Chinese 3D printer D-Force, or why Chinese quality is better than American
A couple of years ago, the topic of 3D printers was just beginning to gain popularity. I was interested in her too. After a long search on the Internet, reading a heap of reviews, long shoveling of forums, a candidate for purchase was chosen. It turned out to be an American printer Rostock MAX. Of all the printers, he had, judging by the video, simply incredible printing speed, excellent speeds and accelerations (and this is extremely important when printing by fusing). Also, the printer had a relatively low price and a huge printing area, it could also be ordered as a set of parts for subsequent assembly. All this influenced the decision to buy it.
Then followed the process of buying directly from the manufacturer, a long wait for a kit from America - about a month. I received a 3D printer in the form of a box in which there were three MDF laminated panels, laser-cut through (the parts themselves), several bags of small items and an aluminum profile for vertical posts. Joy knew no bounds. Everything seemed very high quality, thoughtful and logical.
On this positive moments ended and the assembly began. It turned out that laser cutting was clearly not the strength of the laser cutting machine on which the panels were processed. The instability of the dimensions of the grooves, in some places the walls of the cut were not vertical. Some grooves were smaller than necessary, some more. In some places, the back layer of the laminate was not cut. From time to time I had to undermine something and file it. The process of “picking out” parts from the workpiece took about 4 hours.
All electrical items were packed “as is”. No soldered connectors or plugs. Particularly pleased with just embedded computer power supply for 350W. But in the instruction it was indicated which wires he had to cut, which ones and how much to solder together, and to which places on the RAMBO board, then screw all this.
')
In general, the entire assembly was delayed for three days. That, in principle, not so much. Then calibration followed, after which he had to start typing perfectly, just like on the video from the site.
Calibration was carried out, not without nerve costs of course (about how it was, you can write a separate article). Very upset by the long time of warming up of the nozzle and VERY long time of warming up of the working surface. It is so long that for ABS plastic tends to eternity and the temperature of 85 degrees gains only hours after 3 seals, and then, in a fairly warm room. But the most interesting was waiting ahead.
The movement system on plastic rollers initially raised some questions, but during printing, it turned out that the rollers compressing the aluminum profile inside the tensioner could add an error in any of the coordinates (there is such a property of the delta printers - each physical axis is responsible for moving three geometrically at once. axes). Plastic thrusts passing from the carriages to the printing platform were made by casting, which at first even pleased, but had such a design that they gave a backlash at the joints with the hinges of the carriages and the platform. The hinges on the carriages and the platform also had a slight backlash. All these backlashs added to the existing already serious play of the print head. As a result, at high printing speeds, the print head in the places of change of the trajectory pretty much “skewed”. Deviations made up to half a millimeter, and there was no point in talking about some kind of printing accuracy.
Separate conversation deserves the print head. She is typing. Although not so - it is able to squeeze plastic, but not for long. The design is such that it contributes to the jamming of plastic, if you are printing something other than a hollow vase and there is a need for periodic return movements of the plastic. In addition, the junction of the Teflon tube and the print head is too close to the nozzle in a place with a high temperature. As a result, the plastic there flows into all the cracks, coked, and then simply closes the channel.
Another problem that cannot be cured is the firmware of the printer. There is an error in it, which leads to the fact that from large parts you can only print the logo of the company Mercedes. Just in all other places, when printing the first layer, the print head will be too far from the platform and the plastic will not stick. The problem with the print head decided to replace it with a head from the British company E-3D. With her installation, problems with plastic ended. The problem with the firmware is treated by replacing the control board with the Arduino mega2560 + GRBL shield and installing the updated marlin firmware.
After solving the problem with the printhead, it was necessary to solve the problem of heating the platform. The power supply that came with the printer was computerized, so the maximum voltage output was 12V. And this is despite the fact that the heating platform was designed for a voltage of 24V. The output followed - you need to install a 24V power supply.
After the elimination of the power problem, the print quality still left much to be desired. This was due to large gaps in the mechanisms of the system. Having read the forums and smoked a bunch of manuals, I found out that the problem can be solved by installing precision profile guides with HIWIN rolling carriages and installing magnetic levers on neodymium magnets. Some craftsmen even sell a set of magnetic rods and a platform for upgrading the Rostock MAX printer.
What do we have in the end? And we have the following, that in order to get high-quality printing of this product, American engineering needs:
And what then remains of what the manufacturer sent? And there remains a frame, 4 engines, a manual control screen, a computer power supply unit, a filament feeding mechanism (by the way, it was also slightly modified) and a heating platform.
In the end, losing a lot of time and not forcing him to work properly, this product of American engineering genius was sold. I got some money back. The buyer received an excellent educational toy.
Having played enough with Rostock MAX, I earned a lot of experience and as a result I gained a clear understanding of what a quality 3D printer should be and what a quality 3D printer shouldn’t be.
After examining the offers on the market, I found out that the product from the “heaven” under the modest name D-Force meets all our requirements best. It seems that the Chinese, before making this wonderful printer, first bought Rostock MAX and figured out how to do it and how to do it. According to the descriptions, it was the perfect printer, or “dream printer.”
According to the descriptions, he had excellent speeds of work and acceleration, he had an Arduino mega2560 control board with an Arduino GRBL shield expansion card, it was possible to print from an SD card. There was an ALUMINUM printing platform, a 24V power supply unit, precision sectional guides with rolling bearings in all axes, steel ball joints in all joints, an aluminum extruder unit, an optical surface sensor, optical end sensors in all axes, and finally, a print head from E-3D! The embodiment of the perfect 3D printer!
The fact that the printer is designed and assembled in the "heaven" does not bother. There is an experience of buying Chinese precision components for industrial CNC machine tools - there are no quality claims.
Paid through Aliexpress. A month later I received a parcel. Later, I found out that the D-Force printer is on sale in our country, but a bit more expensive, but without problems with customs, and they promise that they will send it already tested and calibrated.
The printer came almost completely assembled, in a wooden crate, wrapped in a “pimply” film. It only remained to install the mounted elements, such as the mounting of the coil, filament feed motor and control panel. Assembly tools were included. Also, the kit included a piece of filament for test printing, an SD card with everything that can and cannot be needed for successful printing, lubricant for rolling carriages and a tube of lubricant for steel hinges.
The build took 15 minutes. After assembly, I loaded the filament and launched a file from the SD card that came with the printer. The platform heated to 110 ° C in 4 minutes, the nozzle warmed up for another 30 seconds. After that, the automatic calibration process started on the platform surface and directly printing. I did not even get my shaman tambourine. I never had a desire to start dancing with him. The printer just picked up and started typing. Moreover, there were no complaints about the quality of printing. Just great print quality. True a little later, revealed some deviations in the geometry of printed parts. I changed some settings in the firmware, slightly adjusted the attachments of the hinges, which shifted due to shaking during transportation, spent some time on selecting parameters for the delta circuit in the firmware. After 4 hours the problem was solved.
As a result, having spent the purchase amount less, without the expense of effort and nerves, I got an excellent 3D printer that perfectly copes with what it was bought for - it prints 3D objects and does it quickly and efficiently.
Studying the device was amazed at how thoughtful everything was. Simple belt tensioning mechanism. Simple and effective clips for belt ends, simple and very precise adjustment of end sensors. For fun, he took off the heating platform to see what was inside. Very pleased with the quality of performance. All connections are soldered and insulated with heat shrink. The heating platform is connected via a solid-state relay. Stepper motor mounted on aluminum corners. A USB connector with a box mount printed on a 3D printer is pulled out.
The moral of this story is as follows - Americans are able to sell great. Advertise your product, paint nonexistent advantages, hide flaws - this is their strength. The Chinese do not know how to advertise and promote goods, but have already learned how to produce relatively inexpensively and qualitatively. Gone are the days when "Chinese quality" was an impartial definition.
A detail that shows the print quality of slopes with a negative angle.
