So when i first got the Snapmaker 2.0 i was new to 3D printing but i really worked hard and learned many things and did all to get it work but i have the feeling that the 3D printing of the snapmaker ist just trash there are so many other brands that cost just about 500-700€ and make much much better prints than the snapmaker. If i didnt wanted the cnc and laser for my ideas i wouldnt bought a sm. What are your thoughts about the 3D printing ability of the snapmaker?
I found it easy to use and love how easy it is to replace the hot end.
It is not the device to buy if you only want to do one of the things it does, but is a great device if you want to learn to do 3DP, Laser and CNC or have need of the other two some of the time.
I already have used the Laser, then 3D printed guides for lasering and plan to CNC parts for a project that will have lasered and 3DP parts. Buying, setting up, creating space for and maintaining 3 devices would be a pain.
Yeah i know what you mean and your right but for that what they said about it is just not right and thats so disappointed
And i dont even want to use cnc because my bed is soo uneven and i think when i use cnc my 3D printing become so more much difficult than than it is now
@Somnium In my opinion, it’s not. Although I may not have the best judgment on it because it’s my first 3D printer. I found that it prints best with Snapmaker’s PLA at default settings. I’ve also tried their PETG and the only settings I changed were the Z hop speed and the temps of the nozzle and bed. People also have said before that if you use an off-brand filament you may not get the best results at first and you might need to change a few settings. Even on its fastest setting it prints great from a structural standpoint with PLA but the layers are noticeable.
If you can find a local glass supplier to sell you a sheet of 3mm 330x330 float glass, then fit a wham-bam clone print surface you can get amazing results.
I had serious difficulty with the stock print sheet, but have been able to do some amazing prints recently with the new print surface.
Don’t give up just yet
I haven’t even broken into the PLA that comes with the printer. I am using some purple PLA my brother trash picked from work and it seems to be doing well.
I haven’t had mine that long but bed adhesion has been PERFECT. Even with ABS which I have never been able to use before. I’m loving it
Thank you for the support from your guys. We are devoted to improve this machine all the time.
Edwin
One of the main things that attracts me to your system is the modular design, which allows for continuous improvement. I’m an embedded systems engineer of some 40 years experience, and while you’re not perfect, your approach to the problem impresses me.
I suspect a lot of the adhesion problems may be caused by Z motor issues. If you dont notice that one side moves before the other, you will have “unexplained” adhesion issues because the X rail is being pulled out of tram every time Z moves, and the result will be different depending on where X is when Z is moved.
Another chunk of problems may be related to how the magnetic bed is attached to the carriage (the part that the Y motors move directly). On my machine, after reading about those issues, I chose to leave all the attachment screws of the heated bed just barely touching. Not actually tight at all. I suspect that there is something going on when the screws are tightened against the carriage that is deforming the heated bed. I don’t have the equipment to make those measurements, but I have had NO adhesion issues, even with ABS. If anything it’s still a bit of a challenge to release parts from the flex plate.
The motor issues make me nervous. A fail on Y might be the least problematic, and may even go unnoticed. On Z it would cause adhesion issues by de-tramming X. A fail on X could easily destroy a printhead. Both of my motor fails have proven to be intermittent, and cause is still unresolved. I do not have replacements for those motors, and I am therefore nervous on every print.
Motor fails on laser operations are not so interesting mechanically, but an X or Y failure would lead to the machine depositing a lot more heat in a single line on the material than was intended, and could push up the risk of fire.
Motor fails in CNC though seem to be limited in impact to a ruined job, but I don’t have much CNC experience yet.
If you like, I’d be happy to give you a design review on the motors under NDA. If I were contracting, that would not be inexpensive. Sometimes another pair of eyes can uncover the issue. I have Altium, and I can import most other packages.
I have a glass plate custom made as big as the print bed and there i noticed that my bed is soo uneven at the corners that makes big prints really difficult. Also readed a lot about the K factor maybe i need to calibrate this one
My first printer was a Tevo Tarantula and I think the prints looked better than the snapmaker, especially after a few small changes.
With the snapmaker I have serious problems in making large prints due to the non-flat plate and the poor ventilation that does not allow me to perform the bridges.
I would like to print on the glass (as for the tevo) but I don’t want to lose the automatic calibration.
By wham-bam clone I meant fit a magnetic sticker to the glass, then a pei coated spring steel plate. Auto levelling still works with no other mods needed
I have been super happy with my Snapmaker Original and Snapmaker A350. They have both printed everything I’ve thrown at it with a surprisingly small amount of tinkering, especially with PLA. Most of my prints are functional items that I have drawn myself using either Tinkercad or Fusion360, or objects that I have downloaded from thingiverse.
I used the purple glue sticks on the Snapmaker Original, but I don’t use anything at all on the Snapmaker 350. I usually calibrate with a post-it note since there’s always some on-hand. I always make sure the print nozzle is clean before starting a calibration, since I don’t want any lump of plastic interfering with measurement. And I always make sure the bed is scraped clean of any residual plastic and always clean it with windex and paper towel before starting.
If your bed is not level because the plate below it is not flat, no amount of tinkering is going to solve that problem. Get in touch with the Snapmaker folks and work with them to get a replacement. If you’re going to use a glass print surface like you show in your posts, won’t that affect the printer’s ability to reach and maintain the proper bed temperature, adding another layer of complexity to solving your problem instead of simplifying it?
Anyway, I’ve been very happy with my printer and have printed some objects that have taken 20+ hours with no problems.
I created that topic bc I was frustrated but it gets better and wanted to know if others have serious issues too.
the 11x11 auto level sounds interesting and also the Tpu topic I have a stample of tpu and pla flex here but didn’t used it bc it seems heavy to print.
i noticed that my bed was not level as I wanted to print on glas. maybe I will make me a aluminium plate from a company to get rid of the bed level problems.
when I put on the glass plate I can see were the bed is uneven and I let it made by a company of a friend. yeah the auto leveling is not working but I got the Fifix to fix that.
I heard that too that this is not a good idea
what do you think of a custom aluminium plate?
“Glass flows like a liquid over time” is actually a common misconception. The reason why stained glass windows were thicker at the bottom was actually due to the way glass was manufactured at the time and when installing the stained glass panes, they did so with the heavier (thicker) side down as would make sense.
Depending on composition, glass is actually stiffer than aluminium (when looking at specific modulus). The reason why people use glass beds is because generally (especially when buying mirrors) the tolerance for flatness is much smaller and therefore you get near perfectly flat parts assuming you dont have any warping. It wont fix excessive bowing in your build plate/heated bed but it will certainly improve the flatness. Glass beds are also easy to clean and if you have a well dialled in z-offset, you get a nice reflective finish on your bottom surface.
Flexible build plates use print stickers, this surface deforms a bit over time and the adhesive bonding it to the springsteel sheet weakens to the point where you will get some variations in the surface flatness. This will not happen with a glass build plate, you will either crack it or see a visible scratch on the surface (you are highly unlikely to scratch glass unless you are using a stainless steel, tungsten or ruby nozzle) but it will retain its flat surface.
This reply is not conducive to a good discussion. I would like to know the inaccuracies re. the comments on flexible build plates.
Glass is an amorphous solid and does not flow over time.