Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[worsthorse]

Thanks for your loud and clear words.  I appreciate that.

I did a little search with google. just to verify:
You are talking about these things?

The ceramic bed:
https://www.creality3dofficial.com/products/creality-new-upgraded-heated-bed-build-plate-surface

And the dual-z-axis upgrade:
https://www.aliexpress.com/i/33008433245.html

Strange thing is: I didn't find it on the Creality website. Maybe I'm overlooking something? 

No, the glass build plate is a different thing. I'm talking about the heated bed itself, made of ceramic. These seem to be MUCH more stable in general than the aluminum ones. I don't know if CReality offers that anymore; it may only be aftermarket or on certain models. I think CReality only offers Dual-Z on one of the more expensive CR-10 models.

@bean - You know the CReality lineup better than I do; can you elucidate?

mnem
*fixing... things.*

@bean and @mnen... so if I were to upgrade my new ender 3, these would be the three things I should do first:  heated bed, glass build plate, dual z-axis upgrade?

I thought the Ender 3 came with a heated bed...? *Gurrgle-Fu* Yeah; it does. I don't know that I'd spend the money on a replacement for a working heated bed; that money is better spent on another machine that comes with the features you've decided you want once you get your feet wet and KNOW what you want.  Give up on the idea of owning ONE printer; unless you decide you HATE 3DP and abandon it, you're going to have 2 or more before long. Period, end of discussion. 

I still like the mirror tile best for machines that are big enough; so much win for so little money. But yeah, a couple pieces of glass to print on are for sure a #1 priority. I don't recommend upgrading to a Dual-Z but rather seek it out as a feature on a new purchase. Same logic as the ceramic heated bed; it is a thing to look for if you're ready to spend a bit more on a machine that's higher on the food chain because it increases the precision and at the same time it reduces wear on the rollers, which helps keep your printer running true longer.

If you want to try printing on glass without spending a fortune, go to your local Dollar Store and look at cheap picture frames. You can usually find one with a glass close enough to your bed size to at least experiment with for a pittance. 

Add a can of extra-hold hairspray and some binder clips and you can be all in for a fiver, give or take. 

mnem
*building the perfect beast*

Thanks bean and mnem... that tells me what i need to know.  I will do the glass bed improvement and leave the rest of it be.  All I have to do now is finish enough of the "getting rid of" project to have a place to put it that isn't our dining room table.   

PS - My goal is to get half a dozen things printed that Amy really wants before telling her I am going to buy another, better printer, because of course, more printer will be better for her projects.   

[med6753]

PS - My goal is to get half a dozen things printed that Amy really wants before telling her I am going to buy another, better printer, because of course, more printer will be better for her projects.   

Sounds logical in YOUR mind but in HER mind if the current printer does what she wanted why would you need a better one? What you need to do is purposely print something for her that comes out crappy looking THEN spring on her the "better printer".   

[xrunner]

I'm not going to give any 3D printing advice 'cause there's already too much to absorb, but I've had a lot of fun with my Ender 3 Pro since I've had it about a year. I've added a whole lot of blingyness to it, and I think I've reached the point of no more return on investment. 

Still it's a lot of fun to put add-ons if you like too - it can be a sort of hobby in and of itself. 

[profanum429]

HP 89410A showed up today, it's a bit large. Came with a dead coin cell battery but that should be a pretty easy fix. It was a good deal I thought, not sure what it'll be used for but I'm sure I could use it to test some low frequency analog stuff I'm working on...

[beanflying]

Even if Linear Rails on a 230x230 Bed are a bit much there is no such thing as overkill IMO 

Looking at all that I have printed in the last three months there is only two items that didn't fit on the bed and needed the larger bed of the CR-10. Generally the Ender is increasingly my go to first and if I have to I use the CR-10. Even with the manual process of leveling the bed on the Ender it needs less from print to print than the bigger CR-10, quicker heat up and why heat a bigger bed than needed.

Having the ability to send files to the printers memory via WiFi appeals to save mucking with SD cards so maybe I will look into board options for one of them more as a plaything than needed.

