3D Gecko printer

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LePaul
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Re: 3D Gecko printer

Post by LePaul »

True! That's why I have been so cautious about my Creality CR-10 and claiming it to be "awesome" or anything like that. I've cautioned my friends that it's a cheap Chinese printer...QC seems to be lacking on many of these. But the issues usually aren't too hard to sort out. It's equipped with a bunch of cheap motors and hot end. It seems to do PLA very, very nicely. But I would heed caution using other filaments since that hot end is a big unknown.
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Neotko
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Re: 3D Gecko printer

Post by Neotko »

So far I have finished all the basic assembly and probably today I’ll turn it on.

There’s a few issues along the way but they answered pretty much everything on their facebook forum.

- The fixing screws for the bottom panels could be 2mm longer versions. Sounds silly but this panels keep all square and also hold the z belt idlers, so if they ain’t perfectly flush against the frame, they move up when tightening the z belts. Fix it with other acrews I had.

- There’s no ‘cable management’ defined by the maker, that’s just a bit annoying. They did set in place a point to grab all the cables with a black cover to grab them (umo style with a back cable cover). But they don’t show properly on the manual atm where the cables should go through, so after assembling all you see where they should, but is a bit of a puzzle. Ofc not hard to solve, but an image on the manual could save time.

- The printer atm doesn’t come with a print cooler. They have uploaded some designs atm on the forum, but I’ll wait to make mine using the fans I have on stock. Good thing they use 24V so I have plenty of fans to use here.

- The firmware board is close source. Ofc it could be better open, but at least the board allows to change pretty much any important setting by editing a txt file or directly from the screen panel. You can even reverse the motors directly on the screen. So it really offers very easy customization.

They offer the endstops and motor cables without the pairs twisted. No biggie, but I prefer to kill any posible electrical noise, so I took my time and twisted all. Also the endstops without the cable twisted can entangle, twisting them makes the life easier.

Basically so far so good. They just need a better manual. At the moment a new user could struggle to assemble it, but with some tutorials or a better manual could be really easy.
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LePaul
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Re: 3D Gecko printer

Post by LePaul »

Sounds like your wiring issues are minor compared to what I had with the FT-5. Are the wires silicone? My kit had those and some report broken wires from flexing around but mine have worked good.

I've gone through three part cooling fans. I imagine your Facebook group will have several up on Thingiverse pretty quickly (since it's a popular kit).
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Neotko
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Re: 3D Gecko printer

Post by Neotko »

Well first basic Impressions

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Re: 3D Gecko printer

Post by Neotko »

Well a bit update

After learning how to adjust the Z of the printer and making a fancap, remixing part of a @gudo design, using the 40x40 delta blowers, the print quality it's quite stunning. Check this Benchy 56minutes 0.2 layer 120mm/s and 70% underspeed for perimeters. Clearly this is a more than ok Draft quality.



On a side notes, so far what I don't like, personally.

- The bed heater, you stick it to the Bed glass, so if you want to remove it, well, I think it's doable, but not a fun joy day. Ofc you might not need to do that, but removing the glass also becomes impossible. In theory since the bed comes with a big sticker, that it's like a Buildtak (I think it's a really really good clone of a Buildtak). So the bed adhesion is really really good. For PLA even cold if the first layer is too perfect, it can become way too stuck. And since you can't remove the bed glass, well I think you guys can understand the problem of that. The fix it's easy, buy a metal plate, remove the bed sticker, and set an intermedia layer, so the glass can be removed at any time. It should be fairly easy/cheap to buy a sheet of metal, preferible copper or aluminium (I suppose) to keep a decent heat.

A part of that, I was quite worried about how to properly align the Z that moves up/down (not the bed, the bed is static). But the process it's easy when you learn it. Now everything moves really smooth and I know where to look for future maintenance.

So.. Atm it kicks to the moon the print quality by a gazillion of a umo+ or a um2. Ofc the easy to use, that's another history. I still see a few problems for a beginner with this, but for a semi-experienced user? wow

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