print and no matter how hard I tried they warped pretty good. My printer doesn't run as fast as a bambu but even with slowing it down I wasn't happy.I finally got around to fully enclosing my printer and adding a small heat element and they now come out so much flatter. I didn't think it would matter for a part only 4-6 inches long but it absolutely did. I can only imagine how much worse it could get on something big like that.
Heated chamber was the key to success for the abs. With the right settings though. I’m running a Voron and never have issues like this when I heat soak the printer and let it cool down slowly
I have an X-Plus 3, and was having issues with intermittent underextrusion, kind of like what you saw. I figured out that the Fusion Filaments spools were just slightly too wide, so when I put them in the drybox, they would pinch. The extruder just barely had enough torque to pull through this, so during higher-flow segments, it would underextrude. My solution so far is to avoid the drybox for those filaments.
Big flat and thin sheets of plastic are no go regardless of material or if it's FDM or not, add ribs liberally, especially around screw posts and mounting holes.
![BLACK BAG - Official Trailer [HD] - Only in Theaters March 14](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Du0Xp8WX_7I/mqdefault.jpg)
Hi James, one little idea that may help eliminate that last 1mm of warp you mentioned in the ABS-GF part is to cut a ~1" square of aluminum foil and put it under the removable plate at the center of the bed (or centered under the part). The mesh has no problem compensating for the slight curvature we introduce to the plate this way, and that slight bend often seems enough to make a part feel absolutely 100% flat when testing the corners on a surface. I have had pretty good luck getting rid of that really frustrating teeny-tiny see-saw effect on parts off the MK3S (tent enclosed only) to the point where I pretty much just leave the foil under there all the time. I even stacked 3-4 pieces of aluminum (successively smaller/pyramid style) underneath some troublesome ASA parts and was pleased with the result
Genius!
I've had great success with ASA on the X1C with this tip : "Raise the bed temp to 110c and lower the nozzle to 250c, half all speed settings in the slicer, then run the print in silent mode, and you can print flat parts as large as the bed with no warping." I also covered the printer with a blanket, and preheated for an hour.
I would keep the nozzle temp up for better layer adhesion, but the bed does need to be hot.
you can also add gcodes commands to gradually cool down the bed after printing, so it's acting like an active cooling
I have a Creality K1 Max and print ASA with input shaping at high speed just fine with normal settings. I really wonder why Bambu Lab printers struggle with such a docile filament? I hear this kind of thing time after time. I won’t own one because of it. It’s just weird.
@@slipspectrum9253 Recently caught the Bambu Lab fanboys with their pants down showing how they have to tune their printers just like any other older gen printer if they don't stay in the narrow window of filaments that have already been thoroughly profiled by Bambu. Up until now all I saw was that they are completely infallible in all aspects and all anybody ever does is hit the "print" button on them. I suspect if I fed my trusty dusty Polymaker ASA into a new Bambu I would have to take a few weeks tuning it and then it would start to rock and roll like I do with my "completely obsolete" Ender 3.
I ran a large NC grinder for years. It had only one mpg and the selector like you have. I had no problems with that and did some very weird setups. What I would recommend is putting a pot on your panel to control table speed. That way you can really ease into things slowly and cut it back fast without having to worry about a fake button. A physical control over table speed is really something you want because you will be looking at the part and not the screen. For touch offs just get some really thin motor winding paper. The stuff I used was about .0003” thick. Great for shimming out of flat parts and fixing squareness. For the record, I machined and built air bearings. Much grinding. Much precision.
also known as very thin cigarette paper! I found some that's about the same thickness, works great
As someone who has ran a pretty large variety of CNC equipment, one clicky MPG will be just fine
I love the fact that @ROBRENZ is such a down to earth, humble guy, yet the community has such a huge respect for him. It's a real privilege to live in a time where all this information is so freely put out there for anyone who wants to learn.
Exactly my thoughts.
a god that lives among us
I'm of the opinion that respect (beyond a level of basic decency) should never be given, always earned and ROBRENZ has if anything, overpaid his dues. Like James said, if Robyn speaks you are well advised to listen, that advice has been hard earned, is being offered to you for free and only a fool rejects a deal that good.
If you have an interest in machining with precision then I've yet to find a channel that comes even close to the gold that you'll find there.
OXTOOLCO is what I have known him as, I love his stuff, as well as greatly appreciate anything he shares with the community.
Sometimes PLA is just the best option. Your control panel won't see any significant stresses or exposure to heat so it will likely hold up in the long term and will print perfectly without all the shrinkage and warping associated with engineering materials.
That was my first thought as well. PLA is perfectly fine for things that arent under constant stress, and are unlikely to be in a hot area.
@@pmcquay1 I admit I am biased against PLA myself. ABS, Nylon, PC, etc are all amazing materials but a lot of the time PLA is just the best choice if it doesn't need to withstand more extreme conditions.
@@shinji2k honestly, same. It's easy to think "this is the stuff people print dust collectors with", but it turns out its actually pretty strong with just a couple caveats.
