First few tests

At a layer height of 0.13125 mm the corrugated ribs have definite striations created by the layering of the PLA. These might be covered by painting or possible use of a heat gun to smooth the PLA. 

The print layer height was increased to 0.0875 mm for the next test print.

The corrugated ribs are definitely smoother, however,  the H-beams have visible lines. Most of the rivets printed, expect for the rivets that should have appeared where the holes are on the rib in the center of the above photo.

Overall not bad for the first test. 

I miscounted the number of supporting columns on the prototype silo, thought there was eight now it appears to be 10.

Back to the drawing board to rebuild the model.

Eugene

Eugene

I'm following with great interest. Thanks for posting the tests and photos as they are extremely useful for those of us interested in testing the waters with the lower end units.

Model Corrected

The printers 100 micron resolution  (0.1 mm) should mean 1/2 inch objects (in O scale) are approaching the minimum size for printing. 

I use a raft to support the print, as shown at the base of the model. The print time was 8 hours and 7 minutes for this 40 scale inch height section using the 0.0875 mm layer height. The section and supporting base consumed 28 grams of PLA. 

Eugene

Just so others (and myself) can get an idea, which actual printer are you using?

We know the price but not the make and model.

@lnxlnx

Ok, before I mention the printer, this was more about what a low end printer can do than the printer.

The printer has been used for printing at higher speeds for rough prints and not for detail parts.

After approximately 4 months of moderate use the wires to the heated bed frayed. 

The problem appeared as erratic temperature readings and some sparks.

The heated print bed moves and is the Y-axis for this printer. One can imagine that during a print this bed moves back and forth many times and sometimes rapidly. Unfortunately, the manufacture decided to route the wires for the bed heater and temperature sensor into the printer enclosure through a hole at the back of the printer directly under the print bed. With every back and forth motion the wires would bend.

A Fix

I disconnected the heated bed and temperature sensor from the controller and ran the printer. The PLA I was using would detach from the print bed after a few layers. Initial I tried using painters tape to hold the print down, this worked but was rather wasteful since it wasn't necessary when the heated bed was operational.

To get the bed and temperature sensor operational again I drilled holes in the back of the bed (warranty violation) and into the side of the printer housing, the wires near the fray were cut and extension wires were soldered to the old wires (and insulated). These new wires were feed through the holes in the back of the  print bed. The original ends of the wire, with the connectors attached, were feed out through the new holes in the printer housing and soldered to the extensions (and insulated).

The Monoprice select mini V2 has been operating fine since the fix. 

Eugene

Interesting

Thanks Eugene for that update.

Interesting to see the design decision that the manufacturer chose for routing cables. At least you have a fix for it and hopefully it will give you many hours of work in the future. I hadn't heard of this particular printer having that fault although lots of $200 printers tend to have issues with the cable routing and rubbing.

I was curious about the make as a lot of the cheaper 3D printers use acrylic or wooden frames. At least the Select Mini V2 has a bit more rigidity to it.

Can you try replacing the

Can you try replacing the wires with ribbon cable? We had a problem at work with flexing wires on a test device. I finally replaced the wires with a piece of ribbon cable (against orders) and there were no more problems.

Under $200 fun

The Monoprice Select Mini v2 is a fun printer. It’s not perfect, but there are easy/inexpensive fixes for a lot of those quirks. The prints shown are modeled in HO scale. The backwoods sawmill head clamp in black was actually printed as mirrored images so that both sides would be detailed. EGRX/Eugene: replace your extruder (this was from Amazon), and print up new side panels from files found on Thingiverse. You’ll be glad you did. I’ve recently gone to a glass bed and have been printing PETG with good success, too. Keep posting. I’m always interested in other people’s ideas.

Hot off the Printer, 55 Gallon Drums

@emdsd9: Yep, it's not pretty but it works, a ribbon cable would definitely clean it up but I have none on hand.

@trailguy: Thanks for the upgrade list in your email, definitely will look into the upgrades. I do like the lab equipment style ruggedness of this printer.

My interpretation of a 55 gallon drum. The wall thickness was purposely set to 1/4 inch.

O Scale First

I had previously referred to layer height as resolution, however, it is layer height and refers to the thickness of each layer printed. The thinner the layer, the more layers required to print the model and the longer the print.

