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$500 3D printer on sale tomorrow at Aldi
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Nick
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Did anyone else grab an Aldi printer?

It was dead easy to assemble but I found some minor problems:

Three guide rails were loose; they were easily tightened.

The cables for the heated bed insist on curling up under the platform and no amount of twisting would fix it. When the cable curls up, it will jamb between the frame and the bed, the flexing cables will probably also get metal fatigue and eventually break off where they attach to the bed heater.



The fix was to make a mounting bracket and stick it to the top of the support platform with double sided tape:



The most annoying thing is that my laptop won't connect to the printer and I have to use the SD card - its nice to see what's going on on the screen but at least the first print is under way.
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Post Wed Feb 17, 2016 1:19 pm 
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miles&Jules
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Cool...if the bottom layer sticks your 90% of the way there. Very Happy
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Post Wed Feb 17, 2016 1:49 pm 
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Nick
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It peeled slightly at the corners but that's probably because I didn't notice the temperature was set a bit low in software. The plan is to print a set of test shapes that Make Magazine uses to evaluate printers and then start tweaking to see what improvements can be made. So far, my very first print is looking pretty good. Very Happy

Another minor problem is that the Z clearance changes as the printer heats up. I was very careful to set the bed and after the bed heated up, the print head was grinding on the platform. Upgrading the platform is definitely the first thing to do.
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Post Wed Feb 17, 2016 1:57 pm 
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marto
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I think this is due to the shitty z switch. Not the temp difference.
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Post Wed Feb 17, 2016 2:31 pm 
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Nick
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Could be - I noticed the problem after a re-home. Do you think its worth upgrading the switches?
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Post Wed Feb 17, 2016 2:38 pm 
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marto
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Just the Z. Others don't matter at all and replacing them will probably cause more issues.

The optio ones can be had for a few $$
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Post Wed Feb 17, 2016 3:44 pm 
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Nick
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Here are some early test prints. The Z wobble test is nearly perfect up to 60mm and then starts degrading, possibly because the raft was pealing a little.



In the horizontal test, the print is good on all the non-horizontal surfaces. The top surface has failed to bridge over the in-fill (set at 30%) in several places, which could be a combination of slicer settings. There only seems to be one top layer and I might have pushed the temperature up too high, so some tweaking is needed.



I think that doing some of the mods from the forums and tweaking the slicer will get rid of all those problems so I am pretty happy so far.
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Post Wed Feb 17, 2016 8:11 pm 
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marto
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So I needed I redo the PID tuning on the hot end. It caused lots of issues with he temp fluctuation. M60 or something.
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Post Wed Feb 17, 2016 9:44 pm 
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marto
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You bought simplify3D too?
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Post Wed Feb 17, 2016 10:01 pm 
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Nick
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I had a copy already - totally worth it as everyone says.
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Post Wed Feb 17, 2016 10:15 pm 
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evil_steve



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I didn't end up getting one, figured I'd hold off and let Nick be the guinea pig Very Happy
(neither my wife or I could have made it to an Aldi today anyway, certainly not before they sold out)

Post Wed Feb 17, 2016 10:21 pm 
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Nick
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Considering its my first day printing anything and I am 4 for 4 good(ish) prints, I couldn't be happier! Actually I could - just thinking about all the mods I can make to the printer makes me happy. Rolling Eyes
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Post Wed Feb 17, 2016 10:27 pm 
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marto
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Is that all PLA nick?
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Post Wed Feb 17, 2016 10:32 pm 
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Nick
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Correct, I picked up a roll of the Aldi PLA along with the printer.
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Post Wed Feb 17, 2016 10:38 pm 
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Nick
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Aldi upgrades:

After looking through various forums and YouTube videos, I have around twenty mods I want to make to the printer. Most are minor but I would like an opinion on a larger mod that I have not seen for this printer.

The platform sub plate is only 2mm thick and I think it is partly responsible for the constant need for bed levelling. I can either reinforce it with left-over 4mm Dragonplate CF, or replace it with a much stiffer 5mm aluminium plate. It should be fairly easy as I can use the original plate as a drilling template. The corners will need to be milled down to 2 mm so the levelling springs fit and that's the hardest part of a 90 minute job. The question is about adding extra moving mass - will it cause issues? Its a non-destructive upgrade, so if there are problems I can always put the original plate back. Will also be doing all the standards mods to the levelling screws at the same time.
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Post Thu Feb 18, 2016 9:03 pm 
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