@@minted3d650 shrug. On my printer abs and asa both print exactly the same. Its in a sealed and insulated enclosure. I can print abs in it and not smell anything 2 feet away. I've also printed hips, and despite having basically no colour choices it prints really well. Ive done polycarbonate and nylon, which are both awesome, but completely unnecessary for most things (nylon was for automotive underhood parts, pc was mostly experimentation).
Most household and garage stuff I need can be printed just fine in pla or petg. I dont print much abs anymore.
@@minted3d650 oh I know. I actually have voc and particulate measuring hardware in the enclosure. I intended to build a vent fan that would vent all of the bad stuff outside my house after a print, but I stopped printing a lot of abs before I got up the motivation to do that.
Personally, I dont have a whole lot of problem with abs fumes, but Id be interested if you have actual studies on the harmful effects?
Man, the sounds of the laser are really damn satisfying.
Thank you for posting about ABS-GF. I've never tried it and picked up a role after seeing your video and it solved all of my issues in using ASA and ABS.
X-Max3, 65C chamber, 270C nozzle, 105C bed, 0.6mm nozzle, 0.22mm layer height, 0.63mm line width, 25mm/s first layer, 40mm/s on the rest, PC-CF. I've printed dozens of parts similar to that with zero warping and a beautiful finish.
👍
I was wondering about this too. Didn't he showcase the xmax3 almost a year ago now too?
@@MrMistery101 yeah he did...
40mm/s? Wth prints that slow? Like watching a turtle triathlon.
@@jamesm3268 eh, with a 0.6mm nozzle that translates closer to 80mm/s in 0.4mm terms. :)
The slower you run things, the better the interlayer adhesion and the less warping force you apply as you build up the layers (to a point, anyway).
In the finest tradition of the internet, I will hold onto the memory of this audio forever. 😂
My disappointment is immeasurable and my day is ruined. :D
This must be a reference to something in the video, but I couldn't make it past the first 43 seconds to find out.
@@fastindyYes, Brevity is often the key that is lost on the vast majority of Yappers!!
Tip about printing with ABS: keep the part warm at 50 degrees Celsius during printing. I have a crappy printer and I have made a cartonboard enclosure to keep the inside warm. Also pump up the bed heating to 80 degrees. The bed heat will keep it all hot. Close all holes with tape. I am printing ABS successfully since a couple of years. No distortion, no warp.
+1 ABS loves heat. Hot chamber, print hot and letting it cool slowly ABS is far superior. I printed ABS strap clamps and they hold vises to a milling machine. Lot of bad ABS advise everywhere
Hey James, nice results! I'll have to start using that filament, that's usually the look I'm going for. Also, thanks for the TWO mentions, ha! Nice job.
Some thoughts:
1) The font(s): To my old eyes, all the digits run together. I would use a larger point size, or maybe a lot better, look for an expanded font with more space between the letters. Or apply some negative kerning. I have no problems with the X/Y/Z, though I do wish the text had just a bit more contrast with the background. But what you have is most likely workable.
2) Easier use with single encoder: Maybe replace the rotary axis switch with three buttons, one per axis. Remember the feed rate per axis for say the last 5 minutes, then drop to 0 mm for safety and force a manual feed speed set. Add a SET button to the feed rate knob, so you select the rate and then punch it in for the current axis. You could make it 'safer' by requiring both the SET button and the axis button pressed at the same time, but I think that would shortly drive you crazy.
3) Multi-axis with a single encoder: (I'm not real fond of this idea, but...) Add a pair of zero-center momentary switches for the X and Y axis. Or maybe a joystick switch. This will let you bump the associated axis at some reasonably slow/safe rate while using the encoder to set Z height. Probably disable the switch for X or Y if the encoder is enabled on that axis.
I have to agree about the font. The rectangular zeroes and straight ones make it really hard to read, especially since you need to count the zeroes. The brackets make it even worse. Pretty much any other font would work better here.
For metric at least, I'd prefer the steps in microns. (100, 10, 1, 0.1) is easier to distinguish than (0.1, 0.01, 0.001, 0.0001). I can see it being more confusing to someone, who's used to thinking in hundredths, though. And I have no idea what the imperial equivalent would be.
@@sebastianjezierski8450 In imperial units for a surface grinder you would normally be dealing in thousandths and tenths, that is ten-thousandths. A thousandth is 25.4 microns, so a tenth 2.54 microns.
I didn't pause the video to study the markings, but my impression was it was marked in fractions of an inch. That actually works for us imperial folk, at least with rounder zeros. The main important units are .001 and .0001, and it is really easy to spot the three or four zeros and know what you are dealing with. With more zeros than four you have to stop and think a bit. 🙂
Just a quick message to say thanks for doing this video.
I have been designing and making parts for a drone field ops case and the ABS-GF filament is making a nice job of it.
Lovely surface finish, and dimensions come out fairly precise.
