Folks,
I have my Artist-D all set up and running and I am producing prints to better understand the dynamics of this IDEX printer. One question I want to address in the video is when should you use an IDEX printer vs printing multiple parts, in multiple colors, and gluing them together?
Here is an example of a print that requires an IDEX printer. Unfortunately, the temperatures were too high and this print got a bit messy but you will get the idea:
[ATTACH=JSON]{“data-align”:“none”,“data-size”:“custom”,“height”:“422”,“title”:“IMG_5679.jpeg”,“width”:“500”,“data-attachmentid”:10130}[/ATTACH]
I will cover Cura setup in detail and will mention IdeaMaker but I will not have time in this video to cover that slicer which has better IDEX optimizations in this video. I will also talk about the concepts behind IDEX alignment and will also schedule a dedicated video on the topic.
I have a second IDEX 3d printer sitting in a very big box in my garage and will be reviewing that next and then covering common topics using both printers for examples.
My conclusion so far is this should not be your first 3d printer ?. Any difficulties you are learning to address are doubled with this printer with the addition of unique IDEX issues such as filament leaking out of the idle extruder. For enthusiasts with time to spend who enjoy tinkering this is a very interesting printer. Since the software is completely open-source there are already folks working on enhancements to the Marlin builds that look quite exciting.
P.S. Once surprise so far. Bed alignment is quite tricky on the Artist-D because there is a fixed post under the center of the bed, so when you adjust the corners the center stays in place. I will discuss how to address this in the video.
I have continued my testing and discovered a calibration error that many people have reported on the JG Maker Facebook Artist-D Facebook page. I started a print of a vase with.30mm layers printing relatively fast in spiral mode. After about an hour, I stopped the print because it was severely under extruded. I noticed some minor under extruding on other prints, but they were small prints, and it was hard to see.
So I connected a cable to the 3d printer USB port, and using the Chrome G-Sender APP (I talk about this in a video from about a year ago), I did some extrusion testing and found my printer was under extruding by 20%, which is quite a lot. This might explain why some of the Cura profiles I found for this 3d printer recommend relatively high temperatures. Printing slowly, at high temperatures masks under extrusion. I updated the step multiplier, and now I am printing another vase. Here is a link to a Google Slide deck with the procedure:
http://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1wpuLDlLARoFbS7apN1uDdRoSiFpWugTFrTnqUJ-ni_s/edit?usp=sharing
I am starting at .20 layer heights to minimize variables, and I scaled the vase way down to have results quickly.
I will report back about what I find.
P.S. This 3d printer is a delight to work on. The USB connection is a robust printer style of connection, with no mini connectors. The SD card is a full-size SD card. It is running full Marlin 2.0, so all of the expected commands for calibration work properly.
Here is a photo of the failed print:
[ATTACH=JSON]{“data-align”:“none”,“data-size”:“custom”,“height”:“281”,“title”:“under-extruded-vase.jpg”,“width”:“500”,“data-attachmentid”:10132}[/ATTACH]
I, too, noticed the underextrusion (https://forum.drvax.com/forum/3d-pri…=9817#post9817). Mine was slightly different from yours, but mostly I noticed quite a difference between T0 & T1 (118% vs 106%).
Calibrating the Artist-D extruder made a significant difference. My extruders are both within +/- 2-3% of the specification which is acceptable since most filaments vary by this amount. Here is a photo of a vase printed at a .20 layer height, 65mm/second. It is quite small at only about 90mm high but the quality is near perfect. At least I could not find any defects. Printed in Cura Spiralize Outer Contour mode with the new Smooth Spiralized Contours set.
I used MatterHacker Build PLA printed at 200c with the first layer at 205c.
The back dots are marks I made with a marker right before I increased the speed via the front panel to 200%. I see no difference and the extruder continued to perform perfectly.
So far my experience has been good. As I indicated this is not a printer for a beginner, but between the input from the open-source community, including new marlin builds, and the tunability of this printer I think it will be an important contribution to the 3d community. Maybe even the Ender 3 of IDEX printing. Time will tell.
Ok, back to testing.
[ATTACH=JSON]{“data-align”:“none”,“data-size”:“custom”,“height”:“500”,“title”:“artist-d-vase.jpg”,“width”:“500”,“data-attachmentid”:10143}[/ATTACH]
Nice. I’m currently printing @ 45mm/sec.
