I very recently took delivery of a Tiertime UP! BOX 3D printer (from fellow forum member Toploser).
As part of my 'getting to know the printer' process I have printed various small parts that I needed. I decided to also print the kWeld case as a test of the warping on large area prints. I always print in ABS so warping is a fact of life and needs careful consideration with regard to bed temperature and object placement on the bed.
I told Frank about my intention to produce a test print of his case ad he asked that I share the results with you here.
The result is far from perfect but then I had expected that as I used all default settings without any additional precautions against warping. The print is not a basket case but it did suffer warping at two corners of the raft and this distorted the corners of the case slightly. I will list the issues I discovered with the print below. Some are due to the default print settings, my failure to adequately preheat the build plate, whilst others are likely minor issues with the case design.
1. Case top is printed inverted to avoid masses of support material. This means the top surface will not be as fine a finish as if the case were printed the other way up.
2. When printing objects with a large base area in ABS, there is always the risk of the ABS lifting at the extremities of the print. This is usually countered by pre-heating the bed for at least 15 minutes and printing in a heated chamber. I failed to adequately pre-heat the build plate and chamber ..... oooops
![Grin ;D](https://www.eevblog.com/forum/Smileys/default/xgrin.gif.pagespeed.ic.QVVz6XIT20.png)
The result was some warping at two corners of the print.
3. The raft in the UP! series printers is usually pretty good when it comes to ease of removal from the object sat on it. The finish on the objects bottom surface is also pretty good. For some reason the raft did not come away easily from some areas of the case top and I was less impressed with the surface of the stepped down area for the LCD and knob. The 'KWeld' logo on the top of the case also presented some issues as it was not easy to remove the support material without leaving obvious tool marks on the plastic below.
4. The Case top design includes a pair of pillars. I tested their strength when formed in ABS. My conclusion is that they are too fragile and easily break away from case top. I believe these pillars would benefit from a thicker wall or a connical shape with a wider base to carry any lateral load.
I attach pictures of the printer and the parts it produced.
Fraser