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SeeMeCNC Delta Manual

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SeeMeCNC Delta 3D Printer Manual
First Edition
v1.00 – January 13th, 2018
Cura v3.1.0
Copyright 2018 By Gene Buckle –
geneb@deltasoft.com
Licensed as Creative Commons, Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0
Official support is available through
support@seemecnc.com
As a SeeMeCNC printer owner, you'll also find a ton of great resources on the
forums at
forum . seemecnc . com
1

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Summary of Contents for SeeMeCNC Delta

  • Page 1 Copyright 2018 By Gene Buckle – geneb@deltasoft.com Licensed as Creative Commons, Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Official support is available through support@seemecnc.com As a SeeMeCNC printer owner, you’ll also find a ton of great resources on the forums at forum . seemecnc . com...

  • Page 2: Introduction - Read Me First

    0 – Introduction – Read Me First! This document is your instruction manual for your new SeeMeCNC® 3D printer machine. Before using your new 3D printer, thoroughly read and understand this manual for safe and effective operation of the machine.
  • Page 3 Guide. That guide will show you how to add your printer to Cura and how to import the pre-built slicing profiles that SeeMeCNC has developed. If you haven’t yet had the opportunity to go through that guide, please do so now.

  • Page 4: Table Of Contents

    Table of Contents 0 – Introduction – Read Me First!....................2 1 – The Cura Interface.........................5 2 – Printing with Cura......................... 13 3 – Introduction to the Custom Options..................18 4 – The Cura Material and Profile Managers................24 5 – Print Setup – Advanced Options..................28 6 –...

  • Page 5: The Cura Interface

    1 – The Cura Interface The Cura interface is very straightforward and easy to understand. Let’s take a few minutes to get familiar with it! 1. Open File. This is the button you’ll click when you want to load an object into Cura. 2.
  • Page 6 Cura more fully. Open a browser and go to https://repables.com/r/118/. This is a tiny medallion with the SeeMeCNC “blinky” eyes logo on it. Once you’ve got the file downloaded and un-zipped, click on the Open icon to load the model into Cura.
  • Page 7 Here’s what the scaled up medallion looks like in Cura: Medallion scaled up! There’s three other adjustment tools in Cura that will allow you to move a model around the build plate, rotate the model, or mirror the model. Moving the model is easy, just click on the model to select it and then click & drag to move it where you like.
  • Page 8 The rotation tool will allow you to change the orientation of the model on the build plate. This comes in very handy if the model you load isn’t oriented in a “printable” position. Rotation tool Axis of rotation rings. When you select the rotation tool and then your model, you’ll see three “axis rings” appear around your part.
  • Page 9 The last adjustment tool we’ll take a look at is Mirror. When you select your model and click the Mirror tool, mirror axis control points will appear around the selected model, similar to those shown on the right. These control points allow you mirror your model along the X (red), Y (green) or Z (blue) axes.
  • Page 10 The Layer view gives you the ability to examine each layer of your model as it would be printed. This allows you the opportunity to see how changes you make to the print settings panel will effect how the model prints. Below is an example of the layer view, showing layers 1 through 32.
  • Page 11 If you want to adjust other settings or choose one of the SeeMeCNC profiles you imported, you’ll need to click on the “Custom” button.
  • Page 12 Build Plate Adhesion will tell Cura to print a brim or a raft to help the part stick to the print bed. A brim is basically an extended first layer. It will print a series of concentric perimeters around your model, starting at the edge of the model and working out. This provides more surface area for the model to adhere to the bed with.

