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Delta (Round) or Cartesian (Square) Printer - My opinion..

Discussion in '3D Printing' started by Archie, Jun 28, 2017.

  1. Archie

    Archie Eternal tinkerer

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    A while back now, I bought a Delta G2S Pro, it's actually a Geeetech badged Rostock Mini, and has the X, Y, Z on 3 verticals rods and was great fun to setup and have a tinker. It's basically a 3 dof Stewart platform :)

    I could get some quite decent prints from the G2S Pro but it literally took hours of tweaking and setting up in the firmware (Delta Radius, Offsets, Bed levelling) Now... I love a good tinker as much as the next man, but I was spending more time getting this thing setup than I was printing.

    Enter the Anet A8. I bought it on a flash sale special from Gearbest and it only cost $166 shipped (That's AU!!)

    I CAN NOT RECOMMEND THIS PRINTER HIGHLY ENOUGH.

    For the money, it's incredible. The prints I am getting out of this thing "out of the box" are like injection moulded quality. It is soooo simple to level the bed and once it's done, you don't need to re-tweak. I've printed more in the 5 days I've had this than I have in the 18 months I had the delta. I can fill the whole bed with parts (220mm x 220mm) and just leave it printing overnight.

    Seriously. DO NO BUY A DELTA printer. Go the Cartesian Route (Prusa design)
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  2. Archie

    Archie Eternal tinkerer

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    A picture is worth a thousand words...

    Left: Delta Right: Anet A8 Two different parts - granted - but the quality difference is obvious.

    IMG_0648.JPG


    DELTA
    IMG_0646.JPG


    ANET A8
    IMG_0647.JPG

    Top views (thumbnail - click to view)
    IMG_0649.JPG
    IMG_0650.JPG
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  3. noorbeast

    noorbeast VR Tassie Devil Staff Member Moderator Race Director

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  4. Archie

    Archie Eternal tinkerer

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    Pull the trigger @noorbeast - You won't regret it :)

    I got mine on a 120 minutes Gearbest Flash. (I was actually looking for USB hubs at the time!!)

    @ $190 that is a bargain! (and what crap that RRP is @ $895. These never go for more than $300.) :)

    Go on... you know you want too!
  5. Zed

    Zed VR Simming w/Reverb Gold Contributor

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  6. noorbeast

    noorbeast VR Tassie Devil Staff Member Moderator Race Director

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    OK what filaments or other things are worth grabbing, so I can do it all in one order?

    My biggest concern is not the money, it is not having free time to mess with 3D printing.
  7. Zed

    Zed VR Simming w/Reverb Gold Contributor

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    @noorbeast - You don't have a 3D printer of any kind yet? I was thinking you did?

    I've been going through a lot of red and black filament but those are color choices. Maybe some colors your gal might like for stuff you print for her... Whatever you like. Other than that you might want some of the tiny drills to clear the extruder nozzle (you use them on a hot extruder), maybe some extra nozzles. Not sure what parts on this one would be good for spares otherwise. Maybe the heaters for the heated parts since those may fail more frequently depending on the quality they use. Spare stepper motor shaft coupler or two? Just guessing on that stuff though.
    Last edited: Jul 2, 2017
  8. noorbeast

    noorbeast VR Tassie Devil Staff Member Moderator Race Director

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    No I don't have a 3D printer Zed, I have used The Hub for the few things I have needed, which have been unrelated to my sim, like a control cover for my GearVR that I use for public demos: https://www.3dhubs.com/

    But for me it seems 3D printing has hit a price and quality point where it is worth having one sitting around. My most likely use is printing 3D objects created by youth artists in VR. I spent 6 month teaching local youth artists how to use VR leading up to a live public demo a couple of weeks ago at the Bay of Fires Youth Art Prize:

    [​IMG]
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  9. Zed

    Zed VR Simming w/Reverb Gold Contributor

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    @noorbeast - Fair warning - it's a sickness for sure! I'd bet you go back over your sim and start looking at ways to "improve" it. :grin

    But being serious, I had no idea how handy mine would be. Just about anything I need I just draw it up and print it. On the non-sim front, printing out art that your kids do would probably drive them nuts as they get to see real life objects they drew/sculpted in VR. That would be amazing and I'm sure a real creative kick for them!

    With that kind of an application, I would say definitely!

    And on that, I'd recommend some of the translucent filament if they have it there. That stuff looks wicked and provides another kind of depth. The solid colors are cool and likely appropriate for all sorts of their projects, but I'd bet if they see a spool of translucent, they might want some things printed in that.

