Are newer 3D printer better ?

[The Hat]

Just looking over a lot of the newer printers coming out of the Creality stable in the past several years, there are more than a dozen models and all with great new extras and attachments.

The new CR-10s that I got a while ago with all its new upgrades is an improvement, but it’s still the basic CR-10 of old, and yet with the appearance of these new machines the trusty CR-10 is still holding a premium price over most of them !.

Now none of them can be described as good quality precise machines, they are made for the DIY market and may never improve, but for everyday use they are brilliant at what they do, but to get something decent you need to spend 6 to 10 time the price, and build it yourself..

As with most 3D printers coming out of China, they still need a few upgrades to make them that bit better, and externally the one area I need to further improve is my filament, it prints smoother when below 40% moisture content, I’m working on a heated storage box.

 

[Nifty]

Great timing on this post... I just watched this video and thought, "Wow, it's crazy how inexpensive this stuff is getting. More demand + competition in the market = better quality, value, etc!

For $179, almost anybody can get started in this hobby!

 

[Artur5]

.................. externally the one area I need to further improve is my filament, it prints smoother when below 40% moisture content, I’m working on a heated storage box.

Not built exclusively from PLA I hope..

I made one of my beginner mistakes purchasing a 'feckin' eSun filament drier. Not worth the 55 euros price, It sort of works, if you take your time to correct, as much as possible, several absurd design flaws that wouldn't have costed a penny to fix before releasing the product. No need to go into details and I expect there's no need to tell you, but ..stay away from that thing !.

 

[The Hat]

No need to go into details and I expect there's no need to tell you,

Please continue because I was looking at these eSun filament dryers and thinking if I bought one I could copy its internals, so what’s the problem with them and how was it not living up to your expectations, I’m all ears..

 

[Artur5]

Ok, you asked for it !

1- The fan is a cheap model whining like a demented mosquito. A very annoying noise that goes into my nerves. It has no protective grid and the little bag of desiccant (not included in the sale ) must be placed in a small compartment behind the fan. It’s a matter of time that the blades of the fan catch and rip the poor bag. All the silica balls are scattered inside clattering like popcorn. It happened to me twice, Cheap solution : print a 3D removable grid to protect the desiccant, It’s what I did.
Expensive fix: purchase a good fan with a proper grid.

2- The internal size of the drier is too small. Many users complain that some brands of spools wont fit in there, I’m not talking about big 3kg spools, but 1 Kg, It wouldn’t have cost a cent to design the internal space of the device just one or two cmt, taller and wider to accommodate any 1Kg spool.

3-. Temperature in the menu has settings from 0 to 4. Zero for no heating at all. 1 is for PLA, 2 for PETg, 3 or 4 for materials requiting more heat, but there’s no indication of the real humidity and temperature. You have to buy a small termo-hygrometer to put inside, which it isn’t easy because a full spool leaves almost no free internal space.

4- The output of the filament is a small removable plastic tube with a square part that fits between the lower body and the upper lid of the eSun. They didn’t include a cap for it. So, when you’re heating/drying the filament but not printing, the output hole is vented and humidity can enter slowly. Cheap fix ; print a 3D cap for the output tube.

5- eSun includes a teflon tube, supposedly to allow the user to place the dryer at some distance from the printer. That tube fits into the output of the filament, but it’s not a snug fit at all. Just move a bit anything and the teflon slides out. In top of that, it's so narrowly curved that it’s of no use for most of the situations,

6- The eSun drier has a feature for weighting the spools which is useless, even if it was accurate. If you want to know how much filament is left, just use a digital kitchen scale.
This worthless feature adds to the cost.

7- The heating plate is located at the bottom of the drier. Again, when you’re not printing and the spool doesn’t rotates, the heat is concentrated at the bottom and there’s a big temperature gap between the bottom and the top. You must rotate manually the spool every now and then, to ensure that the heat is spread all across the filament. Of course, to do that you must open the cover and let humidity enter and heat escape.
Instead of the worthless weighting feature they could have included a small motorized gear to rotate very slowly the bearings so the spool would be heated evenly.

 

[The Hat]

Ok, you asked for it !

I did and thank you..
Well you’ve gone into the issues with great detail and I can see why you are not happy with the eSunlu designers, but one thing I can’t get is why do you need a desiccant bag and fan when the filament container is heated.

The size of the box is a bit iffy, do they not give the dimensions in their add description, but saying that surly it should have been made to accommodate most brands of filament.

Here is the filament box that I was looking at, and it doesn’t seem to have any of the issue you’ve mentioned, there is no fan, no scale and no need for a desiccant bag and you can set whatever heat you require, but more so it takes all sizes of 1kg. filament reels..

Can you post a Pic of the one you got or a link so we can what’s on offer, O’ can you not send it back with the new AliExpress free returns..


Click to enlarge..

P.S. maybe this one might suite me.. and it's only €40

 

[Artur5]

I looked that Sunlu model too but finally, after reading many reviews, I choose the eSun ( serves me right ) precisely because it had a fan and a compartment for a bag of desiccant. If designed right, the fan moves the air through the desiccant bag so that the silica-gel absorbs progressively the moisture of the air inside the drier.
If no desiccant, you may heat the filament as much as you will (or the device allows) but the absolute humidity inside will stay the same or even raise, if the filament releases water steam when it’s heated.

I’m not sending back the eSun. Now that I know the issues and the limitations of this device and how to alleviate them up to a point. Isn’t that bad per se, only overpriced at 55 euros. 25 or 30 euro would be more appropriate, all considered.
Anyway, regardless of price, I think that the people who designed it should better look into other jobs.

I got it at Amazon for 55.99 and now it’s even more expensive.: 68.99.

https://www.amazon.es/Impresión-fil...=1&keywords=esun+albecy&qid=1620576247&sr=8-5

..and at Amazon Germany 79.99 euros.

https://www.amazon.de/-/en/Printing...=1620576178&sprefix=esun+drier,aps,193&sr=8-4

 

[The Hat]

I got it at Amazon for 55.99 and now it’s even more expensive.: 68.99.

I reckon I’ll push the boat on the eSunlu, because it has what I’m looking for, it got a timer and heat control and I’ll add a small Hygrometer to the inside, these are very small so should fit easy, the unit has a small hole in the top Perspex to let out moisture.

I’ll let you know how its working or not when I get it, I won’t be buying it for another two weeks. I’ve just bought ink so I’m broke for a while, O maybe yours was a bit more costly because it may have incurred VAT..

 

[stratman]

Sounds like the Suzy Homemaker Oven. Collect the whole set.


Nice ad copy.

 

[The Hat]

Sounds like the Suzy Homemaker Oven. Collect the whole set.

What the Feck has that got to do with 3D printing..?
Sometimes @stratman I worry about you…