MakerGear Forum

Hey All,
Figured I would ask the community about purchasing options for the M2.

Background:
I am a recent mechanical engineering grad and wanted to start working on some patent work for myself. I've researched a ton of different printers and I have decided that the M2 is the only one to fit all my needs. I am a nerd so that totally helps.
I have both a high end PC and Mac, but would prefer to be able to print without connecting to the PC( kind of wirelessly and without an SD card if something like that exists).

My 3D software is Catia V5 so that should be fine for .stl support I assume.

I would also like to keep the M2 running with little down time so spare part recommendations would be highly appreciated.

Big Question(s):
I would like to know what I should buy along with the printer. Such as replacement parts, software packages, upgrades/mods, if I should buy pre-built or not, quantities of equipment, extras (I think I read somewhere on the forums about hairspray?) , accessories, etc.

Goal:
Create a complete cart to which I can just buy all at one shot instead of going back and forth ordering parts and what not.

Thanks in advance!

Chris Nieves

Bluesouix12,

I'll start, but this won't be complete....

1. Be sure to order a spool of ABS filament (black works nicely) for printing spares of the printed parts. All the M2 printed part files are available on github (jin or jimc, could you help with the link?). There are also several accessories (tool holders, SD card holders, Z-know stays, electronics enclosures, etc., etc.) and "improved" parts on Thingiverse (e.g., search this forum for rsilvers filament drive, this is one popular item).

2. If you're as clumsy as I am, order a spare 40 mm fan and a spare 50 mm fan. I am perpetually sticking my 2.5 mm hex driver into the running fans, despite the fan guards, and hacking off fan blades.

3. Get a 7 mm hex combination wrench or print a 7mm wrench for unlocking and adjusting the Z-axis endstop bolt.

4. I'm a fan of hairspray for bed prep -- I use AquaNet extra super hold (purple spray can). Others use pump-type sprays. Just find one with lots of "polyxxxxx" ingredients in it that is a maximum hold type. Others use Elmer's glue sticks (some prefer the purple ones), others use some diluted standard Elmer's white glue. For ABS, some people use a little ABS filament dissolved in acetone. The acetone can also be helpful in cleaning out clogs in the hot end, so probably want a small can of that (available in home center paint departments).

5. Search this forum for other solvents used for gluing parts and cleaning clogs. (jimc does fine paint work for a profession and is the all-being, all-knowing master of solvents and solvent welding of parts. I'm hoping he'll post some more info on this.)

6. If you get REALLY good at having parts stick to the glass, you'll probably at some point take a chip out of the glass. Get a spare sheet.

7. If you want to do different filament materials (PLA, ABS, PET, etc.) it's probably good to get a second (or even third) hot end and dedicate each to a particular material. If you want to print "big" stuff, it might be useful to get an 0.50 mm nozzle, to reduce the print time, or if you want to print "small" fine stuff, get an 0.25 mm nozzle to try for fine detail.

8. Others here can recommend items like injectors for lithium grease for the X and Y slides and the Z screw.

9. A small razor blade holder (or a wider one), available in the paint department, can be good for removing parts from the glass, but also removing stray filament from when the nozzle does a "wipe" before a print, etc.

10. Have some clean rags for cleaning the glass, and get a pack of microfiber cloths for final dustoff before printing. A microfiber cloth wrapped around the filament before it enters the feed tube is also good -- it keeps bits of dust and dirt from riding the filament into the hot end --- bits that can result in a nasty clog.

If you decide to use Kapton tape (for ABS) or blue painters' tape (for PLA) for bed prep, you'll need to work out your "consumables" rate and stock appropriately. Same, obviously, for filament!

jimc and jsc and toby can recommend additional items if you are using the M2 in a "production" environment. I'm just using it for hobby stuff, so it's not on every day. Some people who run the heck out of it and do a lot of "retraction" while printing (backing the filament up to relieve pressure in the hot end to avoid "whiskering" and blobs) have some heavy wear in the extruder stepper motor gearhead. For that kind of heavy use, especially if downtime is costly (in a loss of business profit sense), buying a spare extruder stepper might be wise.

The M2 comes with tweezers for grabbing bits of hot filament and all the hex keys (and a couple hex drivers) you need.

Please, others who use the M2 on a daily basis, CHIME IN!
Dale

One more thing: Most of us are using Simplify3D (www.simplify3d.com) for slicing and printer control. If you go with that, you can post on the S3D forum and/or here and get lots of help. For open source, most go with Slic3r. People who know that well also frequent this forum.