    Good luck! That's a very worthy application and glad you are doing that for them! :thumbs
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  10. Archie

    Archie Eternal tinkerer

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    The Anet A8 took around 4 hours to build, spread over a few nights (4 hours total)
    Once built the thing just prints... no messing about. Level the bed (easy paper method) and away you go.
    I've been "pimping" my printer with parts since I got it. I've removed the stock extruder and put a E3D V6 Bowden setup.
    Not essential, but loading filament is easy as this way

    @noorbeast - I have used ABS, but it is a pain to print and find I can do everything with PLA. (It's very strong given it's actually just re-formed sugar!!) At 100% infill you'd be hard pressed to break a 3D printed part. Stick with PLA.

    Get a nice bright colour to print. Everyone prints in black, but it can look quite bland. Green or Blue are my fave colours to use and they look nicer in my opinion.

    Tinker Time? Compared to the hours I have sunk into the G2S Delta, this Anet A8 is an absolute dream.
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  11. Archie

    Archie Eternal tinkerer

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    Here are the upgrade. I'm printing a self-designed Fidget spinner at the moment..

    All the green parts are printed upgrades - Something awesome about printing parts on a printer to then fit them to said printer to make better parts :)

    Bling.jpg
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  12. Archie

    Archie Eternal tinkerer

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    Close up of the hotend / print part.

    Bling2.jpg

    Oh... @noorbeast - Get Kaptan Tape for the print bed. (Yellow bed in this pic) Parts stick to this like a limpet!
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  13. Archie

    Archie Eternal tinkerer

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  14. Archie

    Archie Eternal tinkerer

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    The finished 3D print.

    IMG_0685.JPG

    M12 and Bearings in place.

    IMG_0686.JPG

    Thumb caps fitted.

    IMG_0688.JPG
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  15. Zed

    Zed VR Simming w/Reverb Gold Contributor

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    @Archie - Agreed on black. It's great for sim parts and such but isn't attractive otherwise IMO. It hides surface detail and doesn't photograph for squat. On prints that need support material during printing, that also seems harder to remove.

    Some excellent and surprising upgrades! May just print myself a nippers holder like yours. That's got to be handy.
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  16. Archie

    Archie Eternal tinkerer

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    One other thing I would add is get the Slicer "Simplify3d" It's not cheap, sadly, but I do see a marked improvement on prints with this.

    It's a process driven slicer, so you can assign different fill levels to parts on the same bed/print.
    You can also print to a certain height if you want to try different test prints and you can sink parts into the "bed" to ensure tricky parts start off flat. I've only scratched the surface with this slicer, but do find it's myriad of options quite easy to understand / setup. It Understands the Anet A8 as well. Select it from the "Profiles" and you are good to go.

    AU users will see the price and weep. It's more than the blooming printer!

    https://www.simplify3d.com/
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  17. Archie

    Archie Eternal tinkerer

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    Oh - And if you stick with the Stock Extruder, be sure to find a good matching "Print Cooling Part" The Anet A8 comes with a small 3D printed white nozzle, but Thingiverse is just full of them. Type "Radial Fan" "Radial cooler" "Part cooler" etc..etc.. to see them.

    Just be sure you select one that fits your setup.
    The one I have is specific to the Bowden upgrade I did as the Hotend is more centred and a little further back than the original. The Original Radial cooler is on my first set of pics above this post and is the crappy looking green one on the left.

    Your prints will be awesome with this little addon.
    It ensures the PLA is cooled almost the instant it's laid on the bed so your parts don't warp, and given that each layer is laid down on the previous, having a good "base" is so important to getting good prints that stick to the bed and don't curl up.
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  18. Archie

    Archie Eternal tinkerer

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    @Zed - Transparent filament is awesome! I printed a tea set for my daughter in it and she loves it. When solid my particular brand (cheap Chinese one) has a shimmer to it, like silk, so it's her "Special tea set" now.

    I also printed this Alien on the old Delta G2s just so his teeth would be clear and painted him with Enamel black paint. Make's it look "damp". I'm going to re-print this on the A8 so I can make it bigger as the bed is wider and with not being a "Delta" I can use the outer edges of my bed now! You can see the heavy "layer" lines on this model. Even on 0.2mm, I don't get this on the Anet A8. 0.1 prints look stunning. I will print the Alien in 0.1mm

    Alien.jpg
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  19. SilentChill

    SilentChill Problem Maker

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    @Archie that printer is just the same as mine its an I3 Prusa ;)

    Had mine for 3 years now its been excellent never had an issue and I'm still using the stock parts. I just spray the bed with hairspray, I have not used tape for quite some time now.
  20. noorbeast

    noorbeast VR Tassie Devil Staff Member Moderator Race Director

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