I get a little lift at the corners of big parts, but still acceptable (like you had).
You deserve one of these......
Sometimes I find 3D printing isn't the answer - I made a "box" by printing the corners then filling in the sides with flat sheet aluminium, which worked fine.
Even printing each panel separately and then bolting/gluing them together might work better.
It's probably cheaper as well
@@nils1953no way aluminum is cheaper than 3d printing with asa or pla
@@Coolgamertag120 1mm (~18gauge) aluminum sheet metal, the size of that front panel costs less than 2€ where I live.
At $30 per 1kg that ABS print is most likely not expensive.
Just an estimate though.
Yeah but for a custom size enclosure, then you’re cutting / finishing aluminum, which requires more tools and more work. IMO the real benefit of 3D printing isn’t making stuff that could be injected molded or stamped, it’s making custom versions of them without all that work.
I recently printed bunch of raspberry pi eclosures for industrial use from this material. Really love it!
Easy to print and as you said: very stable. I get less than 0,1 mm of warp in 150 mm long enclosure and now im very happy how neatly it fits together with machined components.
Previously these boxes were printed from ToughPLA and PETG and warping was real pain.
PETG warp? Unusual...do you mean you flexed it too much?
@@AndrasBuzas1908 yeah, big part problems
@Clough42 Looks amazing! And really reminds me of backlit cockpit control panels! If you ever want to make something like that: 6mm plexiglass with pockets milled into the back for embedding neon bulbs, LEDs or LED-PCBAs, then spraypainted white for light diffusion (laser reflective/proof), and spray painted black for light retention. Finally, the patterns and text is laser etched through the black paint so the text and lines light up. The font used is usually the old-school machinist font Gorton (open source: Routed-Gothic) or Futura.
And finally a recommendation for a highly legible font for the display that's specially designed for safety-critical systems: the B612 and B612 Mono fonts, which are open source and tested to be used on aircraft cockpit screens.
Esun ABS+ is known for having especially shitty layer adhesion. If you have to print in abs and can't use fiber I would recommend using Fusrock ABS, I believe they are the provider of Phaetus filaments. It has pretty good layer adhesion if you print at texture PEI 110C, nozzle 260C, 200mm/s. They also don't stink as much. Although all my prints came out shiny, I've seen other users print(probably used lower nozzle temp) coming out matte.
I am going to try this filament - thanks! I use Ultrafuse ABS. Better results then Esun and nice matt finish.
I use ultrafuse too, for a long time now and I am pretty happy with it.
Regular ABS or ABS GF large ears at all corners. You can design ears to break away easily. Use your Qidi set max chamber and run your bed at 110c. When done sand and prime and add nice flat paint or satin paint after a few layers of a sandable primer… I have had great success with these techniques. I also saw where JanTec Engineering says lay down a layer of PLA first than switch to ABS, creating a peelable layer.
I also have found adding stress relieving holes can help which one can add a cap or plug in after. I have around 1000 hrs on my Qidis now just doing larger size engineering materials.
I have best success with Qidi filaments and also Siraya Tech.
I have also left print on warm bedcand chamber for extra couple hrs which I think helps on larger parts. I have printed many rolls of Qidi ABS 25 love it and also Siraya 10% one. ABS GF Qidi is one of my most used engineering grade filaments. Dimensional accuracy and stability are superior. It also looks amazing.
Purchase multi rolls to take advantage of Qidi discount. I keep around 6-12 rolls in stock at all times of Qidi GF25. Love watching your videos, been printing Gridfinity storage non-stop on my small print farm for a few weeks now. I used your videos to help with customization.
You can also cut panels into multiple parts to avoid one tall edge. I love your final product. It is great to watch these videos a third time many months later.
I love the laser work you did! It needs a large Clough42 across top of cover! I would like to get a fiber type laser, not sure which brand to go with. I want to be able to mark all my tools and use on plastic also?
How has the final cover held up over time?
I'm so mad at RUclips for not recommending this channel to me until today. Better late than never!
Really interesting. I was one of the people to recommend ASA as I have had great results, but now I realise all prints were half the size of yours or smaller - on an enclosed Prusa Mk3s with a fan heater in there. I just got an X1C and can't wait to try the ABS-GF I just ordered after watching this :)
I have printed with a lot of Phaetus ABS-GF and ASA-GF filaments and really love them.
If you haven't tried them, eSUN provides filament and preset profiles for a number of platforms including the X1C. Their profile for their own ABS+ prints far better than the stock Bambu profile, but like you I still had to slow it way down.
It's funny that I find while the eSun ABS+ prints very nicely and doesn't shrink or warp much that the layer adhesion is really poor compared to other ABS I have used. I know you are talking about profiles and not the material itself but I have printed using the same esun profile with both eSun and Sunlu for example and the parts that came off using the eSun looked brilliant but were extremely brittle along the layers, the sunlu was a little shinier and didn't hide minor flaws as nicely, but it was way, way stronger.