  • Page 13: Printing With Cura

    This ensures that as soon as you’re ready to print, you don’t need to manually start a slicing process. So let’s go ahead and print the SeeMeCNC Blinky Eye medallion using one of the SeeMeCNC pre-defined configurations. In order to select a new profile, you’ll click on the Custom button and then chose the profile you want from the Profile drop-down.
  • Page 14 Once you’ve chosen the new profile, Cura will slice your model based on these new settings. When it’s done, you’ll see “Ready to Save to File” appear right above the estimated print time. Your print time may not match the example below, that’s okay! Ready to save! Click on the Save to File button in order to save the gcode that Cura generated when it sliced the model.
  • Page 15 To print your newly uploaded file, just locate the filename in the list and click on it. Filename link When you click on the link, you’ll be presented with a confirmation dialog as shown below. Click on the Yes button to start the print! Start Print confirmation dialog.
  • Page 16 As you watch the print start, you’re going to see something similar to the image below. Skirt & Perimeter #1 above is the “skirt” that the default profile uses to prime the hot end with plastic. If you’d configured Cura to print a brim, this skirt would touch the outer perimeter of the part and expand outward concentrically for the distance specified by the brim settings.
  • Page 17 When the bottom layers are done printing, the infill layer will begin. In this case, occupying 15% of the interior area inside the model. When the print finishes, you should have a SeeMeCNC Blinky Eye medallion that looks similar to the one shown below.

  • Page 18: Introduction To The Custom Options

    Cura defaults. This is normal and is the result of the SeeMeCNC supplied profiles. The profiles that SeeMeCNC supplies change those default values in order to provide better results on their printers.
  • Page 19 finish than you get at thinner layers. Line Width dictates how wide the line of plastic being extruded should be. In our case it 0.5mm, which matches the diameter of the nozzle. If you have a larger or smaller nozzle, you should set Line Width to the diameter of that nozzle. Shell contains parameters related to the exterior shell of a printed part.
  • Page 20 It all spends on what the model is for. If you’re printing little “toy” things like the SeeMeCNC Blinky, 15% is just fine – but if you’re printing something like a bracket or other part that’s got to be mechanically strong, 80% or 100% infill isn’t unheard of.
  • Page 21 Since you’re working with a SeeMeCNC delta printer of some kind, this may not be the case. SeeMeCNC delta printers that are equipped with the DuetWifi or DuetEthernet controller can easily run at high travel speeds.
  • Page 22 Skirt Traces around the perimeter of the print without touching it. This is commonly used in order to prime the hot end. It prints only on the first layer. Skirt was used when printing the SeeMeCNC Blinky medallion. • Brim Brim is similar to a Skirt, but actually contacts the edge of the model. This is commonly used to artificially increase the surface area of a parts’...
  • Page 23 The raft printed for this example is exaggerated in size for illustration purposes. The image on the right shows the part as printed on the raft. Below that is the part after separation from the raft. The part is upside down so you can see the bottom surface.

  • Page 24: The Cura Material And Profile Managers

    4 – The Cura Material and Profile Managers Cura comes equipped with an excellent selection of pre-configured materials from a number of well known vendors. However, there will be a time when you’re going to want to add your own filament to that selection – or more importantly, tweak one for your particular configuration.
  • Page 25 To the right of the materials list, you’ll find the Information pane that allows you to edit the various parameters that define your new material. The description fields are pretty self-explanatory, so I won’t dig into those. In order to set your material color, just click on the square color icon next to the text that describes the color.
  • Page 26 SeeMeCNC HE280 and SE300 hot ends, the recommended retraction distance is 3.2mm and the retraction speed is 45mm/sec. For other manufacturers, you’ll have to experiment to see what works best for your hot end. The Standby Temperature parameter is used to reduce the hot end temperature of a second hot end if you’ve got one installed.
  • Page 27 When you make changes to printing parameters on the Print Setup screen, Cura will retain those changes with that profile until you “commit” them. When you next change profiles, Cura will know what changes you’ve made since you last selected the current profile and it will allow you to update the profile with your changes, or discard them.

