Quick Update for the AnyCubic Photon S Photon Workshop V2.1.17.RC1

Just last week I did the first part of the review of the Anycubic Photon S. One of the pain points of printing was the long workflow. Chitubox Prusa slicer Photon File Validator Photon Workshop First thing I have to decide is if the model needs to be hollowed to conserve resin. I load up the model in Chitubox and use the built-in tool to hollow the model. After the models hollowed and a drain hole is placed I export it to an STL and open with Prusa Slicer. In Prusa Slicer, I orient the model and use its auto-support feature and auto-orient feature. It is a roll of the dice if the orientation makes sense. I want all the supports to be on the back/bottom of the print. Little marks are left when removing the supports. I have found that Prusa Slicer has the best auto support feature. Then […]

How to install Duet 2 Maestro Board on HE3D K280 3D Printer

Duet 2 Maestro Wires Description

Quite a while ago I reviewed the HE3D K280 delta 3D printer.  Up until now, I did no mods other than the ones that I completed during the initial build. I have been very happy with it with the exception of the noise caused by inexpensive drivers and the salmon skin due to the drivers as well. The K280 prints big and pretty accurate at modest speeds. Today I am outlining how I upgraded to a Duet 2 Maestro mainboard. With this upgrade, I am jumping from an 8-bit board with generic drivers to a 32-bit board with TMC2224 drivers. The upgrade was quite painless and straightforward but not without a few hiccups. The Maestro is Duet’s entry-level board for about $130. I attempted the Bigtreetech SKR 1.3 with TMC2130’s but the firmware wasn’t quite there yet. I opened an issue on Marlin’s GitHub page which explains the issue in […]

Sovol SV01 Upgrade with BigTreeTech SKR mini E3 Control Board

Sovol SV01 Upgrade: Bigtreetech SKR mini E3

Karl here with a quick upgrade guide. The one complaint I had in the review of the SV01 3D printer was it was loud. Today we are going to look at resolving part of the problem by replacing the Creality board with the BigTreeTech SKR mini E3 V1.2 control board sold on Amazon for around $37. Fan noise at a later date. This board is ideal because the SD card, USB, and screws line up for nearly a perfect replacement. I did not bother hooking up the filament runout sensor. I have never found them particularly useful and always ensure I start with enough filament and bypassed it for the review. The board comes with TMC2209 drivers which significantly reduce the stepper motor noise as well as stop any salmon skin. SKR Mini E3 Warning This board is a replacement for the board found on the Ender 3. Below is […]

Anycubic Photon S Review – Part 1: Getting Started with an SLA 3D Printer

Anycubic Photo S Unboxing

Hey, Karl here with something different. I will be breaking this one down into at least 2 posts. There is a lot to cover. In this first post, I will be sharing my initial experiences with the Anycubic Photon S. It is an LCD based SLA 3D printer. You might ask what is that? If you are a long-time reader you may have ran across my traditional FDM printer reviews. FDM printers use plastic filament on a roll. The filament is fed to a hot end which melts the plastic and deposits layers. Most everyone is familiar with this kind of 3D printing and is easy to understand. LCD based SLA printers work a little differently. We’ll start from the bottom. At the bottom of this printer is a bunch of ultraviolet 405nm LEDs. The LEDs turn on and shine through a 2k LCD screen. Above that is a vat […]

Sovol SV01 Review – A 3D Printer that Prints like a Boss

Sovol SV01 3D Printer

Howdy, Karl here. Let’s do this backward today and give final thoughts first …I like the SV01 3D printer. With a print volume of 280x240x300mm, it’s a good size printer. I think I could get several more centimeters in height if I relocated the filament sensor. I have had it for several months and have printed with it quite a bit and had a really good experience. It is a keeper. By that I mean I have reviewed quite a few printers and I don’t have enough space to keep them all. I find the less desirable ones good homes with friends and family. BTW I plan on doing a follow up soon for all the past articles. Just a few highlights per past article. I think it would be interesting. It is hard to truly review some products in a short amount of time. Back to the SV01…IMO, likes […]

How to Easily Calibrate Retraction in 3D Printers

Retraction Calibration 3D Printers

[Update July 2020:  It is now recommended to use Calibration Generator program instead of the Google Doc Spreadsheet in this article] Hey, Karl here with a short article on retraction tuning. I really enjoy reviewing 3D printers and all things 3D printing with one exception…. when I have to calibrate retraction (aka retraction tuning). It takes so much time. What is Retraction? While 3D printing on a standard FDM printer, the filament is pushed with an extruder motor that has a gear attached. It pushes the filament, either directly into the hotend assembly or through a Bowden tube to the hotend. Molten plastic is then layered to produce a model. When it is printing nearly all prints require non-extruding movements. During the extruding moves pressure builds up and in order to stop stringing and blobbing during non-printing moves, a retraction happens. There are 2 main variables that affect this: the […]

Open Source ESP32 3D Printer Board Supports Marlin 2.0 Firmware

ESP32 3D Printer Controller Board

Espressif ESP32 processor was initially designed for cost-sensitive IoT projects thanks to its built-in WiFi & Bluetooth connectivity and low price, but the WiSoC’s fairly powerful two Xtensa cores found other uses such as face detection and audio applications among others. But a few people are now collaborating to bring ESP32 to the world of 3D printers with an open source hardware RepRap 3D printer controller board that has beta support in Marlin 2.0 RC1 firmware. There’s no commercially available ESP32 3D printer controller board right now, so only prototypes from the community are available. There are mainly two version of the boards: R1 and R2 designed by Simon Jouet, and at least one member – Felixstorm – made his own R2 board from the MIT licensed KiCad based design. R2 is a better design leveraging ESP32’s I2S interface to have more output pins and improve stepping. Felixstorm connected the […]

Snapmaker 2.0 is a 3-in-1 3D Printer, CNC and Laser Engraver (Crowdfunding)

The Snapmaker 2.0 is going to hit the market very soon, and it comes with a modular design and functionality to rival the high-priced all-in-one 3D printers, but comes at a very reduced price point. The company was featured on KickStarter and was fully funded within just a few days.  Snapmaker 2.0 has many features and upgrades from the earlier model.  The Snapmaker 2.0 comes in 3 models, the A150, A250 and the A350 and the main differences are in the build scalability. Respectively the build volumes range from 164x160x160mm which at the smallest range, it is already larger than the original Snapmaker, up to 320x350x330mm. These 3D printer models will carry a different pricing structure, but still in the modest range for a 3-in-1 3D printer with the A150 at $719, the A250 at $899 and the A350 at $1079, for preorder on Kickstarter. The Kickstarter price is […]

EDATEC Raspberry Pi 5 fanless case