Nice video. The laser etching is impressive. When you put in the heat set inserts, you can quickly press a piece of flat metal on the molten plastic to improve the connection and mating surface.
Your channel and Inheritance Machining have definitely became my top two favorite RUclips channels. I enjoy your Fusion Tuts you do. I learn quite a bit from them. Also I feel you do a lot of mods to your equipment and I enjoy watching that and seeing how to improve machinery!
The PETG-CF from Bambu Lab has given me all the extra stiffness I've wanted out of PETG while also offering a much improved appearance.
I'm glad you've had success with it... I've ran 2kgs through my X1E and it's been awful. PAHT-CF has been good for me though
@w.lindberg86 I've found that you have to dry it like crazy before it will print well with the default X1C settings. I dry it at 70C for a minimum of 12 hours or, preferably, for a full 24 hours before loading it into the AMS. After that, it tends to print fine although, for large models with flat bottoms that are many layers thick, the nozzle will inevitably get a large halo of filament stuck to it so you'll most likely have to pause and remove the buildup before resuming.
@vecchiarelli7928 good to know! Thanks for the tips. Maybe I'll give it another shot. Although I found the ABS-GF about a month ago from Bambu and haven't printed with anything but that since. It's my new PLA lol
@w.lindberg86 It sounds like I need to try their ABS-GF! My previous experiences with ABS on my X1C, even with preheating the chamber for half an hour with the bed set at max temperature, have been sub-par with a lot of warping and ugly surface finish. That has made me not even consider using any other ABS related filaments but seeing the surface quality in clough42's video has me thinking I may invest in an insulation kit for my X1C and a few kilos of ABS-GF for projects that don't warrant the expense of PAHT-CF or require the UV resistance of PETG-CF.
I print a lot of parts for use in freshwater marine environments so water and UV resistance are both critical properties. PETG-CF gives me that and has the best surface finish for things like dash panels or corner caps while being fairly cheap at $35 per kilo for the Bambu Lab stuff. Speaking of which, it would be nice if BL started offering bulk discounts on their carbon and glass fiber reinforced filaments. I'd also love to see an ASA-GF or ASA-CF filament from Bambu Lab.
😊@@vecchiarelli7928
More of an observation on the part design, the mostly empty space, thin flat walls, and tall ribs for structural support, it looks like it was designed for injection molding. In my experience, with 3d printing you don't need to be so conservative with the volume of the part. You'll get a less flimsy part using beefy walls and faces, leaving only as much space as needed for the electronics. Depending on the infill pattern and percentage it doesn't use much more plastic and you can make the surface walls much thinner without compromising the structure (it also deadens sound pretty well so you don't get that hollow plastic sound when using it)
I can imagine how difficult is to teach this days were everyone is an "expert". He explains like 20 times in the video that he was looking for the looks of laser marks on ABS, because he loves how abs and laser works together. He knows he can use the AMS for the white letters. But, if you like laser quality text you need to use a .2mm nossle. It will take forever to print a big part in .2mm nossle and you will end with a weaker print. Is his machine and his design so made it how he likes. Also if you patron him, its because you are learning from him. That you find value. If you think he needs to follow your advice because you're a patron, just open your own channel because you're in another league. PLA is a good material and easy to print. I don't need a video showing me how to print PLA cause I can do that in any printer any day. What he did here was outstanding and you all should shut up and learn. I love what I learn here today. ABS is a pain in the ass and what he accomplished here is remarkable. Good work bro. Keep doing a great job.
it’s wild how bold ppl will be with what is merely their opinion, esp when so many can’t even follow the story lol
@@floodo1 they listen but not hear or they don't understand 😂
This is gold! I always struggle with warping and try everything to handle it… greentec pro is nice but damn it warps on big things… I will build a heated chamber…
Really cool, James.
I thought a strategy that would be more material agnostic might be to orient the control panel in the printer so that it is more evenly constructed over time. Perhaps one of the difficulties with the shape of your control panel is the large broad surface is built up, then eventually the printer is essentially concentrating on that one apron area. Orienting the control panel another way so that the intersection of the large broad and the apron is the pinnacle, or the valley might force the printer to spend similar time all over the part allowing consistent heat build up.
I realize that would be sacrificing the smooth face you get when the control panel face is against the bed. So, plan B would be to add frangible print stacks or columns to various places in the broad area, which would force the printer away from the apron area, giving thermal balance to the whole part. Anyway, just some thought experiments.
Sir, it looks absolutely fabulous, like you bought it off the shelf of a handyman store. Thanks for recommending this filament.
For pure ABS-PA blend try Calibram BT. The most interesting material to try is "medical" TPU like Isoplast 2540 - shrinkage 0,1%, 87D, HDT 100.
I think my main thought on the robrenz suggestion is this: Yes, absolutely listen to such advice. And consider it. And then decide if it's applicable, what you want, etc. Because hey, "advice is a dangerous gift, even given from the wise to the wise, and all courses may run ill." So, ya know, do what you want -- just don't blithely ignore the advice, either.
