I just got a free 3d printer!

[J.Rambo]

So, the story goes like this.. I bought a new body for my big rock 4x4 and wanted those 3d printed skid protectors for my roof and hood. So I went around asking all my friends if anyone has access to a 3d printer. Good friend of mine said his wife no longer uses her anycubic mega pro and that I can have it along w 6 new rolls of filament! Wooooo! Score!
However, I don't know how to use this thing! . I'm totally green to 3d printing and was hoping you guys could help me out. Good news is that it's already put together. Bad news, I'm unfamiliar with all the Jargon that comes along with. Honestly, I want to invest in a new printer, but I atleast want to be able to print some of these skids. So far, i think I've leveled the bed correctly. That's it. Lol.
What do I do next? Is there an app/software that needs to be installed? I suppose I need to download the manual as well.
I don't even know how to connect it to computer. Any help Is much appreciated! In the mean time, I'll be searching youtube vids. Thank you all in advance!

 

[Camaroboy383]

Download the newest version of cura.. go through the prompts and choose the printer you have.. the profiles will be good enough to get you printing..

No need to hook the computer to the machine.. everything is printed off of a SD card..

Drag and drop a stl file into your open cura software. You can find numerous free files on thingiverse..

There isn't much more than that right now.. just getting printing will be enough on you.. learning all the settings will come over time, there are a lot when you really get into the slicer software..

 

[Tex Koder]

So, the story goes like this.. I bought a new body for my big rock 4x4 and wanted those 3d printed skid protectors for my roof and hood. So I went around asking all my friends if anyone has access to a 3d printer. Good friend of mine said his wife no longer uses her anycubic mega pro and that I can have it along w 6 new rolls of filament! Wooooo! Score!
However, I don't know how to use this thing! . I'm totally green to 3d printing and was hoping you guys could help me out. Good news is that it's already put together. Bad news, I'm unfamiliar with all the Jargon that comes along with. Honestly, I want to invest in a new printer, but I atleast want to be able to print some of these skids. So far, i think I've leveled the bed correctly. That's it. Lol.
What do I do next? Is there an app/software that needs to be installed? I suppose I need to download the manual as well.
I don't even know how to connect it to computer. Any help Is much appreciated! In the mean time, I'll be searching youtube vids. Thank you all in advance!

You'll need Cura (the slicer program)
It is used to prep the 3D file to get it ready for the printer to understand/function.

Once prepped- Meaning how many wall layers you want/need to set; how many Top&Bottom Layers; how much infill percentage and Shape; what speed you need to print your item(s) at; temperature to set for your nozzle and print bed (depending on the type of filament)
When all those selections are set,

Save the file (gcode) to SDcard and insert it in to the Anycubic, select that gcode file and hit print.


Oh, remember to Load correct filament!
BEFORE hitting "print"
Haha

 

[Bustedaw11]

You'll need Cura (the slicer program)
It is used to prep the 3D file to get it ready for the printer to understand/function.

Once prepped- Meaning how many wall layers you want/need to set; how many Top&Bottom Layers; how much infill percentage and Shape; what speed you need to print your item(s) at; temperature to set for your nozzle and print bed (depending on the type of filament)
When all those selections are set,

Save the file (gcode) to SDcard and insert it in to the Anycubic, select that gcode file and hit print.


Oh, remember to Load correct filament!
BEFORE hitting "print"
Haha

Can anyone recommend me a good translater so I can know what the heck @Tex Koder just said??

 

[J.Rambo]

For the most part, I understand .. I know I'll have a few more question once I get into cura. Thanks for now!

 

[BruceRC]

Congratulations man, beauty score.

 

[Tex Koder]

The Anycubic i3 Mega was my Go To printer for a while..
I printed the crap out of it til I burnt out its mainboard...

I tried to fix it but other weird gremlins started to crop up and made it unreliable , plus it just stopped reading the SD cards..
No matter what I tried (thinking that I may have also worn out the SDCard too -Which had a ton of my other custom designs!!!-, so I tried several other brands/ memory cards) and finally tried replacing the card-reader subassembly itself...
Still NO bueno ,nada.
What a nightmare to lose all those designs files...

In the end.. there's just other better printers out there >>with more fine-tuning capabilities & Better features to have to deal with this OLD-school Geriatric machine.


You'll find out soon enough...

 

[J.Rambo]

The Anycubic i3 Mega was my Go To printer for a while..
I printed the crap out of it til I burnt out its mainboard...

I tried to fix it but other weird gremlins started to crop up and made it unreliable , plus it just stopped reading the SD cards..
No matter what I tried (thinking that I may have also worn out the SDCard too -Which has a ton of my other custom designs!!-, so I tried several other brands/ memory cards) and finally tried replacing the card-reader subassembly itself...
Still NO bueno ,nada.
What a nightmare to lot all those designs files...

In the end.. there's just other better printers out there >>with more fine-tuning capabilities & Better features to have to deal with this OLD-school Geriatric machine.


You'll find out soon enough...

This will be my gateway drug into the world of 3d print. Just wanna atleast make a few roof skids and a few mini t 2.0 parts. If I end up liking the (sub) hobby, I'll definitely upgrade. What can u recommend thats user friendly, and fairly easy to maintain?

BTW, all the filament I got is petg. Is that good enough for roof skids?

 

[Tex Koder]

This will be my gateway drug into the world of 3d print. Just wanna atleast make a few roof skids and a few mini t 2.0 parts. If I end up liking the (sub) hobby, I'll definitely upgrade. What can u recommend thats user friendly, and fairly easy to maintain?

