WHY so few people do LARGE prints. 3D Print Startup Business Vlog

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[@theSilentCutter]

Bambu is about to drop a new "advanced" printer!!!!! i hope it is bigger!

[@RBallarddesigns]

Well…. I just spent the day catching up on your videos. I enjoy the different small print farms and how everyone goes about them.. so a sub from me. On my printer patch (only 3 so I don’t consider it a farm yet) I am now working out some light boxes. Also have a regular Kobra 2 and hate that machine. I’ve had nothing but problems. My son plays with it now because he doesn’t care about print quality.

[@TechnicalsTinkers]

Welcome, greatly appreciate your eyeballs!

[@aaronbrenkus9126]

The layer shift thing, I have had issues with that and I found that it wasn't my printer but my slicer that was doing it. The slicer was maxing out my CPU when it ran and would cause the gcode to hiccup on layers. I resovled it by switching slicers, in the case of my ELEGOO I ended up switching from Orca slicer back to the ELEGOO branded Cura. For my FLSUN I switch from Cura to Prusaslicer.... Weird that differnet machines react different to default setting slicers, but apparently they do, I am new to this as well but objective learning showed me how to resolve. That and a ton of wasted time and money trying to tweak hardware on the printers when it was a software issue.

[@Dan_Murphy]

There are locking things you can print for the belt tensioners. Also incorporate .2mm z hop in the slicer. That way when it travels across the print it won’t drag the nozzle across the print and cause a layer shift.

[@TechnicalsTinkers]

Hey dan, mentioned that in today's vid. Anycubic slicer doesn't seem to have a zhop, but the new version of their slicer DOES, but anycubic's service went down for basically teh entire day so I couldn't run the test!

[@Dan_Murphy]

⁠@@TechnicalsTinkersI would definitely switch over to prusaslicer.

[@dlaz9944]

Kobra 2 max has a very weak cpu and lacks memory for running klipper. You should look into replacing the contoller and running it off a raspberry pi or mini pc.

[@TechnicalsTinkers]

I'd sooner just buy another printer than try to tinker with it and create future maintenance issues, but the large build plate has me stuck

[@dlaz9944]

@@TechnicalsTinkers I totally get that. Sadly the Kobra 2 Max is the best sub $500 printer with that build volume on the market. I have 2 of them myself and I am doing a complete electronic and hotend rebuild on one of them to make it much more reliable and documenting the process. Honestly replacing the electronics on it isn't that bad, it's mainly repinning a few connectors. Main issues I have with this printer is the PTFE lined hotend is a failure point which is easy to fix with an bi metallic heat break for and ender 3 and then replacing the nozzles with volcano nozzles. Cheap and easy. The other issue is like I said is the board. It's already running klipper and people have extracted to configs, but it works in a non standard way and is locked down. Main problem is it needs more ram, that is what is causing the stalls and skips.

[@cyphurthefox752]

KZbin thought I might like your videos; I find it neat that you have 4 of those Anycubic Kobra max printers. I have one of those Anycubic Kobra Max printers.....in parts under my workbench. I originally purchased it because I thought the Volcano High Flow hotend would be good for faster prints, and the 400x400 mm bed would be a nice to have whenever I needed it. Unfortunately, I was mistaken. I do 3D printing as a hobby and not as a business, but I found that the Kobra was very problematic from a quality perspective, and try as I might, I could not tune the issues out. It was killing my interest in the hobby, and I stopped enjoying 3D printing. I eventually took it apart, flat-packed it under my workbench, and replaced it with a Voron 2.4. That printer re-ignited my love for 3D printing as a hobby. It may be slightly smaller in build volume, with only a standard e3d v6 hotend, but I can actually run it faster than my Kobra Max, and because I completely built it myself from a kit, I can diagnose any problem that goes wrong. I was also able to tune out any quality concerns easily. A Voron is not necessarily good for a business (DIY assembly is a project and a half), but the amount of fruitless work I put into tuning a Kobra Max can't be good for a business either. At this point, I have no idea what to do with the Kobra Max other than part it out for various projects. The printer is so problematic that I can't in good conscience give it to anyone (Let alone sell it) because I wouldn't wish that on anybody. Any suggestions about what to do with it are welcome. Based on what I know about 3D printing, I believe the biggest issue with the Kobra Max comes down to the choice to use a "bedslinger" style motion system (The entire bed moves for the Y axis) instead of an XY gantry. The amount of weight in that 400mm bed makes it too difficult to move with any sort of urgency, let alone bring it to a stop, slowing everything down. I'm sure the sheer mass of the bed (And prints, as you pointed out) also causes some weird resonance issues that are difficult to tune out. This is why the XY gantry with a bed moving in Z on other large format printers is much more common than a bedslinger design. I'm also sure the choice of only a single motor for the Y axis exacerbates the difficulty of starting and stopping the bed. They advertise dual motors on the Z screws, but the part that really needs the dual motors is the bed. Also, a note about those printers: For cost reasons, they use Delrin wheels on aluminum extrusion as opposed to linear rail and bearings. This is plenty accurate for hobby 3D printing, but if you're running something like a print farm, you may find that the durability is subpar, and you would be better off using proper bearings in a printer. You already have some Bambu Labs machines using rod bearings, which is a good choice for longevity.