You are incredible!!! Please push forward, I can’t wait the final solution, and after I will follow you as for the ELS, thanks A lot for what you doing
11:25 That is for certain, a layer shift, it was printing mid-air after it collided with the curled up edges from the large hole, then managed to 'recover' and print a mostly floating piece that was then later knocked off once leverage was enough to do so from simply printing at the top and layer stress helping tug it up into colliding again.
Also when printing large parts like that, those chamfers and sharp corners are going to work against you, suggest rounding them a bit as well as a generous brim. Basically when you print something that's a 'pyramid shape' it's fine, but those chamfers are more like an inverted pyramid, each successive layer gets a mechanical leverage multiplier on the previous layers. Long solid areas with even larger long solid areas ontop of them are doomed without crazy good anchorage and temp tuning, where thermal shrinkage can't be negated. Print slow, print at the lowest reasonable temp you can, try to dial cooling in, the more stable the filament is before more gets added, the less compound stress, but at the same time you aren't trying to rob all the heat out of it, just freeze it and keep it at a uniform temperature.
I've been printing ABS for years. I learned something today :D
Thank you a lot, you made believe that i finally dont need injection molding for now.
Thanks again. the laser machine is so satisfying.
And its such a good idea for marking my logo, gonna see if i can find a cheap model.
Honestly, I love ABS. I've never had warping issues that a little fine tuning couldn't cure. The parts come out beautiful, smooth and precise. I think the only material I like using more than ABS is TPU.
I’m suprised Bambu hasn’t sold out in the wake of this video already! I’ve had this exact same problem many times, and typically have modified my designs to get around it. Very excited to try this out, thanks!
I do not have a 3D printer but the more I watch your channel the more I think I need one, very interesting channel 👴🏻👍
Very cool to see ABS-GF solving your problem!
I bought a spool of bambu lab ABS-GF and it prints beautifully, I just haven't found a use case for it yet. I mostly print smaller objects and regular ABS works just fine, but I'll be sure to use GF for larger parts.
And can I just say, that laser marking is extremely satisfying to watch! I don't have a need for that (yet) but I did look up the price of the machine haha
Before reducing speeds to try and get better prints out of my abs and ASA and the like, I first did actual flow rate testing to figure out at what rate they became brittle and then I worked on reducing fans as much as I could in the profiles until overhang started to suffer. Fans on those materials can have a truly detrimental effect on them. And the X1 Carbon profiles like their fans. Mainly I brought the regular fans to pretty much zero and then I don't remember if Bambu slicer has it but in orca slicer I could set fan speeds for various overhangs and bridges independently and that's where I spent most of my time working on the fans. Not saying it would help you with such a large part is I don't remember the last time I printed a part that big without some kind of glass or carbon fiber fill but still things to think about.
11:33 I had a similar issue with my BambuLab A1 Mini on the first layer.
Those markings from changes in extrusion rate persisted on the same places through different filaments with the same print file.
*After re-enabling flow calibration the markings were gone*. I had it turned off since it didn't seem to make any difference - but it does after all.
The strung "cords" across holes might be a different issue, but you can maybe mend the symptoms by enabling "avoid crossing walls" in the quality settings (under advanced) of Bambu Studio.
Nice work on the printing and Laser marking, that is epic, and nice selection of the 4D Systems gen4-uLCD-70DT HMI display too!
Thank you so much for this video. I grabbed some ABS-GF for an upcoming Milo CNC build. Initial tests show awesome results.
Finished panel looks amazing. Thanks for sharing your research. I'm going to try some of that ABS GF for technical parts.
Excellent work James! This is why I absolutely love 3D printing and just making your own stuff to an extremely high standard. The laser is amazing and the fit and finish is beyond professional. One suggestion if I may? There is a bit of a hollow sound when you click the chicken head knobs around and jog the wheel. I wonder if filling that control panel with some sound deadening foam or insulation would make it feel and sound more premium.
One of the down sides to the amazing devices the pros use. Is you really have to know what your doing. I'm glad you had an in camera audio track as a fall back. Always have a back up recording when your doing something you don't want to do twice.
In my experience, PLA creeps some and then stops. I built a large structure from 80/20 with PLA connectors. I did make the connectors much more massive than the standard aluminum fittings, printed with lots of perimeters and heavy infill, but they’ve held up extremely well over the years. (I made it about 3.5 year ago.)
I made some test parts before running several Kg of parts. With solid PLA under the screw heads where they’d clamp to the extrusions, I tightened everything down pretty tight (sorry, dunno torque), then came back few days later and retorqued them. Checked a week after that and they needed a bit more tightening, but since then there’s been zero movement.
I think PLA can work really well for structural connectors on 80/20, you just need to design them really rugged, trading mass and area (and things like diagonals supporting right-angle brackets that’ll be under load), use plenty of plastic and re-torque the screws over about a week and after that creep won’t be an issue. (Although it could still be for situations where a connector will under a significant torsional load over time, as with a cantilevered element carrying a load at its end.)
