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thoughts on new M3 I dual

Posted: Sat Nov 04, 2017 12:53 am
by harland
My MakerGear M3 independent dual printer arrived last Thursday, so I have had it a little over a week. The packaging is perfect, well thought out, and the coffee cup was a nice bonus. This is my 5th 3D printer and I had an MakerGear M2 for the previous 2 years which I really liked. I have a Boss laser cutter, Laguna CNC, and the M2 which all hook up using the USB interface. So I just put a computer next to each machine for operating them. The new M3 hooks up wireless or with Ethernet cable, which I thought was not necessary (IOT). USB has always worked fine. I was wrong! Being able to check the status of long prints on any computer I own and even my phone has been a really nice feature. Most of my prints seem to be 5 hrs. to 12 hrs., so I am always wondering how they are proceeding. I attached a Microsoft USB camera to the USB port on the PI running the M3 and under Octoprint settings added capture over time. The next print I did had a video of the part being made. It couldn't be easier. The videos provided for the setup are really nice. Checking the printing temperatures and time left on a print remotely is a hoot!
I don't normally use PLA and the setup requires PLA as there is no way to adjust the temperatures for the bed and the extruders if you want use a different material. It would be nice if you had a choice. The M3 comes with Simplify3d, I had been using MatterHackers MatterControl with the M2 with no problems. MatterControl estimate for printing times was a lot closer to the actual time. Simplify3d estimate for printing time is much shorter then the actual machine time. A 4 hour estimate takes more like 5 ½ hours to print. The printer has been running since I took it out of the box and am very happy with the new printer.

Re: thoughts on new M3 I dual

Posted: Mon Nov 06, 2017 4:13 pm
by Tim
You're making us M2 owners envious. :)

Re: thoughts on new M3 I dual

Posted: Wed Dec 06, 2017 3:22 am
by haithco1
I've also had my M3-ID also about a week now and it has been printing non-stop since it arrived. This is only my 2nd 3D printer and a huge step-up in overall quality and performance compared to what I have used in the past. I've only printed in PLA so far but I hope to try additional filaments soon (I am still relatively new to 3D printing). I would like to add a IP camera to this printer - do you have any recommendations? It appears you can use the USB port for IP camera (I am printing using the recommended Octoprint over WiFi). I am hoping to eventually be able to monitor prints remotely, when I am off my home WiFi network.

Also - have you tried using the M3-ID Mimeo mode, where both extruders are running simultaneously? I haven't found much online about this feature but I would to test it out soon, along with testing out dissolvable support material.

Re: thoughts on new M3 I dual

Posted: Thu Dec 07, 2017 10:39 pm
by Tim
Get the Simplify3D setups for the M3ID and use:

"MakerGear M3 ID Duplication.fff"

There's a g-code "M605 S2 R0 X100" in the script which causes both extruders to respond to X motion commands simultaneously, with an optional argument for the X offset between them. That's put in the starting g-code script, so you don't have to do anything special for the file to print, just send a regular g-code file for a single part.

You *will* want to tweak the start script for your part, because the start script is written for an X difference between the two parts of 100mm (change the "X100" in the command "M605 S2 R0 X100". If your part is bigger than that, then they will overlap. You need to make sure that you know how big your printed piece is, and make sure that it is placed on the left-hand side of the bed, and that the start script has an X offset for the duplicate piece that is far enough away not to overlap but not so far that it runs off the bed. It is important to do those calculations, because you're not going to see the 2nd part in Simplify3D.

You can even print a different material by changing "R0" in the M605 command to the temperature difference between the two extruders. I don't recommend doing that, or at least do it with extreme caution, because there are just too many parameter differences between different filament types, and just changing the temperature doesn't do squat for the fan settings, bed temperature setting, extruder multiplier, infill parameters, and a dozen other things that you would normally have different parameters for.

From the start script, it is not clear to me what the 2nd extruder is going to be doing while the commands are given to do the purge and wipe. I swear it looks to me like the 2nd extruder is going to position itself 100mm to the right of the 1st extruder and then try to purge in the middle of the glass plate, which would be a bad idea. Maybe there's some more intelligent behavior built in, but I don't see how that would be done. My technique was to run fully independent during the purge, doing the left purge first followed by the right purge, then sync the two extruders together (there really ought to be another option where you can run the 2nd extruder in reverse of the first, basically anti-tracking, then you could simultaneously purge from the left and right sides. Just a thought). I'd like to know how "MakerGear M3 ID Duplication.fff" really works in practice.