As you can see, a slope of up to 60 degrees inclusive is well printed, which in general is a very good indicator.
The size of the print area is impressive, and it is really capable of printing in this volume.
The quality does not suffer ...
Then followed the process of buying directly from the manufacturer, a long wait for a kit from America - about a month. I received a 3D printer in the form of a box in which there were three MDF laminated panels, laser-cut through (the parts themselves), several bags of small items and an aluminum profile for vertical posts. Joy knew no bounds. Everything seemed very high quality, thoughtful and logical.
On this positive moments ended and the assembly began. It turned out that laser cutting was clearly not the strength of the laser cutting machine on which the panels were processed. The instability of the dimensions of the grooves, in some places the walls of the cut were not vertical. Some grooves were smaller than necessary, some more. In some places, the back layer of the laminate was not cut. From time to time I had to undermine something and file it. The process of “picking out” parts from the workpiece took about 4 hours.
All electrical items were packed “as is”. No soldered connectors or plugs. Particularly pleased with just embedded computer power supply for 350W. But in the instruction it was indicated which wires he had to cut, which ones and how much to solder together, and to which places on the RAMBO board, then screw all this.
')
In general, the entire assembly was delayed for three days. That, in principle, not so much. Then calibration followed, after which he had to start typing perfectly, just like on the video from the site.
Calibration was carried out, not without nerve costs of course (about how it was, you can write a separate article). Very upset by the long time of warming up of the nozzle and VERY long time of warming up of the working surface. It is so long that for ABS plastic tends to eternity and the temperature of 85 degrees gains only hours after 3 seals, and then, in a fairly warm room. But the most interesting was waiting ahead.
The movement system on plastic rollers initially raised some questions, but during printing, it turned out that the rollers compressing the aluminum profile inside the tensioner could add an error in any of the coordinates (there is such a property of the delta printers - each physical axis is responsible for moving three geometrically at once. axes). Plastic thrusts passing from the carriages to the printing platform were made by casting, which at first even pleased, but had such a design that they gave a backlash at the joints with the hinges of the carriages and the platform. The hinges on the carriages and the platform also had a slight backlash. All these backlashs added to the existing already serious play of the print head. As a result, at high printing speeds, the print head in the places of change of the trajectory pretty much “skewed”. Deviations made up to half a millimeter, and there was no point in talking about some kind of printing accuracy.
Separate conversation deserves the print head. She is typing. Although not so - it is able to squeeze plastic, but not for long. The design is such that it contributes to the jamming of plastic, if you are printing something other than a hollow vase and there is a need for periodic return movements of the plastic. In addition, the junction of the Teflon tube and the print head is too close to the nozzle in a place with a high temperature. As a result, the plastic there flows into all the cracks, coked, and then simply closes the channel.
Another problem that cannot be cured is the firmware of the printer. There is an error in it, which leads to the fact that from large parts you can only print the logo of the company Mercedes. Just in all other places, when printing the first layer, the print head will be too far from the platform and the plastic will not stick. The problem with the print head decided to replace it with a head from the British company E-3D. With her installation, problems with plastic ended. The problem with the firmware is treated by replacing the control board with the Arduino mega2560 + GRBL shield and installing the updated marlin firmware.
After solving the problem with the printhead, it was necessary to solve the problem of heating the platform. The power supply that came with the printer was computerized, so the maximum voltage output was 12V. And this is despite the fact that the heating platform was designed for a voltage of 24V. The output followed - you need to install a 24V power supply.
After the elimination of the power problem, the print quality still left much to be desired. This was due to large gaps in the mechanisms of the system. Having read the forums and smoked a bunch of manuals, I found out that the problem can be solved by installing precision profile guides with HIWIN rolling carriages and installing magnetic levers on neodymium magnets. Some craftsmen even sell a set of magnetic rods and a platform for upgrading the Rostock MAX printer.
