That's good - the replacement USB cable has a 120 degree connection instead of a 90, so it avoids the new bracket I fitted to the top of the extruder. UPDATE! I think I figured out the software issue (it isn't the software!). On power up, I was getting an error message about the extruder front cover falling off (it hadn't), but could OK through it. This morning, I realised why I was getting that message. After replacing all the required parts inside the extruder I'd re-fitted the old front cover. I hadn't noticed that they'd supplied an identical-looking replacement that the new firmware was specifically looking for. The printer was therefore preventing the hotend from heating up for longer than it took to load filament because the front cover wasn't detected. So I quickly swapped the covers before leaving for work this morning, and there was no error when powering up. Haven't had time to test it yet, but I'll do so after work tonight.
UPDATE 2 I was right about the front cover, and here's the proof (For scale, the yellow test card is 70mm x 45mm)
Am I going to be the one to point out the pube in this pic? Yes. Your next mission is to try something with a non-PLA support material.
ARGHHHH ROOKIE ERROR! Ran out of filament. Forgot to check (properly), the dryer. I reckon probably about 5 hr before the end as it was still printing this morning. A 23hr print. what has been printed though is actually perfect. So there is that. Haha
... Yeahh. So I decided to just do a PETG Benchy instead. Not bad for first pass. With slight changes from complete default. Still get stringing but not as much as I used to. And that text from the first layer on the bottom. Wow.
Filament storage! £20 of your finest, cheapest plastic kitchen trolley. I can't recommend it, 'cos I can only put two of the overpriced cereal boxes on each shelf (plus two shrinkwrapped spools) as the lip at the front stops me from getting the third in (and I can't get either out unless I remove any and all shrinkwrapped spools first). The top shelf takes three... but only if you remove the drawer above it. Which, I might file down the stop notches on it so that it comes out easier... The top bit of "wood" lifts out to reveal tools, cleaning cloths, that sort of thing; the drawer has a spray can of bed adhesive in it. Honestly, the filament boxes took up less room when they were on the floor - but it looks a bit neater now. Aside from the eighth box, that won't fit. Not sure what to do with that...
Those are literally just overpriced cereal boxes with a little mount for a digital hygrometer; I also have a Creality dryer, which has a little rubber bung and a pair of rollers so you can feed the filament directly out of it into the back of the (MMU/AMS-less) printer. I was just running the filament straight through that, but I found it was rubbing so I put a length of PTFE tubing through it. (If I could be bothered, I'd replace the tubing in the printer itself so it's one continuous unbroken run from dryer to hot-end, but... that sounds like a faff.) It does occur to me that I could design and print extensions for the trolley's uprights so that they're taller and I can get three boxes on each shelf... if I knew the first thing about 3D modelling.
Would they not simply be cylindrical length, of the same sort of size and not that long either (I guess its only a few CM out fitting the filament easily) - just use Tinkercad if so. Free, and quick. Isn't perfect, but good enough for simple things. Even I can use it. I'm awful. But I can do some basic edit stuff to some stls on it.
Nope, they're rounded rectangles with a narrower finned end that inserts into the wider hollow to put it together - all tool-less like. I could maybe get away without the fins, but I just ain't got the time to experiment at the moment - even with something as simple as a rounded-rectangle tube that narrows at the end.
You can print hanger inserts to suspend the reels the just add little Bowden style bulkhead fittings so you can print straight out of the box.
But I'm not multi-material ready, so I have to swap things over anyway - I just take the spool I want out of the box and put it in the dryer. Speaking of, I found a handy thing I've just printed: Was ist? A Bowden-tube joiner! So now I can have an almost-unbroken run of PTFE tubing from the dryer into the printer, without having to take the back off the printer and figure out how to replace the tubing it already had. Yes, the layer lines are ugly in macro 'cos I did it at 0.2mm, but the tolerances are impressive - the screw threads mated first try!
I'd help if had dimensions etc - but I am useless at much more than a square or circle. With no weird shaping. https://drive.google.com/file/d/19TksPv_UUCoevMcc6Qw12sOTO9q-YmSe/view?usp=sharing Like this? -_-
Like this: I'd measure up, but I'd need to take it apart again to get the internal dimensions. I'll add it to my to-do list (meaning it'll never happen, but every now and again I'll remember it and feel bad.)
Just been playing with a design to stack a couple of tables and I've remixed a castor insert on printables to make a dual sided fitting. I have two of these tables, which have a 30mm box section steel welded frame. If I remove the feet from one and take the top off the other I can join them with printed inserts. The spare top is also exactly the right size to use as a mid shelf in another workbench. This is what the inserts look like - printed in a semi flexible PBT Pro (PBT with glass fibres). It's like a hard rubber material. It's a bit of a faff but the fittings and fixings I'd need to buy to do the same is about £15 on Amazon and I learnt a bit more about designs and remixing.
First multi-material print. Well, multi-colour. Well, two colour. Well, black and white. \ Just some labels for the filament buckets. That top-left one was the first in the queue after the paused layer, and for some reason the printer decided that "pause at layer 18" meant "do the first P on layer 18 then pause," which is why it looks a little rough: its bottom layer was done in white, and there was a bit of stringing as the hot-end moved away from the print ready for the filament switcheroo. EDIT: And this is what they look like installed:
