Larry and Robby: It's nice to see you guys are still at it and keeping this thread alive. As far as Banggood it's great when you're not in a hurry or just want to order some extras. And that price on the Ender is awesome. I can see a lot more people getting into 3D printing when a good machine can be purchased at such a price.
Although I'm not 3d printing like I once was (having lots of migraines) I still check this thread from time to time and it's nice to see some new people join.
Larry I have my eye on you as I'm curious how the SLA will work out for you.
You really don't NEED anything to print with the ender 2. They are good straight out of the box, and I recommend them to beginners. And sd card extender is helpful to keep from wearing down the sd slot on the machine, or losing a mini sd card inside the machine. I do add a separate fang parts cooler to all of mine (You can always print one with the stock hot end/cooler). Later you may want to upgrade to one of the red or gold extruders off amazon, but it's not needed. I've printed most everything with the stock extruder for a year... I just bought two more at $129ea
Any build video by NERYS on youtube will do for a walkthrough... later vids will offer more insight. the only real tricky thing with assembling them is the zstop, and connecting the wiring to it before you mount it. Cuz it is difficult to get it plugged in after it's mounted. Also make sure your X gantry is square and plumb to the Z rail (you can eyeball this easily, it doesn't have to be perfectly square). All his other tips will help re: not tightening the z nut too tight... don't add the top z capture piece, just let it 'float' up top...
Biggest problem people have is leveling the bed. But it's easy to do.
1) Bring the nozzle up to 210c and the bed to 60c (You don't need filament in it)
2) lower the bed by tightening all 3 beds screws as far as you can tighten them.
3) home the machine, then disable stepper motors (so you can freely move the hot end)
4) using a sheet of paper between the nozzle and the bed, Position the nozzle directly over top one of the 3 bed screws, and then loosen that bed screw until the nozzle engages the paper slightly.
5) Move the nozzle by hand to another bed screw, and do the same. Repeat for the 3rd bed screw.
6) Go back and do this for each bed screw at least once, if not twice until the 'pressure' or 'slight drag' on the paper feels the same for all 3 points.
7) once done, shut off heat to the nozzle and bed, or send a print...
H) Yes, it is very difficult to get to the left front bed level screw. One caveat about this printer... just have to deal with it
Occasionally you can wind up with a heater cartridge or thermistor crap out. I had one crap out just 2 hours into printing. I have several spares on hand for such an occassion. after a year, everything is running fine (both the stock that worked from the get go, and the replacement).
Advanced stuff: Creality firmware doesn't allow you to retain/save any settings. So any calibrations you make/do will need to be stored in a startup script until you put a bootloader and updated firmware on them. You won't need to worry too much about this starting out though. Forgive me if you're not new to 3d printing and I am giving you info you already know.
Creality default firmware doesn't have thermal runaway protection... So I'd be cautious of letting a print go while no one is around the hear a smoke detector. That sorta goes for any printing really though.
Don't worry too much about firmware now... just have fun printing and getting to understand the machine... as you get familiar with it, i can help with firmware updates and upgrades.
If you are new to 3d printing, a good tip that Larry taught me when I started out is to not bring the hot end up to temperature until you are ready to print. And NEVER shut the printer off while the hotend is still hot. Always set the temperature to zero, and let the cooling fan bring the temperature of the hot end down to room temperature before shutting the printer off.
Shutting the printer off while the nozzle is hot will result in 'heat creep' and all of the filament in the 'cold zone' of the hot end will melt and cause a serious jam.
Thank you for the information. I don't now anything about 3D printing and have never done it, so this is very helpful.
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Can't say... I've never used ABL.
Even on the 400x400, the glass and bed dip slightly in the center. on large prints I use a raft. the bottom has never been that critical for me (ie helmets, masks, or the battletops game, etc)
look at the measurements, it's a taco. An almost perfectly symmetrical taco to 5 decimal places. The same symmetrical taco. The same symmetrical taco with different beds! haha no prob, just hoped one of you might have a slightly less technical solution than dedicated forum lol.
Been trying to do a 10/22 receiver so kinda need all sides right. Raft won't stick of it's extruded a mm above the bed
Eric: I don't know what I did but my printer started printing PETG fine. It's fun, you'll like it.
Yeah, the funny thing is I wasn't even messing with the extruder. I swapped it with the heat bed thermistor and the problem followed it. I put it on the meter and it was getting an open line.
I was getting low readings when I got it hook back up. The contact wasn't good to the hot end. I was thinking of filling the hole with thermal grease then sticking the thermistor in it.
It was just not making good contact. It's still the original one.
I would think that the grease would eliminate cold air gaps and conduct the heat to the thermistor for a better reading. I can see how too much of it could be detrimental to cooling.
I don't have the screw that you're talking about, it is just a hole an aluminum block next to the heating element on the hot end. I did put a order in for some of that tape.