What do we have in the end? And we have the following, that in order to get high-quality printing of this product, American engineering needs:
- replace the print head;
- add a 24V power supply;
- replace control board + board with drivers and relays, as well as firmware for “custom”;
- to refine the movement mechanism by installing profile guides and magnetic rods, which leads to the replacement of the printing platform.
And what then remains of what the manufacturer sent? And there remains a frame, 4 engines, a manual control screen, a computer power supply unit, a filament feeding mechanism (by the way, it was also slightly modified) and a heating platform.
In the end, losing a lot of time and not forcing him to work properly, this product of American engineering genius was sold. I got some money back. The buyer received an excellent educational toy.
Having played enough with Rostock MAX, I earned a lot of experience and as a result I gained a clear understanding of what a quality 3D printer should be and what a quality 3D printer shouldn’t be.
After examining the offers on the market, I found out that the product from the “heaven” under the modest name D-Force meets all our requirements best. It seems that the Chinese, before making this wonderful printer, first bought Rostock MAX and figured out how to do it and how to do it. According to the descriptions, it was the perfect printer, or “dream printer.”
According to the descriptions, he had excellent speeds of work and acceleration, he had an Arduino mega2560 control board with an Arduino GRBL shield expansion card, it was possible to print from an SD card. There was an ALUMINUM printing platform, a 24V power supply unit, precision sectional guides with rolling bearings in all axes, steel ball joints in all joints, an aluminum extruder unit, an optical surface sensor, optical end sensors in all axes, and finally, a print head from E-3D! The embodiment of the perfect 3D printer!
The fact that the printer is designed and assembled in the "heaven" does not bother. There is an experience of buying Chinese precision components for industrial CNC machine tools - there are no quality claims.
Paid through Aliexpress. A month later I received a parcel. Later, I found out that the D-Force printer is on sale in our country, but a bit more expensive, but without problems with customs, and they promise that they will send it already tested and calibrated.
The printer came almost completely assembled, in a wooden crate, wrapped in a “pimply” film. It only remained to install the mounted elements, such as the mounting of the coil, filament feed motor and control panel. Assembly tools were included. Also, the kit included a piece of filament for test printing, an SD card with everything that can and cannot be needed for successful printing, lubricant for rolling carriages and a tube of lubricant for steel hinges.
The build took 15 minutes. After assembly, I loaded the filament and launched a file from the SD card that came with the printer. The platform heated to 110 ° C in 4 minutes, the nozzle warmed up for another 30 seconds. After that, the automatic calibration process started on the platform surface and directly printing. I did not even get my shaman tambourine. I never had a desire to start dancing with him. The printer just picked up and started typing. Moreover, there were no complaints about the quality of printing. Just great print quality. True a little later, revealed some deviations in the geometry of printed parts. I changed some settings in the firmware, slightly adjusted the attachments of the hinges, which shifted due to shaking during transportation, spent some time on selecting parameters for the delta circuit in the firmware. After 4 hours the problem was solved.
As a result, having spent the purchase amount less, without the expense of effort and nerves, I got an excellent 3D printer that perfectly copes with what it was bought for - it prints 3D objects and does it quickly and efficiently.
Studying the device was amazed at how thoughtful everything was. Simple belt tensioning mechanism. Simple and effective clips for belt ends, simple and very precise adjustment of end sensors. For fun, he took off the heating platform to see what was inside. Very pleased with the quality of performance. All connections are soldered and insulated with heat shrink. The heating platform is connected via a solid-state relay. Stepper motor mounted on aluminum corners. A USB connector with a box mount printed on a 3D printer is pulled out.
The moral of this story is as follows - Americans are able to sell great. Advertise your product, paint nonexistent advantages, hide flaws - this is their strength. The Chinese do not know how to advertise and promote goods, but have already learned how to produce relatively inexpensively and qualitatively. Gone are the days when "Chinese quality" was an impartial definition.
A detail that shows the print quality of slopes with a negative angle.
As you can see, a slope of up to 60 degrees inclusive is well printed, which in general is a very good indicator.
The size of the print area is impressive, and it is really capable of printing in this volume.
The quality does not suffer ...
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/362995/
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