3-D Printable Atari 8-bit Cartridge Holder

[Gunstar]

5 hours ago, toddtmw said:

Woot has a couple of printers discounted today. (13 hours left...)

https://computers.woot.com/plus/your-choice-3d-printers?ref=w_gw_dd_3

Thanks, didn't know about Woot even though I've been an Amazon Prime member for years. I got the printer for 40% off the price on Amazon, I really appreciate that!

 

[Gunstar]

59 minutes ago, ivop said:

Hmm, forgot to link? Anyway, it is this one.

Thanks for the link. Though with shipping these days I may be better off finding another place that is domestic, for now I'll order filament from Amazon

Edited January 7, 2021 by Gunstar

[ivop]

1 hour ago, Gunstar said:

Thanks for the link. Though with shipping these days I may be better off finding another place that is domestic, for now I'll order filament from Amazon

Oh, it was just a link to the printer I started with. It is definitely not a recommendation. I'd go with an Ender 3 right now. I'm even considering getting one myself and convert my current printer to a CNC machine.

 

[Gunstar]

Here is a picture of the exact model I purchased, it should be here in a couple of weeks. I ordered two spools of Hatchbox PLA Filament off Ebay too, which will probably last for a minute. Apparently they will take about a week longer to arrive, according to estimates, but by the end of the month, I should be in the 3D printing business!

Edited January 8, 2021 by Gunstar

[Mr Robot]

That's a Sainsmart knockoff Ender 3 pro. I've no idea if that will make any difference to your experiences or not. I guess it depends on Sainsmarts QA and chabuduo

 

You'll be glad you got the pro, even though the differences are minor (upgraded PSU, stiffer Y axis). 

[toddtmw]

34 minutes ago, Gunstar said:

Here is a picture of the exact model I purchased, it should be here in a couple of weeks. I ordered two spools of Hatchbox PLA Filament off Ebay too, which will probably last for a minute. Apparently they will take about a week longer to arrive, according to estimates, but by the end of the month, I should be in the 3D printing business!

Nice. I have that exact printer. I'd like to recommend that you consider a glass bed for it. (You will likely need larger binder clips to hold it on.)

This is the one I bought and I've been pretty happy with it.

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07F16WPR5/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[toddtmw]

1 minute ago, Mr Robot said:

That's a Sainsmart knockoff Ender 3 pro. I've no idea if that will make any difference to your experiences or not. I guess it depends on Sainsmarts QA and chabuduo

 

You'll be glad you got the pro, even though the differences are minor (upgraded PSU, stiffer Y axis). 

Okay. If that is a pro, never mind on the glass bed, I guess.

 

Mine is not a pro, and it's also the Reality version. So, I guess I don't have that EXACT printer.

[Mr Robot]

From the pic it looks like a mashup, reversed mobo, magnetic bed, 40x40Y, no idea if the PSU is a meanwell.

 

What I'd call "essential" Ender 3 upgrades...

• Metal (or dual gear) Extruder (standard plastic one cracks really quick)
• Glass Bed (the genuine one has a nice grippy texture to it as well)
• BLTouch ABL (genuine, I had endless grief with a knockoff one)
• Solid bed mounts (with the BLTouch, these mean you *never need to adjust your bed level again)

 

*Never = every maintenance cycle

 

What I'd call "essential" things to print. 

• Decent cooling duct (Stock cooler is poop, this is the one I use, there are many others)
• Z-axis shim (If sainsmart has the same issue as Creality)
• Side mount spool (stop wearing out your extruder, make the printer more stable)

 

 

[Gunstar]

1 hour ago, Mr Robot said:

That's a Sainsmart knockoff Ender 3 pro. I've no idea if that will make any difference to your experiences or not. I guess it depends on Sainsmarts QA and chabuduo

 

You'll be glad you got the pro, even though the differences are minor (upgraded PSU, stiffer Y axis). 

I was about to buy the (apparently legit) Pro for about a $100 more, until I saw this one on sale. I knew it wasn't exactly the same, but luckily, as you guys have done, it's up-gradable. I'll look into the upgrades you have posted links for once I get it and give it a try.