I used quite a bit of plastic making a whole bunch of connectors for a big assembly, but it was way, way, waaay cheaper than what the aluminum 80/20 parts would have cost.
Its funny, I basically went down exactly this same road with similar parts in the past week and a half too (used about 4kg from tests and failures). My solution ended up being PETG-CF, which is sorta similar. And has a nice matte finish too!
The first filament I have used in the qidi q1 pro is the abs gf25.
The print quality is stunningly good. After printing pla on unheated printrbot, the result blew my mind. Absolutely no warpage that I had been so accustomed to. Your work is just stunning!
Thanks for the lead on the ABS-GF. Looks like a solid engineering material at an excellent price.
I have no interest in filament printing, but I always enjoy your stories about solving problems.
Hi James, I really enjoyed this video. One suggestion re. PETG, I think Prusa recommends using a textured sheet when printing with PETG. That (using the smooth sheet) might have been the reason it didn't print completely flat. It doesn't solve the "shiny" issue, though the texture does reduce the gloss a little, so there's that.
I absolutely hear you on the 'gripes' about ASA (it's great in some respects, but so temperamental in others, and even big differences between brands, and colors) and ABS (plus or otherwise). And I also agree on your views on ABS-GF, it's just gorgeous. And.... you can actually get it in other colors too. A chines brand, FusRock, has a lineup with black, gray, yellow, green, military green , fluorescent green, blue, purple and orange. Rather like that option. But a tip for the shrinkage of various materials: on Printables you can get the 'califlower' by Adam from Vector 3D, which helps you tune your printer and/or your slicer. Most printers have some skew, that can be adjusted via firmware. And most materials have some (even when very little) shrinkage. And the model plus the spreadsheet that comes with it allows you to calculate both, and gives you handy instructions on how to 'fix' both!
I actually bought the Cauliflower a while back and tested my X1Cs, and they were both so close it wasn't worth messing with. Amazingly, the XL was also dead square. That one surprised me, given the size and construction.
@@Clough42After setting the correction once (hardly needed for my Voron, I guess I did a decent job putting it together) I now use it just to check the shrinkage of new filaments, especially the various 'pro' or 'plus' or 'super', 'turbo' or whatever versions. You never really know what kind of blends those end up being.
If I have unsatisfactory results with any material (I work with Bambu Studio / X1E) I do three things:
- dry the material to the bone (17...20% RH)
- perform the Flow Dynamics calibration
- perform the Flow Rate calibration.
It takes a bit of time, but it yields great improvements.
Heat-set inserts - don't push them in all the way - leave them proud of the surface and then use something a bit larger and flat to finish pushing while still hot - will get them flush and aligned - I've seen people use small metal blocks and even bolt-heads.
The laser part looks amazing!
I've got this in Matte Grey from Bambu and it is indeed excellent. Particularly how well it maintains shape with bending models. Almost has a Ceramic feel which I guess makes sense.
wow who would have thought glass fiber reinforced abs was such a great material for strenght and stability, someone should make powertools shells out of it or something
I've personally had some issues with printing big parts in ASA. I still print a lot of parts with ASA though. The best ASA is ASA-GF. Prints just like the Bambu ABS-GF, but does much better in the sun. If that's what you need.
I love any Carbon Filled or Glass Filled filaments. I've printed quite a few fidget toys for myself, in Polymaker PLA-CF.
Nylon-CF... Oh boy! It makes great parts, but is still a pain.
I found that it you put a decorative vertical vent at some point in any long face helps a lot. I like to double stack the vents with an ofset so nothing can really get through but air. ...-...-...
10:34 Those symptoms are something I was experiencing when the little extruder arm that presses the filament against the teeth was bending/warping and/or breaking. Especially common on the plastic extruders of Ender printers, but my situation was my custom built printer. You might want to check the condition of your extrusion system. Especially if it's inside the heat chamber since having that arm bend from the stresses and heat is what caused similar issues for me.
great video, I picked up the Bambu stuff based on your video for functional parts - printing a replacement handle for a tablet in it now since the PA6-GF is driving me batty (drying it again), and so far the ABS-GF is coming out beautiful. Supports has been interesting... They bond too well to ABS, and I haven't tried HIPS yet..
Great and informative video. With all due respect I've abandoned ABS years ago because of the shrink/warping problem. You can go to more exotics like gf or cf, but the cost is higher, and you wear out nozzles at a rapid rate (unless you buy the steel hardened nozzles). I think it's a little overkill for an enclosure. I've been using PLA for a long time now in my shop. I've used it for jigs and fixtures and have had no problems. Occasionally I'll have a part that wants to warp, It's usually where I did not apply the glue stick. A little application and problem gone.
A tip for you to improve audio for the next time: You can just fly out to each of your viewers individually and narrate the video for them, up close in their ear, in a loud whisper. Some might even pay you for it.
