Dadio's 3D Printing Stuff

[Dadio]

I've had a bit of a look and I'm guessing the part was lexan/poly carbonate originally , it would be challenging to make a visually correct copy with 3d printing especially if you wanted it in clear plastic though I did find a picture of a blue one as well , I'd also need some good engineering drawings of it as the pictures I have seen are far from clear and detailed .
In the mean time I'm happy to have a hunt for the part and see what I can find .
Gav

[Fun41]

Thanks for getting back . I'm not sure about any engineering drawing, I thank you for any help you can be . If we could do this some how I would that either white or blue .
Joe

[Dadio]

Oops just ebayed a second hand ender 5 and a couple of choice accessories

[Dadio]

I just got a little tax rebate so the Ender 5 is getting the rest of the upgrades it needs , its already had a Triangle Labs clone of the Bondtech BMG extruder , Capricorn Bowden tube and an upgrade control board with silent Trinamic 2208 stepper drivers but now its getting a Bltouch auto mesh bed levelling kit and a Micro Swiss all metal hot end , when that's all done it will be a high temperature printing monster ! I just need to make an enclosure for it to keep the heat inside
Once that's done I'll have two printers that can print nylons and be reliable enough to press print and walk away .
I'm not really sure what's going to happen once I advertise the parts for the Yo-clone-oh project but I'm already looking at what's next , working from my collection I'd say the Hirobo Zerda might be the next to get modelled up or maybe some cosmetic stuff for the Kyosho Scorpion .

[Dadio]

The new Micro Swiss all metal hot end arrived and is now fitted to my Ender 5 , I'm running its first ABS print now , its going to need an enclosure and the auto bed levelling kit is on its way but then it would be a nylon printing monster like my other printer .

[GoMachV]

I’d love to see how you end up enclosing your 5. I started to enclose mine with some 2020 extrusion as a frame but now it’s setting to the side while I try to decide between it and the ender 5 plus. I’d be starting from scratch but the plus is so freakishly huge it would be awesome to be able to make it my primary machine for PetG. I’m ready to quit using pla entirely- really no point in it.

[Dadio]

PLA is for making stuff for the kids and grandchildren , at best you can prototype in PLA but even then when you print in another filament the shrinkage or hole inner diameters will change , white PLA is very good for Litghophanes though . you can print PET-G without an enclosure most of the time unless its a really tall print .
The enclosure for my ender 3 is made of clear plastic sheeting that was the remains of a very cheap small greenhouse , I reused the tubing cut down to size and joiners as well to make the frame , I even used the zip up door for access , I made it too large really in height and width , when I made it I had the spool on top but I left space for the spool on the side as well , I'm either going to put the 5 in there instead with the height reduced or I'll do much the same thing for it from scratch , its tempting to put clear rigid panels into the sides and a door on the front but the top is a pain , I've seen a few people's solutions and none satisfy me , Teaching Tech did OK but even his design has long brush type draught excluders at the top to allow Y axis moves but I can't do that my OCD won't allow it so a close fitting tent type enclosure like the one I've already made is probably the way I'll go .
Your 5+ is probably easier to go with ,it already has bed levelling so it just it just needs an all metal hot end and an enclosure and its golden , unless you have levelling on the 5 , I guess if it was me I'd be optimising the 5 for speed as its Y axis will be lighter and maybe the 5+ for high temperatures , when you get a high temp setup I strongly recommend CF nylon , its easier to print than plain nylon or PET-G , its almost as easy as PLA and its a superb material for suspension components , good rigidity and excellent layer bonding , you'll forget all about PET-G . a want to try some glass fill nylon from Matter hackers , they now offer a range of colours and its very comparable to CF in strength but lower friction for gears .

[GoMachV]

My MatterHackers Pulse XE is my nylon machine, I print NylonX and NylonG on it. It’s built and tuned for that stuff complete with the ruby nozzle. I grabbed a roll of silver NylonG but need to get some white as well when it’s back in stock. I like the idea of the G being more shock resistant. The finish is textured and gives it a cool look (see pic .2 layer test print MylonX). I’ve only had one failed print (missed the spot with the glue stick, part popped up and moved). The best part about mattercontrol is I was able to pause, re slice with that one part off the bed, and continue the other 5 parts all within a couple minutes. Pretty neat slicer but really takes up the resources.

The 5 plus will get likely get my microswiss hot end and be my PetG machine- I just can’t see myself needing anything pla anymore. I don’t have abl on my regular 5 because I’ve just never really needed to level the bed much. Maybe 6 times since new.

I’m also glad I’m not the only one who’s OCD would not allow brushed to be used like TT did. I see those getting sucked into the belts and just all around not being a good solution. I was expecting something more.

[Dadio]

TT is great at the electronics and software I guess its too much for us to expect engineering expertise as well , I forgot you had the Pulse , its working well then ?
I like the live Z adjustment that bed levelling gives you , I find some plastics need a Z adjustment compared to others and I'm lazy .

[GoMachV]

Yeah the pulse has been great! I enabled babystepping on the 5 even tho I don’t use abl. It is really handy to have!

[Dadio]

Probably the only thing about the 5 I don't like is the position of the extruder , its good in relation to the stock spool holder but not really good for the print head , I find I'm using the stock spool holder less as I have some of my filaments in converted sealed food containers with Bowden tube up to the extruder so I'm thinking of moving the extruder to the top on a gimbal of some sort so it can move in relation to the print head , possibly with a shorter Bowden tube a well .

[GoMachV]

That would be cool. I am really space limited so I dont have as much freedom, but I do like the idea of going direct drive on the plus (and ill buy a bondtech for it, the one on the pulse is amazing!) and at that point i will need to figure some logistics out for sure

[Dadio]

I'm pretty sure the direct drive kits don't fit the Bondtech BMG , I'm running BMG clones on both machines so if I go that way I'll have to design my own , there are some ally dual drive extruders on eBay that are the same footprint as the stock version and not too dear but I'd find it hard to go back from a geared dual drive extruder even if it was to dual drive ... I'm just not sure about it on the 5 but I'd have a go on my 3 , at lower speeds the extra mass on the print head won't matter but I like to print at 80+mm p/s on the 5 and I think direct drive might detract more than it offers at that speed .

[GoMachV]

My thought is solely based on retraction with the Bowden. The ender 5 plus has a very long Bowden and even with pla on the retraction test I was at 12 before the stringing stopped.

[Dadio]

And if you want the 5+ to be a PETG machine then who knows what retraction you'll need , on my ender 3 my normal PLA retraction was 5 and PETG was 8 , if your at 12 with PLA ..... Direct drive looks like the way to go even for faster prints then as long retraction increases print times enormously not to mention surface defects from long re-prime distances , lots of retraction/priming speed tuning , migraine time !
One thing I don't like about the direct drive kits I've seen is it all sits forward of the print head carriage ,the design makes sense for an ender 3 or cr10 as you don't loose Z height because it all sits forward of the top cross member of the frame but on the 5 or 5+ you could have the stepper motor behind the carriage plate and the extruder in front over the print head , less stress on the V slot wheels has got to be better at least to my eyes .