The above photo shows the print time and layer height of each print. The middle drum looks bent, it is not. I was disappointed in the 0.04375 mm layer height print of the O scale 55 gallon drum, however, if the print speed was slower the results might have been improved.

Notice that the 1/4 inch rim on the top of the drum did not print. With a resolution of 100 microns (0.1mm) the width of the smallest item printed should be close to 7/32 of an inch for O scale.  However, it will not print and I suspect it might be controllable in the slicing program (Ultimaker Cura). 

HO Scale

The same 55 gallon drums (why print one) in HO scale.

Not bad for the resolution, however, the Maker Ultimate at $479.99 and a 20 micron (0.02 mm) print resolution would be interesting to use and see the printed results.

Back to printing the silo.

Eugene

Thingiverse

is your friend. Other than the head clamp, which I designed in TurboCad 3D, all of the other items were from Thingiverse or 3D Warehouse. I do the HO scaling in CURA for those downloads. Check your walls/shell setting in CURA as that may be affecting your ability to print the top flange feature. CURA certainly has its own learning curve.

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:127912

thanks for the nice response to my email,

Rich

Thank you for posting your results with a cheap printer

It is good to hear about people's initial forays into 3D printing. 

I would be interested in your experience with the printer itself.  Given the information in this thread, I did a search for further information on the Monoprice Select Mini V2.  One concern that was raised is the leveling of the print bed.  Curious how your initial start-up with the printer went, and what you had to go through to get your first good print. 

I've been spending a lot of time researching FDM printers, and two things that entice me about the Prusa i3 Mk3 is the printer bed (flexible, and easy to remove prints) and the auto leveling.  It is also significantly more expensive, but the resolution is also closed.  I really don't want to go down the resin path quite yet, and I would like a printer to do prints of what I design in 3D.  The 3D design appears to be the steepest learning curve.  I'm not ignorant of 3D design, but since I have not done anything substantial for 30 plus years (I worked with Computervision CADDS 3D), relearning has consumed some time. 

Regards.

Jerry

GNNPNUT/Jerry

I have sent you an email with some, hopefully, good input.

One more Drum

@trailguy: Thanks for the suggestion on the wall thickness I am going to give it a try.

@GNNPNUT: I definitely followed the provided instructions and with this printer I understand the logic behind the leveling (adjustment). I don’t remember it being off by a lot when I first received the printer. I did use the provided hex wrench. 

There was a little more adjustment work after the fix I did. In order to solder the wires to the leads from the print bed, the heated bed had to be removed from the metal portion of the print bed, this meant removing all leveling bolts and springs and reassembling. After reassembling and before testing I made sure the bed was below the previous level and adjusted upwards toward the print head. (I didn’t want the print head to hit the bed).

One more Drum

The above is a screen shot from Ultimaker Cura, I decided to test print the same design but with a different wall thickness setting to see if the rim on the top of the 55 gallon drum would print. The previous unadjusted settings are also shown.

Cura produces the following gcode which contains the instructions to control the print. This file is sent to this printer for printing.

The Result

The results after 52 minutes of printing at 50% of the print speed. 

Oh well, I will change the rim thickness to 1/2 inch and reprint later.

Eugene

I think my Anycubic Photon

I think my Anycubic Photon will print a much cleaner model.  But the build space is smaller than the extruded printers.

@AzBaja

The price of the Anycubic Photon (resin printing) is comparable to the Monoprice Maker Ultimate (extruded printing) and the resolutions are close. 

I would have the same expectation for that printer as well as finer details.  

The same question can be asked, What can be done with an Anycubic Photon? (How detailed can it go?)

I have definitely answered some questions I had when I purchased this printer.  Mainly, will I use it and can it be useful?

Eugene

Anycubic Photon does not

Anycubic Photon does not leave noticeable layer line like an extrude 3D printer. I can also print clear like windows and I can print a magnifying lens.  Not perfect but it can be done.

It also only has one working/mechanical Axis the Z axis,  the X and Y are done via an LCE lens/panel  So it is very accurate.

Issue the build area is small 4.5 x 2.5 inches or so and you are dealing with liquids.  