As of Jan. 2024

Bambu Labs X1C with AMS
Bambu Labs P1S with AMS
Bambu Labs A1 with AMS lite

Creality K1 (I think a new model is coming out soon, called K1C ?)

Elegoo Neptune 4

Creality Cr-10 SE


Basically in this order.

BTW, all the filament I got is petg. Is that good enough for roof skids?

Yes

That should work for what you intend to produce.

 

[J.Rambo]

As of Jan. 2024

Bambu Labs X1C with AMS
Bambu Labs P1S with AMS
Bambu Labs A1 with AMS lite

Creality K1 (I think a new model is coming out soon, called K1C ?)

Elegoo Neptune 4

Creality Cr-10 SE


Basically in this order.






Yes

That should work for what you intend to produce.

Bookmarked!

 

[Tex Koder]

Can anyone recommend me a good translater so I can know what the heck @Tex Koder just said??

Hahaha

Well ChatGPT should be able to help you there..

 

[J.Rambo]

Success!! I printed something useful!
The hood piece wasn't printing well. It kept getting knocked off the bed. I even tried it w "supports." Then I gave up. Lol. I gotta tinker..
However, it did the roof skids well enough for me to be satisfied to put it on the truck roof.

 

[Bustedaw11]

Success!! I printed something useful!
The hood piece wasn't printing well. It kept getting knocked off the bed. I even tried it w "supports." Then I gave up. Lol. I gotta tinker..
However, it did the roof skids well enough for me to be satisfied to put it on the truck roof. View attachment 343073View attachment 343072View attachment 343071

Thats awesome man, looks great honestly. Wouldn't expect to have read you had no idea how to do that 2 days ago

 

[Dutch]

Success!! I printed something useful!
The hood piece wasn't printing well. It kept getting knocked off the bed. I even tried it w "supports." Then I gave up. Lol. I gotta tinker..
However, it did the roof skids well enough for me to be satisfied to put it on the truck roof. View attachment 343073View attachment 343072View attachment 343071

Make sure the bed is clean, wipe it down some isopropyl alcohol and if it still doesn't stick use a little bit of glue stick. They make special glue sticks but I just use the Elmer's purple stuff works good for me.

 

[J.Rambo]

Thats awesome man, looks great honestly. Wouldn't expect to have read you had no idea how to do that 2 days ago

Just gotta read some directions! Wasn't to difficult. Lol

Make sure the bed is clean, wipe it down some isopropyl alcohol and if it still doesn't stick use a little bit of glue stick. They make special glue sticks but I just use the Elmer's purple stuff works good for me.

I'll try that tonight! Thanks!

 

[Tex Koder]

You are cranking!

But I'm going to guess it's been sitting for a Long while before you got it.. by the look of the layers of dust.

Just clean and Vacuum up all those dust on the X & Y guide rods, Z-screws, hotend and under the bed area.
(Be careful around the endstop switches.)


You'll definitely want to keep the dust from getting on your filaments and causing random nozzle clogging.
That's going to be a Headache if you need to disassemble your hotend to unclog it.
And then forced to re-calibrate everything again afterwards.

Just a courtesy heads up.

 

[Bustedaw11]

Just gotta read some directions! Wasn't to difficult. Lol

I'll try that tonight! Thanks!

Directions huh, you don't say

Wife tells me to do that all the time.... I always respond I don't know how to read.
Clearly worked out great for you

 

[J.Rambo]

You are cranking!

But I'm going to guess it's been sitting for a Long while before you got it.. by the look of the layers of dust.

Just clean and Vacuum up all those dust on the X & Y guide rods, Z-screws, hotend and under the bed area.
(Be careful around the endstop switches.)


You'll definitely want to keep the dust from getting on your filaments and causing random nozzle clogging.
That's going to be a Headache if you need to disassemble your hotend to unclog it.
And then forced to re-calibrate everything again afterwards.

Just a courtesy heads up.

Will do! I'll clean it up nice! Just wanted to see if I could get that darn thing to chug-a-lug. Got something out of it. I'm happy. Time to make it shine ️. Thanks for the heads up on the dust. I would have never known.

Directions huh, you don't say

Wife tells me to do that all the time.... I always respond I don't know how to read.
Clearly worked out great for you

That's funny. I always tell my wife to read the directions and I somehow, I'm the one who gotta put the damn electric desk together. sorry. I had to assemble her new electric desk the same night I got an rc parts shipment.

 

[Bustedaw11]

Will do! I'll clean it up nice! Just wanted to see if I could get that darn thing to chug-a-lug. Got something out of it. I'm happy. Time to make it shine ️. Thanks for the heads up on the dust. I would have never known.

That's funny. I always tell my wife to read the directions and I somehow, I'm the one who gotta put the damn electric desk together. sorry. I had to assemble her new electric desk the same night I got an rc parts shipment.

Gotta get those priorities straight my friend!

This is when ignoring the instructions and using power tools comes in handy... you just bust out the honey do list quickly as possible and get back to the important's

 

[J.Rambo]

Alright, thank you fellas!
I used Rubbing Alchohol to clean bed. I Kinda wiped it clean . And I got it to print. I used "adhere" to gimme that thin layer as a base. There were a few times I thought it was gonna get knocked off again. As it got closer to the top it got springy, there were flaps bending upwards where it overhangs. No support. Crazy how it all worked out tho. Wasn't the prettiest on the under side, but I can't see it anyway! Took a torch to the scraggly parts real quick and smashed em into the back of the print. I shuda took a picture. anyway, I mounted it on and Boom! Protective hood ornament.