I have several suggestions for videos regarding the Artist-D printers: [LIST=1]
Thanks. I will be starting the JGMaker testing tomorrow. The initial video will be a basic review with the addition of covering the alignment requirements for IDEX features. My next video after that will be a video about the Flashforge Creator Pro 2 and the beginning of a comparison of these two IDEX printers. Then I will follow up with additional videos covering more advanced topics.
I really appreciate the suggestions. The only one that I am not crazy about initially is rebuilding the firmware. That will take some serious and time-consuming research to make sure I do it both correctly and well.
I also want to do a video on different dissolving filaments, the advantages and disadvantages, and best practices. I have a “full dance card” which is an old saying that implies I am going to be quite busy for the next couple of months.
P.S. The Monoprice Delta Mini V2 video posted today. I was pleasantly surprised with that printer. If you can live with a 120mm x 110mm diameter print area, it is a very solid printer, fully assembled at a great price. Good for parents or grandparents to use with kids. Basically, you pull it out of the box and start printing—no bed leveling, etc.
Which is, of course, exactly why I suggested it ?
Seriously, this could be a real obstacle going forward. As I said, it appears my printer is going to require a detailed mesh map of the printbed in order to achieve proper 1st layer adhesion. The question is, “How do I do that?”. At 1st glance, connecting an ABL to the printer appears to be non-trivial.
To follow Michael Laws’ video @ Teaching Tech on creating bed meshes manually requires firmware mods. My 1st thought was, “And just how do the IDEX features affect this process?”, followed quickly by, “Oh, and don’t forget the somewhat unique color LCD screen.”
We’re both programmers. I imagine we can master the intricacies of the firmware, especially if we collaborate. Our main disadvantage, I think, is that we don’t have lots of spare hardware around to call into service if programming mistakes cause damage.
BTW, if I read your post correctly, you have received your Artist-D Pro. I haven’t seen a post saying it had been delivered, so I’m glad to read you got it.
PS. Being an old fart, I’m quite familiar with the phrase “my dance card is full”. ?
As another old fart I knew that one too. They didn’t use them much in my era but they had been in style in the 30’s and 40’s I think. Especially during the war.
As I said, it appears my printer is going to require a detailed mesh map of the print bed in order to achieve proper 1st layer adhesion
I believe I found the problem with leveling the bed. The standard procedure everyone uses will not work because there is a fixed post in the center of the bed connecting it to the XY carriage. Take a look under the bed and you will see what I am talking about. If you make significant adjustments to the corners you will cause the center to be higher or lower than the rest of the bed.
I procedure I settled on was to use the z-axis adjustment bolt that triggers the z-axis limit switch to get the center of the bed as close as possible. DO THE CENTER FIRST. Then make MINOR adjustments to the corners going around multiple times. The center should stay locked in because it is on a fixed post.
Once everything is tuned in your adjust the equivalent of the z offset height with minor changes to the limit switch adjustment bolt.
I would love to have a Z offset option in the menu, but it is not there.
Do all of this for extruder 1. Then if extruder 2 is off there is a z offset as a menu option to sync up extruder 2 with extruder 1. JG Maker claims this was already done at the factory.
Thanks very much for responding Irv.
Funny you mention the center post, today of all days. About 2 hours ago I was sitting in front of the printer watching it do a Duplication Mode print. I started looking around the printer, wondering if I might need to remove the bed to flatten it. That’s when I spotted the 2 stacked pieces of aluminum tubing that support the center of the bed. I also noticed a bolt (the head is up) to the left & (I think) a little back of the center post. Not sure what it’s for.
I was considering removing the bed & seeing if I might need to sand 1 of the center post elements down a bit to achieve flatness. Before that, however, I figured I would loosen the corner spring nuts, to let the corners spring up.
My basic procedure for leveling has pretty much been identical to yours. IOW, I have been spacing the center 1st, then the corners. My concern has been that, if the bed is actually warped, loosening the springs will just let the center come up too. We’ll see.
JG Maker’s recommended method to adjust extruder 2 is to loosen the 4 locking bolts at the back of the extruder 2 mount & then tighten or loosen the smaller, spring-loaded bolt at the top of the mount. Once spaced properly, tighten the 4 bolts back up. My experience is that it’s a bit more complicated, in that tightening the 4 bolts does indeed alter the spacing just a touch, so its necessary to redo the procedure several times to get things right.
I haven’t had much luck with the Z offset option. It doesn’t seem to do anything. Maybe it’s because it’s necessary to get out & then go back in, so it can reset its current value(s). I noticed that that is required when setting the Z axis limit switch bolt. You can’t just press Point 1 multiple times, adjusting the limit switch bolt each time. You actually have to exit back to the home screen & go back into Leveling again. A pain, but it works.
Will we keep this sub-forum dedicated to your research so I can keep up to date with your discoveries? I find IDEX printers to be the most interesting development in FDM printers. It will be interesting when you start trying to stick some flexible filament to a stiff filament and then maybe something else. The possibilities are immense and the fact that you don’t end up with a huge purge block and you can use dissolvable supports to help immensely in printing complicated print all at once mechanisms.