Edited January 8, 2021 by Gunstar

[Gunstar]

54 minutes ago, Mr Robot said:

From the pic it looks like a mashup, reversed mobo, magnetic bed, 40x40Y, no idea if the PSU is a meanwell.

 

What I'd call "essential" Ender 3 upgrades...

• Metal (or dual gear) Extruder (standard plastic one cracks really quick)
• Glass Bed (the genuine one has a nice grippy texture to it as well)
• BLTouch ABL (genuine, I had endless grief with a knockoff one)
• Solid bed mounts (with the BLTouch, these mean you *never need to adjust your bed level again)

 

*Never = every maintenance cycle

 

What I'd call "essential" things to print. 

• Decent cooling duct (Stock cooler is poop, this is the one I use, there are many others)
• Z-axis shim (If sainsmart has the same issue as Creality)
• Side mount spool (stop wearing out your extruder, make the printer more stable)

 

 

Ok, thanks. Since I'm a complete noob here, I'll have to learn about all of this and move forward from there.

[Mr Robot]

When I started I printed every 'upgrade' available, the 'essentials' are the ones I'm still using years later, most of them got tried and discarded.

 

The hardware upgrades are the ones that take away the frustrations using the ender. Bed leveling with a sheet of paper sucks and the BLTouch was worth every penny to not have to do that any more. The glass bed evens out any imperfections on the build surface, it's grippy during printing and prints almost fall off it when it's cold. The stock extruder is plastic and because of the filament path it wears quickly and tends to crack, the metal replacement is $10 and mine is still going strong years later. Just put them all on your list of things to get eventually.

 

 

Mine recently decided to kill itself and needs rebuilding, extremes of cold don't play well with an unenclosed printer. I'm taking the opportunity to convert it to direct drive, upgrade the controller board, replace the pi3 with a pi4 & put it in a box

[toddtmw]

6 minutes ago, Mr Robot said:

When I started I printed every 'upgrade' available, the 'essentials' are the ones I'm still using years later, most of them got tried and discarded.

 

The hardware upgrades are the ones that take away the frustrations using the ender. Bed leveling with a sheet of paper sucks and the BLTouch was worth every penny to not have to do that any more. The glass bed evens out any imperfections on the build surface, it's grippy during printing and prints almost fall off it when it's cold. The stock extruder is plastic and because of the filament path it wears quickly and tends to crack, the metal replacement is $10 and mine is still going strong years later. Just put them all on your list of things to get eventually.

 

 

Mine recently decided to kill itself and needs rebuilding, extremes of cold don't play well with an unenclosed printer. I'm taking the opportunity to convert it to direct drive, upgrade the controller board, replace the pi3 with a pi4 & put it in a box

Which metal extruder did you buy? I bought one that made things worse and just went back to the plastic one.

 

Thanks.

[toddtmw]

Also, I REALLY like having my Octoprint Camera attached to the bed.

 

This is what I printed to allow that:

Bed Mount: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3166905

I used arms from this (use whichever length and configuration to put the camera where you want it): https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2194278/files

I used this to hold the camera: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2931401

This is the camera I used: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B071WP53K7/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

And this is the ribbon cable set to get the right length: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B07SM6JTTM/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[Gunstar]

6 minutes ago, toddtmw said:

Also, I REALLY like having my Octoprint Camera attached to the bed.

 

This is what I printed to allow that:

Bed Mount: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3166905

I used arms from this (use whichever length and configuration to put the camera where you want it): https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2194278/files

I used this to hold the camera: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2931401

This is the camera I used: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B071WP53K7/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

And this is the ribbon cable set to get the right length: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B07SM6JTTM/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Noob question: Why would a camera be needed?

[Mr Robot]

8 minutes ago, toddtmw said:

Which metal extruder did you buy? I bought one that made things worse and just went back to the plastic one.

 

Thanks.

It was a kit like this https://www.ebay.com/itm/224055131399 the only bit I used was the extruder, the rest was unusable for various reasons.