Note that I don't have an M3-ID. I have an M2 with a homemade quasi-independent dual extruder setup, so I'm working from what I researched about the Marlin firmware's implementation of the M605 command, and the MakerGear startup script mentioned above, and some guessing.

Re: thoughts on new M3 I dual

Posted: Fri Dec 08, 2017 4:23 pm
by TerryL
You *will* want to tweak the start script for your part, because the start script is written for an X difference between the two parts of 100mm (change the "X100" in the command "M605 S2 R0 X100". If your part is bigger than that, then they will overlap. You need to make sure that you know how big your printed piece is, and make sure that it is placed on the left-hand side of the bed, and that the start script has an X offset for the duplicate piece that is far enough away not to overlap but not so far that it runs off the bed. It is important to do those calculations, because you're not going to see the 2nd part in Simplify3D.
I might be talking out-of-school because I haven't printed anything in duplication mode but it looks like the fff file for duplication adjusts the size of the useable bed space so that you can not print a part that will overlap.
Capture.JPG

Terry

Re: thoughts on new M3 I dual

Posted: Fri Dec 08, 2017 4:57 pm
by Tim
TerryL wrote: I might be talking out-of-school because I haven't printed anything in duplication mode but it looks like the fff file for duplication adjusts the size of the useable bed space so that you can not print a part that will overlap.
Oh, that's a neat little trick. I didn't know you could change the bed size within an fff file.

Re: thoughts on new M3 I dual

Posted: Fri Dec 08, 2017 7:16 pm
by haithco1
Tim wrote:
TerryL wrote: I might be talking out-of-school because I haven't printed anything in duplication mode but it looks like the fff file for duplication adjusts the size of the useable bed space so that you can not print a part that will overlap.
Oh, that's a neat little trick. I didn't know you could change the bed size within an fff file.
Perfect - thanks so much for the help and advice. I tried a few prints yesterday using the "duplication" FFF file in Simplyfy3D and it worked great. The size of the bed is decreased by 1/2, and every setting changed in Simplyfy3D for the T0 (left) extruder gets "duplicated" for the T1 extruder. I did have to make a few adjustments to the ooze shield and skirt/brim setting so everything fits on 1/2 of the print bed.

I did notice some differences in overall print quality between the two extruders (ie, the print from the T1 extruder had a a few issues), but I assume that is likely due to very slight different in z-axis heights between the two extruders.

Re: thoughts on new M3 I dual

Posted: Sat Dec 09, 2017 5:57 pm
by Tim
haithco1 wrote:I tried a few prints yesterday using the "duplication" FFF file in Simplyfy3D and it worked great.
So what happens with the purge and wipe for each extruder?

Re: thoughts on new M3 I dual

Posted: Sun Dec 10, 2017 8:29 pm
by haithco1
Tim wrote:
haithco1 wrote:I tried a few prints yesterday using the "duplication" FFF file in Simplyfy3D and it worked great.
So what happens with the purge and wipe for each extruder?
If I remember correctly (I didn't edit the gcode, I just used the "duplication" FFF settings), the T0 extruder was purged and wiped first, then it returns to it home location, followed by the T1 extruder, then both extruders are synced and begin the duplicated printing process.

It seems like a pretty slick feature - I plan to try this duplication mode again today and I'll confirm the above it true with respect to the purge and wipe maneuvers.

Re: thoughts on new M3 I dual

Posted: Wed Dec 27, 2017 8:56 am
by rs50pilot
Just got my M3ID. I bought it because of the duplication mode. Using S3D, I tried a model..... The both heads homed and then the T1 head crashed into the T0 head and all went downhill from there. First time using S3D. Checked everything and nothing looked wrong. Posted the Gcode again and same thing? Again found nothing wrong. Posted again with same settings and it worked and printed fine? Not sure what happened.

I also setup a print using T1 or right head. The image in S3D cuts the bed in half so I figured as long as the model was anywhere in the graphic I would be OK.... Well that wasn't the case, the right tool head T1 will hit T0 if the model is too far toward T0 in the graphic???? Should be some sort of coding to to figure out if there is going to be a problem.

My printer has been going non stop since I received it on the 23rd. 18 hour print, no problem other than some pulling off of the bed. I usually only print with ABS. I was using PLA and had this happen. Also I have alot of stringing, I'm sure it is my lack of knowledge of PLA.

But the printer is great and if the fans where quieter the printer would be silent.