5. 3D Scanning and printing¶
Group assignment:
- Test the design rules for your 3D printer(s)
- Document your work on the group work page and reflect on your individual page what you learned about characteristics of your printer(s)
In our laboratory, we have several printers from Creality:
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Ender 3
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Ender 3 Pro
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Ender 3 V2
-
CR-30
The first three printers are different versions of the same model, while the fourth printer differs in its operational mode. It prints at a 45-degree angle, and its bed is movable, allowing for the printing of very long objects.
The Ender 3 Pro 3D printer stands out from the others with its unique print surface, which peels away due to its flexibility. It protrudes from the base and detaches itself due to bending. This means that when printing on it, you don’t need to use sharp tools to separate printed objects from the bed, which could cause damage. Cleaning its surface also becomes an easy task.
The Ender 3 V2 differs from the other two types in that it is equipped with silent drivers. During operation, there are no sounds from the stepper motors, but the fan noises are audible.
We decided to test our printers in several ways.
Impact of Print Speed on Print Quality¶
We downloaded a test model from the internet and decided to test how increasing the speed would affect print quality.
In the CURA software, we generated G-code with a standard base speed of 60 mm/sec. However, during printing, we increased the speed by 70 %, resulting in 1.7 x 60 = 102 mm/sec.
The print was going normally, but when it reached the top, the part was ruined:
Then we decided to print it at the normal speed and got the following result:
Small test model¶
Test for rods with bends¶
Console test¶
We decided to conduct the console test on two printers that print differently:
- Creality Ender 3 Pro
- Creality CR-30
Printer accuracy test¶
Of course, the final test will be to determine the optimal distance between the two walls to prevent the filament from sticking to the walls during printing and to ensure that those walls are formed separately.
For this test we used the design shown on the YouTube channel Maker’s Muse:
We decided to conduct this test on 3 printers.
- Creality Ender 3 Pro
- Creality Ender 3 V2
- Creality CR-30
In the first two cases, we used Raft as Build Plate Adhesion.
And for the third case nothing was used.
Let’s look at the results:
- Creality Ender 3 Pro
From the photo we can see that the valve opened in cases of 0.5mm and 0.4mm, that is, with this printer you can work with gaps starting from 0.4mm.
- Creality Ender 3 V2
From the photo we can see that the valve opened in cases of 0.5mm, 0.4mm and 0.3mm, that is, with this printer you can work with gaps starting from 0.3mm.
- Creality CR-30
From the photos you can see that the test did not give positive results.