N64 portable, untitled for now

[DuHasst0]

So, I agreed to help someone out awhile back on these forums. I was to create the case for his portable N64. Life has a way of kicking me in the balls alot, so I have been working on some projects to ensure that I am able to give this dude this best case for his portable.

So I bought a cheap 3d printer, because hey look at that cheap printer at microcenter, and it's right there. So I bought it, built it, hated it, liked it, hated it, regretted buying it. Then switched materials liking the way this one is, and it's pretty strong. So here are some shots of the first test print, of the case for size comparison, and what I am dealing with at the moment, with my current mods, on my crappy printer.








Anyways, with that the main board would fit with a decent trim and might not have to fold the circuit board like the greats did, to avoid soldering to the legs of the ICs. I, however, won't be able to fit the controller board for the screen in it without some major trimming, although doable. I am pretty sure I have room for everything as is but the battery holder he wants to use for easy charging. I have an idea for that and if it works I might just implement it.

LionelHutz2, my bad for the delay. More updates, very soon. I am on a roll with this thing and have had many great tests and other objects, I just have to really buckle down.

 

[wallydawg]

Which printer? Looks like there's some heat bed issues with the warping on the ends and gaps on the heights there (last picture).

Even though most commercial printers are "print right out of the box" there's still some maintenance to be done to get quality prints. Might be an easy enough fix like a heat bed Z leveling or something.

 

[DuHasst0]

Ha, I have the what was known as the qu bd twoup, or what's now known as the q3 twoup, no heated bed, the bed is level to the x axis and is level front to back, I have noticed that the build plate is not plane so I had went and bought some lexan sheets that I had cut down to fit and have tried to make it plane, but I am pretty sure it's not working. I might have to try and buy a sheet of steel or aluminum and cut a copy of the the build plate into it and try that. Although, I am definitely thinking about ordering the heated bed for the unit as well.

This printer also has no end stops or any kind of auto bed level or z probe. Maybe those are some things I should get, too.

I am trying to use PETG since I really like the way it feels and looks when printed and the strength of the model after printing. I have had a few models print fine with no warp, and the layers were great and had no scratches on the surface. I'm wondering if I have a layer size issue cause the morons who made the kit used a 3/8 inch acme screw instead of metric. Might end up swapping that out and doing another firmware change.

I am also wondering if for some reason there could be issues with the way my firmware has the eeprom settings wrong and is using the wrong set. I have had issues with rep firmware using the old settings even tho I have changed them. I will have to figure that out.

Too, bad I am moving next week so I probably won't have much time to go over some things till the week after. I will be testing some things of the next few days tho.

 

[wallydawg]

Yeah just looks kinda cheap but not too bad, which some tweaks you should be able to get some quality prints. I have a Up! Mini 3D Printer (another "passable" commercial 3D printer such as yours) and had bad warps with ABS (doesn't print PLA well) due to an insufficient headed bed at 60 celcius, added a new heater chip thing I can't think of the name of right now (looks like a 7805 mostly) at 100 Celsius so it only warps a slight amount on bigger prints in the far corners. I'd also suggest building an enclosure with venting to keep heat in if you upgrade to the heated bed, especially if you try ABS.

A level build plane is the usual problem with warping prints. No heat bed means it's a PLA printer, which is less toxic but material but slightly harder to get a good starting layer for prints. Try laying down some blue printers tape or kapton tape on your bed for a better starting layer, and make sure the extruder head is down far enough, but not far of course: having it too low will rub against the filament and end up lifting the model as well. I usually fold a piece of paper in half to test clearance. It should barely touch the extruder and not rub against it putting the paper in and out.

You've probably tried most/all of this but just wanted to make sure. Haven't messed around with PETG yet so I don't have any suggestions there but it does look pretty neat.

edit: quick googles suggest heated bead with PETG so yeah warps like that will probably happen.

 

[DuHasst0]

Oh man you have no idea the googling, oh the googling. Good thing is that today I spent some time going thru and looking at some articles and playing around with things and thought, I had everything like so close to perfect before with PLA, the PETG was a happy accident and having a Microcenter within a 20 min drive is always a plus. So I just pick up the *ahem* inexpensive rolls of filament by inland. It's not too bad I have printed all kinds of stuff. Some great, some... well I started recycling box that hopefully one day I can get a filament extruder and that becomes new filament.

Anyway, today I messed with some slic3r settings, and went back to some basics and changed my layer size to match the the sae standard acme screw and my lines are filling nicely again. I still see that small amount of layer height change here and there, but until I get a threaded rod that is metric I will continue to see it, and hopefully it doesn't kill some prints. But I had a print going today to further stress test the printer and the spool holder fell over onto the bed and killed my print but what was left as "finished product" is I'm not that bad.

EDIT: I forgot to mention I will probably end up purchasing the heated bed upgrade from these guys really soon to fight curl, but good thing is my friend Dale told me that in his opinion that my printer prints better than the maker bots and those are 2500 usd.

 

[DuHasst0]

Such as life... I recently moved to a new home, setting up shop the next couple days. Ordered the heated bed upgrade for my printer. Just waiting on that really and we should really be in business

 

[DuHasst0]

I just received the heated bed upgrade for the printer... and it was smaller than what I thought it would be, and I didn't look for any pictures of it before I bought it and assumed they would sell a bed that was actually the same build area as they say I have, which is 125mm x 175mm. Well its more like 125mm squared now, and it's do able. So for now, with that in mind I will also be constructing the case in pieces in cad that can by glued and snapped together.

Will have more to say later. Need to get some more crap done.

...

Alright so, the house I moved into was not as clean add I thought it was when I moved my flax in and I now have to clean the house. So this sets me back a bit and for the moment I can only design the finished case in cad until I get the house finished. But that gives me time to work with the limited space I have on the print bed now. Don't worry tho I hadn't moved everything and the project box stayed at my dad's.

More to come, also I will be documenting my printer and mods that I have done as soon as I get shop setup.

 

[LionelHutz2]

Keep it up man! Cant wait!