I might consider a Core XY build at some stage but I am more inclined to look at a messy mucky smelly Resin printer first 

EDIT: Yeah someone brought the little HP Sig Gen so I have 'saved' some $ now what else can I buy

[worsthorse]

HP 89410A showed up today, it's a bit large. Came with a dead coin cell battery but that should be a pretty easy fix. It was a good deal I thought, not sure what it'll be used for but I'm sure I could use it to test some low frequency analog stuff I'm working on...

That piece of gear is worth it for these two features alone:



Have fun with it!   

[xrunner]

Even if Linear Rails on a 230x230 Bed are a bit much there is no such thing as overkill IMO 

Thanks - I was just seeing if anyone would validate my desire for overkill. 

Having the ability to send files to the printers memory via WiFi appeals to save mucking with SD cards so maybe I will look into board options for one of them more as a plaything than needed.

Yea it's nice - that Octoprint system, which is what I'm using, is really nice. The application is a very well written one. 

[profanum429]

Now I just need to get a hold of some floppies and a USB drive

[worsthorse]

Now I just need to get a hold of some floppies and a USB drive

Having a computer that runs windows 3.1 is handy, too. 

Seriously, take care when buying a USB floppy drives. Most of them don't work worth a damn. There's one brand that does and it took me a while to find one. Let me know if you want me to dig up the model.  Also, you will want to format the floppies in your TE floppy drive. They are unlikely to work otherwise.

[profanum429]

Now I just need to get a hold of some floppies and a USB drive

Having a computer that runs windows 3.1 is handy, too. 

Seriously, take care when buying a USB floppy drives. Most of them don't work worth a damn. There's one brand that does and it took me a while to find one. Let me know if you want me to dig up the model.  Also, you will want to format the floppies in your TE floppy drive. They are unlikely to work otherwise.

If it's not too much trouble that'd be fantastic. I was looking at Amazon for floppy drives and there are quite a few. I have one I can borrow from my work, but ideally I'd like to have my own personal.

Now to just wait for my TLA714 to show up tomorrow also...I apparently got bit by the boat anchor bug.

[tautech]

Now to just wait for my TLA714 to show up tomorrow also...I apparently got bit by the boat anchor bug.

Immunity to this is possible despite it being the drug of choice for some. 

Nevertheless another fine addition to the TEA Glossary of Terms, Conditions, Causes, and Effects:
BBBAB

Full credit to profanum429 

[mrjoda]

I have Ender 3 PRO +2kg PLA (mean well PSU, glass bed and some small differences). I bought it for 178€ during some sales. Creality have warehouses over the Europe so, price included VAT and shipping by DHL (or PPL or whatever). When i received a package i found out, that warehouse is located 7km from my work  .


I bought exactly this one https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32944872055.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.6bc64c4dMloBi2

DO NOT buy a package with added PLA. This PLA is totaly piece of crap.

So, i built in in one hour, aligned axis, put sd card and from this point it looks like - put the SD card and print. No futher re-aligments or setup were needed. I am totaly satisfied with Ender and is more then enough for my needs.

I don't think that Prusa is so much better and worth 4x price.

[mnementh]

Woke up; couldn't get back to sleep. At 01:30 I came downstairs; made a guerilla attack on the workbench and took my EDC flashlight apart, resoldered all the components inside the LED pill to cure an intermittent fault, then reassembled. All blindy-bright and steady for a change!

02:45 now; feeling very content with my efforts and ready to sleep. TEA is my sleeping aid of choice!

g'night all you maniacs,

mnem
*toddles off to ded*

[syau]

[Martin.M]

The 7061 has arrived!

nice.
the inguard board is not shielded?

[bd139]

I'm not going to give any 3D printing advice 'cause there's already too much to absorb, but I've had a lot of fun with my Ender 3 Pro since I've had it about a year. I've added a whole lot of blingyness to it, and I think I've reached the point of no more return on investment. 

Still it's a lot of fun to put add-ons if you like too - it can be a sort of hobby in and of itself. 

I still haven’t added any bling to mine. Apart from the glass bed (important investment) the bling is still sitting there uninstalled. I’m going to put the metal extruder drive stuff together on Saturday but it works at the moment and I’m loathed to fuck with it. Nearly all the 3DP problems I read about are because someone has been meddling for no good reason.