Build area is small but works for "N" scale and the parts are higher and more accurate detail than you can get from an extrude printer.  No lines or bulging etc.

extrude printers are nice for larger build area, easy to use for the kids,  model needs no cleaning or curing etc.

If you have an .stl file you would like to share.  I can do a comparison print.  As long as it does not have to be down scaled too much.  Some large items when you down scale them the do not down scale well.  it is better just to have a smaller model.

YOUTUBE REVIEW

Here is a good review on YouTube.

Mark

The STL file

@AzBaja: Thank you for the print comparison offer.

It is fun to think about what can be printed in the volume provided. For example this printer 4.7" X 4.7" X 4.7" build volume would translate to 18.8 scale feet in O scale and 62.67 scale feet in N scale for each dimension. 

Of course the level of detail is dependent upon the printable resolution for the printer. Setting expectations based on the printer capability is a must.

I wanted to show the STL file that is generated by the CAD program (SketchUp in my case) and sent to the slicer program (Ultimaker Cura) to generate the commands to control this print.

The viewer that is associated with this file provides the first inspection point to determine if the output is printable. In the above the N scale drum can be rotated to show any flaws.

There is an obvious problem with the HO scale drum in the above, the image when rotated does not appear solid and is missing pieces even though the drum appears solid in the CAD program. This appearance can indicate residual surfaces causing interference in the generation of the STL file. For myself, transitioning from CAD for dimensional drawings to CAD to control 3D printing had a learning curve.

Eugene

HO Scale Rough Framing with Wood Infused PLA

I bought the printer mostly to experiment with but also because I am project rich and time poor. Hopefully the printer or the replacement will become my robot helper or mini-factory.

For the experimental part of this idea, I want to test the wood infused PLA as well as the idea of using the 3D printer  as a mini factory, printing the framing of the building that can be assembled and then adhering a suitable surface to the frame.

Groups of the above framing were printed together and later assembled using carpenters glue. This method does have an advantage when modeling complicated roof lines.

Eugene

O Scale Modern Building Panels

Again attempting to get the printer to be a mini-factory, each panel is standardized to interconnect and are free standing. The 3D printers print bed limited the size of each panel.

Eugene

Clapboard Sided 12 X 10 Foot Shed

I was looking at the above and thinking won't it be nice if the wood infused PLA could make a clapboard siding.

So a little less than 55 minutes on SketchUp and one O scale 12 X 10 foot clapboard sided building. The clapboard has a 4 inch exposed face and 1/2 inch thickness.

Changed to the wood infused PLA and the building is printing, after the O scale is completed and if it looks ok I will print HO scale for comparison.

March 16 Update

The completed unaltered print ,except for the removal of the support from the door opening. Not bad for this O scale clapboard building. A little sanding in the direction of the grain and some more details and this should complete the 12 X 10 foot shed. I used the door support to test two stains that I have the Minwax Jacobean  2750 and Classic Gray 271. For this shed I will first use the classic gray and if need be apply paint.

I attempted the HO scale print and it failed.  The structure needs to be modified for the material and the coarseness of the material used to print it. However, on a positive note, what printed of the HO scale structure showed signs of the clapboard edges.

Eugene

@trailguy

Good point, I should provide the material and settings for the O scale shed print.

This is all relatively new for myself so the printer is factory except for the wiring, hope this helps with the nozzle specification.

The temperature for the nozzle is 200 and the bed was set to 65 (note it's still cold here so the bed maintained a 58 to 62 range). The printers print speed after the raft was printed was set to 0.7.

Cura settings were as shown with raft and supports selected. 

Material used:

One note, I did print the building upside down.

Oh well, like or dislike this is the experience... 

Eugene

PS: I should have added a little more rough framing as the general thickness of a scale 2.5 inches was marginal, especially at the peaks.

EGRX

Thank you. I’ll give it another try and see how your settings work. Your results look good for the stock nozzle. I’ve seen recommendations up to 0.8mm for wood filament. My filament has not been used in quite some time so I’ll have a friend run it through his dehydrator. Moisture absorption will degrade any filament’s performance. Thanks, again, and keep posting.

Last 3D update on the shed

Doors, door frame, window frames, and roof parts are printed and this old O scale shed is ready for assembly.

Eugene