Lost confidence with the UP Box

[ideas108]

H All

I would really appreciate some suggestions as I am really frustrated with our UP Box. I thought things were running ok and for a while they were however it seems every time we update the studio software we average one good print in 10.

Are we using UP filament only YES
Have I cleaned the wheel that pulls the filament through YES
Do we use the cleaning filament suggested and sold by the NZ Supplier YES
Do we run it with Aircon on YES
Have I got the latest version of the print head cover - I believe so

How old is the UP Box - we had one of the first in the country when released last year - wont make the same mistake again

What version of the old software might guarantee reasonably reliable prints to demonstrate the power of 3D printing for our community so I can dump the studio software.

Will I recommend the UP Box to colleagues probably not.

In saying this I can not speak highly enough of the Support team in NZ they are brilliant - this is either operator error me completely not understanding/having too high expectations of what is possible or 14 months on having a 1st generation box that simply put is now crap.

I will persevere but would appreciate suggestions for things to try from all of you who have a far greater knowledge than this "beginner"

I should be able to load something in an just have it print successfully every time - that's my simple expectation.

regards

John

[pleppik]

John:

You're obviously very frustrated. Maybe the collective wisdom of this group can help.

Can you give details about the problems your seeing? In many ways hobby-level 3D printing is still as much an art as a science, so it helps to know as much as possible about what's going wrong.

[mrt]

Hi

We still use Ver 2.15 in the old style. We found issues in 2.17 and 2.18

We are using Studio in testing only

[Owen Sparks aka Marksman]

I've had good results with 2.17 and upbox, hundreds of prints with approximately 9/10 prints successful, in TT ABS, .2mm layers.

Using finer layers, studio, 2.18 or anything else dropped that ratio significantly.

Owen S.

[arhi]

i moved from 16 to 18 and I have zero issues with 18 on up plus 2

[ideas108]

Question

I am sure one of my problems is that I don't fully understand when to leave the airflow door? near the printer nozzle open or closed - would someone be willing to try and explain this a bit for me. I am wondering if all my issues are heat related

I am also attaching a poor quality photo of a print yesterday - with a brand new nozzle fitted.

web1.jpg (49.52KiB)Viewed 20441 times

The frustration Is I have printed the same model perfectly so I know it does work.

web2.jpg (23.35KiB)Viewed 20441 times

kind regards

John

[pleppik]

My first reaction looking at those pictures is that this is a challenging object to print with an FDM printer. Those thin spiral fins are pushing the limits of what you can reasonably expect to be able to print, since if one of those bits gets a little out of place (for example, because of vibrations or warping) the whole thing is going to fail.

It looks like you're printing it without any support. Have you tried adding support? That will help stabilize the thin fins and will probably give better results.

[ideas108]

Hi Pleppik

Thanks for the feedback - I will try it with support and see what the difference is. I acknowledge what you are saying finer detail on outer edges like this is asking for trouble without support - Maybe my expectations for this type of printer are way to high I have a reputation for pushing the boundaries of what is possible as per below with no support with the white object.

PS We did not print the fish its a sample we got with our last order from NZ

web3.jpg (25.31KiB)Viewed 20439 times

Thanks for the assistance

John

[wackojacko]

Hi John

Glad you like the fish

With regards to your blue part, this type of model can slightly lift during printing and get knocked. Try printing that in PLA without support.

[Tiertime-Jason]

If you printing the vase with ABS or ABS+ and with the air door fully open. The fine thins of the outside will warp and hinder the nozzle result in print failure. should close air door for ABS especially when printing objects with very fine structure/

[tel]

Jason
As at times it is confusing when someone says the door is open or closed, I assume you mean the the door should be blocking the bottom opening and so directing airflow away from the nozzle(assuming ABS or ABS+)?

In my terminology, if I look from the front and there is an opening, the door is open. I assume it is this state you mean (ie the front opening is open, the bottom opening is closed)?

[ideas108]

Thanks tegregg

I understand your explanation it's appreciated

[Kingsten]

Air flow adjusting knob

[ideas108]

Thank you for this I think I may have had my settings wrong will now test

much appreciated

john

[aesdaileblp]

Better software, such as Simplify 3D or Cura or Slic3r allows custom settings for fan control by layer, which would allow correct high cooling for lower layers, and no cooling for fine structures.

The UP BOX Studio software does not provide any control of fan speed by layer.

[Polaris]

My personal way of resolving the cause of is it : object or method or environment : is to take my model and in the CAD app scale it up. Note: not scale it up within Up! software. The bring it in and have the Up software slice it and print.

Some times you will need to cut it down to fit in the envelope ( so for example take a quarter section, then bring that in ) or simply to save material.

That way you are reducing the object errors from support/drag significantly, and in the case of your structure if may magnify the the cause of the error as it moves out to the thinner section. Being able to see where a print goes wrong can be very valuable too.... So if there's a way for you to video the print in HD (simultaneous multiple angles if possible) then that often helps track down the errors. I made a perspex enclosure for this reason.

Additional : if you want to film inside a dark or opaque enclosure can I recommend that you purchase a endoscope ($10-20) and use that as your video source. It's incredible what you can see and they are light enough to attach to the print head. Also they have an in built led and can be attached to a phone for a recorder. OK I'll stop now before I give away all my secrets ...

[arhi]

The UP BOX Studio software does not provide any control of fan speed by layer.

dunno how it is on other printers like up box, but up!plus2 has only one fan and that one is linked to "motor enable" pin on the cpu so it can only be on and off and it has to be on while printer is running (when you enable motors it will turn on, when you disable them it will turn off) so no fine control possible by the way it's constructed ... not sure if box is any different (I see that some, like mini, have different pinout then up!plus2 so maybe there's another fan there that can be controlled)