[capt bullshot]

Got a new PC @ work. IT dept. did a quite good job in terms of annoyance:

This is a compile run (Makefile etc.) ran on the new PC (Core i5-8500, 8GB, SSD, Win10):
cygwin> time make
...
real    12m42.805s
user    1m33.628s
sys     3m45.193s


The very same job on the old one (Core i7-3770, 8GB, HDD, Win7):
cygwin> time make
...
real    6m58.280s
user    1m13.999s
sys     1m59.115s


Yes, I know, cygwin is known to be slower than native, just for comparison the same job natively (Core i5-6500T, 8GB, SSD, Debian)
> time make
...
real    1m50.209s
user    5m50.816s
sys     0m40.377s
>


No, I didn't swap any of these results. Native debian beats cygwin - that's what one would expect anyway (factor 3 to 6, WTF?), but 7yr old machine beats 1/2yr old machine by nearly a factor of two, even though the new machine has a SSD and the old one doesn't?

[Zucca]

If she's Italian, he's done for  . I think I'd just wait. 

Plot twist 1:
She is american but 4 of her grantgrant parents came from Italy. I just bring back home what left Italy.
She is hot as an Italian but that crazy freedom and army feeling as all the US Americans.

Plot twist 2:
She went to a Laser Cutter Training, now she wants a Laser Cutter.
Go explain her a Laser Cutter is another beast in respect to a 3D Printer.... 

Plot twist 3:
It could be in 2021 I will go back to work in USA as a local this time.
The plan is to buy a 2 floor home with garden at the same price of a single room apartment here in Munich.
I do not know how you guys manage to survive in London or others crazy inflated real estate cities.

[bd139]

Interesting. There is hope yet. Where does one find a female who even knows what a laser cutter is? 

As for surviving in London, I charge more . I worked with a guy a couple of years ago who lived in San Francisco and commuted to London by plane during the week and stayed in a Hilton. All I had to do was undercut him slightly 

[beanflying]

If she's Italian, he's done for  . I think I'd just wait. 

Plot twist 1:
She is american but 4 of her grantgrant parents came from Italy. I just bring back home what left Italy.
She is hot as an Italian but that crazy freedom and army feeling as all the US Americans.

Plot twist 2:
She went to a Laser Cutter Training, now she wants a Laser Cutter.
Go explain her a Laser Cutter is another beast in respect to a 3D Printer.... 

Plot twist 3:
It could be in 2021 I will go back to work in USA as a local this time.
The plan is to buy a 2 floor home with garden at the same price of a single room apartment here in Munich.
I do not know how you guys manage to survive in London or others crazy inflated real estate cities.

3D printers are more idiot proofed and better quality controlled IMO for the usual suspects at least. I can point here at a forum filled with Laser Cock ups from the factory if you like 

[med6753]

This was posted in the Tek Facebook group. Who is this? It HAS to be someone in here. At least with the accent narrow it down to a Brit.

Fess up!! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wL1N0_vJZTo&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR3_jSdLqBhTfCAnlLyb3cNYG_keI4BC9A_PNoLZxpDViFHFtkP9J4_fZKQ

[VK5RC]

Call sign is definitely UK!
@beanflying - thanks for the heads up re the 5000 series hp freq gen and counter - they are coming my way - I have a 5302 and two of the dmms. I see one is missing the rear foot (as usual) and will print another thanks to you and the 3d bits posts!

[tggzzz]

I worked with a guy a couple of years ago who lived in San Francisco and commuted to London by plane during the week and stayed in a Hilton. All I had to do was undercut him slightly 

I went through a phase of commuting to Palo Alto once a month or so, for a single day at the other end. That works well (no jetlag)  in that direction provided you catch the right flights, and only spend one day there, and sleep on the return journey.

Eventually the border police gently interrogated me to find my reasons for the repeated trips. Presumably they thought I might be a smuggler or something

[tggzzz]

This was posted in the Tek Facebook group. Who is this? It HAS to be someone in here. At least with the accent narrow it down to a Brit.

Fess up!! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wL1N0_vJZTo&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR3_jSdLqBhTfCAnlLyb3cNYG_keI4BC9A_PNoLZxpDViFHFtkP9J4_fZKQ

Maybe https://www.eevblog.com/forum/profile/?u=128654

[bd139]

https://www.qrz.com/db/G0MGX