Printing multiple parts

Mostly Printed CNC - MPCNC Advice
#1

Hi guys,

First off, just want to thank Ryan for developing the mpcnc, making CNC attainable for the average person. I will be ordering the kit today!

Just a quick noob question…I just purchased an ender 3 specifically for printing the mpcnc. Dialed it in with my Benchie, and it is printing great. I want to print multiple parts simultaneously to cut down on time.(So I can leave it running while asleep or at work). I already printed the feet all at once and they came out great, but I’m concerned that it may affect the strength of the parts. If the previous layers are cooling completely before the machine comes back around to print the next layer, does it affect adhesion? Or am I over thinking things?

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#2

First of all - do not leave 3d printer unattended. Something may go wrong and there will be nobody to turn it off. You may get even fire.

 

Printing a few big parts isn’t good idea, imho. If the printer hangs in the middle or you will get power loss then you will have to drop all these many parts to garbage

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#3

When the layers cool and prevent good adhesion it is called delamination. This is a common problem with ABS filament. Not so much with PLA or PETG. The way to prevent it with larger builds is to put your printer into an enclosure to keep it warm.

I have a lot of expierience with 3D printing and I will say it is better to print one object at a time if you can. The prints usually have cleaner sharper edges and they don’t have strings between them. The real problem with printing more than one item at a time is the retraction. The printer has to retract the filament back into the hot end so it won’t drip when it moves to the next part. Then it has to push the filament back. This always causes an ugly spot on the printed parts.

If you print one at a time you will also get the LEAN manufacturing advantages Guffy talked about. Less waste if something goes wrong. You can change print settings or speeds between prints to make things better and each individual part will be better quality.

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#4

Thank you for the quick responses!

I will be mindful to not leave the printer unattended. My wife is home all next week, she knows where the power button is lol. Thinking of picking up a WiFi camera to keep an eye on it instead of babysitting it.

I will be sure to print the rest of the parts one at a time, you guys are right it just makes more sense…though the 4 feet are already done (they came out pretty good!)

Thanks again, I’m sure you will be hearing more from me in the near future!

#5

I printed all the smaller parts at the same time. The big XY parts I printed by themselves.

#6

I’m on attempt #3 of printing the XY parts. First attempt was with both on the build plate and I got my first ever nozzle jam. Second attempt was a single part and my printer just hung at around the 60% point, first time for that as well.

I can attest to the fact that it’s much more frustrating to lose multiple parts than just one. Perhaps not much more, but more for sure.

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#7

Yea, my printer is starting to flake out. I lost about 16 parts yesterday. Easy peasy parts too. Just printing new spindle mounts. Nothing fancy, no overhangs, just a pair of bolt holes each. Printer loses connection with the heater. Not sure why, it tests out electrically, and is only about a year old. Really looking into a new printer.

#8

I am quickly learning how annoying loosing parts is! Had a some problems with my bed turning off halfway through prints also. Popped the xy part off at about 90% complete…Thought I was missing a setting in Cura, but I manually set the bed temp on the controller and hasn’t acted up since. Started windex-ing the plate, spray with a little hairspray, cranked up the brim width and haven’t lost a print since. I have learned my lesson…one part at a time!

#9

Lack of reliability was one of the things that made me lose interest in 3D printing after I bought a cheap Anet A8 a couple of years ago.

The Prusa MK3 I bought in November has been incredibly reliable, on the other hand. I can fill the bed and kick off 40h prints without worry. I used the electronics from the A8 in my MPNC build instead :slight_smile:

 

 

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#10

I printed Lowrider parts recently, and I was doing big batches of parts. The ones in this picture took between 35 and 40 hours. I am new to 3D printing, but for the most part, it seems that if the first layer goes down well, and looks to be sticking to the bed, that it’s good to go. I made sure to clean the glass between prints, and then rub a glue stick over it, and it seems to do the trick. The only time I had troubles midway through the print, was when I printed the LCD case body and the clip for it. Those are parts that are really thin, but tall. They don’t have much contact to the bed, and are tall enough that they can easily come loose. I learned about brims (rafts?) in Slic3r though, and was able to print them fine. I’ve even had the tablet I am using as a controller go to sleep a number of times while printing, and the print just stops, but then I wake up the table, and it picks up where it left off and finished the prints just fine.

 

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#11

That’s awesome @psyon, using the MPCNC to print the parts to augment your CNC capabilities.

#12

@BT They are actually for my brother in law. When I decided to build the MPCNC, I had been telling him all about it, and he decided he wanted a Lowrider. So once I got my MPCNC setup, I printed all the plastic parts, and just finished cutting out the flat parts. He’s got a pretty good table built for it, that I assume will be in the builds section after he’s all done.

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#13

I used a drilled out 0.4mm nozzle to 1mm then printed at 0.8 layer height and 1mm wide. Printing as many parts as I could fit on the Ender 3 bed ended up taking ~14 hours for everything!

The middle section is a thing of beauty, and with the large layer heights insanely strong. I tried smashing apart one of the middle section parts with a hammer after a failed print (don’t ask) and could barely get it to crack!

#14

Pics of the full build plate!?