I think we will have to learn some knew tricks that will give us the power to do things no one has thought of till now.
@roon4660 Do you think I should create a new top-level forum for “Multiple Color/Material 3d Printers”
JG Maker’s recommended method to adjust extruder 2 is to loosen the 4 locking bolts at the back of the extruder 2 mount & then tighten or loosen the smaller, spring-loaded bolt at the top of the mount.
Not sure I know which bolts you are speaking about. I have not taken an extruder apart yet. Could you post a picture? The printer is tied up with test prints and I want to get the initial video out in the next couple of days so I have to be selective about the material I cover in this first video.
Interesting that the Marlin IDEX offsets did not seem to do anything. Something else to test.
It will be very interesting to see if the Flashforge Creator Pro 2, which is proprietary, with a dedicated slicer, and does not use Marlin makes any of this easier or harder. That is probably going to have to wait at least a week.
I want to give you a shout-out in the video for all of the work you are doing. How should I refer to you? As Ender5r or with a different name? Feel free to private message me.
Sure thing:
[ATTACH=JSON]{“data-align”:“none”,“data-size”:“medium”,“data-attachmentid”:10139}[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=JSON]{“data-align”:“none”,“data-size”:“medium”,“data-attachmentid”:10140}[/ATTACH]
re: shoutout. Ender5r is fine.
I see. The screens to adjust the 2nd extruder are only visible when the extruder is not parked. Tricky. Thanks again.
Flashforge Creator Pro 2 looks interesting but Amazon.ca wants a thousand can. for it. I see the JG is the same. Free delivery for both.
I think there is a bigger bed on the JG. I am curious if Flash Forge can be tinkered with as easily as JG. The Flashforge seemed super easy to set up and use and did marvellous prints in two colours out of the box in the video unboxing I watched. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6p99ywUx_gI
I believe the FlashForge printers are higher end & mostly designed to not be tinkered with: i.e. they’re more plug ‘n’ play.
It will be interesting to see which concept plays out.
Did you start with the corner wheels in any particular position before setting the bed’s center Z adjustment? IOW, did you start with the wheels tightened all the way or loosened all the way, or perhaps set exactly halfway between tightest & loosest? With the bed having a center post, I’m wondering if this might be important when starting out.
Been working on bed leveling today. As @Irv_Shapiro says, it’s tricky, in particular because the bed has a support post under its center. Anyway, I’ve taken a few photos. Since the forum only allows up to 5 photos per post, I’ll include the overall in this 1 & put the other 5 in another.
[ATTACH=JSON]{“data-align”:“none”,“data-size”:“medium”,“data-attachmentid”:10173}[/ATTACH]
The fullsize version helps make it clear how the thickness of varies, sometimes even within 1 of the squares. I have been blaming it on printbed unevenness, but I’m now wondering if the extruder is not feeding consistently.
Here are photos of each individual square:
[ATTACH=JSON]{“data-align”:“none”,“data-size”:“medium”,“data-attachmentid”:10179}[/ATTACH]Front Left corner. The nozzle is a little close, but not too bad.
[ATTACH=JSON]{“data-align”:“none”,“data-size”:“medium”,“data-attachmentid”:10175}[/ATTACH] Front Right corner. Basically a good print.
[ATTACH=JSON]{“data-align”:“none”,“data-size”:“medium”,“data-attachmentid”:10178}[/ATTACH] Back Right corner. Ever so slightly too close.
[ATTACH=JSON]{“data-align”:“none”,“data-size”:“medium”,“data-attachmentid”:10177}[/ATTACH] Back Left corner. Again, pretty good quality.
[ATTACH=JSON]{“data-align”:“none”,“data-size”:“medium”,“data-attachmentid”:10180}[/ATTACH] The center. Nozzle is too close, but not awful quality. The bump is the center is actually due to there being a nozzle dimple in the center of the mat. However, notice the variation in transparency, from white to almost black. This is why I wonder if the extruder is feeding inconsistently, or is the bed really that uneven?
For a couple of the corners that are too close, you might think I should just increase the gap. I have tried that. It ends up causing issues for the center or another corner. That said, it’s still a work in progress. I likely will get a PEI coated flexi-steel sheet from Aliexpress. I’m using that on my Ender 5 Pro & it’s great.
@Irv_Shapiro, question for you. What do you see when you look at the About screen? Mine did read v2.2.0. Then I downloaded & installed the latest firmware from github (based on the “Latest” tag on github). It installed just fine, but now reads v2.0.5.3.
I just watched Irv’s video on the unboxing etc of the JGMaker Artist-D, I found it very interesting. But Ender5r has been demoted. He is now Ender3r.
Ender 3 IDEX: DIY Dual Extruder X-Carriage 3D Printer Installation Kit by SEN 3D - YouTube I was looking at this kit to change an ender 3 into an idex printer. $360 can. seems a bit steep to me and it seems the small build area would be a hassle.