Dale

Dale's list is pretty comprehensive. The only other things that come to mind that I use often are calipers and small needle nosed pliers (good for removing supports in tight places). For filament I use mostly PLA, if it's going to stay indoors and not be physically stressed, or PET+. I did some replacement M2 parts in PET+ instead of ABS. The only one I've put to use is the extruder motor mount. The PET+ has held up fine, even on 30+ hour prints.

What about the LCD option? Although it is grey'ed out

I'm not sure about the availability right now. I bought one after using the stock USB interface for a few months. I wouldn't call it a must-have. But It's nice being able to control the print right at the printer without having to be tethered to a PC or laptop. Very convenient. You also have access to some printer parameters that I don't believe you can get to in Simplify3D.

Only MakerGear people can tell you why the option is grayed out on the M2 purchase page. However, it is just a Viki control panel, and can be purchased from here:

http://www.panucatt.com/product_p/vikilcd.htm

and the MakerGear Wiki page at

http://makergear.wikidot.com/m2-lcd-panel

seems to be a pretty comprehensive set of instructions for how to install one on the M2, including firmware changes.

I must admit that I don't have an LCD panel on my M2, though. It's not really high up on my wish list, as I am perfectly happy running off of my desktop when I'm home or my laptop when I take my M2 around to show off.

Dave K. is right on about the caliper. I bought the digital caliper that Radio Shack sells --- quite serviceable, quite sufficiently accurate, and really needed if you are going to make "dimensioned" parts (to fit mechanically to other stuff). Also use it to measure actual filament diameter to type into your slicer software. I also got a digital micrometer at Harbor Freight, but I almost never use it. (It found its way to the back of the drawer, and even though I bought it for measuring filament, the caliper works just fine and serves more purposes -- for your work, it should suffice. You'll need it to run calibration parts (to get the M2 "tuned" to make stuff the right size), and you'll need it if you want to measure things to make parts to fit.

I think an additional good tool for removing supports would be a flush-cutting plier (diagnoal cutter, but with flush-ground blades), or a flush-cutting "end nipper".

Also, search the forum for information on webcams. Someone here is using a Raspberry Pi to remotely control the M2 (via internet) including providing webcam support.

And you may want to search the forum for information on heated and/or vented enclosures if you'll be using the M2 to print ABS. ABS gets a bit "stinky". (Even PLA smells some during printing, but ABS is worse, possibly objectionable to some.) The heated enclosure helps with ABS curling up / deforming as it cools. The venting helps with the stink. I don't know of a "readily available COTS" enclosure, but a couple people here have designed some nice ones.

If you decide you want to "finish" your prints, such as with painting, others here (certainly NOT me!) can offer loads of advice on sanding, surface prep, fillers/primers, paints, tricks and tips, etc.

How about recommendations for nozzle sizes and what not. I will be printing in the strongest plastic which should be abs. And pre-built or not.

To respond to some of your questions that haven't already been covered:

I have recently switched to running OctoPrint as a host on a BeagleBone Black rather than through a direct USB connection to my computer, and can recommend it. You can also run it on a Raspberry Pi, which is slightly cheaper. The advantage is that the BBB is dedicated solely to driving the printer, and if you plug it into the same outlet that your printer is on, they should share a ground which may or may not reduce instances of pausing due to missed responses due to ground bounce. I've occasionally had it happen that I will carry out some activity on the computer during a print that will cause my external USB drive to spin up, and the print would pause while it came online; this avoids that possibility. The advantage over using the SD card is that you don't have to do move anything physically. In fact, I have set up a "hot folder" where I just save my gcode to, and it gets transferred to OctoPrint automatically.

The kit takes a day or two to put together, and is good if you like that kind of thing/want to save some money. Only you can decide if it's for you. It will, in a small way, get you familiar with the mechanical aspects of the printer.

My printer sits next to my computer, so I've never felt I needed or wanted the Viki panel for direct control.

I recommend Simplify3D. It is not a must-have, but its support generation alone makes it worth the price. It is not without its flaws, but it is a useful tool.

Stick with the default nozzle to begin with. If you want a second nozzle, I would get a .5mm nozzle to speed up larger prints, or the smaller one if you want to do small prints with high resolution XY detail.

Check out the "M2 tips" thread in the tips forum for a grab bag of info that may be useful to you, with links to a lot of things.