  • Page 28: Print Setup - Advanced Options

    5 – Print Setup – Advanced Options Each of the print setup categories in Cura include a range of settings that are only visible if the user chooses to see them. This is great when you’re first starting out with Cura, but it also gives you the flexibility to access more settings as your experience increases.
  • Page 29 Shell The Shell category covers all aspects of how the exterior of the model is printed and is pretty big – there’s over 40 options! Instead of listing all of them here, I’ll just highlight the ones that you may find interesting. Please check out the entire range of settings though – there’s tool-tip information for all of them.
  • Page 30 Z Seam Alignment allows you to decide how the slicing engine in Cura handles seams. A seam is created when you complete one layer and begin a new layer at the same place where you began your last layer. Your choices are User Specified, Shortest, Random, and Sharpest Corner.
  • Page 31 Some of the examples shown generate a “3D” infill pattern. These patterns create actual shapes within the interior of the model in order to increase the internal strength. All of the 3D examples are shown at the same layer height within a 25mm x 25mm cube. The infill was set to between 20 and 25%.
  • Page 32 Material The visible material properties that Cura uses as defaults are pretty self-explanatory, but there are a couple you may want to enable in order to get better results. Retraction Distance will allow you to set how much filament is pulled back from the nozzle when a retract occurs.
  • Page 33 Support Support Placement will allow you to tell the slicing engine that you either want support everywhere, including built up from the model itself, or only the build surface. This can be handy when you’ve got a requirement for support only in areas that are reached from the bed surface.

  • Page 34: A Strategy For Successful (And Great!) Prints

    Some of the links below reference part files that are stored on the forum itself. You may need to create a forum account to reach them. I highly recommend doing this whether or not you need the files. The SeeMeCNC is an excellent resource with a vibrant, helpful and very newbie-friendly community.
  • Page 35 One very easy place to do this is with the model itself. Develop your experience printing the same model over and over until you nail it. Even with a simple model, you can (and should) approach printing it with a methodical approach from the ground up. That's the next strategy. #3 Practice in Measures.
  • Page 36 I've identified everything from loose pulleys to a worn joint on a delta arm to separating arms on magnetic ball joints! And, I've helped a lot of folks identify other issues simply by slowing down.
  • Page 37 Recently I archived all of my H1 and H1-1 notes. I don't refer to them any longer so why keep them in my working notes? #8 Be Consistent. A CEO friend I worked with many years ago was fond of saying "Consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds!".
  • Page 38 filament need to be bumped up a bit more than 5° so don't hesitate to experiment and find that lowest reliable extrusion temperature. If you want to get really serious about profiling your filaments, do the melt-flow test at higher extrusion rates - 60 mm/s, then 70mm/s, etc. Don't forget to measure the diameter of your filament too! Not all filaments are created equally.
  • Page 39 This isn't an exhaustive list but it does include the big hitters and, as you can see, there are a few of them so it is very important to take a methodical (#2 and #8) and documented (#7) approach when solving bed-related problems. This is also a place where careful observation (#6) can play an important part.
  • Page 40 There are many other variations on this (changing slicers for example). Learn how to diagnose problems. This requires careful observation (#6). Once you've identified where the problem occurs (let's say getting the first layer to stick) then PRACTICE that piece (see #3) until you sort it out. No need to run through the entire process over and over. Isolate the problem, formulate a hypothesis on what you think might be happening and design a test to prove or disprove your hypothesis.
  • Page 41 When you do determine you have a problem that only a fan can solve, start conservatively. I also seriously recommend using a duct of some sort to focus the air flow where you need it. Ideally, the fan would have the ability to follow the print nozzle and direct a small stream of air to the filament right after it is laid down.
  • Page 42 2) first layer thickness (stop the print after first layer and measure it) 3) total print height (should be about .6mm) 4) X-Y calibration (should be 20mm diameter) 5) eliminate blobbing and other surface artifacts - follow the guide above, print slow, adjust retracts, etc. KEEP NOTES! pt3mmx20mm-cylinder.stl http://forum.seemecnc.com/download/file.php?id=8207 pt4mmx20mm-cylinder.stl http://forum.seemecnc.com/download/file.php?id=8208...
  • Page 43 Highcooley's Onyx Bed Leveling Aid is a great one to test your calibration. Highly recommended. If you can print it perfectly you've "arrived". I couldn't find a similar thing for the Eris®. If you know of one, let me know and I'll add it.