That was lame af
That was lame af
I like abs but since I designed my own PET pullstruder I swear by it, it won't warp it's stronger by a mile and if it breaks it will not sheer off but instead form a hinge through the middle layers.
And nothing is better than free!
My design is easy and can be made for as little as $35.00, a 12vdc geared car wiper motor being the most expensive part @ $20.00 secondhand. They're indestructible! 👌
Even candles under the Heatbed is enough for a perfect first layer, without a Heatbed a raft 50mm+ outside is a must. I suggest a Heatbed/candles though.
Seems silly but I was actually amazed. Best of all there's no odour at all!
Nice, loved it when everything comes together. The Centroid Acorn 6 has 3 MPG's input (or more).
I absolutely love the markforge Onyx GF filament (also the replicas of onyx GF from 3dextech) you're absolutely right the tolerance and end part quality is so good. I made a 25 hole and 32 hole plate for my 5C spindexer to increase its usability. Now using the 0° and 5° i can use it to make 32, 64, 25, and 50 tooth gears. Including the normal 36 hole plate, i can make about any division i realistically need in my home shop, and if i come across any oddball i can always print another dividing plate :D. The filament itself is plenty durable but if it really came down to it i can ultimately use them as stencils to make metal plates.
@11:30 I recognize that surface, and found out that in my case I had to turn down the bed temperature a bit. The lowest layers where just getting too hot.. (also maybe turn down the chamber to 50c?) In the end it's a combination of filament, printer, temperatures and slicer settings.. And tuning that to perfection does take al lo of time..
I love the laser engraving in ABS! Still have a beefy laser module laying around for mounting on my CNC table. Maybe it's time.. 😎
For the ASA in the X1C, increase the bed temp. I generally run 100C with the textured plate.
Also if you aren’t, use the gold textured plate as it’s thicker than the original texture plate Bambu had.
Great video. During the past few months I have hopped aboard with new Qidi Tech XSmart3 and the new Q1 Pro. I am very impressed with their filament quality. I have nonstop success with Qidi Rapido Pla, tough ABS, and their PETG. I just grabbed a roll to try their Nylon CF to try out at $99 a roll and have interest in their glass fiber filament. Looking forward to testing the nylon CF out. Will let you know results. I am looking at starting my own channel in the near future. I enjoy watching your channel much.
I also like ABS "Girlfriend" as a usable, functional part filament. I have a Tungsten head for it though, because she's tough, sassy but enduring for the long haul.
Looking forward to seeing the coding and this machine running. Hope to see it soon.
Very strange. I have used plenty of eSun ABS+ in the bambulab with the default ABS profile, never really had much issues. What does help against warming is pre-heating the chamber with the build plate high for a while.
Also, afaik eSun released some custom profiles for bambulab printers for their filaments. Worth a try. PLA+ is excellent as well, only disadvantage is it cannot handle heat.
Sounds like he was trying to use the Bambu Lab High flow ABS settings instead of the generic ABS settings. The clue was when he said the first was printed at 18 to 20 max volume and then lowered it to 9. The differences in the settings between Bambu & Generic are more than just the max volume. I’ve never had an issue with eSun ABS+ either and print large cover plates like this all the time.
I have had similar printing issues as you show, as missing layers and poor bed adhesion, especially when the buildchamber door was closed. After replacing the USB-C cable to the toolhead the problems dissapeared. Relatively straightforward repair, easily done in less than 20 mins.
Nice job James, looks excellent. A Mesa board like the 7i76 can support two mpgs, add on an expansion 7i73 for another four if wanted, the 7i76 connects via Ethernet to a Raspberry Pi 5 running Linuxcnc. You can roll your own interface for the touch screen if needed with qtPyVCP or use one of the supplied ones
you tossed that hex wrench like a boss at 28:59!!! Just like spiking a football after you score a TD. That part looks awesome.
Never heard of abs-gf filament, but it looks interesting. I use PETG for most of my prints. Larger prints do warp, but I use mouse ears or tabs to fix that.
I've had great results with Qidi PET-CF, it gives a nice matte finish and large parts don't warp.
I find that ABS on the X1C with a larger nozzle doesn't have the brittleness issue. My X1C is also insulated with sound deadening foam so it stays warmer in the chamber than a stock machine would. The higher chamber temp might be why I haven't had a lot of issues with warp but I also tend to avoid ABS when the object geometry is not well suited for it. PETG-CF is currently my favorite material for projects similar to this, has a nice flat matte texture compared to typical PETG. You can use clips on the corners of the bed for large flat parts.
Thank you for this excellent video. I don't believe there are enough videos about printing fuctional parts. I am only sorry that I missed most of this series; if I were following this series, I would have recommened Qidi PET-CF filament as something worth trying. It is fairly expensive at $65/kg, but I have found it to be very easy to print with on my X-max 3, and it is pretty strong as well.
