Part 5: Electronics and Firmware (2 hours 37 minutes)

I just ordered an anet a8 prusa i3 clone from gearbest after watching some good reviews on YouTube, so we'll see how it goes. I figured i didn't want to go down that road building something from scratch just now.

This is a really long one (4 hours!), but the printer prints successfully at the end.  I suspect there will be another one where he makes adjustments to improve print quality, but for now, at least Thomas completes the build, final setup, and first print.

for now... i've ordered the fabrikator mini II... when it will arrive, ill share my frustrations
it had all that i wanted, small form factor, heatbed, should be idiot proof.

im not seeing 10x10x10 as limitation as im starting this hobby so i don't expect to build a rocket out of it ... yet

(06-Mar-2017, 01:12 PM)sirdude Wrote: Yeah, for me it's always better to plead ignorance then ask for permission......not always the smoothest road to an end....but I always reach the end. : )

..
My little contribution to the subject - totally off 3-d printing (..which makes me drool too, of course!! - have been messing around with PLA-printers in the hospital for skull reconstructions, converting .dicom files to .stl back and forth..):
There's a reflex residing somewhere deep inside the subconscious of the female psyche, that wants to make sure that she's mated the alpha-male, and which is designed by nature to keep him from getting lazy. The human body is an adaptation-machine. If we do the same exercise twice, the training effect of the second go will already be lessened due to optimization of movement. We're subconscious comfy-zone-junkies, that's because, not so long ago, nutrition wasn't readily available 24/7, and noone knew when the next meal would hop along. So stuff yourself on every occasion you get, and move as little as possible. Will sound familiar to lots of us, I guess..
However, if your female is driving you (..and most likely herself) nuts, it's just because she's subconsciously trying to secure her rank in the herd. Ok, let's say collective. Another funny fact is that sperms get activated inside the female body only. We shoot blanks.
(look up: capacitation) So the silverback (..and a couple of his officers) will all have a go at the preferred female, but ultimately it will be her to decide which one's going to be the father. That always puzzled me to bits.
With humans, it's not that different: The requirements for procreation are far different from those of education. Broken down, it means get the sperms of Arnold Schwarzenegger, but educate your children with Woody Allen. Sort of..
To our dismay, it means that the part of our female partner choosing us was well aware of the service-package she could obtain from that specific male. Before settling for that, though, they tend to have a glance at the wild, ferocious experience that e.g. the smoking, drinking and life-savouring male standing at the bar promises. Just to put a cross on it before settling. Not meaning to disenchant anyone, fellas!!
Just saying that, as a modern male, we all have to be sort of both: Adventurous seaman sailing off the next day, and reliable rock in the stormy sea. Knowing this, though, offers a couple of perspectives on playing with those instincts. Even though it's fatigueing, putting up resistance to your female's whishes and yearnings is essential. She's testing YOUR rank in the collective, Dear. If you give in too easily, she'll look for resistance elsewhere. 
Go buy those printers, folks!!

Something that is also worth thinking about for people new to 3d printing is that currently, even with the most commercial printers, it's still a hobby. I don't mean that there are no professional applications for it, but rather that you usually have to maintain your machine and if you are even a slightly technical minded person (which I assume most people building/flying quads are) then you will always want to improve it. This is either a good thing or a bad thing depending on how much you are actually interested in it.

(01-Apr-2017, 09:41 PM)Grisha0 Wrote: for now... i've ordered the fabrikator mini II... when it will arrive, ill share my frustrations
it had all that i wanted, small form factor, heatbed, should be idiot proof.

im not seeing 10x10x10 as limitation as im starting this hobby so i don't expect to build a rocket out of it ... yet

Funnily enough I was thinking much the same. As much as I love DIY the idea of spending AUD500-AUD1000 on something that needs modification and tuning out of the box doesn't gel.

The Farbikator at AUD270 would do nice for me - I can't see larger things being that commonly printed.

So anyway... it's been a month how's it going?

That little Fabrikator Mini V2 (or Malyan M100 if you could get one from the manufacturer) is great value for the price, particularly as the 250°C capable hot end and the heated print bed will let you print ABS, PETG and some nylon filaments. It won't print really flexible filament as it uses a Bowden style extruder, but it should handle semi flexible filament, I hope! The limited print area really isn't an issue for most of the stuff I print and I could happily keep my big printer under wraps until I needed its larger print area.

I guess I'm not the only one thinking like this as it seems to be on back order everywhere at HobbyKing and the only Malyan distributor I can find only ships within the USA.

Lee (Painless360) seemed to be reasonably impressed with his first tests of it.

as i've ordered mine the second it went into the sales... and i've ordered fancy options like blue and eu plug... my order is still processing and i've had no reply from them... now i see it is discontinued (the blue one)...

so my enthusiasm for hobbyking is getting lower and lower, ill provide update in few days as ill need to contact them.

as for painless not saying ohhhs and ahhhhs, lets all remmeber it is an entry, boxed device... ill see "if" i get one but from my perspective as a total noob it seems to be a great starting point with pricetag ~200 USD with shipping that is not from a random dude on aliexpress.

I saw last week that they had some blue versions with the US plug in stock, so I bought one as soon as I saw it. The last tracking update said it had already left DHL's office in Leipzig, so I should have it on Monday.

It really doesn't matter what plug it comes with as the power supply takes a standard 2-pin input plug and works on 110-230V. So I'll just throw the US power cable away and use one of the spares I have in my cable box.

Was your one in stock when you ordered it?

well i did the same... so i've contacted the customer support ... and there was a huuuuge problem for changing the order because it would cost extra due to the shipping cost delta and potentail customs etc...

ok i've said what is the delta excluding customs as that will hit me at some point...
"you would need to pay 2.36$ more" .... so i've spent 45 minutes talking about 2.36$

what i liked the consultant was really willing to find a way and eventually we got it all figured out... now my order is processing (like last one ... for 1.5 months) i expect to see the blue one being sent shortly

and as for plug... never cared... as unseen mentioned "i have a box and im not affraid to use it"

______________________________

aaaaand it has been sent!

Just don't buy M3D, like i did

as you can see in the other thread im in the learning phase, and fabrikator is perfect for my needs (just printed the cover for runcam3 and im happy (ofcourse it could be better... but that is beyond the level i care )
also it is small so my wife is nagging only a bit about it

(20-May-2017, 06:48 PM)FPVnorway Wrote: Just don't buy M3D, like i did

Is that the Kickstarter printer that Kjell & Co are selling?

No good then?

Just few mine cents.

I have 2 printers.

My 1st was kossel delta and its great, I bought it for ~400 usd and its great machine. Need some tweeks and still have planned few more on it.. But time, time time.. Delta type of printers are great, but calibration is pain in the @#$%.

Second was Anet A8 in discount for ~140 usd and for this price its unbelivable great, but in default the print isn the gratest, but for this price? Worth every penny.

Both of them are slightly used almos every second day and working great.

So if you are technocal type, who like to improve hsi toys, go for it!