The First Page of 3D Printing in Life

 

This page is designed for fresh users of 3D printer, since the content of this page is based on the experience from a beginner of 3D printer. We hope it can help you get familiar with this machine and save your time in setting and updating relevant softwares & hardwares. Also, we prepared the some basic models for printing, with which you can adjusting your machine meantime. Enjoy the journel!

Recommended Printer——Ender-3

  • Industrial level quality
  • Integrated structure design
  • High precision & Easy to use
  • Affordable

                            Purchase 

It takes me an hour to assemble the 3D printer. And here are some tips for assembling:

  • Left and right supporting pillars are different.
  • The track might be too long/short. Adjust the blue botton at the end of beam

                Assembling Video                          (Only video in Chinese is provided but the procedure is understandable)

  1. Visit https://cad.onshape.com/ and sign up an educational account.
  2. Watch the tutorial if you do not have experience in 3D drawing softwares.
  3. Remember to export it as STL for further steps. (Right click the mouse on the model)
  4. If you have no idea which model to start with, try this character circle. I draw this Chinese character of my friends’ name and gave them as a gift.

 
  1. Visit https://www.thingiverse.com/
  2. Find the models interest you by clicking the all things and look for the category.
  3. I start with the cooking mould in the category of  Household.                                                                                                                                                   
  4. Unfamiliar/ Unsatisfied with 3D printing?   Instruction & Upgrading

Downloading Ultimaker Cura: visit official website. 

Tip: Do not use the cura developed by creality. I used it before and there were many printing problems.

 Setting Cura

There are much more parameters in cura than you expected. Firstly, adding the printer to the cura, pay attention to the version. Secondly, resetting parameters properly since they affect the quality greatly. Initially I set the bed temperature as 50℃, causing the model not stick to bed. I listed my settings below:

  • Dynamic quality with layer height 0.16mm
  • Infill density 20%
  • Printing temperature 200℃; Bed temperature 60℃
  • Print speed 40mm/s; Initial layer speed 10mm/s

Here provides some basic samples to testing the quality of 3D printer.

  1. Fork & Knife

This sample is simple because it has small thickness, thus it takes little time to print and can check the accuracy.

          2.Chess

This sample has small cross section, so it is quick to print though it has a height of about 5cm. It is a good sample to test the printer when the  nozzle is far from the bed. I met the problem that when there was some height, the nozzle did not stick to the layer well, and finally I solved the problem by changing the Cura.

  3.Pikachu

This is an advanced sample, since it contains complex structure and has a height of 4cm. If you can print out this well, then you can print out most of the models in good quality.

 

 

       4.Alphabot

This is out project sample, if you are interested in it, visit the website and download the Gcode directly.

If you want the harder model to print, try this kind of model has many joints.          Download Files

Tip: The joints part requires high accuracy, resetting the parameters in Cura. For instance, reducing the printing speed and increasing the quality.