My 3D Printer Purchase - Monoprice Select Mini 3D Printer

If I had a printer I would make this for @The Hat : https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1996077

stratman said:

If I had a printer I would make this for @The Hat

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Will I or won’t I, hold by breath...

The Hat said:

Will I or won’t I, hold by breath...

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You might not, but whoever follows you after you've used Lego Man dispenser will.

ninj said:

The only issue I had when first trying it was using a bit too much oil, which resulted in poor first-layer adhesion -- it took me about 5 cold pulls to clean the excess oil from the nozzle. So use very lightly.

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UGH!!! NOW YOU TELL ME!?!?!

I've been having SO MANY 1st layer adhesion problems... and I'm guessing the oil is the reason. I put in new pads without oil and have been running misc. prints and it seems like it's getting better.

Let me elaborate on "cold pull" as it's a useful technique for cleaning your nozzle, including partial (or complete) clogs. It will help get the excess oil from your hotend. (I wish inkjet heads where so easy to fix, or cost pennies to replace!)

Assuming PLA:
1. Release the extruder clamping mechanism (so filament is free to move by hand)
2. Heat your hotend to about 175C and push a little filament through.
3. Turn off the heater and watch the temperature as it falls.
4. at about 85C pull the filament out. The exact temperature will vary, so experiment, but it needs to be warm enough the the filament comes out fairly easily (about 1 kg force), but solid enough to pull the gunk out with it.

If done right, the tip of the filament should have a fine point where it was in the 0.4mm hole.

I find a few repetitions of the above solve most nozzle clogging problems. I do it routinely when removing filament to keep the nozzle clean. Different temperatures apply to ABS, PETG, etc. It's also possible to buy lengths of nylon filament designed for nozzle cleaning.

Thanks for that! I watched some great videos on this that helped too.

Fortunately I think I've already printed out most of the oil, so I'm not having the same problems as before. Also, I realized that tweaking the bed temp, and especially the initial layer speeds helps a LOT!

A few cool recent projects:

I was printing a tool holder to screw onto the top of my MPSM (to hold the allen wrench, etc.), but then had another idea. What if I used these TINY 1x8 mm neodymium magnets I have lying around?

I designed this little gem to slide my allen wrench into and it also fits my magnet perfectly:


It worked so well, I also put a magnet on my scraper!

Here they are in all their EASY ACCESS GLORY!

@Nifty, That scraper looks mighty sharp to have hanging about like that, would you not design a covering cap for safety, also does the scraper not damage your platform tape.

Now I went all gun hoe last night and cut a piece of glass to fit the platform and held it in place with a couple of small paper clamps, I took the sharp edges from the glass using a fine sand paper, then lowered the platform, fit the glass and the rest is history.


The adhesion is better, the removal of your model and cleaning afterwards is a snitch, I’d recommend using glass over anything else I’ve used so far, another advantage was not having to touch the platform calibration since, I am on my fifth print since installing the glass, wee...

I was using Hair spray but got this stuff also , its 3DLAC Adhesive.

This adhesive spray is very easy to apply and requires no preparation before printing unlike using tape. Simply spray on the glass platform plate and you are ready to print within seconds..
Now back to making my next project, and as I work the little 3D printer is whizzing away in the background, It’s like The March of the 3D Printers...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKsvXfUvCkQ

The Hat said:

I’d recommend using glass over anything else I’ve used so far

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You're welcome.

Now cut the corners of the glass on a diagonal to expose the calibration screws underneath for full access, as seen in the one of the videos I posted, and you're all set.

The Hat said:

as I work the little 3D printer is whizzing away in the background

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You need to potty train the little heathen.

(Whiz - slang for urinating)