Yeah, marketing departments often demand features that make little to no sense for the application. I once had a paper shredder that had a optical sensor. I’m not kidding; an optical sensor in a device that produces tons of paper dust. Yeah, that went well… NOT. I got a different shredder with a micro switch. Haven’t looked back since.
I’m not at all sure why you would need a motion sensor to detect filament runout: either there is filament, or there isn’t. Also, if I designed a runout sensor, with a micro switch, I would make it with front & back ends. The front end would have the switch. When the filament end goes by and releases the switch, the filament end would still be gripped by the back end, so it would simply remain there.
Because then it can pause the print when the nozzle gets clogged and when the filament broke between the sensor and the print head. The latter of course when you have a direct drive.
OK, that’s getting pretty fancy, and I suspect nozzle clogging like that is pretty rare, at least in my very limited experience. I’m sure it happens, but is it really worth the trouble of a motion sensor?
[ATTACH=JSON]{“data-align”:“none”,“data-size”:“medium”,“data-attachmentid”:2639}[/ATTACH] Here is my filament sensor and mount. I have the filament feed from the bottom, through the sensor and it loads from the top to the direct drive. [ATTACH=JSON]{“data-align”:“none”,“data-size”:“medium”,“data-attachmentid”:2637}[/ATTACH][ATTACH=JSON]{“data-align”:“none”,“data-size”:“medium”,“data-attachmentid”:2638}[/ATTACH]
I like that simple, basic approach. I think the case for the micro switch could be improved so it’s easy to exactly position the switch, but that’s being nit-picky.
@woodwaker_dave, I watched several of your YT videos. They were interesting from a few viewpoints: [LIST=1]
I like your lightbars. I hope the plans for the Ender 5 ones are on TV;
I also like the filament guiding system, particularly as I, too, have been looking at moving the spools to the bottom of the front or back of the printer. Again, hope the STLs are on TV;
Don't get me wrong, but it is somewhat reassuring to see in your prints some of the issues I see in mine. I have to wonder though, if your prints are not really better than what I get, what is the upgrade gear doing. I'm thinking maybe you get more reliable and faster printing maybe. Your 1st layers do look to be going faster than mine. Currently, for 1st layer reliability I run mine @ 10mm/sec.
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Ender5r, Thanks for the message! You got me to work, I have made a lot of changes to my designs posted on TV, but never updated them. I have most up to date, still working on new mods.
I have a lot of Ender 5 and 5 Plus mods /designs. Here is the current filament feed system New bottom Filament feeder by woodwaker - Thingiverse. This is the current light bar system Ender 5 and Ender 5 Plus light bars - shorter version by woodwaker - Thingiverse. I also have complete packages which I updated, but I don’t know how long it will take for the updates to be posted.
My primary use of the printers is to experiment, with designs and hardware, and sometimes print. Mostly I print new parts /designs or mod others. I would much rather get a successful print out slowly than a failed faster one. I usually print at 60mm/ sec above the first layer, but go much slower on it. I just got some very good prints off using PETG which I have always had problems with.
Things that helped, I switched to Simplify3D, the OmniaDrops and using Vision Miner Nano Polymer Adhesive, which I purchased from TH3D. Vision Miner Nano Polymer Adhesive - Build Plate Adhesive - TH3D Studio LLC It is not cheap, but does work. Simplify3D makes supports work so well and easy, they just snap off.
I included some pictures of the new mounts I printed.
Your the 2nd person who’s told me Simplify3D supports are the best. I’m currently testing Magigoo, as per DrVAX’s recommendation. So far, so good, but it is expensive, as Irv admits.
I’ve not really had problems with PETG. It is what I use most, because it’s food safe, can go outdoors, and is more flexible without breaking than PLA.
My primary use of my 1 printer is to make things I cannot buy but want or need, or they’re just nice to have. If you search a little on this forum you can find photos and descriptions of things I’ve done in the very short time (end of May) I’ve had my 1st printer.
Cura allows a ton of settings. Even for support. By default these settings work perfectly for PLA with is reasonable. But there are tons of options and each version new options get added. Like the new “brim for support” option, which is very nice.
Simplyfy3D is outdated by nearly two years. By now other slicers have taken over. Cura and PrusaSlicer are delivering more and more cool features, while the expensive Simplify3D not only lacks any recent updates (about 1,5 years), but also is not getting free updates in the future. You cannot even use S3D without an active internet connection.
More and more streamers abandoned S3D for those reasons already.
I hear you, but I also hear from people who swear by S3D, saying the others have improved a lot, but they’re still not as good. I’m not qualified to judge; I’m just going by what they say. The use of supports in particular seems to be something they rave about. Supposedly, version 5 is on the horizon and the scuttlebutt is that it’s going to raise the bar for everyone. Again, I’m not qualified to judge; it’s just what I’ve read.
I, for one, plan to wait until v5 is released, then I’ll have a look and decided if it’s worth it.
As far as paid upgrades go, I presume they will be done like most commercial software; non-major updates will be free for paid users, but each major (as in X.0) release will require paying an upgrade price.
I agree with both of you. I had used CURA and switched to Prusa about a year ago. I saw a lot of comments that S3D was so good but was outdated. I started to understand that is a good and bad thing, CURA, especially has a lot of updates, but some have complained that they sometimes change something that causes problems. I think when the last version of S3D was released it was far ahead, now the others have started to catch up. People who run do 3D printing for a business almost all use S3D, why they say it just works. I was amazed how fast I could get it up and running on my Ender 5 and 5 Plus. I had used the various settings in CURA and Prusa for supports and could manipulate them to do pretty much what I needed. S3D will generate great ones then you can add or remove ones you don’t want. I also was going to wait until V5 was out, but since there is really no news, I thought I would try it under their 2 week trail period. I’m not going to ask for a refund. I think the improvements are worth the cost. I am disappointment with the lack of an easy way to change filament on a specific layer. Prusa has a great process to do that, I think CURA has a post processing step also. In S3D the only way I have found to do it is to determine the layer(s), make a note and edit the gcode and enter a M600 at the layer line. Cumbersome but it works. Please share more of your comments, slicers are like politics everyone has a favorite and good reasons for their selection.
Full disclosure, although I have stated it elsewhere in the forum, I did do the S3D trial: I did ask for my money back. Now, to be fair, a lot of that was my lack of experience. I couldn’t see what it had to offer over the free ones, at least not at the time. The answer might be different if I tried it again; I just don’t know.
Thanks for the information. I know I have made a lot of mistakes, blown up boards, forgot to change a setting when slicing, etc. I find this is a lot easier and cheaper to correct than when you make a mistake on a car engine, and the parts are much lighter.