The E3D 0.6 HF nozzle helped my layer adhesion massively (with a +10-20C depending on material and needs)
For Robins application, I believe he is 100000000% correct. But, you are more geared to the dude in the garage type viewer. And the dudes in the garage appreciate something thats more attainable.
and I'm the dude in the garage that has more time to tolerate whacky setups than a shop does! and none of my machines pay for themselves, so the cost really is a huge deciding factor for me. I'm constantly having to trade time for money.
By attainability logic a PLA filament seems like it would be absolutely fine for this extremely basic task. This seems so way over the top. It's just a control panel box for indoor use on a device that isn't high temperature.
Very nice job. If you wanted to go old school, you could silk-screen the markings with white paint, but this looks pretty good.
That plastic really looks like traditional crinkle-tone black.
I have the X-Max 3 and had simular results two time. The first reason was quite simple: The long reverse bowden and esp. the sharp curve at the head caused so much friction, the filament became very hard to pull. I changed the reverse bowden and made sure the curve to the printhead was not to sharp bend, and everything went fine. The second time the error happened was due to a bad spool (tangled).
Nice. As antiquated as people feel ABS may be. It’s still one of the 3 filaments I only want to work with
Many Thanks for sharing all this information.
It was very interesting and will help me a lot.
Your desing skills and manufacturing capabilities in your workshop is ......WOW :-)
I've been using esun pla+ and its super strong with next to no warp/shrink. Maybe give it a try, I use it for literally everything and cry a little when they dont have a color I need.
The laser marking is super slick btw man
One potential further improvement: the filaments with fibers in them warp the least during printing but even then there is a bit of influence on the amount of warp by moisture in the filament. And filaments with fibers absorb moisture from air about 10x faster than the same polymer without fibers. So if you had good success with ABS-GF that has been laying around for some time but it was still not perfect then you might try drying it over night before you print the next project with it. Your results might get even better.
BTW if you ever want nice white look look at PCTG-GF. There is no pigment on it, the natural PCTG is translucent and the glass fibers refract the light inside it so much that anything with like 2mm wall thickness or thicker becomes sparkly white rather than translucent. And layer lines are basically invisible. And I have printed a different control panel with it similart to yours with the result perfectly flat and perfectly fitting together.
If you haven't seen the video "Brick Layers - Why did no one do this before?" I recommend it. It's basically alternating heights on wall passes to lock them together and make them much stronger. I have no personal experience, but I just saw the video so thought I'd pass it along. Doubt it does anything for shrinkage. It's slicer-driven, not filament specific.
Considering the level of expertise you have, I think taking your custom plastic printing designs to being on par with automotive company designs would be pretty dang amazing and may lead to more robust parts.
I was taking apart my 96’ Chevy GMT400 Dash apart to track down an electrical ground fault. Now where this pertains to you I had to repair a couple of the plastic sections and while doing so I was noticing something that I had always known but never really put much thought into.
The back sides of a lot of the larger sections had reinforcing grid lines built up on the backside in various sections. So what I’m thinking is if you could incorporate something similar to help sections that may end up breaking along extrusion layers or reinforcing sections that flare out and can be trimmed later to help combat that curling.
Maybe it won’t help with the shrinking curl but I do think adding these features will aid in overall robustness and general part longevity.
I know you already add reinforcing backing squares around the critical openings but what I’m referring to are small repetitive squares that only need to come up a very small height.
26:46 the top numbers on the right potentiometer are 0.01 0.001 0.0001 0.00001 (all a 10th of the previous) but the bottom numbers are 0.1 0.01 0.001 0.001 is it intentional that the last 2 are the same or should the last one be 0.0001?
I had some ASA parts to print and no matter how hard I tried they warped pretty good. My printer doesn't run as fast as a bambu but even with slowing it down I wasn't happy.I finally got around to fully enclosing my printer and adding a small heat element and they now come out so much flatter. I didn't think it would matter for a part only 4-6 inches long but it absolutely did. I can only imagine how much worse it could get on something big like that.
You have amazing talent to complete your projects. I enjoy watching your video's.
Heated chamber was the key to success for the abs. With the right settings though. I’m running a Voron and never have issues like this when I heat soak the printer and let it cool down slowly
I have an X-Plus 3, and was having issues with intermittent underextrusion, kind of like what you saw. I figured out that the Fusion Filaments spools were just slightly too wide, so when I put them in the drybox, they would pinch. The extruder just barely had enough torque to pull through this, so during higher-flow segments, it would underextrude. My solution so far is to avoid the drybox for those filaments.
PLA+ has never let me down! I use eSun brand on a Anycubic i3 mega machine it’s a wonderful simple machine and as I said, not let me down yet!
Big flat and thin sheets of plastic are no go regardless of material or if it's FDM or not, add ribs liberally, especially around screw posts and mounting holes.
I like this audio better.. way better then sitting on my lap, your arms around my neck, whispering in my ear.. waaaayyy better🤣🤣
🤣😂🤣😂🤣
You have a better expirience with ASA than everyone i know.