 

I am upgrading to a dual gear extruder as part of the direct drive upgrade

 

 

[toddtmw]

Just now, Gunstar said:

Noob question: Why would a camera be needed?

to monitor the print job and make sure it isn't failing

[Mr Robot]

1 minute ago, Gunstar said:

Noob question: Why would a camera be needed?

So you can see how things are going if you aren't in the same room as the printer and also to record the occasional timelapse

 

[Mr Robot]

16 minutes ago, toddtmw said:

Also, I REALLY like having my Octoprint Camera attached to the bed.

I attached mine to the X axis, PSU side. It's being moved as part of the enclosure upgrade

 

[Gunstar]

25 minutes ago, Mr Robot said:

 

 

Mine recently decided to kill itself and needs rebuilding, extremes of cold don't play well with an unenclosed printer.

I asked about the enclosure in a couple of posts and that question went unanswered, no biggy, you guys have been extremely helpful. But I intend to set the printer up next to my PC in my home office area so it should be at room temperature all the time.

[Mr Robot]

If you aren't worried about fumes (and if you mostly print PLA you probably don't need to be) then the only reason you need an enclosure is to keep the heat up and stable. If you print PETG or ABS you need an enclosure to keep the temperature up and avoid print curling, I mostly print PLA but my printer is in the basement (my wife is worried about fumes so I don't keep it upstairs) and it's very cold down there right now, so cold it's become impossible to print and actually destructive to the printer so I am making an enclosure to help keep the ambient at a workable level.

 

[Gunstar]

I have this older Uniden mini camera that I never use anymore, it has an SD card and USB, so maybe I can rig it up to the printer. It does pictures and video. It's about 2.5" x 1.5" in size. I don't know why this forum sometimes posts my pictures side-ways or upside down,,,

Edited January 8, 2021 by Gunstar

[Gunstar]

5 minutes ago, Mr Robot said:

If you aren't worried about fumes (and if you mostly print PLA you probably don't need to be) then the only reason you need an enclosure is to keep the heat up and stable. If you print PETG or ABS you need an enclosure to keep the temperature up and avoid print curling, I mostly print PLA but my printer is in the basement (my wife is worried about fumes so I don't keep it upstairs) and it's very cold down there right now, so cold it's become impossible to print and actually destructive to the printer so I am making an enclosure to help keep the ambient at a workable level.

 

I have a window right next to where I'll be setting up the printer, and a small fan to blow any fumes out. And at this point, upon suggestions from you guys, I only plan on using PLA filament.

[toddtmw]

20 minutes ago, Mr Robot said:

I attached mine to the X axis, PSU side. It's being moved as part of the enclosure upgrade

 

with mine on the bed, it looks like the bed isn't moving and the rest of the printer (and the room) are moving back and forth. It makes it much easier to see what is happening.

[Mr Robot]

25 minutes ago, Gunstar said:

I have this older Uniden mini camera that I never use anymore, it has an SD card and USB, so maybe I can rig it up to the printer. It does pictures and video. It's about 2.5" x 1.5" in size. I don't know why this forum sometimes posts my pictures side-ways or upside down,,,

If you can plug that into the usb port of your pc and use it as a webcam, it should work fine but if your printer is right next to you in your office why do you need it? My printer is plugged into a raspberry pi running octoprint, I use octoprints web interface to control my printer and a pi camera to see what it's doing. If yours is plugged into your pc and you control everything locally, you probably dont need the camera.

[Gunstar]

9 minutes ago, Mr Robot said:

If you can plug that into the usb port of your pc and use it as a webcam, it should work fine but if your printer is right next to you in your office why do you need it? My printer is plugged into a raspberry pi running octoprint, I use octoprints web interface to control my printer and a pi camera to see what it's doing. If yours is plugged into your pc and you control everything locally, you probably dont need the camera.

Like you guys said, to keep an eye on it when I'm not in the office, I guess. I may not need it, as you say, but I'm not always in my office space, except maybe over the winter months like now when my business is slow (mostly landscaping and lawn maintenance with light construction and remodeling sometimes), because it's where my Atari computers are too, so it doubles as my computer-playground. What's the average time for printing, like say, the cartridge holders?

Edited January 8, 2021 by Gunstar