[@TechnicalsTinkers]

WOw, thanks for the detailed reply. I agree on many points, the K2M is not ideal, but the volume is what I really need given I want to explore large prints without dishing out 3k for a yet unproven orangestorm giga I also think they coudln't really do the kobra as coreXy due to the size, but rest assured i'm looking for alternatives!

[@cyphurthefox752]

@@TechnicalsTinkers It really is a shame how little exploration there is of printing larger than 350mm on a side. I'm hoping the orange storm giga shakes out well, encouraging other vendors to enter the space and iterate on large format 3d printing. It's got a long road ahead from what I've seen though. I wish you luck in your endeavors, it looks like you have a lot of good printing on your Kobras, and managed to tune out a lot of the artifacts, which is better than I ever achieved with mine.

[@NOMADICFALCON-ye8of]

Your issue with the D20s is not the MAX PRO printers. Its most likely the sliceing software your using. Also your top layer printing needs adjusting as it looks a bit iffy.

[@TechnicalsTinkers]

Noted! I read people suggest to use the anycubic slicer to avoid issues, which is what i'm using. I guess perhaps i'll try their newer slicer. What do you mean by the top layer? I increased total top layers to 6 to offset any irregularity caused by lack of infill. Those bridging extrusions are LONG so it really has a task

[@NOMADICFALCON-ye8of]

@@TechnicalsTinkers the layer shift changed for me on the max when i changed over to Orca slicer, it will let you know if you have any errors in your stl file and fix them automatically. Change the top layer to print in a circle motion from outside to in, you will find what to turn on under layers and type in cura, happy printing. Oh and i have 4 max and never had to many problems to be honest.

[@Corsairscustomproducts]

yup I'll say same switch over to Orca slicer.......the slicer you use makes a world of difference no matter the machine even if you made a profile in bambu print for those kobras will make a difference!!!

[@TheFunesk]

I have Bambu anti vibration feet if you want them. I don't like them on my setup😅

[@TechnicalsTinkers]

I hvae those on my P1P. I don't like them either! TOO WIGGLY!

[@jackolantern610]

The printers should be in isolated planks and ideally on a stone slab if they do not already have built in Ballast in base

[@TechnicalsTinkers]

In my original farm "tour" vid I go over how I reinforce those tables, but they're bolted into the wall, as well as chain anchored to the concrete floor. They DO NOT MOVE lol

[@jackolantern610]

@@TechnicalsTinkers my mistake . I thought maybe why you were getting that x axis transient whivh did not seem predictable

[@jackolantern610]

@@TechnicalsTinkers can I just say, you and a couple of other farm vloggers going into such detail in such a young industry where there is a lot of diffuse hands on knowledge not really formalised anywhere has been beyond helpful to me to study as well as inspiring z thanks!

[@jackolantern610]

There’s nothing subtle about these figurines lol

[@TechnicalsTinkers]

If you see her other works, these are basically puritanical. LOL

[@jackolantern610]

@@TechnicalsTinkers oh no!

[@aaronbrenkus9126]

not $20 go $19.99

[@TechnicalsTinkers]

Charm pricing works!